Finding & Hiring Your Virtual Team in the Philippines with Rebecca Nelson

In this episode, we’re diving into the world of outsourcing and discovering the secrets of finding and hiring your virtual team in the Philippines. Our guest, Rebecca, a British entrepreneur, shares her insights on the pitfalls of instant hiring, the importance of a structured hiring process, and the power of clear communication when building a remote team. Join us as we explore the strategies and challenges of outsourcing in the dynamic landscape of international business.

Rebecca, big thanks for dropping your outsourcing wisdom and virtual team tips on the podcast – you rocked it!

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Thank you Rebecca for being on the show, and thank you everybody for listening in.

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[00:00:00] Episode 407, 407 Global from Asia. We’re talking about outsourcing to the Philippines. I’m here in the middle of Thailand in Chiang Mai. I’m actually going to go meet a special guest for cross border summit. We’ll have them in the little intro, but let’s tune into this week’s show. Welcome to the global from Asia podcast, where the daunting process of running an international business is broken down into straight up actionable advice.

And now your host, [00:00:30] Michael Michelinie. All right. So we’re talking about outsourcing to the Philippines and in Thailand and those chat people in China and we’re definitely global from Asia. That’s for sure. Talking to a Davide Nicolucci today. planning a cross border summit and, you know, he was looking at the agenda, working hard on the agenda, and he’s saying, yeah, this is definitely global from Asia.

We got stuff from India, [00:01:00] Japan, Thailand, Philippines, mainland China, all about doing international e commerce, and of course Amazon, and growing your global business, so it’s gonna be an amazing one, November. 16th and 17th crossborder summit. com. I’m here walking to dinner. I’m going to go meet, meet Chip G.

He’s an amazing Amazon seller is also a recent guest on this podcast. Definitely check out that episode and [00:01:30] we’re going to have some salsa kitchen. So let’s, we’ll say hi in a second when I meet him. So this week’s show we got Rebecca. She’s, she’s a British entrepreneur and she’s talking. at one of our meetups recently about outsourcing to the Philippines and finding good people to work with.

So we will dive into this week’s show, and right after the little clip with Chip. See you. And then afterwards, I’ll do my blah blah blah about some of the things I’ve learned. Alright, we have [00:02:00] Tommy, the sales manager at CrossBetter Logistics. How are you Tommy? Hi, I’m fine. We just got to meet here in Shenzhen, China.

It’s great. They support the show at Global Promotion. And we also use them ourselves for many of our brands and e commerce businesses and Tommy really cares. He always tries to help us save money. You know, not, you have some products you keep for us in China, you have some products you keep for us in the US warehouse and I really appreciate that.

And you’ll, you can talk to the seller, right? You can [00:02:30] give them your advice. You work with many Chinese sellers a lot, right? And you can help help the seller. Yeah, we are very professional for the shipment to USA and Canada. Also, we have warehouse in USA and Canada. We can help our factories, suppliers, sellers for the shipment.

Yes. Yeah, for the e commerce business. Yep, and you even keep stuff in China, too. So, sometimes if you have [00:03:00] the limitations of sending too much to Amazon, you can keep it here in China with CrossBetter or you can send it, of course, to the US. They have many different options and they’re always trying their best to find find out what’s the best solution for you.

So definitely talk to Tommy, talk to Crossbetter and thank you for your support of the community. Yes, we have good pricing and better service. Thank you. Thank you so much. So I’m Rebecca. I founded Hired Beyond [00:03:30] Borders. I originally started with a digital marketing agency, which still functions. But I’ve kind of forced, or been moved into sort of the vetting and selection of talent because I think I struggled with it a lot myself when I started my agency.

So, we’ve kind of already answered the question, but I just want kind of a hands up visual. Who currently has global remote employees that can be from anywhere? And who has [00:04:00] tried it, but is not currently doing it? And of those who have, who has had more than one Filipino employee? So, anywhere else in the world, does anyone want to share where they’ve had, like, maybe an experience with, or currently have a hire that isn’t in the Philippines?

Thailand? Yeah, Thailand, Denmark Myanmar. Amazing. Okay. In house? In housing. Amazing. Okay, awesome. [00:04:30] So, This is a bit of a kind of pun because I’m glad that most of you have experienced outsourcing to the Philippines and probably are very familiar with it. Probably been doing it longer than I have for some of you.

