fypnlp

The above comment was eloquently put by another poster with a similar request.

Without trying to be rude you will have figure that out yourself. No will share that kind of info.

fypnlp

*snip* double post

Steve Ranger

I've been using oDesk a lot lately - my whole mindset has changed. In the past I looked at HireAFreelancer.com (or whatever it was called) and couldn't really get my head around it. Now the first thing I think when starting something is 'can I get someone else to do it'.. I'm getting quite lazy which is bad.

At the moment I'm having a small program developed, submitted the details and 24 hours later I've got working examples for me to look at - it's incredible. When they send you a working example in 24 hours you feel terrible if you don't hire them though.

So far I've used programmers from Romania, writers from India and had small repetitive jobs done by people from the Philippines - all without hassle. Just create a simple CamTasia video explaining everything

But yeah, such a powerful tool.

BobV

Hi plainwords,

I´m just curious from where do you have the information that $800 per month is a middle class income in the Philippines.

The gross national income in 2008 was $ 1890 per year.
(source worldbank.org)

BobV

@fypnlp: You should read the thread before posting any coments.

This was the post from Charles:

[/QUOTE]Having lived and worked all over the world and now claim my permanent residence in Las Pinas City (Metro Manila), I find that Filipinos, for the most part are honest and hard working. It's a different culture and things there run on "Filipino time". An hour to a Filipino usually means at least two or three. If anyone wants outsourcing, I can recommend some that I use, and would be happy to help anyone else looking for specific areas of competency. Although I am currently in London, my son is local there and speaks the language, so no mis-communication!.[/QUOTE]

So I think my question was legitimate.

madzseo

Hi,

I would agree with plainwords that $800 is the average middle class income in the Philippines - probably even more. I think I am from the lower middle class - we have 2 cars - a german car and a japanese car, our own house, a couple of investment properties, we go on vacation abroad every once in a while that kind of middle class. Growing up I remember that my father's salary is about $1500 and I think we would be considered as the poor middle class. (A Honda City which is an average middle class family car costs about $20,000 and you probably won't be approved for a car loan if your salary is less than $800).

People from the middle class are probably middle management or own their own business.

Now the average income of the average employee is less than that probably about $200/month - college graduate, working administrative/clerical job.

Below is the salary of employees at a regular Business Process Outsourcing company here:

Data Entry: $250-280
SEO (about 1 yr exeperience): $400-430
SEO Specialist: $530-800
Web Designer (entry level): $350-400
Link Building: $300
Virtual Assistant: $300
Customer Support: $250-300

There are other BPO companies that offer lower or higher salaries but I think that's the average rate for most companies.

madzseo

Oh and to those saying that people in the Philippines work two jobs..I think that happens everywhere even in the US. Especially when the economy is not so good, people do what they can to make ends meet.

I mean a lot of people here at WF probably started with internet marketing as a side job too. There are some who probably still have their day jobs and that is the reason why they hire virtual assistants to help with their internet marketing business. So I don't think it should be a problem so long as they are able to do their jobs well.

kimwriter

Here's my 2 cents worth.
When outsourcing to Philippines or anywhere else for that matter, you should consider the following factors:

1. Do you really need to outsource?
2. What are the perceived benefits of outsourcing? e.g. time, cost
3. Analyze the benefits against potential risks e.g. poor quality work, missed deadlines through lost/non communication

If after anaylzing this, the results are for outsourcing, look for an overseas provider who provides the best combination of the following:

1. Speaks and writes fluent English
2. Has proven skills in your area of interest e.g. Blog design (insist on seeing a portfolio)
3. Is available at the time you need them
4. Cost

This way you will not run into any problems. One more thing, do not make any advance payments and pay only for actual work done. Odesk makes this easy with their Teams feature but there are lots of other great ways to find overseas workers such as:
Set up a "jobs/careers" page on your website and then use AdWords or Facebook to advertise your job in the target country e.g. Philippines, (this should keep your costs minimal). You will get hundreds of applications and you can shortlist the one's that meet your specifications for a Skype interview.

michaelbnielsen

They are normally very happy. Some areas of PH have no jobs and I mean really no jobs. My wife has 2 siblings in PH and none of them has ever had a real job. One is well educated but they simply live in an area where no one invests and therefore there are no jobs.

Only possibility is to move away or migrate. Scary but true...

Michael

brentbraceros

Is there a site where i can find good workers from the Philippines? aside from odesk?

RichardBaldock

I am looking to sign up a couple of guys from PI. Does anyone have any legal contracts samples I could use ?

theleader

Yes, I would as well want to know the same.

Could you please tell me if there is any such sample contract available here?

I am looking at hiring a full time content writer VA but it sounds I will have to do my homework after reading this thread.

If there are references anyone can provide, feel free to PM me.

madzseo

RichardBaldock and theleader,I have a couple of contracts and nda samples here. I can send them to you

johndetlefs

If possible Madz... i'd really appreciate having a look at those as well.

