Where did that start?
How'd you get into that business?
Where'd that come from?
It all started because I was living in Ukraine actually
from 2018 up until the war started
and basically just being there on the ground,
meeting people my age or younger,
just seeing how well-spoken and talented
and hardworking everybody was,
it just made such natural sense to me
because I looked at the prices
of traditional outsourcing places
like the Philippines and India, Pakistan,
and I said, it's not that much more.
And I'm finding I'm having a better experience here.
So I think that's really how it started.
It was actually just being on the ground
and just being around the people themselves.
Okay, so let's jump into that.
Why do you think, what are the differences
between the regular VAs that I see a lot of companies
are taking from the Philippines
compared to the people of the Eastern countries?
What are you finding different there?
So I wanted to start by saying
that there's really talented people in every single country,
but certain countries,
it's a lot harder to actually find them.
It's like basically finding a needle in a haystack,
and sometimes it's easier to go
where all the needles are actually.
And that's kind of what I've just said is that
there's such a higher level for your average person out here.
I just think it makes it a lot easier.
And the biggest thing that I've found is that
a lot of traditional VAs and basic VAs,
if you give them the same task
and it's just in that one box and that one framework,
they can execute it flawlessly
over and over and over again.
But as soon as it goes outside of that SOP
or outside of that box where there might be a decision to make
or a little bit of critical thought,
that's where I found like the team that I built
at HireUA has really excelled at that
is they're really independent thinkers,
they're very good at problem solving,
and they don't just kind of always run to me like,
what do we do? What do we do?
It's like, this is what we think we should do, do approve.
And that's the way to do it as a business owner.
Gotcha.
The next question that immediately comes to mind
is maybe the price difference.
Do you feel comfortable talking about that on the show?
Yeah, of course.
All right, what does that look like
compared to VAs in Philippines?
Do you know?
Generally speaking, 30 to 50% more, give or take.
Okay.
Depends on the position,
but it's also still gonna be like 70, 80% cheaper
than hiring in the West.
So it's really just still,
it's in the middle though, for sure.
It's not as cheap as like the Philippines or India for sure,
but it's still a lot cheaper than hiring someone locally
and say, you know, I'm from California, so cheaper than that.
Gotcha, yeah.
There's a big difference from California to hiring VAs
that are outside of the country for sure.
Yes.
So I'm curious, outside of the VA industry that you're in
or this more remote work or remote worker industry,
what's your why for pushing that forward?
Like, is there a personal reason
for you to keep pushing this company or?
I mean, honestly, it's now like, so I live in Ukraine.
I own property in Ukraine.
I am married to a Ukrainian, have family still there.
So I obviously want to help people
that are impacted by the whole situation
because these are really good opportunities.
Like the opportunities on the ground in Ukraine now
are pretty much non-existent,
like to be very frank with you, there's just nothing there.
So if we can put someone who's hardworking
and maybe just trying to provide for their family
or give themselves a better opportunity in life,
like these are really good jobs for people out there.
You know, they're making multiple times
a normal salary in Ukraine, but it's,
again, so much less than you pay someone locally.
So it's the best of both worlds.
And I also think on the other side,
I'm a small business owner.
I've been an entrepreneur for 10 years
and I've seen how people struggle with this.
And no, I don't think they should have to hire someone
locally who's gonna say, you don't pay me enough
and kind of have an entitled attitude,
nor do I think they should be stuck with someone
who's not capable of doing the job.
So I like seeing small business owners succeed.
I feel like small, medium business owners,
we really get the short end of the stick everywhere.
You know, always taxes are never getting lower,
regulations are never getting easier.
So this is something that I get to help people
who I wanna help on both sides of the equation,
which is nice.
That is, yeah, absolutely.
Me, I started my company this January
and so I'm still finding out,
finding and figuring out the hoops,
where they're at and how to jump through them
rather than just running forward
and trying to figure everything out.
I am very much-
They never stop.
Yeah, I'm very analytical.
Before I take a next step,
I wanna figure out where that step might lead
and what hoops I'd have to jump through before I run at it.
And when a lot of people in the business world
and entrepreneurship world starting up,
they just start running.
A lot of my friends that I know
that have built successful businesses are like,
yeah, I just ran.
And then once I got hit with a brick wall,
I figured out a way around it
and then you just keep moving.
And I overthink every step before I take it
and it makes my process a lot slower.
But-
There's a great quote I love
that's from a cyclist, Greg Lamond,
and it's, it never gets easier, you just go faster.
And basically it's like,
it's always gonna be hard to ride up the hill,
but you just go faster.
And business is the same way,
like the problems never stop.
You just learn how to solve the problems
and then you solve harder problems.
But it never ends, the problems never end.
And I've, I've think of that quote just rings so true.
Yeah, that's good.
The problems, it never gets easier.
You just go faster.
Or for business, it never,
the problems never stop, you just solve harder problems.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is gonna get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.