These days, businesses around the world are switching to telecommuting, also called remote work or working from home. Many haven't considered the online environment as a viable avenue before, but they're quickly discovering that it can be great for streamlining work, strategy, and campaigns.
However, abruptly switching to remote work isn't always easy, so mbudo is here to show you the way. In this post, we offer 5 tips for working remotely, staying productive, and taking advantage of everything that the digital ecosystem has to offer.
1. Have the right tools for remote work
First things first, you need to actually have the right tools in place to start working from home. The basics obviously include a fast, secure internet connection, a computer, and a workspace in your home. Luckily, we are living in the golden age of technology, and we have a wide variety of tools at our disposal to work online effectively:
- Messaging app: Slack: This is the ultimate company messaging app to keep your team connected and share messages in a group or privately. You'll never complain of miscommunication again.
- Video conferencing platform: Zoom: Zoom is a rising star in the world of video conferencing, and it's a great option alongside Skype for Business or Google Hangouts.
- Organizational platforms: Microsoft Teams & Basecamp:At mbudo, we trust in 2 great platforms to take care of all of our organizational needs including: file storage, calendars and meetings, to-dos, etc. They are similar, but each of these have their own strengths. You'll just have to try them out for yourself!
- Productivity tracker: Toggl: It's easy to get sidetracked or distracted when you don't have your boss or co-workers holding you accountable. Maybe you're distracted by the TV. Or maybe you simply want to see how much time you're investing in your projects. Toggl help you keep track of how much you spend on each project/task.
- Design tool: Canva:You'll probably be doing more sharing online these days, and you want your posts to stand out as much as possible. Canva is a great design tool for creating headers, infographics, and more.
- Marketing, sales and service platform: HubSpot:The all-in-one platform championed by mbudo, HubSpot truly is the recommended platform for doing everything you need for Marketing, in one single spot. Blog posts, landing pages, content strategy, paid ad campaigns, workflows, chatbots...what can't HubSpot do?
2. Communicate constantly and get organized
Nothing weakens productivity more than lack of communication. You need to have a clear communication strategy: how can someone ask for help/more information, assign tasks, advise your team when a task is done, etc? A good idea is to have a meeting at the beginning and end of the week to catch up on your projects and the work that will be required from each person. It's absolutely essential to assign tasks and roles, so that everyone knows what they should be doing at all times and can organize/plan accordingly.
However, don't go overboard on meetings. You should try to function more or less how you would in a physical office.
3. Set priorities and goals
Like your Marketing KPIs, which mark how your Marketing campaigns are going, you need to set goals for your time spent working from home. Map out your tasks for each day, set a schedule and deadline, and stick with it. You'll quickly see where you're falling short (and work with your team to find a solution) and where you're overachieving (and have the capacity to do more). Not setting goals is the quickest way to let the time slip away from you and quickly burn up your most productive time.
Do you find that you're distracted by your phone and social media? Discover these website and screen-blocking apps.
4. Make sure to get away from your screen and workspace
As its name implies, working from home often blurs the line between work and home. Many people who do remote work full-time know how difficult it can be to actually get away from their desk when it's right there in their apartment.
However, we also need to prioritize our personal time. In every industry, workers need time and space to relax, get their creative juices flowing with hobbies, get their muscles pumping with a bit of physical exercise, and recharge their batteries with sufficient sleep...all of this in order to come back the next day refreshed and ready to concentrate.
Of course, it's not always possible to prioritize hobbies, exercise, and sleep when juggling work and even a family. But just taking some time to relax each day will do yourself, your team, and your company loads of good.
5. Find the right business partner to help
You may not be specialized in remote work, or generating online business opportunities, but mbudo is. Now more than ever, mbudo Marketing and Ideas is prepared to help companies in any industry boost their business online and discover the wonders of Inbound Marketing.
We are working at 100% capacity and would love to help out as many businesses as we can in these times of hardship and uncertainty. Discover our wealth of services and specializations, including Marketing Automation, Content in any format, web development, CRM implementation, and of course the strategy and organization to back it all up.
If you follow these 5 simple tips for working remotely, you will see that your business productivity doesn't suffer - and it might, in fact, improve. And of course you can count on mbudo for your Marketing Strategy and for any of your other digital needs. Get in touch with us today!
Mary Swick
Mary is a professional copywriter with over 10 years of experience in Marketing and Advertising. As an American expat in Madrid, she enjoys the relaxed Spanish culture, hiking, and the latest shows from Netflix and HBO. Mary also loves cats and music (she's the office DJ!)