Philippines Outsourcing Tip 16 of 16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA

Ack, sorry to hear about your stuff getting stolen.

Sorry to hear about all your stuff getting stolen John.

John, thank goodness you and your family are alright! Have a safe and enjoyable rest of your trip.

That is a LOT of stuff for a couple of theives to take. Grrr…to them! What goes around, comes around, and I bet they have a rotten life already to be doing things like invading others homes! I LOVE your tips Jonas, thank you. I am just dipping my toes in the outsourcing field and you are the second person to recommend Philipino people. to me. I'm off to award a couple of projects now. Thanks again! Sincerely, Sylvana

Whoa – that's terrible John! I've been loving all your tips so far.

How about a helpful post for people travelling from the USA abroad to another country and any suggestions you have to prevent theft.

Ho John,

Sorry to hear you got robbed. Unbelievable to think you heard nothing while they cleaned you out. Thank god you are safe, in the end it's all that matters anyway. Like you said, it's just stuff. Although the pictures must surely hurt.

Be safe

Hey John, it's Jim in Boston. So sorry to hear you got robbed. I have thoroughly enjoyed your tips, thanks for making them. I do have a question however. My wife was walking by me when I was watching one of your videos. I think you were in the pool and I believe she was jealous. In any event as she watched it she asked me why you had it switching from color to black & white. I said, "you know, I'm not sure, I figure he does it for effect". So, John, was I right?
We both enjoyed the videos a lot. We're just curious.

Have a safe trip home my friend.

Jim from Boston

John, what the heck! Heaven's to betsy!

Glad you and the family are okay.

Could have happened to anyone.

John sorry to hear you were robbed that's sad.

as you said it's just stuff but it's sad people will steal. Anyway thanks for the tips, I have 3 workers now thanks to your help (on your website replacemyself.com) and it seems that's been my mistake, i try to teach them TOO many things at once and end up confusing them.

I will try your approach monday morning.

I've been a victim like that a few times. I have no sympathy for goons like that. Sounds like your biz won't be affected. Did you do online backup or something? Curious how you'll keep your biz going strong without the laptops.

Sorry to hear about the robbery. It happens anywhere not just in the Philippines – Brazil, New York, Vancouver to name a few places. I was born there but grew up here abroad and I know what NOT to do or carry around when doing business there – do not carry big items like laptops, video cameras, etc. especially so casually like we do here. Do not bring too much cash on hand – use credit card and a few hundred Pesos only! You will be on the spotlight to be robbed for sure. The most important thing is that your are all safe. I enjoy following your blog and keep up the good work!

All of these things are true.

Here are my thoughts and what I’ve learned:

1. the only thing I would do differently is make sure our place is completely locked every night. I might even lock it during the day while we’re gone for hours and hours…but the place we’re staying is really safe (guards, security cameras, …).

2. We lost a lot of “stuff.” I’ll get new stuff. The hotel will pay for some of it. It really stinks losing my kindle because I don’t have a book to read. The ipod touch really stinks too because we have 25 hours of travel to get home and I have 3 small kids with me.

3. Yeah, we needed the 3 laptops. 1 was for one of my guys. I was going to deliver it THAT day. We could have done without one and my and my wife could have shared one. Not fun…but definitely doable.

4. Next time I know to have digital copies of all passports. I think I already do, but I’m not completely sure. I’ll email them to myself.

5. Separate credit cards at all times and put them in different places. We got REALLY lucky that they didn’t take my wallet (they took my wife’s). We could have really had a hard time with money.

6. I’m pretty sure this was an inside job. The guys who stole stuff knew way too much about this place, and where the cameras were, and the secret entrance from the ocean, and which apartments to hit. I don’t think employees did it, but either past employees or friends of current employees.

7. Since this happened the hotel added another security guard. That’s nice.

8. The only digital stuff we lost were pictures from this trip (at least…as far as we know right now…maybe we’ll find more as we get home). Everything I do on a computer I do online. Google Docs, gmail, rememberthemilk. If you do stuff and save stuff locally, It’s only a matter of time before you lose all of it. Period. Every time. At some point, you WILL lose it, whether it’s from theft or a hard drive failure.
We kept some of the pictures, because my wife put them online (we would have put them all online if the internet connection here wasn’t so bad!)

