Essentials Every Remote Business Needs To Have
Remote businesses are all the rage right now, and with the pandemic continuing to impact businesses on a global scale, it’s easy to see why. In 2020 alone, more remote businesses than ever before were launched, while a significant number of already established businesses opted to move their operations to a remote setup, rather than continuing to use an office-based setup. A lot of these businesses have managed to thrive working in a remote way, while there are other companies that have not managed to make a success out of running their businesses virtually.
If you are in the process of either moving your business operations to a virtual setup or opting to launch a remote business from scratch, you may be thinking about what it takes to not only create a business that survives, but how you can go about building a venture that is also able to thrive. Because, as a business owner, you naturally want to see your venture thrive, don’t you? Of course, knowing how to achieve that goal is never easy, but even less so during a global pandemic.
The good news is that when it comes to the essentials that you need to make a success of a remote business, it’s not as complex as you might think. The key here is to make sure that you select the right tools for your specific business; not every business functions in the same way, which is why a setup that works for one company may not work for another, and it’s important to be aware of that.
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Wondering what it takes to see success from your venture while running it remotely? Below are a few useful tips and pieces of advice to have a look at and take note of – these could just help you to ensure that your business remains afloat despite the tricky times we are currently operating within.
Set your working hours
One of the most important steps that you can take when it comes to running a business is to manage expectations. If you are going to give your business the best chance of success, it’s vital that from the get-go that you manage customer expectations, and that starts with setting working hours.
The truth is that when you work remotely it’s tempting to set your business up as ‘always open’ but this is a mistake that you don’t want to make. You cannot run a business 24/7, which is why having set opening hours is so important; if you have a team this is even more important. So make sure that one of the first things that you do is take the time to set your working hours.
Ensure your team is able to easily communicate
If you have a remote team of workers who are working with you, make sure that you make communication a priority. It will be exceedingly difficult for your team to communicate properly and work productively if you don’t make communication a priority in terms of the setup that you have in place. You need to take team communication seriously from the start, to allow yourself and your team members to create good habits and get into a good routine when it comes to working.
It’s worthwhile taking the time to look into a number of tools designed to make managing a remote team a little easier. You might find that working with tools like Slack and Asana, for instance, make project management easier to cope with. You can utilise these tools to stay on top of what each team member is doing and make sure that everything is on track. You might also find that tools like Teams and Zoom are crucial for holding regular team meetings and catch ups with team members when needed. When it comes to working remotely, having access to a range of useful tools is crucial to yours’ and your teams’ success.
It’s also worth taking the time to talk to your team members about remote working and productivity, asking them their thoughts and feelings about working remotely. You might find that they have some great ideas in regards to making it easier for everyone to work in a productive way, so it’s worth taking the time to ask them for their thoughts and feedback.
Make team meetings a regular weekly feature
When it comes to managing a remote team it’s important that you take the time to hold regular team meetings for you and your team members. Don’t let team communication end up on the backburner, make sure that you hold regular weekly meetings with each team, as well as making time for entire company meetings on a regular basis.
It’s not only important in terms of productivity, it’s also important in relation to team morale. It’s not easy keeping team spirits up, but making time to have regular team catch ups is a great way to make sure that your team remains as happy and content as possible.
Have dedicated business communication details
One mistake that you do not want to make when running your business remotely is failing to put in place separate business communication details. The last thing that you want is your customers contacting you on a domestic phone line – this kind of setup is completely unprofessional. That’s why it’s so important that you think carefully about how you can put dedicated business contact details in place.
This could mean looking into services like fonebox, for instance. It could also mean taking the time to set up a range of dedicated business emails for team members, and handing out business mobiles where required. It’s vital that you – and your team members – keep your business and domestic communications as separate as possible, at all times. This is vital for your business’s success, and is something that it’s important to take seriously.
Photo credit: Pixabay
Create a professional workspace
Just because you are running your business remotely from home, that doesn’t mean that you should make the mistake of failing to create a professional workspace. If you are going to be running your business from home, you need to take the time to design a workspace that is dedicated purely to your business. It’s also important that you suggest that your team members do the same. You see, without a dedicated workspace it’s far too easy to get distracted, which can have a serious impact on productivity, which in turn can negatively impact your business and its success.
When it comes to creating a dedicated workspace, there are lots of options for designing the right space. Ideally, you want a dedicated room. However, if this is not a possibility for whatever reason, then there are other options available, such as using the corner of another room, for instance. Some people also turn old wardrobes into hidden home offices – there are plenty of options to choose from, it’s just a case of finding the right fit for you and your business.
Utilise social media marketing
If you opt to take your business remote, then the chances are that you are running it entirely online – or almost entirely. What this means is that you need to be driving online traffic to your website, to help boost sales. When it comes to increasing online sales, social media is a key tool, and one that you need to be utilising. If you want to give your business the best chance of success, you need to be taking full advantage of social media and really utilising these online platforms.
While you could opt to deal with your business’s social media marketing yourself, if you don’t feel equipped to do so, then you might want to consider outsourcing the task to a professional in the digital marketing realm or you may want to consider bringing in a full-time social media manager. Another option is to go on a course or to send one of your team members on a course in digital marketing, to allow them to master the key skills needed to see social media success.
When it comes to running a successful remote business, there’s a lot that you need to think about and consider. The guide above shares some of the basics with you for creating a successful remote business, however there’s also a lot more that you can take the time to think about and consider. It’s not as simple as you might think to successfully run a remote business but it is possible to see success from doing so, it’s just a case of getting the approach right, that’s all.
There you have it, a simple guide to some of the basics that your remote business needs to see success. Hopefully, the guide above will give you everything that you need to make sure that your remote business is as successful as possible.
