The ecommerce industry is one of the few that grew exponentially in recent years. Online stores and businesses thrived during the pandemic and research shows that electronic commerce shows no signs of slowing in the near future. Taking this into consideration, more and more aspiring entrepreneurs look at ecommerce as a great starting opportunity to build their businesses in order to take advantage of the demand for convenient and accessible online retail.

However, starting a quality online business is not as easy as one might think. Much like any other business, it’s important to choose among the different types of business models, create a marketing strategy, and most importantly, find the right people that can help with scaling your business from scratch.

One of the advantages of starting a business online is that you can do a huge chunk of your tasks on the web and the internet. If you’re selling digital products, you can pretty much handle and manage every aspect of your online business through your ecommerce website. 

Ecommerce is a primarily digital industry. Therefore, there is little to no demand for your team to work on-site or in a company office. The beauty of this is that you can run your ecommerce business completely remote with no trouble. This also means that every member of your team can also work from a remote location. 

But, how do you start building a remote team for your online business? Here’s a simple guide and some tips on how to create and manage remote team members for your ecommerce store.

 

Tips In Building A Remote Team For Your Ecommerce Business

 

Deeply search your talent pool

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One of the factors that applicants and employers consider when it comes to job hiring is location. Traditional businesses are often limited to the demographic considerably close to where their business is located and at the same time, applicants typically look for jobs that are within reasonable travel distance from their residence. Geographical restrictions significantly affect the number and quality of applicants you can hire in your company. 

However, one of the benefits of having a remote team is that you’re hiring pool is not heavily limited geographically. Because there is no requirement for the employee to work on-site, more and more people are applying and looking for remote jobs. The larger number, the greater chance to find someone who has the skills, experience, and personality you are specifically searching for.

So when you’re looking for employees, it’s best to go beyond and extra in your hiring and try to find qualified people even if they are from the other side of the globe. Take your time in processing applications and be more critical in the way you conduct interviews and skills tests. It is also important to consider the applicant’s personality as it is essential for a remote employee to have a sense of responsibility, independence, initiative, and discipline in order to thrive in a remote working environment. 

 

Create a remote-friendly work environment

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Sole entrepreneurs and proprietors would often have a personal work system that works for them. However, when more and more people become involved in your business processes, it is crucial to have a structure that would accommodate everyone’s roles and responsibilities in the company.

When building a remote team for your online business, it’s important to structure and design your business processes that are suitable for remote employees. Adopt common remote team practices such as virtual meetings, video conferencing, regular email updates, and the like. 

Provide your remote team with the necessary tools and equipment for them to perform their tasks effectively and efficiently. This includes both software and hardware. Start by installing teams and task management software such as Microsoft Teams, Asana, and Trello. Make sure that everyone is connected and that communication is open using programs such as Slack, Skype,  and Zoom. The goal is to make your business processes as remote-friendly as possible in order to prevent problems such as miscommunication, inefficiency, and the like later on. 

Motivate your remote team

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One of the risks and pitfalls of having remote employees is that there is a lack of in-person meetings and social interactions. Many fear that working alone, despite being in a team, can affect one’s mental well-being. The feeling of isolation and disengagement then may ultimately affect their productivity and efficiency in remote work. In addition to this, a toxic work environment can lead to employee burnout that may significantly affect both their mental and physical well-being. 

So, despite not having an office where everyone meets together every work day, it is crucial for business owners to create and establish a positive work environment for their remote employees. Employee motivation is a crucial factor in keeping your team happy and satisfied with your company’s remote setup. 

But, how do you exactly motivate employees that are miles away from your reach? How do you create a positive work environment for people who are in different parts of the world?

There are different ways for an employer or leader to motivate their employees. However, it is important to know the types of motivation and the difference between the two. Extrinsic motivation is the type that comes externally and is typically received by or given to an employee. The most common type of extrinsic motivators includes monetary rewards, prizes, awards, praise, and even fame. 

While it’s not particularly common for business owners to give out cash and other bonuses to motivate their employees, even something as simple as acknowledging their efforts and celebrating their wins for the company can be enough to keep them happy and satisfied with what they are doing.

On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is one that stems from a person’s beliefs and perceptions in life. Some employees are motivated to work because what they are doing is in line with their belief in helping others or self-growth. To accommodate this type of employee motivation, employers need to know and understand each employee’s beliefs and strive not to step on anyone. Instead, create a culture that encourages people to practice their beliefs and pushes them to find and achieve their goals in life.

In terms of a positive work environment, it is important for employers to understand the concept of work-life balance. One of the challenges that remote employees often face is the blurred line between work and life. Since they mostly work from home, it is easy to establish a clear and strict boundary as to when work starts and ends during the day. To help with this, online businesses and companies should be the ones to establish clear guidelines and policies that will help ensure the work-life balance of their employees. 

 

Want to know more about the ecommerce industry? Sidekicks is an on-demand virtual company and we’re eager to help visionaries and entrepreneurs like you. Get a free ebook and learn more about how we can help you by signing up for our newsletter. We also offer a free 30-minute consultation if you prefer something more personal.

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