In collaboration with some friends and financed by a successful expat in Michigan, last year I started an outsourcing company in Ibaan, a small and relatively poor town in Batangas. I called it Remote Reliance.

However, we were not able to get it off the ground. Maybe we started with a wrong premise. We thought, or so I thought, that Ibaan had the skills, and all it lacked were opportunities to utilize them.

Remote Reliance was supposed to provide the opportunities. So we opened our doors to train people. A bunch of young people came in, hoping to find a job. But it wasn’t a job we’re offering yet. We were still discovering what they could do, or if they were fit for this.

We didn’t really have the time to know if they were the kind of people we envisioned, who could work independently from home, given their natural intelligence and education. Because soon enough, these young people were gone, before they could even learn what it took to become an outsourcing professional.

It would have been more interesting to them if we had jobs available, and they could get them after the training. But no, we didn’t have jobs yet. We were just introducing them to something new.

From the encounter, one sure thing I noticed was that they lacked the ability to communicate effectively. Indeed, most online jobs just take you to a website to fill in the blanks. But to keep your client, you must know how to express yourself. To get more high-paying jobs, you must keep learning new things aside from data entry stuff.

Days went on and we learned that the skills available in Ibaan right here right now were so limited and unripe for remote work. There were still a lot of things to do to prepare the population for global outsourcing.

Maybe we could start with easier tasks, like data entry stuff. Basically, they must know how to follow instructions, how to type fast and take care of smaller details.

Moreover, they should be trained on efficiency and commitment–commitment to work and learning, essential stuffs that would make you stay long in the business of outsourcing.

Soon we will reopen in the new office at the so-called Ibaan Innovation Center (an offshoot of Remote Reliance idea). We will sit again to discuss the future of Remote Reliance and we should know better as to where and how to start, and to keep this thing going to benefit certain people with the right skills in Ibaan.

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In a previous post, I left you with some readings on the top reasons why people work from home. I believe they represent the views of freelancers across America, but what about us here?

With the failure of the NBN-ZTE deal, and the anomalies surrounding it, we also realized that we are not yet a 100% wired or wi-fi country. The truth is, despite our good numbers on the major social networking sites, majority of the population are still in the backwaters regarding the Internet technology. Businesses are mostly brick and mortar and not too many companies utilize virtual solutions.

Local outsourcing (in plain words, allowing a remote staff do the work for you) is a strange thing to speak of. More importantly, becoming self-employed like the freelancer is considered akin to being unemployed. You will have a hard time convincing your family that you do have work, except of course, when the money is in. The banks will have a hard time establishing your sources of income and you may not be approved for a payday loan.

There are certain advantages, of course. While the cost of daily commute, food and bed space eat much of the regular wage earner’s meager salary, those who work from home naturally don’t have to deal with such realities.

In this country, only a few professions are guaranteed to build wealth, employed or self-employed, like doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers and accountants. We may also include those who work in livestock and farming, given that they are already big players, like those wealthy and powerful families in my hometown.

The question, instead of why, is “who can really work from home?” Basically, these are people with computing skills, a computer set, and a reliable Internet connection. I believe we have more female than male freelancers, and most of them are outside the normally employable age limit of 25. I also suppose they are underemployed.

The Internet is a fertile ground for those who want to put to good use their special talents and interests, which they seldom have a chance to do when working in a company. One thing is true about work from home jobs–you can only work them out if you are a good fit.

When you are underpaid, underemployed or both, naturally, you are not satisfied with yourself and what you’re getting. The freelancer is born in you when you take risks and overcome the scariest part of being self employed.

Whatever your reason for becoming self-employed, as a work from home professional or online business owner, you have to find satisfaction from what you’re doing. It is what really counts anywhere in the world.

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I can count with my fingers the people from my place who actually work from home. Probably, the number is the same elsewhere in the Philippines. I can conclude by mere estimate that independent or personal outsourcing is not yet popular here. Working from home is a strange occupation that has yet to prove its worth, at least from the Filipino standpoint.

While outsourcing may have already been popular here through the call centers, working in one of them is still considered a day job for many. Despite the good salary, bonuses and incentives (like the latest cellphone or gadget), it is often transitional, or something basically rewarding to do as they plan and wait for a major career move.

Let me put it straight that I am not doing any convincing here, as in my earlier post, like you must leave your present job here or abroad, stay with the children and work online as an independent outsourcing provider. In fact, I am going to say that not all people can engage in this kind of job.

The first determinant if you are a good fit is your personality, followed by your skill set. Your present lifestyle (and income) may hinder you from working from home, and one way or another, it also says something about your attitude towards work. Remember that good attitude is foremost in the buyer’s criteria.

It takes a lot of patience from applying to a job post to actually working your hours. Whether offline or online, getting considered for a job takes time, and once you get started on a project, you must keep an open and alert mind, as your relationship with your remote client naturally would be verbal and impersonal, mechanical even, because of distance and your connection being virtual, not physical. Unlike your boss in the ‘real’ office, who gives you the feeling of Big Brother watching.

Nevertheless, outsourcing doesn’t demand too much from providers. There is always something for everybody, from form-filling to programming. Naturally, certain skills are paid higher. If you want to belong to the elite pack of high-income earners, then define your skill set and obtain upgrades to reach a high paying level. How do you do this? By studying (again) and getting certified (take some tests).

I leave you at this point to think and consider your options. Below are some readings on this topic. You will know what I think of them in my next post. Meanwhile, if you go to this link and scroll down, you will find a table of “rate distributions by job categories,” courtesy of oDesk.com. I know this information to be vital to your work-from-home success. In fact, when I looked at it, I thought I would need a major skill upgrade.

Readings:

• Escape the Cubicle Farm: Top 10 Reasons to Work From Home
• Ten Great Reasons to Work from Home
• 10 Reasons to Work from Home Online
• The Top 10 Reasons to Work from Home
• Ten Reasons Why People Work From Home

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