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

I’m John Jonas. I live in Utah and I founded OnlineJobs.ph. My life is better because of my Filipino OFS (Online Filipino Specialist). My team.

I had a normal “job” for 8 months after college and my biggest goal at that time was to be able to quit that job. I managed to quit back in 2004 and worked from home for myself ever since then.

When I first hired someone from the Philippines in January of 2006, I knew I was onto something special. Since then I’ve learned that for most people, life is definitely better with Filipino workers on your team.

Yes, because of my Filipino workers I get to play a lot of golf, spend a lot of time with my wife and kids, and get out backpacking in the middle of the week. I work for about 17 hours a week because of the amazing work they do. However it’s not just better for us; it’s better for them too.

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talented OFS from the Philippines

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an OFS using Onlinejobs.ph

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P.S.
I DON’T DO SOCIAL MEDIA…
MY OFS DO IT FOR ME.

} My Latest Post

How hiring an OFS compares to hiring a VA agency

Here’s the 2nd part of my response to this email I received.

I know you are presenting work from home jobs.  We were also approached by a firm who provides a nice office space and handles IT infrastructure, electricity, and some supervision.  Can you speak to pros and cons of each model, with experience?

Let’s talk about the pros and cons of hiring an Online Filipino Specialist (OFS) compared to an agency.

Let’s start with the pros.
– You get the exact talent you want/need.
An agencies incentive ISN’T to find you the best worker. Their incentive is to find you the fastest available worker to see if you’re a good employer.
Their incentive is to pull a warm body off the street and give them to you to test and see what kind of employer you are.

– You get access to talent all over the Philippines. Requiring an agency to find “the best” within a 2 hour commute of their office is the same as asking you to find “the best” within a 2 hour commute of where you live.  It’s hard.

– It’s ~1/3 the price. No agency markup. No double paying for internet/utilities (they’re already paying for these things at home.

– No contracts. When you hire an OFS on your own, you don’t have to have a contract. There’s no minimum, no required number of months, no requirements on your end.

– It’s better for the OFS because they don’t have to spend for fare going to the office, food, clothes, etc. So even if you’re spending less, they take home more money.

– It’s also safer for them, especially if you have someone working nights because they don’t need to commute.

– There’s less turnover. Your OFS grows with you. The longer they stay with your business, the more high-level tasks you can outsource to them, unlike an agency where you can only outsource mostly low-level tasks.

Here are some of the cons of hiring an OFS directly.
– You need to be flexible because of power and internet outages. But these outages aren’t that common anymore. You’ll also experience this with smaller agencies if they don’t have a generator and multiple internet service providers. When I started in 2005, power and internet outages were common. They’re not so common anymore. My team rarely experience them and they’re all over the Philippines.

– It may take longer if this is your first time.  The good news is, you’re going to do it again and again as you grow and it gets easier and easier. OneVAAway.com makes this easier the first time.

– Your OFS will have to handle paying their own taxes and benefits. But it’s not that hard to do that anymore since they can do most of this online. We provide them instructions.

– You’ll need to learn how to communicate and manage people. You’ll need to train them. That takes time. But then again, you will need these skills as you grow your business and hire more people regardless of how you hire. Also, we’ve made training easier for you with VAsMadeEasy with training modules you can give your OFS. Getting the training from you helps build their relationship with YOU.

Yeah, doing the hiring, training, and management yourself looks harder initially. But it gets easier once you start hiring someone.

If you want a step-by-step guide on how to hire, train, and manage your OFS and not have to worry about all of the cons, just go to OneVAAway.com

John

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My Newsletters

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I love reading your emails! Thank you for creating OnlineJobs.Ph I have a great experience with the training and the VAs.
Amanda Vang

Real Estate Expert

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate these emails you send out John. Since I have been reading them, I have developed such great relationships with 2 my VA’s and soon to hire a third. So grateful that you created this!
Melody Johnson

I can’t tell you how helpful updates like these and your blog posts are for working with my OFS – THANK YOU!
Harrison Thornhill

thornhillresidential.com

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