00:00Thinking of becoming a virtual assistant, but you feel a little overwhelmed and intimidated.
00:05A virtual assistant is like a right-hand person for a business or for a founder.
00:11So for example, you are a virtual assistant for a founder, but you do many things.
00:17You are doing marketing work, operations work, absolutely anything they don't want to handle anymore.
00:23I think there's a lot of potential.
00:25Additionally, all people, even in rural areas, they don't have to go to Manila to work.
00:33They can just work at home.
00:35They can be with their family.
00:38They can stay in their province that they love.
00:43Being a virtual assistant saved me because if it wasn't for being a virtual assistant,
00:49I probably wouldn't have finished my studies or help my family, send them to school.
00:55If you were chased by a client, you have no one to chase.
00:59So if they decide that they won't pay you anymore or they just blocked you,
01:05there's really no way for you to protect yourself.
01:09So what we do is that, personally, I ask for advance payment.
01:13The fact that they do not fall within any other classification of the government,
01:18also says that there's very little protection for them.
01:22Because once their rights, they feel that their rights are violated,
01:26they will have no agency to go to because, again, they do not fall under any of the classifications.
01:32It's risky because there's no remedy involved,
01:35but people are, I think, willing to take that risk
01:39because of the rewards that they can reap in exchange for the work that they do within their own homes.
01:46So these are the OFWs in the UAE.
01:49So across the UAE, there are people from Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, there they are.
01:54Whatever she has learned through her experiences,
01:56my aha moment for this one is,
01:59I can do my skillset as a freelancer.
02:04So to those who aspire to be like us,
02:08let's just start with talking.
02:11And start doing.
02:12Yes, thank you, Ate!
02:14My friends who are OFWs,
02:16how is that, Lee?
02:17How is that? How is that? How is that?
02:19I got intrigued.
02:21A lot of people were curious.
02:23Why don't I just teach them how I did it?
02:27My journey, how I did it.
02:29So that's where it started.
02:31I created a community there in Dubai,
02:34and I teach them every time I go home there.
02:37I really want Filipinos to go home,
02:40that's why I created that community.
02:42So when I teach them,
02:44at least one Filipino at a time,
02:46that's my tagline,
02:48that's my mission.
02:50So that even one Filipino can go home at a time.
02:54I'm just passing on my brain,
02:56how I built my digital agency,
03:00or digital business.
03:02If you're a professional, why not use that skill,
03:04and then do it remotely?
03:06That's going to be your own business.
03:10So those kinds of wisdom and advice,
03:12I'm doing it through this little community.
03:14I'm hoping that more people will answer and get to know me.
03:18When I saw that opportunity,
03:20or when I tried it myself,
03:22I said, there's a way
03:24so that I can be with my family.
03:26I can earn more,
03:28times two, times three, times four,
03:30sometimes times five,
03:32the income,
03:34compared to what I earn
03:36in UAE.
03:38Go back to one of the major challenges,
03:40Filipino laws do not apply
03:42if the employer is located elsewhere.
03:44Those are challenges that need to be addressed.
03:48Probably via,
03:50there are a lot of ways I can think of,
03:52a memorandum of cooperation,
03:54or a memorandum of agreement
03:56in certain countries when it comes to virtual assistants.
04:00International ICT communities
04:02stepping in, in order to protect the industry.
04:04So those are probably
04:06what we should expect
04:08in the near future.
04:10What we need is,
04:12again, I think the peculiar fact
04:14that it is borderless,
04:16that is something we should address.
04:18And I think the only way to address that is
04:20allied nations
04:22and like-minded countries
04:24come together
04:26to protect certain industries
04:28that in this particular day and age
04:30are already borderless.
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