A Little Ranting: BUY AMERICAN

Do you believe that you get what you pay for?  Case in point:  I recently ran across an ad for a virtual assistant. They needed about 5 hours a week of data entry and updating on an Excel spreadsheet.  They showed a sample of the work and it was, in a word, elementary.  The ad mentioned they had gone through two virtual assistants in a month and they wanted someone who “would just do the work”.  Hmmm…so I kept reading.  AHA!  They offered $2.00 an hour.

It is a known fact that ODesk, perhaps one of our biggest competitors, is great for finding cheap labor.  You’ll find hundreds if not thousands of people from places like India and the Philippines who are more than eager to work for $2.00 an hour.  One of our team members has applied for over 350 jobs on ODesk.  He is more than qualified yet he has had NO job offers.  Why?  Because his standard rate of $9.00 an hour is ‘too high’.

Now, as a business owner I understand that if you can get cheap labor, the temptation may be too great.  But you get what you pay for. 

Why are so many American companies still refusing to give American virtual assistants a chance?  Simple. They don’t want to pay for it.  Well here’s some advice to the American companies who are making, in my opinion, the wrong choice:

First of all - don’t pay an hourly rate – if you pay someone an hourly rate, and instruct their work, and manage them, you don’t have a virtual assistant – you have an employee who telecommutes.

    

Second – pay for what you want in return.  You may be pleasantly surprised that for a fee that would be BASED UPON $6 to $10 an hour, you’ll get amazing results, quality work, secured transaction, and more importantly you’ll be supporting American workers.

We do not seem to be learning much from this economic crisis.  Did you know that in 2010 the Brazilian meatpacker Marfrig acquired Keystone Foods?  They paid $1.25 billion for it.  What does that mean?  It means that they are now a primary supplier to all American fast-food restaurants.  So when you chow down on that sub, or that burger you can thank the Brazilian people for supplying the meat. 

I’m not an economist – but it just doesn’t make sense to me that we continually sell-out and refuse to give work to the American people.  Americans are hard workers – they have ethics – they have the resources.  They speak your language.  Imagine how much MORE you could do if you bought American – products AND workers.

Do you think we’re crazy because we won’t compromise our fees?  Actually, when you compare, Office Remote Control offers AMAZING DEALS.  But we won’t sell out and offer our services for $2 an hour.  We won’t do it.  We’re worth more than that and we would like to think that American companies believe that THEY are worth it, as well.

Everyone jokes about the customer service line that answers in a very heavy foreign accent and introduces himself as Bob or Keith.  You KNOW that’s not his name but what you should know is that he is working for pennies an hour – and taking away American jobs.