Remotely Managing: An Intro

The hardest part is getting started. That’s true of everything from writing this blog to living your dream of working remotely.

I’ve been working remotely for most of the last decade and managing a remotely distributed team for the last five and change years. When I started, it was mostly because I was part of a startup and we didn’t have the money for a fancy office space. Plus most of us were just working on our computers all day so we quickly realized it didn’t make sense to be together all the time to be the most productive team.

What started as a solution to a problem most startups have has become a huge global trend. When I used to tell people I worked remotely, they made jokes about being in pajamas all day or gave me a half wink because they assumed I wasn’t really “working.” Those were the days of idolizing tech companies with fancy offices and ping pong tables. Open office floor plans were all the vogue and still seen as sexy rather than a complete destruction of productivity.

I was shlepping from coffeeshop to coffeeshop, traveling sometimes to meet people and building my career. Sometime along the way, I noticed more and more people were curious about my working style. Other people began to crowd the coffeeshops. Hipsters! Suddenly, I was on the border of cool.

Rather than seen as a curiosity, my remote working adventures were something to be admired and potentially emulated. People realized the traps of office spaces that devalued privacy, commutes that kept them away from their families, and ping pong tables that kept them away from their best work.

Anyways, I’m saying all this because I’m a remote work dinosaur, and besides being a remote worker myself, I also manage a distributed team. This blog is going to share all the things I’ve learned over the years building a team, hiring, creating an amazing team culture, and managing people. I’ll also share personal productivity tips and hopefully answer your questions about remote work.

Please tweet me your remote working questions to @startupstella and I’ll pick one to answer each week. No question is too silly or basic.

Now, back to my pourover.