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In 2012, Craig Goodliffe was well in the weeds with his real estate business. He was running a business that sold upwards of 200 homes a year while also managing a business coaching and training empire. He knew he needed help and found it in the most surprising and unlikely places — nearly 7,500 miles away in the Philippines.
Goodliffe’s new virtual assistant dramatically affected his business. Not only was she a talented employee, but she opened Goodliffe’s eyes to the positive influence that hiring for a virtual assistant (VA) venture could have on the people of the Philippines. After fleshing out the model for this new venture, Cyberbacker was born.
Cyberbacker empowers business owners who want to scale their organizations by offering access to world-class level VA talent at an affordable price. In turn, Cyberbacker supports its employees in the Philippines by providing them with well above a living wage and robust profit-sharing opportunities.
Growing by leaps and bounds since its inception in 2018, the company currently employs over 3,000 Cyberbackers who tackle tasks ranging from social media management to graphic design and video editing. The company has a mission to have 15,000 Cyberbackers by 2025. This tremendous growth set the wheels in motion for Cyberbacker’s next phase: franchising.
Enter Jason Stowe. Stowe has been in the franchise industry since 1994. He revels in helping people own franchises and was precisely the expert Goodliffe was looking for when he began considering how to turn Cyberbacker into a franchise opportunity.
“Craig and I met through the attorney we both use. I started by coaching him and the leadership team in developing the strategies and methods while preparing to franchise,” remembers Stowe. “It became very apparent quickly that our values aligned, and there was much more we needed to do together.”
Joining forces, Goodliffe and Stowe opened thirty Cyberbacker franchises in their first year of partnership. Growing the franchise wing of the business has allowed the two men to tap into additional industries.
“As we break into new industries, our excitement level is even higher to see how much we can help even more business leaders maximize their greatest potential by leveraging themselves with Cyberbacker,” explains Stowe.
Both Stowe and Goodliffe bring different skills and strengths to the table, but they are both aligned to one thing: putting people first. Whether that is their Cyberbacker employees, clients, or franchisees, both men are dedicated to putting some good out into the world.
“I meet people every day that amaze me,” says Goodliffe. “When you find them, you can change the world.”
With the number of people working from home increasing exponentially in the past few years, Cyberbacker began franchising their VA platform while the proverbial iron was hot. The working world is far more open to remote working environments now than it has in the past.
Cyberbacker also immediately set itself apart from other franchise opportunities because with Cyberbacker, franchise owners are not required to be hands-on with the franchise on a day-to-day basis. This allows them the time to work on growing their businesses while still adding value to their portfolio with a Cyberbacker franchise ownership. The ever-increasing acceptance of virtual and remote workers makes Cyberbacker a franchise opportunity that perfectly meets a moment.
“We live in a new world where borders don’t hold us back from hiring the right people,” explains Stowe. “Cyberbacker has developed systems and tools to help business owners overcome any qualms they may have about remote workers by hiring the highest quality candidate, offering them 300 training courses and the support team necessary to manage their business’s growth.”
Goodliffe and Stowe seek out franchise owners that are leaders in their respective industries. They also give special consideration to business owners with large global networks as a way to continue reaching people worldwide.
“We plan to double the number of franchisees each year. We initially went after the industries that we were already supporting. Now that we have sold out of the real estate industry, we are now tackling 18 new industries,” says Stowe.
Cyberbacker as a company — and now as a franchise opportunity — has proven that you can have the best of both worlds; run a thriving business and help others thrive along the way. At the moment, Cyberbacker is the only virtual assistant franchise opportunity in the world, bringing not only change to needy communities but disruption to a multitude of global industries.
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This content is brought to you by Scott Bartnick
Photo provided by the author.
