Being fully connected has made running a business remotely possible. Sometimes entrepreneurs are afraid to leave the office because they fear they might lose operational control of their business. The truth is, any business can be run remotely from anywhere in the world. The following tips will help you successfully step out of the office and become a remote entrepreneur.
Set clear expectations
To keep everything as stress free as possible, set clear goals and expectations for your employees. This allows employees to know specific deadlines on things. Setting up check-ins throughout can allow employees to ask questions and clear up any misunderstandings they might have. Being as clear as you possibly can will help your team produce outstanding work.
Be fully transparent
Make everything public! This will allow everyone you work with to see what you’re working on. It will also allow your co-workers to know that you’re actually working instead of just sitting around drinking coffee or catching on up on your DVR.
Trust your team
Trusting everyone on your team helps open up lines of communication between everyone. Team members will feel more comfortable speaking up and putting their opinions on things going on within the company out in the open. It can also open up collaboration and help develop new ideas to help the business succeed and continue to grow.
Technology
Technology has made working remotely incredibly easy. Software and applications like Google + hangouts and Skype allow the office feel without actually being in one. These programs also make office meetings simple. Web-based collaboration programs or CRM softwares can also be used to help employees set and keep track of goals throughout their work day. There are also web applications that allow employees to easily share and edit each others documents.
Make time for your employees
It’s pretty simple, check-in with each other from time to time. Working remotely can put you out of the loop with your employees but setting aside a time and place to catch up with each other can foster great working relationships as well as a great work environment. Check-ins can be set up through weekly Skype meetings or even scheduling trips to the office to see how things are going.
Running a business remotely isn’t something that should stress you out. It’s meant to completely eliminate those stressors the workplace can sometimes inflict on us.
Andres Manuel Olivares Miranda 