James hired about 20 workers from the Philippines over eight years for his online marketing business, inspired by Four Hour Workweek. He built a team of VAs, developers, and designers, including work on projects like the historic Church Studio, and treats them as family rather than outsourced labor.
Chapters
Outsourcing to the Philippines? Why would I do that? It seems so wrong. Before I started working in the online marketing world, I worked in manufacturing. I watched three jobs in a row get moved to other countries. Everyone I knew had a strong opinion about outsourcing. But then a few things happened. I read Four Hour Workweek and thought that it was genius what the author had discovered. Then, while listening to a podcast, I learned about online jobs. The guys were talking about how hiring virtual assistants changed their business. I could get skilled help from people who wanted to do good work in exchange for providing them with an income that could change their lives. My experience in manufacturing helped me to understand that I need to hire talented people and have them master one task. The results have been phenomenal. I've been hiring people there for about eight years. Since that time, I've hired about 20 different workers. I've hired assistants, social media marketing marketers, project managers, developers, designers, motion graphics, a little bit of everything. They allowed me to work on my business by bringing in new contracts. While they work in my business and get the work done, I get to spend more time with my family. We find new ways for our team to contribute to various projects. One of our recent projects was for the Church Studio, a historic recording studio owned by Leon Russell in the 70s. A lot of amazing artists hung out there like Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Kansas and more. Tom Petty signed his first contract there. My web designer happens to be a huge rock and roll fan and knocked it out of the park. I find people that love what they do. I don't think of my workers as just workers. I think of them as family.
