How to Work with Virtual Staff to Build a Business Empire

How to Work with Virtual Staff to Build a Business Empire (Tips from the Trenches – via Manila!)

Location: At the Beach (Literally!) – Reading / Viewing Time: 9-10mins

A real treat for you guys today. A couple of weeks ago I flew up from Cebu (where I live full time) to Manila (the capital of the Philippines) to do a little business, and whilst I was there I met up with Dan Andrews from the quickly growing TropicalMBA.com and OutsourcetothePhilippines.com blogs.We chewed the fat for quite a few hours, and eventually figured it would be cool to shoot a couple of video clips.

In fact, Dan actually interviewed me for his Podcast, too, which you can check out by clicking here. It’s safe to say we had a lot of fun doing all this stuff for our respective audiences.

For those of you who don’t know Dan, he is a twenty-something guy from the USA originally, who now lives in the Philippines full-time, where he works with several virtual staff throughout the country, that help run and build businesses based back in the USA, California to be exact.

His unique style of ‘Screw it, I’m just gonna do it…’ is something that is very captivating for any entrepreneur.

In the 9min clip, amongst other things, we discuss:

Why Dan picked the Philippines for outsourcing his staffing needs.
How he found, hired and works with his virtual assistants.
Why he hired a personal assistant after receiving an email from MY assistant!
How he interviewed his present PA, including going shirt shopping.
His upcoming eBook project.

This was a really cool interview to shoot, as it will give people a very clear picture as to what it takes, in a relatively short space of time to get things together, make things happen and benefit from working with virtual employees.

Thanks to Dan for being a gracious host in Manila, and I hope to bring you a few more videos of the two of us in the future (if you’d like to see ‘em, of course. Let us know in the comment section!

Comments

Richard Riley says:

April 21, 2010 at 11:28 pm Richard Riley(Quote)

This sounds very interesting. I can’t wait to go home from work so that I’m able to view it. The whole idea of outsourcing repetitive tasks is very intriguing to me – I’m currently trying to think of ways that I can apply this to my website in terms of content creation and posting images online. Should be a fairly easy task, I assume. Thanks for the great info!

- Chris C. Ducker says:
  
  April 22, 2010 at 1:19 am Chris C. Ducker(Quote)
  
  Hi Richard
  
  Glad you like it!
  
  Yep, that simple ‘bog’ stuff any good quality VA can perform for you. My PA handle everything (or pretty much, anyway) for my blogs, and does a sterling job.
  
  I’d like to hear how it goes, so get back to me, okay – give us all an update when you try it out.
  
  Thanks for the comment, bud!
  
  Chris
  
Wilson Usman says:

April 22, 2010 at 12:37 am Wilson Usman(Quote)

Great tips Dan I been watching your blog and well listening to Sean Ogle talk about his experience I really can’t wait to be out there applying all these tips.

- Chris C. Ducker says:
  
  April 22, 2010 at 1:21 am Chris C. Ducker(Quote)
  
  Hi Wilson
  
  Thanks for the comment, buddy!!!
  
  I’m actually hoping – someday, somehow – to get these two guys together, with myself for a load of cool videos, etc.
  
  Fingers crossed!
  
  Chris
  
Mike Stankavich says:

April 23, 2010 at 1:20 am Mike Stankavich(Quote)

Man, you and Dan are just living the dream. I can’t wait til I can come join the game. I plan to hire a VA and some web resources within the next two months to support a product that I’ll be developing next month (have to finish a big consulting project first).

I do have a question. Have either of you had your PA/VA prescreen candidates for other positions? I was thinking of hiring a VA and having her(him?) search for and shortlist candidates for my web and graphics designer needs. Does that make sense, or are you best off to do that yourself?

Thanks guys, looking forward to buying you both a cold San Miguel next trip to the RP.

- Chris C. Ducker says:
  
  April 23, 2010 at 1:52 am Chris C. Ducker(Quote)
  
  Hi Mike
  
  My PA manages my LIFE, man!!!
  
