WHR 3.284: From Solopreneur to Nearshore Talent Builder with Brian Samson

Tim Melanson: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to today’s episode of the Work At Home Rockstar podcast. Today, I’m speaking with the owner of Plug Technologies, and what he does is he connects L- Latin American talent with US companies. So I’m excited to be rocking out today with Brian Samson. Hey, Brian. You ready to rock?

BrianSamson: Tim, I am ready to rock

Tim Melanson: Awesome. We always start off on a good note.

Tell me a story of success that we can all be inspired by

BrianSamson: Yeah, I, um, uh, have grown three different companies from zero to $4 million in revenue. Um, so, uh, that’s something I, I f- I feel pretty good about hanging my hat on

Tim Melanson: That’s a, that’s a pretty good one. Yeah, absolutely. Did you, did you see that? Like, was that like a goal that you had, or h- how did that all come about?

BrianSamson: Yeah, I mean, I think I love the ethos of your show because I did not grow up in an entrepreneur family. I, I waited a long time to become an entrepreneur. I was, um, [00:01:00] I’ve been one going on 11 years, but that meant, like, my mid-30s is when I finally, you know, had the courage, gumption, whatever, and sanity to, you know, go out on my own.

Um, uh, and, you know, I, I kinda did it in a weird way where, um, my Well, I, I should say I, I, I actually did, like, a kind of a first-level entrepreneurship, you know, way back in 2012 where … I think this is where most people start, and if they’ve ever read, like, the Robert Kiyosaki books, you know, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Cashflow Quadrant, you know, there’s, like, the four quadrants of, you know, employee, self-employed, uh, business owner, and then investor.

So I’ve kinda been, like, moving my way, you know, through the Kiyosaki quadrants. But the first step people tend to make is the, um, [00:02:00] you know, like, solopreneur. So, um, the ones we’re most common with are, um, you know, lawyers and doctors. You know, they open their own practice, um, and they just charge a high hourly rate , you know, but it’s, you know, still their time.

So, uh, my background came up through recruiting and talent acquisition, so that’s what I charge. You know, I would, um, you know, find, uh … I decided to go independent. I just had a couple of handful of clients and charged for my own time. And, um, what I, you know … And I did it entirely from home. I was in San Francisco.

Every once in a while I’d post up at a hotel lobby, you know, and work, or a coffee shop. Um, but, um, you know, I didn’t have, like, a big war chest of funds or anything. I just, you know, hustled and kinda beat the street. [00:03:00] You know, got, got a few clients. And that all … And then I think I’ve kinda learned that entrepreneurship is just, just a whole bunch of levels, you know.

Um, I haven’t played video games in a long time, but when I did, you know, it was like, you know, you gotta get to the next level of, you know, Super Mario Brothers or something. So, uh, you know, now I think I’ve kinda made my way, you know, all the way through the different quadrants and mostly just invest money in other operators and

Um, but it took a long time to get there, and, uh, you know, it all started with selling your time for money, but doing it for multiple clients.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. Yeah. And that is, uh… Like, so now why did you decide to have the gumption to, to go and do that in the first place? Was there a, a big why there?

BrianSamson: Yeah, my story was I, I, I guess kind of funny in that, um, uh, I really wanted [00:04:00] to do human resources for tech startups. So I, I took this test called an SPHR, which stands for Senior Professional Human Resources. Very few people know about it. It’s not that, uh, it’s not that special. Um, but it’s ki- it’s kinda like a CPA for HR is a way to…

And the pass rate’s, um, kinda rough. It’s like less than half the people pass, and you’ve gotta be in the industry for so long to take the test. So I, I kind of decided to be an entrepreneur, studied for this test, passed the test, um, with the whole idea to sell, like, all the non-recruiting stuff to tech startups.

So like I could help design your benefits and your comp plans and then everything. And no one wanted to buy that, but they’re like, "Hey, could you, could you recruit for us?" Yeah, I do have recruiting experience. I could do that. [00:05:00] So, um, so like my initial, my initial thesis was way off in terms of like product market fit, like what I, what I w- what I wanted to offer and what I wanted people to buy versus what they wanted to buy.

