My First Trip To The Philippines

Hilarious story and great job with the video.

“They’re arguing in English” I love it. Great video. Very eye opening.

I first thought… 16 minutes, not going to watch it all, but I did. Fun.. Reminds me of when I was on a missionary trip to Mexico City, and like you got lost (sort of) in the back streets. Obviously I found my way out, but not without some trepidation, and they didn’t speak English. My dad was in the Phillipines a generation ago, and spoke warmly of the people and country. Good vid.

LOL, that’s awesome, I love my guys in the Philippines. They ask me to sponsor them at their wedding. They are soooo friendly and honest to work with.

I’ll have to make the same trip you did and go visit them.

I have this gal working for me for $8.00 an hour in Micado and this is a very good wage there and she has been just great. I must admit that your idea a few months ago helped in my decision.
Anyway your video of the trip is just great. I didn’t know that their natural language in Micado is English.
Thank you.
Robert

Wow! That is way cool, John! I knew English was spoken in the Philippines, but I did not know it was that prominent.

I was certainly surprised to see newspapers and street signs written in English. This definitely explains why I’ve been able to find some phenomenal writers in the Philippines.

Thanks for sharing the video. I can’t wait to see more!

wow… very interesting story, nice video.. i can’t imagine being in situation like that, but nice to see that it all turned out very well, and you actually had fun! yeahh

Hi John,

I love the Philippines. I’ve been over about 15 times now. My last trip I was there when you were but down on the Island of Cebu doing some BPO work.

Makati is great but when you get outside of that area it can be somewhat dangerous. I can understand why you were a little nervous. Great story, thanks for sharing.

Greg

This was a great video! would like to see more! I am glad you were able to have faith and pull this one off.

Very enjoyable and informative video, thanks.

Great story John!

I hired my first Philippino early this year
because of what I read on your blog…

Thank You.

Dr. Michael Quadlander

@Robert: $8/hr??? She better be a Nuclear Physicist for that kind of money!

An incredible story. I loved it… We lived there for 3 years quite a few years back. We have plans of returning in the spring of 2010 and going to Davao, Mindanao. We would even consider living there again under the right circumstances…

What an adventure. One of these days, I will visit the country myself.

Hi John, thanks for sharing your video.

Firstly, thank God you and your wife are safe.

It goes to show how privelaged we are here in the USA.

What a privelage for you to go and meet your guys, I think t meant a lot for them as well.

Secondly, I really want to thank you for always delivering quality relevant information and how you teach by example.

I have learned a lot.

Keep up the good work.

Gerhard

While the guys you were with in that trip spoke great english :>), they certainly were not good tour guides. Haha!

There are plenty of great resorts at Puerto Galera. I also noticed you were booked in a 3-star hotel in Makati?

Makati has 5 star hotels, Shangrila, Mandarin, Manila Peninsula…where you and your wife could have enjoyed your short stay.

Great video! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for doing this John! We Filipinos appreciate this.

Ian del Carmen
http://iandelcarmen.com
Manila, Philippines

You are so cool. Great idea.

Awesome video!!! I live here in Pasig City, Philippines. Philippines is really an awesome country. You’ll find different types of people here and a lot of awesome places. Do you know that we have 7107 islands? Almost ALL Filipinos can speak and understand the English language, specially the ones in Financial Districts like Makati, Pasig, Ortigas cities and a lot more! Really great vid!!! Let me know when you come to visit again.

You video was excellent.

I’ve been using agents of value for a few months and have been mostly happy with the experience. I am glad that I decided to outsource and indirectly, you were partially responsible. I watched you give your presentation at Jeff Mills event and talked with two other people who had outsourced the work. It was the confidence and positive experience of other like yourself that gave me the impetus to do it.

Thanks,

John

I have two employees from the Phillipines, and love them! I wouldn’t let go of them for anything! I would love to meet them one day! I have a full time writer and full time assistant that helps me with all the other stuff. I would love to hire a few more people, and plan to after the first of the year, they are hard workers and like you have mentioned several times, they are always wanting to make sure that you are happy.

