24 Nov 2025 · 10 min
John Jonas makes the case for hiring remote workers from the Philippines, walking through common worries like finding talent and handling taxes. He shares stories from employers and workers, including a poem from a user named Marjorie, and points to over 500k employers already using the platform.
Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing to the Philippines. This is episode 394. This is about one person, and that person is not you. So I have this conversation with people if it happens in my head, but often it just stems from, like, things that people say to me. And it goes something like this, like, oh, you haven't hired someone yet. No, I've thought about it and I know I should. And, you know, I really should get some work off my plate. I'm overworked and I'm overwhelmed and. And, you know, I've really thought about it, but I just wasn't sure. And that's what it comes down to. Like, you're not sure about it. And so I'm here to help. You're not sure if you can find someone good. You're not sure if you can trust someone. You're not sure if you can find someone you can trust. You're not sure if they can do good work for you. You're not sure about the taxes or the compliance. You're not sure about how time zones work or what benefits you have to pay. So let me answer a bunch of this. You can find someone amazing. It's super easy. You can probably trust them. And if you interview them well, you'll know pretty quickly if you can trust them. They're. There's no taxes to deal with. Get a W8, Ben. I'll tell you where exactly how to deal with that at onlinejobs. Ph. Taxes, super, super simple. You have zero obligation. There's no compliance to deal with. Time zones are super easy. I don't ever talk to my people live. I don't ever find a need to. The whole thing is really, really easy. So let me give you some data behind this, because you're not sure if this is gonna work for you, right? So a few months ago, we passed half a million employers using onlinejobs Ph. So, yeah, like half a million employers. And that's not Google and Uber. Although, yes, Google and Uber and Canva and Speedo are using OnlineJobs ph. But that's like 0.01% of our users, right? Most of our users are. You, like, listening to this podcast? It's you. Yeah. So like, small business owners or entrepreneurs or realtors or someone who's working at a small business and they have 12 people under them and they're hiring some people in the Philippines to help their team or to do data entry or someone with an E commerce Store selling stuff on Amazon or dog walking or. It's amazing the things that we see that come through every day, the variety of businesses. Yeah, it's you. In a few months, we'll reach 3 million Filipino profiles on the site. So, yeah, you can find basically any skill. The Philippines is a very educated, very knowledgeable country. They speak American English. They have a lot of experience. You can definitely find the type of person you're looking for. If you can't, you let me know, because I would be shocked. And how do I know that? Well, because I see it every single day. People can find the people they're looking for. It's super easy. Oh, you want a book bookkeeper, but you're not sure? No. Yeah, it's super easy to find a bookkeeper. And people do it every single day. Bring that person in the Philippines into their company. I mean, they still stay in the Philippines. They work in the Philippines. Yes. They have access to your data, and we never see problems with it. So, yeah, you can do it. And I get emails from employers, like, every single day now. I mean, it used to be like, a couple. Once every couple weeks, and then it became like once a week, and then it was like, every few days. Now it's really a couple times a day, I get an email from someone that says, hey, John, this has been amazing. I have this person, they're this and this and this, and it's so great. And I have this question, right? So that happens multiple times a day now, but this week was the first time I got a poem about it. So let me. Let me read you what Marjorie wrote to me. She says, in this big world, don't you see, your little business can make lives gleeful and free with a Filipino hire. Light their path with your unyielding fire. Together make change and see wonders be. Thank you so much, Marjorie, because that's what. That's how I feel about this. The title of this episode was this is about one person. It's not you. Yeah, it's about that person in the Philippines that you're going to hire because you're going to change their life. And, yep, they're going to change your life, too. And, yeah, you're going to get a lot of stuff done. And yes, you can find that person. And yes, all the stories you hear. Well, maybe you don't hear it. Maybe only I hear it. The stories that I hear of like, oh, my gosh, this is so amazing. Yeah, you're gonna have that experience, too. It may not be your first experience. It may be your second, it might be your third, but it doesn't really matter. Once you have that experience, you're changed forever. Because you now realize, oh, yeah, I can definitely get good work done, and it's super affordable and super easy. Just today I had a call with an attorney and for a business that we're looking at doing, and I wanted to get some legal advice. And he was like, oh, yeah, I hired someone in the Philippines, too. It was amazing. I was shocked at the talent and how good they are. And this was like, wow, I can't believe this. And we went through an agency, and it actually cost us quite a bit. I was like, well, yeah, they paid them $800,000. They paid this agency $800,000. This agency in LA for this LA