John,

Coming back from BVI. Having had the same thing happen to me…actually at the last place I expected it to happen…customs security in Puerto Rico, as they were 'inspecting' my bag past check in they decided to take it on a field trip.

Of course it was just a camera and phone. Not life threatening. However the pictures on that trip were a once in a lifetime thing given some of the people I went with no longer are around, and they started using that phone so I endedup with some big phone bills not all I could refute.

So tips.

Assume that anything you travel with is disposable, assume it will get destroyed. Cause eventually it will.

If you lose a phone as quickly as possible call the phone company to cancel it, there is a 24 hour grace period that they will refund charges not made by you. It's easy on long trips/flights and getting tired to have damage happen before you realize it.

If you're daring enough to bring your primary work PC, make sure you have a whole image backed up (I use jungledisk and amazon) and/or a spare harddrive left AT HOME as "Trip Insurance" So that whatever goes wrong you can get running quickly. If your life is your online business, and you find a laptop you like, I even sometimes get two identical ones so that the drive image can be directly moved and there's no downtime.

Losing a camera sucks, however most have tiny film. Keep the film close (e.g. in a sock/shoe you're not wearing) and distribute the trip on a few cards so you're not out GB of your trip. Maybe have fun doing the same thing again to make up for the missing days.

Mechanical locks can help (e.g. kensington to a bedpost) some have alarms. You can also get door alarms for hotels/etc to alert. Odds are most thieves will choose to run rather than confront. Also be aware robbing tourists where they are staying is a lucrative career choice not a one time thing. It's likely that the people that hit John were 'pros' working in a gang , with a network to sell the stolen goods and entirely possible that they have help or actually work at the place. It's actually a good business, they 'score' like John's is several months of pay even at the upper level of a honest job. They are only after the goods, it's notthing personal..they target everybody with something to take. Thus the courtesy of the not taking the passport..so you can leave and come back with more stuff.

Travel light, after all this is a vacation right? Do you really need the entire spongbob collection on DVD so it's being away is just like being at home?

Also when things do go wrong, look forward to get a brand new shiny thing. I ended up with a much better camera and a much better phone.

Sorry to hear about all your stuff getting stolen, John, and thanks for the follow-up.
An additional tip to you and your readers:
I believe, if anyone has high-value files on the hard drive which can't be uploaded to Google Docs/gmail etc., then a reliable backup solution is a must-have.
I use an online backup solution called iDrive to BACK UP all my important files AUTOMATICALLY: http://www.idrive-backup.com/
With the automatic backup I never have to worry about data loss anymore.
As you wrote, at some point, you WILL lose your data, due to theft, hardware damage, viruses, or just because you deleted your data accidentally, but now I can retrieve the lost files through the web interface.

A -somewhat- funny anecdote about this service is, a customer reported that he was actually be able to GET their laptop BACK through the service, because of the automatic backup functionality:
A thief didn't notice that the backup was still running every day, so after a while the robbed customer was able to get the thief's email address, location and other personal information by accessing the stolen laptop's files through the iDrive web interface.
A Happy End in that case!

Check out idrive-backup.com if you can and have a safe trip back home!

Sorry to hear about your stuff John! Great content…and also great story in Globalization Today Magazine. If you haven't seen it yet you can check it out on http://www.globalizationtoday.com.

Best,
Larry

Hi John,

I'm a Filipino and am sad, very sad about what happened to you in my country. Hope your readers won't be discouraged hiring Filipinos or even coming to visit this beautiful country of ours because of what happened to you. It's an isolated case and can happen anywhere.

God bless.

Jose

nakakahiya kayong mga pinoy kayo! Di na kayo nahiya! Ang bait bait ni John, nagbibigay ng trabaho tapos ganyan gagawin nyo?! Walang kwentang filipino kayo! shet!

