virtual assistant

customer success manager

executive assistant

recruiter

bookkeeper

BELAY Solutions

I worked a total of 3 engagements in my time at Belay. One of these was for just over a year, another for 7 months, and another for barely a week. All of your “CSC”s had generic replies and assistance. You were expected to work your contracted hours as well as training a new replacement for an additional 10 hrs. They wanted to put your worked hours as a set per day amount based on your monthly contracted time versus the hours that you tracked and actually worked. They requested a 30 day notice when leaving an engagement despite them stating that it is 15 days, “but preferably 30”. During this training period, they expect the replacement to shadow you for 10 hrs of your 5 working days, which directly puts any other privacy concerns with other clients at risk as screens and notifications would be seen. This is also expected to take place on a video call, which would be an extensive amount of time, so a paid video subscription on your part would be needed. Now imagine off boarding more than one client! I was also told that after a year, I could request a pay raise from the $22/hr rate I began with. This is the max amount a VA can make. I was still also coined a VA despite working with C Suite clients. I am leaving for 2.5x this amount. 
The allotted time that clients can choose from keeps you as a part time employee at Belay which benefits them as benefits do not need to be offered. A public school teacher earns more. Do note you’re a 1099 employee so factor in taxes on top of that. I had to take on 3 outside clients to make ends meet. I don’t recommend Belay unless you don’t need the money and just need something to occupy your time if you stay at home/work from home. Note that time off/vacation time is not respected so you do need to be stern with both clients and Belay. I’ve gone so far as to uninstall Belay related email addresses from my devices and block any and all notifications outside of work hours to maintain a clear line between life and work.  

What is the best part of working at the company?
I began working with Belay in early 2022.  I needed remote work for multiple reasons, but was having difficulty finding the right thing.  I saw an ad on Indeed for Belay, for virtual assistants.  I will say it was the MOST comprehensive process to even get accepted by Belay.  They are very diligent in ensuring they only represent the best contractors for their clients.  I was very lucky that my first posting lasted nearly 3 years and only ended recently.  I would recommend Belay to anyone wanting to work as a remote virtual assistant.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
After all but 2 years of my employment history being spent getting paid every other week, rearranging my financial schedule to work with getting paid monthly was an adjustment.  However, that was very minor compared to the wonderful experience of my placement.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The people at Belay are there to help their employees to reach their remote employment goals.  There are a myriad of tools available to help a VA increase their knowledge base and the quality of the assignments is top notch.  The people are warm and welcoming and always work with their contractors to ensure they feel comfortable in their assignment.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There was no typical day working for my assigned company.  I would be working on anything from proofreading documents to be published in medical journals, to taking notes at committee meetings, to developing flowcharts in Canva.  Of course, there was the daily email, Excel reports to be prepared and sent, quarterly benchmark reports to be sent, and things that only take place at certain times of the year, but again, the company for whom I provided services was a wonderful experience and I would work for them again if the situation were available.

This can be a good stepping stone for flexible work, but not a place to build long-term stability or feel truly supported as a VA. At first, things seemed very positive — the hiring process was smooth, the job board provided a wide variety of options, and there were helpful resources to get started. Flexibility in choosing clients and scheduling was another benefit. If one door closed, it used to be quick and easy to find the next client, but that is no longer the case.

Over time, the challenges became more apparent. The pay is not competitive for the amount of work and responsibility expected. For example, a client may expect you to work only 2 hours a day but assign 20 different tasks — which is simply not realistic unless they are actually seeking a full-time assistant. This makes it difficult to juggle responsibilities effectively or feel fairly compensated for the workload. The quality of clients can also vary significantly, and I noticed that over time, there were fewer strong, well-aligned opportunities available.

I was always reliable, careful to only apply to clients that matched my skill set, and willing to go above and beyond in my roles. Unfortunately, that effort didn’t seem to be valued or recognized. Things were great until they were not, and while this company can provide experience and short-term opportunities, it isn’t a supportive or sustainable long-term option for virtual assistants.

After you are hired you have to wait to be assigned to an engagement. This means you may end up being interviewed 2 or 3 more times over the course of a month before you actually begin to get paid. 

Many peopled worked part-time at Belay but everyone is expected to monitor their email from 9am-5pm and to respond to any emails from their client in 1-2 hours. 