But I hope to provide just a few simple things that have helped me and perhaps will help you to think about your business and the way you work with global employees. So. Okay, so I thought of like three things that probably make the biggest difference [00:05:00] and one thing I would say is people often come to me when they’ve had like a bad experience with remote hiring or they feel that their current like employees are not, don’t really understand the job or there’s a lack of communication.

And so they’ve come to me and said, Oh, you know, I’ve hired in the Philippines on Upwork or whatever, and it’s been really bad. You know, I don’t believe it, and I’m, I’m there sort of saying, well actually we can find people and obviously part of my process is that I guarantee that we’ll find them someone.[00:05:30]

So, one thing I quote, I kind of say is, do you instant hire? So, often people will post a job, and essentially, the first person who comes across who seems to meet the qualifications and you kind of like, You instant hire. Has anyone done that? Okay, I used to do that. I’ve done it, no longer. Awesome, okay. So, how much kind of time and [00:06:00] effort do you put into your hiring process?

Does anyone want to share, like, what they currently do? Go ahead. I can share. I mean, I I mean one starts with obviously a job description. And we’re doing all of the applications and once we get like three or four, we’ll give them a call. We just ask them a bunch of questions and then we weed out, you know, from that, then we bring them in and then we give them a [00:06:30] test, you know, and then that, and then the test is, I mean, even, even if they don’t do well, I mean, if they have a good attitude and it looks like they can learn.

Then we’ll consider hiring them, but the test is the biggest differentiation that I think that we doubt that people just not gonna work. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. And, and also, like, and also the process of giving them a test and then you have them explain. Like [00:07:00] you go through the test with them and have them explain why they, they said certain answers.

And you get, like, their thought process. Which, you know could be good or could be bad, you know? So anyway, that’s, that’s how we do it. That’s really good. And many of the things you’re sort of saying we do as well. So on our end so the reason I kind of said at this business, I actually had really, I was really bad at hiring

I did loads of really people who. [00:07:30] I think were partly my fault for not communicating and working with them correctly and also making bad hiring decisions and kind of instant hiring. So I over time kind of developed a process to find great people, which took a lot of mistakes. To just give you a very general overview, perhaps some of these things that you could apply is that, okay, so first of all, my process usually takes four to six weeks.

I’m looking to get as many candidates as possible. So I wouldn’t [00:08:00] just post on one job platform, but several. And kind of promote it as much. Facebook Goots can be very useful. Onlinejobs. ph can be very useful. So can LinkedIn. And sometimes we sort of attract talent from a reputation of hiring. It’s sort of casting a wide net.

As much as you can. And then really taking the step next to sift through. So you might get a hundred applicants, or we might get a hundred applicants for a job post. And [00:08:30] we will try and cut out that 90% in the first stage. So, you know, did they read the job post correctly? Very simple stuff. Did they, do they meet the requirements of the role?

And can you send them a set of questions or an online test? I think IQ is actually incredibly important. Because, you know, in this changing digital world, and if someone can be smart and adaptable, that can often be more of a value than someone who has a specific skill [00:09:00] that you need, that may need to be changed or adapted in the next year.

So that would be a big one for me. And then, essentially, we always try and do human based tests. So, if you can, have someone interview the person you’re hiring, who has the skills. that you’re looking for. So if you need someone to help with SEO, I am not personally going to interview that person. I understand some aspects of SEO, but not all of it.

And I want to have someone who can [00:09:30] genuinely understand that process of what they need to do in the role and how essentially I can’t tell if someone’s that good at SEO personally, right? Like I can’t go into the depths of, you know, technical SEO or on page and things like that. So if I have someone who can perhaps understand that who already works for me, who already knows, you know, has the skills, or if you can hire someone or you’re familiar with someone who has the skills that you’re looking for, who’s willing to [00:10:00] interview those top candidates that you’ve cut down to maybe max 10, that can be really.

It saves you so much time and I’ve done quite a bit of research on bad hiring decisions. I think you all probably know as business owners, like a bad hire can make or break your business. So I think if there was anything to say, put the time into hiring and really feel confident. I think if you’re not confident about your new hire from the beginning, it’s a bad idea.[00:10:30]

You know, you, a lot of times you’re hiring and you’re like, you’re usually, especially when you’re starting, you’re like desperate for something to help you. So, so I would like take some, like, also, I don’t know, I think a lot of us here as an entrepreneur, we want to give people opportunity. So they’re kind of like, they look excited and you need something to help you.

So you’re kind of like desperate and also want to help. At least I do. I think a lot of us here like to give opportunity. So that’s. [00:11:00] But there’s like the classic saying is hire slow, fire fast, but most of us hire fast, fire slow, which is the opposite of what we’re supposed to do. Yeah, definitely. This is a really good point.

