Craig Goodliffe
Having spent nearly 20 years in the real estate industry and more than 10,000 hours coaching and training business owners, Craig Goodliffe holds an in-depth understanding of the responsibilities they bear as well as the challenges they face. In January 2018, his valuable insight led him to create Cyberbacker, a leading provider of first-class administrative support services “from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world.” The Utah-based company provides virtual services around the clock to busy professionals, entrepreneurs, and businesses allowing them to lighten their workloads and reach higher levels of success. Team members, known as cyberbackers, help to complete time-intensive tasks. From setting appointments, creating documents, and managing social media to transcribing, researching, sales marketing, and more, Cyberbacker’s group of dedicated experts take care of it all so that their clients can concentrate on the critical aspects of their businesses. Craig recently spoke with us to share more about Cyberbacker, its unique profit-sharing program, and its evolution into a thriving global enterprise.
What led to your transition from real estate into administrative support services?
I joined the real estate industry in 2002 and launched The Good Life Group in 2012, where the concept of Cyberbacker was first started and implemented. A few years later, I decided to become a real estate coach, and as I learned more about my clients’ challenges, coaching became less about selling real estate and more about hiring people to help run the organizations. I began hiring people out of the Philippines in 2012. Later, in 2017, another real estate coach asked what I was doing differently because she was working all day every day, and I seemed to have more time. When I explained that I had an assistant, she asked if I could help her find one as well, which I did. A short time later, another friend asked for help in hiring an assistant and it evolved into a business from there. The first person I helped said that her assistant saved her 15 to 20 hours per week in work, and the second person said they loved their job much more because they were finally able to handle the workload. Hearing their positive feedback made me happy, and I knew I wanted to do more to help business owners, so I began expanding Cyberbacker so that I could serve more clients. Although most of our cyberbackers are based in the Philippines, I believe that equal opportunities should be given to all, and that great talent can be found anywhere in the world, and as soon as we can establish legal entities in other countries we plan to do so.
Your company has experienced tremendous growth in just three years. To what do you attribute this?
We have, and it’s been an exciting journey so far! Today, we serve more than 1,000 satisfied clients, and my goal is to continue creating the greatest number of jobs possible. In 2018, Cyberbacker began with 120 cyberbackers, and we set a goal to hire 200 the following year. However, we saw that number double in 2019 with 259 newly created jobs. Our goal for 2020 was to hire 400 cyberbackers, and we ended up hiring 870 people.
I think the pace of our growth is reflective not only of our commitment to our clients and the breadth of expertise that our team brings, but of our unique business model. We strive to partner great individuals to clients who share their same values because like-minded individuals working toward the same goals have the highest capacity of growing. Therefore, our administrative support services not only lighten the workloads of business leaders, but they also help to improve their companies.
What are the benefits of becoming a cyberbacker?
There are several. Our company provides a way for people to improve their skill sets, collaborate with others, and contribute to the greater good. As an added bonus, cyberbackers are free to work from home, which means no dress code and more time to spend with family. Our cyberbackers are also guaranteed to be paid on time with no hassle or delays.
Tell us about your profit-share program.
When I first began to travel to the Philippines, I saw street children selling flowers just to get money to eat, and it was a real wake-up call for me. I realized these kids needed my help, and I resolved to create more jobs. However, I quickly learned that most of the cyberbackers we hire are responsible for caring for their whole family, so I began thinking of ways that we could help them, as well as their families. I know people would help if they had something to give but the truth is you can’t give what you don’t have. That’s how I came up with the idea to structure a profit-share program. My goal was to profit-share $50,000 in 2020, but we were able to structure far more—$226,000. The program has a five-year vesting period, and cyberbackers receive shares based upon the company’s profits. We’re currently the only online-based company with a profit-share program that I know of, so that makes us very unique. Right now we have a lifetime profit share of over $600,000.
In what other ways does Cyberbacker set itself apart from the competition?
In addition to our profit-share program, we’re franchised. When people began asking me how to implement Cyberbacker into their industries, I franchised the company. This allows us to use our various processes—hiring, training, etc.—throughout other industries. Cyberbacker is also the only company with two legal entities in the Philippines. Although there are other companies attempting to do what we do, they have no legal jurisdiction there.
How do you spend your time outside of the office?
I’m always reading, listening to podcasts, attending seminars, and working to improve myself. I also enjoy giving back through charitable outreach in the Philippines. We support The House of Hope, and we’ve donated money to orphanages there. We also funded a basketball team, and we held a large gathering where everyone can hang out and be social. That’s what we’re all about—building partnerships and helping people succeed in life.
Contact:
Craig Goodliffe
Owner/Chief Executive Officer
Cyberbacker
Website: https://cyberbacker.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cyberbackerinc/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cyberbackerinc/
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