Leading Your Business From Home: 5 Ways to Effectively Manage Your Team Remotely

There is a new reality that many of us are undertaking: working from home—or as it is now known, “WFH.” Many of us, including myself, have been doing it for years. This is our norm. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is forcing a whole new group of individuals to join us. This is a new challenge for employees as well as their employers. The real challenge for many is not just working from home, but that we are now leading from home.


As entrepreneurs and leaders of our organizations, the ability to “pop over to John’s desk” is gone. Everyone’s favorite, “Hey, you got a minute?”, is not possible. Even just keeping a pulse on the team’s productivity is a challenge.


Are your teams being productive out of fear of losing their jobs in this uncertain environment? Or are you micromanaging to make sure they’re performing up to par? You built your organization by leading your people, not by managing them. You must learn to adapt your leadership skills to this new work environment.

Here are five strategies you can immediately apply with your WFH team so that you can lead from home:

1. Remember your “why”

As an entrepreneur, there was a reason that you started the business. This is your core purpose—it goes beyond profit to the foundation of why you exist as an organization. You need to reconnect with that purpose and stay committed to it; don’t lose sight of it just because of these changing times. If you do, it wasn’t the right one to start with.

As the leader, you must lead by example. If the rest of the team is not living out the core purpose, you might want to look at yourself. Let the team know not only of their continued importance to your company’s survival, but also make sure they see you embody it.

Find new ways to live your core values. What worked in the office might not work with everyone working from home. Core values are the guide rails of how your company delivers on its core purpose. These are more important than ever, so be on the lookout for new ways to uphold them.

2. Keep your focus

This is a great time to commit to mindfulness practices and daily exercise. A morning ritual of meditation and/or breathing exercises will give you the focus you need to start your morning off right. Then, at a minimum, take a couple short walks through your neighborhood every day (if you are allowed to do so). It will help you maintain your energy level from start to finish.

You’ve set up your defensive plays, now focus on the offensive ones. With much of the nation sheltering in place and the stock market taking a beating, most companies have jumped into defensive mode. What do we have to cut? What expenses do we have to reduce? Who is getting laid off? Now what are you going to do?


Embrace change; don’t be paralyzed by fear. What seemed like a great plan in February might not work today.


Create an offensive plan. Get the team together to identify what opportunities are going to come out of this and move now. One way to do this is to complete a SWOT analysis based on where you are today.

Have a planning session today; don’t wait until the quarter is over. Make an executable plan to set, and chart a potentially different path.

3. Don’t reduce your expectations, change them

Your first thought might be to expect less from your team. But just because the work environment is different doesn’t mean that their output has to be.

Don’t assume because people are working from home they won’t be as efficient or be able to accomplish as much. Many companies are finding out their team is able to accomplish even more.


Reevaluate your teams KPIs and goals. Some might need to be adjusted to ensure they are still relevant and set properly. You don’t want your team to say a KPI wasn’t possible, so they didn’t focus on it. Make sure you have targets that you’re still aiming.

Set new targets. New opportunities will create new expectations. Look for new ways to measure success.

4. Be supportive

If working from home is new for your team, it’s going to take some adjustment. Maybe they have kids at home with them or have friends and relatives that have become sick. Now more than ever, this is the time to let your team know you care about their well-being.

Some people will respond well to this and others will not. Some will feel isolated in their new WFH environment. Make sure you understand how your people are feeling and find new ways to fill that gap.

Also be intentionally patient. Stress for many will be at an all-time high. Your patience will be key to helping them manage that stress.

This is the time for leaders to step and up and lead. Your team will be looking to you more than ever for cues on how to feel and act. You must always be honest with the team, but not pessimistic. As you look to the future and think about the road ahead, bring them with you.

5. Over-communicate

The communication rhythms you had before probably worked great. Yet in today’s WFH environment, you need to think about what is needed now. This is not necessarily just about you, it is about what your team needs. If they are used to seeing everyone every day, you need to find a new rhythm to fill that void.

