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Income.com Asia Comes To Life | ||
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I’m writing this blog post from the airport in the Philippines. I’m in the process of heading home to California. I’ve been in Asia for the past couple of weeks, and I just finished opening our new Income.com Asia office in the Philippines. Here’s a photo of me and some of the team from Income.com Asia: We’re building an exciting software development team here, and we’ll also be looking here for additional expansion for our company. The Philippines is a wonderful place to hire workers. Whether you’re looking for a virtual assistant, programmer, designer, researcher, or any number of other skills, the Philippines is a great place to outsource to. The people here are very nice and hard-working. Their school system is taught in English, so they can read, write, and speak English really well. Arguably better than any other country where English is not the first language. Overall, the Philippines is a pretty poor country. There are not a lot of job opportunities for its citizens, so outsourced (virtual) jobs are an important part of their economy. You can hire people here to work full-time for as little as US$300/month. More skilled workers, like engineers and developers, cost a lot more than that, but it is possible to hire people to do data entry, research, and writing tasks for that little. And while $300/month may not seem like a lot of money, it’s a lot of money to many people living here. Many Fortune 500 companies have offices in the Philippines and employ a lot of people here. It just makes good financial sense for certain types of jobs. Our Income.com Asia headquarters is going to be working closely with a nearby university. We’re going to be creating internship programs as well as helping the university create specific curriculum to help students have more opportunities, and we hope to hire more and more people from this region. It’s a sad reality when some of their top engineering and computer science graduates end up working at a call center as their sole job opportunity. Opening this new office and building out our development team will finally allow us to build and deploy a lot of the plans I have had for Income.com — many of which were delayed due to the nightmares I dealt with in hiring software dev firms that I previously mentioned in my Internet Marketing 2010 report. I’ll be sharing more news soon about how to find outsourced workers in PH, as well as the pitfalls to avoid. * For those asking… Money Mindset should be released within 3-4 more days.
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November 7th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Awesome John.
I already outsource most of my works to Philippines because in my experiences, Filipinos are very polite, committed and know English very well.
Man, we should’ve meet you when you were in Kuala Lumpur. I stay 10 mins away from Petronas Twin Towers.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Totally agree about the Filipino experience - I was literally just skyping with my team member in the Philippines when your blog post came in - on a Saturday!
I have my own thoughts about hiring over there - love to hear yours. One tip: They LOVE short educational videos and that tasks get completed faster and with greater accuracy because of it.
The English use is true - and also thet are highly computer literate - a lot is taught at school.
Tnx for sharing John.
Robert
November 7th, 2009 at 1:48 am
Nice… I was just there this past summer. I was considering opening up my own office there sometime early next year. Which hotel did you stay at? Peninsula? =)
November 7th, 2009 at 1:55 am
The dude in the middle kind of looks like the new lead singer for Journey.
November 7th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Hey John,
Thats great news, im currently looking for a software company to develop a potentially huge idea that will be worldwide hopefully,
The idea is currently getting patented and we’re in the process of getting investors.
Let me know if your interested.
Dean
November 7th, 2009 at 2:02 am
Hi John.
Firstly, well done.
“I’ll be sharing more news soon about how to find outsourced workers in PH, as well as the pitfalls to avoid.”
that would be great if you did that. It is an opportunity which hasn’t really been tapped into. (As you said, benefits both parties involved.)
regards
Simon
November 7th, 2009 at 2:06 am
Hi John,
I am from New Delhi, INDIA and will be glad to work with you as your associate from here.
If it click you and you feel to do some thing from India; please do contect.
regards,
ask.
November 7th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Wow that was not mush money! I will travel to china in christmas, mabe it will be an trip to Philippines to check out all opportunity there!
November 7th, 2009 at 2:17 am
Hey thanks John, have a safe trip back!!!!
November 7th, 2009 at 2:18 am
I also outsource in the Philippines since I found them much stronger in English than in India. I also some friends in the Philippines as well.
