Author: Connor Gillivan

Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Spotlight interview at OutsourceSchool.

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of Outsource School.

We’re on a mission to help 10,000+ business owners master hiring virtual assistants and freelancers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.

We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce, agency, SAAS, and online space.

 

In this exclusive interview, we interview Noel Andrews from JobRack.

Noel is all about connecting people. Professionally he runs JobRack.eu where he helps business owners hire actually-awesome team members from Eastern Europe. Personally he loves arranging gatherings, parties, dinners and events, having great conversations with great people.

Connor: Hey Noel, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high level overview of JobRack and how it got started? 

 

Noel: Sure, JobRack is where growing business owners come to hire actually-awesome remote team members from Eastern Europe.

 

We help business owners figure out the people they need then we help them find the best people to join their team and help them grow. From Executive Assistants to Operations Managers, Marketing specialists, software developers or any other remote role we can find amazing people to join their team.

 

JobRack was born way back in 2015 as a job board helping entrepreneurs and businesses owners hire really great developers and assistants from Eastern Europe. Since then we’ve helped thousands of businesses hire really great team members and we now do that through both our DIY job post offer and our main service which is a Done With You service where we take on all the hard work of hiring for them working closely with them along the way.

 

 

Connor: Love that! Can you dive a bit more into the hiring services that you offer? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them. 

 

Noel: We have two services, the main one is our Done With You service. This is where we work as a hiring partner to our clients right from helping them figuring out the right role to hire next, through sourcing and headhunting the very best people, screening, testing and filtering them before presenting them a shortlist of the absolute very best people for their role and team.

 

Then we support them throughout the interview, offer and onboarding stages to make sure they get someone that really works out for the long-term.

 

Unlike many in the recruitment industry we work on simple flat-fees that keep things affordable to get the help that our clients want and need with their hiring.

 

 

Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that JobRack solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why? 

 

Noel: Finding the best talent.

 

Often the very best people just aren’t hanging out on job boards waiting for your job post to appear! 

 

They have to be hunted down, attracted to your role and then converted through a really engaged, and rapid, hiring process.

 

 

Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products, offerings, or enhancements to your current services? 

 

Noel: It’s an exciting time in the world of remote hiring and we’re always looking at ways we can expand how we can help our clients more effectively. We’re looking at how we can support our customers even better both through our own services as well as through our partners.

 

That includes helping businesses to pay their team, onboard them more effectively, manage them over the long-term as well as helping them to do the super important things like building a really great remote team culture.

 

Connor: And how specifically would you say that JobRack and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?

 

Noel: There’s two main things.

 

Firstly we’re the experts in hiring from Eastern Europe. 

 

That’s what we do.

We’ve been doing it since 2015 and we really know this region like no  one else. We know how to find the right people whether that means hunting in private facebook groups, Slack communities or even behind the sofa – wherever they are, we’ll find them!

 

Second, we’re real people and we pride ourselves on being helpful and friendly no matter how hard hiring is.

 

This may sound odd but getting really close to our clients is so important to us. Hiring great team members is about finding the right people, not just about finding a candidate with the right skills and experience. So it’s crucial we understand the person that’s going to be right for them. 

 

In short…. We hold our clients hands throughout the hiring process… even when it gets a bit sweaty!

 

Connor: What’s your outsourcing story? We find that everyone has a different experience when outsourcing and hiring online. What is your first memory that comes to mind?

 

Noel: Before I owned JobRack I was consulting and helping business owners with their team and hiring and I started getting more clients that wanted to hire remotely. I remember presenting a short list of candidates to a client that was running a small data analytics company and he was just blown away at the amazing quality of people I’d found for him in Eastern Europe.

 

I’ll never forget that and it planted the seed of a lot of what we do for our clients today, and we still receive that kind of feedback from our clients now too!

 

Connor: Love it! Talking more about outsourcing, what advice would you give to yourself if you were just about to start outsourcing and hiring online? 

 

Noel: Get help.

 

Unless you’ve a ton of experience hiring, or you have a ton of time to spare, then get some help with your hiring.

 

This might be advice and guidance from peers or business communities you’re in, or it might be getting help from someone like me.

 

Either way hiring is hard, it can take a ton of time, and if you make mistakes and hire the wrong person it can get really really expensive. For me hiring is like accounting. It’s complex, it’s super important and there’s experts that are really really good at it that save you time and money.

 

Plus… get super clear on what you need BEFORE you start to hire. You can get help with that too!

 

Connor: How about this one…how do you communicate with the people you hire online? What’s your best practices there and how has it changed over time? 

 

Noel: Regularly! For me I treat people like employees and team members, regardless of their legal status or contract mechanism. I’m almost always looking for someone I can work with again and again even if it’s a small task or freelance project but more commonly it’s full-time or part-time team members working with me as part of my core team. 

 

We use Slack, we use project management tools, we have team meetings every two weeks and every team member has regular 121’s with clear expectations and KPIs set all round.

The most important thing is to take time to listen to them. They’ll likely have great ideas for how you can develop and improve your business, you just need to give them time and listen.

 

 

Connor: Finally, this is one that I think our community will love, who’s been your best online hire? What do they do for you? Why are they your best hire? Tell us all about them and that story!

 

Noel: Oh now that’s a tough one! I have an amazing team so to choose one is just way too hard!

 

One that really sticks out though was my very first assistant, Vladan. 

 

When I first bought JobRack it was a bit crazy!

 

We had clients, we had candidates, we had tech stuff, we had so much to learn and all kinds of different things that needed doing. Plus I was still working in my old corporate job then too!

 

So I hired Vladan to come in and help me with a huge variety of things.

Everything from customer support to testing website changes to creating images and publishing blog posts and lots more.

 

Having an extra pair of hands that could just take things on to help me was such a relief and made a massive difference to my first year owning and building JobRack. Couldn’t have done it without him! 

 

Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today? 

 

Noel: So for JobRack simply head to https://jobrack.eu or to connect / follow me best bet is LinkedIn.

 

Always love to help people out so for anyone that comes to us from Outsource School we’ll get you the hiring clarity you need on a free consultation call AND we’ll give you a Supercharged Scorecard Consultation where we’ll work with you on a call to get you a comprehensive role scorecard with KPIs, metrics and outcomes ready for your new team member even before you’ve hired them.

Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Spotlight interview at OutsourceSchool.

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of Outsource School.

We’re on a mission to help 10,000+ business owners master hiring virtual assistants and freelancers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.

We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce, agency, SAAS, and online space.

In this exclusive interview, we have a conversation with Jhana Li from Spyglass Ops.

Connor: Hey Jhana, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high-level overview of Spyglass Ops and how it got started? 

Jhana: So my background is as a COO and head of operations for different startups. I was originally the COO for a seven-figure marketing agency. 

I then became COO and head operations coach for a coaching program that had hundreds of digital businesses in it. And so as the coach there, I was able to peek behind the curtain of hundreds of businesses and gather a ton of data very, very, quickly about what makes businesses successful when it comes to starting up and scaling. 

After seeing that hundreds of times, I actually developed an understanding and I saw the patterns about what the best practices are, what actually works, what the core foundations are and what are the common pitfalls that systematically and regularly trap small business owners or end up flatlining and losing their businesses.

After enough time of seeing that data, I ultimately decided to start my own business. First, as an operations consultant, and now — doing what I do now — which is operations coaching. 

I’ve taken all of that information and all of the best practices that I learned over the years, and I’ve put that into a unique operational methodology that I know teach operators so that they can turn around they could scale up the businesses that they serve, they can avoid the common pitfalls, we can build the patterns for success and ultimately, scale the CEO out of the day-to-day while scaling the business.

 

Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that Spyglass Ops solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why? 

 

Jhana: The problem that I solve for my clients is for the CEOs that ask themselves the questions:

 I don’t know how to scale my company to the next level. 

I don’t know how to scale myself out of the beach and out of the day-to-day as that happens.

Why’s the company no longer growing? How do I get it to this next stage of growth? 

The mechanism with products and services that we need to do that are two. 

Number one, we have to clarify your data. You have to clarify where you want this business to go. We also need to clarify what you want your relationship with your business to look like at scale. How hard are you working? How flexible and free is your schedule? 

We have to come to understand not just the rules for the business, but the business owner. And then based off of that in our ops inspection. This is a week long company wide audit. We take those goals and we reverse engineer exactly step by step what it is going to take to get you to those goals — personal and professional — across the entire business. 

We do a full blown audit:  we look at every system, we interview team members, we interview you. Everything. And we come back with a 12-month roadmap that maps out:

Here’s exactly what bottlenecks are live in your business.

Here’s exactly why they’re happening 

Here’s exactly how they’re stalling out your growth 

Here’s exactly what you need to do to solve those problems to accomplish ,again, your personal and your professional goals 12 months from now.

So that’s our ops inspection. 

On the back end of that, most often, we will arrive at that report of findings call with our CEO and be like look, you have an amazing operator on your team. Either you know they’re an operator and they’re in an ops role, or you had no idea. You’re an account manager there. You’re an executive assistant or project manager, but they’ve got amazing operational ability. And instead of having to go out and incur another really high-ticket salary, we could just train that person up so they can eventually elevate and step into the ops role. 

And so on the back end that is really our core offer, which is our operations coaching programs. We have two programs: Ops Academy and our COO Academy. 

Ops Academy is a three-month boot camp to train up ops managers. COO Academy is a six-month boot camp, and that’s to train up heads of operations and COOs. 

So think of it as like our ops one-on-one versus our advanced ops program. But either way, what we’re doing is we’re taking your operator and we’re giving them all the tactical skills, knowledge, tools, mentorship, community, everything they could possibly need to level up into the operator that your business needs and they can, in real time, learn something in a program, turn around, execute it in your business, and help you scale up.

 

Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current products? 

 

Jhana: So we are really focused on, first-off, continuing always to improve our products and making sure that they are absolutely the best in the business. And number two, really scaling up our acquisition which is not something that I had put a lot of energy and effort behind. And we are now in the process of really dialing in scaling an organic marketing and sales machine. And so that is our primary focus right now and that is naturally going to scale the revenue of the business. We have not anywhere near reached the max capacity that we have with the products and services that we currently offer. 

Secondarily to that, closer to the end of the year, we’re also going to be expanding our product line and specifically creating more coaching programs for the CEO. Right now, 100% of our programs are for operators but the reality is that the CEO has a lot of leveling up and learning to do as well if they are going to effectively scale themselves and their business. 

We don’t really offer that coaching right now. So that is a product that will be coming soon.  More community, more mentorship, more support for the CEO so that we can both train them and their operator at the same time and really transform that power couple into what it needs to be for the company to ultimately scale up and transform.

 

Connor: And how specifically would you say that Spyglass Ops and your team is different from other operations management businesses in the industry?

 

Jhana: Two things. 

Number one — we start with a fully customized gameplan, and we are not done-for-you. 

So both of those things together is a unique concept. There’s a lot of ops programs/offerings out there that will be done-for-you systems. 

The problem with that is that if you plug in somebody else’s templates into your company, they very rarely get used. They’re one-size-fits-all, they’re not the right fit for your team. Your team ends up like you pay a lot of money for them, then your team never uses them. 

That’s option number one. 

