Every once in a while something happens that changes your perspective.
It gives you insight into something unexpected and it changes your behavior moving forward.
Covid was that way for me.
12 days of sick after years of not being sick.
I missed the mountains. My skis. My bike.
I gained some empathy for people who are sick.
Tuesdays email about the best way to pay was another one of those perspective changes.
I got a bunch of emails of people wanting more.
Here are 8 payment tips.
1. Never pre-pay. If someone new asks you to pre-pay, it’s likely a scam.
Always pay after the pay period. After someone has worked for me for 6 months or so, I’ll be more lenient with this.
2. I pay monthly or bi-monthly. When you get started, you should probably pay weekly for the first 2 months. Filipinos are really scared of doing a bunch of work and not getting paid. At first, they don’t trust you. Paying weekly is a good way to gain their trust. After a couple months, it’s ok to go to bi-weekly or monthly payments.
3. I pay a fixed salary. Every person on my team knows exactly how much they’re going to get paid every month. It’s a lot easier to budget and plan when you know.
4. Hourly pay is almost always equated with part-time work. If they’re working hourly for you, they’re probably looking for salaried work somewhere else.
5. I don’t pay based off of tracked time. It’s a bad idea.
6. I don’t track people’s time. I expect them to do good work. If they’re not, I can almost always tell. Usually an exploratory email about low work performance lets me solve any problems that arise.
7. I pay the 13th month at the end of the year.
8. I pay with EasyPay
John
This answered a lot of questions I had. How many sick days do you give the first year?
I don’t have a set number of sick days. I tell my people they can take off whatever time they want/need. If they’re sick, just let me know.
I’ve never had someone take advantage of this.
My reason for doing it this way is
1. it’s easier for me. There’s nothing to keep track of.
2. once I’ve hired someone, I want them to work for me forever. I want to treat them well. I want to do whatever I can to keep them working for me.
Do you have a tutorial for using EasyPay? When I clicked on the link, it give payment option of using PayPal. So I’m a bit confused how I can use this so it doesn’t charge my VA a processing fee. Thanks for your help!
What about when they want to take vacations? How many days of paid vacation do you pay?
It’s completely up to you.
From the beginning I’ve told my people they an have as many days off as they want. I just want to know ahead of time when they’re going to take days off.
If they’re sick, just let me know as soon as possible. Often my team will text a teammate and let the teammate know they’re sick and have the teammate email me. I let them have as much time as they want/need.