Internet is a great opportunity to help each other from every part of the world. Win/win situation.
Franck
November 7th, 2009 at 2:31 am
Ive been working with them for years!!!
November 7th, 2009 at 2:31 am
I’m also from the philippines and now based in california with my own internet marketing company, most of the knowledge I have and know I learned there in school…
November 7th, 2009 at 2:51 am
Thank You. Welcome you to my home country, Philippines mang. tagalog
Welcome
November 7th, 2009 at 3:08 am
Hey John!!!
Good work!!! Outsourcing works great when you have a good team. And here the best part is that you yourself have gone to Philippines to hire the people to make a good team. Hope you will have now a great tool available in your hand to be used for fulfilling the dreams of people.
Hope you have a nice time in the Philippines with hiring as well as touring in the country.
Thanks a lot for sharing this.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:17 am
Filipinoes are hardworking I should know coz I have a small group there doing my contents. You won’t regret for your decision to expand your company in the Philippines man.
I’m a full blooded Filipino living here in Canada and I thank you John for helping out my fellow citizens.
Gama
November 7th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Glad to see this post and thank you, John. Maybe later I will also outsource some of my job to Philippines.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:40 am
Welcome to the Philippines, John!
I opened an office here in 2007 which helped my IM business grow exponentially. With local labor rates you can do 5 times more with the same budget. I found Filipinos very talented people, and above all insanely friendly.
I still travel between Europe and Asia, but Manila became my hometown. All the best with your Asian adventure!
Menno
November 7th, 2009 at 3:43 am
It is great to see you create a job opportunity and increase advantageous in many different way.
On other hand, have someone give you hard time about giving the jobs away to non- United States citizens which you ’should be giving to them’?
November 7th, 2009 at 3:45 am
I think it would be interest to reading more about your experience establish the office in other country. What to do or what to do not. What is pro and con of doing this. I am sure it will come beneficial to some of us who are interested in business expansion.
November 7th, 2009 at 4:25 am
Big Mistake… I opened an office in the Philippines and it just didnt work out because you have to actually be there. There nice people but having infrastructure there just doesnt work.
I have found managing from a virtual control center and being able to hire people from anywhere around the world alot less costly with alot less headaches.
November 7th, 2009 at 4:31 am
Hi John,
Congratulations on a very smart move! I am US citizen with Indian origin based in Chicago. I have my own office in India with team of 15 people since last 4 years. Outsourcing and onshore-offshore model is great and it really gives you ability to expand lot faster. I am into real estate business in Chicago area and almost all my work is done from my India office. Software development, website design, virtual assistants calling my sellers-buyers etc.
But things are not as easy as it sounds when you initially start office. You have to spend considerable time onsite to train first batch of people. Also manager or COO who will be operating office locally is very important person.
Also I see lot of confusing figures about cost. Lot of people say you can hire somone for $3-5 per hour or as John mentioned for $300 per month. Well, this is mostly base salary. When you are dealing with one or two virtual assistant who work from home, this might be true.
When you have your own office, it involves lot more in cost like hiring cost, office cost, utilities, internet bandwidth, food (it is common for companies to offer food to employees who work in night shift for US operation), managers etc.
Of course, advantages it offers are great! Specially companies that is looking to hire 5+ employees with a manager. It opens a whole lot more possibilities for your business to expand. Also young guys in India and PH are very tech savy and can adopt any new tools very fast. Also they have lot of problem solving attitude. This is great for business owners like us.
Bottom line is, it has lot of advantages but in my opinion, it is not as cheap as most people think.
John, what has been your experience so far in PH?
Chirag Patel
November 7th, 2009 at 4:45 am
Hi John
I have been outsourceing for acouple years
and my experience in India has been misrable. I try and try,
they always tell me what I Wanna hear.
Then they disapear and you can’t find them. Nor do you want to.