Um, but I still had something of value that they wanted to buy, and then we, we kinda dug, dug deeper in there and, and then I would lead with recruiting and then maybe try to, you know, sell some of the other stuff later

Tim Melanson: Okay. Okay, cool. So really, you, you, uh, y- you sort of grew into the role that you’re in right now. You found something that people were looking for, and you wanted to offer that. W- had you been in a cubicle before that? Like, what, what, where did you come

BrianSamson: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um, uh, so I started my career in Chicago, um, in like a real traditional bullpen environment. So staffing agency. And, uh, so it was like kind of cubicles, but really tables. You know? You’re just, you’re just kinda like crammed in. There’s like a bunch of tables, and it’s [00:06:00] kinda like a boil- a little boiler room.

You know? Like crammed in with tables, um, phones, computers. And, um, and I loved it because you could learn through osmosis, you know, and like hear all these conversations. The people that do agency type work, like staffing agency type work, they’re a little more like aggressive, assertive. There’s a lot of banter.

You know? A lot of like poking fun, you know, stuff like that. So it was really, really lively. Um, so I wouldn’t trade that for the world. Like I’m really glad that I got to spend my 20s in these bullpen environments. Um, but then like once you learn it, you just kinda want some quiet to work . You know?

Tim Melanson: yeah

BrianSamson: So, uh, so I, I don’t need that anymore.

Um, and, uh, um, you know, and then it was like work from home after that. But, but I started in the, you know, [00:07:00] pseudo cubicle. Really more of just like a, you know, a table and, and, uh, and, and a lot of loud noise in the a- in the area

Tim Melanson: Wow. So, w- uh, now a lot of people are just afraid to fail, and they think that they’re gonna make some big mistakes and it’s gonna, you know, ruin everything, right? Especially when they’ve got their so-called safe job, right? Uh, n- not necessarily anymore, but whatever. I mean, still, it, it is a steady paycheck for, for, for whatever it is.

But now when you get out into your, on your, on your own and you start doing this on your own, there are some things that don’t go as planned. And I’m wondering, can you share with me one of those big mistakes that you made along the path and how you recovered from that?

BrianSamson: Yeah. Um, so when I, when I first got my, like, I’d say, like, more l- like, the second level of entrepreneurship, um, I was building a, um, a Latin America software business. And, [00:08:00] um, so our team was in Latin America. Um, the… You know, I, I came out of recruiting, not sales, so, um, I always felt like sales was something somebody else could do, you know?

Um, and you could just, like, hire some superstar. They’d, they’d be a rainmaker and bring in all this money. But, um, that didn’t go… So it was really more of, like, a business owner fail, you know, where I hired, uh, two pretty expensive salespeople from the industry, and, um, just month after month, like, how come we’re not getting any revenue?

Isn’t that what, what, you know,

Tim Melanson: hired you for?

BrianSamson: Yeah, we hired you guys for. Um, and then, you know, had to eventually move on from them. But I think I was just, like, really intimidated, and I, I, and I, I, I bet a lot of people might identify with this, you know, where they’ve got the [00:09:00] skill with marketing or finance or accounting or back office operations or something, and just not sales, right?

Like, sales was always what, like, wild, extroverted person would do. And, um, um, and that’s, that’s how I thought. But I, think I underestimated, um, my, like, the grace people would give me because I was the founder of the business. So I could say the wrong things, um, not run a real proper sales call or discovery or ask the right questions, but because I was the founder, people wanted to talk to me, and they, and they could see, you know, I cared about their business and them as a client, and that, that really mattered.

So I’d say, um, the biggest mistake was just trying to, like, buy my way into revenue,

Tim Melanson: Mm-hmm.

BrianSamson: and, um, not [00:10:00] recognizing, like, it’s… You just have to do it. Like, everyone’s gotta sell, no matter how introverted or reserved you might be or how your superpower might be something else. Um, being a founder, uh, it’s something that you should do.

You should do the sales, but also recognize that it’s compounding. Like, it’s another skill set that you get to have for yourself

Tim Melanson: Yeah. That’s, that is really accessible, I think, for everybody. And, and I mean, I, I think that’s true that sales, uh, I mean, this comes up all the time, but, like, uh, people are … I think people have a negative view of what they think sales is based on probably some negative experiences where they got sold, right?

Something that they didn’t actually want. But really, what sales is supposed to be, I think w- what you just said, I mean, y- you’re really just showing somebody how you can fix a problem, aren’t you?

