Podcast episode (Secret Sauce of Outsourcing) where John Jonas explains why people overcomplicate hiring Online Filipino Specialists (OFS). He encourages action over excessive planning, covering job posting, candidate screening, tax and legal concerns, trust, hiring logistics, and a simple two-step starter process (search resumes on OnlineJobs.ph, then post a job). Tone is practical and reassuring.
Chapters
Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at working with OFS online Filipino specialists. This is episode 162, how we overcomplicate OFS. I'm the type of person that asks for forgiveness rather than permission. I tend to jump in and start working through something before I know exactly how to make it work or before I know if it's legal or if it's going to work out in the end. I rarely read instructions and these are all really, these have been really good things for me in helping to figure out how to work with the Philippines. Because there was no manual when I started. There was nobody to tell me this is how it works or this is going to be good or this is going to be bad. There wasn't even online jobs ph when I started, you know, there was. There was no way to find people on your own. You had to go through an agency or you had to go to the Philippines. So if you're like me, you've probably already jumped in and you've hired an OFS and you're working with them and you see, it's amazing. But a lot of people are not like me. And so I want to sit simplify some of the things that you are over complicating. And I know this because I get questions asked it all the time. I get emails. People tell me their worries or why they haven't hired someone yet. And to me it all sounds silly, but to you I understand. Like I get that your fears and concerns and nearly every day I get an email from someone that says, I just wish I would have done this sooner. I've never once gotten an email that said, oh, I wish I would have waited a year before I hired someone. Someone. Right. So let me, let me just kind of simplify this for you. So I have like eight different things that I want to cover here. Number one, posting a job isn't right or wrong. You're not going to mess up your job post. I mean, you can, but it's just a job post. Chances are really low. You're going to do it wrong. The best case scenario is post your job, you get the exact best applicant first and you hire that person. It's unlikely, but if you post your job, you're going to get a bunch of applicants and you're probably going to get a bunch of good applicants and you're going to get a bunch of crappy applicants. No matter how well or how crappy your job post is, it's Going to happen about the same. So if you're worried about you don't know what to put in your job post, just make a job post. When I first started, no clue what to put in a job post, I just made a job post. It was probably like four sentences and the person I hired was amazing. So next, narrowing down the candidates, like weeding out the good from the bad is not super difficult. It's easier than you think. You don't have to have a bunch of tricks. It doesn't take a bunch of time. The number one key, ask a bunch of questions. If you ask a bunch of questions across a bunch of emails, you're going to see so much and you'll get it. As soon as you start doing it, you'll understand why I say to do this. You'll understand. Oh yeah, I don't like that person. Oh yeah, this person's amazing. You'll start getting it really quickly. Number three. Yes, it's scary to hire someone. The time potential that it could take and maybe not finding the right person is daunting. The prospect of not hiring someone is worse. Imagine going for the rest of your life the way you currently are without like knowing you need help and you can't get that help and you're not willing to hire someone in the Philippines or you're not willing to hire someone, period. And that's so much worse than the prospect of failing in hiring. Next. Taxes are a non issue. I see so many people that don't hire someone because they're concerned about taxes. So your OFS is not an employee. There's no way to W2 them. You don't send them a 1099. They're not in the US. They don't have any responsibilities to the US government. You're not in the Philippines. You don't have any responsibilities to the Philippine government. There is no withholding, there's no compliance, there's no regulations. Stop it. This is so often that I hear people like, oh, I haven't hired someone because I need to know the regulations. I need to make sure I'm compliant. There's nothing. Just hire someone. Let me add a star next to this whole thing. Do not listen to anything that I'm saying. I'm not a cpa. I'm not an attorney, I'm not an accountant. I have no basis for giving you any legal advice here. Do not listen to what I'm saying. Ask your CPA or your attorney. The only thing I have is a lot of experience in doing this. I'M just saying there's nothing to comply with. Yes, taxes have to be paid in the Philippines. That's your OFS's job, to pay taxes. Just the same as a person in the US who is a 1099 would have to pay taxes. That is completely not your concern. And the really cool thing is you're not required to give them a 1099 because they're in the Philippines. There's nothing from the Philippines government that you're required to give to them. Next, let's talk about trust. How can I trust the person I'm hiring? You can't. This is part of it, right? You can't trust that person any more or any less really, than someone you'd hire in the us. In the Philippines. The Philippines culture makes trust easier because the Philippines does not like theft. Theft laws are strict and punishments are harsh. Digital theft punishments are double. They don't want to steal your crap. They don't want to steal your idea. They don't want to steal your domain. They don't want to steal your customer's data. There's no incentive for them to do that. They would lose their job. There's no market for selling that data. It's just not. It happens. It's just so rare that it happens. It's worth worrying about, but it's not worth putting off hiring someone over and to the point of my OFS in the Philippines have my credit card. They have access to my bank account. They have my home address. They have access to my. My personal email account. Some of them have my PayPal account. Like, it's trust. Trust goes the other way in this relationship. They don't trust you, and you need to gain their trust. That's the correct approach to trust in this relationship is not how do I trust them, it's how do I get them to trust me. That's your job in this relationship. Next, how do you hire someone? Well, after you've interviewed someone, you say, hey, you seem like a good fit for us. I want to offer you a job. Here's how much I want to pay you. Here's the working times and schedule, and here's our policies. And when can you start? That's it. There's no complicated. There's nothing complicated here. It's so simple. I've done that dozens of times. When can you start? I can start tomorrow, sir. Sweet. Here's your first task. My current job doesn't end until next the 19th, whatever that is. You know, like three weeks from now. Okay, that stinks. I wanted you to start sooner, but I'll wait till the 19th. Great. Don't over complicate this. So to some of you, hearing these things is like, duh, why are you even talking about this? But to others, these are like really big concerns, like show stopping concerns. Things that you haven't hired someone yet because you don't know how to handle these situations. And so I hope that giving you these answers pushes you over the edge to yes, I'm willing to jump in. Yes, I'm willing to hire someone. Yes, I wish I would have done this sooner. But you didn't. So now's the best time. But next year you're gonna say, I wish I would have done this sooner. I can tell you that because I've seen it like thousands of times. And then let me give you one more thing. If you've been thinking about hiring an OFS, there are two steps to take. Number one, go on to OnlineJobs ph and search, look at resumes, see what people can do. Number two, post your job. Once you've posted your job, things get rolling and it's so easy. And then everything that I offer from onlinejobs ph1vaoa.com, Vas made easy. It all comes with a money back guarantee. If something doesn't work out for you, if you don't hire someone, great. If it doesn't work out two weeks later, then ask us for your money back. I'm like, if we don't, if we don't earn your money because you made a great hire, we don't want your money. Ask us for your money back. No hoops to jump through. We won't ask any questions. We might ask some questions. I don't know, maybe we want to know something like why. But it's like we make this so easy to get your money back that there's no risk in attempting to hire someone. Just try it.