And I think also, it’s kind of if you can build a process around your hiring that is bringing you confident candidates and you’re able to dedicate the time and have the systems to it, you will get better results over time. And it’s definitely what’s happened to me. And actually, [00:11:30] the longer I make the process, the better it is.

And obviously as entrepreneurs we have limited time, but I think the more you can dedicate it to it. Really, you’re going to get better outcomes. Isn’t there a concern that they will find another job before four to six weeks? Because a lot of times they want a job. Yeah. So I feel like I’ve been slowing, I’ve been going slower too, but I worry they might get another job.

Yeah. Before I, before I go through that. It’s a really good question. What we [00:12:00] actually do is we, quite transparently, we have a three step process. And we say, look, we need to go through all the candidates. We’ll let you know if you’re in the second round. We’ll let you know if So then they’re really like, most people will be cut off before the second round.

And then the people who are in the second round or the third round know they’re in the top few. And we try and create some kind of excitement and momentum and good relationship with the potential hires. And we sort of always remain communicative. So if someone’s not made the role, we’re going to communicate with them.

And we try and build that [00:12:30] reputation of transparent communication with candidates. And that can be quite Powerful, because they then know that if another opportunity comes up, they may have a chance. Systems and workflows, excellent as possible. So, this has kind of changed my business, I would say. So, you can’t always expect excellence in a new candidate.

And they may not have the skills that you have or think about your business in the way that you do. And on the other side of [00:13:00] that, they actually may have skills you don’t have and really contribute to your business. But… In a broad term. And I think the more, well I don’t think, I know, the more you’re able to systemize your business, and the more you’re able to explain things, and the way you think about things in your business, and what your kind of holistic goal is, the better you’re able to systemize processes, and the better employees you’re going to have.

And one really awesome tool that’s been changing [00:13:30] my business is Tango, has anyone heard of it? Okay, so, essentially it will make SOPs out of your just everyday workflow. So, you don’t actually have to make them yourself, it tracks your mouse movements, and it takes screenshots, and you just have to maybe edit it a little bit at the end to what you want to do.

But if you have a process in your business that is repeatable, or is something you want to show new candidates, or train new candidates it’s a really powerful tool. And I will actually [00:14:00] sometimes use that in the hiring process. So I would give people a test or something they need to create based on an SOP from Tango.

How well are they able to follow instructions? And how good are your instructions as well? Because if no one can understand it, then I think you probably have a problem. So it’s a really great thing to actually put on the candidates at the early stage rather than once you’ve hired someone as well.

Because how well they’re able to follow your processes is incredibly important. And tools like this, honestly Really changing the game for many [00:14:30] people. Third one, I’ve actually heard Mike talk about it, kind of say this subtly in his languages. He says, we, a lot. Often, if you go with the approach when it’s hiring, especially in the Philippines, with you are working for me, there is less an attitude of willingness to contribute towards your business over time.

Because if you treat someone, you know, it’s pretty obvious in any kind of hire, like they’re working for you, not with you, [00:15:00] then they’re less motivated to help your business and contribute and be proactive people. And I think what I’ve seen in the Philippines a lot is it’s much more family and community oriented.

So I really try and encourage my employees to take responsibility. And to really want to contribute to the mission and the vision of the business and, and, and know that the success that they bring to the business, they’ll always get back in return. So I do small things like a little bit of profit sharing and things like that, and just [00:15:30] any little motivator that really makes them feel part of your business, has honestly been a game changer, both in the hiring process and when they’re working with you.

And I think if they feel like they have a defined role, it’s super powerful. And yeah, just the more kind of sense of community you can build. It’s honestly been quite a serious improvement in my business. Because actually now, I find that I’m more likely to be told by [00:16:00] people who work with me, Hey, you’re wrong.

Or, hey, I think differently to you. Or, you know. They’ve just gone that extra mile, and I think when people go that extra mile, when people care just a little bit more, there’s better results, because you, especially as your business grows, cannot what’s it, quality control everything. So I think this is something that you should build up in your culture as much as possible.

And it’s just simple words that you use every day, I think can actually make a difference over time. I wanted to ask you [00:16:30] guys, does anyone want to put, if some investor came along and invest in your e commerce business, what would you do with the money?

