Different people choose to go into business for different reasons. Some want to change the world. Others want to provide a comfortable and happy life for their family. Then some simply want to make enough money while having free time to travel the world, while others want to see their faces on the cover of Fortune magazine.
Whatever the reason you have for starting your business—whether you want to be the next Bill Gates-esque philanthropist or the youngest billionaire in America—one thing should be clear by now: You can’t do it alone.
Stating the obvious
No one enters the world of entrepreneurship because they want to do everything—from building a website and managing bookkeeping to answering every one of their customer’s calls and making promotional videos.
Who in their right mind would trade a decent-paying, less stressful job for running a whole business by themselves? And yet when you’re a solo entrepreneur with a startup company, that’s usually what happens.
One day, you’re brainstorming your company name at Starbucks…
…the next, you’re too tired and overwhelmed to remember when the last weekend was that you actually had some rest. That, and you forgot your mom’s birthday last week.
Sounds familiar?
Consider this an intervention
It’s hard to imagine anyone doing all the things you do—and doing them successfully at that. What if they mess up an important order? What if they can’t appease an irate customer? What if, just when you’re beginning to trust them, they abandon you and your business?
If that sounds intimidating, it’s because it is. Nobody said starting your own business was easy. But sometimes, you need to learn to let go. It’s not as hard as you think.
In fact, we can prove to you that it’s not.
Today’s checklist should be this:
If you…
☑ have read Tim Ferriss’s ‘4-Hour Work Week’
☑ have sat down and thought about where you want to be five years from now
☑ have realized you’re nowhere near close to your goals
☑ are tired of working six days a week
☑ want to start hiring the right people
…but have no idea where to begin, then this guide is for you.
If you haven’t heard it before, then we’ll go ahead and say it: Filipino virtual assistants (VAs) can help you achieve your business goals.
If you’re not sure how that’s done or what a VA even is, then grab a coffee and sit back because we’re about to explain to you how Filipino VAs can help you scale your business.
What’s a Filipino VA?
A VA is just like the any other assistant—except you only communicate with them over the internet. That means all their output is delivered over the internet, and all your meetings will be online as well.
A Filipino is someone from the Philippines, which is a country in Southeast Asia. The Philippines is a highly Westernized country with a low cost of living.
VAs don’t always have to be Filipino, but the best ones usually are. For quite some time, Indians were the go-to VAs for business owners. That is, until direct outsourcing (or hiring without the need for an agency or recruitment service) became popular in the Philippines.
The best part?
You can hire a Filipino VA for as low as $350 a month.
Can I really hire a Filipino VA for $350?
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: That depends on who you’re hiring. Entry-level VAs who will be doing general office work can definitely be hired at a rate of $350 per month. However, if you’re looking for software developers, internet marketers, Amazon experts, graphic designers, or other skill-specific workers, you’ll have to pay more.
Why outsource?
Most startup business owners end up doing all the work because they can’t afford to rent office space while paying employee salaries, benefits, and taxes. That’s where outsourcing to the Philippines comes in.
Outsourcing, or getting someone outside of the business to help with processes inside the business, is primarily seen as a cost-cutting strategy. Why pay $3,300 a month when you can pay $350 and get the same quality of work?
Even large corporations do it. Companies like Apple, Nike, and Wal-Mart outsource their manufacturing to countries like China and India. Meanwhile, American Express and Microsoft outsource IT operations and customer service. In fact, outsourcing company Genpact began as a unit within General Electric before they became a standalone company in 2005.
Why the Philippines?
The Philippines has a low cost of living. Movie tickets are around $4 each, while ordering a large pizza will only set you back $9. In fact, some Filipinos spend less than a dollar on a one-way trip to work.
The monthly minimum wage in the Philippines is around $290. This rate is for fresh graduates in Metro Manila (the capital of the Philippines) who are looking for entry-level jobs. While you can definitely find someone willing to work at this rate, your business will benefit more from someone with more experience.
Here’s what monthly expenses for an unmarried Filipino living in the capital would look like:
Rent and Utilities: $95
Food: $180
Travel: $60
Total: $335
Obviously, this is above the minimum wage. The good thing is that remote workers no longer have to worry about travel expenses. They can also cut down on food expenses because they’ll mostly be working from home.
But there’s another perk as to why Filipinos love working remotely: they can avoid traffic jams. Commuting to work and back can take as long as four or five hours a day if you live in Metro Manila.
For Filipinos with families or who want to live their life to the fullest, twenty hours a week is too much to ask. Remote work is the obvious solution to this problem. In that sense, you’re not just helping your business grow, you’re also helping a Filipino VA make the most of their time.
Want to hire your own VA?
Click here to find amazing talent waiting to work for you.
There are two ways to hire a Filipino VAs. You can partner with a recruitment agency and ask them to find you a Filipino VA, or you can outsource directly.
Recruitment agencies are middlemen. They have a large database of Filipino workers who do the labor—plus project managers and team leaders. But since you’re engaging them to fill a position in your business, you’ll have to pay a fee for the services they rendered.
