If you have been contemplating whether to build remote teams or not, this article will open your eyes to the benefits that come with a remote workforce.
The covid pandemic proved that business owners could have functional and smooth business operations by leveraging remote teams. Remote work is the new normal. Hiring remotely is no longer an “option”. A remote team is necessary if you are a lean start-up or a business and want to scale up quickly.
We are living in an exciting period of human history with so many more opportunities than ever before. One of these opportunities that technology and a skill-based economy afford us are remote working opportunities. Many entrepreneurs and business owners across the world are now benefiting from the skill economy revolution. Fueling this talent revolution, scaling with a virtual workforce is far easier and more cost-effective than growing with in-house and full-time employees.
As a business owner, I understand many entrepreneurs and CEOs are still skeptical about building and shifting to remote teams. This may be because most business owners suck at hiring the right people for their remote workforce. I am not excluding myself because I’ve been in the same shoes countless times. Within the last eight years of operating my business remotely, I’ve hired several hundred people to build my remote team of a little over 150 members that I have now.
As the Covid pandemic continues to push businesses of all shapes and sizes to adapt to working remotely, it is imperative to embrace this new way remote working opportunities present to businesses. Many Apple Employees opted to work from home and admitted they preferred to work remotely, without the daily need to go back to the office. So, how can business owners and CEOs benefit by leveraging remote teams in this new decade and post covid era? If you have been contemplating whether to build remote teams or not, here are seven benefits you stand to gain:
1. No barrier to the hiring process
We’re living in an exciting time indeed. If you need to hire someone for a role, you can do so within a short time. The internet has made the world a global village. So, you can get the position filled sooner than ever before, and no longer be limited by the talent pool in your geographic location.
You can source your team from anywhere around the globe. Not only that, but you can also recruit those who are available to start working with you immediately. The global availability of remote talent gives you unfettered access to more people and a better talent pool at a much faster rate than ever before.
A remote team is the new normal. It’s one of the fastest ways to grow and scale your business quickly. You can have top talent working for you, regardless of where they live. The only requirement is that your remote team has the proper conditions to get the work done within the timeframe.
2. Build a multinational team on a lean budget
If you operate a business that only hires people within your city, you might be hiring from only about 5% of the potential talent available within your vicinity. And that may be only 1% of the population of the city you live in.
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to settle to only hiring talent within your country or even continent. With today’s technology, you can find and recruit rare talent from anywhere across the world as long as they can deliver. Gone are the days when you need to spend a fortune to recruit and relocate a team of experts from around the globe. You can hire the best brain from anywhere in the world without having to relocate them. You don’t need to have a big budget to build a formidable team in this digital age, most especially in the new normal. I can tell you from experience that recruiting a remote team is the best way to go, especially if you are on a lean budget.
3. Build your business without expensive gadgets or offices
Just like most business owners out there, I was taught that to get results and commitment from my team I would need a physical office. I believed it to be true until I discovered the goldmine of remote workers that are always available to any entrepreneur. The difference between then and now is very significant.
You don’t need to get pricey downtown real estate for offices or maintain a huge stack of servers to keep your business operations moving. If you want to scale your business fast, you need to set your business up for remote work. A remote team eliminates the need for expensive infrastructure. It also helps you reduce the overhead expenses of in-house and full-time employees.
4. A remote team saves you time and money
Outside of the physical office expenses and infrastructure, you also save time not just for you, but for your whole team. Think about the time spent commuting to work, or lost time you and your team members have away from family. A study by Harvard University showed that workers would take a pay cut to have the flexibility to work from home. It’s crazy how many times people ask me how I get my remote team to be productive – it’s actually the opposite I find to be true. When you work from home, sometimes it can be a challenge to get people to “unplug”. Another huge benefit is because they work from home, if something comes up and you need help – you don’t have to convince them to come into the office, just walk to your computer!
5. 24/7 Business operations
Having a virtual workforce allows you to run your business 24/7. For instance, my team cuts across the continent, and most of my team is working even while I am sleeping. This implies you can leverage time-zone differences for increased productivity as a CEO or business owner. If you want to experience unprecedented growth in the new normal, hiring remotely is one way to scale up fast.
6. Hire top talent at a lower cost
If your business is located in an area where competition for high-quality professionals is extremely high, a remote workforce will help lower the running cost, especially when you are just taking off. Many remote workers have a lower cost of living in their countries. You can leverage this if your business is on a lean budget. You can also attract great team members who offer your business what you need without being limited by location.
7. Store your data in the cloud
I’ve always been fascinated by this unique opportunity to move everything to the cloud. With a virtual workforce, you can store your data in the cloud, and your team can be spread around the globe. There is no better way to achieve this than having a virtual workforce in place.
Building successful remote teams can be quite challenging. Just like many business owners and CEOs out there, I didn’t know how or who to hire. And sometimes, most of the hires were the biggest headaches, and I had to let them go. But the benefits of a remote workforce are simply endless. You can always hire the best digital nomads out there.
Working remotely, managing diverse teams from different locations, and virtual meetings have become the new reality. If you need to reposition your business for the future, building a remote team is the way to go. Just make sure that you hire people whose dream is in alignment with yours. Find out what makes people tick and leverage that. That’s how I retain amazing talent and grow with them as an entrepreneur. And these are essential shifts that lead to increased revenue and a strong business.