  She works directly with my VA’s (I have two) and kinda acts like a project manager on several projects that I run in a revolving set-up. This works for me, and I’m sure it would work for others, including yourself, perhaps.
  
  Bottom line – try it. And you’ll find out quickly enough!!!
  
  Thanks for visiting and commenting, as always.
  
  Chris
  
Monique Johnson says:

April 23, 2010 at 1:25 am Monique Johnson(Quote)

Great video Chris! I really like your witty personality! I never thought of having a PA before but I guess that is something I should start to strive towards. I’ve actually been following Dan for awhile on Tropical MBA and The Lifestyle Business Podcast…. which I must say has had a large influence on a recent decision of moving to SE Asia (phillipines/thailand) hopefully sometime next year after I save up for the move! Thanks for sharing the tips and I look forward to more videos! I am also really interested to see more videos of you two.

- Chris C. Ducker says:
  
  April 23, 2010 at 2:04 am Chris C. Ducker(Quote)
  
  Hi Monique
  
  Welcome to the blog, I believe this is the first time I’ve seen you here!
  
  Dan is sincerely living the way he WANTS. Which makes all the difference in life. Myself included – almost. Gotta hit the 2010 Goal of mine, which is what I launched this site with back in January this year, to ‘totally’ be there, however. Which I believe I will, for sure.
  
  Congrats on making the decision to come and join us. We will welcome you with open arms, I assure you! And thanks also for wanting more videos… I’m as humbled as a humbled little boy in ‘Humble Land’, if that makes any sense!!? There is plenty more coming, I promise!
  
  Hope to see you around here more often, now that you’ve dipped your toe in the VBL stream of life!
  
  Best,
  Chris
  
Tony Ruiz says:

April 23, 2010 at 1:39 am Tony Ruiz(Quote)

I’m looking forward to Dan’s eBook. When I want to gain insights for outsourcing and VA tips. Chris Ducker and Dan Andrews always come to mind!! So much ahead of us buddy! I’m pumped!

- Chris C. Ducker says:
  
  April 23, 2010 at 1:50 am Chris C. Ducker(Quote)
  
  Awesome, Tony!
  
  Glad you’re all jazzed up… Its a great world we live in today – nothing that we do today as entrepreneurs (as far as I’m concerned) would have been possible with the internet and everything that goes with it. Like I said, I hope to do more with Dan in the future sometime.
  
  Thanks for staying connected to the VBL blog, too!
  
  - Tony Ruiz says:
    
    April 23, 2010 at 2:10 am Tony Ruiz(Quote)
    
    You can expect me to be part of this community has long as it online Chris.
    
    A project with you and Dan is the ultimate collaboration
    
    - Chris C. Ducker says:
      
      April 23, 2010 at 2:39 am Chris C. Ducker(Quote)
      
      Thanks, brother. Appreciate that!
      
      Dan – we gotta get together again, my man!
      
Dan says:

April 24, 2010 at 12:45 pm Dan(Quote)

Man it was fun hangin’ out Chris…. I’m looking forward to seeing the scene in Cebu. “Screw it just do it…” is exactly how I roll, that’s why I focus on hiring because I’m more of a short emotional burst kind of guy. I like to be super excited about what I’m doing and then hand the thing off! See you soon!

- Chris C. Ducker says:
  
  April 25, 2010 at 1:14 am Chris C. Ducker(Quote)
  
  Hi Dan
  
  Yep – Cebu is waiting, my man.
  
  Its funny you mention that you focus on hiring. As entrepreneurs we are, generally speaking, a pretty tough lot. And to some of us, the idea of conceptualizing something, working our asses off to get it going, and then turn it over to other people to run and manage, is very far fetched.
  
  I have found that as I have grown older, and busier, that I am getting more and more happier to do just that – however, it wasnt always that way.
  
  Thanks for the comment, bud – much appreciated.
  
  Chris