The Virtual Office Revolution

Transcription

1 The Virtual Office Revolution By

2 Foreword Since its founding in 1998, WAKA Kickball and Social Sports has been a virtual office team. Now, with more than 200 employees with a shared living /working space across the US, WAKA has created The Virtual Office Revolution as a guide for anyone hoping to succeed while working in a home office. It is our hope that the information found within this guide, words and tips directly from our virtual team members, will provide you with the information you seek for creating a home office environment. We ve learned a lot over the past 15 years about creating a productive work space in the home and are excited to share our learning with you. All the best, The Team of WAKA Kickball & Social Sports

3 Introduction Far too often, new remote workers or those starting a business from home, put the environment of their new home office on the back burner. Workers launch into their virtual office without the knowledge or understanding of creating a space for their business to run. The result is workdays filled with noise and distractions, starting and stopping, and tons of extra stress as you try to juggle home and work life in the same space. It doesn t matter if you are trying to set up a new side business, or are apart of a full virtual work team. It doesn t matter if you want to make $100 a month or $100,000 per month. Until you think of what you re doing as a business, you re going to spin your wheels. The set up of your home office environment, and the tools you have and create around you are of the utmost importance and should be treated as such. The cost of investing in the right desk, whiteboard, or computer should be included in your budget as you prep and plan for working from home. This report is a roadmap to give you a basic orientation to building a home office and working in a virtual team. Let s get started...

4 Design your home office space The first and foremost rule in setting up a home office space is creating a space that works for you. Its should be designed from the outset with the way you work best in mind. Ask yourself... what do you need to be comfortable and focused? Home office space check list: Physical space - get a desk and chair and make sure they are an appropriate height for you and that you can be comfortable for an entire workday! Find space in your home where you can work (and only work!) Communication Technology - Our team uses the Google Suite with Gmail and Google Drive. Planning and thinking tools - we like whiteboards (both physical and online), and share project plans with our team through the Google Suite and Basecamp. Tips from WAKA Staff: > Make your office a place you can escape and not be distracted or distract others. > Invest in a good chair! > Try different spaces until you find what works for you! I worked in four rooms in my house before I found my zone! > Evernote is a lifesaver! > Make sure you have a quiet place for conference calls and meetings.

5 Remember: It s still really early! Ten years from now (heck, probably 2 years from now) we ll look back and won t be able to believe how primitive the tools we use today are. Try new things and learn as much as you can about those that work for you and each update that rolls out! Essential elements of an effective home office space There are quite a few things that go into being productive in a home office, and quite a few reasons why you want the right tools and resources to help you be effective. Many virtual team workers struggle with the balance of family, home, and work, even if they are really, really great at what they do. You can have a great office space, but if you don t arm yourself with tools for staying focused, you can easily be distracted by your kids, walking the dog, the TV, or other at home projects. There are always ton of decisions to be made around the home and for your business and it s easy to lose track of priorities. Create a solid framework for yourself to remove a lot of unnecessary decision making. You ll still be making decisions, of course. But get organized so you can focus on work during work time and everything else when you aren t in the office. Tips From WAKA Staff: > Set weekly goals and priorities so you know what you will do each day. > Identify an average number of hours you'll need every day for work. > Set up systems, like menu planning for the week and bulk cooking so you are less distracted during the work day. > Set deadlines and create a status report in order to help with the prioritization of your tasks.

6 > Create a system to organize your browsers (using two separate ones) to help streamline and better organize your virtual dashboard. Implement best practices for optimizing a home office work day Every business is unique and you are working with a unique combination of attributes like what you can contribute, technical abilities, the external realities of your home office environment, time, place, etc. Once you have your home office set up and have organized your work systems, you are ready to start working and conducting some small experiments to see what you personally need to be successful working at home. Maybe you need to get a workout in before your day begins, or maybe you need to spend time with your kids before they go to school. Whatever your preference or needs to get mentally ready for your workday. At WAKA, our staff has a wide variety of interests, activities, and techniques for getting our jobs done effectively but we all believe that making room in your schedule and life for work at home is a priority. You will have to set the stage physically and mentally for working. Tips from WAKA Staff: > Get up a little early and do something for yourself before you get started on work. > Dress for the day so you feel like you are in an office and eat lunch away from your desk. > Exercise, you ll feel better, produce happy endorphins, and be more productive! > Learn to take a break or timeout in order to reset and to make sure you re on track with your tasks. Don t work head down. Review your tasks and priorities each day.

7 > Find a virtual buddy so you have someone to connect with. This can be a colleague or friend that can help hold you accountable to your tasks or just keep you company so you don t feel isolated. There has never been a better time to work from home or in a virtual team. Itʼs a fast-past arena especially when it comes to finding the tools and technology. You may choose to jump into your home office, creating an environment to build your business or work remotely from your company, and youʼve got lots of great tools and ideas to do that. Or, you may decide you want some more help. You may want a step-by-step framework for creating an awesome business rather than struggling to do all of that on your own. If that would be helpful to you, then the WAKA Kickball & Social Sports Franchise opportunity might be just what you are looking for.

8 What now? WAKA Kickball & Social Sports has franchise opportunities available along with training programs for our franchisees that reveal how to do all of the above well and more while building a social sports business from home that is rewarding and satisfying. Weʼre willing to teach our own techniques and strategies for these 3 reasons: 1. The number of possible kickball and social sports leagues to be developed is so huge that itʼs doubtful weʼll be able to fulfill all the needs without awesome entrepreneurs who want to work from home and love their jobs. 2. With more than 15 years of experience, tens of thousands of players each year, and 3 consecutive years of inclusion on Inc 5000's list of fastest growing companies, we feel we're highly qualified to teach new entrepreneurs how to grow their social sports business. 3. The WAKA Kickball & Social Sports Franchising team has already come up with so many ideas of our own, we canʼt possibly do all of them ourselves. Thatʼs why, weʼve helped entrepreneurs get their start and own a piece of a company they can stand behind. If any of this sounds interesting to you, get in touch with us today at franchising@kickball.com Thanks for reading! Weʼll have more free content for you soon! -The WAKA Kickball & Social Sports Team