The world of business is continuously changing and evolving, making it quite difficult to achieve success in this field, which can be especially true if you are a businesswoman forced to face a unique set of challenges and obstacles along the way. Among the new challenges we have to face is also the transition to remote working, a business model that has become vital due to the recent global events. If your goal is to transition to remote working in an effort to improve your business practices as well, here are some ways you might be able to achieve success in this new and challenging field.
Build a good team
Having a skilled and professional team that excels in a remote working environment is essential for building a successful business. When hiring new employees, you shouldn’t make false promises that remote working is the right choice for everyone. Instead, ask applicants whether they’ve worked from home before, how productive they are in such an environment, how they manage appearance, style + other extensions, and how suitable such a culture is to their personal needs. Besides these aspects, you should also look for certain traits such as discipline, self-motivation, and the ability to set an efficient work schedule, for instance, in an effort to find the most suitable candidates for your company.
Prioritize technology
It goes without saying that technology is a necessary aspect of remote working, allowing employees to efficiently conduct their business while ensuring the entire team can collaborate professionally and even connect personally. Video might arguably be the most important aspect, as it can help ensure your team is more engaged, connected with one another, and more invested in collective success. To help employees with these efforts, businesses will often invest in special video conferencing software like Skype and Zoom, or even project-management programs like Asana and Slack. No matter what you opt for, investing in new technologies will let your employees know you are committed to making remote working more efficient and comfortable, thus helping to improve your team.
Invest in digital marketing
When shifting to online business practices, digital marketing could be the key to your company’s success. It allows you to reach a wider audience and create unique content that is interesting and engaging enough to instantly attract customers, whether it’s through online advertisements or social media profiles. For that reason, it might be wise to hire an experienced digital marketing agency such as AdVisible to help you increase your business’s online presence and turn that exposure into leads and sales. By conducting thorough research, such professionals will be able to create the best digital marketing strategy that will allow you to grow faster, beat your competition, and achieve optimal results.
Be more transparent
It’s not uncommon for most employees to feel completely separated from their senior management and leadership, and this could be especially true for remote working businesses. But even though such situations occur regularly, remote workers need to feel free to ask questions, receive feedback, and bring potential issues to leadership, in an effort to build trust and reliance within the company. To combat this issue as a business owner, it would be a good idea to prioritize transparency within the organization, such as holding regular briefings or sending reports to the entire company regarding sales, operations, and initiatives, for example.
Choose in-person meetings
Although your employees might spend most of their time at home, it would be quite beneficial to create some opportunities for them to interact in person as well, even if it’s only a couple of times a year. This could be anything from annual company meetings and holiday celebrations to different social events and teambuilding opportunities, as long as it helps to bring your employees closer together. While you might not be able to completely recreate the traditional office environment, in-person meetings will surely go a long way towards creating more connections, trust, and confidence within your team.
Focus on development
A business can only succeed when the entire team continues to learn and grow, effortlessly tackling new challenges as they arise. Similarly, your employees will want opportunities for advancement and growth within the company, even as remote workers. To that end, you need to focus on providing professional development opportunities to your team, whether that means creating mentor groups, holding in-person workshops or virtual courses, or even investing in specialized training for your employees. While providing new opportunities to your team might not be quite as simple when it comes to remote working, allowing them to improve their personal, professional, and leadership skills will help to guarantee success.
Building a good remote working business is never an easy task, especially if you were forced to make an instant transition to this business model. However, by investing in technology and marketing strategies, and building a skilled and professional team, achieving success in a remote working world can be a breeze for any devoted female business owner.
About the author
Marie Nieves is a lifestyle blogger who loves unusual trips, gadgets and creative ideas. On her travels she likes to read poetry and prose and surf the Internet. Her favourite writer is Tracy Chevalier and she always carries one of her books in her bag. She is an avid lover of photography and a regular author at High Style Life. You can find Marie on Facebook or follow her on Twitter and Pinterest.