Welcome back I'm excited I have my

friend Karen Farfan here. We're going to

spend a day filming episode after

episode of building her YouTube channel.

But we're starting with a video kind of

out of order. We're talking about

outsourcing just for a minute because I

know a lot of viewers on the channel

love to know why I hire people in the

Philippines. And so we're going to start

there. There's a specific reason why just

the Philippines and we'll dive into that

in this episode. -Nate, so can you tell me

why the Philippines? Why not South

America, why not India... -There's great

people all over the planet. I love... You

know, everywhere I've gone I found people that I love

but there's so many great advantages to

the Philippines. They're a developing

nation and you know, the furthest

extent of the word. Meaning I can hire

somebody there for 450 bucks a month

that is a very highly educated and

skilled they've got a computer, they've

got internet. The communication is

fantastic, the way that they speak

English. There's just so many event. I can

trust them. They're people that I can

trust that there... On one hand, like I look

for entrepreneurial qualities yet I can

train them everything and share all my

secrets and I'm not going to be my

competitor. -In fact, I'll show you

this picture that I took. Because I I've

been hiring people in the Philippines

for nine and a half years. Never met them

in person. But I just went over last

November. And this is the night that we

all met. This was a kind of a fancy

buffet. Delicious, actually.

So, I ate whole food plant-based. And like, I

only went to this section and then after

I was full, I realized that I had only

been to a third of the restaurant. Anyway,

meeting my team for the first time was a

real...

Is really touching. You know, my project

manager came and met me. That's his

sister. They're the only 2 that had

known each other beforehand. Well

at least these 2 are brothers, actually.

So, there's 2 that have known each

other. But otherwise, they work from their

homes. So, it's kind of nervous like, "Are

we going to get along? Is it going to just be

awkward sitting there all together?" But

you know, all the guys that hear, all the

women sit here and we're chit-chatting

and talking about clients and things

that we'd worked with and having laughs.

And I would... I just had this kind of a

wave of emotion hit me of gratitude and

of them gratitude grateful to me for

providing them jobs. And it's a really

neat experience. -Nice. And how do you build

that trust with your team? Because you met

them for the first time --after how many

years? -Yeah, it takes time but really I

don't micromanage them as far as hours. I

tell them, you know, put in 8 hours a

day you get to control your schedule. But

I give them a very specific system to

follow. And you know, if it's editing then

I'll see a certain number of edited

videos come out each day. And as long as

there's consistency in their work and

they're open with communication with me,

just more and more trust gets built. And

I get to see like... What I really

love is when my team comes to me with

ideas of, "You know what? If we, there's

kind of been a bottleneck here." And if so

if they kind of discover a problem and

they can provide a solution, I just

realized, "Man, you guys are loyal and I've

seen lots of loyalty like that." And I've

also seen where one of my project

managers I now call my system creator

because he creates lots of systems for

me in our company. He noticed 2 of our

team members who were doing great work.

But he thought, "You know, I think this one

we do better as the thumbnail designer.

And I think this I'm going to do better

editor. But if we have them switch roles..."

I'm like, "Let's give it a try." And they're

both happy you're doing... -What they're good at.

-Yeah. So, it's developed over

time to where we've got that type of

dynamic. Really when... Just the culture in

the Philippines they really want to do a

good job. They really want that their

boss to be pleased with them. And if they

make a mistake, they kind of felt quiet

and they'll just not say anything. And so,

what I've learned to do is... We'll just

use editing of video as an example. So if

that's the project they're working on, I

give them a project, give them all the

footage and they edit it I tell them

this is how I want you to edit it. Create

it. You know, like this other video here.

They'll send it back to me and I'll

review it. I'm not expecting it to be

perfect. But I'll see what they've done

maybe they're 80% of the way there. And

I'll go through my point, "Okay, yep. You

did this right, you did this right, this

is really good. I like what you did here.

Here's some other things that you can do.

If you just shorten, this tighten this up

a little." You know, so I'll give them

feedback and give them another chance to

go through and improve it. And they'll

come back. Maybe now it's 90% way

there. So, as long as I'm patient and I

can give them feedback, eventually, I'll

get up to that 100%. And then

the next time I give them a similar

video editing project, they'll get a lot

closer that time. And eventually get to

the point where I just trust them. I

don't have to review it anymore on my

own because they've done it so much.

