I get asked constantly about offshoring, and the truth is, whether you do it or not genuinely doesn’t matter to me.
What matters is something most people overlook completely.
In this episode, I break down what I think actually should drive that decision, and it’s not what you’d expect.
Listen below.
1:15 I genuinely don’t think risk goes up just because someone’s abroad. Xen Accounting was fully onshore, fully remote, and data can leak from Toronto just as easily as from Manila.
2:48 Personally, I’m a fan of offshoring. My own team is fully offshore now, spread across the Philippines, the US, and South Korea. That’s a complete reversal from Xen Accounting, where my whole team was local.
4:13 Two things matter to me when it comes to hiring: finding good talent without a ton of friction, and balancing my budget while staying genuinely profitable. That’s really it.
5:23 The way I see it, offshoring is about more than cost. Above all, it solves a talent access problem, not a cost one.
7:02 A lot of offshore hires I’ve worked with were previously overworked and underpaid elsewhere. So I pay above market for the region and keep to a standard work week, not an exploitative one.
8:34 Back in 2018, I hired my first offshore team member, a VA based in the Philippines. My blunt communication style caused friction I wasn’t even aware of at the time.
11:14 Cost savings is a byproduct, not the reason to offshore. What actually matters: talent you can’t find locally, capacity to grow without burnout, and the discipline offshoring forces on you either way.
