Find your floor rate first
Your floor rate is the lowest hourly figure you can accept without the business quietly costing you money. It isn't what you'd like to earn; it's the line below which you shouldn't go.
Work it out on paper. Start with the yearly income you need to live on. Add your business costs: software subscriptions, equipment, insurance, accountant fees, training. Add an allowance for tax and, if you're self-employed, any national insurance or self-employment tax where you live. Then divide by realistic billable hours, not forty hours a week. Between sales calls, onboarding, invoicing and your own admin, most solo VAs bill somewhere around 20 to 28 hours in a full-time week. Take holidays and sick days off the year too.
That number is often higher than beginners expect, which is the point. If you price from what you think competitors charge on Upwork or Fiverr, you'll set a rate built for someone else's costs and someone else's country.
Hourly: where most VAs start
Hourly billing is honest and easy to explain. It also teaches you how long tasks really take. Track everything for your first few clients, even the work you decide not to bill, because those numbers become the raw material for packages later.
The downside is that hourly work punishes efficiency. The faster you get, the less you earn per task, and clients can start watching the clock instead of the results.
Bundles: steadier for both sides
A monthly retainer sells a block of hours or a defined scope, paid in advance. You get predictable income and can plan capacity. The client gets a fixed cost and priority access. Spell out what happens to unused hours (most VAs let them expire, or roll over a small number once), and what counts as overage.