I have literally hired about 7 indian companies and everyone was very disapointing
to work with. As of the last couple months I tried the Russians for development.
I have never been more than impressed. I also hired a guy from Ukraine. These guys rock.
Not as cheap as maybe the Indians but who cares when your dealing with competant
people that get the job done. But they are still much cheaper then US.
But maybe I will try Phil for graphics.
November 7th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Have had an office there for over 4 years, have 35 employees. There have been ups and downs just like a local western company, but the quality of work and the reliabilty of the locals is extraordinary. I have been over to visit twice, apart from that it has been remotely managed from my office in Sydney, Australia.
More power to you John!
November 7th, 2009 at 4:54 am
Welcome to our country John!
Its good to hear that you’re delighted with your experience here and your blog about it made a lot of people become more interested to consider our country.
Thank you!
doms
November 7th, 2009 at 5:05 am
It’s nice to hear that you are heading in the right direction, and are in the flow of creating new products and setting things up for other one word domain name projects.
Talk to you soon.
November 7th, 2009 at 5:08 am
John, What amazing timing this is! Just today my primary company is holding a conference in Manila. They have just launched there and I have already met with some lovely people, who all seem to be hard working, and quite knowledgeable as far as the internet goes.
I will be looking forward to raeding your updates in the future as your post and that of your commentors make interesting reading.
Outsourcing may be an option for me in the future.
Sa Yong Tagupay!
Robert UK
November 7th, 2009 at 5:49 am
It’s good to hear that you have went to the Phils. My company has been there for 12 years now helping American small businesses compete with the larger corporations. The best advice I can give you is to be hands on. The Phils is a great place, but if you want to maximize your development with minimal problems, you will need to be hands on. I’ve seen many companies come and go because they think their Phils operation can ‘run on it’s own.’
We have operations on all the major islands in Luzon (Manila & Clark), Visaya (Cebu) and Mindanao (Davao), and each one is run locally. You will understand what I mean if you branch out. After my third year of being there I bought a house in Davao and never looked back. I spend about 9 months of the year in Asia and my clients have never been happier. I would also strongly encourage you to learn the language and culture for whatever city you’re in. This will improve your insight 1000 fold. There’s a learning curve with taking your ideal form your mind and incorporating it into the mind of any foreigner. Make sure your objectives are clearly stated and understand…in triplicate! Filipinos often having difficulties saying no, even when they don’t know and understand. However if you take the time to have them understand your overall objectives, you will find your experience to be financially and culturally rewarding.
Good Luck,
James
WDC Intl Inc
November 7th, 2009 at 5:55 am
@John:
What took you so long to set office?
I have people working for me out there as VA and designer. It seems that the IM world has caught up with the Philippines after India.
Working with a university to create a curriculum might not be a bad idea but getting it passed through the education board might take a while. It will probably work better if you create a 6 months course.
If it’s a sad reality with the engineers, try some teachers or some other college grads who end up working as maids elsewhere in the world. Or nursing graduates who are having a hard time going to the States now.
As I mentioned to my friends when I visited two months ago, the opportunity is now global because of how the internet has connected everyone.
Did you check out several beach? Boracay is probably the most known, but there are a lot of areas that you could go for surfing or just snorkeling.
@Robert Coggin:
I see you have brushed up with your Tagalog. BTW, it’s Tagumpay. You missed the M in tagumpay.
Tagumpay din sa yo. Mabuhay ka! Salamat sa pagtangkilik ng mga Pilipino. (Victory also to you. Long live to you. Thank you for supporting the Filipinos.)
November 7th, 2009 at 6:36 am
Great publicity for Filipinos.
I hope they would not misuse this opportunity just like others who have enjoyed same publicity before them.
November 7th, 2009 at 7:38 am
You just gave away the BIG outsource secret…
I hope it won’t turn into another India case of overpriced and lazy ass workers
November 7th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Personally speaking, it was an amazing breath of fresh air when I discovered my friends in the Philippines - been in web dev for over 12 years and the most reliable, fun and intelligent off-shore relationships I have is with my team in the Philippines.