BrianSamson: Right. [00:11:00] Yeah

Tim Melanson: and, and isn’t that what you do? Don’t you fix problems? That’s what, that’s what entrepreneurship is

BrianSamson: that’s exactly it. Yeah, it doesn’t matter if you’re selling, you know, IT support or marketing services. You’re, you’re trying to make somebody else’s business better

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Yeah, you’re trying to help them. And, and like you just said, I mean, I think that, uh, you know, as a founder or, or, or even as a salesman, I mean, the … I, I would argue that the best salesman, and I’m not talking about maybe some p- salesman might be able to rack up some big sales, but then you get some returns and some buyer’s remorse that comes back from that if you don’t do it right.

But if you do it right, then you just, you’re really good at, at caring, at, at asking good questions, and at showing people that you’re a real person that they want to do business with, right? And like you said, I mean, they’re, you know, the, you’re the founder of the company. People are like, "Okay, well, what’s this thing all about?

I wanna know how you can fix my problem." And if you’re real about that, [00:12:00] and I mean, you can say some things that aren’t by the book, but, but, but as long as that person on the other line goes, "Okay, well, yeah, it seems like he’s being honest," that’s, that’s what they want, right?

BrianSamson: Oh, man, yeah. I mean, people are, I think, tired. You know, I, I, I overestimated the, like, the extroversion, you know, the, the… I- and I’m not that, I’m not, I’m really not that extroverted as a person. Um, uh, much more reserved. So I think I, like, overvalued that people just wanna do business with extroverted people, but really they just want their problem solved, you know?

It doesn’t matter how, how, how you go about doing it. So, you know, I encourage people that are listening that are maybe, like, a little more reserved or they’ve never sold, they’ve never thought they’ve sold anything before, you’ve been selling your whole life, you know, you just, you’re j- you’re just doing it in your own way

Tim Melanson: Yep. I, I, and I think also [00:13:00] probably if you don’t know you’re selling, then it probably just means that you really believe in what you’re selling

BrianSamson: Yeah. Yeah ‘

Tim Melanson: Cause it’s really, really connected. You’re just going like, "I’ve got a good idea and I really think it’s a good idea." You’re technically selling that, but I think, like I said, I mean, I think a lot of people have this negative view of what sales is and they think that sales is actually convincing somebody of something, and it’s not necessarily that.

It’s, it’s showing them that you can help them with that problem. It’s, it’s more of a communication style, right?

BrianSamson: Right. Right. Totally. Totally

Tim Melanson: Yeah. So I, I mean, I wish that sales was like a critical part of, like, school or the regular cur- curriculum, ’cause people really should be learning that. Because even if you don’t ever decide to be in a business, you’re still sitting in meetings at work, and if you don’t know how to, how to express your opinions, then, uh, like how, how do you even [00:14:00] do that?

Like, how do you be successful in a, in a regular job if you can’t sell your ideas or you can’t even convince them that you want a raise, right? I mean, all that is sales, right?

BrianSamson: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That’s right. That’s exactly right

Tim Melanson: So it’s definitely worthwhile learning, I think, right?

BrianSamson: Mm-hmm. That’s exactly right

Tim Melanson: so let’s talk a little bit about the, the cashflow aspect of business, and I mean, that’s another thing that trips people up. I think that number one, people think they need to set, spend a certain amount of money on certain things. You know, it’s a business expense, it’s a write-off or whatever, anything like that.

But then it ends up that that kind of like runs away. Like, how do you, especially when you’re first getting started, make sure that you’re gonna make the money back that you’re investing, and is it normal for you to run at a loss for a little while?

BrianSamson: Yeah, good question. Um, I think a services business is different from a tech business or a product business. I think tech and product, you’re, you’re funding losses [00:15:00] to get to market quickly. But if you’re running a services business, you should really be making money pretty quickly, right? Um, uh, you know, otherwise, I think you’re…

there’s something kind of missing there. Um, but I will say that I’ve, I’ve made errors on both sides, you know, where I’ve over-invested or I’ve under-invested. Um, you know, this is probably a little bit more, like, further down the road, but sometimes it’s good for people to see, you know, what, what could be next.

Um, right out of COVID, um, I was in, like, the biggest bull market I think I’ve ever seen in the recruiting world. Um, but I was fearful because, you know, I just had, like, all my revenue taken away during COVID, right? So I was very fearful as the market started to pick up fast, like [00:16:00] fast. And, you know, I had, like, uh, somebody on my team who was helping me with delivery and, you know, I, I wouldn’t even, like, spring for her own Gmail, like business Gmail address, you know, like $7 a month.