Option number two — we are fully, fully customized. Our team will come in and build out your systems but it is super freakin’ expensive and at the end of the day, now you have this dependency on this external operational team that you don’t control and that you didn’t hire to build out your systems and there is not really a clean handoff towards an operational infrastructure that you ultimately own, know how to use, and have somebody in-house who’s responsible for it.

We strike the balance between those two. 

We are absolutely customized. That’s what we do in the ops inspection,  it’s that we go directly into your business, we look at absolutely everything and we get to know your company and exactly what operational needs you have. 

But then on the back end, we’re going to work through your team. We’re going to put your operator in our program so that I have the customized knowledge of what the business needs and I can give exactly the right custom answers to your operator as they are, real-time, implementing that within the business, as well as all of the best practices, the templates, the tools, everything they may possibly need to be need to be successful. 

So we’re ultimately a done-with-you program because it’s really your operator who’s learning the skills and implementing that within your business. 

But! That keeps it cheaper and we’re still able to make it fully customized because we start with the ops inspection. So that would be the number one biggest differentiator. 

I would say there would be a second major differentiator between what we do and what others do, which is that almost every other operational program that I’m aware of works with the CEO.

“Here’s how you, CEO, need to level up your ops. Here is how you need to understand operations, your systems, your SOPs, here’s what you’ll need to do to create operations within your business.” 

We take the opposite approach, which is there is nothing that you, the CEO, need to do to level up your operations. 

We will give that to your operator directly. So it is not taking any time, energy for you as the head of the business to learn how to scale your own operations.

 

Connor: What’s your outsourcing story? We find that everyone has a different experience when outsourcing and hiring online. What is your first memory that comes to mind?

 

Jhana: One that comes most to mind is a recent hire that I made for my leadership team. 

I was hiring a head-of-product and the candidate that I ended up hiring completely redefined my expectations and my beliefs around what is possible for someone to do in their first 30 days at the job 

Within her first 30 days, she had generated a two-year product roadmap of everything she wanted to accomplish with this product. She had entirely rebuilt our existing product so we’re migrating from one product house to another. She completely rebuilt the entire thing, top-to-bottom without me. I hopped on one call a week, a strategic call where she brought in — “Hey, Jhana. Here are the questions that I have for you. Here’s what I need answered.” And then she walked out of that meeting, went out and executed an entire product makeover with my team in the first 30 days on the job. And it was absolutely exceptional. 

The product that came out of that was world’s better than anything I could have designed or built myself. Her assimilation into our culture and into our team was frictionless and immediate and fantastic and it all took just the first 30 days on her job. And she had entirely redone my business, which was just incredible.

 

Connor: Love it! Talking more about outsourcing, what advice would you give to yourself if you were just about to start outsourcing and hiring online? 

 

Jhana: the biggest piece of advice I would give is the lesson and the reminder that exceptional people exist everywhere. Literally! They literally exist everywhere. 

Where we as CEOs and business owners need to put our focus is on building the funnel that serves as a magnet and attracts the highest levels of talent. 

If we’re going out onto LinkedIn, and Indeed and all these giant talent pools and we’re thinking there’s nobody here there’s nobody looking there’s nobody who isn’t already employed. There’s nobody internationally who I can afford. All of these limiting beliefs I hear all the time. I call bull.

Great people, exceptional people exist everywhere. The question is, do you know how to find them? Do you know how to attract them? 

And so if I was just starting out, the advice I would give is put way more focus than you think you need on the hiring process and the hiring funnel. Because with the right process, you can find exceptional people. Skip that step. And you will always be left feeling like they aren’t good enough.

 

Connor: How about this one…how do you communicate with the people you hire online? What’s your best practices there and how has it changed over time? 

 

Jhana: I communicate with people online the way I communicate with people in person — as direct, as honest, and as straightforward as possible. I think that holds especially true in a remote environment. When you can’t see somebody face to face, there is a lot of communication that obviously gets lost. There is a lot of nonverbal communication that can happen in an in-person conversation: you can sense little things, energy changes and mood shifts, and it’s harder to pick up on that online. 

The best communication practice that I have found in working in a remote environment is that you have to overcompensate with direct communication because you can’t rely on nonverbal cues as much. 

So that leads to a lot of uncomfortable conversations in the remote work environment where you have to say things explicitly that, in-person, maybe you would hope they would just kind of get it. And it’s uncomfortable for you to say that directly and out loud, but you need to in a remote environment, because they’re not going to get it. 

You can’t count on them getting it and if they don’t get it that’s not on them. That is not their fault. That is something that we have to take ownership of as communicators to have full ownership to the clarity of explicitness of our message. We have to make sure that they understand it. And until they do that’s still on us. And it means that we kind of communicate it ourselves. 

So I always tell my team, it’s part of my onboarding deck, over-communication is the right level of communication. It is so important that people understand straightforward communication. Doesn’t mean I’m attacking you. It doesn’t mean I’m being malicious. It’s just the level of communication that is needed for everything that we have to say to each other as a team to be fully received and understood. 

 

Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today? 

 

Jhana: They can find me on the Spyglass Ops website. Conversely, they can follow me on Facebook, and specifically where they can get the highest free value from me is going to be my free Facebook group. I go there every single week. I drop masterclasses every week with a hot ops topic for CEOs. So that group is really specifically for visionaries for CEOs who need to understand what operations is, when to bring operations in, etc. So that would be the best place to follow me online so that they can get value.

Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Spotlight interview at OutsourceSchool.

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of Outsource School.

We’re on a mission to help 10,000+ business owners master hiring virtual assistants and freelancers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.

We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce, agency, SAAS, and online space.

 

In this exclusive interview, we have a conversation with John Jonas from Onlinejobs.ph.

John has helped hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs succeed by teaching them how to replace themselves through outsourcing.

He created OnlineJobs.ph, the largest marketplace to find Filipino workers with over 2,000,000 Filipino profiles in the database. He teaches how to find great Filipino workers.

While making a full-time living he rarely works full time. His team of 37 full-time Filipino virtual assistants do the work in his businesses, while he manages the process. They range from programmers, designers, and webmasters, to writers, researchers, project managers, and just general VA’s.

John has made millions of dollars online directly from work that his Filipino workers have done for him and now teaches others exactly how to do the same thing.

If you’ve tried outsourcing before, but haven’t heard what John has to teach about it, give it another try. John’s teachings are SURE to change the way you look at running your business, outsourcing, and the success you have in doing it.

Connor: Hey John, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high-level overview of Onlinejobs.ph and how it got started?

John: Onlinejobs.ph got started out of my need to hire someone without using an agency. When I started it, I wanted to recruit people on my own without an agency being in the middle, and that was impossible.

So, I designed exactly what I wanted — I built a job board where Filipino workers could put their profile, and then I could see their profiles, and communicate with them directly so that I could recruit someone on my own without someone else in between me and the worker.

 

Connor: Love that! Can you dive a bit more into Onlinejobs and how you have Filipinos exclusively on the platform? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them.

 

John: So, when I first started hiring people in the Philippines in 2005, I didn’t know that the Philippines was different. At the time, I just thought outsourcing was outsourcing, and it’s all a problem and a headache. When I hired my first person, though, I found out pretty quickly that is different than India or Pakistan or the US.

There’s some real significant cultural differences in the Philippines than anywhere else in the world. So when I built it, I built it specifically targeting the Philippines. I didn’t know that so many people around the world would find so much success with the Philippines versus other countries.

I started in 2009. Years after starting it, we found employers around the world flocking to use Onlinejobs.ph, which meant that workers around the world, also, were flocking to Onlinejobs.ph. And we knew that employers were just looking to hire in the Philippines because it’s different from other places.

I’m not saying you can’t find good workers in other places, your chances are just higher in the Philippines, and people know that. And so, we only allow Filipinos exclusively on the platform.

We actually are pretty active with not allowing people from other places on the platform. Specifically, we battle every single day with India and Pakistan. And that purposefully is because employers have a better experience when they know that they’re hiring a person from the Philippines.

So, in general, the problem that we solve for people is giving you access to a really talented workforce that is honest, reliable, loyal, hardworking, they speak American English, they are not entrepreneurial, they don’t want to steal your business, they don’t have a problem working for a male or a female boss, they don’t mind working for a foreign boss, which is very different than a lot of other countries that aren’t really happy with the U. S. right now.

There are a whole bunch of reasons why the Philippines, versus other places, and if more employers knew that, it would start off solving a lot of their problems just by going to the Philippines versus going to India to start off with.

 

Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that Onlinejobs.ph solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why?

 

John: Onlinejobs.ph solves multiple problems, but the biggest problem that it solves is giving people instant access to highly talented people that are super easy to find. So, for most small business owners, they don’t know how to find a great programmer, for example, or a great graphic designer, or someone to write their content, or someone they can trust to do specific data entry tasks in their business.

It’s hard to find that person. And that’s really one of the great things, that I didn’t realize as I created Onlinejobs.ph, but it gives you instant access to all these talents. You can immediately find people that have years and years of experience in basically any industry, and they’re not always available to work, but you can certainly always find someone who is available with that skill.

For most people, just knowing — when you have an idea for your business, when you have a task that needs to get done, just knowing, “Oh, I could find someone that can do this, and they already have experience doing this thing,” is a really, really big deal.

And then the next problem that it solves is that it’s affordable. So many business owners can’t find affordable labor. It’s affordable talented labor and a huge, huge market of it — almost three million Filipino profiles as I write this.

 

Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products, offerings, or enhancements to your current services?

 

John: I don’t really have anything specific for this, but we’re always working on improving the employer experience. We want to make things more transparent, we want to make things easier to understand, we want to make it easier to find the right person.

These are things we’re always working on. Over the next year, there aren’t really plans for specific expansion. There aren’t new products or offerings. We really try hard to stick with what we’re good at and to say no to everything else. And what we’re good at is providing a marketplace that gives you access to amazing talent.

We just want to make that marketplace better. We want to add more trust on the worker end, which we’re always working on. We want to add more tools on the employer end to filter, or better ways to post your job, or better ways to figure out salary.

There’s all kinds of things like that that we’re constantly working on. None of them are game changers. They just all combine to make the whole thing easier for employers.

 

Connor: And how specifically would you say that Onlinejobs.ph and your team is different from other similar VA marketplace businesses?

 

John: First of all, there aren’t that many VA marketplace businesses. Specifically, I can only think of a couple — Upwork or Fiverr or Freelancer or FreeUp. But all those are all very different than what Onlinejobs.ph does, which Onlinejobs.ph just gives you access to people.

We don’t take a markup of salaries, there’s no percentage. So, you pay to access the database at Onlinejobs.ph and then you’re free to do what you want. You can take people outside of Onlinejobs.ph — we hope you take people outside of Onlinejobs.ph and work with them on your own inside of your own company.

We hope you’re bringing in staff rather than outsourcing. We don’t mark up salaries on the back end like most of the other marketplaces. The salary you work out with them is the salary you pay and it’s the salary they receive. We don’t take a cut. We don’t act as a middleman like most others. They put someone in between you and the person you’re working with, which we try not to do.

We try and give the employer as much freedom as possible. Now, the other side of the outsourcing businesses is agencies. And there are thousands of agencies, and they’re all pretty much the same. They’ll come to Onlinejobs.ph to try and recruit people to mark up their salary and then lease them to the employer. And that’s fine.

