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Welcome to the Barter Edge Podcast—your insider guide to smarter business, bigger networks, and better ways to trade.
Whether you're a seasoned member or just getting started, we're here to share real stories, expert tips from different industries, and fresh ideas to help you grow your business using the power of the Bartercard ecosystem.
Tony Godbehere
[00:00:00]
Welcome to the Barter Edge Podcast, your insider guide to smarter business, bigger networks, and better ways to trade. We are here to share real stories, expert tips from different industries and fresh ideas to help you grow your business using the power of barter cart.
Kingsley: Well, welcome back to the Barter Edge, the one and only podcast from Barter card where we hope businesses do better business. Pretty much. Today I am here with a very, very special guest that I know is going to add a lot of value to all of our listeners. And we have Tony, who has been a. Barter card client since 2016, and he's the director of OHRS, which is an offshore outsourcing company based in the Philippines.
Tony, would you like to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your journey with Bartercard [00:01:00] I
Tony Godbehere: oh first gen. Thanks for having me on your show. Much appreciated. So the Bartercard journey started back in 2016, but really sort of
Kingsley: sort of ticked off in 2017.
Tony Godbehere: the operation up. and it's been great for us 'cause we've attracted a lot of new clients and we tapped into base of clients which you wouldn't normally have access to. And, uh, they in turn also recommended us to some of their cash friends. So it's been great for us.
Kingsley: That's amazing to hear. So in your opinion, Tony, what would be the most valuable part of being a Bartercard member for OHRS?
Tony Godbehere: I think, as I mentioned, I think it would be tapping into a
Kingsley: a database.
Tony Godbehere: wouldn't normally have access to. I think that's the biggest advantage of it and um, yeah, it's been great. So we've been able to get a lot of
Kingsley: Clients.
Tony Godbehere: Bartercard uh, yeah, here we are today.
Kingsley: [00:02:00] Fantastic. What makes OHRS so different to other outsourcing companies?
Tony Godbehere: Firstly, we're not a call center, so we're not
Kingsley: We're not one,
Tony Godbehere: that ring you
Kingsley: bring
Tony Godbehere: tell you your
Kingsley: you your fuel late.
Tony Godbehere: Um, we
Kingsley: but we provide professionals that work for Australian businesses
Tony Godbehere: by
Kingsley: and one professionals
Tony Godbehere: bookkeepers, accountants,
Kingsley: graphic design
Tony Godbehere: media, personal assistance,
and they've
Kingsley: and they, they all have particularly in their relatives together.
Tony Godbehere: And the other
Kingsley: the other thing is that, .
Tony Godbehere: I'm on
Kingsley: I'm on site as well. So you in Australia, literally on site chat.
Tony Godbehere: is, is
Kingsley: It's
Tony Godbehere: for
Kingsley: very
Tony Godbehere: They like to know
Kingsley: much to the times they'd like to know that we're sent to be loan by Australians. So we've got the Australian, um, culture theater as well. We've introduced things like, you know,
Tony Godbehere: on
Kingsley: on Fridays first, down on Fridays.
Tony Godbehere: We
Kingsley: We celebrate birthdays. And
Tony Godbehere: know, so we have a
Kingsley: also we have good world. We've got the Philippine culture in Australian culture.
Tony Godbehere: together.
Kingsley: That's fantastic and the way that you work as well, having a full-timer as like assistant [00:03:00] with you to help with variable parts of the business.. .Having that one person and knowing that they're working just for you has so many different benefits as well. But also things like, uh, the firewalling and making sure the data is.
Safe and the internet connection is strong. And I know for myself, I went out on my own and got myself a offshore va and. It was one of those things that I didn't know exactly how much work they were doing for me, how long things were taking, and it was really hard to track. So do you find that a lot of your clients comment on that sort of thing as well and having that as an advantage of using OHRS?
Tony Godbehere: Absolutely.
Kingsley: Absolutely.
Tony Godbehere: we've had, a lot of clients were trying the work from home thing, obviously, 'cause it's a little bit cheaper. the challenge
Kingsley: Challenge with that is,
Tony Godbehere: are you the only [00:04:00] account they're working on or are they working on three other accounts? . The home Internet's usually not fairly solid here in the Philippines. Um,
Kingsley: whereas
Tony Godbehere: an
Kingsley: in office.
