Table of contents
The first thing you need to understand about the steps involved in outsourcing is that you’ve already been doing it. Whether you’re three weeks into your first venture or launching a new side business, a number of your business functions have already been delegated elsewhere—without you realizing it.
Take your website, for instance. It’s hosted by the likes of HostGator, BlueHost, or GoDaddy, and you pay annually for the services they provide. The same goes for your time tracking app, keyword research tools, and data analytics software.
By its very definition, outsourcing is having a business function carried out by a provider outside of your business. And “function” can mean anything from content writing and scheduling appointments… to website hosting and time tracking. So, in a sense, you’ve already been delegating tasks to “outsiders” from the get-go. They just happened to be programs instead of people.
Why indeed?
Many business owners are still apprehensive about outsourcing because they don’t know how to do it properly. Well, that’s what we’re here for. We’re going to guide you through each of the steps involved in outsourcing – from where to find the best workers to how to get them to stay.
Look, outsourcing remote workers is not going to be as easy as signing up for a subscription and clicking a few buttons, but it will be worth your time.
Here’s why.
Entrepreneur.com defines outsourcing as “the practice of having certain job functions done outside a company, instead of having an in-house department or employee handle them.” It isn’t exactly a groundbreaking concept in the business world. Business owners have been outsourcing jobs or even whole operations to subcontracted individuals, teams, or agencies for decades now.
In fact, Alibaba probably wouldn’t be the e-commerce behemoth it is today if it didn’t turn to outsourcing. Back when they were just starting out, Alibaba founder Jack Ma wanted to have a website that would cater to both domestic and foreign audiences. And since China was in short supply of development talent at the time, they decided to outsource their web development to a firm in the US. It was a brilliant move because it helped them establish the foundation of their multinational brand, and to this day, Alibaba still outsources many of their projects.
Google, meanwhile, partnered with technology service provider Globant when they attempted to build modular smartphones in 2014. And Slack had their logo, marketing, website, and mobile apps designed by an agency in Canada.
So you see, outsourcing is a tried-and-true strategy.
For small-to-medium-scale businesses, it may be worthwhile to consider outsourcing your payroll processing, accounting, content writing, software development, social media management, data entry, SEO, email marketing, and other small tasks. By delegating these tasks to outsourced personnel, you can take a step back and do what you’re supposed to do in the first place: focus on growing your business. After all, anybody can be trained and taught to perform simple tasks. But making sure your business continues to increase its revenue? That’s on you as the business owner.
As an added bonus, it also gives you some breathing space. Now, who wouldn’t want to have an enormous load taken off your shoulders? Keep yourself in tip-top shape, and your business will flourish as well.
While cost savings is no longer the primary reason for outsourcing, there is no denying that it plays a huge role in motivating companies to outsource. After all, remote workers from third-world countries only ask for a fraction of what US-based freelancers typically charge.
According to Payscale, an administrative assistant in the US makes over $40,000 a year (as of 2022). On the other hand, hiring an experienced remote worker from the Philippines will only cost you around $4,000 annually. That’s $4,000 for full-time work—8 hours a day, 5 days a week!
The table below compares the salaries of US-based workers and Philippines-based workers. Of course, this is only to give you an idea of how much you can save by outsourcing. Filipinos looking for jobs online may ask for more or less, depending on their experience:
Since remote workers don’t need an office, it’s also possible to run a business entirely from the comfort of your own home. That means you don’t need to pay for the expenses that come with running an office, such as rent, water and electricity, internet connection, and maintenance. This strategy allows you to decrease your overhead costs, which in turn will allow you to use the capital for more revenue-producing activities instead.
So, how do you know when to outsource? At this point, it’s recommended to perform a cost/time analysis. The truth is, there are tasks you should do yourself, and there are others that are better off outsourced.
Let’s say you know how to get your Amazon catalog up and running, complete with item photos and product descriptions. In this case, it may be more cost-efficient to do it yourself since you’ll want to nail down the voice and tone of your description. Getting someone else to do it will likely be a waste of time if you have to provide constant feedback. However, continuing to upload items on a daily basis may not be a smart move. It’s time-consuming and tiring. You’re better off using your time to contact suppliers instead of proofreading your product descriptions one by one.
If it’s a repetitive task, it’s better to hand it off to a remote worker.
That said, it’s tempting to have complete control over all your business operations. It’s your business, after all, and no one knows it better than you do. But no matter how driven you are, you can’t be an expert at everything. If you don’t have the skillset to do something, or if something needs to be done by a professional (like data analytics, web design, or bookkeeping), that’s your cue to bring someone else in. Admit it if you don’t know how to do something, and get someone on board to turn that weakness into a strength.
Don’t start to interview people if you don’t have enough tasks for them to do. Outsource jobs when they are ready to be outsourced. For example:
Of course, you can always hire people to help you plan all these and more. Just make sure you have the time to set up video meetings and brainstorming sessions. There’s no point in the cost-cutting if you’re paying them to do nothing.