In sharing one word to describe my experience with these people: INTEGRITY.
They do what they say - meet deadlines - and they truly care about the work they do.
November 7th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Hi John
For some time now you have been off my radar. Your e-mails were and ARE the ones I most avidly read. I have always respected and admired you for your honesty and integrity. Now I see another admirable trait in you that I feel more and more people from the rich, fat and bloated west should adopt. Namely, educate and avail opportunities to the less, much less fortunate countries of the world… WELL DONE JOHN!
I hope your new product will be geared towards newbies. I am one of them! I aspire to be an internet marketer and enjoy the lifestyle of the internet gurus. Unfortunately it is not easy to find anyone who will lead you honestly and with EMPATHY…..
Please keep me posted.
Azeem
November 7th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Way to go John, I am thrilled about your new lunch. Can’t wait for it. I’m also looking for your outsourcing guide.
Alfonso
November 7th, 2009 at 10:11 am
John,
You have focussed on a resource with great potential to be a help and blessing to many people. Please keep us informed of the services that will be available to us in the way of implementing intelligent outsourcing. I personally need some training in how to become a successful win/win/win participant in this process. We will be watching developments with great interest. Wishing you the best.
November 7th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Hey John,
Thanks for the update, you have arrived for your vision of Income.com…
Have heard lots of the good stuff outsourcing to the Philippines, John Jonas has been talking about opportunities there for some time…
My parents lived in Manila for 2 years in the 80’s, they enjoyed their time there, thought highly of the people wiling to learn and work…
My Dad and his team had set up a manufacturing operation there from the ground up…
Looking forward to your updates…
All the best,
Bruce Shilander
November 7th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Hey, John: Congratulations on your new Philippines venture. I have been using a Philippines outsourcing strategy for editorial services for a long time and find the results mixed.
The biggest single problem is the absolutely lousy internet infrastructure. Getting stable, high speed internet connections anywhere in the Philippines is very problematic. Connection speeds are a fraction of what the ISP’s promise. Disconnects are a huge problem. Power outages are common place… sometimes for many hours and/or days.
Also, your stated salaries are actually inflated a bit in my experience. 10,000PHP {about $220 at todays exchange rate with the U.S. dollar} is considered good there. Skilled, experienced professionals usually make only around 15,000PHP. Especially in the smaller cities and in the provinces. I know one experienced teacher with a MA who only makes 8,000PHP/mo.
One serious caveat… Do Not overpay the local going market rate for employees. If you do you will invite the rath of local firms competing for the talent and they can make your life miserable. Americans have a ‘guilt complex’ about exploiting cheap labor… and that is commendable thing. However, the practical implications of working within that social environment dictates the wisdom of not challenging the local trends.
English skills are good overall…but work habits are mixed in my experience. Lots of “days off” or no-shows for a thousand different personal reasons.
If you can adapt to the very real challenges of working in a third world HR and technical environment, however, it is a really good solution for both you and the Philippines. The people are desperately poor with few opportunities… but they are very good people who badly need a break.
Good Luck in your new ventures there.
Thom Reece
November 7th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Hi John,
Thanks for venturing here in the Philippines. I am also too sad that many people here land as a call center agent hence they can do a lot more that. I know you can help more people here to make their career goes to their fullest.
Thanks again!
Ross
November 7th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Thanks John for the updates.
It’s always great to read about your latest adventures!
Those on your team are very lucky.
Caio.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:24 am
The Filipino people are so loyal and great to work with, it’s great you’re settin’ up shop over there. I’ve had my Filipino team for quite sometime and wouldn’t think of going anywhere else…. hope you’re on the second floor due to typhoons and floods.
