HUSBAND. FATHER. DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST.
ENTREPRENEUR. MEDIOCRE GOLFER.

You’re ready to hire another OFS for your team. Should you delegate that process to your OFS? That’s the question Corey asked in his email. John, Gotta confess - most of the time I can't stand people's weekly emails and usually unsubscribe. Your emails haven't met...

What I'm about to say is totally optional for you. But it's also really good. I give my workers at Onlinejobs.ph additional pay for insurance premiums. I pay for their PhilHealth, health insurance, and SSS. Because I don’t have a business entity in the Philippines, I...

I have a friend who lives in Chile. The other day he sent me a photo of his kids: Everywhere else in the world it's HOT! (at least...it seems that way) Here are a few typical Filipino cold desserts according to Julia: Halo-halo. This beloved dessert is now known...

Everyone wants to hire experienced workers. I get it. An experienced OFS can get to work right away. They require less training and onboarding, giving you a faster investment return. ...in theory. But you know what? Some of the best people I've hired were newbies....

Security is one of the biggest concerns people have when working with an OFS. What if my OFS gets hacked? How secure is the internet in the Philippines? I understand these concerns. We often see it in the news and in movies about how hackers can steal your...

Vacation!!! Such a happy topic. But not so much in the Philippines. It comes with stress there. We’re pretty generous when it comes to giving paid time off here at Onlinejobs.ph. We tell our people they can take as much time off as they want. But I have always felt...

Our lead generation isn't the same as your lead gen. My business is different than yours. But lead generation is still critical to almost all businesses, so here are some ideas for you from ways my team does it for me. - participating in forums - they regularly make...

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit Luzon, with Abra, a province in Northern Luzon, as its epicenter, last Tuesday (July 26). This earthquake was so strong that the effects were felt all the way in Manila, which is 270 miles away. This has reminded a lot of people of the...

Mistakes are a part of life. There are a lot of things in my life that I wish I could change. But the one thing I’ve never regretted is doing something and failing at it. Most of my regrets are things that I didn’t do or started too late. Like with my business, I made...

I've always found foreign currencies interesting. I'm so used to the green USD that when I first saw other money I thought it was strange. Now I often use foreign currency as a bookmark souvenir of where I've been. Most of the world uses paper and linen for their...

Remember back when we used to think that in the future, we’d finally be rid of COVID and get back to normal? Those were the good old days. Now, we look at COVID like it’s the flu or the common cold. You don’t want to get it, but you’ll get it sooner or later. When you...

I'm the type of person who asks for forgiveness rather than for permission. I tend to jump in, before I know exactly how to make it work. I rarely read instructions. These were all good things helping me figure out how to outsource to OFS. There was no manual when I...

A few of you will remember this photo: It's from when my 3rd baby was born.  The baby who gave my wife pre-eclampsia and caused "strict bedrest" for my wife. The baby who set me on a path to work 17 hours/week for the past 12 years. The baby who forced me to really...

I'm all about family time. And, if I can include family time with friend time, even better. That's one of the reasons I love Lake Powell. I just got back from a week at Lake Powell, where we taught a bunch of little girls how to braid hair, and how to surf: Including...

Wow, I didn’t really expect a lot of people to respond to a newsletter about breakfast. I’m not super passionate about food. For me, food is fuel. I eat to keep myself healthy. My wife says I don't have a "relationship with food".  It's just something necessary for...

One of the hardest things to do when you get back from vacation is putting away everything that you brought with you. There’s also the cleaning and the organizing. It’s so much work that sometimes you feel like you need a vacation after coming home from vacation. We...

Late last year, a typhoon hit Cebu, which affected several of my OFS, mostly our developers. One of the OFS who was affected is Mark, who works as a web designer and front-end developer for us. Cebu is 2nd largest IT hub in the Philippines. A lot of people move there...

“John, can you just recruit for me? The fact that you made OneVAAway tells me you have it down to a science. I really don’t have the time to do it myself. Let me just pay you to recruit people for me.” I get a version of that message in my email and social media at...

While on our bike trip I heard about inflation all over the place. Gas is $8-9/gallon! Inflation is affecting everybody, including your OFS. I got this email from Tiffany. Hi John, Sorry to bother you on your holiday, but I got a rather urgent note from my VAs today...

This email contains free training to give to your OFS. I'm sending this out because it has been requested so many times. Training an OFS sucks. I know you don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. It's not fun. It takes time. It requires you to think. It's 1000%...

Today is Independence Day in the USA. I'm at Lake Powell. I've often found that holiday mornings are some of the most productive times for me. Nobody expects normal work. It's a good time to spend an hour working on your business rather than in. Spending 10 minutes...

I just got back from cycling across Europe for a month. No laptop. That's right. I didn't take my laptop with me. "But John...I've been getting your emails 4 times per week for the past month.  I've seen your ads on Facebook and Youtube. How?" Guess. Yep...OFS....

A few years ago my grandparents (my dad's side) died at 99 and 100 years old.  They died a few months apart, both of them still at home.  They never went to a care facility. I don't hope to live that long, but I certainly have some long living genetics. This is...