The fees that they charge can be significant. Still, you can’t ignore the one edge these companies have over direct outsourcing: they already have people.
On the other hand, you can always do the hiring yourself.
Okay, where can I recruit top talent if I do the hiring myself?
Onlinejobs.ph is an online job board where you can post job ads and browse over 1 million Filipino VA resumes.
Everyone who’s serious about looking for a remote job is on Onlinejobs.ph, from software developers and content managers to social media handlers and graphic designers. You can even find lawyers, tutors, and physical therapists on Onlinejobs.ph.
* Disclosure: The link above is an affiliate link, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To find out more about our view on affiliate products, please see this page.
All you have to do is to create a free account on Onlinejobs.ph if you want to post a job ad or browse through resumes. However, you must upgrade your account before you can reach out to potential candidates.
For $69 a month, you can already hire as many Filipino workers as you need. And since we guarantee that you can hire Filipino VAs in 3 weeks, it’s like a one-time fee. You can cancel your Onlinejobs.ph subscription at any time
The site itself has an answer to this question, but the gist is that it was a disaster when they tried offering free trials.
“Employers” who could hire Filipino VAs for free ended up not paying job applicants after the “free trial.” Job seekers then became cautious and asked to be paid before they started their jobs to protect themselves from scammers. And then, because employers were relenting to pay before the job even started, some “job seekers” started disappearing after they got paid.
In short: it was a mess.
Because of this, Onlinejobs.ph decided to offer paid subscriptions instead. This discourages scammers from victimizing innocent job seekers. The paid subscription also assures job seekers that they can trust their potential employers. After all, a scammer wouldn’t go pay $69 a month just to get a free “paid test” article or two.
Hiring a Filipino VA who can contribute to your business is not that difficult. Here’s everything you need to know:
Week 1, Day 1: Preparing and posting the job ad
The first step in any hiring scenario is to identify what your business needs and what skills are necessary to fulfill them.
Do you need a Shopify expert? If so, what experience does your VA need to have to excel at the job? Are you looking for a content writer? Make sure you know what writing style you have in mind so you can specify that in the job ad.
A good job ad has the following information:
If you need a sample, here’s what a good job ad looks like:
HIRING: Social Media Manager (Part-time) - $200/month
Hello there. We're a blog on dog training that provides tips, tricks, and links to the best dog-related stuff on Amazon.We're looking for someone to manage our brand's Twitter account. The candidate must have experience growing a Twitter account and mining Twitter for possible affiliates. Love for dogs necessary.The social media manager can work any time of the day but must accomplish 4 hours each day (20 hours a week). Time tracker will be used. Salary is $2.5 an hour ($50 a week).Responsibilities include:- Making sure the account sends out a tweet every two hours
- Writing tweets
- Finding relevant photos, videos, or GIFs
- Promoting blogs and website content at least twice a day
- Finding possible affiliates and guest writers for the website
- Engaging with Twitter followers
- Increasing number of followersPlease respond with the subject line 'I love tweeting about dogs!' and with a link to past social media accounts that you've managed (preferably Twitter).When preparing your job ad, keep these tips in mind:
Now that you have a job ad, go ahead and post it. Set up your free Onlinejobs.ph account and get the paid subscription so you can get access to all the features Onlinejobs.ph has to offer.
Job ads typically get up to fifty responses in three days, so make sure to allot some time to sift through all those job applications.
Week 1, Day 3: Shortlisting applicants
This is the part that takes the longest. When shortlisting applicants, you’ll want to:
All these can take anywhere from three days to two whole weeks, especially if you’re on a tight schedule.
Furthermore, if this is your first time hiring a VA, it can be nerve-wracking. After all, hiring an employee isn’t just getting them to do a job; it’s entrusting a part of your business, as well.
That being said, remember that the right worker for your business doesn’t have to be the one with the most experience or the person with the lowest rates.
While your ideal employee should be qualified and should come at a rate that you can afford, they also need to be a good fit for your company. Think company culture. Think core values. Finding a job applicant that embodies both is the real definition of a good match.
Week 2: Introduce them to the business
Most business owners neglect to introduce their employees to the business properly. This can hurt your business in ways even you don’t recognize. After all, how does one expect an employee to perform well in a business they don’t know anything about?
Give them a brief history of your business. Introduce them to their co-workers, and provide them with proper training. Demonstrating how exactly you want something to be done is the best way to ensure your employee won’t disappoint you.
Here are a few tips:
End of Week 3: Take a break
Now that you know how to hire a Filipino VA, what’s next on the to-do list? Why, take a well-deserved break, of course! Whether your definition of a break is catching up with friends, sleeping for twelve hours straight, or devouring the latest finance articles on the New York Times—go ahead and do it…
…and then come back to Awesome Outsourcing for more tips, tricks, news, and guides on how to outsource to grow your business.
Are you looking to hire a VA?
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