They've learned, they've adapted. They've

listened to what I said. So, it's a

process but to now have a team. I've got

14 full time members in the Philippines.

That all just send everything their way

and I don't have to oversee it anymore.

It's...

-S,o you don't have the language barrier,

you have loyalty. How much do you pay for

this? -On average, it's about 450 per month

per team member. So, some of my team

members that have been longer they've

gotten pay raises and things but... -You

start... It starts at 450. -Mm-hmm.

That's pretty good. They're helping you

and that you're helping changing their

lives. Is there a specific

requirements that you asked for your team

members? College degree? -No. What I

do is I'll look at their experience.

I actually don't like a resume. So, if

they send me their resume, I'm never

going to look at it. But what I have them do

is send in a video application. So, I'll

send them a video of myself. So, I'll just

pull out my phone. I'll fill in the

selfie video talking to them for about

5 minutes and say, "This is what I'm

looking for. And this..." You know,

introducing them to me and my company.

And tell them what I'm looking for and

then I say I want you to send a video

back to me. So, if you just pull out your

phone, talk to your camera it doesn't

have to be good video production quality.

Let me know what your experience is and

why you want to work for my company. And

that's been extremely helpful in really

just trying to build a connection with

somebody on the other side of the planet.

Because I don't even talk to them on the

phone. We talked about I don't like phone

calls. They don't like phone calls either.

So, we'll email, we'll use a Voxer but

video communication like that, it's

actually very helpful. -Yeah. -And so that's

how I have them apply and then

I'll give them a trial assignment. And

I'll say, "Okay, I'm going to hire you. This

first week is just a trial period. Just

to make sure that we work well together

and I'll pay you. If it doesn't work out,

you'll still get paid for this week. But

otherwise, I hope to have you work with

for me for many, many years." And I

actually had that experience where I

hired a writer who just didn't have the

ability that I thought she did. She

actually was with me for a few weeks. I

paid her for. I said... I apologize I'm

just going to need to find somebody else

that can do these tasks. And she was

gracious and said, "Yeah, I understand. You

know, all the best." And so and then I

heard a different writer who's on my

team now. So... -That's great. And I love

your way of hiring people because anyone

can make up a resume, right? You can, right?

But with the video, you kind of... You can

tell the essence of a person to. Kind of

see if if it's a match or not. -So, a

question I have for you is if, if you

could give yourself an extra 8 hours

in the day, what what tasks would you do

more than what you're already doing? -What

tasks would I be doing? I'm a bit more like a lifetime learner.

I'd love to learn. So, I'll keep learning,

I'll keep family, I love culture. I love

connecting with people. So I'll be doing

a lot harder than that. -So, I wonder how

you could use outsourcing then because

you can hire somebody 450 bucks a

month. -Yeah, if I can hire anyone that can

do what I eventually will be doing will

be the editing part. I love writing and I

love creating the content and then I

don't want to do... It's like I want to

start it and then not touch it again or

not even see. -Talking about editing is a

good fit for you then. -Have you do much

editing yourself? Do you use Final Cut

Pro or Adobe Premiere? -I don't know how

to do that. -So, my advice will be to learn

it. Kind of develop your style of editing.

And then when you hire an editor in the

Philippines, they'll pick it up and

that way you can just best oversee and

know you can kind of have creative

control over that. But yet... -What I've done

in the past

that I use references. So, people that I

like or inspire me and I use that and

kind of like send it to you at this

point like my best friend link will edit

whatever I have. But that's a good point.

So, you're in the first that will be your

first advisor there first. And then

create my style. -And the great thing is I

mean, 450 a month, in the month, that's a

lot of videos that they could create.