I’m stoked to see what income.com is gonna be.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Hi John
Congrats with your new team for income.com. I’ve just finished a course on how to outsource the day to day task that don’t need to be done by me, so I can focus on marketing and growing the business further…
Like Rich Schefren Example. when he spoke about the YOU YOU YOU concept and it kind of stops you from moving forward with momentum…
Totally agree with you about the Philippines there nice people, and great communication skills as well.
Great stuff
Danny
November 7th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Great news, John! You and I go WAY back and I’m always happy to see good things come your way!
Frank
November 7th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
To the Great John Reese!
I applaud you, living your dreams! Fanastic! I sincerely wish an even greater lifestyle and sharing of your wealth, that will make your current lifestyle and sharing of your insights pale by comparison. Wealth is wisdom and insight that transforms energy!
May your wealth increase exponentially!
Sincerely,
Peter Horrill
Hamilton,Ontario,Canada
November 7th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
You know what is REALLY sad? American computer science graduates that can’t find work in America because they have to compete with slave labor…It may be cheaper in the short run, but it will eventually not pay off.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Hi John. I have appreciated for a long time your content and no non sense advice, and I am looking forward to your next issue on an updated progress report to your Asia venture.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Congrats John. Should be cool having an office in Asia…
November 7th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
John, great post. I am in the process of hiring my first VA from PH. I look forward to hearing more from you so that I don’t mess this up.
Take care and congrats on launching your new company.
http://www.3StepColdSoreRemedy.com
D.
November 7th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
[…] Income.com Asia Comes To Life Found 15 hours, 4 minutes ago I8217m writing this blog post from the airport in the Philippines I8217m in the process of heading home to California I8217ve been in Asia for the past couple of weeks and I just finished opening our new Incomecom Asia office in the Philippines Here8217s a photo of me and some of the team from Incomecom Asia We8217re From: http://www.income.com […]
November 7th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Hi John!
It’s great knowing your experience about setting up office in Philippines.
I’d say, if you know to hire self-motivated individuals in any country, you’ll be highly successful.
It’s NOT about which country you are hiring from. It’s about WHO you are hiring and what do they offer you as RESULTS that matter most.
The sad part is most people stink when they start a hiring process. Ad they wish to offer peanut salaries / very low hourly rates to employees which actually gives you the same result.
Like folks from Kolby advise, You’ve to hire a person ‘conatively’ and not just ‘cognitively’. If you screw up after hiring someone, you actually made a bad decision your self by not hiring the right fit for your project / assignment.
So, you must be clear of what you want a person to deliver before you hire them and what kind of person you are hiring.
You always get what you paid for. Mark my words. Remember that motivation yields results.
BTW, I reckon India is a great country with some terrific technology geeks and minds that will blow your mind. If you’ve ever come to the world class Indian Institute of Technology and met some students, you’ll be COMPLETELY blown away. I often visit the IIT as it’s well known in Mumbai for Barcamp’s, an unconference for technology geeks, coders and internet wizards. These guys can do things you can’t even imagine in your dream.
I’d say if you challenge a student from IIT’s with the best technology geeks in the world to invent technology / software, they’ll easily beat anyone hands down. I can bet a million dollars on this one, no jokes. I’m serious.
India has the infrastructure and is technologically superior than most developing countries while loads of FDI pours in day in day out. The problem is people here are more self-motivated to work for themselves than in any other country in the world. That’s why you’ll find every other person in India wants to start a business. Therefore, you won’t find people who would just want to work for you. They want to be motivated else they won’t work for you. If you offer a great working environment, who would like to quit a job which does not let them enjoy life to the fullest. I’ve worked in a few companies and I can tell you if you offer a great working environment, people work hard for years with your company.
After all, all work and no play makes jack a dull boy! Doesn’t it make you feel the same?
You haven’t seen Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of Asia.. have you?
If it wasn’t the best place for technology geeks, it wouldn’t ROCK the way it does even now and will ROCK forever!