Buy inventory. Product development. Product development. Content. More content. Advertising. Advertising. It would really depend on where you are at that particular time. Yeah. Anything yourself? I don’t do business, I’m here for the network. [00:17:00] Fair enough. Any other comments, fellas? Go to Vegas. It’s gotta be specifically investing, you got these angry dragons, I’m pretty sure they want you to be angry at you.

Isn’t FedEx started by he put all black? I heard something like that. So it

Okay, so we had buy more inventory, invest in advertising, [00:17:30] more content creation, product development.

Okay, yeah. So essentially, if a lot of what we might invest in, our business can actually evolve around the value of human labor, not always product. Not necessarily, but because come from human labor technically, but The core value in many businesses. We actually see now is human labor and and there are products of human [00:18:00] labor, but Essentially, there’s that’s the core value of a lot What we would do to grow in many cases obviously now with AI and things like that’s different so this is something that kind of changed my perspective on hiring and growing my business.

So a little story for context. I had a friend who was a graphic designer. She was overloaded with work. This is a very short version of the story. And essentially [00:18:30] she couldn’t increase her prices because she needed to stay competitive. She was working in Eastern Europe and she was waiting for a startup and they were demanding more and more work off her.

But she couldn’t increase her rate, or at least she felt she couldn’t. And she never kind of came across the idea of outsourcing. So, a long story short, I found her someone who met her requirements. We did some testing and things like that. And actually, what we built was a system. [00:19:00] So, she had a certain set of tasks she was doing for this company, which was to do with, like, product labeling.

And it would be completed from a spreadsheet. We found someone who kind of met the skills that she needed. And was, and over time, basically, using SOPs, using sort of explanatory videos, she was able to train someone to produce designs from those spreadsheets. Just like her, almost, probably 80% there. So now she actually has a team of three people who are designing.

And she’s doing the last [00:19:30] 20%. So, the small edits at the end. So she was able to grow her business vertically, by not increasing her prices. But, earning significantly more money using the arbitrage of labor and lo using a system which enabled her to produce quality work, but she was still the final cut, and she was still giving her own touch to it.

Now, I can’t apply it to all of your businesses, and it obviously is a completely different situation, but perhaps there’s a way in your business that you can start to think about growing [00:20:00] vertically. And for me, it’s been super powerful, so, you know, in case of like, if I need specific skills or I want to grow, like, can I invest in people to help make that happen?

And, you know, if someone says more content, advertising, well, if I work with an agency, PPC could be very expensive. But what if I paid someone per hour to help me develop an advertising campaign? Just thinking differently, I think… It has [00:20:30] made a huge difference for a lot of people I work with who, who originally were mainly freelancers.

So it applies differently to businesses, but in a sense, what I’m trying to say is in a world where we are facing more economic problems and challenges in competition, growing vertically, maybe one of the solutions if it applies to your business. Okay. So the other thing is we basically asked. Global talent from people I’ve, different people I’ve worked with from all over the world, like, [00:21:00] what it means to them because sometimes outsourcing gets a bad rap, people think, well, you know, am I taking advantage of people and actually, yes, that can be the case, but in many cases, people from all over the world really, really appreciate and value opportunities with foreign employers.

And so we asked them to talk about it. It’s just a minute long I’m Mark, and I am from the Philippines. I work online as a project manager and content writer. I needed a job that provided flexibility and mobility. [00:21:30] Hello, my name is Vanna, and I’m an online writer, translator, and content creator from Leeds, Portugal.

The possibility to get living wages, to get paid fairly for what I do. My name is Gilkis, I come from Cape Town, South Africa, and I work online as a content strategist in Paris, France. The freedom to apply for my own jobs.

I’m able to make fair living wages, something that I would not be able to do had I been working locally. You have [00:22:00] to get to know other corporate environments around the world to find the perfect balance of work life and personal life. Before sharing updates, I’ve been able to meet a couple of charities working on my own collaborative to learn about new cultures and their

perspectives. My communication skills really help a lot as I’m able to understand what the client really wants and that translates to I used to think that being a perfectionist was a curse, but now I use it to [00:22:30] my advantage and it has become my biggest strength. My skills and expertise on digital might be terrific when I will be allowed to thrive in the digital world.

I asked this question not to get like the kind of cheesy answers but Really, to understand what does it mean for you to work in e commerce, why did you do it, and yeah, just anyone wants to, perhaps, talk who works in e commerce about like, why? [00:23:00] Do we go back in to present more, or? Yeah, F5, or? I think, I don’t want to sound horrible, but, I like to sell a product versus a s I mean, I know there’s, I do services too, but product business sometimes is better.

