John Jonas argues that hiring Filipino remote workers through platforms like Onlinejobs.ph keeps families together instead of forcing them overseas. Ben's wife worked abroad for seven years while he raised their son alone. Jonas frames these workers as skilled specialists, not generic assistants, and notes many speak Japanese or Korean.
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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 335, I want my wife back with us. So this was one of the more interesting emails that I have gotten from my team. Julia, who you have heard about before, asked Ben to talk about his wife. So before I. Before I talk about that, I'm going to take a step back. Years ago, I decided I didn't want to use the term VA anymore. I don't like virtual assistant. Most people, when they hear the term virtual assistant, they. They think of a secretary. They think of someone who is low skill. Not that all secretaries are low skill, but this is what people think they think of low skill. Data entry. Can't think, only follows exact instructions. Not a thinker. And that's not that. That's not who you want to hire. That's not who I hire. That's not what we're dealing with here. I'm dealing with super highly talented, intelligent, willing to think, people who want to contribute to your business and to my business. And that's not a va. And so I started looking for what else could I do? What's a more appropriate word for this? And what I wanted to use was online Filipino Worker. But I couldn't because the acronym OFW ingrained in the Philippines culture already. Like government Reserve, not reserve, but there are departments of government called OFW because it means Overseas Filipino worker. And Overseas Filipino Worker is the number one export of the Philippines. They export people, go around the world and the reason they do this is because if you can get a job overseas, then you can make enough money to support your family back at home so you can send that money back home. The number of jobs in the Philippines, especially in the provinces, are just low. And so when you hire someone and they get to stay at home, wow, it just makes such a big difference. Now back to Ben, who works for me on my social media team. Here's. Hopefully you get this picture of Ben and his wife. Here's what Ben says. His wife is an OFW. I'm Ben, 44 and a proud father and husband. I'm part of Onlinejobs PH social media team. I've been happily married 11 years running. My wife is currently in OFW for seven years now. So it's just me and our son at home. Our son will be 11 soon and is excited to become a young man. I can't even. I can't even. His wife's been gone for seven years working overseas because that's what they had to do. I can't imagine being away from my wife like that. That's. I'm so sorry for Ben. He continues before before becoming an ofw, my wife was a teacher. She taught basic computer skills and language Japanese. Her last job was a Japanese customer, technical support for a satellite TV company. She became an OFW because we wanted a better life for our family. We were both supporting our parents and siblings, but we weren't making enough. Working abroad seemed like our only option. Now, mind you, this is seven years ago. Ben hasn't worked for us for seven years. And seven years ago I was running onlinejobs ph and we had already had thousands of people hire in the Philippines. But now we've had hundreds of thousands of people hire in the Philippines and it's way, way more common now then it wasn't. So they're both supporting their parents and their siblings. And she got a job commuting somewhere for probably hours, hours of commute a day making not that much money. And it's just really, life is hard. Life is hard. And so for them, he said, we wanted a better life for ourselves, meaning they could reliably eat. Because sending your wife away doesn't necessarily make a better life unless you or your parents or your siblings aren't eating, which is not uncommon. My son as a missionary now has companions. If you're familiar with the Mormon missionaries, they're always in twos, in pairs. They have a companion. One of his recent companions, the question he asked his family every week when he talked to them was, did you eat today? Because his family is that. Is that poor. They're not eating. Yeah, life is. Life is hard. This is real. Ben continues. My wife working overseas is difficult for us emotionally, physically, mentally. We've gotten used to it, but it's still hard sometimes. I want my wife to be back here with us to cherish moments together, make memories that will last forever and grow old together side by side. I this is the first time I've ever gotten emotional on this podcast. I think I just feel so terrible. Continues. If I had known about online work back then, I would have done things differently. Once my wife finishes her contract, I will help her find an online job so she never has to leave and worry about us ever again. As I wipe my tears. If you're if you're listening to this not on YouTube, I sent this out as a newsletter. I had multiple people respond that said, hey, I'll hire her. And I thought the same thing. I'LL hire her right now, but we can't. She has a contract. She has to finish that contract. She can't just leave. So until she's done with that contract, she is stuck overseas. And now. So you've thought about hiring someone in the Philippines. You have, you've considered it, but you're not doing it yet. Now, maybe, maybe you think a little bit differently. Like, the person I'm going to hire, this, this is going to make a difference in someone's life. Giving someone a job is. It's going to keep them at home. It's going to not send them overseas. Every companion that my son has is making sure to learn English from him so they can get jobs when they get home. Because one of his recent companions didn't have family to call home to. He was an orphan when he was 16, lived on his own, went into the jungle to find fruit so he could eat and sell. So he could. When he goes home from being a missionary, he will speak English and he will be able to get a job online. I cannot imagine living away from my wife and my kids at all. Ben's been doing it for seven years. Seven years and still doing it. The people you hire, it makes a difference. It makes a difference. As a side note, we have lots of Japanese speakers on onlinejobs.ph. if you have business in Japan, man, hiring people in the Philippines that speak Japanese is super, super easy. Or Korean. Yeah, there's a lot of language at onlinejobs.ph.
