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The Philippines is a very "Christian" culture. Actually, they're very Catholic christian. And, they're not even necessarily practicing Catholic, but it's still a huge part of their culture. They're also more family focused than work focused (this is the opposite of...

The Philippines had a rough 2025. The back-to-back earthquakes and typhoons have taken a toll on the country. Julia even told me that she was starting to experience “disaster fatigue”, being bombarded with news about another disaster almost every day. Because of that,...

I don’t talk about Christmas bonuses much, but I know some of you are interested in giving this to your VA instead of or in addition to the 13th month. So I’m going to answer some of the most common questions I get about this, plus a few things you need to know. 1. Is...

tl;dr The worst time to hire: December The best time to hire: Whenever NOW is Full story: Hiring close to the holiday season is one of the worst times to hire a Filipino virtual assistant. More on this lower down. It’s not all bad news. Finding a great VA is easy most...

One of the things I’m super thankful for this year is our AI matching tool. (https://www.onlinejobs.ph/tellmewhotohire) It works really well and we’ve got a lot of good feedback about it. - AI is amazing - DON'T use it for everything (don't have it think for you) - AI...

It's the holiday season in the US. But in the Philippines...it's REALLY the holiday season. Yesterday was Bonifacio day. This is usually a full holiday but the government decided this year not to move holidays that fall on Saturday/Sunday to Friday/Monday.  Your OFS...

With Thanksgiving coming soon, here are a few things I'm thankful for. - My wife - My kids - My relationship with God - My bike/skis Now the work stuff you're interested in: - We have 53 OFS who are amazing. They do great work. I'm so grateful for my team. FYI, my...

I get a lot of questions about the 13th month around this time. Recently I had a number of people tell me how they do it differently: 1. Giving a 13th week instead of a 13th month.  Instead of giving the 13th month at the end of the year, one business owner opted to...

I still see people trying to pay $1 an hour for a Filipino virtual assistant. That’s not “smart business.” That’s unethical. They can’t live on that. No one can. Some want a VA with 5 years of experience, practically experts in their field, but they’re only offering...

TL;DR The worst time to hire: December The best time to hire: Whenever NOW is Full story: Hiring close to the holiday season is one of the worst times to hire a Filipino virtual assistant. More on this lower down. It’s not all bad news. Finding a great VA is easy most...

I'll keep this short. More info to come in a few days. The Philippines is currently being hit with an other really strong typhoon. It's the second "super typhoon" in a week. Usually when a typhoon hits it only hits a specific part of the Philippines. However, the last...

When we think of martial arts, we think of karate, sumo wrestling, and judo from Japan, kung fu from China, and taekwondo from Korea. Many cultures have some form of martial art. We know them because we see them in movies and TV. Once they're popular, people start...

Today, I got this message from Joven (my project manager) on Basecamp. "Hi Sir John and Dan Visayas is currently hit by Typhoon Tino (International name:Kalmaegi).  Cebu is severely flooded. Iloilo has no power and under signal number 4. Paul informed me via chat....

The scenario: You hire a great VA. Things are going super well. Then, it's 3 weeks in, or 3 months in, and you notice they're not doing as much work.  Productivity is down. And they're making more mistakes. You deal with it for a few weeks, then you get frustrated....

It’s time to start preparing for your Filipino VAs’ 13th month. The 13th month is optional, but I highly recommend giving your VA this benefit once you can afford it. It's paid in December, the earlier in the month the better (for them). The 13th month is NOT a...

November 1 and 2 are All Saints and All Souls Days, which are regular holidays in the Philippines. As of a couple days ago, October 31 is a special non-working holiday. They celebrate All Saints and All Souls Day very similarly to the way Mexico celebrates the Day of...

Wondering if VAs apply to your specific business? Even the most unlikely businesses are using Filipino VAs to help them be more efficient or bring in more customers. Dentists. Ryan mainly works as a copywriter for a group of dentists, but he’s capable of doing so much...

I'm late with this news.  Very late. Julia was sick. I just had ACL reconstruction surgery. We're not very timely right now. This is still relevant so you understand what goes on in the Philippines. The Philippines recently experienced back-to-back-to-back...

One of our biggest and hardest-working teams at Onlinejobs.ph is our customer service. That’s because they do a lot. I recently asked them to list everything they’re doing. Here’s what they sent me. ​​Email and chat support for Onlinejobs.ph website and sister...

I know, you're worried about getting scammed. But...what about the people on the other end? Are they worried about it? Scamming workers to get free work is a common problem on every platform. Filipinos are especially scared of it. This is why they see test tasks as...

I’ve talked about Jam, one of my VAs, before. He doesn’t work from home. He carpools his daughter and several other kids to an exclusive school 25km away from his house. Driving that far every day is expensive and exhausting. So instead of going home, he stays at...

My business partner, Dan, and I let our team take paid time off over the holidays and unlimited leave because our business doesn’t have many time-sensitive tasks. This system works for us, but I know many businesses where this arrangement won’t work at all. Holidays...

What do you do when you get “bitten” by too many applicants on your job post? There are 2 ways I sift: my old way and my new way. (hint, the new way is MUCH better) 1. Pause your job post…now! Once you get past 30 or so job applications, it’s hard to sift through...

Maybe you think: "I need to get organized before hiring someone." Or that: You cannot, in good conscience, hire a Filipino VA and bring that person into your chaos. This is wrong. Good business owners hire to buy back their time. You hire someone to organize for you....

I’ve never answered this question publicly before, so I wanted to share it with you. Hi John! I came across your content today, and am glad to have found it. I’m currently trying to figure out if it makes sense to get an EOR for my Filipino worker, as she is working...

