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

I'll be honest, I've been hiring in the Philippines since 2005 and I'm not that good with Philippines geography. It's kind of like most of the rest of the world and their knowledge of US geography. (When I'm in Europe:) "Where are you from?" Utah "Is that close to...

There's a story here... This morning I got an email from Julia. You know her. She writes a lot of this newsletter...and a lot of our other content. She said "I remember years ago, you wrote about the gym being crazy busy in January and how in a few weeks it would be...

You know when you spend so much time on something you forget what it was like to be just starting with that thing? Yeah, that's me. I've spent so much time hiring, managing, paying, communicating, and working with Online Filipino Specialists that I forget. So let me...

“John, I need to find the best VA.” This isn't what you want to hear, but... You’ll never find the BEST VA/EA/OFS. It’s not just you. To be completely honest, I have never found a perfect Online Filipino Specialist. I’ve hired good ones. I’ve hired great ones. Most of...

The reason I always go back to training videos is because they're really effective. ...and Filipinos love videos. It’s easier to understand compared to just written instructions. Your OFS can always go back to it and they can follow the video as they’re doing the...

I'm an entrepreneur at heart. I create. I think. I push. I LOVE being an entrepreneur. You're probably the same way. That’s why you’re reading this email. You have a business. You create. You push. You think. ...and you’re looking for ways to do it all better. ...and...

Do you ever get that feeling where you’re overwhelmed doing a boring task or something you hate doing? Even though it’s something you can easily do, you get burned out by it? I just learned what it’s called: being bored out. I learned about it in this LinkedIn post....

A while back I sent a newsletter about OFS working multiple jobs. Henry replied with a different perspective: --- I have had OFS for 5 years now. I tried #2 for a couple of years. - work whatever hours you want - just get the job done It went okay. But I felt...

It's Valentines day. Bleck. One day a year to show someone you love them?  To try to gain their trust? Why not treat the people you love like every day is the most important day? Gain their trust every day. With OFS... How do you know when your OFS trusts you? --When...

I've been encouraging people on my team to use AI to help them with their jobs. Yesterday Joven (who has been with me since 2005) made a post about how he's using it. At OnlineJobs.ph we have Filipino jobseekers rate their skills. They get to select those skills from...

Nobody’s ready for the 4-hour work week. No amount of preparation is good enough. When I started living the 4-hour work week, to be honest, I really wasn’t ready for it. Imagine 2007. Netflix was just starting out. We couldn’t go anywhere without “Umbrella” by Rhianna...

Tommy sent me an email asking: Is it possible to have a profit sharing method rather than an hourly wage? Someone else asked: "Can I hire an OFS on a commission basis instead of a monthly salary?" To be honest, it's hard to find OFS who would be into profit-sharing or...

I have a new writer, and in getting to know her, I asked about her life and family. It struck a chord with me when she told me that one of the best things about working online is that it has given her a shot at a comfortable life. For many Filipinos, it’s not about...

You want to know what other people's OFS do for them so I'm going to tell you what some of my OFS do for me. A big part of our marketing strategy is educating people. In your business, education can (should?) be a part of it. We educate potential customers about...

I have high expectations for my OFS team. They know it. And...that's the direction I recently gave my team. Their goal should be to impress me and impress our customers. They have to be IMPRESSIVE. "Did I impress that customer?" "Is this article impressive?" "Does...

I was a guest on a podcast today. During the recording the host asked if I could share some success stories. Everyone wants to know...does this actually work for real businesses? Can you show a track record of successful customers? Here's one...then hundreds... Daniel...

I know how hard it is to be a small business owner. When I was starting out, I needed to avoid any unnecessary expenses. I hired a VA. Finding someone who could do the job well enough, and be affordable?  Yes please. This "VA" worked for me. Only for me. Yes, I was...

I got this question from Lloyd when he commented on one of my LinkedIn posts. The short answer would be the salary guide we posted on Onlinejobs.ph. The long answer would be the same salary guide, plus asking them a bunch of questions and negotiating with them until...

Here in the US, living with your parents is considered unusual. We know people living with their parents to save money, be close to them, or take care of them for a short time. But we don’t usually live with our parents, as adults, unless we want to or don’t have a...

I regularly encourage my OFS team to pitch their ideas to me. Ideas on what else we can do to improve the business. Ideas on what we can change in our existing processes. A lot of times, I say no to these ideas. When I know they’re not going to work and it doesn’t...

I know many doctors, dentists, and therapists who hire Online Filipino Specialists. When I tell people this, they ask, “How do you protect patient information when working with an OFS?”People in the medical and health industry have an ethical and legal obligation to...

It's a new year! Big changes are in the works for you. And... Here are 5 small steps to make a big change happen: 1. Start by making a free Onlinejobs.ph account today. It will take you less than 1 minute. 2. Search OnlineJobs.ph for a skill you might be interested in...

Planning to hire your OFS next year? Good! It’s often better to hire during January and February. You’ll find more candidates, and there will be fewer holidays in the Philippines then. I also know that coming back from the holidays, you’ll be busy catching up and...

We all want an Online Filipino Specialist who’s experienced and has a lot of skills. We want someone who is always learning and trying to do better. Are we setting the same standards for ourselves? I recently went to a mastermind and came home with this revelation. We...