I’m like, you know, just running so tight. And I look back like, "What was I thinking?" You know? Um, but on the… And then, um, when the market, you know, was at the top of the bubble, you know, nobody knows

Tim Melanson: When you’re at the top, yeah. Yeah

BrianSamson: So, um, uh, you know, I hired a whole bunch of expensive people, you know, and had no idea, right?

And that… So I waited way too long to invest and, you know, I was, I was way too tight when I should’ve been. But, you know, wisdom comes from experience of making the wrong decisions, so I’ll hopefully know next time

Tim Melanson: Oh man, that, that is a, that is a great story. Happened to [00:17:00] me too. It, it is funny how that happens, like when you’re w- when things are, are going rough, like you’re just really scared to put any money into it, and then when it starts to go up, then you start to put too much money into it, and yeah, that does cause some major problems ’cause now y- you’re kinda like, it’s like, what, what did I say before?

It, it, it takes like three months to build momentum, and then it also takes three months for that momentum to disappear as well. So it’s like the things you do today are gonna be affecting you in three months’ time, whether that’s good decisions or bad decisions. So there’s always this lag, and that’s very difficult to get a hold of as a business owner.

Like, so what did you learn from that experience so that, you know, you, you’re ready for that next time?

BrianSamson: Yeah. I mean, I think, um, I’d much rather be lean than overdoing it, you know? Um, so I think I, I’d much rather be lean. But, um, you wanna [00:18:00] build an optionality and flexibility in all your spend, right? So, um, like I don’t think I’d ever sign a year-long contract with anything anymore, you know? know, and even like software, you know, like, uh, um, unless I have like no other choice, like I’ll almost…

Like I’d rather pay more and, and, and even have it like quarterly renewal than get stuck in like a really long-term contract. ‘Cause I’ve, you know, I saw that happen, you know, where, uh, like, oh, you know, go… Let, let, let’s go crazy. Let’s, let’s really try to grow this thing. Get, you know, and then you get crushed for, for a little while.

You’re like, "We’re not… We’re barely even using this software that we spent all this money on." Um, you know, so anyway, I, I would much rather be conservative and then just find ways to, um… [00:19:00] You know, may- maybe you spend more in the, in the middle of it, like, you know, the equivalent of, uh, buying your groceries at 7-Eleven, you know, for a month, right, you know, as you get settled.

Sure, it’s a little more expensive. It’s not sustainable for the long run, but it’s, it’s a finite period, just, you know, overspend because the revenue is, is, is gonna make up for it. But, um, uh, you know, the alternative of, uh, the long-term getting locked in, you know, it’s, it’s something that I would avoid going forward

Tim Melanson: Uh, right on. Yeah, I tend to agree with you on that, and sometimes I think, I think I’m making a stupid move because I’m paying, you know, 20% more by paying for things monthly. But I hear what you’re saying because soft- especially with software, new tools come out all the time. What if there’s a better tool that pops up and you’re on a year-long contract?

I [00:20:00] mean, there, it, it allows you to pivot a little bit more too to a better tool if you’re doing things monthly. Sure, you’re not saving the money, but, but I mean, there are very few tools probably in your stack that, um, that you absolutely are never gonna switch away from. Now, there are a few I’m sure, right?

BrianSamson: Yeah. Yeah, totally

Tim Melanson: but I, and l- I mean, that goes right into the next topic, so let’s talk a little bit about the tools. So what are the tools that are really useful in your business?

BrianSamson: Yeah, um, you know, QuickBooks I’ve used forever. Uh, QuickBooks Online, use it across all the different companies that I work with, invest in. Um, and then I like monday.com a lot, you know. Uh, I use it so much that I even use it to run my household,

you know? Like, uh, like,

Tim Melanson: Yeah

BrianSamson: you know, uploading docs, like, you know, my birth cer- my kids’ birth certificates are uploaded on monday.com, and I can, like, grab it whenever I need it or, you know.

Or, like, uh, we just [00:21:00] took a, a spring break trip, and all the flight bookings and everything was in there. Uh, yeah, so we, we use it all the time, and of course, you know, uh, all across the businesses. So, um, that’s, that’s probably my, my one go-to tool

Tim Melanson: Okay. Do you pay yearly or monthly?

BrianSamson: Um, you know what’s funny is, uh, I don’t think I had a choice with Monday. I think, but, but by then I’ve been like, because I use it for my household too. I’m like, ah, no. Like, there’s no, there’s no getting out of this thing.

