John Jonas hired his first full-time worker in the Philippines in 2005. Within a couple of weeks, he says it felt like there were suddenly “two of me.”
That experience eventually led John to create OnlineJobs.ph, and today he has roughly 60 people working for him in the Philippines. Some of the people he hired nearly 20 years ago are still on his team.
But this conversation isn’t really about finding someone to manage your calendar. It’s about leverage.
John prefers the term Online Filipino Specialist (OFS) because the people he hires aren’t limited to traditional VA work. His team includes developers, content specialists, marketers, and other people responsible for business-critical functions.
And that distinction matters for freelancers. At some point, doing everything yourself stops being evidence that you’re capable and starts being the reason your business can’t grow.
John’s philosophy is refreshingly simple: Getting it done is more important than getting it done your way.
Yes, someone else may make mistakes. Yes, training them will require time. Yes, you may currently be terrible at delegation.
John’s response to that last objection is basically: Okay. Then learn.
Because staying buried in email, client work, admin, marketing, and every other detail of the business leaves very little room for the work only you can do: thinking, selling, strategizing, and leading. John says he has spent years working around 15 hours per week precisely because his team gives him room for that higher-value work.
We also get into AI.
John is hardly anti-AI. His entire team uses it. But his argument is that AI and human talent don’t have to be competitors. Use AI for what AI does well. Use talented people for everything else. Most importantly, don’t spend the next three years waiting for some magical agent to run your business while you remain the bottleneck today.
Finally, John walks through his hiring process, including why he prefers email before video interviews, what he looks for in a test task, and the surprisingly important question he asks when an employee isn’t performing:
What did I do wrong?
The employers John sees succeed take responsibility for their instructions, communication, and leadership before assuming the person they hired is lazy or incompetent. They also remember that the person on the other side of the screen is exactly that—a person, not an expendable commodity.
If success has somehow made your freelance business heavier instead of lighter, this conversation may help you see what’s missing.
Maybe you don’t need to work harder. Maybe you need help.
Note: This conversation was originally recorded for the Advanced Freelancers Summit in May 2026.
Key Points
- Doing everything yourself eventually becomes the bottleneck. The skills that helped you build a successful freelance business can trap you in its day-to-day details if you never learn to delegate.
- Think beyond the traditional VA. John calls the people he hires Online Filipino Specialists because they can own specialized and business-critical work—not just calendars and data entry.
- Getting it done beats getting it done your way. Perfectionism and control can masquerade as quality standards while quietly keeping everything on your plate.
- Training is an investment, not an instant time saver. John readily admits that a new hire may consume more time than they save during the first month. The payoff comes when great people stick around long enough for that investment to compound.
- Delegate where your time is actually going. Instead of automatically outsourcing the task you dislike most, John recommends looking at what consumes the most time and figuring out how another person can support or own it.
- Hiring can force you to think like a CEO. Committing to another person creates pressure to find meaningful work for them—and gives you room to spend more time on sales, strategy, systems, and growth.
- AI and people aren't mutually exclusive. John’s team uses AI extensively. His point is to use the technology to make good people better rather than assuming AI has already eliminated the need for people.
- Test for collaboration, not just technical ability. John uses test tasks partly to see whether candidates ask smart questions, clarify ambiguity, and work well with him—not merely whether they can produce the deliverable.
- When something goes wrong, check your instructions first. One of John’s biggest distinctions between successful and unsuccessful employers is whether they immediately blame the worker or first examine their own communication and leadership.
Notable Quotes
“What I found over the years is getting it done is way, way, way, way, way more important than getting it done your way. Like getting it done your way is good but getting it done is so, so much more important.” — John Jonas
"What is the thing that you are spending time on? Outsource that. Hire someone to do that. Because your most precious resource is time. And if you can get someone to do that thing of yours… what is the thing that you're spending the most time on? Hire someone to do that.” — John Jonas
“You want to make a commitment to growing your business? Hire someone full time… When you hire someone full time, you're making a commitment to them and yourself. No, I'm going to grow my business. I'm going to keep you employed full time. I'm going to keep you busy full time.” — John Jonas
“This is one of the things that successful employers do. I've always said, you don't hire a rock star worker. You manage someone into a rock star worker… They want to contribute to your business. They want to be amazing. You have to, you have to find the problem.” — John Jonas
Resources Mentioned