Most people, though, when they find out about Onlinejobs.ph after finding an agency, rarely go back to an agency to pay that markup again. Instead, they end up working just with that person with nothing on the back-end, like Upwork’s 20% salary markup, or Fiverr’s 40% salary markup. That’s probably the difference between online jobs and other places is we just give you complete access to the people that you’re hiring rather than being in between.

We also try to encourage long-term work rather than short-term work. So, Upwork or Fiverr, the whole purpose of those systems is to create short-term work so that a worker can get a review and then raise prices, which then gives the marketplace more money when that person gets another job because they’re charging more. So there’s more money in the fees. So that person can get another review, complete a job, get a review, and move on to another job — which as an employer, it just means they’re built around 100% turnover for employers.

They talk about you can hire someone long term, but really the whole system is set up so that that person gets a review, so they can move on.
At Onlinejobs.ph, we don’t really do reviews. I mean, we have reviews. But any time someone leaves a review it’s almost always negative from working with someone rather than positive because nobody leaves a positive review for someone that they’re currently working with, which is what we focus on at OnlineJobs.ph.

So if you hire someone, they’re working out for you because they’re staff working inside your business, you don’t go back and leave a review saying, “Oh, hey, this person is really great, hire them away from me.” Which is really, silly to leave reviews saying, “Oh, I found someone amazing. Everybody else, hire them so that they’re not available to work for me anymore.” That’s silly, yet it’s how the entire business of Upwork and Fiverr is built.

 

Connor: What’s your outsourcing story? We find that everyone has a different experience when outsourcing and hiring online. What is your first memory that comes to mind?

 

John: Yeah! I have multiple firsts. My first was hiring people locally; I wasn’t bringing in employees, but I tried it four different times to get people to come into my business and do what I wanted them to do. It was pretty simple, and the very first thing they did was quit because they were like, “Oh, you’re making money doing this? That’s not that hard. I’ll just go do that on my own.” I tried it four times locally and all four of them did the same thing. This is 2004.

Then I tried India. It was really hard. It was just really, really hard. The communication barriers and the cultural differences were just hard. I remember trying to get things done and just being so frustrated time after time after time, that I just gave up. So that was my second outsourcing experience.

When I found Elance — it was Elance at the time, now it’s Upwork, when they merged with oDesk 10 years ago or so — I thought, “Oh, wow, I have finally figured out outsourcing. And I hired this guy and hired him to write articles for me. And then he wrote them, and he sent them to me, and I was so excited because I had gotten all this work done.

Then I realized, his job is to write articles. He doesn’t do the rest of the process. And there’s a whole lot of process that has to go on. And when I went back to him, he didn’t even respond to me because he had gotten paid and had moved on to another job.

And so not only could I not get him to do more article work because he was already working on another job, I couldn’t get him to do the rest of the process. And then when I figured out, “Oh, crap, a bunch of these are plagiarized,” I was just screwed. There was nothing I could do about it.

That was when the whole premise of the freelancer from Upwork fell apart for me. It requires as much effort to find someone upfront at Upwork or Fiverr as it does to find someone upfront at Onlinejobs.ph, and then the amount of onboarding you have to do is the same, but the long term benefit of hiring someone and bringing them into your company is so different than a freelancer.

When I hired my first person in the Philippines, I went and did the same thing — had him write articles. And his first article wasn’t great, but the next one was. And he wasn’t plagiarizing because he didn’t have an incentive to plagiarize because he just worked for me, that was his full-time job. And so if he plagiarized then I’d let him go and he would lose his job. And then after we got the articles right, I was able to teach him the rest of the process.

That is actually my first memory of successfully outsourcing — having someone full-time in the Philippines whose job was to do whatever I asked him to do. We were able to work through things and I was able to outsource the entire process of what I wanted to do by teaching him, “Oh, here’s the first step. Here’s the second step. Here’s the third step,” and I could teach him things over time. Now, that was in 2005.

That guy still works for me today, which is really, really amazing, and that’s another cultural thing with the Philippines that could never happen with Upwork or Fiverr or whatever other platform.

He’s been working for me for 18 years, and he’s not the only one that’s like that. I have people that I hired in 2007, and 2009, and 2010, and 2011 that all still work for me today. And a bunch of that is the culture of the Philippines, some of that is the platform of Onlinejobs.ph where they’re not beholden to another company. They just work with me.

 

Connor: Love it! Talking more about outsourcing, what advice would you give to yourself if you were just about to start outsourcing and hiring online?

 

John: My advice is different than what you’ll hear online. Most people will tell you to stick with what you’re good at and outsource the rest, and I think that’s terrible advice. I think you should become the CEO of your business — which is probably not something you’re good at — and outsource the things that you are good at because you’ll get similar results if you were to do it yourself, but now you can actually focus on more important things like making sales.

So, I’m a programmer. I was a programmer by nature, I’m good at being a programmer. Should I stick with being a programmer? Well, being a programmer makes it really, really hard to run a business.

Or if you’re good at social media marketing, well, social media marketing doesn’t build a business, and it’s something that someone in the Philippines can easily, easily do for you, especially if you can show them how you do it and have them do it the way you want to do it.

Or if you’re a really good graphic designer, well, your salary caps is what I’m getting at. If you’re sticking with what you’re good at, which is providing a service to someone, your salary caps because there’s always someone willing to do it cheaper.

But if you’re willing to become the business owner and run a business and hire other people to do the things that you know how to do, then your salary doesn’t cap. Then now you can take on endless amounts of whatever it is, clients or customers or work or whatever because you have other people doing the work.

So, if I were to give myself advice when I was just about to start outsourcing, and the advice that I would give to other people is: hire someone to do something that you know how to do first. Because if you know how to do that thing, you know exactly what talent you’re looking for.

You know how to post a job. You know how to interview someone. You know what skills you’re looking for, you know what the outcome looks like, so you know how to give training. You know what success looks like. You know how to give feedback. It just makes the whole process easier.

And then the consequence of outsourcing this is that you give yourself less to do. Whereas when you outsource something that you don’t know how to do, you’re still doing all of the things that you’re currently doing and it’s taking your time. And now you’ve added one more thing: managing this process that you don’t really understand to your plate. And it just makes the whole thing harder.

So the first thing, and the second thing to do is to outsource tasks that you do know how to do and, hopefully, things that can get some time off of your plate. And then you can move on to other types of tasks — things that you don’t know how to do, things that you’ve wanted to do for a while and you’re not really sure. You can hire someone to build your website, or to custom program that thing, or to build you an app, or whatever it is. After you have freed up some of your mental resources and your time.

 

Connor: How about this one…how do you communicate with the people you hire online? What’s your best practices there and how has it changed over time?

 

John: So, this hasn’t changed over time. Actually, I think that one of the great things about what we do, is we’re hiring people and they are humans with talents and personalities. And people don’t really change over time. If you’re using AI to do stuff, then that’s going to change over time. But I hire people.

And so you ask, how do I communicate with the people I hire online? Well, I communicate with them through email or through a project management system. I guess, really those are the only two ways that I communicate with people, with my team. Project management system, we use Basecamp, or email. I don’t really use chat because I don’t like it. I don’t ever do phone calls with them. I don’t like it and they don’t like it. Occasionally I get texts from a couple of my people, but not very much. And so the way I communicate with my people is very, very simple. Now we have lots of customers — thousands of customers — and they communicate in all kinds of different ways. However you’re comfortable with, you can communicate with your people that way.

I know people that do daily meetings over Zoom with their people. I would never do that, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Or I know people that have weekly phone calls, or weekly Zoom meetings, or weekly Slack meetings, or whatever it is, doesn’t really matter. You can do it daily. You can do it weekly. You can do it through email.

Inside of Basecamp, we have them check-in. There’s a check-in feature, and everybody writes what they did that day in Basecamp. So I know exactly what’s going on and I can respond to them there. Or we have all kinds of tasks or projects that are going on and everybody’s communicating in there. And that’s how we do it.

But again, there are lots of ways to do this, and there’s not a right way. I haven’t really seen this change over time other than the introduction of Zoom, but that was really just Skype before. People were just using Skype. And so, yeah, this really hasn’t changed.

 

Connor: Finally, this is one that I think our community will love, who’s been your best online hire? What do they do for you? Why are they your best hire? Tell us all about them and that story!

 

John: So, I don’t have a best. I have so many amazing — and I’ll just tell you a couple of their stories.

So the first guy that I hired in 2005, today he runs Onlinejobs.ph. And that’s a new thing in the last two years. He’s been with me since 2005, and over the years, he’s learned so, so much. And now, all of our projects that are going on with Onlinejobs.ph, he’s involved in all of them, and he’s pushing them forward, and he’s giving ideas, and he’s leading things, and so that’s amazing.

I have a girl who writes my newsletter. She’s been with me probably since 2010, and she writes my personal newsletter which goes out to almost 150,000 people, three times a week. And she writes it in my voice and she’s amazing at it. And then she also takes those and posts them on my blog and links the newsletter to the blog post. I don’t even know what else she does. There’s a lot of stuff she does.

Like my video editor. I hired him as a graphic designer and he was like, “Oh, I can also edit videos.” It turned out that not only could he do it, but he was amazing at it and significantly improved our video process, and really just allowed me to do anything I wanted to do with video. I changed from taking so long and so much prep work to do a video, to just doing a video — an ad video, or an informational video, or a promotional video, or whatever — any time I wanted, with my phone, and I could just open it up and record, and it didn’t matter how much I messed up, or how mediocre it was, he makes it look good every time as long as I get reasonable audio. So that has been totally game-changer for me.

So now, I’ll give you an example of this. And both of those people are involved, my newsletter person and my video editor are involved in this. Right now I record a podcast because I don’t have to come up with the content for it. I take the newsletter content, and I don’t have to do anything with it afterwards. And so for years and years and years I heard, “You should do a podcast. You should do a podcast. You should do a podcast.” And I was never willing to do it because I don’t want to spend the time. And then when I realized, I have a really good team now that can deal with this podcast. So I started recording the podcast. And all I would do is read my newsletter. I would read my newsletter in front of a microphone. And then one day I realized, I can also make video out of this. And so because of these two people, and there’s actually more people involved in this, but I open up my camera on my computer and I sit in front of it and go through my newsletter, which we put a lot of effort into the newsletter to make it educational and helpful. And so then I talk through it as a podcast episode with video. And all I do is just record. And then my video editor edits it into a video suitable for YouTube, including intro and outro. He turns that into a podcast episode. Someone uploads that podcast episode to wherever it’s going to go. Someone uploads it to YouTube — the video to YouTube. A blog post gets written from it, it gets linked to the YouTube video and the podcast episode. The newsletter goes out. All of these things happen. There are graphics that are being created. All of these happen from these two people who are so amazing and do so much for me.

Now, the first guy that I hired, Joven, who runs Onlinejobs.ph, isn’t involved in any of that. He doesn’t do any of it. But there are some other people involved in there. Someone else writes another blog post based off of it. I actually have a couple of different programmers that we hired over the years who are just spectacular. I can give them anything I want done, and they will either tell me, “Hey, sir, this is impossible. What you’re asking is really unrealistic.” Or they’ll go get it done and they’ll do a really, really good job with it. And having talent like that is so, so great. We have a customer support person, we hired him just to do customer support, and then over time, he started looking critically at what we’re doing and he started giving us suggestions and improving processes and saying, “Oh, hey, we’re not doing this very efficiently and nobody on our team is doing this efficiently. Let’s change this. Hey, we could also do this.” He started giving suggestions into the quality of things that we were producing and he started taking over quality assurance also.

