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

I know, I know…You want to hire someone and pay them hourly.  It's just so much simpler that way.   Paying hourly is low commitment.Paying hourly is an easy out for you.Paying hourly means if they're not working, you're not paying for it. But paying hourly...

My OFS Julia writes: Years ago, John wrote this post about how you can determine your VAs English skills based on what they watched when they were kids. https://johnjonas.com/philippines-outsourcing-tip-sesame-street-vs-batibot-determining-english-skills/ This...

"What are your goals?" I ask it regularly.   My teenager asks "Should I go with friends and do this or should I do my bike training ride?" What are your goals? Do you want to win? Training ride.Do you want to relax?  Social. You can't always have both. My...

One of my kids chores (on Wednesday specifically) is to ask mom for a chore. "Mom, what can I do for you." Ummm…you can wipe the counter down.Ummm…you can break down all the boxes and put them in recycling.Ummm…you can help Brigg find his shoes. We're constantly...

"Sir, I'm coming to Utah in 2 weeks." And then...he actually came! Kiel had worked for me for 9 years when this happened.   He and his family came to the US to tour (he comes from a family of doctors).  They drove from Vegas to Salt Lake in the afternoon,...

I exercise almost every day.   Not every day is a big adventure...but often they turn into adventures. 4, 5, 6 hours in the backcountry skiing or riding our mountain bikes to the mountains, up over the mountains, and then back over to get back home. We do lots of...

When my wife had our third child it was rough. She had spent 3 weeks on bed rest before having the baby. The doctor told us that was necessary. What I didn't expect was how rough it would be for her after she had the baby. For 2 months my wife really struggled. ...

Since 2009 we've provided hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Philippines. It's something we're proud of. Here's why (from Julia, my Online Filipino Content Specialist): -----When I was growing up, coming from a single parent home was actually pretty common. But it's...

Sunday dinner is a big thing at our house. Has been since I got married. My wife's family all lives close. We get together for family dinner almost every Sunday. It's great. We talk.We play games.We ignore the kids.The kids run wild.We share food...

"I'm sorry it's taking so long Sir.  I had to learn a new programming language to accomplish what you wanted.  The way you asked me to do it was impossible." I was shocked. I'm a programmer.  I thought the task I had given him was pretty...

Every year in February/March we get a warm spell. My wife always tells me "How about you put your pants away and pull out your shorts? Because I know better.  It's going to get cold again. Every year during that warm week all the people with Jeeps take the tops...

My son butt dialed me today. A butt dial!!! Who knew that was still a thing in 2021.  Don't we all have passwords on our phones? Apparently his is glitching.  While he rides his bike with his phone in his sweaty jersey pocket, I guess it unlocks and makes...

It's spring.Everything is blooming. Animals are out.Flowers are out. It's warm (at least…sometimes). My wife is in heaven.  She thrives on the warm.  I thrive on the cold.  Snow does something magical to my body and soul. Heat does it to hers....

Writes Julia, my online Filipino content specialist: Summer (more accurately known as the dry and hot season) here in the Philippines usually starts around March and continues up until June or July. Here's to give you some perspective on how hot it can get here in the...

What?  There's another stray cat hanging around our house? Are you serious? No you can't keep it! She did what?  She gave it a rotisserie chicken? And it puked all over the back porch? No you can't keep it! DO NOT GIVE IT A NAME! Get it out of the house...

My kids had a bike race last week. We have to travel to almost all bike races, so messing up is a big deal.  We made 4 mistakes:1. I forgot my race day bag.  Duh!2. We didn't bring any race day nutrition. 3. We forgot chamois cream. It lubricates...

I have a friend (like a brother) who was born on April fools day. I'm not a real fan of April fools day, but... Growing up we thought it was super funny to give him rocks and dirt in a present. He was never super disappointed, he knew what we were doing. But by the...

Sometimes when you have a bad habit you just need something to snap you out of it. I tried it today with my daughter. She has chores, homework, and other responsibilities... Yet she sat in front of the TV. We had a little chat. In the middle of the chat, when I said...

My first grader is obsessed with wall ball. "Wall ball" is a game involving throwing a ball against a wall with a bunch of kids and making up all kinds of silly rules to get people "out".   He walks around with a "wall ball" (racquetball) all the time.He throws...

I have mercury poisoning. Oh, I'm doing a lot better right now than I was. When I was first tested I was in the 99th percentile of people who get tested (yeah, the 99th percentile of people who think they have mercury poisoning. It was bad. I couldn't remember...

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....

Over the years I've used a lot of different ways to pay my OFS team. I started with Xoom.com. Then they freaked out and started telling people they couldn't use Xoom for business transactions.  I can't even tell you how many people I know got stranded because...

My favorite movie of all time is Home Alone. I know... I was in 7th grade and saw it in the theatre. I remember my stomach hurting from laughing so hard.  The pain was so bad I didn't know what to do, but I also couldn't stop laughing.   As an adult, it's...

I knew I had covid within an hour of the symptoms coming on.   No idea where I got it. But the immediate fever and chills were obvious. I don't get sick very often.  I haven't had a fever in years.I live a pretty healthy life. So of course I expected the...

Julia, my OFCS (Online Filipino Content Specialist): As I was checking John's emails for him, I see a lot of questions like: "How can you trust your VA with personal information?""How can you trust your VA with financial information?""How can you trust your VA with...