Look, it depends on who you hire and from where after all.. there are some parts of India like Gurgaon, UP, Bihar & Delhi where you really must NOT hire from. I myself was sub-contracted work from another person who originally didn’t pay up the sum promised though I got the content removed from where it was published. Certain locations in Philippines may give you the same quality of work as the above places. Not every person thinks the same way and will deliver as you expect until you really know who to hire. What are their goals? Why are they working for you? You need to know these answers before you hire a professional. You can succeed anywhere if you make the right choices.
So, if you hire from say Bangalore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and some metropolitan cities; you’ll find people who are actually worth at least 10000 times the money you put in to them. They are highly educated, tech savvy, learn in an instant, always motivated, confident, and well off have a great attitude to work with. Graduates from IIT’s & Indian Institute of Management rock worldwide. They are brilliant to work with especially after having 16 years of quality education in English. Many of them think in English and not just write in English. The best companies come to India & hire professionals who are an excellent mind to work with. After all, who just wants a person to work like a laborer anyway?
Indians are hard working, highly self-motivated and business people from birth. That’s why you find so many Indians doing business in America, don’t you?
The best companies of the world are shifting base to India every day and many already have their offices setup here. If you really know whom to hire as the ‘perfect’ fit for your work, you’ll be successful anyway in any part of the world whether its India, Philippines or the US. The pay scales are a little similar or higher than Philippines. India is a rich, diversified, well-to-do country well with its own set of problems like any other country including the US.
If you ever think of opening an office here in Mumbai/Bangalore and wish to hire people, you go to a ‘highly reputed’ college to hire the perfect candidates. India is HUGE, both in size and populations so it depends where you hire candidates from. I can assure any person in the world that if you are able to identify “wizards” from India, you’ll be making “X” times the money effectively. I can bet a million dollars on the same.
Ronak Shah.
http://twitter.com/ronakshah
November 7th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
How can you forget John that Anik Singhal of Affiliate Classroom has an office setup here right at the heart of Mumbai? Lurn India has a huge staff.
Lurn has an office here and they actually operate part of their web marketing business right from here.
I wonder you didn’t know that.. did you?
I am surprised people actually don’t have the right information within their hands else they would definitely be having a great time. If you can’t find people who are creative in their thinking, I bet you will fail no matter how good they are cognitively.
Believe me, you’ve to hire the best to get what you want no matter what the price they costs. If you’ve to pay more, be it then. Get some quality people to work with rather than money minded people who just deliver work for money as means of living. Their motivation to grow has to be consistent.
Ronak Shah.
http://twitter.com/ronakshah
November 8th, 2009 at 2:14 am
That’s fab. news John. I for one could really use some new contacts for lots of on-going work for my websites. Let me know when you are operational so I can get a quote. I’m a writer, so that base is covered, but need lots of help with other stuff.
cheers,
November 8th, 2009 at 6:12 am
your welcome
November 8th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Great decision John! I applaud you for hiring my fellow Filipinos.
Joel Christopher R.
“The MasterListBuilder”
November 8th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
The idea sounds great. But most internet marketers cannot go down to set up
office in phillpines.
Just curious, Can we outsource any of the services to your office in phillpines ?
Regards
Jeff
November 8th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Outsourcing to the Philippines is a great idea. I would love to do this a some time in the future. I understand the Philippines is a great place for this.
November 8th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
hye John,
Well done. You are really awesome. I had been there in PH. for last five years and now currently working on online marketing strategy and audit planning tools. I would love to invite you here if you are planning to work or need any assistance. You are always welcome John.
Best Regards,
Lyanna
November 8th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Nice post. In the past 6 months I’ve been able to outsource a lot of my stuff to the Philippines. I’ve had the same experience. Great hardworking people. I’ve been very impressed.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:59 am
My writer is from the Philippines and he and his team do an awesome job.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
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November 9th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Hi John,
I am in the process of hiring VA from Philippines. Any recommendations?