The entire team should have at least one daily huddle in the morning and have an afternoon one as well. Use short meetings as way to bookend the day and learn what everyone is focusing on and what they’ve accomplished. Put emphasis on sharing good news and what everyone has learned.


Use video technology, not conference calls. Being able to see everyone’s face is incredibly important in your evaluation of how the team is doing. It is also a way to keep the team engaged with one another. Platforms such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams are easy systems to implement and use.

Create one-on-one meeting rhythms for all leaders with their teams. Start out by meeting once per week; as time goes on, you can meet less often. It is vitally important that leadership be connected to and aligned with all team members during this time of change.


With so many companies now requiring team members work from home, it is up to us, the organizational leaders, to learn to lead from home. This is not easy. It will take time for us to learn and grow into this role. Leadership is about changing and adapting, and your team needs that from you now more than ever.

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How to Create an Integrated Marketing Strategy for Your Small Business

Too many small businesses make a common mistake when it comes to their marketing efforts. Are you one of them? You are if you separate your marketing efforts into silos. Sure, you have marketing plans for your business and/or website that may (should) include search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, content marketing, mobile solutions, SMS (text) marketing, voice search, video, events, and social media, but often they’re independent of one another.


This may sound simplistic, but your marketing should not be siloed. You need a holistic, integrated, cohesive marketing strategy that connects your various marketing channels and platforms.
How do you develop an integrated marketing plan?

Step 1. Define your customer

Do you really know who your ideal customer is? There are so many factors that go into the profile of your ideal customer, including demographics (age, gender, level of education, race, income, where they live, relationship status, if they have kids, etc.) and psychographics (which looks at characteristics like emotions, values, desires, goals, interests, and lifestyle choices).

Take this information and craft a customer profile or buyer persona. Once you have a better idea of who your customer is and what motivates them, it’ll be easier to create marketing campaigns that connect with them.

Step 2. Define your objectives

The objective of marketing is not just to sell stuff. Marketing helps you:

• Build brand awareness.
• Explain and inform what you do and how you do it.
• Attract customers.
• Form relationships and alliances.
• Increase sales.
• Improve customer engagement.

This contributes to the most important reason businesses market themselves: to build trust among customers.

That’s your overall goal. But you need to have incremental goals, which can include the elements previously listed, or others, such as expanding into new markets, attracting strategic partners, launching a new product/service, etc.

Once you identify what you’re hoping to accomplish, create a realistic plan that is specific to that goal and measurable. It’s not good enough to say, “I want more customers to come to my restaurant.” Instead, perhaps you want to attract more families on the weekends.

Step 3. Conduct smart marketing

At this point you should know whom you’re targeting, what message you’re sending, and how you plan to reach your customers. Not all marketing channels are equally effective. But if you craft the right message to the right channel, your chances of success will be higher. Delivering a consistent message is important to building your brand, but you can swap out photo assets and some wording to more finely target your intended audiences.

If you’re driving consumers to sign up for your email list, it’s smart to send them to landing pages where the marketing message is amplified.

This is where the integrated approach comes into play. Siloed marketing efforts might involve multiple marketing channels, but the efforts are not coordinated or integrated. They don’t cross promote. Think about how much more effective your marketing would be, for example, if you amplified your direct mail messages with a follow-up email marketing campaign.

Step 4. Measure and repeat

Another mistake small businesses often make is not measuring the results of their marketing efforts. All the social platforms offer some type of analytics. So does your search engine. There are third-party tools that also offer analytics. And of course your marketing should include some type of measurement device, like A/B testing. Experiment with splitting test subject lines, email designs, templates, images, body copy, call-to-action text, and so much more. It can make all the difference in your email marketing efforts.

See what works and what doesn’t and use that knowledge to inform your marketing as you go forward.

Crucial elements of marketing

Social media usage has skyrocketed.

For a medium that didn’t exist 20 years ago, social media is now ubiquitous. According to Hootsuite, 82% of North Americans are active social media users.

