Work remotely from home
Working remotely from home has always been seen as a way to escape work or find an excuse to deliver work of lesser quality than usual. Covid forced us to rethink and reevaluate our perceptions and proved that not only for software sales but also for (almost) every other job, working remotely is the new norm.
1. You can work effectively from home.
There was always reluctance when it came to working from home. Covid taught us that we can work from home probably even more effectively than from the office. Over the past few months, several studies show productivity while working remotely from home is better than working in an office setting. On average, those who work from home spend 10 minutes less a day being unproductive, work one more day a week, and are 47% more productive.
2. You can source your sales out (and not only sales)
You can outsource your sales , your sales process, your technical assistance, your operations, your virtual secretary, your marketing department. By sourcing out, you can have a more flexible model, pay for what you need, and get a professional with a deeper understanding and huge practical experience on the job since he works for multiple projects and not only for you.
3. You can increase productivity and reduce risks and costs (for the company and for an individual)
That means that you can work more effectively, with lower costs and risks and higher productivity.
4. Technology is the future, and businesses that do not follow are condemned to expire.
During covid, more and more businesses, even ones from more traditional sectors, understood that the future for conducting businesses is online and that there is a one-way road. Not only software companies but also conventional, old-style trading companies saw value in the new technology and the new way of operating. Challenging still stay businesses where the participants’ educational level and the lack of computer literacy set barriers on the appliance of the new world business model. As time, however, passes and the old generation departs from this world, these kinds of businesses’ longevity is damned to extinct.
5. Large Meetings are not as important as they seem.
As Elon Musk recommends there is no need for long detailed meetings on the frequency that they are being held on the other hand,
6. Frequent smaller meetings where the whole company participates are mandatory to understand and perceive the group and the company you are working with. Work remotely from home tends to be challenging for some people to perceive themselves as part of a group.
7. Do not micromanage people.
Understanding things and realizing that not everyone is a good fit for a job should make you know that you are on the wrong path if you are micromanaging people. The remote business makes it hard to micromanage. You need executives that can think by themselves and can take decisions by themselves. Not all decisions will be good, but that is the price you pay when you want to grow.
8. Integrity is more significant than you think.
The skills to execute a work are essential and the integrity of the person you work with. Integrity or the lack of it is the biggest challenge in this new age. Everyone is just one click away from giving up on you; the one that stays is the one you want in your business, even if his other skills are probably not as ideal as they should be. Integrity has more weight than generating beautiful excel reports.
9. More discipline is required when you work remotely from home, and that is a good thing.
Having hired dozens of specialists and professionals in the last years, I have concluded that there is a massive difference between people that went to college and those who haven’t. But it is not the sum of skills that make the big difference; it is the applied discipline required to study, be persistent, and work individually. Those are the characteristics that do make the difference, besides the apparent knowledge on specific topics.
10. Social interaction is as personal and as tender as when you are face to face.
There is an almost stereotypical answer on this, that human interactions and the computerization of the world delivered a hard blow on the intimacy and the interhuman relationships. An interesting study from ScienceDirect deepens into the topic and discovers things might not be as bad as presented and, even in many cases, might be even surprisingly better. Often, I am asked if I don’t feel lonely in my office all day. My answer is no, absolutely not. I know there is a team out there, and we all are at the same task. I speak with like-minded talented individuals from Argentina to India and from the UK to South Africa daily. I do not feel alone at all.
11. We opened our eyes to the world,
and we could see our strengths and weaknesses. We realized that there are many cultures and people from a variety of countries where specific skills are more cultivated than others. We learned that someone could get an excellent developer from India or a virtual assistant from the Philippines for a fraction of this cost that the same person would have in our country. Cheaper AND better. We also realized what our strengths are, and why not only hardworking the answer is, but also the mindset and the culture. As we globally grow together, we will get to know each other better, learn from each other and improve as humanity.
12. The bifurcation of attention
The 30-minute sitcom television show is dying. Meanwhile, 45-second Instagram videos and seven seasons of Game of Thrones are thriving.
Classic magazines and newspapers are dying. Meanwhile, Twitter and non-fiction books are thriving.
Mid-level attention is dead. People either want it short and quick, so they can move on to something else—or they want to immerse themselves in it for days/weeks/months.
In the new age where the plethora of information seems like an abyss, attention is the new currency. Where you devote your attention and your capability to differentiate value from crab is what makes you competitive.
13. The increase of life quality for you and for the planet.
You don’t need any more to commute to the office every day. You don’t need a car anymore as you used to need it before. You can live in a remote area, pay less, have better life quality, and decongest the city centers, pollute the environment less.
14. At the end of the day is your personality that makes the difference,
and today’s tools allow you to almost show your personality fully, hear your voice and message. Technology gives any of us the possibility to show his face and talk to prospects globally. What the outcome of this interaction is going to be, depends on your communication proficiency, your soft skills, most importantly, however in your character.