Merry Christmas! Why are you checking your email on Christmas?  JK...I do too...sometimes it's...soothing? Two thoughts today: 1. The Philippines is very christian/Catholic. They're celebrating Christmas. You ought to send them a Merry Christmas message today. They'll...

We’ve just updated our Philippine holiday calendar for 2025. It’s based on the official holiday calendar released by the Philippine government. You'll also find the updated calendar at Onlinejobs.ph/holidays and our Google calendar. You can subscribe to it and...

Every year, my business partner, Dan, and I discuss how much of a raise we should give our Online Filipino Specialists. Performance for the year is definitely the biggest factor. But another thing that we also consider is inflation. Are we paying our people enough...

Christmas is a big deal in the Philippines, with some Filipinos going all out when it comes to partying and celebrating the holidays. My OFS, Charlyne and Mark (they’re a couple), are one of those people who go all out during the holidays. They throw big celebrations...

The worst time to hire an OFS is the last couple of months of the year. And, more specifically, the last couple weeks of the year. Why? The last two months of the year have back-to-back holidays, which can leave Filipinos worried about whether they'll have time off if...

Mount Kanlaon, a volcano in the Visayas, erupted early this week. This isn’t the volcano's first eruption of the year. But this time, the volcano is at Alert Level 3 (High level of volcanic unrest), which means that “magmatic eruption has begun that may progress to...

Jana is an administrative OFS and a college student. She's also really talented, manages emails, social media posts, and takes phone calls. I have talked about how hiring an OFS changes generations. I can see it with my team. Many of them are homeowners. They have...

If you're putting off hiring because you haven't created SOP's, let me address this. I understand wanting SOP's. Some guru who wrote a book said you MUST have SOP's. SOP's sound cute and fun and so organized. Having an SOP before you hire someone seems like the right...

Hans doesn’t like my pricing model. Hi John Jonas, to be honest, I am not a big fan of your pricing model, or maybe I am not totally understanding it.  Please let me know if I got things wrong. In my understanding, you’re offering a “free” tier – where you can write...

You want to know what other OFS do. One of our biggest and hardest working teams at Onlinejobs.ph is our customer service. That’s because they do a lot, and I mean A LOT. I recently asked them to list everything they’re doing. Here’s what they sent me. ​​Email and...

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 a lot of businesses where this won’t work at all. I know the...

One of the best new features we’ve introduced by far at Onlinejobs.ph is Apply Points. I use it whenever I hire someone. It’s taken so much guesswork out of who to interview. It’s easy to use and makes so much sense. Here's how: In your job post, somewhere near the...

I am getting this question a lot because we are seeing an increasing number of Online Filipino Specialists having multiple jobs, some having multiple full-time jobs. This can be frustrating because you want your OFS to work for you exclusively. You want somebody...

Some places in the Philippines are more likely to be hit by typhoons than others. Take Northern Luzon. In just 2 weeks, they were hit with two strong typhoons. Last week, Typhoon Marce affected the Cagayan region, displacing around 33,000 people in 24 towns and...

When I hired my first Filipino VA, Joven, it was a lightbulb moment. I was, like, amazed by how much he could do with just a bit of training and guidance. He freed up so much of my time and mental bandwidth that I wished I’d done it sooner. Because of that experience,...

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...

My OFS team is all over the Philippines. Even though their internet has improved a lot since when I started outsourcing, there are still places where the connection is still inconsistent. So Charlyne and her husband (both in our social media team), finally got...

Sometimes people ask me "What would a VA do for me?" I don't know! My problem is...I only run MY business. I'm not running yours. The data entry we do is different from the data entry they would do for you. The admin work is different for me than for you. So I really...

Because I receive so many emails from people asking the same questions repeatedly, I sometimes have my OFS, Julia, answer them. Recently, I forwarded an email I wanted her to answer because it was really long and very detailed, asking why an OFS disappeared. Here’s...

I’ve been outsourcing to the Philippines for many years and have seen much of their culture change. But they still cling to some traditions. One of these traditions, hilot, is a folk medicine tradition that is still practiced all over the Philippines. I give my OFS...

I’ve already discussed this in my previous newsletters. But just in case you haven’t received them or are a new subscriber, I want to remind you that your OFS might ask for time off on November 1, next Friday. All Saints' Day, November 1, is not a regular holiday;...

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Renee. Here's what she said: This has been our biggest downfall with our Philippino hires over the past 5 years and I have found many of my previous employees have held multiple jobs through the night and even attempted to complete...

How long do you think it will take you to find a great online Filipino worker for your business? One month? One week? Two days? One hour? It took Carey two hours to find two great people for her business. Even better, she’s getting more work done while spending less....

The Philippines have so many holidays in the last few months of the year. Here in the US, we have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year. That’s it. In the Philippines, there are so many holidays it can feel like there’s a holiday every week starting at the end of...

It’s October, so I’m giving you your yearly reminder to start preparing for your OFS’ 13th month. You don’t need to give the 13th month now, but ideally, you should give it before the year ends. We pay it at the beginning of December. Preparing for it now helps avoid...