Tony Godbehere: like ours, we've got fiber optics connections to the office. So, we have, and we have, , a dedicated IP address to, heightened the security as well as firewalls as you mentioned earlier. Yeah, but the working
Kingsley: Working from
Tony Godbehere: you
Kingsley: thing, you know, you've got
Tony Godbehere: your
Kingsley: your data's protected, even
Tony Godbehere: like how
Kingsley: like how many other people
Tony Godbehere: that computer that
Kingsley: computers that they wanna hear
Tony Godbehere: Whereas here it was one pc, one person. So the
Kingsley: So the data is protected.
Tony Godbehere: Plus we have strict, uh, rules and
Kingsley: Regulations,
Tony Godbehere: bringing in
Kingsley: devices,
Tony Godbehere: and telephones are kept in the lockers and things like that. So
Kingsley: so.
Tony Godbehere: there's a lot more protection. we keep them, we monitor when they're starting work, when they're finishing work, their lunch breaks, the, the little breaks that they have so that, um, you get the best out of your offshore person.
Kingsley: That's so amazing and such a value add [00:05:00] for Australian businesses to have someone offshore, , that's protected as well. And also with that great working, working environment. So what are some of the most. Strategic or innovative ways that you've been able to utilize some of your trade dollars to improve the business or your lifestyle?
Tony,
Tony Godbehere: We use, our trade dollars mostly in Australia. So we have an office in in Burleigh heads as well. And so the trade dollars that we've earned, they've been able to use it for things all. We were actually able to buy corporate
Kingsley: corporate
Tony Godbehere: actually using trade dollars, which we then sent over to the Philippines. we, we needed a debt collector one time, which we actually was able to do on Barter, which is great. . And then we got other
Kingsley: Other things
Tony Godbehere: did printing. We use accommodation when we go over to Australia. We also
Kingsley: also.
Tony Godbehere: for winding and dining potential clients. So yeah, there's, there's quite a lot of ways you can use your [00:06:00] trade dollars if you put your mind to it.
Kingsley: Fantastic. Now, from your experience in offshore outsourcing, what trends or opportunities should business owners be paying attention to right now
Tony Godbehere: I guess the, one that I'm hearing
Kingsley: from
Tony Godbehere: our partners
Kingsley: Partners of Australia? Is that it?
Tony Godbehere: to find really
Kingsley: Really good qualified staff
Tony Godbehere: are, are gonna stick around
Kingsley: around
Tony Godbehere: I had a, a bit of
Kingsley: a bit of a story. One,
Tony Godbehere: in Melbourne actually. He was
Kingsley: he was advertising for a job, which is worth $50,000
Tony Godbehere: a good
Kingsley: on a good day.
Tony Godbehere: Um, and then
Kingsley: and he was getting,
Tony Godbehere: in. Now the
Kingsley: the people that were applying for job
Tony Godbehere: were
Kingsley: were qualified to do the $50,000 job. They were asking for 75,000.
Tony Godbehere: That makes a little bit
Kingsley: A little bit of a,
Tony Godbehere: especially when
Kingsley: because this is, uh, experience a little bit attention the moment.
Tony Godbehere: So
Kingsley: So when you're offshore,
Tony Godbehere: one of the
Kingsley: all the biggest advantages is
Tony Godbehere: It[00:07:00]
Kingsley: it costs you around about one third of
Tony Godbehere: of what you pay someone
Kingsley: pacing on, in Australia.
Yeah. Wow. So keeping a lot more, uh, cash back in the business by utilizing people and, you know, having qualified, uh, offshore assistance as well makes a huge difference. And, you know, you are the one who's doing the interviews and setting up, the right person for the right job as well. So there's so many amazing, uh, value add.
That you do offer with OHRS. Now you've got a lot of stories on how you've been able to help businesses grow. Tony, I would love to hear one of your stories, um, that from a, a client that you're working with at the moment.
Tony Godbehere: Yeah, so
Kingsley: I mean.