Sure looks like they beat the hell out of some of the teams I have used before in the far east.

Well done and thanks for sharing

Great Video John!

I am into week four now with my first employee. Things are going pretty good. I would love to visit the area.

Cheers!

JeromyS

Great story! I think you may want to “outsource your vacation planning”

Having a cool “bonding experience” with your team is a great thing, really cements the relationship, and motivates them to do a good job for you, now that they’ve gotten to know you face 2 face.

Your wife is a good sport!

Howard

That is amazing how prevalent English is over there. its funny how everyone over there speaks fluent english, yet we having people streaming across our border to live here and don’t speak a lick of English. walk into a Wal-Mart or Lowe’s here and you’ll find signs in English AND Spanish. Something wrong with that picture.

I have employed a couple of Filipinos over the last year as a result of your training. They have worked out pretty well for me. The are good at what they do and seem to be very honest.

I have been on some trips like this as well, in Europe and in Mexico. You can certainly be thankful it turned out as well as it did. Having locals with you that you trust makes all the difference in the world.

Great story. Really enjoyed it.

Great story! To clear up some things, the natural language is not English, but just about everyone speaks it. In fact, other than a few remote countries, English is the universal language is spoken just about everywhere.

If anyone is looking to get into the import/export business, China has raised its prices substantially over the years and the next best thing is to seek out business in Vietnam. And, yes, they do speak English.

Great job again with the video, John!

Nice one John,

Makes a change from the usual “how to optimise for Google and drive traffic” videos!

In fact, I think you’ve found a viable sub-niche market.

“Survival tips for third world countries.” :0)

How about Afghanistan for your next video diary?

Nick.

John,

Thanks so much for sharing. I was born in the Philippines but left when I was 10 months old to move to Guam with my parents (my father was retired military) I have always wanted to go back. Seeing the video was greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Maggi

John,

I am looking forward to my first visit to the Philippines to meet some of my team.
Currently, I have 12 Filipinos working for me and I could not get through my day without their help.

Thanks for sharing your truly hilarious experience. I could picture it as you were describing the dark ally and the boat.

Holly Powell

Hi John,
So cool. Being a Filipino myself, this is neat to see the country my parents were raised in. I was born in states, so this is neat. I will want to meet the Filipinos I have one day–this inspired me.:) Thanks for sharing!

@Edward – lololol. I was thinking that too!!!
$8/hour is CRAZY money there.

What a great story! I am reading this by myself and laughing out loud. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome video John, was laughing tears..

Highly appreciated !!

-Michael

Awesome Vid thanks for sharing it with us.

Simply awesome! Hilarious. Thanks for sharing.

I have read so much about outsourcing to the Philippines from you, but this video puts a personal face on it, and it is a good story. Thanks for posting it!

I was laughing at some of those situations I’m living here in the Philippines myself (for 6 months now) and can tell you from experience that 5000 pesos for a boat ride is way too much… you probably could of paid 1000 pesos and they would of been happy. Great story

not my idea of fun John! you were lucky the water was calm otherwise we’d be wondering where you had got to and what was happening your recurring income now you had gone LOL

Great video thanks for sharing.

I have been to the Philippine 5 times and on my last trip was married July 2008 in South Leyte to a filipino, now with me in Canada.

When I heard about you through Jim Cockrums site I decided to try out your trial membership which changed my life. I hired my first Filipino in Feb.2009 and never looked back. I’ve hired a few filipinos since and plan to hire more in the future.

I think this is waht people need a video of peoples trips to share how easy it is to get around in the Philippines with just knowing English. They all take it from the very start of school all the way to the end of their school. Everyone knows English there.

Their food is great, friendly people.

I really enjoyed this blog and video.

I’ll be going back soon!

Can’t wait to see the next one!!!

i love this! it’s fun, cool!…

I’m 100% filipino and yeah English here is our second language aside tagalog and we have 170 languages nationwide, depends of what city you belong, and I am from Davao so I’m Bisaya.

People here are so grammar conscious, like nosebleed hahaha… Like they will tease you if you don’t know how to speak english..

