The 1-Page Checklist
What US, UK, Canadian, and Australian clients actually look at before they
reply
Free. No signup, no email needed. Share it with anyone.
Your profile — the nine seconds
☐ Real photo. Your face, plain background, good light. Not a group photo, not a selfie in a car.
☐ Headline says what you do and who for. ❌ Virtual Assistant | Hardworking | Detail
Oriented ✅ Customer Support VA — Shopify & Gorgias for US ecommerce stores
☐ First line of your overview is about their problem, not your biography.
☐ One real number somewhere. "Around 80 tickets a day." "About 200 orders a week."
☐ Tools named exactly as a client would search them — QuickBooks Online , not accounting
software.
☐ No self-adjectives. Everyone writes "hardworking." It carries no information.
☐ A rate is shown. Blank reads as "will accept anything."
☐ OnlineJobs.ph: ID Proof completed before you pay ₱990 for Premium.
Your proposal — the first two lines
☐ Opens with their problem, in their words. Not "Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to apply."
☐ Contains something only someone who read the posting could have written.
☐ One specific true number from your real experience.
☐ A short plan for the first week — three concrete actions.
☐ One question about their situation. This is what turns a proposal into a conversation.
☐ Under 200 words. Long reads as desperate.
☐ Nothing about needing the job. Their problem is the subject, not your circumstances.
Your rate
2026 market ranges — for orientation, not promises:Entry general admin $3–6/hr
1–3 years experience $6–10/hr
Specialist — bookkeeping, SEO, PM, ecommerce ops $10–17/hr
☐ Never open with your minimum. You can come down. You cannot go up.
☐ Give a range: "$8–10 depending on scope."
☐ Price the specialty, not the hours. "Bookkeeping VA" and "General VA" doing the same work for the same
time are two different prices.
Getting paid
Fees and transfer speeds change. They depend on the route, the currency pair, your account type, and each
provider's current pricing — so check the live numbers before you decide. The broad shape: PayPal's cross-
border fees are among the highest of the common options, Wise is often lower than PayPal, and Payoneer
usually sits somewhere in between.
☐ Run your real invoice amount through each provider's own fee calculator, and compare the amount that
actually lands in your account — not the headline percentage. The exchange-rate margin is where most of the
cost hides.
☐ Ask every client: "Would you be able to send through Wise? It's often cheaper for both of us." One message,
sent once, and the difference repeats on every invoice you send them.
Before you accept anything
☐ No money flows from you to the employer. No training fee, no background check fee, no software fee.
There is no legitimate version of this.
☐ Company email domain, not gmail.
☐ The company and the person both verify on their own website and LinkedIn.
☐ They didn't push you to Telegram or WhatsApp in the first few messages.
☐ No ID or selfie requested before a written offer.
☐ Payment terms in writing — amount, schedule, method.