Filipinos use familial titles or honorifics when referring to their family members. This isn’t unique to the Philippines. Here in the US, we use honorifics. We call our mothers “mom” and our fathers “dad”. We hear it in Spanish-speaking countries when they call their...

It's going to happen to you: "Sir, I'm really embarrassed but I need to ask for a loan" I've talked about using your judgment when it comes to deciding whether or not you should give your VA a loan.  This isn't easy. Especially when you know that your VA is already in...

Even though most of the Philippines is prepared to deal with natural disasters, knowing that your VA might be affected by the latest typhoon can be stressful. First and foremost, you’re worried about their safety. Secondly, you’re also worried about their work; when...

I've been teaching hiring VAs and OFS for 20 years now. I thought that I had covered everything there is to cover. Then I got this email: My VA's are SOOOOO good, and I admit that I feel sheepish about paying them less than someone in the US, when they are better in...

A month ago I sent a newsletter about  how frustrating it is when Filipinos have multiple jobs. I got a lot of responses. This one from Austin was particularly insightful: ... I’d counter argue that it is an issue of not having clear goals for your employees. If an...

A while back, I wrote about the three outsourcing myths that needed to die. Immediately after I sent it out, Sheila replied with this gem. Hey, John! We've hired several part-time people from OnlineJobs.ph and here's a myth that I think needs to be dispelled: You have...

You’re scared of hiring a Filipino VA or an Online Filipino Specialist (OFS) because of the unknown of what it actually looks like. Let me tell you what it actually looks like in my business most of the time. First, I’ve gone through the process I teach at...

I’ve been very vocal about my dislike for Halloween and how much I appreciate how Filipinos celebrate All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day. I was intrigued when one of my writers, Princess, told me about Ghost Month, which starts between August and September in the...

We're constantly working to make hiring VAs easier. Our AI Matching is evolving and improving rapidly. The latest addition: 3 questions you should/could ask the VA in an interview. Here’s an example below. It's very insightful. Every applicant will have different...

"I need to create SOPs before I hire someone" That's fine. You can. But you're wasting your time. Why? Because you don't know what the VA doesn't know until you hire them and try it. Hire first. Create simple training second. Skip the SOP.  Use Snagit. Or Loom. Or...

I got this email from Louise a few days ago: I wanted to get your advice. I recently made a new hire through your site. I employed a lady and I’m happy with her work. The only problem I am having is that she is constantly asking for loans and early payments. This is...

The short answer is: No. It’s not because there aren’t any legal requirements. It’s just that most of the legal requirements aren’t really your responsibility. They're your Filipino VAs. The more detailed explanation is that your Filipino virtual assistant is an...

I've been hiring OFS (or "VAs") since 2005, and despite the prevalence of information, some outsourcing myths persist. Here are the top 3 worst ones and why you need to stop believing in them. 1. You need to be super prepared and ready before you start outsourcing. ...

We have made numerous improvements over the years to Onlinejobs.ph to make hiring easier and faster. We’ve released ebooks. We have a YouTube channel dedicated to hiring. We want to provide education if you want it to make hiring easier. We created IDProof, Apply...

Many of us are fortunate to have never experienced a terrifying natural disaster. But for Filipinos who go through it 20 times a year, even though they’re used to it, it can still be scary. Henny (a small business owner with VAs working for them) wanted to know what...

There’s a long weekend coming up on August 23, 24, and 25. August 25 is a Monday and the Philippines’ National Heroes Day. It’s a regular holiday, so if you’re giving your Filipino VAs paid time off during Philippine holidays, expect them to be off on that day. But…...

Finding an Online Filipino Specialist to do marketing work is easy. There are so many people with so many skills. This is really easy. Finding a Filipino VA for sales is not as common. Don’t get me wrong, there are many Filipinos who can do sales, but even I can...

I encourage Julia to write about Filipino culture. It's interesting to see a culture that is so influenced by Western culture, yet still deeply rooted in Asian traditions. However, lately, Julia has been having a hard time with this because Filipino culture isn’t a...

Do you have to train your VA? "Can't i buy a training program and pass it on to the VA to implement on my behalf without me having to go through the training myself?" The best way would be to create training specific for your Filipino Virtual Assistant. You can do...

It’s been a few days since Typhoon Crising left the Philippines. I wrote about this last week to talk about how bad it was. I wish I could say everything’s better now, but there are still parts of the Philippines, particularly in Metro Manila and other urbanized...

I just read this excellent blog post from my friend Dennis Yu: https://dennisyu.com/the-mindless-video-editor-and-seo-expert-are-irreversibly-doomed/ Reading this reminded me of why I would rather hire someone young and hungry rather than someone who is super skilled...

Julia, my OFS who I turn to for a lot of content support, was sick with the stomach flu for a week. I’m glad she’s finally back. It was bad, but thankfully, she didn’t need to be hospitalized. She just had to take meds and rest at home. I was worried for her health,...

The Philippines recently experienced a strong typhoon. Tropical Storm Wipha (Typhoon Crising) was a big one. It displaced around 300,000 people and caused flooding in numerous heavily populated areas....

One of the life-changing things I hear about from my OFS (Online Filipino Specialist) and other people’s OFS is how having a full-time job lets them move up in life. Often, that means moving out of poverty into a middle-class home or neighborhood. In the Philippines,...

The Philippines is a very Westernized country. This is one of the reasons why they’re such a great outsourcing destination. But as you talk to Filipinos and work with them for a long time, you will start to see that there are still some things that they don’t...