Even if you're filming a vlog and it

takes a full week of editing. That's

going to be an amazing episode, right? You're

only paying 100 bucks or so for that

episode. So, even if it doesn't turn out

right but chances are it'll turn out

pretty good. Or they'll they'll be a

place to grow from. So it's a real, real

affordable safe way to hire somebody

else to do your editing. -Perfect. So where

do we... Where do we find... I'm not sure. I

forgot if you mentioned that... -Virtual

assistanttool.com. Friend of mine, John

Jonas created this website. And now,

there's... I believe there's a couple

hundred thousand Filipinos that have

submitted and created their profiles

there that are hoping to work for

Americans. And so you can go through and

just really narrow it down. I'll put the

I'll put the link down below for that

virtual assistant tool. Because you can

just go in search and find the exact

skillsets you're looking for. And then

you just contact them directly. So, I

don't work through an agency. Most times

when you hire you know somebody in

another country, you go through an agency

who then marks up the price. So, instead

of paying will distract instead of

paying 500 bucks a month, I would pay

1,500. 1,000 of that would

go to the agency and they only pay the

500 to the person. So this way it's you

get a hire somebody directly. -Right. Skip

the middleman.

So, who was the first person that you

hire? And as a YouTuber what are the... You

know, what 3 people or 2 people

to somebody hire... -Yeah, well my first

person is a funny story. So, I'll share

that. Let me answer your other question

first because then we'll end on a funny,

funny failure. And editors is a good

place to start. Also somebody that can

manage YouTube that's got design ability

with the thumbnail, that can do your

description and kind of schedule things

out. Those are the 2 people that I

would if I were kind of building my team

from scratch. Definitely start with an

editor and then as you're... As they're

editing and you're learning the ropes of

YouTube and kind of managing that, then

turn that over to a kind of calmer

YouTube project manager or something

like that. That's what I would do. -Perfect.

-Okay, funny story. I was still an employee.

So, this is going back over a decade. So,

this is a... I was still employee. This one

back 9 and a half years. I was doing

telemarketing but I also for the same

company had an independent contractor

position writing articles. And the

company that they would... They would do

article marketing. And they would pay me

10 or 12 bucks per article that I

would write. So, they'd give me a topic

and I'd write the article and they'd pay

me 10 or 12 bucks. So, I learned

about hiring people in the Philippines.

So, I hired a writer that I would give

the topic to. She would write the article,

I proofread it. Correct a couple things

and sent it in. I get paid the 10 or

12 bucks and I'd pay her 2 bucks.

And eventually got a system going where

she was writing all the articles and I

was making a pretty good spread. Being

able to write a lot more but actually

not doing the writing myself.

So, the reason I say that this is a funny

failure is I stopped doing quality

control. And I just

wasn't careful. And she started

taking shortcuts. Instead of writing when

she did her research on the different

topics, she just take a paragraph here, a

sentence here. And just pieced it

together. And there was less grammatical

errors because she was using other people's

content. And so, when I went through and

kind of did a copyright check or whatnot,

I just found that she was... It was

basically plagiarized content in these

articles. And I and the previous fifty. I

counted it was a nice round number. If

the previous 50 articles had been that

way that I had already been paid for. And

so I was really nervous. I went in the

next day went to the CEO of the company.

And because I didn't want to have them

catch me. I went to them and said, "Hey,

this is what I've been doing. I hired

some in the Philippines that they've

actually been writing the articles for

me and this is what happened." And the guy

just laughed. He thought it was so funny.

But he says, "I'm not the decision-maker

on this. You got to go talk to your

supervisor over the articles." And he was

a young kid who was kind of a punk. And

he was not happy with me. So, he said... He

gave me permission to rewrite the 50

that I already been paid for. But I was

not allowed to write any more articles

after that. And you know, I don't know... I

don't think the person that I hired was

you know doing it maliciously. But I

fired her. I could have been probably

more patient and like talked to her like... Did you know... Like, anyway. So that was my

first person I hired. And it was...

Definitely... Well, I would say that there's

a right way you could do that.

In fact, I would encourage... I just learned

that, "Wow, outsourcing." There's a lot of

possibilities. And within a few

months of that, I quit my job, I had

my company and got up to a team of

10 employees on my web design company.

And was very very successful. So,

yeah. Highly recommend hiring people in

the Philippines, I think. So, my hope is

that this video is helpful for you and

understanding what a great opportunity

is to hire people in the Philippines.

That I'm curious there's probably a lot

of questions that you have about that.

Like what's holding you back from taking

that step in hiring an assistant in the

Philippines. So go ahead and comment

below and I'll make another episode and

answer your question.