Is it Unethical to hire a VA from the Philippines?
VA from the Philippines
Do you feel like it’s ethical to hire VA from the Philippines?
In this video, I’m going to share our conversation with you. And please feel free to share your opinions with us in the comments below. I have a very open mind and I’m always interested in learning how other people view topics like this.
If you haven’t already, please subscribe to Six Figure Business Coaching YouTube Channel. My name is Kirsten Graham and along with my business partner, Jeanne Willson, we’ve been working with people in the Philippines for seven or eight years now. We’ve also had the opportunity to help our clients hire in the Philippines, train, and manage their own virtual assistants. And we’ve had amazing experiences and so then let’s get back to the question at hand.
Do I feel like it’s ethical to hire VA from the Philippines and why the first concern my friend brought up is Wouldn’t it be better to hire someone in the US? So we pulled up some data on our phones. Isn’t it fabulous? Having All that information at your fingertips, and I want to share some stats with you. Data from BLS shows that approximately 20% of new businesses fail in the first two years of being open. 45% failed in the first five years 65% the first 10 years, and only 25% of new businesses actually make it to 15 years or more.
Business Owner
Think about that only 25% make it 15 years or more. Now, the number one reason small businesses fail was lack of capital or funding. Most small businesses are started on savings accounts with a business owner, loans from friends and family and credit cards. If you want to make your business succeed, it’s really important that you make every penny count and make smart financial moves. Because the cost of living in the Philippines is significantly less than here in the US. You can hire a virtual assistant for four to $500 a month. This allows most business owners to grow their business, it often allows them to hire someone here in the US as well.
Here’s an example: Have one of our clients, she’s a professional organizer. And a little over three years ago, her business really took off. She was doing a fantastic job with her marketing. So she had lots of client work coming in. But she got to the point where she didn’t have time to do her marketing. She was that busy.
So we sat down and looked at the numbers to decide if it will make sense for her to hire another organizer. But after the conversation, she decided to hire someone in the Philippines to help her with her marketing. And that was a smart move because about six months later, she was also able to hire a part time organizer, she went on to hire a second part-time organizer. And then she hired a full-time organizer because she had someone in the back keeping up with her marketing and doing all the support things. She was able to grow her business and employ three people here in the US.
So want you to see that it’s not always either or you don’t have to hire in the Philippines and not hire in the US. Often hiring in the Philippines will allow you to grow your business to the point where you can employ Americans.
This brought up my friend’s second question. Is it fair to hire someone for four to $500 in the US. So to put this in perspective for you, the cost of living in the Philippines is about US. And I’m going to link an article below for you so you can check it out yourself. But almost everything in the Philippines is significantly less than it is here in the US.
Interestingly enough, milk was one of those things that cost more. And that stood out to me because I don’t like milk and milk doesn’t like me. But overall, the cost of living in the Philippines is 80% less than it is in the US. So it makes sense that we’re able to pay less money and still support that person full time with a good job.
This brings me on to our third concern. Now keep in mind, we’re having lunch and we’re enjoying an amazing olive oil from Italy and a glass of metal back from Argentina, which then took us to the last part of this conversation.
When I asked my friend I said, Okay, we live kind of in a global economy. So we’re having Italian olive oil, and we’re having wine from Argentina, and we’re probably eating off of dishes that came from China. Why is it okay to buy so much stuff from China or other countries, but not hired in the Philippines? So my question then to her was, Why are you asking this question in the sense of why would you feel like it’s unethical to hire in the Philippines, but it’s okay to buy things from other countries.
Support Local Businesses
I kind of flipped it around and asked her a question. And she sat back and she said, I never really thought of it that way. So let’s face it, guys, we really do live in a global economy. And it’s up to each and every one of us where we spend our money. So for me, I’m a bit of a minimalist, I don’t buy a lot of stuff, and I try really hard to support local businesses.
However, I do want to support the people in the Philippines. It’s 7000 little islands out there. I feel like the country has taken an initiative to train their people to be able to support business owners like you and me from all around the world. I find the people there to be kind and generous. They’re very loyal and hardworking. They love the opportunity to work from home and to be with their families. And they’re excited to have a full-time job and they feel like it’s fair and equitable. So for me, I don’t have a problem with it.
And I’m very happy that we’ve been able to work with so many people in the Philippines and help our clients do the same. Now to make it clear, we do not just work with people in the Philippines, but that was my friend’s question.
As a business owner, it’s up to you to make sure you’re managing your money into everything you can to make wise decisions. But it’s also 100% up to you to decide if it’s ethical to hire in places like the Philippines.
This is just my perspective of what it feels like it’s ethical to hire in the Philippines.
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And until I see you again. Dream Big!
Read our article on Freelance Businesses You Can Start While Working Full Time