Looking forward to promised “how to find outsourced workers in PH”.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:27 am
I believe it’s not about the cheapest pay or the technical background “per se” But the bottom line is the ability of the VA to do his work with effectiveness and analysis, with minimal or no supervision at all.
And so far in my experience only filipinos have all this traits. It may be the culture or up bringing, I’m not sure. But they are so effective on this, no other come close to their performance.
I have hired people from other countries online but the problem really is the mentality towards work.
And by far Filipinos are the best I’ve hired so far. Sorry for other nationalities reading this. But at the moment Filipino VA fits the PROFILE for an effective virtual assistant for internet MARKETERS out there.
This is the exact profile we emarketers are looking for, to live that 4 hrs a week life style. I hope someday other nationalities would catch up. But for now I will stick with Filipino VAs.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:30 am
I’m currently using some Pakistani developers and they rock. I can agree that outsourcing work to the likes of the Phillipines or India, China or Pakistan is a good way to save on costs AND to get the most out of your workers.
The problem I find with many Americans and Western Europeans is that they *expect* to be paid well for working… whether that work is good or not. They don’t understand that people should be paid on what they achieve not on how much they do.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:04 am
John, I have been recruiting a developer from the Philippines for a few months but he said he was happy with his current position and was doing some really exciting cutting edge web work. I saw his resume and had some dialogue with him and found him to be top notch so I really wanted him. I hired his friend and today I found out that this developer I was trying to recruit works for you! Crazy….his friend sent me this link today and I almost fell off my chair.
Anyway, it looks like you have assembled a cool team over there…I’m doing the same thing and I really enjoy working with my Filipino friends. They are awesome.
Erik
November 13th, 2009 at 9:36 am
ERIK - that’s crazy. Small world! The good news is that there are tons of talented developers out there.
November 29th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Hi John,
Love what you share with others. My friend and business partner Brian Kelly and I recently had Joel Christopher “The MasterListBuilder” on our live show (InternetCitadel.com) and we discussed out sourcing in the Philippines. Very enlightening. We have plans to do the same.
Thanks again,
Kathy Stover
November 30th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
If I went there, I would never return! The Philippines is a great place that sucks you in.
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria also have some very highly skilled workers that not only cost a lot less but they also work a LOT harder, it’s a definite win-win all round plus I can offer them double a normal wage which is great for them too
Good luck with the blog in the future John.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Im from the Philippines. Im working as a web developer for almost 7yrs. I will tell you honestly $300/monthly is not a lot of money to us. Actually the truth is.. the only reason they accept that kind of salary because some of them are just starting out and not very skillfull or dont have option when that opportunity comes and they just say it to there self that ill just accept this $300 job and look for a better one later. I know a dozen of skilled filipino like me who are earning high salary because we are confident and skilled.
And speaking of skills. we are not different from you. some of us are better than you. and some of you are better than us. It just up to the person actually. So for all the filipino out there you guys need to realize one thing if you believe you are skilled and confident pls dont settle for less. you deserve a better salary especially if you are a programmer or engineer. you need to be paid fairly based on you skills and your ability to bring profit to the company. Remember guys, the only different between them and us is that they are born english speaker. Thats it!
December 16th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
John, I’m also a Filipino that’s currently living in New York City. Thanks for your trust on my countrymates, specially for investing on business in the Philippines. The Filipinos are scattered all over the world working for dollars they could not earn in the Philippines. It would be better for my countrymates if businessmen from all over the world go to the Philippines instead, and invest on different businesses there. This way, they could help in resolving the social problems created by parents leaving their children, to earn money from distant countries.
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Yes, let’s continue to OUTSOURCE. While our own country is going through economic turmoil and extreme unemployment, it certainly makes sense to provide jobs to those in another country. How on earth can an educated person not see how this has affected our country over the past several years?!! Outsourcing affects all Americans except for the one saving a few dollars an hour getting richer.