Hi, John.. that message aint for you.. I figured those guys who did that don’t even know how to read English.. so the message is for for them… and it aint spam.

Hey John, Sorry I missed your seminar in Boracay but I arrived a few days after the event. I am currently in Boracay and hearing your story is quite a disappointment! As long as you and your family are alright, that’s all that counts! Hopefully the baby blue water here in Boracay will make you forget what has happened. I am back on the beach to keep this tan going before I head back to Canada! Try to enjoy the rest of your trip here! Mark

I feel bad for you and that this unfortunately has taken over this post. But I wanted to add one more tip to the above. You can find a software type service that puts a GPS on your laptop so that if it gets stolen the thieves will not be able to disable it and you can track down your laptop and get it back.

excellent idea! i will try that.. any suggestion on thegps software for the laptop?

Hello John,
Sorry to hear that you were robbed while on vacation. Hope you are safe and back in the U.S.
My question is how you can help me is how do you get sponsors for a blog since I can't really sell anothers product as an affiliate or my own. I have a car blog and they are unique in that you don't sell cars, but you do talk about them. I've thought about getting a ebook made in the Philippines, but I don't have enough money to afford it right now. That is why I want to sell some space on my blog to generate money to pay for my ebook.
Any thoughts and suggestions?
Thank you for your time and cooperation.
Cheers,
Rick Resch

Hi John – glad you and your family are safe & sound and that you were able to overcome the emotional shock so quickly.

It does put a different spin on things … one of my team was himself robbed (attempted I should say) – they came into his apartment brandishing a knife and tried to steal his laptop. He managed to scare them off but was so scared himself he ended up moving to a more secure apartment. Cruel.

Loved the "tips series", thanks!

hi
i was just wondering, which type of person should you hire first? I have been learning about internet marketing for about a year n a half now but haven't gotten anything off the ground. and just 2 days ago i paid to get my first mentor. (im really excited looking forward to it =] ) Im really interested in outsoursing to the PH but my main issue is who would be the right type of person to hire first??? Any suggestions?? I have poor writting skills if that helps at all. Im looking to be as productive as possible in this business plz help …

John,

Naah..never an employee. I've had Pinoy/Pinay employees forever. It's the Cleaning staff usually.

To make sure this doesn't happen again in the online biz realm (you should do a piece on it) is creates checks and balances in your business. "Someone has a password"…who in your team manages them having the password. A credit card is used for adwords account…who audits it monthly. Make sure to set the systems.

Put employment contracts in place. Get a filipino lawyer (25USD for a retainer). etc..

Would be a good piece.

Hi Sylver and All,

I just wanted to relate my experience so far in the Filipines with Outsourcing.

At the moment I have a full time web designer, a full time SEO person and just hired a second F/T SEO article writer to focus on Unique Article Wizard. I am thinking of getting a researcher for keyword and products etc suppliers. In the main though my strategy is building niche eccommerce sites ie selling physical products online using niche blueprint model.

Anyway from the outset I want to say that since Nov 09 I have been more effective using outsources through John's Methods than ever before in my life and I mean way more. So I thank John from thebotto of my heart for his service! In the last 5 months we have built 7 sites with 3 more to come by April 30 to make 10. Prior to that it would take a year to get 1 site up if I was lucky with a full time job also which I still have. The goal is to build 1 site per week and have it then go on a 12 week SEO rotation and then go to a maintenance SEO program.

Anyway my experience with outsourcing has been mixed. I have a great web designer that is reliable and very good but with SEO staff I have had to fire 2 so far due to sheer lack of any real productive work . Basically rip off artists in my opinion or people that have no real intention of doing the 7 hours a day I pay them for more like 1. Anyway since that in the last 2 months I think I have a very good SEO person who is senior and could lead the team but again this week something has gone astray. He seems to have gone missing ans he had mentioned he would be away but working regardless and I agreed with this but alas I have had no daily email for 3 days. So I am hoping this is an internet issue but you would think if that were the case he would go back home to contact me his employer rather than not work.