Well, there’s pros and cons. But selling a product is, that can be sold when you’re sleeping. Or it doesn’t really mean much, you sell it and you’re kind of done. You, maybe there’s some after sales support, like maybe there’s customer support after, but mostly, you can sell it and you’re, you’re not [00:23:30] the business, the product is business, and it’s more, it’s scalable.

Of course, service businesses are scalable too, but, but that’s kind of my answer. And what does having a product

You know, the cool thing about living in Asia is you sleep when the most sales in the U. S. are happening. And so, you start to disconnect your time from your, your work. Right, like so [00:24:00] you, you can separate yourself from the business more easily than that. Of course, any business you can do that, but in product business, I think it’s more easier.

I would agree that, yeah, with e commerce, it’s a good way to, to have like a functioning machine work for you, but then it’s also on the downside, I find it’s something that you can hide behind and [00:24:30] you can maybe lose a sense of working with people I don’t know, I have an introverted side that likes to work on something that works for me, but I also like to connect with people so.

Overall it’s a great tool, but I, I think, yeah, e commerce is also more than just products. So, I’m also interested now in e commerce and creating digital products and connecting with people in a service space. So, this is really the end of the presentation. I just wanted, so [00:25:00] thank you for sharing everyone and thank you for being involved.

Really, what I’m about at Hire Beyond Borders is connecting businesses with global talent that’s sort of hands off. So we do the entire process for you and we basically long story short, once we have your requirements, then we present, we have a four to six week process and we present the top two to three candidates so you still have that final choice.

And we guarantee that you’ll find someone you’re delighted to hire. [00:25:30] But really what I wanted to communicate in this is that there are two forces that need each other and I think it’s the non global huge businesses that have obviously been outsourcing for years and the medium and small size businesses and people from all over the world who value opportunities and do have great potential and There is bad quality and there’s good quality and it’s also a lot about alignment and kind of matchmaking and Don’t give up if you’ve had a bad [00:26:00] experience.

Yeah, so the presentation wasn’t about the unique selling point. I was just trying to talk about the topic and give people some things to think about on their own. But as a unique selling point of my business, yeah, we basically guarantee that someone will find someone to hire. So there’s like a no risk aspect to it and many people If it’s either their first time, or they simply don’t have the time, or they feel they’ve not got the quality, [00:26:30] we try and manage that for them, and yeah, really take that process seriously, because obviously the whole business model relies on finding the right person, otherwise we’ll lose our money.

It’s also worth noting that she passes that person to you. Yeah, so it’s a one off fee. She finds, it’s like a headhunter. Mm hmm. And so you don’t have to pay her after, it’s like a… Yeah, so it’s completely independent. We, we have a, an onboard lawyer who will help with a basic contract to protect you and advise you on best things like that.

But yeah, it’s [00:27:00] pretty hands off. What are like some best practices for managing the virtual assistant on your staff? And do you provide that service or is it just once hired, now they’re up to yours, up to your responsibility to manage? Good question. So, I think… There are plenty of amazing services that will offer you to manage your employee for you and do everything for you.

We do not offer that. What we do is basically [00:27:30] ongoing support. So in that first month for integration, any problems on either side, we’re there. We provide some basic hiring guides, but I really have the opinion that

I have people who’ve come to me from outsourcing agencies, and I’m sure many people do have bad experience, but people who don’t have good experience come to me, and they usually say, well, you haven’t got, my kind of thought is, you haven’t got someone personalised to you, you haven’t got someone who’s intrinsically motivated to work for your business, which [00:28:00] is what we really look for, like why do they want to work for this type of business, and it’s more affordable long term, and you have sort of better flexibility with that employee.

I think it’s just your preference as a business owner. You could work with a full service agency that they manage, or you could find someone like our service that finds the person. That’s more… Of course you could do it all yourself and find the person too, right? So there’s different spectrums. [00:28:30] I think it makes sense.

If you find someone more fitting, then maybe there’s less managing than… Yeah, and I, honestly, building systems to, within your own business, which I can’t do for you, or no one can do for you, the more you can systemize what you do. Then it’s, over time it’s so much more value. Like, if you can create the SOPs, if you can help people to understand the vision and mission of business, if you can employ people who are genuinely motivated and interested in working with you and feel like they [00:29:00] contribute to your business and don’t just work for you, I think it’s kind of like a more holistic picture of Kind of progress, because the whole point of hiring for me isn’t just about someone to do a task.

