{"id":1808,"date":"2015-12-05T12:26:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T12:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/?p=1808"},"modified":"2015-12-07T12:26:58","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T12:26:58","slug":"5-lessons-ive-learned-from-building-our-remote-startup-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/5-lessons-ive-learned-from-building-our-remote-startup-team\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Lessons I’ve Learned From Building Our Remote Startup Team"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"5<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Andrew<\/a><\/p>\n
ANDREW JOSUWEIT<\/div>\n
CONTRIBUTOR<\/div>\n
Founder and CEO of Student Loan Hero, Co-Founder and President of Wafflehaus Media<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Image credit: Shutterstock<\/a><\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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Many business owners have heard that if they want to hire the most competent and talented employees, they need to relocate to New York City or San Francisco. That simply isn\u2019t true. There is tremendous untapped talent all over the world —\u00a0you just need to know where, and how, to look.<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a05 Ways to Effectively Lead Remote Teams<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always gravitated toward\u00a0location-independent business models that allow me the freedom to move and travel to new places (including Asia, where I started my first company<\/a>). My current company<\/a> has four full-time employees and ten part-time contractors, all of whom work remotely. Our team is based both internationally and stateside, and members live\u00a0in Chile, Vermont, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Chicago, Portland\u00a0and other places.<\/p>\n

In my experience, the following benefits of building a remote team far outweigh the challenges:<\/p>\n

1.Specialization<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By hiring remote workers, we get access to experts located all over the world, at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time employee from an expensive city like New York or San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Also, we try to find \u201cmoonlighters\u201d who are looking for part-time work, but have a full-time job as an expert in their field. As a result, we benefit from the knowledge transfer and training the employee is receiving at his or her\u00a0full-time job.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Elasticity<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Since most of our team is part-time, members don\u2019t rely on us for their primary income. If we are busy, we can request more hours, or if we\u00a0don’t need a specific service, we can scale down the workload and decrease costs.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Lower cost structure<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My company is a bootstrapped startup that has had to make due with limited resources. I attribute our survival and success in part to the fact that we built a remote workforce.<\/p>\n

By hiring contractors, you too can lower your payroll taxes, insurance costs\u00a0and general overhead costs, like office space.<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0Collaboration Tools of the Most Productive Remote Teams<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Employee satisfaction<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Our team members are\u00a0able to work whenever and wherever they want. This allows them to take more vacations, travel\u00a0and work when and from wherever they feel most productive.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a big believer that location-independent businesses are the future of work and that most companies can benefit from building a remote workforce. However, I\u2019d be lying if I said that this approach doesn\u2019t come with its own unique challenges. That being said, through trial and error, I\u2019ve developed solutions for some of the most common pain points associated with remote workforces:<\/p>\n

5. Solutions for common paint points<\/h2>\n

Embracing a remote philosophy —\u00a0<\/strong>Building a remote workforce means giving up control, to an extent. Many business owners rely on their presence in the office — and their ability to drop in on employees\u2019 offices or cubicles unannounced —\u00a0as a motivating factor to keep employees on task. Obviously, that isn\u2019t possible when your team is spread throughout the country or world.<\/p>\n

The single easiest way to give up control is to hire the right talent. Seek out employees who are motivated by doing great work, not by appeasing a hovering boss. Finding this type of employee takes longer, but it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n

Once you hire talented, self-sufficient and self-motivated workers, it is essential that you give them autonomy and motivate them to do their best work. Resist the urge to micromanage and remove bottlenecks that slow down or complicate their ability to get their work done. Provide employees with only the information they need to fulfill their responsibilities, and create clearly defined systems and processes so there\u2019s no confusion about which employees interface with one other, and when.<\/p>\n

For example, our content publishing process has clearly defined steps and responsibilities outlined for our writers, designers\u00a0and content manager. This system allows us to publish more and better content faster without running into unnecessary roadblocks.<\/p>\n

Fostering Communication ––\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>One of the biggest challenges we still face as a remote team is making sure everyone understands our high-level goals, mission and vision of the company. It\u2019s easy for employees to lose sight of their purpose when they\u2019re working from home and not surrounded by a supportive team.<\/p>\n

As CEO, my job is to remind my employees of the common goal we\u2019re working toward, and why it\u2019s important. Not only do I need to manage day-to-day activities, I also have to preach our vision and mission, so my team doesn\u2019t get discouraged or lose sight of what we\u2019re all working together to accomplish.<\/p>\n

Creating accountability —\u00a0<\/strong>Accountability can also be an issue for remote teams: As I mentioned, staying motivated can be difficult when there\u2019s no\u00a0boss or manager physically checking in on you. In the past, I have struggled with getting teams to adopt project management systems that allow them to update me on their progress and stay accountable. Adopting a project management system is something you must commit to as a team, especially in a remote culture.<\/p>\n

Putting together a good tool set:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good tools are essential for remote startup work. My own recommended list includes:<\/p>\n