This may be the most daunting of the steps involved in outsourcing. The internet can be a minefield. There are tons of job websites with thousands of people looking for jobs. A good number of them can help your business—but the question is: how do you find them?
There are several countries known for producing outsourced workers. These countries usually have lower living standards than the US, which means their expected salaries are way below what US workers expect.
Here are the top 10 leading countries in offshore business services according to Statista compared with their literacy rate and the percentage of English speakers against total population.
The Philippines and India are considered the top outsourcing destinations even though Malaysia also has one of the highest English-speaking populations among the countries on the list.
Deciding where to hire your remote workers is one of the most vital steps involved in outsourcing. You need to understand that there are potential drawbacks if you outsource to the wrong place because of language barriers and cultural differences.
Aside from having a higher literacy rate than India (72.1%), the Philippines (96.3%) also speak better English professionally. Global English’s study on business English skills shows that the Philippines scored 7.1 on the Business English Index (BEI) scale, with 1 being “Beginner English” and 10 “Advanced English.” Meanwhile, India scored a 5.5 BEI, Malaysia a 6.0 BEI, and China a 4.4 BEI.
English has long been one of the official languages of the Philippines (since 1935), and it is used as a medium of communication in business, school, and media. Filipinos also use English in daily conversations and often have a neutral accent, making them an asset for customer service operations.
American business owners often find that they get along better with Filipinos better than Indians because Filipino culture is highly westernized. The American influence on the country’s culture is clear for all to see. In fact, Filipinos are completely in tune, with American slang, pop culture, and politics.
Pew Research Center even reported that the Philippines ranks #1 in the list of US-loving countries. This is likely because the Philippines was an American colony for 48 years – from 1898 to 1946 – and the US has maintained its ties with the country since then. More than 220,000 Americans reside in the country, with over 650,000 visiting annually.
On the other hand, India was once a British colony that maintained most of its own traditions and customs. They are not as familiar with American culture as Filipinos are and they have a different work ethic.
John Jonas, a Utah-based entrepreneur who has been outsourcing his business for over 10 years, puts it this way: “[Indians] simply think differently than we [Americans] do.”
He also relayed the story of one of his friends, who shared that, “In India, when you tell them something and they say ‘yes,’ that means, ‘Yes, I heard something come out of your mouth.’ But it doesn’t mean, ‘Yes, I understood what you said.'”
Want to hire your own VA?
Click here to find amazing talent waiting to work for you.
Onlinejobs.ph is an online job market portal exclusive to Filipino outsourced workers and open to international employers. Similar to other online job markets, all you need to do is create an account, post a job ad, and wait for your email to fill with job applications.
* 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.
This website’s strength is that it’s basically a resume database. You can browse for workers according to industry, the date the listing was created, skill level, and desired salary. It also has an ID Proof system, which is a measure of how likely resumes are to be accurate. The higher the score, the more trustworthy the job applicant.
Unlike other job sites, there are no extra fees to be paid for hiring someone at Onlinejobs.ph. However, you will have to pay for a subscription to make the most out of the site and communicate with the virtual workers who applied for the job.
OnlineJobs.ph offers two pricing plans: the Pro plan for $69/month and the Premium plan for $99/month.
The Premium plan allows you to post up to 10 job ads and contact up to 500 candidates per month. You will also have access to their worker mentoring service and a comprehensive video guide to finding, hiring, and managing virtual workers from the Philippines. With the Pro plan, you will get to post up to 3 job ads and communicate with up to 75 candidates per month. Both plans give you access to OnlineJobs. ph’s virtual assistant tracking software and payment system.
Apart from that, there’s no strings attached—you can cancel as soon as you hire someone. There’s also an option to have Onlinejobs.ph do the recruiting for you.
Upwork is the job market to go to for a more diverse set of potential employees. The site boasts millions of job ads and millions of resumes. While that means you’ll never run out of outsourced workers, it also means you’re competing with millions of other job ads, making it harder to find Filipino workers.
The service charges employers a 3% processing fee per payment transaction. They also charge virtual workers a sliding fee of 20% to 5% per transaction.
Employers are also asked to specify a job’s duration, making Upwork’s system ideal for project-based opportunities.
Indeed is another global job board—one that operates in 60 countries worldwide. The site allows you to create a free account and post a job in 5 minutes, although it’s likely to get buried within a day.
Indeed recommends that you pay for a “sponsored job” so your ad will appear more often in search results. How it works is that you set a budget for your sponsored job, and you’re only charged when someone clicks on your sponsored job ad.
If you want to find a virtual worker without spending all that money on processing fees, you can go through LinkedIn profiles (for all industries), or Behance and Dribble (for graphic designers).
LinkedIn is a professional networking site, and its basic plan allows you to search and view profiles like most other social media. Behance and Dribble, on the other hand, are portfolio-based websites.
People aren’t actively looking for jobs on these sites, however, so you will want to email or message potential recruits for the position you’re hiring for.
