What are the Fundamentals of a Successful 100% Remote Business?

Studies have consistently found that remote-first businesses often outperform in-office businesses across a range of areas, including cost savings, productivity, and employee satisfaction.

Remote businesses also make good business sense for their owners, with significantly lower overhead costs and access to a global, top-tier talent pool. Yet these advantages don’t guarantee that every remote business will succeed. In most cases, a successful 100% remote business has these fundamentals:

Good Financial Decision-Making

A remote business typically has lower costs than a bricks-and-mortar establishment, but that doesn’t guarantee financial success. A successful venture relies heavily on sound financial decision-making.

Many of the best remote businesses engage a virtual CFO to support key finance-related tasks, such as cash flow forecasting, data analytics and insights, and creating a lean operational model. They also leverage their lower overhead costs to invest in technology, security, and employee well-being, strengthening the most important areas of their business.

A Clear Vision and Values

In a remote business that has always been remote, you can’t rely on watercooler discussions to ensure all employees are on the same page or to adjust expectations. You must have a clear vision and documented strategy that all new and seasoned employees are aware of and follow.

Most successful remote businesses have a clear mission and values that build trust, alignment, and productivity across teams in multiple time zones. For example, the largest all-remote company, GitLab, operates with an ‘Everyone can contribute’ mission, and values consisting of CREDIT:

• Collaboration
• Results
• Efficiency
• Diversity, inclusion, and belonging
• Iteration
• Transparency

Such a mission and values help foster trust and maintain cohesion in the absence of a shared physical workspace.

Robust Hiring Processes

While some businesses are in a position to meet potential remote employees in person before hiring them, not all are. As a result, remote businesses must have robust hiring processes to ensure candidates will be skilled, productive, and contributing members of their teams.

They can take several measures to improve their chances, such as writing clear job descriptions to ensure candidates know what’s expected of them when they apply, using skills-based assessments, and asking culture-alignment interview questions. Such questions, including ‘Can you tell me about a time you had to deliver feedback to a colleague? and ‘Can you tell me about a time you had to resolve a conflict or disagreement?’ assess whether a candidate’s work style, values, and personality match a business to ensure long-term cohesion.

Strong Onboarding Systems

Being a new employee at a remote company can be far more challenging than starting a new position at a physical one. You can’t just walk around a physical premises to meet everyone and learn the ropes. Instead, you learn everything through online platforms. A remote business can improve its chances of successful hiring by developing strong, well-organized onboarding systems.

These should include clear 30-, 60-, and 90-day plans to help employees understand expectations, as well as assigned mentors they can rely on when they need help or have a question. Access to documentation is also crucial from day one to avoid long-standing issues that limit productivity.

Asynchronous Communication

Synchronous communication in the form of phone calls, video meetings, and live chats still have their place. They are beneficial for brainstorming, onboarding, one-on-one meetings, and complex projects.

However, in a remote-first business with employees working across multiple time zones, asynchronous communication is preferred. This form of communication involves the exchange of information without requiring participants to be present or respond promptly. Instead, employees use tools, such as email, project management, and documentation, and respond when it’s most appropriate for them.

Asynchronous communication not only suits employees from a time-zone perspective but also often increases focus, improves documentation by recording all conversations, and makes information easier to search.

Results-Driven Accountability

Remote teams don’t reach their full potential or deliver the results their employers want when performance is tied to their presence rather than their output. The best remote business owners focus on the results their employees produce, rather than on whether they work a specific number of hours each day.

They do this in several ways, including through clearly defined KPIs such as project completion rate, goal completion rate, and revenue per employee. Transparent progress tracking and weekly, measurable deliverables are also integral to the success of many remote businesses.

Clear Work Boundaries

While not true in all businesses, many employees work more hours from their home office than they would in a business office. Longer work hours can increase the risk of burnout, which can affect a business’s productivity and growth.

The most successful remote businesses set clear work boundaries to assist in burnout prevention. They encourage time off, respect time zones, and don’t expect 24/7 availability. When such boundaries are set from the beginning, employees can sustain their energy and be their most productive selves during their established work hours.

A remote business doesn’t become successful by accident. It leverages global talent, engages experts to ensure sound financial decisions, prioritizes output, and ensures effective, remote-compatible communication. By implementing some of these fundamentals above, there’s every reason to believe your own remote business could become a resounding success.