Just really, really amazing people that are talented. And the best thing about this is, you’d ask for my best hire, I don’t have a best hire, but they just want to contribute. And so many of them want to contribute. They want to do a good job. They want to get promotions. They want to get paid more. They want to take on more responsibility. That’s been my experience so often with hiring people, and it’s so many other people’s experience. Now, obviously, you’re not going to have this experience every single time you hire someone. Or you won’t have it initially very often. Often it takes time before that person is willing to go above and beyond like I’m describing. As most of these people that I’m talking about, they’ve been with me for years and years and they’ve been contributing the whole time.

But sometimes it took them a few years before they were really willing to say, “Oh, he actually wants me to do amazing, amazing stuff. Okay, I can do that.” But it takes you gaining their trust to make that happen.

 

Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?

 

John: Yes, that’s an interesting one. I am not on social media. I have social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn — I don’t know. But I don’t get onto any of them because I don’t like social media. And so if you want to follow me, the best place is my newsletter. And you can get onto that at JohnJonas.com. There’s an opt-in there. And I get people all the time asking, “Hey, can you put me on your newsletter?” So that’s the best place.

I don’t have a special offer for you, but I will walk you through how I find great people every time at OneVAAway.com. And that’s something that people often want to know. “Okay, you’ve convinced me that hiring someone in the Philippines is really great. Now, how do I find that person?” Well, I mean, there’s the magic of it, I guess. And at OneVAAway.com I will walk you through that, how I do it. And I’ve developed this process over the years. It’s super simple, super efficient. I do not like to spend time recruiting. I want it to take as little of my time as possible while also ensuring that I find someone great. And I detail that at OneVAAway.com.

Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Spotlight interview at OutsourceSchool.

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of Outsource School.

We’re on a mission to help 10,000+ business owners master hiring virtual assistants and freelancers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.

We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce, agency, SAAS, and online space.

In this exclusive interview, we have a conversation with Chris Benetti from Smart Author Media.

Chris Benetti owns Smart Author Media and is an expert in book marketing.

To date, Chris has helped his clients collectively generate over $20,000,000 in sales from their books & backend offers, and In the past 12 months, Chris has sold over 20,472 books for his clients.

 

Connor: Hey Chris, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high level overview of Smart Author Media and how it got started?

Chris: Smart Author Media was started because I saw a need for the author marketplace and I just found that there were a lot of marketers who were helping with one-time or campaign-based events – things, like best-seller status or launch campaigns of their books. But the authors were underserviced on the ongoing marketing of their books – the ongoing of their assets essentially. So what I found was that they were essentially reliant on marketplaces for selling their books.

I saw that opportunity and came into the space with a different lens. My services came to include Amazon marketing.

The way that I differ, though, is that I offer Facebook Ads and funnel setup. So I’m much more of a direct-response book marketer where we’ll actually help you sell books but then we’ll also simultaneously help you build a list of customers that you can continue to market to.

Connor: Love that! Can you dive a bit more into how you help business owners sell more books? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them.

Chris: I already alluded to the fact that we are a little bit different in how we set up and manage campaigns. I’m primarily a full-stack business owner and as it comes to book marketing, I’ve got the lens of how we can make the ads and the funnels work seamlessly together and follow up as well.

My clients, by the way, are not just authors. I’ve actually niched it into business owners who have books because I’ve found that even non-fiction authors don’t necessarily have a good purpose for their book that can help lead to revenue.

And so for me, I made sure that I’m working with business owners because business owners have books for their business, and their books lead to being able to generate more income for their business.

That then ties back into me and it helps them stay on for longer because I can help better results and make more money with their books.

Going back to my services, we handle everything from the ads, funnels, to the follow-up emails so that everything is holistic. We are basically controlling everything to the point that if the ads stop working, we can test new ads. If the funnel stops working, we can test a new headline, we can test a new offer.

We will do everything so that the campaign as a whole is effective and ultimately leads to you getting more sales with your core offer in your business.

We do put offers in the process in the book funnel so that we can help offset the ad spend that we do spend on acquiring a new book buyer, but that’s something that’s more in-depth.

Generally speaking, my goal is to help alleviate as much of the ad spend as possible and then drive those new book buyers into becoming leads for my client’s business so that they can make a lot of money on the backend.

Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that Smart Author Media solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why?

Chris: The biggest problem that we solve is getting your book out there in a leveraged way. When you think about the process of selling books, you can either put it on Amazon and hope that the algorithm takes it off, which is something that you really just don’t have control over. There’s leverage there, though.

Alternatively, you can proactively go ahead and tell friends about it.

You can post about it on your socials and hope that you can get some virality with your organic marketing strategies and sell books that way.

You can get it in bookstores and hope that it sells that way as well.

You can go ahead and do book tours and things like that.

There’s a lot of things that you can do as an author that can help you sell your books, but they’re not necessarily leveraged and some of them you can have control over, but on a lot of them you don’t.

Whereas when you come back to the barebones of selling books, the way that we help is we help sell books with leverage and control, and the only way to do that is with advertising. So our business is really built off on:

“How can we advertise on Amazon so that we can control the process of selling books?” We can sell more books with that.

“How can we advertise on Facebook with funnels so that we can control the process of people buying books through Facebook and other social ad platforms?” And we can also take that new buyer and make them a lead for your business.

Ultimately, the way that we help is by selling books with leverage and control which then leads to you having leads for you and your business, which again is where you make the bulk of your money from.

Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current products?

Chris: That’s a fantastic question. I would say that as we grow, we want our clients to grow with us. So the enhancements to the core services that we have is to have our clients spend more money with us. That obviously allows us to take on a little bit more risk with the campaigns but get paid a little bit more. If they’re spending more with us, they’re getting more results with the selling of the books, with the backend revenue that they’re generating, which then allow me to get rewarded in that circumstance.

Expansions for the team. We basically build our team in the sense of ‘pods’. So essentially if we have a new ads manager coming on, then that ads manager typically needs a graphic designer, a video editor. We bundle those together.

As we expand the team we’ll be looking at what pods we can bring on so that we can continue to grow and make sure that our clients’ needs are being fulfilled.

Now coming back to potential products and services, I like to keep our delivery simple, and so the way that I can think about adding on the expansion of our services is to add marketing to different platforms.

Currently, our main focus is Facebook, we would then go to TikTok as a source and so on and so forth. But at this stage, what I’m really to now get on is a repeatable process for getting results for our clients and it’s too hard to go wide in the beginning.

It’s much better to just start with one platform and as we see success for that platform, or at least maturation, we can then go to other platforms and get results there for our clients.

Connor: And how specifically would you say that Smart Author Media and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?

Chris: At the end of the day, we are specialists at marketing books. There’s a ton of different agencies who will market books but they’re not specialists. So the real way that we differentiate ourselves is just by specializing and going deep on doing one type of campaign. Each book campaign might be different for each client: we might just do a free giveaway of a digital book, we may charge a low price for a digital book, we may do a higher priced physical book or even a bundle across the board.

So the front end offer is different but the campaigns remain the same across the board per client. Because we can go very specialized, we don’t need massive amounts of clients to understand exactly what’s working in that specific vertical.

With other agencies, they’re doing a dozen different types of campaigns, if not more, across a dozen clients and it’s very hard for them to know what moves to make next for that specific campaign unless they get experience over time for that.

With us, we are specialized and we don’t take on clients outside of the ‘business owner who has a book’ niche, and so that allows us to go very deep and understand what moves to make when things aren’t working.

Connor: What’s your outsourcing story? We find that everyone has a different experience when outsourcing and hiring online. What is your first memory that comes to mind?

Chris: Outsourcing is actually something that I’m a big proponent of and I started this business with a VA right away. All of my team is in the Philippines. For me, my earliest memory is essentially having leverage on the services that I can provide. And the cool thing about VAs and me utilizing them from day one was that I saw other people who are providers, doing funnels and other services, doing all of the work for themselves. For me, I basically was the puppet master. I could go and say “cool, new client. Let’s hand them to the designer. The designer can work on designing the sales page based on the criteria that the strategics had in mind, then move that along to building up that asset.”

I was actually able to create a process around how we deliver work for clients and how we are able to leverage ourselves and take on far more projects than someone. That allowed me to work with big names in the industry and get the results for them.

Connor: Love it! Talking more about outsourcing, what advice would you give to yourself if you were just about to start outsourcing and hiring online?

Chris: This is awesome. I actually just hired a media buyer and I hired them on onlinejobs.ph. So for me there’s a process that I have in mind now when I’m hiring VAs, and this is something that I learned from my mentor who had an outsourcing agency in the past and has a team of 40 Filipinos working for him across ads management, video and podcast editing, project management, basically everything.

The process is you post a job on onlinejobs.ph and you get the VA to apply on your website. You don’t take applicants on the platform. That is basically a shortcut to applicants for being lazy, copy-pasting stuff and not putting much thought into their applications. It allows you to take control and get the applicants to move over to your own CRM if you’re hiring new team members.

From there, I vetted each one: resume, cover letter, salary expectations, etc., then I did a sorting. In the system that I used, I had priority flags: red being urgent, yellow being high, blue being low, etc. I saw the people who were good fits based on the criteria and why they’re leaving their current role. I then graded them based on their experience and whether they’re highly desirable for my company.

From about 50-60 applicants, there were only about 5 who were red, 10 people who were yellow, and about 40 people who were blue. Based on that, I was basically able to sift through them — “Here are my top 15 people, let’s send them a test”.

The test is very specific on what you would have them do on a daily basis with your company. As I was looking for a media buyer at the time, I gave them a few different tasks that were quite simple:

“Here’s a book. What detailed targeting would you use for this on Facebook?”

“Find me five other competitive ads that are similar to this industry and why you think they worked”

“Show me through a client’s campaign that you saw success on and why you think it was successful.”

Once I had reviewed their responses, I then offered them an interview. If they communicated well in the interview and if they were personable, I gave them a trial offer.

The trial offer was basically us working together for one week with the expected salary. You don’t do this for just one person – you do this for the top two. You’ll find that there’s a huge difference between them just based on communication, skill set, strategizing, etc. I spent one week for the first and another for the second candidate, and it took me only three days working with the second candidate to know that they were a much better fit for me.

That’s basically the full process I use for hiring an outsourced team member.

Connor: How about this one…how do you communicate with the people you hire online? What’s your best practices there and how has it changed over time?

Chris: I would say that I primarily use two different tools.

ClickUp is a project management software. We have all of our clients’ tasks in there. Whenever something needs to be done, I always have my team members for the specific tasks that need to be done. They’ll be created under the main client task and assigned to the person who needs to do it. This serves as the central place where all the tasks happen, they’re assigned to people with specific due dates so that people know who’s responsible and when it’s due. Sometimes we’ll set priorities as well.

We then use Slack for communication with the clients. If there’s a bit of back and forth for something specific for them, we can just do that on Slack. Any updates that aren’t task-specific are communicated there as well. We also do open conversational communication with the team there, one-on-one or when the team needs to communicate over a project.

