Outsourcing to Foreign Virtual Assistants Is Misunderstood
I recently read a posting called “Disadvantages of Outsourcing to Offshore Virtual Assistants”. It was posted by Rita J. Cartwright, a virtual assistant with her own company offering virtual word processing services. While her article was quite interesting, I feel that it was rather flawed in it’s arguments against outsourcing virtual assistant tasks.
Why I Know What I’m Talking About
I’m a serial entrepreneur with a number of small business ventures under my belt. In the area of outsourcing, I would consider myself an expert. Why? I’ve personally worked with various tech providers around the world, and more importantly (as it relates to Mrs. Cartwright), I’ve hired virtual assistants from all over the world to complete various levels of tasks that I will describe in my posting (as well as related postings on this blog).
Specific Statements Where I Disagree With Mrs. Cartwright
*Low Price Must Mean Low Quality….Right?
Mrs. Cartwright claimed the supposedly universal claim that “[with hiring foreign providers] You get what you pay for.”. Mrs. Cartwright, I would have completely agreed with you if you told me this a few years ago. However, given my experience in working with providers around the world, I now totally 100% without a doubt disagree!
Allow me to explain myself:
My greatest experience working with overseas providers was hiring a Project Manager in the Phillipines. This provider now essentially RUNS MY ENTIRE BUSINESS: he talks to clients to plan projects, works with my design team in creating the project, manages customer service questions, closes sales, and so much more. My time spent on the business has decreased by 90% while my income has increased! This awards me the time to do things that I enjoy (travel, surf, spend time with family, etc.)
How much does this great quality cost? $3/hour! YES, $3/hour! Now I need to be clear so that you don’t get mad at me. When I interviewed this guy, I asked him what he wanted hourly. I was ready to pay the guy $10-$15 since he seemed qualified. He replied that “given that I now understand the job position, I think $3/hour is fair”. I was amazed! Long story short, he runs my business, works in 9am-5pm US PST timezone, and costs me $120/week. Since that time, I’ve hired numerous providers at rates between $2.50-$5/hour for various levels of task without a drop in quality. Amazing!
It’s NOT true that you get what you pay for ; )
*Running Into Time Zone Problems
Re-read the story above please. My team around the entire world works in the 9am-5pm US PST timezone without any problems. I pay a little bit higher hourly rate for this, but when you’re paying your team members an average of $3-$10/hour, this doesn’t really matter = )
*Assistants Not Being Familiar With The Culture
Mrs. Cartwright noted that “you are going to encounter virtual assistants who are not familiar with our culture and language [when outsourcing to offshore providers]“. In this day and age, the world is getting smaller and smaller culturally. Instead of saying that the world is getting smaller and smaller, I’ll be rather blunt….the world is getting more American. America is the dominant force economically and the world (at least for now) is following the lead of America.
The virtual assistants that I work with from all over the world understand the business ethics practiced by US small business, understand how to communicate with the US clients of mine, and my clients rarely know that they’re talking to a foreign provider. I have clients that have been amazed when I tell them that their project manager is located in the Phillipines, or that the sales rep that closed their $1000K+ project was located half way around the world. They always ask me “How can I make my business work like yours!”
*Foreigners Dont Care If Your Business Succeeds
She claimed that “[foreign providers} do not have a vested interest in your business other than getting more projects”. I can’t disagree with this more strongly! My team knows that I provide them with a solid and steady income (that is quite good for their economy). They also understand that they are a part of my team and that the team goal is to build the business. In addition, many team members are on a profit sharing plan so it’s in their best interests to grow the business.
It’s all about how you organize your business model to incorporate the global team that determines if the team members will care if you succeed or not. This is no different then being able to inspire your local employees in your own USA office: if you have a flawed business model in regards to your team members then your team will destroy your business, plain and simple.
*virtual assistants can’t operate without access to the Internet
I agree with you on this fact, but have never ever had this problem. In my experience, foreign providers have been just as reliable in regards to being online as US providers.
In conclusion, I’d be curious to hear readers comments on both ends of this argument. Share your experiences and how they apply to this argument (either for or against). And Mrs. Cartwright, please do write to me on the comment board so that you can counter my argument because I’d be curious to see how you came to your positions. I look forward to a good old fashion (and respectable) debate = )
-Jonathan Robert is a Serial Entrepreneur helping other businesses to make their businesses more efficient. A true entrepreneur at heart, Jonathan started his first company at age 15. He has since been able to create a number of businesses that are designed to be as efficient as possible in that they produce income for Jonathan while he is able to enjoy traveling, surfing, spending time with friends/family, and pursuing other business ventures.Tags: outsource, outsourcing, virtual assistant, virtual assistants
Jonathan,
Congratulations on establishing a team of offshore experts. I’m curious as to why you didn’t consider using onshore virtual assistants. Was it the cost? As an American, do you feel that onshore virtual assistants can afford to work for $3.00/hr? You also didn’t address the language barrier. Since English is not offshore virtual assistants first language, has that ever been a problem for you? It’s great that you have had success with offshore assistants. I recently read a blog post where a virtual assistant was fired because of language barrier. You can read it here: http://www.stephanspencer.com/email/i-just-fired-my-virtual-assistant
By the way, I’m Ms. Cartwright but you can call me Rita. Thank you for the respect.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and to work with whoever they choose. But as the U.S. economy continues to struggle and the average citizen can’t pay their heating bills in the winter or put gas in their car AND people are losing their homes at an alarming rate, why would you send even more business out of this country? There are many, many qualified and experieced virtual assistants in this country who need the business, fellow American citizens who are struggling to put food on the table for their families and working hard to make a better life for their children. There needs to be some loyalty to our fellow Americans business owners and our American employees. How are we to compete with $3 an hour, when a gallon of gas is now $3.70?!?! As a business owner, I could not trust my business to someone I was only paying $3 an hour to. More importantly, my conscience wouldn’t allow me to send business out of this country when I see businesses closing around me and people losing their homes every single day.