Brett sent me this email in response to the previous email about having regular meetings with your OFS. Hey John! I meet with my VA every 6 to 8 weeks. These meetings are not particularly productive, but that is not the point. Systems and quick communication will...

Voting brings a lot of emotion. During the last election cycle my wife and I had some different views.  We had a number of heated conversations. Nothing ever got out of control...but it wasn't our normal. We ended up coming really close together and having really...

I get emails like this from a lot of people. But I’m featuring Mitchell’s email here because it also gave a great suggestion. Hey John! I've listened to every podcast episode you have, I love them, short and sweet and to the point which I appreciate it. I would love...

The Philippines has a long history and understanding some of it helps understand the people. Before the Spanish colonized the Philippines in the 1500s, it already had a rich history of writing using an indigenous alphabet called baybayin. If you want to learn more...

After reaching the pass the other day we had a long fun decent. At the bottom was an amazing river which we followed uphill for a long ways. Maybe 20 miles. The end miles were steep…just like the beginning miles were steep. Hard. After sleeping we didn’t really know...

On our bike trip, we could only bring a small bag for our clothes. It’s called a saddle bag and fits under the bike seat. Here’s my wife’s bike fully packed: The rest of the bags are for food or gear or other essentials. The saddle bag is about 18” long and 6-8” in...

Dan sent me this screenshot a few days ago. This guy, Marshall, shared his experience when he went to his dentist. Normally, you’d have a receptionist greet you and get your information for your appointment. Instead, Marshall was greeted by a virtual Filipino...

Last Sunday, a volcano in the Philippines erupted, resulting in the evacuation of around 1,500 families. The volcano, Mount Bulusan, is in Sorsogon (Bicol Region). It’s part of the southernmost region of Luzon. It’s about 320 miles (517 km) away from Manila and just...

I got this great email from Kymn. She writes: Hi John, LOVE your newsletter! Quick question:  99% of my communication with my VA is via email.  We used to meet on zoom frequently and now we do not anymore. Her work is still excellent. I’m wondering if it is a mistake...

I believe when you do good in the world, it comes back to you 10-fold. We see this all the time but still, sometimes it's hard to believe.  Also, as people, we have self-protective instincts. We want to make sure that we get our fair share and that nobody takes...

I’m a typical dad.  When we pull up to something interesting, I want to point it out to my kids and maybe explain it.  Sometimes they want to hear it and sometimes they don’t. We’ve visited a number of cathedrals since we’ve been here in Europe. They’re pretty...

We do big projects all the time. These big projects can be improvements to Onlinejobs.ph. Or when I launch new products like OutsourcingLever.com, OneVAAway.com, OFSGuide.com, or VAsMadeEasy.com. Or just stuff that I've always wanted to try because I know they'd be...

I’m currently on a mini-retirement like Tim Ferris talks about in the 4 Hour Work Week. We started in Paris and cycled east.  We moved into Germany and the Black Forest: The riding has been amazing.  As has been the food! We’re here for a month and I didn’t bring a...

We’re on day 4 of 30 as we passed through the gates of the medieval city of Provins. I  wondered what life must have been like 1000 years ago for the people here. The primary focus of daily life was still survival for most people. After 52 miles of riding survival was...

When we arrived at the Paris airport I really thought we were making a scene. 7 people, 5 bike bags, an obvious family all walking in a line together: It was a mild scene compared to when we put our bike “kits” on (“Kit” is what we call a cycling uniform): I didn’t...

I haven’t been in Paris for about 10 years. The last time I was here we saw all the big tourist sights. Notre Dame, Versailles, Eiffel Tower, Catacomsbs, sewers, museums, Seine… This time…not so much. I have my 5 kids with me. They weren’t interested in going into the...

Filipinos don’t want to steal data. In my opinion, you’re more likely to have your data stolen by someone who’s working with you in your office. I know it’s a pretty bold claim. I have no empirical data to support this, just anecdotal, so you can take everything I’ve...

My OFS, Jamie, sent me this link last week. It’s a news article from the American Journal of Transportation, and it mentions Onlinejobs.ph as one of the websites last-mile carriers use to help them with their labor shortage....

The Philippines just concluded its elections and it looks like Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is going to win. This was a really controversial election for them. Emotions are running high because there’s so much history with his family. Some are really happy about the results...

This email probably should have happened 2 weeks ago, but that's not how the Philippines does it. May 3rd was Eid'l Fitr or the end of Ramadan. It was a regular holiday in the Philippines (full day off for almost everyone).  But they didn't announce it was a day off...

I've always been driven by freedom. It's a primary motivator for me. Time freedom. Money freedom. Responsibility freedom. I always work towards systems which will provide me freedom. Like, if there’s a task that takes too much time I either outsource it or say no to...

Earlier this week I talked about security with OFS. Let's go a little deeper. Like, deep into your business with a bookkeeper.  They're likely to see everything! Here's an email from Tatiana: Hello, I have hired my first OFS at the beginning of the year and it's going...