"How do I know if I can trust them?" <-- the #1 question I get asked "How do I trust them with sensitive information" <-- The #4 question I get asked Last week at the end of an email I asked how other people handle sensitive data.Everyone responded about...

The worst advice I ever heard? "Fake it till you make it." Why?   You'll never make it if you're faking it. If you're faking it, you're deceiving people.  The best business advice I ever got? Add value. Look at what you're doing and think: Am I honestly...

Some of you think I never work. You think I only ski and ride my bike and occasionally write an email. I do all of those things...I just do them in equal amounts to how much I work. Here's proof. It's just that when I work I'm ultra efficient.  I delegate...

My Content Specialist, Julia, sent this to me: The whole world has fallen in love with K-pop groups like BTS and BlackPink. But you know what other Korean cultural export that we Filipinos love and highly recommend to our bosses overseas? Korean TV shows. We have been...

Meeting my team in the Philippines was amazing.  It only happened once, in 2010.I took my family to the Philippines on vacation for a month with the intent of meeting my team while I was there.  If you get a chance to meet the people who work for you, do it....

This isn't the best content we've ever written, but it's beautifully written. My OFS Julia is amazing. In the almost 10 years I have worked for John, we've pretty much survived all the possible natural and man-made disasters outside of Chernobyl together. ✔ Typhoons✔...

My daughter just got braces Braces suck!!! They're painful, eating hurts, gums hurt, they look and feel awkward. Now, instead of every 6 months, you have to go to the dentist every month!What could be worse? Even worse, it's like everyone is staring at you all the...

People are always surprised to hear that I work 17 hours/week.  They're even more surprised to hear I've done it since about 2007.  It seems impossible.  I mean, everyone has read the 4HWW. But...nobody seems to know anyone actually living it. Do you?...

As we summited the peak for the 2nd time today I looked south and saw thick clouds rolling in. I turned to the north and a pit formed in my stomach.  Clouds converging from all sides. Slowly, but thick.  Visibility was about to become zero. Not a good thing...

My kids laughed at me. Are you serious? "$5???" Ok, fine, you're right.  No incentive for getting your chores done. You're a part of this house and we expect you to get them done. That's how our chore conversation went.  The incentive didn't work.  The...

I hate the word "benefits" when it comes to work related additions. In the US, most "benefits" serve to tie someone down to a job they don't like.   "I can't quit and start out on my own, what about benefits"? But, from an employers perspective??? Employee...

2 of my kids had their tonsils out a few weeks ago: It was a painful 9 days.   Lots of popsicles, crying, water, tylenol, ibuprofen, sleep... When the total bill came for the surgery, it was $500 each.  I was surprised at how affordable it was.  Of...

I'm all about systems.  It means I don't have to think about something. It means something happens without me.  I've found in my life that if I have to think about something over and over again it clutters my brain so I'm not efficient at solving bigger...

"Dad...when are we going to start paying taxes on this?" My son is super intense. He's been running businesses since he was 11. Some made money, some didn't.   But the one he has stuck with the longest did about $300k in sales this past year (he just turned...

Internet problems at my house entail conversions like"Ugh...what's wrong with the wifi?  It's so slow!""Dad, your wifi sucks!" <-- teenage kids"John, come fix my computer." <-- my amazing wife During COVID, it's especially crappy because these...

A lot of mornings I do this with my 3rd grade daughter while she's getting ready for school. "What's 4x8?""What's 7x8?""2x8?""9x8?" I'll just repeat over and over to help her memorize. Math is a lot about patterns.  The more you recognize the patterns, the easier...

On the drive up to ski in the backcountry the other day my son and I talked through our plans. What should we do if conditions are like "this"?What about if "this" happens"?Here's the research I did about the snowpack in this area.What do you think about this route?...

The term VA or Virtual Assistant has bugged me for a long time. You're not hiring an "assistant". They're not a nebulous "do anything but don't be particularly good at anything" person. Yes, I've hired a couple of those over the years. Actually, the first person...

With Valentines coming up, how about a little "love" knowledge. My VA wrote this piece about "The Bachelor", but what stuck out to me is that there's no divorce in the Philippines. Maybe this is why they're so darn loyal.  Why...if you treat them well, they'll...

We skied in Little Cottonwood Canyon the other day.  It was amazing.  15" of new snow, a storm, backcountry, being out with my son...all the ingredients for an adventure. The unexpected piece of the adventure was the traffic. Oh sure, traffic is super common...

My family and I are pretty healthy.   We eat really well.We exercise a lot.We sleep 8+ hours/night.We have low stress. Generally, we're pretty darn healthy.  That doesn't mean we don't have our problems.  - 2 of my kids just had their tonsils out.-...

Yesterday I went sledding with my older kids.   No, not your normal sledding.  We call this "adult sledding".orSled racing. We hike up a canyon 1-2 miles, then we sled back down the single-track 1-2 miles. It's a 1-2 mile long luge where we race each...

The first time it happened I had no idea why. My Filipino worker didn't show up on a random Friday. Weird... Later I learned it was Chinese New Year. Still weird... The next year it happened again. hmmm...ok??? Turns out, Chinese New Year is kind of a big deal in the...

When eating out there are always 2 awkward moments for me:1. When the server asks "Will these be separate checks or together"?2. When they bring the bill and both of you reach for it. It's weird.   Money across relationships is weird. Filipinos feel the same....