team's lawyers out of the Philippines. And I was like, yeah, that kind of sucks. You probably paid the agency $750,000 and the people in the Philippines $50,000 across your months of work. He was like, oh, please don't tell me that that's painful to hear, but that's the reality. You went through an agency, you could have gone direct and hired those same people for $9 an hour. Right? These attorneys in the Philippines. Right? Super, super simple. So recently I was asked to write a news story for a blog. They wanted an update about our business. And so as they had, they asked me all these questions about our business. And as I started writing it, I was like, yeah, man, like, the questions you're asking are not what's relevant here. You're asking about, like, numbers of online jobs, pH, and all this silliness. And that's not what this is about. In the end, what this is about is one person. And so I changed their story. And I want to read a little bit of what I wrote to them because it's so much better than them wanting to know, like, oh, how many employers do you have and how much money do you make and all this stuff. So. Because that's not relevant to you, how much money do I make? Right. Who cares? I mean, you might care, but this is about you and your growth. How much money can you make? And listen to this. So I said, our growth is good, but it's not what this story is really about. What this story is about is, are the individuals whose lives are changed because the work done, business owners getting the help they need at an affordable rate. Like Marjorie, who I just talked to you about workers, people, humans in the Philippines who got a job in an economy where, prior to onlinejobs ph Their only option was to leave their family and go work overseas for years on end so they can send money home and support their. Here are Lugie and Vincent and Arlene and Hergel and hopefully if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see this. So here's a photo they took as they met each other for the first time and they've been working together for years. And there are eight adults in this photo and they all work for us and it's pretty spectacular. So I continued. Everyone in this photo works for us. They've told us how having a job working online has changed their lives, how they support their sister or their community, how they were before without hope of being able to support their family, how they now have a dream life. There's a story in the numbers of onlinejobs ph growth, but the real story is in the lives of the people in the jobs created. Families fed, businesses growing Despair replaced with hope. A family's first wife. I can't even do this. I get emotional just reading this because this is all real. Every one of these things are real things that I hear from people, employers or workers in the Philippines. Despair replaced with hope. A family's first washing machine that they never thought. The first car ever bought in an extended family. A wife coming home to her husband after years of working overseas. Yeah, that's, that's a big one. I mean, like you're, you're in the Philippines and your wife has been working overseas for seven years and you see each other maybe once a year, but she has to because there just aren't jobs and that's how she supports the family. She works overseas and it. You feel abandoned as a husband and your kids don't have a mom and, and she's coming home because someone in the US has a need for help and they hired her and she's doing amazing work for them. I continue a business owner relieving the burden of doing everything themselves for the first time. So, yeah, we're proud of our dollar growth, but we're fulfilled because of the human growth, because of what we built, what our customers have built, what you've built. And if you are listening to this and you have people working for you, you know, like, you understand what I just said and wouldn't surprise me if you have tears because you know the difference you're making in people's lives. If you're the one who hasn't hired someone yet, you're missing out, man. I can't. It's really hard to describe because you have to experience it. And you can find someone. I've said this. You can find someone so good and it's so easy. And then you'll. As soon as you hire them, you'll start seeing things from them that are them trying to be honest with you and them trying to help you and trying to do good. As long as you treat them well. That's always the caveat I give. You have to treat them well. But then you'll see, oh, my gosh, yeah, this person, they really needed this work and they're so thankful for it. And they did more than I asked them to do, and it really is amazing. And if you haven't taken the leap yet because you're not organized or because you're worried or whatever, you're missing out. So to alleviate some of your fears, go to ofsguide.com ofsguide.com these are the top nine questions that I get asked. They are the problems that people have with doing this. Recently I sent someone to ofsguide. He said, I have a bunch of questions. I was like, great. But before we talk, because I don't do phone calls, he said, I have a bunch of questions. Can we get on the phone? Well, and it was a friend of mine. I don't want to be rude. So I said, great, that's great. But before we Talk, go to OFSguide.com and spend the four minutes there. And then I never heard from him again. And then I followed up later. I was like, hey, you still want to talk? No, I don't need to. I already hired someone. Just the questions that you answered gave me the confidence to move forward, and I knew exactly what I was doing. Super, super simple. OFSguide.com.