Tim Melanson: That’s so awesome. Yeah, no, there, there’s a couple tools that you can pay by, by year, but, but most of them, yeah. No, I, I also use Monday too, and I love it. I love it, and I’ve gotten a few other c- of, uh, my clients that have gotten on Monday as well. It’s such a great tool. It’s kinda like a combination of like, you know, something like Trello and maybe something like Asana, and then you’ve got a CRM in there too.

Like, it’s just, it’s… I, I, I like it. May- I wonder if there’s a referral [00:22:00] thing. We should probably be affiliates, right?

BrianSamson: I think so

Tim Melanson: Right on. So now let’s talk a little bit about learning. So, uh, I mean, you, uh, uh, as you mentioned earlier, I mean, you didn’t come from an entrepreneurial family, but you somehow had to learn all this stuff.

Like, did you have mentors or did you, you know, take part in coaching program? What, what did you do?

BrianSamson: Yeah, I’ve been, um, really ever since I could, I’ve been, um, paying for peer groups. Um, but, um, I’ve been in multiple different ones. Um, and I think that’s important too. Um, so I’ve been in, uh, something called Vistage, which is like a, you know, um… I think it’s like the oldest, largest CEO peer group. Um, uh, so they m- they meet in person, you know, once a month, and there’s usually, uh, some executive coaching.

There’s, um, you know, speakers that come once a month, like, you [00:23:00] know, all about finance for your business or optimizing marketing for your business. You know, they’ll come in, and it’s good. It’s good stuff. Um, and then I did my– I did business school at UCLA, and there’s like a UCLA CEO founder peer group. I was a member of that.

And then, um, and then I’ve been a member of more of like a marketing, um, or it’s, it’s probably more like agency owner. You know, so a lot of people are marketing agency owners, but, um, I happen to run a recruiting agency.

Tim Melanson: Mm-hmm.

BrianSamson: Um, but anyway, um, the one, the one thing I think I’ve recognized though is it’s really important to learn from others.

Um, you’re rarely going through a problem that nobody else has gone through. It gives you a better– When people bring their problems, you’re like, it gives you kind of this fun business school environment of, you know, you can try to understand their situation. Does it apply to me? Give, give your [00:24:00] advice. Um, but I’ll, I’ll caution, at least for me, I didn’t wanna be with the same group for the rest of my life, um, because it gets a little stale.

You kind of already know what somebody’s advice is gonna be for you if you’ve been with, with them in the same group for five years. So, um, that might be the one thing that I would advise, just based on my own personal experiences. I try to do a group for a couple years, um, give value, get value, and then find another group of peers.

Um, I think otherwise you start to stagnate and get stale.

Tim Melanson: I like that. I like that. And so do you find, y- so you find the peer situation is better than h- hiring, like, an actual coach that just works with you one-on-one?

BrianSamson: I do. Um, generally in those peer groups, there is a facilitator that’s probably a little bit more senior, so they can, they can help you get that anyway. But I think with the peer group, you get seven or eight other people that are kind of in a similar [00:25:00] boat, um, to different companies and, you know, that founder… The founder problems are unique, you know? Um, because you can’t really tell your team about what you’re going through. So you need to be able to talk to people that are, like, vested, but not all the way vested, you know? And, and, um, there’s no politics when they give you advice, you know? They’re not trying to protect your, you know, ego or anything.

They’re just like, "Dude, that was a really dumb decision you made, you know? But let me give you some advice on how to get out of it."

Tim Melanson: Oh, that’s great. I, and I agree. Uh, I think when… Th- like, that, that’s a really good way to frame it. With peers, like you say, they’re b- gonna be more frank and more upfront about how they react to you, whereas if you hire a coach, well, there’s some power dynamics going on there, right? And so, uh, and, and then also you also get the benefit of [00:26:00] being the mentor and the mentee, I imagine, at, at certain times, which gives you just a better feel.

You, you learn through teaching as well, right?

BrianSamson: That’s exactly right. Yeah, good, good call out

Tim Melanson: Yeah. That’s awesome. Right on. So now it’s time for your guest solo, so tell me what’s exciting in your business right now

BrianSamson: Yeah, I, I think we’re, um, we’re in a good spot where, like, the wind is in our sails. Um, and I’ve been, I’ve been there a few times, you know, where you just happen to sell the right thing at the right time. Um, um, and I’ve also been in the opposite boat too, you know, where, where you sold the wrong thing at the wrong time.