I think the VA kind of association thinks, okay, they do a task. But I hire people to learn from them and to be a missing piece in my business. I have learned so much from my woman who does marketing. And she’s worked with some amazing startups and has incredible intelligence. I think if you can [00:29:30] combine their skills with your skills.

Your business can move forward, and that’s the sort of people I’m looking for. She mentioned her talk, Tango US. I mean, I don’t know NetService, I’ll look into it, but basically, the most important is, I think, having SOPs before. I’ve made SOPs as they’ve worked for me. Sometimes it gives me the pressure, it’s like peer pressure, to do it, like your homework, because they’re waiting for you to give it to them, but it’s much better if you have at least some basic [00:30:00] processes prepared in advance.

My thing, I make video. I just screen share. I mean, maybe Tango is better, but I just I mean, Stuk knows, I just record my screen, and I talk to them like a person, like, you know, as I say, we and I try to think like, I change my mindset. I don’t, they don’t work for me, I work for them. I have to be their coach.

I want them to work here. I want them to succeed. I don’t want to fire them. I think of it like I’m mentoring [00:30:30] them. I think of it like, I want them to succeed in working here and doing their job. I need to make the, I try to reduce the barrier to working here as much as possible. And I used to think it was, I always used to think I made them upset.

Or made them feel stupid because I would say things in such a basic way. But normally they thank me because they don’t want to make a mistake. They don’t want to get in trouble. They don’t want to get fired. But they’re sometimes shy, especially Filipinos, to [00:31:00] ask. It’s like Asian culture is more shy. So I try to give them all the information right away.

I make a video, I give them links, I give a Google Doc, like that. So that they can watch that video two, three times sometimes. They tell me they watch the video multiple times. They go back to it later and watch it again. Sometimes I’ll do a Zoom call with them, I’ll record it, I’ll say I’m going to put this for training purposes in the SOP, and then they’ll watch the video.

And then like a weekly review? [00:31:30] Also, I had a question, yeah, just like managing them over all time and having… Go on. So how do you kind of like, end of day report? Send me something on EOD with just links to their work in the project management platform. But we generally, I like to, I’d say my team are pretty self managing.

So they have responsibility for certain areas of the business. And then I know what they need to do to achieve those goals. And each week we might have specific goals. [00:32:00] And, you know, my, I have a project manager, even though I don’t have many employees, because… He’s always saying to us, okay, we need to get this done at this time.

Okay, this is the deadline. Okay, we need to follow up with this. And I’m bad at doing that, personally. And, yeah, about SOPs, I mean, I just like Tango because basically, like, I don’t create the SOPs. I can just work normally, and it will… Track it. I did save the app as well. Standard operating procedure.

What is that? [00:32:30] Basically it’s… Thank you. We didn’t, we didn’t have the training precision. About what? It could be how you would like your workflows to be done. Okay. Reaching and command. Kind of like a brand bible. Some kind of bible. In smaller scale and bigger scale. Usually the tip is to make it smaller.

I make lots of small ones rather than one big one because it’s hard to maintain, in my experience. So like you said content creation, so you can have a [00:33:00] SOP about how to make a blog, or how do you want your writing to be done, or SOP of how to edit your video. And then, hopefully it’s a living document, hopefully you’re like, the best is they, the team member, I call it team member, updates it, not you.

So like I correct them, and I hope they listen to me, but I say, can you update the SOP? Right, so you’re like, oh I didn’t want it that way, I want it this way, I want to use that. So, and hopefully it’s just, it’s like a wiki. It’s like a reference. [00:33:30] Yes, it’s… So what we say when we try to hire someone, we should have those, at least basic ones, ready.

Because if they just start and they have no SOPs, and then you blame them because they don’t know how to do something, it’s kind of, like she said, it’s like your fault. Should be your fault. So, most people have an e commerce store, so they’ll have, have put the product onto Amazon. Following a few pain steps.

Following a few pain steps. 7, 000 carots. Okay. So we, we’ll be at three in five minutes, so I think [00:34:00] maybe five more minutes of questions, and then we’ll go to just networking. We put these small tables like this so that hopefully maybe we could form some groups. So we have an hour left here, to four, right?

Is that okay? I think, if we could talk to Rebecca or others. So are you collecting thousands and thousands of regimates, or are you still there? Getting the job then finding them. We, we actually, yeah, as I said, we cast a really wide net because [00:34:30] we really want to be like, we’re quite a new business. We want to be known for finding amazing people and people being like, wow, you know, this is amazing come back.

