Hiring From America Limited My Business
Zack AllenMay 16, 20263:09
The stage where you're maxed out on hours but a local salary would eat your margin, and how I got out of it.
There's an in-between stage a lot of business owners get stuck in. They're working the maximum hours they can. Their output is capped. But at the stage they're at, paying a local salary would cut deep into the margin.
The best way I've seen people get out of that spot is hiring international talent. I've seen it with a lot of our clients, but I saw it first in my business.
Where I was in 2021
Back in 2021, my business was limited by the number of hours in my day. I was doing a lot of back-end spreadsheets and data entry. None of it made the business more money, and all of it took time away from the work that would get me to the next level.
That's when I came across the idea of hiring internationally, and using the strength of the US dollar against currencies like the Philippine peso and the South African rand.
"I don't even know where to start"
The solo founders we work with are often so capped on time that they have no room to figure out overseas hiring. Where do they look? How do they recruit and vet? What are they even looking for in a candidate? Often it goes back further than that: what is the role they need?
A lot of them tell me some version of the same thing. "I don't know where to start. All I know is my day is full, and it's keeping me from the next level, because I don't have time for the highest leverage work." The work only they can do.
A franchise owner's first international hire
Recently we worked with a franchise owner running after-school sports programs. There was a lot of coordination and scheduling with coaches across all the different locations. To take on more contracts and more clients, he needed to be removed from that coordination work.
It was his first time hiring internationally, and he didn't know what the role would even be called. So we got on a call and worked out which responsibilities mattered most and which areas had the highest leverage to delegate. Then we pieced together which country to hire from, what salary to offer and how to structure the engagement.
That was about a month ago. This week he texted me that she's picking things up very quickly and he's getting to the next stage.
Could he have done that with a local hire? Sure. But he'd still have to run the whole vetting process, and for roles that don't need to be done locally, the salary comparison makes the value of hiring overseas easy to see.
People over patchwork automations
You could spin up some AI automations that keep breaking and need someone working on them constantly. Or you can hire someone competent, teach them the way you do things, and watch them start iterating on the process and making it better. AI can't do that last part.
If you feel stuck in that in-between, hiring internationally will change how you see business and hiring. It did for me.
Transcript
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There's this in between that business owners are stuck in where they're working the max amount of hours. They're capped on the output they can provide, but at the stage they're at paying local salaries would cut deep into the margin. And the best way I've seen people get out of that is through hiring international talent. I've seen that firsthand with a lot of the clients we've worked with, but also I first saw it in my own business.
I was at the point back in 2021 where the business was limited by the amount of hours I had in a day. I was doing a lot of the backend spreadsheets, data entry that was not making the business more money and it was taking away from the things that would get me to that next level. And that's when I stumbled upon the idea of hiring internationally, leveraging the currency arbitrage of the US dollar to the Philippine peso to the South African rand.
And I've seen what that has done for so many of the businesses that we've worked with, the solo founders where their time was so capped that they definitely didn't have time to figure out the whole overseas hiring and where they're going to look, how they're going to recruit, how they're going to vet these candidates, what it is they're even looking for in a candidate. Even back to the source of like what is it, what is the role they even need.
So many of the businesses we work with are so overwhelmed with the concept of like I don't even know where to start. I don't know how to what what this role even looks like. All I know is my day is filled and it's what's keeping me from getting to the next level because I don't have time for the stuff that is going to break through the highest leverage tasks. So stuff that only they can do.
Like recently we worked with a franchise owner doing like after school sports and there was a lot of coordination and scheduling to go with the coaches and all the different locations and in order to take on more contracts, more clients, he needed to be removed from that coordination side. first time hiring internationally, didn't know what even the role was going to be called. And so that's exactly what we did. We we hopped on a call and figured out what responsibilities are going to be most important, what areas we think would have the highest leverage to delegate overseas, and piece together the country we're going to hire from, the salary we're going to offer, how we're going to structure the engagement.
That was about a month ago and this week he texted me saying she's picking up very quickly and allowing him to get to the next stage which sure you could do that with a local hire but first of all you still have to do the whole vetting process and second the salary comparison for roles that don't have to be done locally the value of hiring overseas is pretty easily understandable. I've just seen so many founders business owners just stuck in that in between and point is that's the unlock that I found to get these business owners out of this spot.
Sure, you can spin up some some AI automations that continue to break and need someone to always be working on them. Or you can just hire someone that's really competent and teach them the way you do things and eventually they start iterating on the process and making it better, which AI cannot do. If you feel like you're in that in between in your business, I promise you hiring internationally will change everything for you.
You will not see business or hiring the same way ever again. That's what it did for me. And I hope to bring that same fulfillment to you.