Cheers,

John Detlefs

magentawave

What are "nda samples"?


non-disclosure agreements

Mktrilogy

Standard contracts and NDA is enough. DO ask for government ID eg. Drivers Licence and SSS. I am connected to 4 warriors active in article writing business (the top 3 in google) doing all sorts of backlinking/linkbuilding package you see in their sites. Managing and running the sites/back end administration as well. Also part of the task is to manage 15 people that we hired for internal business Process operations/backlinking.

Love2KnowU

Hi Mk. What is SSS?

madzseo

SSS - social security system.

MKtrilogy - just curious why you would need these things?

I would agree that contracts and nda's are really not enough. They just make things look legal. Let's say your VA goes to a competitor and sells all your leads - there really isnt any way for you to sue that guy since you are in different countries. If there is it's going to be too expensive. So in a way it's good to hire a firm that way somebody is going to be accountable.

Mktrilogy

SSS and Drivers Licence are Government ID. It can help you Identify the people that you will Deal with and The address /other details is given there. If you are giving people Livelihood it is not to much to ask for details like that as you will give this people access to your client list/password etc.

Believe me, this way you actually weed out a few that would waste your time.

Its kinda odd to have an NDA and Contract and Your Signatory Can not be identified as a real person.

Most of my Bosses required that as I Manage a Project and Handled a team.

I personally think its alright to share it with my prospective Provider.


Shameless Plug
I am from Cebu Philippines by the way Providing VA services. PM me guys so i can hook you up with VA.

TomC123

There are lots:

Freelancer.com, scriptlance.com, limeexchange.com, elance.dom

jacksonlin

I started hiring from odesk a few days ago.

Seriously, it takes like 5 minutes to set up a project.

Within 10 minutes, I had 6 offers to do my job! The most expensive was $5 an hour! The next day I had 22 offers, the most expensive was still $5 an hour!

Try out odesk, it's a Godsend!

Jon12345

Has anyone here used onlinejobs.ph and if so, how many email replies did you get if you outsourced for a fulltime virtual assistant?

Mukul Verma

I use Bestjobs which is similar and its less then 50% is standard.

highhopes

Without sounding too harsh ( because I can see the funny side) this was the reply I received from a Philippine based V.A. recommended from the W.F. to write articles and some SEO skills, etc.

Hi Ray,

We I am not promising to push your site to the top of google in one month. At XXXXXXXXX? you have choices of link building techniques that you can impalement to your sites. You made the choices and we will do the leg works.

regards

( Note grammar and spelling)

I am glad I don`t have to rely on the internet for a living! I would be in a straight jacket by now! LOL

Mktrilogy

Funny Indeed. About backlinking and manual linkbuilding, try to find US base powerlinker and ask them how much the pay. Compare it to grammatically challenge worker. You will see the Difference.

leanfang

Hi All

I've been wondering where the best place to post this was so maybe it is here.

Hopefully I can help someone here as I reluctantly need to give up my Filipino VA who has been with me over a year and I have trained in many different parts of IM.

Now to be clear I want her to go to a good home as she is a lovely girl and I want her to be well looked after. NB I am making no money from this.

My business model is changing and I just don't need her full time any more as I am not mass producing sites or backlinking like I was.

A brief rundown on her skills is below:
Wordpress blog building inc:
plug ins
themes
adding forms
adding adsense
etc
Blooger blog building

Mini site design / HTML knowedge
she knows all the types of pages needed and what is on a download page etc - she can do all the set up and make sure it all works.

Link building / traffic generation

Article directories and submissions - knows ezine articles .com really well etc and can submit articles and knows about approval etc.

Software - lots used incl. incansoft / big mike tools - she has these to use e.g. socialbot, etc

Link wheel / pyramid building -she can do this

Google predator System - has recently been trained on the brand new Google Predator system.

Keyword research - she knows the tools and concepts to look for.

directory submission - another skill

Basically if you want someone to build and manage blogs and minisites and SEO tasks then you can't go wrong. She is reliable helpful and friendly.

It will really help you have you already have a good process for her to follow - you will get more out of her (as you would with anyone) but do not expect miracles if you do not give precise instructions. I made a lot of use of Jing videos etc.

NB what she is not so good at is content based work such as article writing and blog commenting. She is better at tech tasks than content based tasks though don't get me wrong she is a great communicator and sends me long e-mails in perfect english but her preference is not to do these - and when she can do so many other things so well, why bother!

Salary level for 40 hours a week is probably c. $400+ a month. Conbsidering what she knows and the fact you do not need to start from scratch is a massive bonus, believe me.

Let me know if you are interested / need more details.

Thanks

Fraser

Mukul Verma

Fraser,

I am not looking for someone, I got a team already.

Change your business plan or model (to include her if you want) and make money. Outsourcing does not make you money. Outsourcing only expands what your model is. If you have done it for a year and its not making you money, change the model.

Cheers,
Mukul

gjpcoach

Hi

Could you send them to me too? I'd be very grateful.

Thank you
Gillian

Ken Strong

This has long since stopped being a product review thread -- continue the discussion in the Main Forum if there's still things to discuss.