So we really go on a huge hunt. But we do keep the kind of resumes and contact details of people we thought were really great who made it to the final top two or three, but didn’t make the final cut, so that we build our own database of, of strong candidates, yeah. And then we will keep them on an email list for certain job roles and say, [00:35:00] hey, bye.

And it also helps us to, you know, we’re really keen on maintaining those relationships, because of course we want to. I tried the best talent in the Philippines, but we’re also looking elsewhere, but not yet. I just need to spend time understanding different… And you provide feedback to the top two or three that miss out?

Yeah, we do, and we don’t select. So the final selection we basically organize into with our client and they will meet the ones, they see the CVs of the top [00:35:30] three and then they will like, Okay, I want to meet this one and this one, we arrange it. So we don’t make that final decision. And for those people, we, yeah, we usually keep that content loose because our goal is like, okay, we need to find the best who meet all the requirements we’re really confident in because any of these could be hired.

Wow. And we need to rely on the fact that they’re gonna do well. And it’s not, is it like a standard 500 per person or is it like percentage of like normal recruiting companies? [00:36:00] Percentage of their annual salary? Yeah, good question. No, we just have an upfront fee. And we also have a guarantee. So basically we will give ’em money back if they don’t choose to hire someone.

If they choose to hire someone. And then there’s an issue in those first 30 days, we might extend it. Then we’ll replace them for free.

And we also keep the contact list of top candidates. So if someone, you know, six months down the line, decides, oh, someone’s got pregnant or whatever, [00:36:30] like, we can be like, hey, you know, we’ll find, or we’ll have from our database. So we try and basically always be there in that first, at least that first year, to basically, if there’s a problem.

But we haven’t had many yet. We’re a new business. Not that new, but. Sorry, just one last question. Why the Philippines? Really good question. So, why the Philippines? It’s essentially because that’s where I have experience, that’s where I’ve hired before, and that’s where I’m really confident. We’re definitely looking into Eastern Europe [00:37:00] South Africa, and a few other places.

And I’m sort of speaking with recruiters there. I don’t want to be one place. But I’m just not confident and haven’t hired myself that much in different countries, so, yeah. I think, I’m also heavy in Philippines and I think it’s the third biggest English speaking country after US and Canada, I believe. At least it’s one of the top English speaking.

The culture is very similar to Americans. Like when I first went to the Philippines, I felt like it was in like, [00:37:30] maybe like Puerto Rico or like some kind of Latin American location. There was, you know, of course Western food, Western culture. They know, like, actually, like, even customer support, they, they know, like, they watch the American movies.

They, they know American culture. Their English skills are the best in all of Southeast Asia. Yeah, lucky you live in Columbia. And you know, sometimes, you know, again, I don’t want to be, like, racist, [00:38:00] but, you know, like, India calls support, they’re like, hello, can I help you? They have a thick accent that sounds Indian.

I mean, no offense to Indians, but… It’s Filipinos have more like a Spanish accent. Right. And there’s lots of Spanish people in America, so they’re not gonna think it’s outsourced to the Philippines or just maybe some Spanish or Latin person working in this company until they speak Spanish. . Well, you don’t speak Spanish.

Yeah, I don’t speak Spanish though. [00:38:30] But some, and of course the labor, the labor rate is of course the low, comparatively speak. What is the average salary range, like, considering the skill sets? That’s a really good question. So I have like a, on my website, it’s coming out next week, I have like a calculator, so you put in whatever role, and then it’ll tell you what you pay in the US, what they earn locally, and then we generally advise 1.

7 to 2. 2 times local rates, but you’re still looking, I mean, give me a role and I can try [00:39:00] and tell you. Customer service. Customer service, probably the lower end, I mean, I don’t know what other people pay, but I would usually advise around 700 a month for a full time job. And that would be significantly more than the local rates.

So, how do you deal with taxes? Deal with taxes? Yeah. So, that’s a really good question. So, you need to decide if they’re technically a contractor or an employee. [00:39:30] We have a lawyer, so we include like a one hour legal consultation so we can set up a little contract according to your requirements. And she can advise you.

And there’s amazing, like, companies like Deal Velocity Global, for if you have them as a proper employee. And then if they’re a contractor, like, you can have in that contract, it’s their responsibility to pay taxes. Yeah, so, if they’re a full time employee, then like, they’re from Canada, so… This is honestly the really easy [00:40:00] platforms, like, I think Deal is one of the best, personally.