So how did that change over time? This is interesting because I used to be pretty bad at communication. We primarily always used Slack but we didn’t effectively use project management software. I used to do a lot of one-on-one, back-and-forth kind of communication with the team, especially since the team was small and it just wasn’t an effective way to work.

As the team has now grown, it’s been very important to me that the tasks are put into ClickUp with all the parameters, and that people are notified on that so that we all know what’s going on and what needs to be done.

Connor: Finally, this is one that I think our community will love, who’s been your best online hire? What do they do for you? Why are they your best hire? Tell us all about them and that story!

Chris: This is interesting because I would say that my best hire was actually my second hire. My first hire was a funnel builder, and he basically was my final assistant. My agency used to be a funnel-building design agency and so my first hire was like my right-hand man in getting stuff done.

As I expanded the business and needed more help, I actually asked my first team member to recommend me someone as my second team member, then I tried to brute force my second team member into being a funnel guy.

We actually had a lot of clashing about that because he wasn’t well suited for that role.

He’s more technical and just doesn’t understand the structure of funnel builders plus design. I tried to force someone into a role they were not a good fit for and that is just based on me having a very poor understanding of how I should hire team members and the best ways to go about that.

Over the next year or two, we actually had a lot of clashing and I moved into different roles across the business.

I wanted to keep him more on because for the first few hires, they kind of hold a special spot in your heart. You don’t want to let team members go, you want to make sure that you’re able to help support families and all that kind of stuff.

What ended up happening was he actually excelled at a few different things. He basically took the management of a $6000 per month client from me needing to do 90% of the work to just 10%.

Apart from that, he also excelled at updating membership platforms and very precisely as well. He also stepped into the role of editing my Smart Author video podcast and he actually is the best video editor I’ve ever worked with.

It came from a hire that I was extremely with for 2 years purely because I had him in the wrong role. He’s absolutely fantastic and he’s been my best hire, I would say.

Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?

Chris: The best place to follow and find me is on Facebook, Chris Benetti.

Then of course Smart Author Media is my website. On YouTube, you can follow the Smart Author podcast. It’s where I host my podcast and any other additional-value videos that I have on what we’re doing and helping business owners/authors with online.

If you want to email me chris@smartauthormedia.com is the best place.

Regarding offers, I don’t have any offers but I absolutely am here to help anyone who is in need of some marketing advice for their book and/or wants to hire me of course, you can go to my website.

Thank you for your time today, it’s been an absolute pleasure.

Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Spotlight interview at OutsourceSchool.

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of Outsource School.

We’re on a mission to help 10,000+ business owners master hiring virtual assistants and freelancers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.

We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce, agency, SAAS, and online space.

 

 

In this exclusive interview, we interview Jason Duncan from The Real Jason Duncan.

Meet The Real Jason Duncan – a best-selling author, TEDx speaker, podcaster, speaker, and coach on a mission to help 100,000 entrepreneurs find true success and balance.

With over a decade of experience as the founder of one of America’s fastest-growing privately held companies, Jason knows what it takes to build a profitable business in under 10 hours a week.

 

Jason‘s proven method, #ExitWithoutExiting, is all about breaking free from the daily grind of business operations so that you can focus on what truly matters in life. Through his mastermind program, The Exiter Club, his internationally-syndicated podcast, The Root of All Success, and his book “Exit Without Exiting,” Jason shares his wealth of knowledge and experience to help others achieve their own success.

 

But Jason‘s mission goes beyond just helping entrepreneurs succeed. He’s committed to helping 10,000 people escape poverty and mediocrity through entrepreneurship. To further this mission, he plans to start a nonprofit organization with the help of his mastermind group.

 

Jason is a family man based in Nashville, Tennessee, who loves spending time with his high school sweetheart and their two grown children. In his free time, you’ll find him riding motorcycles and camping.

His dedication to empowering others and his wealth of knowledge and experience make him a valuable asset to the entrepreneurial community.

Connor: Hey Jason, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high level overview of The Real Jason Duncan and how it got started? 

 

Jason: I am The Real Jason Duncan. I’m a renowned entrepreneur, best-selling author, 2x TEDx speaker, and podcaster, who is dedicated to helping fellow business owners achieve balance and success–no matter how they define it.

I believe that anyone can run a profitable business in under 10 hours a week, and I’ve made it my mission to show others how. Specifically, I want to see 100,000 entrepreneurs set free from the ironic prison of entrepreneurship.

 

I am the founder of one of America’s fastest-growing privately held companies. I started as an unemployed schoolteacher but managed to launch my own thriving business in 2010.

Today, I share my wealth of knowledge and experience through my mastermind program, The Exiter Club, my private coaching services, my podcast (The Root of All Success), and my international best-selling book “Exit Without Exiting.”

My proven method, #ExitWithoutExiting, is all about breaking free from the daily grind of business operations, so you can focus on what really matters in life. But I’m not just in it for myself; I have the vision to see 10,000 people escape poverty and mediocrity through entrepreneurship. To further this mission, I plan to start a nonprofit organization with the help of my mastermind group.

 

Connor: Love that! Can you dive a bit more into the business management products and services you offer? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them. 

 

Jason: First and foremost, I have The Exiter Club, an exclusive mastermind meticulously crafted for male entrepreneurs who aspire to embrace what we call “the exit lifestyle.” Through this elite program, participants gain invaluable insights and strategies to liberate themselves from the day-to-day operations of their businesses.

I guide them towards creating generational wealth and long-term freedom, not only for themselves but also for their families. The Exiter Club offers a premium experience, priced at $35,000 per year, encompassing a variety of benefits. These include monthly Zoom meetings, quarterly happy hour Zoom calls, immersive weekend workshops in Nashville, and luxury retreats, where even spouses are warmly welcomed.

 

Additionally, I present The Exiter Program, an exceptional 12-month coaching and mastermind hybrid. This personalized 1-on-1 coaching package provides intensive support and guidance, ensuring that clients receive the utmost attention and assistance. In this transformative program, participants benefit from bi-weekly coaching calls, unlimited private chat channels, and in-person sessions.

The Exiter Program also grants membership to The Exiter Club as described above. Moreover, clients receive complimentary access to our renowned 10-Hour Entrepreneur Hybrid Course, as well as a spot in one of the four Third Mind intensives we host annually. With only seven spots available per year, this exclusive coaching package represents an investment of $125,000.

 

Furthermore, I offer the transformative Clarity Catalyst, a two-day immersive coaching experience that provides unparalleled support and follow-up. Priced at $25,000, this program assists clients in clarifying their business vision and strategy, overcoming limiting beliefs, enhancing their mindset and productivity, optimizing sales and marketing, and building high-performing teams.

Clients can even include key team members and partners as needed, maximizing the impact of this powerful coaching journey. As part of the package, they gain access to our extensive network of coaches, receive free access to the 10-Hour Entrepreneur Hybrid Course, and secure a spot in one of our highly sought-after Third Mind intensives.

 

Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that The Real Jason Duncan solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why? 

 

Jason: Simply put I help give kids their dads back and wives their husbands back. I show them how to exit without exiting so that they get out of the weeds of daily operations and start truly enjoying the life that they thought owning a business would allow them to have.

 

Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current products and services? 

 

Jason: Our main project for 2023 is starting the Exiter Fund, which is a private syndication for investment for members of my Mastermind and my private coaching clients. In 2024, we are going to be starting a non-profit together called Legacy Changers that will assist in helping 10,000 people escape the poverty and mediocrity mindset through the vehicle of entrepreneurship.

 

Connor: And how specifically would you say that The Real Jason Duncan and your team is different from other similar businesses in the coaching industry?

 

Jason: Most business coaches focus on teaching their clients how to scale their businesses. The problem with typical scaling is that usually includes more time and effort and energy from the entrepreneur. I’m different because I obey the universal laws that govern how we should build businesses.

For example, I teach something called The Law of the Architect, which states that there are only three core roles that an entrepreneur should be focused on as he or she is building a business.

I show my clients how to scale their businesses without increasing their time, energy, or effort. As a matter of fact, I show them how to scale their businesses, keep their profits, and make more money, by spending less time, energy, and effort on their businesses.

 

Connor: What’s your outsourcing story? We find that everyone has a different experience when outsourcing and hiring online. What is your first memory that comes to mind?

 

Jason: When I learned the power of apprenticeships, it changed everything for me. Now I have a formal apprenticeship program called “PEAP” which stands for Professional Entrepreneur Apprenticeship Program. It is designed for young men 20-29 years of age who want to learn how to become entrepreneurs. 

 

Connor: Love it! Talking more about outsourcing, what advice would you give to yourself if you were just about to start outsourcing and hiring online? 

 

Jason: Embrace the power of VAs.

 

Connor: How about this one…how do you communicate with the people you hire online? What’s your best practices there and how has it changed over time? 

 

Jason: I am a huge fan of the Signal App. I communicate with my team members and clients exclusively through Signal. As a team, we host weekly team meetings and then stay in touch throughout the week on Signal. 

 

Connor: Finally, this is one that I think our community will love, who’s been your best online hire? What do they do for you? Why are they your best hire? Tell us all about them and that story!

 

Jason: Jade. She is a my Podcast Manager. I found her through a VA placement agency and she’s been with me ever since. She handles everything related to my podcast, which includes booking guests, writing my show notes, uploading my show to the platforms, etc. I have another VA who does the podcast editing, but Jade handles everything else. She’s a rockstar. 

 

Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today? 

 

Jason: therealjasonduncan.com or on IG at instagram.com/therealjasonduncan

Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Spotlight interview at OutsourceSchool.

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of Outsource School.

We’re on a mission to help 10,000+ business owners master hiring virtual assistants and freelancers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.

We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce, agency, SAAS, and online space.

In this exclusive interview, we interview Dan X. Nguyen from CANEI™ Law.

Dan is a graduate with a Juris Doctor, and Bachelor’s of Arts in Business Administration, Finance. He is an Orange County Native, with a passion for developing and executing strategies to starting, protecting, and scale your business.

He’s had 100s of LLCs and corporations formed, 70+ trademark applications filed, advised 5+ franchise systems, multiple time best selling author, 150+ law firm internet reviews. His next goal is to get 1000+ parent entrepreneurs to hire their own kids for tax write offs, legacy creation, and and financial literacy education.

In his free time, he loves to golf, camp, and spend time with family and friends. He specializes in brand protection, business entity structuring, deal structuring, and marketing.

We hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings value to you as an agency business owner.

Connor: Hey Dan, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high level overview of CANEI™Law and how it got started? 

 

Dan: I opened my own law practice in 2007 and I’ve always wanted to work with business owners and entrepreneurs.  When I had a chance to open my own law firm, we focused on doing business law and eventually became an award winning law firm serving businesses and business owners in the areas of new company formation, trademarks, franchising, and virtual in-house attorney membership program. We are based out of Orange County, California, and have clients all over the world, from new consulting startups to ClickFunnels 2 Comma Club Award Winners. I personally have been practicing law since 2005 and love working with business owners and entrepreneurs. 

 

Connor: Love that! Can you dive a bit more into how you help entrepreneurs to start, protect and scale their businesses? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them. 

 

Dan: We help entrepreneurs pick the right type of business entity (start), help them maintain their entities, prepare and review the right contracts, secure their intellectual property (protect), and guide them through expansion through purchasing another business or using the franchise model (scaling). We also help them get connected resources where we think it would help them achieve every one of these goals. For instance, one of my clients was looking to bring on their first employee, and in California, one wrong move can cost you a lot of money. So I made sure they connected with a colleague of mine that focuses on employment law to help them navigate their first hire.