But, uh, there’s a lot of fatigue right now with labor from Asia. You know, the time zone just becomes grueling. Um, the hierarchy, the culture, whatever. You know, if you’ve ever been, uh, on a customer service call with someone in India or the Philippines, you just know, [00:27:00] and it doesn’t always come out, you know, the way, the way you were hoping.

Um, so all the wind is in the sails right now for Latin America. Um, it’s same time zone. Um, there’s cost savings, creative thinkers, good problem solvers. Um, it’s all, it’s all right there. So the 2020s to me are the decade for Latin America, and, um, I’m really excited to be an ambassador for the region

Tim Melanson: Wow. So tell me a little bit more about what you do then. Like, how, how does that work?

BrianSamson: Yeah, we, um, uh, so I’ve been in the space now for 11 years. Um, and we connect all this great talent in Latin America. So Mexico has been a big, um, you know, manufacturing supply chain factory for the world, especially for America. Um, but Mexico and all these other countries provide great, um, like white-collar talent.

So software [00:28:00] developers, uh, marketing, accounting, bookkeepers, call center, operations, that all exists in spades down there. And there’s no sacrificing time zone. Um, you know, if you wanna get on a call with somebody, the sun’s up at the same time that you’re up as, you know, they’re up, and it’s really easy to work that way

Tim Melanson: Hmm. You know what’s funny is that I, I, I’ve never had anybody on the podcast that has talked about Latin America as a, as a place for outsourcing, which is, seems bizarre to me. You hear about the Philippines a lot, and India, and China, as you mentioned already. You don’t really hear a whole lot about Latin America, but that certainly does make a lot more sense that, that they would be e- you know, a lot closer to us, right?

So I wonder why it’s, hasn’t really been on the radar for most outsourcers.

BrianSamson: Yeah, I think, uh, you know, India has existed, you know, since the dot com boom. [00:29:00] The Philippines were, were really good at the call center, back office, virtual assistant world. Um, and then China’s kind of been the factory for the world, you know, forever. That’s always been the big three, and, um, price has been, I think, in the forefront of people’s minds, um, ’cause you’ll never beat Asia on price.

You know, Asia’s always gonna win there.

Tim Melanson: Right

BrianSamson: I think what people are recognizing, especially CFOs, are there is a cost that they didn’t factor in way back, you know, a few decades ago, and there’s a cost of customer frustration and churn.

Tim Melanson: Yeah

BrianSamson: stuff just, like, breaking. There’s a cost of rework. Um, an India software team is gonna be a lot cheaper than a team in Argentina or Brazil.

Um, but if, uh, the software has to be continually reworked, you know, the, the cost per [00:30:00] labor is much cheaper, but if it takes you an extra four months to get it done, you gotta add the, those extra four months in your overall cost and amortize it. So finally all that stuff is being factored into it, and, and Latin America is more cost-effective overall even if the labor is marginally more expensive than Asia

Tim Melanson: Interesting. Very interesting. So why, so is the education system different and better in

BrianSamson: Uh, I think education is, you know, pretty abundant nowadays, um, you know, with, especially with everything online. Um, but I will say it’s probably more cultural, um, that I think really connects because, you know, in the States we’re a lot more comfortable with horizontal organizations, um, sharing feedback upwards, you know.

Um, I don’t, I don’t agree with [00:31:00] this. Here’s why. Here’s a different idea. Um, you’ll hardly ever see that in Asia, you know, there’s lots of layer hierarchy, but Latin America is much more o- organized towards horizontal work culture. Um, there’s a lot of passion explaining, you know, uh, what they agree with or what they don’t agree with, and here’s why.

And obviously, you know, when you make a decision, everyone will, will rally around that. But until that decision’s made, you know, they’ll, they’ll share their opinion. Um, and I think that’s really important, you know, when you wanna have a collaborative work team

Tim Melanson: I agree. That’s, that’s amazing. So then, are, is there a lot of competition in your area as well for-

BrianSamson: Yeah. Um, I think we’re positioned pretty nicely in that we’re a US company with Latin America infrastructure and team members. And, um, you know, I was an expat in Argentina. Uh, my partner was an expat in Mexico. So we’ve got a lot of first-hand experience [00:32:00] with this. Um, and I think it’s hard to, to match those three things.

