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

My previous 5 newsletters have described cultural reasons why OFS sometimes work mindlessly. Today is about solutions. When I asked my team why this problem exists, I didn’t ask for solutions, I just sought to understand the problem. A bunch of my team members also...

When I asked my team what causes mindless work, surprisingly, I had quite a few different people talk about family concerning mindless work. If they don’t feel like they’re part of a family, they won’t care about the work. This translates to the company's culture and...

Laziness. Sometimes, people get lazy. It just happens. Some say the rising generation is lazy. Sometimes, the work lends itself to laziness. Sometimes, it happens as an OFS gets more comfortable with the work. Quotes from my team: – “For some Filipinos,...

Quantity is often more visible than quality. An OFS knows you’ll see how many support tickets they responded to, but you’re unlikely to see how well they responded. You’ll see how many images they edited but not how well each was done. You’ll see how many articles...

If you’ve never heard about Hofstede’s Power Distance Index, it’s worth researching. You’ll better understand mindlessness. The Philippines has a very high power-distance index. They have a power distance index score of 94. The US has a score of 40.  This means that...

In the Philippines, fear often has the opposite effect of what you might expect.  If you fear failure, you’re likely to make more effort, do more, and try harder.  In the Philippines, it’s often the opposite. For Filipinos, fear tells them to do as little as possible...

I just caught Julia making a mistake with one of my newsletters. It's not a big mistake, but it was a mindless one. She should have caught and corrected it before we sent it out. This doesn't happen often, but when it does, it can be frustrating. I talked about this...

If you write really long, super specific job descriptions, it’s more likely you won’t find the “perfect” Online Filipino Specialist for your business. Not only that, you’ll also have difficulty finding someone “good” or “great” if you’re so focused on making sure that...

I have 50 full-time OFS working for me. But I didn’t start this way. I started with one VA doing full-time work (it was a serious leap of faith for me to hire someone full-time at that stage of my business). That Filipino worker, Joven, showed so much initiative and...

Yes, at OnlineJobs.ph, you can hire "VAs" and OFS. But a doctor? Yes. At OnlineJobs.ph, you can find: lawyers, engineers, architects, teachers, accountants, doctors, etc. Sandy, is a medical doctor, a teacher, and an OFS. She’s also a mom and a freediver. Watch:...

I want to share this email because the way Luca handled this situation is just amazing. Like some of you, Luca found out that his OFS is working multiple jobs. Did he fire her? No. Did he scold and berate her? No. What he did instead was show that he cared. He showed...

If you need talented, loyal workers for your business, you will almost always have better luck in the Philippines. It's not that you can't find great people elsewhere... ...it's that your chances are just higher in the Philippines. Often, significantly higher. Over...

In the Philippines, they have 3 different types of holidays: - Regular holidays - this is what you think of when you hear the word holiday. Independence Day, Christmas, New Years day. - Special holidays - these are lesser holidays where parents usually work but...

(keep in mind that we have 50 OFS working for us. We're having a problem with just one of them) Marvs is one of our developers. He’s a good developer but lately we're not happy with him. He hasn't worked. He hasn't communicated. He hasn't performed. I sent him an...

If you have OFS working for you, here's a little inspiration. Have you had the light bulb moment yet? Laura just had it: It just occurred to me last month that really... I could offload almost everything to our OFS. I've had him take on more tasks, and he's doing...

Ugh, tax season. Dan (my business partner) and I were talking to our accountant recently because it’s close to tax season. We wanted everything in order before filing our taxes. Doing that reminded me that you can hire an OFS to help prepare for taxes. We have them at...

This entire email is written by one of my OFS. You'll notice their perceptions of US society. ---------- Here in the US, we're used to a high standard of living compared to the rest of the world. We take it for granted. We're so used to it that the thought of living...

Are you overwhelmed with admin work? Missing deadlines? Things falling through the cracks? Yep...I get it. So does Mike. His story was probably similar to yours...until cancer in 2021. Fortunately... OFS!! He couldn't work for a year... ...and his business grew?!? It...

I have so many great writers on my team. But sometimes, sometimes, I read what they’ve written, and it just doesn’t sound right. If you’ve hired a Filipino writer, you know what I mean. There are no spelling mistakes, and the grammar is correct. However, some of the...

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...