Once you establish your social presence, create a company social media policy. What will you talk about? What do your clients and customers want and/or expect from you? Who will manage your social platforms? How often will you post? Consistency is key to achieving your goals. Remember, social media works by getting other people to amplify your message.
Direct mail is hot again

Direct mail is making a comeback. Why? One reason is, ironically, trust. Younger consumers—millennials and zoomers (Gen Z)—don’t necessarily associate direct mail with “junk mail” the way older consumers do. The younger generation doesn’t receive a lot of actual mail, so sending physical mail is a way to stand out from the crowd.

But, as novel as it is, direct mail alone is not nearly as effective as it can be if you couple it with email marketing. MediaPost suggests starting with a direct mail message and following up a week later with email. It also recommends sending two emails for every piece of direct mail you send.

You can make direct mail part of your automated marketing campaigns by setting up triggers to send direct mail after a prospect takes certain actions, just as you would with a drip email campaign. Both the email and the direct mail piece should use the same design elements and messaging to reinforce your brand and your offer.

Email remains king

As we’ve already alluded to, no integrated marketing campaign will work without a healthy dose of email marketing. According to stats compiled by 99firms.com:
80% of marketers claim email is best for customer acquisition.
Email marketing has a $44 ROI for every $1 spent.
Global email users will hit 4.3 billion by 2023.
Email is the preferred promotion channel for 60% of consumers.

Underscoring these stats, eMarketer reports more than 90% of internet users regularly send email, “making it one of the most common digital activities in the U.S.” And “data from the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) indicates checking email is the most common activity on PCs as well as mobile apps.”

If you want your marketing to be truly effective, take the time to craft an integrated marketing approach. It may take you a little more time, but the payoff will be worth it.

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5 Things You Can Do Today to Sell More

Do your sales need a pick-me-up? You should see your sales improve when you try one of these five ideas. Just pick one for today.

1. Use your product

When was the last time you used the product you sell? It’s one thing to talk about the performance of your product; it’s another to be able to experience it yourself so you are more confident and knowledgeable about what that performance feels like.

Imagine selling chocolate chip cookies that you never tasted. You would be unable to share your enthusiasm for their taste and the delight you get when eating them. You would be a less effective salesman when you haven’t used your product.

2. Learn more about your product

When was the last time you read the marketing materials you send your customers? You might find that you forgot about a feature and benefit you could be sharing with prospects and customers.

3. Try something new

It’s easy to get into a rut and repeat doing the same things over and over. Why not consider doing something new?

What does your sales call preparation look like? How do you support your customers after the sale? How do you prospect? Now consider changing one small step.


You might modify your questioning strategy. You could change the types of prospects you pursue. If you do the same things you will get the same results. You have to modify something if you want different results.

You can’t improve everything at once. Often, a small improvement can yield big results.

4. Find out what’s working for another salesperson

Which successful salespeople do you know? They have often uncovered ways that work for them. While not every strategy is successful for everyone, you might learn a new way of approaching your selling.

I often remember the two commission salespeople I once worked with. They took one day a month to make joint sales calls in each other’s sales territories. One would be the observer while the other one was the seller. They both said that even though they weren’t making any money while supporting the other, what they learned from observing and coaching each other was invaluable.

5. Get some rest

One of the worst things that can happen to a salesperson is burnout. I have seen too many salespeople who work seven days a week. I believe in living your life without regret. Looking back you should be able to say that you worked hard and enjoyed your life. Workaholics don’t make great family members. Selling is hard enough. Have at least one day to take a break and focus on you.

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15 Ways to Effectively Communicate Company Goals With Your Employees

As a leader, it’s important to understand the goals and vision of your company. It’s arguably even more important to convey that information to your employees, who play a huge role in turning those goals and vision into reality.

