Right now, a surge of entrepreneurship in the US means that each year, more and more people decide to take the plunge and open up their own businesses. This is hardly surprising when you consider the many benefits tied to becoming your own boss - from getting to pursue a career that you truly love to improving your financial situation.
However, this does not mean that the path to success is a straightforward one, even if you’re starting a business at home with minimal overheads. After all, remote companies come with their own challenges to conquer!
Photo by Microsoft 365 on Unsplash
With that in mind, here’s some advice that you can use to ensure your remote business is as successful as possible.
- Develop a strong business plan. No matter what goals you’ve set yourself as a business owner, you’ll find it progressively harder to reach milestones without having some kind of business plan in place. This is because a strong business plan essentially serves as a step-by-step guide to get you from A to B.
The more detailed your business plan is, the better, as it means that you’re covering all of your bases. For example, in addition to including a detailed outline of your business goals and aspirations, you should also include a section that discusses your finances, marketing plans, and more. If you aren’t sure where to get started, there are plenty of free templates online.
- Hire the right staff. Hiring employees to help you run your remote business can be challenging. After all, as you will not work with them in person or provide them with on-site training, you need to ensure they’re able to hit the ground running from their very first day. Fortunately, there are many ways to ensure you’re making smart decisions when hiring. For example, you should:
- Look for employees who fill a specific skill gap within your team or who are able to bring something entirely new to the table.
- Ensure that you’re giving top talent a reason to work for your company, such as a competitive salary and plenty of opportunities for growth and development.
- Write out a detailed job advertisement and role breakdown so applicants know exactly what kind of role they are applying for within your company.
- Invest in a virtual phone system. Investing in a virtual phone system is another great way to set your business up for success, especially when it comes to customer satisfaction rates. After all, it means that whether you’re working by yourself or have hired a team of employees, you can answer calls quickly and easily from any desktop, web browser, or smartphone. This means that customers get their questions answered quickly, and you don’t have to buy any additional equipment and tools.
- Keep your employees engaged. One of the biggest challenges of running a remote business lies in employee engagement. After all, when colleague-to-colleague interactions are minimized, it can be hard to build a cohesive team that works collaboratively. This, in turn, can make it difficult to motivate your employees, as they often feel as though they’re doing everything ‘alone.’
Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can ensure your employees are engaged in their work - no matter where they may be clocking in from. For example, you could host regular virtual team-building sessions and drop-in meetings.
- Build strong communication channels. Communication between employees can make or break any business, but poor communication can be particularly disastrous within remote companies. This is because, as outlined above, it makes it harder for colleagues to collaborate with each other, even when they are working on the same project. This often results in missed deadlines or poorly completed projects. Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can ensure you build strong communication channels.
For example, you should start by investing in tools and software that allow your team to stay in touch as much as possible, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams. Both of these platforms contain instant messaging and video conferencing tools, allowing team members to communicate as they see fit.
- Show up for your team. As a business owner, it's easy to assume that your stress levels are higher than those of your employees. After all, you have a lot running on the success of your business, and your to-do list will likely feel as though it is never-ending. However, this is not always the case, meaning it's important that you’re able to show up for your team and offer them support and assistance when necessary. Doing so will help you to forge a stronger relationship with your employees, improving retention rates while reducing both frustration and absences.
- Develop a healthy work-life balance. Believe it or not, running a successful business does not have to mean that you’re working 24/7. In fact, this kind of ‘grind mentality’ could be harming your business. After all, if you are constantly exhausted, you will be unable to work to the best of your ability. In fact, you’ll notice that everything from your focus and productivity to your motivation drops quite considerably, making it harder and harder to get the job done.
As such, you should endevor to develop a healthy work-life balance moving forward, one that prioritizes rest and wellness as much as working hard. For example, this could be achieved by setting specific hours for working for yourself (and your team) so that you do not find yourself sitting by your desk late into the night. While you can be somewhat flexible in this regard, you should aim to work no more than 40 hours per week.
In short, there are many steps that you can take to ensure your remote business is a resounding success, from taking good care of your employees to developing a work-life balance that ensures your needs are met. However, you should also make sure that you’re able to maintain a positive attitude throughout any challenges that come your way - this is what will set you apart from entrepreneurs who give up at the first signs of trouble.
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