Filipinos pride themselves on being honest, hardworking, and compassionate. These traits are part of what they believe makes them Filipino. In fact, they actually teach these values to kids in school. And while there are outliers out there, the majority of Filipino workers you’ll meet will embody these values.
Of course, Filipino workers aren’t perfect. To be able to work with them, you need to understand something important about their culture: they are very respectful.
That might not sound like a problem, but in reality, that actually presents some challenges:
So how do you work with Filipinos? It’s easy.
Two things:
While Filipinos are skilled and quick to learn, they don’t always have the same level of training and experience you have. Make sure you teach them how you want things to be done. Give them examples. Encourage them to ask questions. Better yet: anticipate the questions they may have (but are too shy to ask).
The trick is to show them that it can be done. Given time, they will feel more comfortable with you, and they may even start calling you by your first name.
With all the initial steps involved in outsourcing behind us, it’s time for the next phase. Now that you know all there is to know about outsourcing, this next part is a guide to doing it right.
It often takes business owners several attempts before they’re able to find the right virtual workers for them. So here’s the foolproof guide to outsourcing your business.
Onlinejobs.ph is the most reliable place to find Filipino virtual workers who won’t charge you a fortune. You’ll likely see desired monthly salaries of around 25,000 pesos. That’s approximately $500 a month, and you don’t even have to worry about paying taxes. You may even find applicants willing to work for below $200.
Since finding your first outsourced worker isn’t going to take you more than two weeks, paying for a one-month subscription at Onlinejobs.ph is only going to set you back by $69.
At this point, you should know what you want and need in a potential employee.
Make sure you have a well-written job ad that has everything job seekers need to know. Job ads without details are not likely to get applications because they look suspicious.
Be honest about your budget and job expectations. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting time on job applicants who are nowhere near compatible with what you need.
You don’t need to include details about your business yet, but in some cases, it helps. For instance, if you’re looking for a writer for your gaming blog, it’s important to specify that you’re in the gaming niche. Otherwise, you may get job applicants who don’t actually know anything about the gaming industry.
Here’s a list of what Filipino job seekers typically need to know:
Beware: Some job seekers send cover letters without reading your job ad thoroughly. If you’re not careful, you may end up interviewing someone who isn’t the right person for the job.
We recommend that you include an instruction like “Put GINGER in the subject line of your cover letter.” This is a simple test that will show you who read and didn’t read your job ad.
To give you an idea of what not to do, here’s an example of a badly-written job ad:
If you followed our GINGER suggestion, then it’s going to be easy to filter through dozens of messages. Simply ignore the emails without GINGER in the subject line. After that, it’s a matter of reading the remaining job applications and narrowing them down to 10-15 and then to 5.
If applicable, you can also request a paid test. This will show you which of them are serious about getting the job. It also demonstrates that you are serious about hiring them and paying them on time.
Once you have your shortlisted candidates, you can schedule the job interviews. While it’s nice to give them an idea of what kind of questions to expect during the job interview, it’s not necessary.
It’s also recommended that you ask for professional references so you get an accurate description of what your job applicants are like.
Once you’ve hired your first virtual worker, you’ll have to make sure they’re going to stay with you. Often, a business owner just hires a virtual worker, gives them a list of things to do, then stops talking to them until they have another list of things to do.
Think: if you were in their place, would you like the situation you’re in? No, you wouldn’t. Remember, they are humans, too, and it’s important to communicate with them.
On their first day with you, treat them as you would treat a new employee at the office. Introduce them to their co-workers and assure them that you’re glad they’re on board. Most importantly (and this is something very few employers do):
Make them like your business.
This is perhaps the most crucial of the steps involved in outsourcing. Explain what your business is all about, how it works, and why you’re doing what you’re doing. Show them why you’re so passionate about the products you sell or the services you provide. Share your vision with them and tell them where you want to take the company in a few years. Tell them about the customers whose lives you’ve changed.
It’s a very simple thing to do, and it’s not time-consuming at all. But it can work wonders for your working relationship. They’ll be more likely to trust you, they’ll be motivated to work harder, and they’ll feel like they’re part of the business even if all they’re doing is monitoring your social media accounts.
Starting your working relationship with training sessions or modules ensures better performance from your virtual worker and makes your new employee more confident about working with you. Additionally, it’s easier to communicate when you’re on the same page. You don’t want to define every business term you mention in your conversations, do you?
It’s also recommended that you require daily reports from your workers. Here’s a good set of questions for them to answer:
With these updates, you can track how your virtual workers are using their time each day, and you can help them immediately if they run into problems.
Now that you know what’s involved in hiring virtual Filipino workers, make sure you check out our other outsourcing tips. There is still a lot to learn about working with Filipinos.
Do you have any experience outsourcing to the Philippines—both good and bad? Share your stories with us below!
Are you looking to hire a VA?
Click here if you’re looking for someone to work for you remotely.