Jake runs a small Shopify store out of Charlotte.
Sells eco-friendly desk accessories. Mousepads, monitor stands, desk mats — you name it.
He was doing everything himself and with a part-time college intern who came in a few times a week.
And I mean everything:
- Answering customer emails
- Editing product images
- Writing descriptions
- Fulfilling orders
- Creating discount codes
- Posting to Instagram
- Checking abandoned carts
Every day felt like a checklist from hell.
He didn’t hate the work — but he couldn’t grow the store. Couldn’t market. Couldn’t think.
Just felt stuck in task land.
Until he hired Anna.
A $7/hr virtual assistant from the Philippines he found on HireTalent.ph!
Gave her a small trial task first:
- Organize 20 Shopify product listings in a spreadsheet
- Find 3 competitor prices per product
- Rewrite 2 descriptions using AI (ChatGPT)
She nailed it.
Fast, smart, asked 1 clarifying question — then delivered clean work, ahead of deadline.
So he hired her.
What Anna does now (20 hrs/week):
- Fulfills all Shopify orders
- Replies to basic customer emails (FAQ stuff)
- Drafts product descriptions
- Does price comparisons 1x/week
- Uploads Instagram stories from Canva templates
- Cleans up product images with Topaz Photo AI
- Manages inventory tagging
- Flags bad reviews or returns
Jake recorded Loom videos for SOPs. Wrote one shared Google Doc for brand tone.
Within a week — things started changing.
Before hiring Anna:
- Jake worked 55+ hours/week
- Felt scattered, behind, reactive
- Couldn’t spend time on ads or new product development
After hiring Anna:
- He works ~35 hours/week
- No more late-night customer replies
- Hired a part-time media buyer (with freed-up time + revenue)
His business didn’t just get cheaper. It got better.
Biggest lesson?
He didn’t wait until he was “ready.”
He just hired someone to take 1 thing off his plate.
Then 2. Then 3.
And now, Anna runs a huge chunk of the backend.
Jake calls her his “operations engine.”
$7/hour. 20 hours a week.
That’s less than $600/month to get his life back.
Want to do the same?
Start with one clear task.
Post your job on HireTalent.ph. Assign a quick trial task.
See who delivers.
And go from there.
Your future self will thank you.
📌 Need help hiring your own Anna? We’ve got Filipino VAs trained for Shopify, Canva, ChatGPT, Klaviyo, and more.
Post a job now → HireTalent.ph
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