You know, we can do US contracts. There’s no crazy international wires, but we’ve got long-term credibility and big candidate databases from our team in Latin America, you know, and we can talk about it first-hand, um, and then handle all the hardware and all the complexities. Uh, very few companies can do all of that, but some do one particular thing pretty well

Tim Melanson: Okay. So then what kind of company or what kind of person would get the most out of working with you then?

BrianSamson: Yeah. Um, I think, uh, small businesses that are maybe just a little bit further along, like, um, I really encourage if you’re going to hire, um, and, and maybe this will even cost me a little bit of money here, but I think it’s important that founders and small business owners try DIY hiring, do-it-yourself hiring [00:33:00] for the first couple.

You kind of understand, you know, more about your own process, what you’re looking for, um, how to manage people, you know, all that. A- and then when you’re ready to scale a little bit, um, that’s where, you know, we come in. Um, because, you know, you won’t, um, you’re gonna get probably better efficiencies, access to a much larger labor pool, shortlisted candidates, don’t worry about compliance or anything like that

Tim Melanson: Okay, that’s awesome. So yeah, you’re kind of like the, the next level. And I think you’re right ’cause, I mean, uh, when you’re first hiring you’re gonna find a lo- you’re gonna find out first of all that you probably don’t have the s- standard operating procedures that you should right? And you’re, you’re like, you know, trying to figure out how to actually even do that.

And so that might be wasted time if you’re going to, if you’re going to a bigger company, right? So when you figure all that stuff out and then you make a couple mistakes, then it might be the right time to go and work with you, right?[00:34:00]

BrianSamson: Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. Once they’re ready to, you know, scale a little bit or they’re a little bit more, um, buttoned up on their process, we’re, we’re ready. Yeah

Tim Melanson: So what’s the process of working with you then? Like, do they- w- what do they do? Do they go to your website? Do they fill out forms? Do they talk to you? Like, how does that work?

BrianSamson: yeah, yeah. Um, uh, so the important thing is, uh, although it’s, it’s like, um, contract labor, you know, meaning, um, just like, you know, you and I talked about, like the monthly, you know, month-to-month, uh, that’s the same thing that we do. Um, so once they’re, once they’re ready to do that, we don’t charge until we’ve, um, not only found you the candidate that you like and you wanna hire, but they’ve started the work, and then we, then we just send invoices for every hour that they bill, right?

And you’ll just get that on a monthly basis. So it’s really low risk, and we do, um, a lot of intro calls, uh, explain how [00:35:00] Latin America works. Uh, there’s a lot of people I would call nearshore curious or kind of interested in what’s going on in Latin America, but they wanna learn more. Um, that’s where, that’s where we, we do a lot of educational calls.

So yeah, just go to the website, uh, plug, P-L-U-G-G.tech and fill out a Contact Us form

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. Okay, so there really is not a whole lot of risk. I mean, if you’re at the point where you’re ready to hire and you’ve got your procedures in place, then it’s just a, a quick call, right?

BrianSamson: Yeah. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: to get, things started.

BrianSamson: That’s right. That’s right

Tim Melanson: Right on. Well, that’s awesome. Okay, so before we go, o- one more question.

It’s probably gonna be the hardest one, and, uh, we’re gonna talk a little bit about music. So who is your favorite rockstar or band?

BrianSamson: Uh, I’m, I, I guess I’m a little older school. Um, I could do U2 any day

Tim Melanson: Mm. Right on. Have you ever seen him in concert?

BrianSamson: Yeah, I saw them in San Francisco once. It was a great show

Tim Melanson: Yeah, it, I’ve seen them at least once [00:36:00] now that I think about it. And what a great show. They had such a great stage setup too. Like, it kinda went right out in the audience and stuff. It was so cool.

BrianSamson: It was great. It was really fun

Tim Melanson: Right on. Do you play any music at all?

BrianSamson: I dabbled with guitar, uh, before I had kids, you know, and like every once in a while, but it’s been a while since I really picked it up now

Tim Melanson: Oh, yes. Well, every once in a while it’s nice to pick it up and strum a few chords, right?

BrianSamson: That’s exactly right. Exactly

Tim Melanson: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for rocking out with me today, Brian. This has been a lot of fun.

BrianSamson: Uh, thank you. Thank you, uh, so much

Tim Melanson: Awesome. To the listeners, make sure you go to workathomerockstar.com for more information, and we’ll see you next time on the Work at Home Rockstar