 

Connor:: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that CANEI™ Law solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why? 

 

Dan: I think our ability to explain complex legal ideas into plain English terms really helps the client understand some of the work we do for them. Sometimes businesses think that legal fees and advice is just a money pit with no return on investment, but if we can ELI5 (“Explain Like I’m 5”) that will help provide some understanding why certain things are important and they way they are.

 

Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current products? 

 

Dan: We are looking to bring on another attorney or support staff this year. In addition,  we just re-launched our Virtual In-House Attorney membership program for business owners and entrepreneurs that want that on-going legal support. Much like accounts that provide fractional CFO services, our Virtual In-House Attorney Membership program provides on-going support to clients that desire to have regular access to an attorney without worrying about getting billed by the hour. 

 

Connor: And how specifically would you say that CANEI™ Law and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?

 

Dan: At the risk of sounding too cliche, we try to provide a holistic approach in advising our clients. This means we don’t only provide legal advice and services, but as entrepreneurs ourselves we try to share non-legal resources that would help our clients grow their business.  Additionally, we work primarily on a flat fee basis so the client doesn’t have to worry so much about overbilling, and we do a lot of education through our YouTube channel and we have received almost 200 five star reviews on Google. 

 

Connor: What’s your outsourcing story? We find that everyone has a different experience when outsourcing and hiring online. What is your first memory that comes to mind?

 

Dan: I bought a package of hours  from a virtual assistant agency many years ago, but honestly I didn’t know how to properly manage them and delegate tasks. I hired another one several years after that, but it was when I signed up for Outsource School where I really learned how to hire and manage VA. I now have five VAs that regularly work with us.

 

Connor: Love it! Talking more about outsourcing, what advice would you give to yourself if you were just about to start outsourcing and hiring online? 

 

Dan: Figure out what your hourly value is and learn how to delegate early on in your business. You’ll find out that you’ll make more money as you offload some tasks to your VA and you can focus on revenue producing activities. Get out of  the mindset of “it will be faster if I just do this, rather than explaining the task to  them.”

 

Connor: How about this one…how do you communicate with the people you hire online? What’s your best practices there and how has it changed over time? 

 

Dan: For real time communication we use Slack. It’s so much more comprehensive than other chat programs like Skype and WhatsApp, and there are a lot of software integrations to make things easier if you use different types of software. Other must haves are screenshot software and desktop video recording, so that you can give feedback to your team easily and effortlessly. We use Markup Hero and Berrycast as our daily tools. Just understand that that real time communication is somewhere in between walking down the hall to your teammate and sending an email. Don’t always expect a response right away because they could be focused on something else. If you need answers right away, then consider setting up an Urgent channel for immediate needs.

 

Connor: Finally, this is one that I think our community will love, who’s been your best online hire? What do they do for you? Why are they your best hire? Tell us all about them and that story!

 

Dan: I think both of my administrative assistants have been my best hires; they keep things running smoothly, including filtering out emails, booking my appointments, collecting payment. 

 

Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today? 

 

Dan: You can search Legal Tips For Smart Entrepreneurs on Youtube where I have over 200 videos. I’m also on LinkedIn where you can search for “Dan X. Nguyen, Esq.”

Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Spotlight interview at OutsourceSchool.

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of Outsource School.

We’re on a mission to help 10,000+ business owners master hiring virtual assistants and freelancers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.

We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce, agency, SAAS, and online space.

In this exclusive interview, we interview Matija Ratkovic from Lancr.

Matija is the Co-Founder & Head of Growth at Lancr. He is also a sales specialist & analyst with experience and education in telecommunications, enterprise software and software development.

We hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings value to you as an agency business owner. 

 

Connor: Hey Matija, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high level overview of Lancr and how it got started?

 

Matija: Absolutely, I’m thrilled to be here. Lancr was born out of a need to simplify the management and payment of remote workers and freelancers. We saw that businesses were struggling with the complexities of contracts, time tracking, and international payments, and we wanted to provide a solution. Lancr offers flexible contracts, powerful time tracking tools, and multi-currency global payouts. Plus, our unique SmartRoute™ system can save businesses up to 75% in fees compared to other freelance platforms.

 

Connor: Love that! Can you dive a bit more into the financial services that you offer businesses that outsource globally? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them.

 

Matija: Of course! At Lancr, we offer a range of financial services designed to make outsourcing easier and more cost-effective. Our SmartRoute™ system uses local payment methods like ACH, SEPA, and Pre Authorized Debit to ensure low costs for international payments. This means businesses can save up to 75% in fees compared to other freelance platforms. We also support contracts in USD, EUR, or CAD and use the cheapest, most convenient route for freelancers, wherever they are. This can help businesses save on currency conversion fees.

 

Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that Lancr solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why?

 

Matija: The biggest problem Lancr solves for our clients is the complexity and cost of managing and paying remote workers and freelancers. We streamline these processes, allowing businesses to focus on their core operations. 

 

Our SmartRoute™ system, in particular, can save businesses a significant amount in fees, making outsourcing more cost-effective.

 

Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current products?

 

Matija: We’re always looking for ways to better serve our clients. Over the next year, we plan to expand our range of financial services and introduce new features to make freelancer/contractor management even easier. 

 

We’re also exploring partnerships with other platforms and services to provide more comprehensive solutions for businesses that outsource globally. Some of them will most likely include payments in crypto currencies!

 

Last, but not the least, in partnership with our users, we want to grow the community of remote contractors and freelancers. 

 

Connor: And how specifically would you say that Lancr and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?

 

Matija: What sets Lancr apart is our commitment to simplicity, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. We understand the challenges businesses face when managing and paying remote workers, and we’ve designed our platform to address these challenges directly. Our SmartRoute system, flexible contracts, and multi-currency global payouts are just a few of the features that make Lancr unique.

 

Connor: What’s your outsourcing story? We find that everyone has a different experience when outsourcing and hiring online. What is your first memory that comes to mind?

 

Matija: My first significant experience with outsourcing was when I was managing a remote Customer Support team for one of my previous employers. The team was based in the Philippines and employed at a BDO vendor company. When I visited them, one of the first things I noticed was that the vendor was only involved with finding the agents and providing the equipment. This made me realize that there was a lot of untapped remote talent out there.

The main obstacle for these talented individuals was not having the means to be managed and paid fairly. This experience was a key inspiration behind Lancr, as we sought to create a platform that would simplify management and ensure fair payment for remote workers and freelancers.

 

Connor: Love it! Talking more about outsourcing, what advice would you give to yourself if you were just about to start outsourcing and hiring online?

 

Matija: If I could give myself advice, it would be to invest in a good freelancer management system from the start. It’s easy to underestimate the complexities of managing and paying remote workers, but having a system in place can save a lot of time and hassle.

 

Connor: How about this one…how do you communicate with the people you hire online? What’s your best practices there and how has it changed over time?

 

Matija: Slack mostly, and email obviously. Communication is key when working online. We need tools that are easy to use, give you the option to choose the level of transparency, can be real-time and asynchronous at the same time, and provide easy collaboration and sharing. 

 

I’ve found that it’s important to set clear expectations from the start and maintain regular communication throughout the project. 

 

Connor: Finally, this is one that I think our community will love, who’s been your best online hire? What do they do for you? Why are they your best hire? Tell us all about them and that story!

 

Matija: One of our best online hires has been our lead developer. He’s been instrumental in building and improving our platform, and their commitment to our vision has been truly inspiring. They’ve not only brought technical expertise to our team but also a passion for making freelancer management easier and more cost-effective for businesses.

 

If you ask our CEO, he would probably say that it was me, as that’s how we started our journey at Lancr 🙂 It’s a testament to the power of online hiring and the incredible talent that’s out there waiting to be discovered.

 

Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?

 

Matija: You can find and follow Lancr on our website, www.lancr.co, as well as on LinkedIn and Twitter. As for a special offer, we’d like to offer the Outsource School community an exclusive 30-day free trial of Lancr. Just use the code OUTSOURCESCHOOL at checkout. We look forward to helping you streamline your freelancer management.

Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Spotlight interview at OutsourceSchool.

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of Outsource School.

We’re on a mission to help 10,000+ business owners master hiring virtual assistants and freelancers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.

We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce, agency, SAAS, and online space.

In this exclusive interview, we interview Gilad Freimann from VAA Philippines.

Gilad Freimann is the founder of VAA Philippines, established on 2017. They recruit virtual assistants from the Philippines, and train them to work with e-commerce sellers (Mainly Amazon Sellers).
Their community has over 400 virtual assistants working with us.
Before founding VAA, he was an Amazon seller myself, building outdoor brands and hired VA’s for my own stores.

He works alongside his wife, Hila who manages a staff of over 40 employees, all based in the Philippines.

Connor: Hey Gilad, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high-level overview of VAA Philippines and how it got started? 

Gilad: Hey there! Thanks for having me. VAA Philippines? In a nutshell, we’re all about connecting e-commerce businesses, especially those on Amazon and Walmart, with top-notch virtual assistants from the Philippines. The idea sparked when we saw these businesses juggling so much and thought, “Hey, we’ve got a talented pool of professionals here who can help!” So, we started training them specifically for e-commerce tasks. Fast forward to today, and we’re not just offering services; we’re partnering with businesses, helping them grow and thrive. It’s been quite a journey, and we’re excited about where it’s headed!

Connor: Love that! Can you dive a bit more into the VA expertise that you offer for amazon businesses? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them. 

Gilad: Absolutely! First and foremost, our Amazon VAs are at the heart of our services, adeptly managing the intricacies of the Amazon platform, from product listing optimization to customer inquiries. Complementing them, our PPC VAs specialize in crafting and managing pay-per-click campaigns, ensuring that every advertising dollar is effectively utilized for maximum ROI.

For businesses venturing into wholesale and arbitrage, our VAs excel in sourcing products, negotiating with suppliers, and pinpointing profitable resale opportunities, ensuring you get the best deals and maximize returns.

When it comes to social media, our VAs go beyond just basic postings. They craft engaging content, schedule posts, manage influencers, and analyze engagement metrics across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, ensuring your brand stays ahead of the curve.

For the business leaders, our executive assistants are indispensable. They manage calendars, handle emails, set up meetings, and even assist with travel or event planning, acting as the reliable right hand to busy executives.

While Amazon is a major focus, we also offer specialized Walmart VA services, catering to the unique demands of the Walmart Seller Center and its clientele.

Lastly, our talented graphic designers are here to elevate your brand’s visuals, be it for product listings, social media, or promotional materials. Their designs are not only aesthetically pleasing but also conversion-driven.

In essence, from Amazon and PPC management to wholesale, arbitrage, social media, executive assistance, Walmart services, and graphic design, our VAs offer comprehensive support, catering to a diverse array of business needs.

Connor: Jumping off of that… if there was one problem you’d say that VAA Philippines solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why? 

Gilad: If I were to pinpoint one problem that VAA Philippines solves best for our clients, it would be overwhelm. Many e-commerce businesses, especially those on platforms like Amazon and Walmart, find themselves swamped with a myriad of tasks. From managing product listings, handling customer inquiries, and optimizing PPC campaigns to navigating the complexities of wholesale and arbitrage, the list is endless.