Good for you that you’ve had such success. Maybe we could all be as successful if businesses in the US kept their business HERE and we took care of each other. Just my humble opinion! Thanks for making us all think.
Yvone,
Thanks for your thoughts. Allow me to take a second to counter what you said in your posting, as a little blog debate are always good to show differing points of view = )
I feel that at the end of the day, everything comes down to economics. If I were to try and hire onshore workers for the tasks my offshore team handles, I would simply not be able to maintain the level of business that I’ve had…I’d likely not be in business at all. Because I’m able to get such low cost tech labor, I’m able to provide competitive rates to my clients who can then afford to build their own USA business through my internet marketing services. If I chose to stay with US providers then there would be a snowball effect of higher costs and ultimately financial problems all the way down the line from my company to my clients.
It’s not an issue of being “loyal to america”…I think it’s an issue that the world is truly getting ’smaller’ and we (as americans) need to change the way we do business in order to come out ahead of this trend, instead of be destroyed by it.
This is a subject that is close to my heart. While, I understand the economics of oursourcing, I have to agree with Ms. Kon’s observations. To me, offshore contracting in general is a major contributor to the economic downfall Americans face today. So many jobs have been lost to a company’s decision to hire offshore contractors and employees, resulting in Americans losing homes, cars, self-respect, ability to seek medical attention, being forced into bankruptcy etc., etc.
It’s just reality that Americans cannot compete with $2.00 an hour, less than what some Americans pay to ride a bus! And every time I see a posting from an American company looking to pay someone this type of rate for all of the work that they are doing it angers me. And one of the reasons is, not only do I feel that there is no loyalty to America and the sustainability of Americans and America’s economic outlook, but Americans businesses KNOW that they are taking advantage of the individuals who are doing this work at these rates. They know the true value of this labor.
So, while it may be great for business, operations are running smoothly, and you are getting more than you’ve paid for in many instances (and in some instances you do find that you got what you paid for) is it right? As a business owner, I could subcontract to an offshore VA and still make a good rate, but could I feel good about doing this? No, I couldn’t. And I”m not passing judgment on those that do hire offshore workers. I’m simply saying that it is my opinion and saying what is right for me.
I am glad for the opportunity to have respectful dialog on the subject and wish everyone, on both sides, good luck, prosperity, peace and blessings!
Evelyn Mack
Emackulate Assistants
http://www.emackulate.wordpresss.com
Evelyn,
Thanks for your thoughts. Allow me to take a second to counter what you said in your posting, as a little blog debate are always good to show differing points of view = )
In regards to ‘taking advantage’ of workers at these rates, I feel that this is not understood. I asked my VA to name his price after fully explaining the job. He said that “given what we’ve talked about I think that $3/hr is fair”. I was ready to pay him $10/hr at least, but he *asked* for $3/hr…I think that shows that I’m not taking advantage of him at all. The same situation exemplifies that this is not an issue of being morally right (”is it right?”). He *asked* for $3/hr and that’s what I’m paying him. The reality is he would have likely accepted (and been totally financially fine) with less, but I didn’t try to negotiate with an already awesome price.
Hello Everyone
After seeing the many comments on this post with differing view points, I wanted to respond to some comments (see threaded comments above) and also suggest something to all readers of this blog.
I suggest you read “a whole new mind” by Daniel Pink. It suggests an interest concept that a brain (i.e. thinking) cannot be outsourced as easily as a process (such as how to design a website, conduct internet marketing processes, etc.). The Americans I hire are hired for their creative thinking, understanding of American attitudes, etc. The foreign people I hire are to conduct defined processes that require little creative thinking at all. That is why they can be hired for such low rates…I’m paying for their time (which is cheap in their particular economy), *not* their creative thinking.
Daniel Pink brings up an interesting point that I truly feel is inevitable. Anything…and I mean ANYTHING….that can be formed into a set of instructions or a defined process (such as steps to creating a website, how your want software to function, sales campaign management, email responses, and tons more) WILL be outsourced. It’s only a matter of time.
I’m not taking a stand for or against outsourcing *current* American jobs overseas…I’m young and am simply preparing myself to not get destroyed by the trend that I’m convinced is coming. The entire US working population needs to realize that technology will and is abolishing the feasibility of our “US Economy”…we’re now a world economy with a global employee pool. That’s simply the reality…it’s not my decision.
Americans need to change the ways in which we work, think, and live in order to come out on top of this trend. We’ve faced challenges before and come out ahead…lets do it again.
It’s great to see so many new viewpoints on this board = )
I highly agree with Yvone, Evelyn and Rita! Keep Americans working!
Hey Jonathan, great post.
Glad to hear about your positive experiences with overseas virtual assistants… especially when there seems to be a lot of uncertainty and doubt cast around.
Can I ask where you found the virtual assistants you’ve been working with to your satisfaction?
I’m a budding entrepreneur, and it would help me greatly if you can share you knowledge and experience.
Best,
JP