Totally Remote. Totally Awesome.
The Fotomerchant team is all about good vibes. We are people who like people, and it’s important to us that we all respect each other and get along. We gravitate towards hiring people with these traits because we have a clear idea of who we are and who we want to be, not only with one another but with our customers and within the broader industry.
Everyone in the Fotomerchant team works remotely, which means that we don’t have any shared office space; the majority of our team works from their homes. We love working this way because it allows us to have the best people possible without geographical restrictions. It also means that we can connect with our customers across a broad spectrum of time zones, an invaluable asset to our industry-leading support model.
But how do we manage this? There are some very specific challenges that a remote team has to navigate, and we have learned some important lessons along the way so that we continue to be better and faster, day by day.
Reach Out
We encourage our team to have as many video calls as they need. Struggling to work out a problem? Why not run through it with another team member? It’s everyone’s responsibility to fight against feeling isolated, though we understand this can be a tricky balance to navigate.
“Water cooler chatter” has an important place in an in-person office; fun small talk is crucial to developing a sense of community and connection. We have dedicated Slack channels for music & books, pets, and one dedicated to random silliness. Getting to know and share with the team is at everyone’s fingertips.
Use Good Tools
Slack
Communication is key. It is vital that we have a great way to connect to both the Fotomerchant team and our customers. Slack is a fantastic platform we use to organize, plan, connect, joke, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. Sure, we’ll have Zoom meetings throughout the week, but Slack is the team’s central communication hub. There are full-staff, team-specific, project, and customer channels.
Venue
Venue is a terrific platform where we run our full-team Town Halls. There is an excellent range of interaction tools: polls, Q&A’s, breakout rooms, and randomized 1-1’s. This is only something we introduced to the team earlier this year, and we are still developing ways to maximize all the fun new toys it comes with; their support has been really helpful, and they are constantly adding new features. Definitely worth checking out!
Asana
Being a team that is so spread out means we have to collaborate proactively. Asana is a task management solution that works exceptionally well for our support, marketing, and Capture teams. Large multi-tiered projects and small support tasks: Asana helps us manage it all.
Tips and Tricks
Here are some tips for remote work from a staff handbook we are developing. It’s not yet been released, so this is a sneak peek just for you!
- Don’t be afraid to take a break. Not one where you’re still checking your phone…a real one!
- Get outside and move around. Sun is good (so is sunblock)! It helps the body and the mind; some Vitamin D works wonders! Plenty of seemingly immovable work problems have been solved during a walk around the block.
- It can be nice to switch up your working environment occasionally, even if it’s still at home. This can look like a simple desk re-arrangement, making your workspace tidy or pleasant to be around, plants are proven to be particularly beneficial, or simply moving to a different part of your home.
- Some basic routines to start your day and establish your workspace can go a long way. Some team suggestions include:
– Enjoy a nice cup of tea or coffee
– Having a particular scented diffuser/candle for your office area
– Listening to a certain playlist or genre during ‘heads down’ work sessions - Some of our team regularly use the Pomodoro method, especially when they have a full workload. This site is recommended.
- InsightTimer has an extensive range of free guided and unguided meditations, reflections, and exercises. A healthy mind and a healthy body make for a healthy life.
So that’s a tiny glimpse of life with Fotomerchant; along with developing the best workflow solutions available on the market, we are committed to developing the best fully remote team experience worldwide. It’s an exciting goal and something I am thrilled to be part of helping build.
Don’t be a stranger; follow us on socials to stay in the Fotomerchant loop!