VAA Philippines steps in to alleviate this overwhelm by providing specialized VAs who are trained to handle these specific tasks efficiently. Our VAs act as an extension of the client’s team, allowing business owners to delegate time-consuming tasks and focus on strategic growth and decision-making.

Why are we so effective at this? It’s our rigorous training programs and deep understanding of the e-commerce landscape. We ensure that our VAs are not just skilled, but also updated with the latest trends and best practices in the industry. This ensures that our clients receive top-notch support, tailored to their unique business needs, ultimately leading to increased productivity and business growth.

Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current services? 

Gilad: As we continue to evolve with the e-commerce landscape, our focus now is on expanding into the Walmart arena. Just as we’ve meticulously trained our VAs to master Amazon operations, we’re now channeling that expertise to develop top-tier Walmart-specialized VAs. Recognizing Walmart’s significant investments in its e-commerce sector, we’ve observed a growing trend of Amazon sellers either transitioning to Walmart or adding it as an additional sales platform. Our mission remains clear: to be right there alongside these sellers, offering them the support they need to flourish on both platforms.

Connor: And how specifically would you say that VAA Philippines and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?

Gilad: Great question! What sets VAA Philippines apart from others in the industry is not just our commitment to our clients, but also to our VAs, fostering a sense of community and growth. Here’s a breakdown:

1. E-commerce Specialization: While many VA services offer general administrative support, VAA Philippines is laser-focused on e-commerce. Our VAs are trained specifically for Amazon and now for Walmart, ensuring they bring platform-specific expertise to the table.

2. Rigorous Training & Continuous Support: Our training programs are comprehensive and continuously updated. Beyond initial training, we provide ongoing support to our VAs, ensuring they’re equipped to handle evolving challenges and stay updated with industry trends.

3. Building a VA Community: At VAA Philippines, we believe in fostering a sense of community among our VAs. Regular online meetings and updates, training sessions, and feedback forums are organized, ensuring our VAs feel connected, valued, and heard.

4. Client-Centric Approach: We prioritize understanding each client’s unique business model and needs. This allows us to match them with a VA who’s not just skilled, but also aligns with their business ethos and goals.

5. Flexibility & Scalability: As e-commerce businesses scale, their needs change. We offer flexible packages and services that can be tailored and scaled according to the evolving needs of our clients.

6. Cultural Fit: Being based in the Philippines, our VAs bring a blend of professionalism, warmth, and a strong work ethic. The cultural emphasis on respect, diligence, and loyalty translates into a dedicated and reliable VA for our clients.

7. Holistic Support: Beyond just task execution, we provide strategic insights and recommendations. Whether it’s about optimizing a PPC campaign or suggesting improvements in a product listing, our VAs often go the extra mile.

8. Affordability without Compromise: While our services are competitively priced, we never compromise on quality. We believe in offering premium support without the premium price tag.

 In essence, VAA Philippines stands out by offering a blend of specialized expertise, dedication, and a genuine commitment to both our clients and our VAs, ensuring a thriving ecosystem where everyone grows together.

Connor: What’s your outsourcing story? We find that everyone has a different experience when outsourcing and hiring online. What is your first memory that comes to mind?

Gilad: Ah, our outsourcing story is quite personal and close to my heart. It all began when my wife, Hila, and I were scaling our private label business on Amazon. As the operations grew, we found ourselves swamped with tasks and realized we needed an extra pair of hands to manage our daily Amazon operations. We turned to the Philippines, known for its skilled workforce, to find a VA. But the journey wasn’t smooth. After a series of trials and errors, we were left thinking, “Surely, there’s a better way for Amazon sellers like us to find reliable VAs.”

That’s when the idea of Virtual Assistant Academy (VAA) Philippines took root. Founded in 2017, our vision wasn’t just to create another agency but to build a community. We wanted to offer employment to skilled VAs in the Philippines and ensure they’re well-equipped to support Amazon sellers globally. Today, VAA isn’t just a service; it’s a thriving community where VAs continuously learn, grow, and excel in the Amazon ecosystem.

The first memory that comes to mind? It’s the day we decided to turn our outsourcing challenges into an opportunity to make a difference. And as we continue this journey, I invite everyone to join us, help build this community, and collectively grow in this ever-evolving industry.

Connor: Love it! Talking more about outsourcing, what advice would you give to yourself if you were just about to start outsourcing and hiring online? 

Gilad: If I could go back and give advice to my younger self just about to embark on the outsourcing journey, it would be:

1. Start with Clear Expectations: Before diving in, have a clear understanding of what tasks you want to outsource and what outcomes you expect. This clarity will make the hiring process smoother and ensure you find the right fit.

2. Prioritize Communication: Effective communication is the backbone of successful outsourcing. Invest time in regular check-ins, provide feedback, and ensure your VA feels connected and valued.

3. Patience Is Key: Remember, there’s a learning curve for both you and your VA. Be patient, provide training when needed, and understand that perfection right out of the gate is rare.

4. Cultural Sensitivity: Understand and respect cultural differences. This not only fosters a positive working relationship but also brings diverse perspectives to your business.

5. Invest in Building a Relationship: Beyond just tasks, get to know your VA as a person. Building a strong rapport leads to increased loyalty, understanding, and productivity.

6. Security First: When sharing sensitive business information, ensure you have security protocols in place. Trust is essential, but safeguarding your business should always be a priority.

7. Continuous Growth: Encourage and provide opportunities for your VA to upskill. A VA who grows in their role can offer even more value to your business over time. 

In hindsight, outsourcing has been a game-changer for our business. But like any journey, it’s filled with learning experiences. Embrace them, learn from them, and remember that a successful outsourcing relationship is built on trust, communication, and mutual growth.

Connor: How about this one… how do you communicate with the people you hire online? What’s your best practices there and how has it changed over time?  

Gilad: Communication has always been the linchpin of our successful relationships with our online hires. Over time, our methods and best practices have evolved, but the core principles remain the same. Here’s a glimpse into our approach: 

1. Regular Check-ins: We’ve always believed in the power of regular check-ins. Whether it’s daily, weekly, or bi-weekly, these touchpoints ensure everyone’s on the same page and provide an opportunity to address any concerns promptly. 

2. Use of Collaboration Tools: Initially, we relied heavily on emails and Whatsapp messages. But as we grew, we transitioned to tools like Slack for real-time communication and Trello or Asana and Hubspot for task management. These platforms offer transparency, streamline workflows, and ensure everyone is aligned. 

3. Clear Documentation: Over time, we realized the importance of having clear SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). This not only helps in onboarding but also serves as a reference point, minimizing errors and misunderstandings. 

4. Feedback Loops: Constructive feedback is crucial. We’ve institutionalized regular feedback sessions, ensuring our VAs understand what they’re doing well and where there’s room for improvement. 

5. Open Door Policy: We’ve always encouraged an open communication culture. Our VAs know they can reach out with concerns, suggestions, or even personal challenges. This has fostered trust and loyalty. 

6. Training & Upskilling: Communication isn’t just about tasks. We regularly discuss career growth, training needs, and upskilling opportunities with our VAs. This not only benefits them but also ensures we have a team that’s always at the forefront of industry trends. 

Over the years, while the tools and platforms have changed, our commitment to clear, transparent, and empathetic communication has remained unwavering. It’s the bedrock of our successful partnerships with our online hires.

Connor: Finally, this is one that I think our community will love, who’s been your best online hire? What do they do for you? Why are they your best hire? Tell us all about them and that story!

Gilad: In response to the intriguing question of our “best hire,” I’d say it’s not about a single individual but rather the collective strength of our team. We firmly believe that the true potential of a hire is unlocked through comprehensive training, a supportive community, and dedicated mentorship. While each individual brings their unique strengths, our approach is to meticulously filter our applicants, selecting only the top 1% of the talent pool. From there, we tailor our training and task allocation based on the individual’s character and strengths. So, while it’s tempting to spotlight one standout hire, our philosophy is that excellence is a collective endeavor, nurtured by the right environment and opportunities.

Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today? 

Gilad: Of course! For anyone looking to connect with us or learn more about VAA Philippines, the best place would be our official website at vaaphilippines.com. It provides a comprehensive overview of our services, testimonials, and more. You can also reach us at service@vaaphilippines.com

Or you can book a call with us to know more about our services using this link. 

Additionally, we’re active on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Just search for @vaaphilippines and you’ll find us!

As for special offers, we’re thrilled to extend an exclusive promotion to the community today. For any new clients who come onboard through this interview, we’re offering 20% OFF one-time fee + 10 hours FREE on the first VA. It’s our way of saying thank you and ensuring businesses get a taste of the quality and dedication our VAs bring to the table.

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to share our story and offerings. We’re always here to support and look forward to connecting with more members of the community!

 

Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Spotlight interview at OutsourceSchool.

My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of Outsource School.

We’re on a mission to help 10,000+ business owners master hiring virtual assistants and freelancers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.

We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce, agency, SAAS, and online space.

In this exclusive interview, we interview Jamie Jay from Bottleneck Distant Assistants.

Jaime Jay is the Founder and CEO of Bottleneck Distant Assistants. He is known as the ‘CEO Freedom Fighter’. The #1 barrier to scaling business is leverage. One of his dreams is to support small business so they can ‘Play Big’ by transforming business leaders into CEO’s.

The first step is hiring a dedicated distant assistant. His provocative Point of View, “POV”, is for business leaders to stop doing the wrong things so they can focus on their best work.

Connor: Hey Jaime, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high-level overview of Bottleneck Online and how it got started?

 

Jaime: Bottleneck.online is a remote-based virtual assistant staffing platform that offers specialized virtual assistants, known as distant assistants, to support businesses grow and achieve success. The platform leverages intimate-based relationships that are specially trained in workflow and delegation management best practices that results in lower turnover and longer placements, unlike traditional virtual assistants.

 

The idea behind Bottleneck.online was born out of the need to help businesses overcome the challenges associated with growth and scalability. As the founder of the platform, I recognized that many businesses often struggle to expand their operations due to inefficiencies and bottlenecks within their processes.

They also saw that many businesses lack the resources and expertise needed to effectively analyze and interpret the data needed to drive growth because they were being pulled in so many different directions all at once.

 

Bottleneck was designed to address these challenges by offering businesses a powerful distant assistant that guides them to identify and overcome inefficiencies and bottlenecks within their operations through administrative, project management, sales support and bookkeeping support.

 

Since its launch, Bottleneck has helped countless businesses grow and achieve success by providing them with trusted remote-based team members that align with their core values that awards our clients with the confidence to focus on what matters most to them and what gives them the most energy.

Bottleneck has become a trusted partner for small businesses, from startups to growing agencies, who are looking for a competitive edge in a crowded marketplace.

 

Connor: Love that! Can you dive a bit more into the products and services that you offer for business owners looking to grow their businesses and still live their best lives? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them.

 

Jaime: Absolutely! At Bottleneck Distant Assistants, we offer a range of services that are designed to help business owners like you grow your business and achieve success while still living your best life.

Our full and part-time remote-based distant assistants are primarily from the Philippines, and they’re trained in workflow management, enabling them to take on any task you delegate to them seamlessly.

 

One of the core problems we solve for business owners is time management. We understand that as a business owner, your time is limited, and you need to use it effectively.

