. This episode of the Remote Work Life podcast reveals the tech essentials that can keep your remote team connected and productive without the stress of overcomplicating your setup. Greg Caplan shares his no-nonsense approach to selecting the right tools—whether it’s Zoom, Slack, or Google Meet—and underscores the importance of a strong team culture to make these tools shine.
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Alex Wilson-Campbell
0:00
Welcome
to
the
Remote
Work
Life
podcast
,
where
real
world
remote
work
CEOs
and
leaders
talk
about
how
they
collaborate
,
thrive
and
build
their
businesses
.
Join
me
and
thousands
of
followers
from
around
the
world
to
learn
skills
.
You
need
to
work
online
from
anywhere
,
and
in
this
episode
,
I
am
sharing
with
you
a
nugget
that
I
captured
from
my
interview
with
Greg
Kaplan
,
who
,
at
the
time
,
was
CEO
of
Remote
Year
.
He's
,
at
the
moment
,
chief
Marketing
Officer
Interim
Chief
Marketing
Officer
with
Cameo
as
I
record
this
particular
podcast
,
but
,
as
I
said
,
he
was
with
Remote
Year
.
He
was
CEO
of
Remote
Year
at
the
time
.
Alex Wilson-Campbell
0:44
I
recorded
the
segment
that
you're
about
to
hear
,
and
in
this
segment
,
he
talks
mainly
about
some
of
the
the
tech
that
he
and
his
his
teams
use
.
So
I
think
it's
really
useful
,
because
often
we
can
get
uh
,
overwhelmed
and
really
pontificate
about
the
best
tech
to
use
when
,
at
the
end
of
the
day
,
it's
all
about
keeping
it
straightforward
,
keeping
it
simple
.
So
I
thought
I'd
just
share
this
little
nugget
with
you
and
see
what
you
think
,
and
anywhere
you
are
,
you
have
to
be
,
way
outside
,
not
to
be
able
to
have
a
really
strong
connection
at
this
point
to
the
internet
.
Greg Caplan
1:24
So
it's
things
that
you'd
expect
.
It's
Zoom
or
you
know
maybe
other
video
conferencing
tools
.
Slack
is
great
.
We
spend
a
lot
of
time
on
Slack
.
Obviously
,
it's
a
tool
that's
got
to
be
used
correctly
,
or
else
you
could
waste
a
lot
of
time
chatting
in
Slack
and
emojing
and
sending
giffies
all
day
.
But
Slack
is
a
great
tool
if
you
use
correctly
.
Obviously
,
as
well
,
but
we
like
to
also
have
people
come
together
and
we
have
budgets
for
people
to
come
together
once
a
year
and
meet
in
person
,
which
is
a
really
great
way
to
get
to
know
each
other
and
build
trust
,
so
that
when
you
do
have
these
online
digital
interactions
,
you
do
it
from
a
place
of
empathy
and
understanding
a
little
bit
more
.
But
you
know
all
these
things
are
tools
.
You
know
any
video
conferencing
tool
should
be
fine
.
Any
chat
tool
or
messaging
tool
should
be
fine
,
as
long
as
you
set
the
right
culture
around
how
to
use
them
and
how
you
want
to
get
things
done
as
an
org
.
Alex Wilson-Campbell
2:21
So
the
message
there
really
is
don't
overthink
the
use
of
the
tools
that
you
choose
to
use
when
you're
working
remotely
,
because
,
at
the
end
of
the
day
,
most
of
these
tools
are
pretty
.
You
know
most
of
the
common
tools
like
Zoom
and
Skype
and
Teams
,
even
Meet
.
These
are
all
pretty
sturdy
tools
,
pretty
sort
of
well-known
and
user-friendly
in
most
cases
,
tools
that
you
can
use
,
and
I
think
what
is
really
important
is
just
really
figuring
out
what's
best
for
you
,
what's
best
for
your
team
,
making
sure
that
everybody
on
the
team
knows
how
to
use
those
bits
of
tech
,
making
sure
that
they're
getting
the
most
out
of
it
,
because
,
at
the
end
of
the
day
,
the
tool
is
only
as
good
as
the
person
using
the
tool
.
So
I
think
that's
the
message
that
came
from
Greg
in
that
little
segment
as
well
.
So
just
don't
overthink
it
,
because
you'll
end
up
just
putting
yourself
in
undue
stress
and
overthinking
things
,
which
is
something
that
we
don't
want
to
do
.
Alex Wilson-Campbell
3:30
Another
thing
that
greg
mentioned
there
,
which
I
think
is
really
key
,
really
important
it's
not
just
all
about
online
interactions
.
It's
about
also
when
you
can
getting
together
with
your
team
in
person
,
getting
together
to
understand
them
,
to
really
add
that
next
layer
of
connectivity
,
I
guess
,
and
that
next
layer
of
connection
with
your
teammates
get
to
understand
them
.
That's
.
That's
a
really
important
thing
,
because
,
at
the
end
of
the
day
,
all
these
relationships
and
all
these
tools
,
can
you
know
?
They're
just
pale
in
significance
if
you
can't
trust
those
people
on
your
team
,
if
you
don't
get
to
know
those
people
on
your
team
intimately
and
as
remote
workers
.
That's
what
we're
all
about
.
Alex Wilson-Campbell
4:09
I
think
people
just
think
we
just
sit
behind
a
desk
all
day
in
our
pajamas
at
home
all
these
misconceptions
which
really
kind
of
annoy
me
,
to
be
honest
with
you
.
But
when
we're
not
,
we're
all
about
getting
to
know
people
.
I
think
we
in
fact
are
the
next
level
in
terms
of
communication
and
getting
to
know
people
,
which
is
something
that
I
think
is
misunderstood
.
But
I'm
not
going
to
start
off
on
a
rant
,
I'm
just
going
to
just
,
uh
,
really
leave
it
there
and
just
leave
it
with
a
message
for
you
just
to
really
just
use
the
tools
that
best
suit
you
.
Get
to
to
know
your
tools
,
get
to
know
the
ins
and
outs
of
those
tools
,
don't
use
too
many
things
,
don't
overcomplicate
things
and
just
keep
things
simple
.
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