Strong lines of communication ensure everyone is on the same page, leading to greater growth for your business. To help you do this, we asked Young Entrepreneur Council members the following question:

Q. What is your preferred method for communicating company goals and vision with your employees?

1. In-office lunch meetings

We have a small team, so I like to communicate company values and goals in the office in a conference room or during an in-office lunch hour. For those who work remotely, we conference them into all meetings in real time. —Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC

2. Weekly team meetings

Weekly meetings are one of the most effective ways to communicate company goals and touch base with your employees on their projects. We hold weekly meetings for each of our teams where we discuss updates, open the floor up for questions, and communicate our weekly, monthly and quarterly goals. —Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

3. Weekly newsletter plus a team meeting

My preferred method for communicating company goals and vision with my employees is sending a weekly newsletter with remarks and holding one 30-minute meeting a week. I also believe it’s highly important for leaders to show great attitude and enthusiasm as they communicate company vision and goals as this will create a positive vibe among employees. —Alfredo Atanacio, Uassist.ME

4. Slack announcements

We use Slack as our main communication portal. We have several channels for different teams and purposes. We share important updates and communicate our goals and visions on the general Slack channel that everyone is subscribed to. These announcements are also backed by changes to the website and mentioned in weekly meetings. —Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

5. Sharing customer and team stories

I often share stories of customer success or examples of how our team went above and beyond for our customers. These real-life stories demonstrate our company motto, “People First,” in action. Sharing these stories with our team reminds them of our company goals and vision and how we can put those goals and visions into action every day. —Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

6. Company culture

I believe people learn better from experience and immersion. Just like it’s possible to learn a foreign language by spending some time in the country, it’s possible to pass the values on through company culture. We start thinking about it at the recruitment stage and only hire people who already have a lot in common with the team, get the general vibe, and share similar work ethics. —Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS

7. Internal company hub

Our company uses an online hub where we keep all of our employee information, processes, mission statements, etc. New employees use the hub as their main resource to get in tune with their work schedules, tasks, projects, and more. On top of that, we also post our values and mission statement on the hub so employees have direct access to it 24/7. This seems to be an effective method. —Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

8. Team retreats

Team retreats are my favorite place to have everyone together and give an overview of where we started, where we’ve gotten, and where we’re going. I like to start the event with this, as it tends to bring people together and get them excited to spend time with each other, and of course afterwards, to get back to work and work towards these goals. —Karl Kangur, Above House

9. Workshops

Regular workshops that revolve around the core values and long-term vision have a positive, ongoing impact on the organization. Real-time, live (or Zoom) engagement is more personal than a policy pinned on your site. Day-to-day problems can shift the perspective in the wrong direction, which is why recurring workshops around the business values can void any hesitations across the organization. —Mario Peshev, DevriX

10. Short videos

I like to use videos to explain goals and vision because it’s the preferred method for our employees, so they pay attention more. That means they take in what’s being shared rather than get distracted and miss what they need to know. —Serenity Gibbons, NAACP

11. Town hall meetings

I like the town hall format for sharing this type of information because everyone knows they have the floor to ask questions and get clarity around anything they don’t understand. I also get real-time feedback on what I’m saying so I can see where everyone’s mind is at. —Peter Daisyme, Hostt

12. A mission statement document

I have a mission statement document that I share with all employees. This document outlines my company’s origin story, notable accomplishments, and provides a road map for the future. I frequently update this document as well, so I encourage employees to periodically revisit it, even if they’ve read it before. —Bryce Welker, Accounting Institute of Success

13. Email series

We like to share a stream of emails that cover different aspects of goals and vision. That way, it’s digestible and helps everyone reflect on each aspect separately. Email also allows them to return and reread at their convenience. —Angela Ruth, Calendar

14. Quarterly presentations, monthly updates, and weekly meetings

Weekly meetings are used at the department level to have a two-way discussion about the goals of a particular department. Monthly company-wide updates allow departments to communicate to all stakeholders the progress that department has made toward that goal. Quarterly presentations coming from the C-suite ensure everyone gets management’s interpretation of the progress made on those goals. —Jeff Keenan, LeadsRx

15. Multi-layer communications

Everyone learns and retains information differently, so be prepared to communicate information to your employees in various methods. Begin with group meetings to share any updates, goals, or changes to the organization. From here, send out written communication that outlines what was shared. Having visual, audible, and written communication covers most bases to meet everyone’s needs. —Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc.



Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs. YEC members represent nearly every industry, generate billions of dollars in revenue each year and have created tens of thousands of jobs. Learn more at yec.co.

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