Tony Godbehere: mean, everybody loves the big clients, of course, 'cause that's where the money is, but. I really like is helping the small to medium sized businesses be successful. So we, I think,
Kingsley: I think, [00:08:00] uh,
Tony Godbehere: around
Kingsley: probably around mid last year we had a
Tony Godbehere: to us who's got a
Kingsley: kitchen
Tony Godbehere: making business, and they do, they have two models you can walk in and buy a
Kingsley: cabinet,
Tony Godbehere: yourself. you can give them the plans and they will draw them up and then they will create the kitchen for you. he started off, he needed help with his website and social media and things like that. So
Kingsley: so
Tony Godbehere: we ended
Kingsley: we ended with the
Tony Godbehere: the, the marketing side of the business. a little bit
Kingsley: Bit,
Tony Godbehere: he was growing so
Kingsley: so much
Tony Godbehere: And so he put on a full-time personal assistant. And then only a couple of months earlier, he's now put his second per full-time person on, and that's a cat operator.
Kingsley: so what's happening?
Tony Godbehere: that, um, the guy was actually working in the
Kingsley: working off in the shop day
Tony Godbehere: and then
Kingsley: and we was going home
Tony Godbehere: and he
Kingsley: and he was
Tony Godbehere: drawing up
Kingsley: out the kitchen.
Tony Godbehere: and the cabinet designs. So he didn't have a lot of time
Kingsley: Time.
Tony Godbehere: So
Kingsley: So hours, put the operator on,
Tony Godbehere: does all
Kingsley: does
Tony Godbehere: [00:09:00] drawings during the daytime, which
Kingsley: which frees up this time at night, so,
Tony Godbehere: time with the family. So,
Kingsley: so also just watching.
Tony Godbehere: grow the business and we are there alongside him, helping him is really rewarding.
Kingsley: Yeah, that's an amazing, amazing outcome for him. And I'm sure that there are a lot of business owners that'll listen to this and go, yeah, I am working all day on the tools and then I'm going home and doing administration, or whatever it is that's taking him away from living the lifestyle that they wanted.
And I think we all get into business in the first place for flexibility and growth. It's hard to get that flexibility working for yourself unless you have the right support around you. Would you agree with that, Tony?
Tony Godbehere: Yeah, ab, absolutely, you need to have good support, and by putting somebody on offshore, it frees up your time so you can focus on [00:10:00] income generating, networking, building the business up from the front end while people are working on the back end.
Kingsley: Well, we absolutely love having you as a Bartercard member, Tony, with the amazing service that you are able to provide to help our clients grow their businesses. What would you say to a business owner that was considering joining Bartercard? What would be your encouragement or advice for them?
Tony Godbehere: Well, there's, there's no harm in trying it, right? So it is like anything you, you're gonna get out of it as much
Kingsley: As much as you
Tony Godbehere: it.
Kingsley: into it.
Tony Godbehere: So give it a
Kingsley: give it a go because everybody else at the moment is just restricted to the cash
Tony Godbehere: Which is your cash or credit cards or bank transfers. So card gives you access to a new pool of clients, which you wouldn't normally have access to that all want to trade. they're
Kingsley: like minded,
Tony Godbehere: and
Kingsley: and it's a little bit reverse to the gas economy and the [00:11:00] gas economy.
Tony Godbehere: it's very easy to spend your money. to any shop and spend your money, but the hard part is getting that business in. Whereas
Kingsley: Yeah,
Tony Godbehere: model, it's a little bit reverse, whereas you know, you've got clients sitting there to use their trade dollars and trade with you. So
Kingsley: so
Tony Godbehere: just need to put a little bit of effort into spending your trade dollars and to do that,
Kingsley: that my biggest advice
Tony Godbehere: your relationship with your account
Kingsley: manager.
Tony Godbehere: Stay in touch with them, and just every time you have an expense coming up, ask 'em if they can help. That's it.
Kingsley: Absolutely. Our account managers are absolutely incredible. We will be hearing from some of them in future episodes. But Tony, thank you for spending some time and sharing some wisdom with, . All of our listeners today.
Tony Godbehere: No worries. Thank you, Jen, for having me again. That was, it was really a pleasure. Thank you.
Kingsley: Amazing and perfect timing.
Thank you for being with us [00:12:00] today and sharing your stories and expertise. If you wanna find out how Barter Card can help your business, or if you wanna be a guest on our future podcast, contact our team at hello@bartercard.com. Make sure you tune in for our next episode of the Barter Edge.