5 Steps to Assembling and Managing a Team of Remote Workers

Whether you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, freelancer, or solopreneur, there may come a time when you need to assemble a team of workers in order to grow your business and gain the exposure you need to succeed. 

And if you don’t have a physical office location for your business — or you’re looking to save money on operating costs — your best bet will be to hire a virtual team of workers. Allen Marketing Communications, a boutique NYC travel and lifestyle PR agency, shares a five-step process of assembling and managing a team of remote workers, so read on to begin! 

Think About Your Business Needs

The first step to assembling a team of remote workers is to think about your business goals and the types of help you’ll need in order to achieve them. Are you looking to hire employees or contractors to work remotely for your company? Which skills, abilities, and characteristics are you looking for in your remote workers? Workers with the following characteristics are essential when growing a small business.

• Dedication
• Positivity
• Qualifications
• Ambition
• Reliability
• Self-motivation
• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Focus

And while the specific types of positions you’ll be hiring for will depend on the nature of your business, several key roles include the product manager, marketer, accountant, human resource manager, and sales representative. Be sure to think about your business wants and needs before beginning to recruit and interview candidates. 

Look for Funding

Once you’ve identified your needs, it’ll be time to think about how you’re going to pay your team of workers. If you’re just starting a business, you may consider hiring an unpaid intern — or you could save money by hiring a part-time employee or independent contractor. You may also be able to save by setting up your business as a limited liability company. Not only will you gain tax advantages, but you can shield yourself from potential litigation as well. Forming an LLC will take 2 hours tops when you use a formation service to file your business documents with the state. 

Look for Remote Workers 

Once you’ve secured the funding you need to pay your workers and have identified the types of positions you’re looking to fill, you’ll finally be ready to start assembling your remote team. Zapier offers some tips on finding and hiring the best workers for virtual teams — or you can begin your search by using online job boards like Upwork, Toptal, and Freelancer.com. 

Invest in the Right Tech

Next, you’ll need to invest in the right remote work tools to ensure that you and your team will be able to communicate and collaborate from afar.

The following tools can help:

• Chat platforms like Slack, Chanty, and Google Hangouts Chat
• Video conferencing tools such as Zoom, Skype, GoToMeeting, and Blue Jeans
• Project management tools like Jira, Trello, Asana, and Wrike
• Time management software such as Google Calendar, Toggl, RescueTime, and Pocket
• Web design and development tools like WordPress, GitHub, and Ionic
• File sharing tools such as Google Drive and Dropbox

Manage Your Team from Afar

After you’ve assembled your virtual team of workers, you’ll need to learn how to best manage them from afar. And while it may take some time to get the hang of it, set boundaries and guidelines early on, remain flexible with your team, and keep meetings short and to the point. Kathy Gurchiek of SHRM also recommends asking each worker about his or her preferred communication style, whether it’s email, instant messaging, phone calls, or video chatting. 

Once you’ve completed these five steps to assembling and managing a team of remote workers, you’ll be on your way to achieving business growth and success. 

Our talented team of travel and lifestyle public relations professionals are here to help.  Give us a call.

Guest post:  Tina Martin, Life Coach, Inspired Ideas
Photo credit:  Unsplash

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