Marketing for SMEs: Dave Liong on Why Office-Based VAs from Indonesia Are the Way to Go

I spoke with Dave Liong, co-owner of VA For Everyone, about a question I hear from small business owners: how do you get help offshore without committing to a full-time hire before you have enough work for one? My own team is based in the Philippines, while Dave’s business places staff through offices in Indonesia, so we had two different setups to compare.

We talked about the practical things behind an offshore hire: communication, equipment, supervision, training and the amount of work you can actually give someone. Dave also explained how his clients can move from occasional hours to a dedicated part-time or full-time role as their needs change.

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Introduction

Jeremy: I’ve hired in the Philippines for years. Your model is different: you recruit in Indonesia and your staff work from offices. I wanted to understand what that changes for a small business hiring offshore.

Dave: VA For Everyone has been running for over six years, and we have a team of about 60 staff in Indonesia. We have a background there, and we’ve focused on helping business owners access staff overseas.

What does an office change for an offshore team?

Jeremy: You’ve chosen an office setup rather than having everyone work from home. What problems are clients usually trying to solve when they come to you?

Dave: People tell me about slow replies and work that hasn’t been finished when they expected it. There can be internet or power problems, and in some cases a person has taken on more client work than they can reasonably handle. It’s hard to manage a team, especially if you’re overseas.

Jeremy: I recognise those concerns. With our Philippines team, we provide devices and arrange backup power, which all adds to the cost of running the team. We also need to be clear about who has access to client data and what response time we expect. We’ve written more about the trade-offs in our experience building an offshore digital marketing team.

Dave: We have three offices, in Bogor, Semarang and Yogyakarta. Staff can work together there, although we sometimes allow temporary work from home in emergencies. We also organise team outings and charity work, which I think helps people stay.

Jeremy: There’s also something to learning beside other people. You hear a question across the office, pick up the answer and apply it to your own work.

Start with the hours you actually need

Jeremy: If an owner knows they need help but can’t yet fill a full-time role, what can they do?

Dave: We offer full-time, part-time and ad hoc support. For simpler admin work, a client can buy a set number of hours rather than commit to a dedicated person straight away. One client began with ad hoc tasks, then moved to a dedicated part-timer and eventually a full-timer as their business grew.

Jeremy: That progression makes sense. Paying for a full-time person when you cannot use the hours is a real cost for a smaller business.

Dave: There’s a trade-off with ad hoc work: it’s handled by someone already in our team, rather than someone recruited specifically for that client. With a part-time or full-time role, we recruit a dedicated staff member.

Match the person to the work, then test the skills

Jeremy: What sorts of roles do clients ask you to fill?

Dave: Admin, graphic design and IT support are common, and software development is a substantial part of our background. We’ve also done LinkedIn lead generation and social media work. For a phone-based role, you have to assess the individual’s communication skills for that particular job.

Jeremy: When someone’s CV says they can use a design or software tool, how do you know they can actually do the job? That question gets harder as people add AI tools to their list of skills.

Dave: We advise clients to include a short practical test in the interview process. For a graphic designer, for example, it lets the client see whether the work matches the skills on the CV. We provide basic training on our own software and working with Australian clients, but role-specific training is generally the client’s responsibility.

Jeremy: That responsibility matters. As I’ve found in conversations about AI, systems and key person risk, a tool or a new hire still needs clear instructions and someone accountable for the work.

What changes as AI enters the work?

Jeremy: Some repetitive tasks that used to be given to virtual assistants can now be done with AI. How do you see that affecting the people you recruit?

Dave: I don’t think it simply replaces virtual assistants. I think it changes the skills people need to learn and creates different kinds of work. It’s another reason to look at what a candidate can actually do, rather than rely on a list of tools they say they know.

Jeremy: I’d like to see better ways to assess those skills as the tools change. A short task based on the real role seems more useful to me than taking a certificate at face value.

What should an owner check before committing?

Jeremy: For the dedicated part-time or full-time roles, is there a standard package or is the cost quoted for each role?

Dave: Those roles are quoted according to the work, the skills needed and the hours. They’re generally charged as a monthly retainer. We explain the breakdown, including our fee and the staff member’s salary, before a client signs.

Jeremy: So an owner should be clear about the tasks, the hours, the skills test, the training they’ll need to provide and the total cost. That’s a more useful way to compare options than looking at an hourly price alone.

Key takeaways

• Define the work and the expected response times before hiring offshore.
• Ask how equipment, connectivity, supervision and access to business data will be managed.
• Match ad hoc, part-time or full-time support to the amount of work you can consistently provide.
• Use a small, relevant task to check a candidate’s skills, and plan for the training your business must provide.

Learn more at VA For Everyone, connect with Dave Liong on LinkedIn, or follow VA For Everyone on LinkedIn.

This conversation was recorded for Marketing for SMEs with Jeremy Yang. You can watch the full episode on YouTube or listen on your preferred podcast app.