“John – How do I know if I can trust them?”
It’s one of the first questions people ask me.
Humans are hardwired to be suspicious of things we don’t know or understand. That’s how we protect ourselves. So I understand why you’d be reluctant to trust a stranger halfway across the world to help with your business.
What most people don’t know is that fear runs both ways.
Filipinos also have this fear when they apply for online work. They are afraid because most people know someone scammed with online work at least once. Many have personally experienced it. https://mb.com.ph/2022/05/30/cybercriminals-continue-preying-on-filipino-job-seekers-report/
In fact, for most Filipinos, their feelings of fear towards you are stronger than your fear towards them!
Taking on a job is a leap of faith for them. They’re choosing to commit all that time to a job where they might not get paid. That’s time they could have spent pursuing other options. They can work for established companies in the Philippines that guarantee a paid job. A paid job means they can pay their rent, utilities, and groceries this month.
The worst that could happen when you don’t hire an OFS because you don’t trust them is that you’re not growing your business. You can afford to take that risk.
But Filipino workers take that risk if they want to feed their families.
That’s why I often say that you need to earn their trust just as much as they need to earn yours. The stakes are higher for your OFS. You can find someone trustworthy when you follow the steps I lay out at OneVAAway.com.
But when an OFS puts their trust in the wrong employer and they’re scammed, there’s not much they can do. They can’t get that time back. It’s a painful learning experience that will make them more cautious. It’s a lesson that leaves them worse off because it doesn’t help pay the bills.
If you’re worried about finding someone you can trust here’s something interesting; we deal with more problematic employers than we do problematic workers.
Filipinos (generally) are trustworthy.
But you won’t know until you try it yourself.
John
PS. Here are Jody and Brian from https://atozbuildingblocks.com/. They recognized me at a restaurant last Friday night and came and introduced themselves. I’m so glad they did. They have 2 OFS who they trust their business to. Those 2 OFS also trust them. They’re good employers.