But also, many people will just hire them full time as contractors, but… I think the more common is, is you just pay them PayPal or bank transfer. And… Honor, try to give them as much benefit as they would if they were employed, but That that’s done. I think most people do To technically hire them in the Philippines.

I guess there’s I don’t even know about the [00:40:30] services, but there are services I guess that could hire them for you, but the taxes were crazy high and They’re working at home I don’t know. I think they can get in trouble if they work in an office. But if they’re working at home, I think they’re… The main distinguisher is, like, if you have, like, a very set time that they have to work.

You can say, I would like you to work this time. There’s intricacies in, like, which my Filipino [00:41:00] lawyer was here to explain. She’s, like, into contract law and can explain everything. But I would say 90% will hire them as contractors. And, and, and you can structure it in a way that you’re not… You’re bending the law actually, but you’re not breaking it.

You’re not there. You’re not there either. Yeah, essentially they… But it’s kind of like hiring someone from Upwork. A little bit like that, yeah. Yeah, okay. I mean, don’t get in trouble, but you… Upwork doesn’t like you, but you can try to take them off [00:41:30] Upwork. They don’t like that, of course.

I mean, we’ve got a networking Rebecca’s kind of, you can be here for an hour, you should be here until four. And thank you to our sponsor, our returning sponsor, mercury. com online bank. Well, it’s a real bank, but you can totally online for us. Our blimp program participants are going through this as well.

Thank you. Mercury. Travis is great. There’s been on our shows, been in our events. We’re going to have another event where we will have them attending as well. [00:42:00] And if you want to get a little bonus for you and us, if you sign up and do some special circumstances, you can go to globalformation. com slash mercury.

Also have a video tutorial that we use even for the blimp people. We’ll use the same exact video to learn how to use it. I hope you can check it out totally free. Why not see you there? All right. Thank you, Rebecca, for sharing. It was fun. You know, we’re trying to make the most of these meetups we’re doing here in Chiang Mai, as well as great different expertise and skills.

So definitely [00:42:30] let us know what you think of this, these shows and you know, just living the life. So what I’m learning, what I’m learning a lot. You know, outsources in the Philippines. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t ask the keyword and the title, but you know, we have amazing people on our team. You know, Alvin’s editing this right now in Cebu, Philippines, and we have a lot of our team at Global From Asia, or technically Shadstone our parent corporate company.

You know it’s not [00:43:00] outsourcing, it’s your team. It’s finding great people to work with you, so I don’t, I don’t really… I call it outsourcing personally, I call it team building, you know, you build, you know, they’re part of our team. They’re in our team. They are making everything happen. So when you’re hiring these people, it’s really, in my opinion, building a team, building a culture, building relationships.

And you know, I, I loved, actually, I said on a recent interview, I was going to be on Gianmarco’s [00:43:30] Settler Process interview podcast. You know, I love. I think that’s my favorite thing to do. Finding good people and they find you. And they talk to other people and they find out how good you’ve been doing working with those people, right?

And testimonials, not for customers, but for employment and working somewhere. So I hope, I hope you’re inspired by Rebecca’s talk. I hope you enjoy these shows, I hope maybe you’ll [00:44:00] come out to Crossborder Summit here in Chiang Mai, Thailand and hang out with us, a lot of us. And thanks for listening, I’m gonna go enjoy some Salsa Kitchen.

Cheers. Alright, I’m here with Chip G, what’s up buddy? What’s up man, good to see you. Yeah, and we’re here getting some burritos. Yeah. And talking Amazon, talking business, thanks for coming on the show recently, check out his podcast. Yeah. And. You’re also coming to the cross border summit. Yeah. I’m so [00:44:30] excited.

I haven’t been to like an actual Amazon event. It’s so long. All of them got canceled and now I’m coming to the best one. Thanks buddy. That’s the first time we did it. This is, I haven’t done this in four years. True. And we met since then. And you know, it’ll be great to have you there. And also just the theme is open borders, new beginnings.

That’s the theme of the cross border summit this year. We always put a little And we got some surprises, a show, stuff that happened during coronavirus in the community and everything. So, yeah. Thanks for coming, buddy. [00:45:00] Absolutely. Great to see you, man. Amazing lineup. Excited to see everybody and yeah, some of the speakers are going to be really, really amazing.

Great. Thanks, Chip. Thanks so much. Cheers. To get more info about running an international business, please visit our website. at www. globalfromasia. com. That’s www. globalfromasia. com. Also, be sure to subscribe to our iTunes feed. Thanks for tuning in.