Also, you are expected to keep the same hours as your client. So, if you live in a different time zone you could end up working very early or very late. And sometimes not all your clients are in the same time zone. This extends your email monitoring timeframe. 

My client HATED the “Belay Nod” and verbally reprimanded me for “clogging their inbox.” 

Your day is also very unstructured. You have little to no support and your clients often don’t understand what you are capable of providing. 

They even have training videos that teach you how to upsell your clients because you cannot fulfill all their tasks in the contracted hours. I felt like I was expected to push sales and didn’t feel comfortable doing so. 

Finally, you will have no off days or any vacation time. If you want to take a week off and you’re full time? You have to work 80 hours the week before to fulfill the contract. 

The pay was okay and the people were mostly fine. I liked that I didn’t have to work in the office or keep a set schedule. 

And I liked that it kept me from having a resume gap since I worked there during a period of my life that I wasn’t able to work full time. 

Finally, it really helped advance my career so I am appreciative of that. 

If you are in a transition portion of your life and you need a flexible, remote schedule then this is for you. It looks great on a resume too. 
But don’t rely on it for a long-term job or for consistent pay. 

I started out optimistic and glad to have qualified clients. Bookkeepers are paid monthly, not hourly. So I expected to get faster at the work and average out to a more reasonable rate/hour. That did not happen. The assignment ended up consuming more and more of my time. 

Extra hours can be billed if the work performed is outside the original job scope or the volume picks up significantly.

Extra hours are billed at $50. The bookkeeper gets 50% of that at most. In some cases, the pay rate is 40%. Not 40 dollars. 40 percent. It’s disgraceful.

From what I can tell, that rate is written in stone and never changes. There is no such thing as a rate increase- even when it is above and beyond what Belay sold to the client.

I liked the client and it was a good fit, but full charge accounting  simply isn’t a $25/hr position on a 1099 contractor agreement.
For a new person trying to break into learning how to work remotely, Belay might be a good starting point. For me, an experienced bookkeeper who has worked remotely for several years, it wasn’t worth my time. I suspect they get a lot of turnover from the experienced bookkeepers.

Clients can buy out the contract. The price tag on mine was roughly what Belay projected to earn from my work in an entire year. It was a very, very big number.

The support Belay talks about is actually in the form of a community bulletin board where contractors ask questions and contractors answer the questions. In some cases it is a step up from Google, but not always. I stopped looking and answering questions. After all, I wasn’t being paid to train bookkeeping skills to other contractors.

It wasn’t all bad. I did learn that I am far better off continuing to find my own clients privately and not be tied up as a sub-contractor.


I am torn on what to say about my time at Belay. I have genuinely enjoyed working with each person I’ve come in contact through the company, I have met some great clients, and I have gained valuable work from home experience. 

That being said, the pay is pretty poor for the amount of work you’ll be doing. Because you are a contractor with Belay, you’ll be expected to be available 9-5, M-F, even if your client only pays for a 45 hour a month contract (2ish hours a day). You only get paid for those 45 hours, though. Because  most people couldn’t survive off just 45 hours worth of pay per month, you may have multiple clients who all expect you to be available for them 9-5. Burn out can happen quickly. Going back on the pay, the clients are paying Belay more than double what you make. There is little to no growth in terms of salary for you as the contractor. I was told when offered the job I would be eligible for a pay increase after one year of service; however, when the time came, I was told I was not eligible as I made the max salary  ($20/hr). Knowing you’re doing all the work while receiving half the pay and no chance for growth is really disheartening.  

Benefits are not existent because you are a 1099 employee. This means no PTO, no health insurance, no retirement. And while Belay does want you to have work/life balance, it is almost impossible to do so because taking a day or two off means having to work those missed hours later in the month. When you’re already full time, making up 20 hours of time on top of you 8-9 hour day is next to impossible. 

I ended up putting in my notice at Belay for these reasons. I was offered a position doing the same type of work for $12 an hour more and lots of PTO. So, I would say the biggest positive here is that I was able to add to my resume and get a better job.


I think this is a good job for someone looking to work only a few hours a week but here are few things to note before applying. 

Their interviewing process is pretty rigorous for what you get paid. You have to write a lot and then you have to go through two interviews before they bring you on. 

When they bring you on, all you really have is access to a job board where you have to once again, apply to the available jobs. 