My point is I am finding it a love hate relationship with staff and quite difficult but I cant complain that much because I am getting alot more done than in the past. I am just thinking now though I need to take a much stronger stance and ask that all employees sign up to elance tracking where they log in and it takes screen captures every so often. John I know Joel P recommends it and even has an office there now but am wondering what your opinion is on this. Do I take the hard nose approach or not? Is the staff situation getting harder since you started a few years ago? ie they have more choice now and can choose and drop jobs if they like etc ie Y gen etc coming through? I am just finding it difficult to get the really loyal ones on board at present I have 1 good one of 5, 2 fired and 2 wait and see not looking good. Please advise. Thanks alot Peter,,,PS What about getting people over there working from a supervised office?

I cannot believe that I am the first person here to see the strong coincidence between you getting all the data in your Business stolen and just 5 weeks later Mr. Reece comes out with a new product that pretty much mirrors yours!

Watching his films has been a lot like watching yours, except he's skipped a lot of details you go deeply into, no doubt to sell to us later.

I feel very sorry for you Jonas, not just for getting robbed literally, but for what JR is about to do to your business online. Best of luck keeping hold of your footing online!

If it's any consolation, everyone who has read your blog so far like myself will know the truth about who came first, and who was the most helpful.

I cannot believe that I am the first person here to see the strong coincidence between you getting all the data in your Business stolen and just 5 weeks later Mr. Reece comes out with a new product that pretty much mirrors yours!

Watching his films has been a lot like watching yours, except he's skipped a lot of details you go deeply into, no doubt to sell to us later.

I feel very sorry for you Jonas, not just for getting robbed literally, but for what JR is about to do to your business online. Best of luck keeping hold of your footing online!

If it's any consolation, everyone who has read your blog so far like myself will know the truth about who came first, and who was the most helpful.

Yes I was wondering why you were promoting his new course. NO offense but he has a bigger name online- isn't he gonna eat your lunch? Or am I missing something?

Yeah, I know it makes sense to promote for the commission, but what, SPECIFICALLY, is covered in his course that's not already covered in yours?

Hey John this is great information you have on outsourcing. We have a Philippino that does some really good design work for us. Much much better than india IMO.

Anyone who's thinking about outsourcing should study all 16 of your videos for sure!

Hey John, Sorry to hear about your computer stuff, but I guess you kind of got ripped twice.
I was really bummed to see John Reese ripping off your replacemyself.com stuff. I thought you did an excellent job marketing it, and I guess he did too cause he basically stole your whole sales message…

John,

I was going to leave my comment in the Best Hosting category. I am just starting out online and have HostGator and so far so good. But then I remembered about the outsourcing webinar I attended of yours a month or so ago.

I just wanted to say that when outsourcing to the Phillipines was mentioned because they people there are loyal and all, it took me back to my days at the US Postal Service. Many of my co-workers were Phillipinos, and were they hard workers and rarely did they complain like all the others, yes, including me (only as a release 'cause nobody listened). They just did what they were told and got the job done.

If you find that you have a few spare moments in the coming days, I would appreciate a visit from you on my blog … let me know what you think.

Thanks, and I do plan on 'replacing myself' by years end.

Hey John, Sorry to hear about this. Now do you hesitate to share your credit card, PPC accounts with people after this incident ? anyway hope you will recover these things soon. They should be covered by travel insurance, shouldn't they ?

That's really LOTS of stuff. Sorry to hear that. Felt awful myself. Thank God you're safe. ANd thanks for all the tips! Keep blogging!

That's terrible thing that happened, thank goodness your family are safe.

I have not visited replacemyself.com yet but it looks like a fabulous resource that I will check out asap, Sally

John thanks for this amazing 16 tip series of posts, all valuable and fun to watch.

I have a question about hiring PHILLIPINE SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS…

Is it worth it ? are there any ? would you recommend it ?

I thought of setting up a small office there with 2 c# programmers, and live in the phillipines for several months to be with them at the office until project is done, do you think such a setup would work out ?

I really don't have the money for 2 full time programmers in USA with office, LOL
And phillipines looks like a nice getaway anyway, so….