English here is part of our life. If you don’t know how to speak it then you are in trouble…

John, Really enjoyed the video and your take on third world countries.
I will go to the Philippines soon after the new year. thanks for sharing…

I have a Filipino who works for me at $1.00 an hour, 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. I personally went to the Philippines and trained him and others.
I see someone posted that they are payin $8.00 an HOUR??
Most Filipinos dont get 8 dollars PER DAY!

I’ve lived in the Philippines about 4 months this year. You can cant go running off with people you barely know. You can disappear for good that way.
Your very lucky.

Good thing you were in Makati… Your video camera would have been “lost” if you were walking around the Ermita area of Manila with it. =)

BTW, which hotel was it you stayed at? I’m heading out there again in a few weeks and will be staying at the Soho in Bel Air, Makati… looking to hire some Filipinos myself.

Wow, what a trip, I’ve been here (ph-Cebu)for 12 years and very excited to hire more help. I have my friends help me but never long term. Never been on a banka boat, fast craft is safer. When you come back, do not ever do the back ally thing again. You were lucky. After 12 years, you come to understand that 3rd world can breed disparate people, who have not much to loose.

I listen to your audio and what you say is true. So I will share this with my filipina wife and see if she wants to avail the program. Most of what we do is MLM (successful).

Glad to find your site. Just be a lot more careful the next time you come over.

God bless

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Hi John! You just got your newest subscriber and your newest fan – ME! Thanks very much for putting up good words for my fellow pinoys (filipinos).. i can't help but smile while watching the video specially with you in awe that everyone spoke fluent English (well, not all are fluent, but we can understand English-speaking folks like yourself).. Im glad you enjoyed your stay!

[...] I like best about Mr. John Jonas is that he adores the Filipino folks! I was this video of his first trip here in the Philippines and I couldn’t stop smiling of his misadventure! I certainly love the parts when he was in [...]

Hi John

I do love reading your stuff about outsourcing. It is good idea. Didnt America looked after the Philiphines for a while back in the early to mid 20th Century. I gather maybe that is why they are good in English. They were part of your colony.

Just a tid bit.

How can i get some contacts to hire some philipinos?
Do you know some jobs website in philipinas?
Please reply. thanks

http://www.OnlineJobs.ph

There are a lot of good traits you'll learn about Filipinos..Thanks for appreciating them Jonas….Keep up the good relationship with them and they will give back that to you! They are very Loving people….hospitable and great! Thanks a lot for giving time to see the good qualities of them!

Hi, I am from Philippines and I would like to thank you John for this awesome video and for your venture of getting people from my country. It takes courage to be successful in your business and glad that you have that. I agree with you that almost everyone here are speaking in English, it's our second language. In fact, newly born kids here were first taught to say English words. Kudos to you John!

Hi John, Thanks for being a real blessing to my countrymen!

Wow! What an adventure! I didn't realize Internet Marketing could be that exciting !!!! Glad you are both safe though – the back alley in the dark rainy night sounded like a scene from a thrasher movie!!! Very funny stuff!

What a great video! Thanks for sharing this wonderful adventure with everyone.

Manila has changed alot since I was there last. It has grown up. I too can relate many fond memories of the Phillipino people.
I love the entusiasm you show for the country.

Is it wrong to laugh at someone else's misfortune?
Well in this case I think it is more a case of Fortune!

John you had a priceless Life Experience during your trip, it was scary in places but that is the part you will remember the most and talk about the most from your whole trip. Funny how we always remember life's struggles the most.

I had enormous fun watching your video and thanks for sharing it!

Interesting post and more typical for novice travelers than you think (somewhat similar experience in Istanbul some years back). But not sure why I am getting this 32 weeks after the fact.

Hi,

Hospitality is one of the greatest traits of Filipinos. There are still good place there like Boracay. When you go to the Philippines, you are always welcome there. I love to go back there. That was 3 years ago when I got there. You can go to Bohol and see the Chocolate Hills.

Lots of history with the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Phili...

I know you're wife is NEVER going to leave another vacation to you in her life!