If you qualify, you get set up with a "CSC" or customer service consultant which is another name for a baby sitter really. They're supposed to try in make things work with your clients but really all they do is call you here and there. It seems like they have the best job honestly. 

Belay charges $45-$50 an hour for your services and pay you $18-$19 an hour of it. Which is wild to me. 

Their steep charge leads their clientele to believe they should be receiving way more than what they actually should be. At both my clients, they expected me to book keep, handle marketing, organize their calendars and do a number of other tasks with minimal to no help or direction. One client fired me in three weeks because I didn't pick things up quick enough. It was crazy. The clients don't know that we only got paid a fraction of what they're paying so they think we should be doing all sorts of things that we're not supposed to be doing. We're just virtual assistants, we're here to help with your email and set up meetings or build an itinerary for your trips or something, not doing your taxes and tech wizards who can learn a complex and intricate set of platforms and assignments without any training...

I think it's worth it to look for a virtual assistant job with another org rather than Belay. 

I was fine with the long interview process, even the pay, which I knew was below what most virtual assistants make. What left me disappointed was the actual process of gaining a client, and trying to get a new one. 

After getting my first client (which took a few weeks after I got the official okay) and no, they won't always have a client ready for you after Onboarding as a contractor, I was cut after just under 3 weeks. I was expected to learn processes and information that my experienced manager knew, yet I was technically only working part-time based on the hours I was contracted for. The client themselves didn't have the best way to onboard me with their systems, and when I pointed out flaws, it seemed to be put on the back burner when their main concern was getting the flow of things that had its flaws. What I thought was expected of me was actually something different, based on the assignments given to me.  

I was let go from my client, and after 90 days and countless applications to other jobs, I only received one interview before being let go as a contractor. I asked for help in how to get noticed when applying, and the only thing they mentioned was to work on my spelling and to just keep at it. There were many jobs that were in fitness and health fields that I have a background in, and I couldn't understand why I wasn't even given the opportunity for an interview. 

I feel like I was already let go in their heads, and was just really disappointed in the whole experience. If you have experience in this field, go somewhere else. 

The biggest benefit of doing this job is that I set my own schedule. When my kids gets sick, need a ride to school, dr. appts, I can do all that without asking anyone's permission. As long as my work is done, 99% of time it doesn't matter WHEN. For me it was an option of not working at all and stay home with my kids, or working any decent job from home! BELAY is a legitimate company that gives you that opportunity. I must say that the client you're matched with makes all the difference. One of my clients is amazing and gives me all the flexibility, trust, and doesn't micromanage. My second client is complete opposite, which is why I am planning to cut ties with them as soon as client #1 gives me more hours. I even like my CSC's who I never hear from because I like working through issues by myself. Don't like to have anyone to answer to.  Even though BELAY pays me the max they can for the pay range, I am still underpaid by 40%. Because of my life circumstances, I am unable and unwilling to go back to my 9-5 corporate job. It's a sacrifice and I knew that going into this. Overall, I'm pretty happy. I get to make some money, the job isn't too stressful, I don't have to pay for daycare, and my resume doesn't have a gap in it. I also learn new things every day because of the type of work my client gives me. So again, your experience will depend on the personality and the company of your client. 

Belay goes above and beyond to provide valuable resources to independent contractors seeking virtual assistant and bookkeeping jobs. They act as a brokerage of sorts and match contractors with clients from many sectors and backgrounds. This takes the guesswork out of trying to find my own clients and gives me a one-stop-shop on their job board to find work. The hiring process is quite lengthy, but I found it to be a necessary step to ensure I am the right fit for them and they are the right fit for me. 

While I have been more than impressed with their system and culture, it is important to note that Belay does not provide any health benefits or otherwise, although they do pay what I consider a fair wage. Also, your experience will be highly variable based on the clients you work with. Fortunately, Belay has processes and contingencies in place to ensure a good fit all around. 

Overall, the flexibility and ability to work from home is more than enough for my own situation. I highly recommend this for anyone who would like the perks of working for themselves with the security of a company who will help keep you employed. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Virtual assistant 11 salaries reported	$20.73 per hour
Customer success manager 4 salaries reported	$62,500 per year
Executive assistant 4 salaries reported	$26.50 per hour
Recruiter 5 salaries reported	$54,400 per year
Bookkeeper 3 salaries reported	$21.67 per hour

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