The remote work model is fast becoming the norm. Especially for those who run their blogs as a business and those who manage business blogs.
The pandemic-inspired lockdown has been reinforced in many cities. This means many remote businesses have had to make a tough choice – go remote or go bankrupt! And the truth is, many writing, publishing, and blogging businesses are realizing that the remote working model is here to stay — and for good reason, too.
Fortunately, writing businesses, blogging businesses, and publishing businesses are some of the pursuits you can run 100% remotely. Think about it… do you really need that huge office building filled with expensive equipment to manage a team of writers, bloggers, and editors?
Current remote working statistics show that your employees are more likely to be productive if they work from home.
Technology tools have simplified the nature of work. To successfully run THAT smooth sailing business, you only need to:
Not convinced yet? Here are 5 more indisputable reasons to adopt a remote working model for your writing, blogging, and publishing business. We won’t stop at listing the research-proven benefits of remote work, we will also give you tips on how to make the most of your remote employees’ work hours.
One of the greatest limitations of operating a brick-and-mortar business model is that you can only employ people within a specific geographical location. But here’s the thing: if your company is located in a zone where the talent is expensive or underqualified, then you can be sure your writing and blogging business will take a hit.
But that’s where remote work comes in. By running a work-from-anywhere writing and blogging business, location suddenly becomes irrelevant. Therefore, the talent pool becomes wider. That means you can employ a writer, blogger, or editor halfway across the globe. And who cares? In the end, all that matters is that the job is well done and your business blog is more profitable than ever.
What’s more, with no geographic boundaries to limit you, your company can find it easier to get bonus points for diversity hiring.
As counterintuitive as it may sound, most people are more productive when working outside of a traditional office building. It makes sense – you don’t bump into that clumsy co-worker who messes up your workstation. Or, the talkative teammate who always has something to blab about. Over time, remote workers are more adept at eliminating time wasters. Therefore are better at focusing on the critical tasks itemized on their priority lists.
A growing body of evidence suggests that the work environment plays a role in the kind of work creative artists produce. Any writer who has been fortunate enough to participate in a writing residency program or writing retreat will attest to the efficacy of a breathtaking and quiet environment.
So allow your writers to work from a remote location. They’ll definitely experience a boost in creativity. Do the same for your content creators, editors, and proofreaders who need a conducive creative space of their own.
Then, think like a “remote control” leader and provide the self-service tools your distant workers can use to be productive. For example, it’s common that writers, editors, proofreaders, and bloggers have trouble meeting deadlines because their creative work often takes longer than originally expected. So, eliminate things that can eat up valuable time.
Give your creative workers 24/7 access to your company training videos and customer knowledge base so they can find essential details without trading a string of emails with you that take up precious hours or days. Similarly, don’t deluge them with meetings, emails, or text messages when they need to stay focused on producing content.
When you put all this together, you’ll find the remote work model affords your content team the opportunity to work at convenient times and under preferred conditions when their creative energy is high and they are “in the zone.” The result? Increased productivity and higher quality blog posts and books.
Have you ever considered how much it costs to set up and maintain office buildings? From rent to overhead costs to miscellaneous expenses… it’s usually a lot of expense — costs you can get rid off by running a remote team.
But that’s not all – you may find this hard to believe, but it’s way cheaper to hire remote workers. For instance, when you hire a freelance writer, blogger, or editor, you don’t have to worry about paying their taxes or giving them premium insurance packages. You can save all that money and re-invest it in your business.
And as the cherry on the cake, you also get to work with highly skilled professionals who do a better job and cost less than overpriced, underqualified local talent.
Another perk of working from home is that people don’t need to choose between going to work and having a life. You don’t have to miss the parent-teacher meetings at your kid’s school or your 8 AM dentist’s appointment; all you need is to reorganize your schedule and make up for lost time later in the day.
This flexibility allows for a healthy work-life balance, which typically results in a more motivated content management team. The relaxed environment the home provides also takes away the mental strain and pressure associated with a traditional office environment. And this allows your team to function better.
Tools that promote this flexibility allow your writers, editors, and bloggers to schedule their time with you, manage upcoming tasks, push off notifications and other interruptions until they are finished with their current assignment, and make one-on-one meetings with you easy to arrange. A great example of this tech-assisted remote work efficiency is Microsoft Teams.
However, managers of remote teams need to focus on more than efficiency — a new array of “soft skills” have become vital. These comprise the ability to get beyond the deadlines and numbers to ensure that your teams are living balanced, healthy work lives. Or to put it more bluntly, one of the main jobs of managers these days is to prevent remote worker burnout. You can do this by fostering relationships, finding ways to engage with individuals from a place of genuine interest, checking in frequently on their well-being, and communicating your expectation of healthy behaviors such as using their own initiative to take breaks and set boundaries.
You may not have noticed, but remote workers tend to take fewer days off compared to traditional employees. And every blog needs active writers and marketers to be present.
In fact, according to a recent survey among US employees, remote workers put in 1.4 days more than in-office workers per month. They were also more focused while at it.
And when you think about it, it makes sense. The flexibility provided by remote work results in a happier and more satisfied worker. And what better way to show your job satisfaction than to work harder? If you want your blogging business and publishing company to grow, you need to promote employee satisfaction. After all, it is likely to promote employee retention.
Here’s one final tip about organizing your remote team. Every company and team is different. Thus, don’t be afraid to look in a variety of places to find creative solutions that fit your team. As an illustration, technology teams have been working remotely since well before the pandemic. They can offer many excellent, thoroughly tested lessons and formats for successful remote work. Teams of bloggers, writers, and editors actually have many similarities to scrum models, for example. Consider how to adapt some of those principles for your own use.
A remote working model is a huge win for your blogging and publishing business. Not only does it allow you to recruit the best talent, but it can also help you save money. The remote working model helps your employees eliminate time wasters so that they can focus on critical tasks. This obviously brings out the best in your team. If you’re serious about growth, then consider going remote.
