Time zone overlap planner.
Most clients don't need you awake for their whole day. They need a few reliable hours of overlap. Add your clients, set your hours in Manila, and see exactly where the overlap sits, including when daylight saving moves it.
Your clients
Their work hours in their own time zone. Up to 4 clients.
Your shift in Manila time
A 24-hour view that starts 3 hours before your shift, so a night shift shows as one block.
Meeting time converter
Always confirm meetings in both time zones, in writing. It kills the "I thought you meant my 9 AM" problem.
Night shift: the honest version
US clients usually mean working while Manila sleeps. Plenty of VAs do it for years. The ones who last treat sleep like part of the job.
You probably don't need the full overlap
Ask the client which hours they need you online at the same time as them. Most need 2 to 4 hours for meetings and quick replies. The rest can be async, meaning you do it on your own time and they read it later. "I'm online 9 PM to 1 AM your morning for anything urgent, and I finish the rest before you wake up" is a normal setup.
Protect one fixed sleep block
Pick a sleep window, for example 7 AM to 2 PM, and keep it every day, weekends included, within an hour or two. Flipping back to a day schedule every weekend is what wrecks people. Blackout curtains and an eye mask are cheap. Tell your household your hours.
Eat and move on a schedule
Have a proper meal before your shift, not just coffee and pandesal at 3 AM. Get some daylight when you wake up. Walk for 20 minutes before the shift. Cut caffeine 6 hours before your sleep window.
Daylight saving moves your shift
The Philippines has no daylight saving, but the US, UK, Canada and most of Australia do. When their clocks change, your Manila hours move by one hour. Check the "next clock change" note above for each client and remind them the week before.
Have a backup for brownouts
Night shift and brownouts are a bad mix. Keep a charged power bank for your router, mobile data or a pocket WiFi, and a written plan for who you message if you go offline mid-shift.
Know when it's not working
If you're sleeping under 6 hours most days for weeks, getting sick often, or feeling low all the time, change the setup. Ask for a later start or more async work. If it keeps going, see a doctor. No client is worth your health.