This is where our distant assistants come in – we can take on the day-to-day tasks that eat up your time, giving you the freedom to focus on the bigger picture and driving your business forward.

 

We offer a wide range of services, including administrative tasks, project management, sales support, customer support, bookkeeping, graphic design, web development, and more.

Our professionally designed workflow manuals, which include a table of contents and step-by-step workflows for each task delegated, using your brand guidelines, ensures seamless integration with your existing operations.

 

Moreover, our distant assistants can help you streamline your business processes, reduce inefficiencies and costs and improve your overall bottom line.

In short, we provide you with a flexible, scalable solution to help you grow your business while freeing up your time to do the things that matter most to you.

 

Whether you’re a small business owner or an entrepreneur, Bottleneck Distant Assistants can help you achieve your goals by providing you with the support you need to run your business efficiently and effectively.

 

Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that Bottleneck Distant Assistants solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why?

 

Jaime: If there was one problem that Bottleneck solves best for our clients, it would be the issue of overwhelm. We understand that as a business owner, it can be challenging to handle every aspect of your business efficiently while still maintaining a life balance.

 

This is where Bottleneck Distant Assistants comes in – we offer a range of services to help you delegate tasks that don’t give you energy, enabling you to focus on the critical aspects of your business that align with your strengths. By taking care of the day-to-day administrative tasks, social media management, email management, and customer support, our assistants find more time for you, allowing you to prioritize the high-impact tasks that drive business growth.

 

Delegating tasks to our team of experts not only prevents overwhelm, but also gives you peace of mind knowing that your business tasks are in capable hands. Our trained distant assistants bring a wealth of experience and expertise to handle tasks across various domains effectively.

 

Additionally, by delegating non-core tasks to Bottleneck, you can improve your life balance, reduce stress, and avoid burnout, ultimately enabling you to lead a more fulfilling personal and professional life.

 

The major problem we solve for our clients is providing an effective delegation program that minimizes overwhelm and achieves a balanced life by allowing them to delegate non-core tasks, so they can focus on more critical aspects of their business and personal life.

 

Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current products?

 

Jaime: As Bottleneck Distant Assistants continues to grow over the next year, we have several exciting plans for expansion. Firstly, we’ll be expanding our range of services to provide even more value to our clients. For example, we’ll be offering new virtual assistance packages that address the evolving needs of today’s businesses.

 

One of these services is the Bottleneck Online Security Service (B.O.S.S.) program that takes security to another level. It involves an extra layer of protection provided by our team of security experts to ensure your business is protected from online threats and cyberattacks. This service will give our clients the peace of mind that their sensitive data is secure at all times.

 

Secondly, we’re going to introduce our Integrated Services Program (ISP), which includes support for assistants with specialty skill sets such as graphic design, web development, and audio/video editing. This program will be included in a single subscription plan that provides our clients with more comprehensive assistance.

This program will increase the confidence of our clients because even though our distant assistant cannot do everything, our clients will have access to the resources of our internal experts who are specially trained to protect the integrity of our clients brand.

 

We’re also planning to expand our team of highly skilled assistants to better serve our growing client base and continue to provide excellent service to our clients. Bottleneck Distant Assistants is proud of our ability to recruit, train, and maintain quality remote-distant assistants from the Philippines.

 

Bottleneck’s expansion plans involve introducing new services and enhancing our existing services to provide more comprehensive solutions to our clients. With our upcoming services such as the Bottleneck Online Security Service (B.O.S.S.) program, and the Integrated Services Program, our clients will have more opportunities to strengthen their businesses in multiple ways.

 

Connor: And how specifically would you say that Bottleneck Distant Assistants and your team are different from other similar businesses in the industry?

 

Jaime: At Bottleneck Distant Assistants, we are proud to be the world’s first dedicated distant assistant company, providing our clients with highly skilled remote based distant assistants, who complete a unique six-week recruitment, job task training, and precision processing test to ensure that they are proficient in both delegation and workflow management, among other critical skills.

 

This training process is what sets us apart in the industry and has been a major factor behind our continued success. As a result, our clients can expect to work with highly skilled, knowledgeable, and experienced virtual assistants who are capable of handling any task that is delegated to them efficiently.

 

Moreover, our Integrated Services Program (ISP), which gives clients access to support for business critical tasks, such as graphic design, web development, and audio/video editing, without charging additional fees, is a unique and valuable offering. Our clients can count on our assistants to tackle complex tasks that require specialized skills, removing the burden of having to hire additional employees.

 

In addition, our Bottleneck Online Security Service (B.O.S.S.) program, which offers an extra layer of protection against online threats and cyberattacks, further sets us apart in the industry.

This program is unrivaled in the industry, making us the best choice for clients who prioritize the security of their sensitive data and information.

 

In summary, our dedication to providing only the best-trained virtual assistants, exceptional customer support, and our unique value proposition, coupled with our signature ISP and B.O.S.S. programs, sets Bottleneck Online apart from other companies in the industry. Our clients can expect unparalleled support, top-quality service delivery, and a suite of services designed to help them achieve their goals and achieve success.

 

Connor: What’s your outsourcing story? We find that everyone has a different experience when outsourcing and hiring online. What is the first memory that comes to mind?

 

Jaime: My first experience with outsourcing was pretty wild now that I reflect on the early days. It was back in 2006 when I was running a small startup ad agency, and we needed to outsource some of our business operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

 

At the time, outsourcing was still a relatively new concept, and there were not many options available. We had to rely on traditional communication methods like email, phone, and fax, (i.e., 9600 Baud rate that we received proofs for our designs) to communicate with our remote team, which made collaboration and communication quite challenging.

 

However, as the industry grew and technology advanced, outsourcing became more accessible, and we were able to leverage new tools and communication methods to improve our outsourcing experience.

 

Nowadays, with fast internet speeds and advanced collaboration tools like Zoom, Slack, and Go High Level, outsourcing has become much easier and more efficient. It’s amazing to see how the industry has evolved and how remote working has become a viable option for businesses of all sizes.

 

At Bottleneck, our goal is to take outsourcing to the next level by providing businesses with high-quality and efficient remote-based distant assistant services, which can help businesses improve efficiency, reduce costs, and achieve their growth objectives, all while enjoying the benefits of having a more balanced life.

 

Connor: Love it! Talking more about outsourcing, what advice would you give to yourself if you were just about to start outsourcing and hiring online?

 

Jaime: Outsourcing can be a great way to grow your business while taking advantage of the cost efficiencies that come with remote work, but there are definitely some things I wish I knew before I started outsourcing. Some advice I would give my past self includes:

 

1. Take the time to find the right outsourcing partner: It is important to take the time to properly research and vet potential outsourcing partners before making a decision. Consider the company’s track record, the skills and qualifications of their talents, pricing, and communication channels. See if they offer a trial period to test them out before committing to a full-time arrangement.

 

2. Establish clear communication protocols: Communication is critical when it comes to outsourcing and remote work. Establish clear communication protocols and make sure that your outsourcing partner has access to all the tools and resources they need to communicate effectively with you and your team.

 

3. Focus on building relationships: One of the keys to outsourcing success is building a strong relationship with your remote team. Take the time to get to know your team members, understand their strengths, and find ways to motivate them and keep them engaged.

 

4. Get organized: Make sure that you have clear processes and workflows in place to ensure that tasks are being completed accurately and on time. Use tools like Asana or Trello to help streamline communication, track progress, and manage projects.

 

5. Set your expectations: Understand that you already know about your company. Bringing a new person/team into the fold can be challenging to say the least. Give them time to learn about who YOU are, what you believe in and what your core values are. This is important to make sure your team members align with your vision and mission.

 

In summary, outsourcing and remote working can provide many benefits, but it’s important to find the right partner, establish clear communication protocols, focus on building relationships, and get organized to ensure success. With these tips in mind, businesses can leverage outsourcing to drive their growth and achieve success.

 

Connor: How about this one…how do you communicate with the people you hire online? What are your best practices there and how has it changed over time?

 

Jaime: At Bottleneck, we believe that communication is key to successful outsourcing and remote work. We have a range of best practices that we use to ensure that communication is open, effective, and consistent.

 

One of our best practices is to use multiple channels of communication to stay in touch with our remote teams, including email, instant messaging (such as Slack), video conferencing (such as Zoom), and project management software (such as Clickup).

 

To ensure that our communication channels are effective, we always establish clear protocols and guidelines for communication time zones and availability, response times, and escalation protocols to handle urgent requests.

 

We also conduct regular check-ins with our remote teams, which allows us to stay up-to-date with their progress and address any issues that arise promptly. This approach creates a culture of transparency, open communication, and collaboration between our teams and our clients.

 

However, as the industry has evolved, we have seen a shift towards video conferencing as one of the primary means of communication and collaboration. This is especially true in the post-pandemic era, where remote work has become more prevalent than ever.

 

As a result, we have adapted by increasing the use of video conferencing tools, such as Zoom, to improve collaboration and build stronger relationships with our remote teams. Video conferencing has enabled us to have more meaningful conversations with our teams, explore creative problem-solving and share ideas to come up with solutions faster and more effectively.

 

Clear communication is the backbone of our outsourcing and remote work success, and we use multiple channels of communication to stay in touch with our remote teams, establish clear communication protocols and guidelines, conduct regular check-ins, and leverage video conferencing tools to improve collaboration and productivity.

 

Connor: Finally, this is one that I think our community will love, who’s been your best online hire? What do they do for you? Why are they your best hire? Tell us all about them and that story!

 

Jaime: Do you remember the last time you had a team member that went above and beyond the call of duty? The one who makes you laugh, relieves your stress, and has your back through thick and thin? Well, let me tell you about mine. Actually, it’s not just one, but my entire internal team at Bottleneck.

 

It’s rare to find a group of people so committed to the success of a business that they’ll put their own personal comforts aside to ensure the ship stays afloat. But that’s exactly what I have in my team. It’s not just about the money – it’s the ultimate display of care and teamwork that really sets them apart.

 

I truly believe that the success of any business depends on the people inside it, and I can’t think of a better example of that than Bottleneck. I’m forever grateful for their unwavering support, their ability to keep things light, and their all-around awesomeness.

 

So, who’s your star team member? What makes them shine? Don’t forget to celebrate them, because they’re the ones that make all the difference.

 

Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?

 

Jaime: Thanks for asking! We’re always available online to connect and engage with our amazing community. You’ll find us online at https://bottleneck.online, where we offer a wealth of information and resources about our virtual assistant services.

 

To stay up to date on everything happening at Bottleneck, we recommend signing up for our Bottleneck Buzz newsletter. This newsletter consistently offers news and updates on the latest and greatest ways to scale your business, hiring best practices, and so much more.

 

Of course, we’re also available on our social media channels! You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn under the handle @bottleneckdistantassistants. There, you’ll get access to exclusive content, company updates, and plenty more.

 

And as a special thank-you to our community, we’re excited to offer a 5% discount on your monthly subscription! Simply enter the code ‘Outsource School’ at checkout, and you’ll receive this exclusive offer. This discount applies to all subscription levels, so you can benefit, no matter which package you select.

 

We’re passionate about helping businesses grow and thrive, and we can’t wait to help you get the most out of your virtual assistant services. Thank you for your support, and we look forward to connecting with you through the Bottleneck Buzz newsletter and our social media channels!