As some of you guys know, due to family reasons and a bit more, I have temporarily left the US and am now operating from the lovely Vancouver in Canada. Leaving the Golden State was tough, and the team wondered if I could still be running the company from here.
But afterall, our team was virtual even before I left the states. We had members from a variety of places, and even team members from the same city don’t sit and work together. So as long as the time zone wasn’t different, it was not as terrible.
To prove this point, we recently entered a Vator.tv competition for $10,000 sponsored by Elance, called “A New Way to Work“. We previously got 10th place in a competition out of 140 startups and pitched the Viralogy idea in front of a number of different investors. We also won 1st place at a VC Pitch Competition.
This project was designed to illustrate the advantages of working virtually on a team without an office. Since we have people from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Texas, New York, and even Turkey, this was fun to make as we each share our experiences.
Breaking the mold of a localized business allows me to plan my hours and my days the way I want. Whether I work at 2 p.m. or 2 a.m. is up to me, and it allows me to manage my productivity effectively. If I need to spend more time with my dog or my fiancée during the day so that I can burn the midnight oil at night, I can do that. If I want to spend my day working on my netbook in a coffee shop, I can do that too. It’s a large responsibility that can be incredibly rewarding if managed well.
Working virtually means that our staff is extremely flexible and respectful of each other’s needs in terms of time. For example, we hold a weekly company meeting at 8 p.m. Those meeting times are extremely rare in the normal corporate culture, but we have found it to be a perfect time to collaborate and think creatively. When you can work in a virtual workplace, you have increased flexibility not only with respect to location, but time as well.
If you want to run a virtual office and don’t know how, check out the blog de Viralogy!
Unfortuantely the video seems to be set to private and can not be viewed.
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