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RWL053 Greg How to Quit the 9-to-5 and Build a Remote Career Around the World with Greg

Ever felt trapped in the mundane grind of a 9-to-5 job and dreamt of exploring the world while still building a successful career? Greg’s riveting story may just be the spark you need. In our latest episode, hear how he transitioned from a life of routine in Chicago to becoming a global traveler and entrepreneur. Greg’s journey led him to create Remote Year, a groundbreaking program that helps people achieve the freedom to work and live in different countries. Learn how he transformed his personal dream into a thriving community, and discover the steps he took to make it all happen.

But that’s not all—we also dive deep into the nitty-gritty of managing a distributed team spread across the globe. Greg sheds light on the complexities of global recruiting, the significance of aligning new hires with company values, and the essential role of thorough reference checks. Get insights on how Remote Year overcomes the hurdles of remote management, employs the best digital tools for seamless communication, and maintains team cohesion through annual in-person meetups. Tune in for a treasure trove of insights that could revolutionize your approach to remote work.

Looking for Remote Work?

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Living and Working Abroad Success Story

Speaker 1
0:00

Greg
.

So

where

are

you

at

the

moment
?

Where

are

you

jumping

on

this

call

from

at

the

moment
?

Speaker 2
0:05

Hey
,

alex
.

Today

I

am

in

Mexico

City
.

This

is

my

home

base

these

days
,

but

last

week

I

was

in

Italy

and

the

week

before

in

London
.

I

like

to

be

all

over
.

Speaker 1
0:15

And

that

is

the

beauty

of

setting

up

your

own

company

that

allows

you

to

be

here
,

there

and

everywhere
,

right
?

Speaker 2
0:23

That's

right
.

It's

a

priority

for

me
,

so

I've

sort

of

made

that

happen
.

Speaker 1
0:27

Nice
,

you've

got

to

tell

me

then
.

So

how

did

you

get

from

where

you

were

to

being

basically

a

jet

setter
?

Well
,

I

don't

know

if

it's

a

jet

setter
,

but

having

a

lifestyle

where

you

can

actually

you've

aligned

with

your

passion

for

traveling

and

remote

work

to
,

um
,

you

know

what

you're

doing

now
.

How

do

you

get

to

that

point
?

Speaker 2
0:50

for

sure
.

So

I'll

take

you

back

2014
.

Uh
,

and

I

was

living

in

chicago

and

I

grew

up

in

chicago
.

I'm

from

chicago
.

I've

never

lived

outside

of

midwest

before

this

and
,

uh
,

when

I

was

in

university
,

uh
,

my

friends

all

got

to

study

abroad
.

I

didn't

actually

get

the

opportunity

to

do

that
,

but

I

went

and

visited

some

of

them

and

just

had

this

amazing

experience

and

this

romantic

idea

of

living

outside

the

country

that

always

stuck

with

me
.

Speaker 2
1:14

And

you

know
,

I

was

living

in

Chicago
,

working

in

Chicago

the

nine

to

five
.

You

know

you

commute

the

same

way

every

single

day

into

sort

of

a

sea

of

death

full

of

people

kind

of

uninspired

by

what

they're

doing
,

and

I

just

kind

of

felt

stuck
.

You

know
,

I

wanted

to

do

something

different
.

I

had

this
,

this

romantic

dream

of

living

in

different

countries

and
,

you

know
,

eating

local

foods

and

meeting

people

and

having

these

kinds

of

just

unbelievable

life

changing

experiences
.

And

so

what

I

did

was

I

said

I

want

to

do

this

sustainably

and

I

want

to

do

this

in

a

way

that

I

can

do

more

than

a

week

or

two

at

a

time
.

So

the

first

thing

is

I

found

work

I

could

do

from

anywhere

and

at

the

time

2014
,

I

didn't

really

know

about

remote

work

or

the

fact

that

you

could

do

it

full

time

for

a

company
.

So

what

I

did

is

I

went

out

and

I

reached

out
,

reached

out

to

my

network

and

I

asked

people
,

do

you

need

some

help

with

strategy

or

with

marketing

or

anything

like

that
?

Um
,

and

one

of

my

friends

thankfully

had

a

company

and

he

he

needed

some

help
.

So

we

signed

a

deal

for

me

to

start

helping

them

out

on

a

ongoing

basis

with

some

marketing

strategy
,

putting

up

their

sort

of

paid

marketing

strategy

and

infrastructure
.

Um
,

so

that

that

was

it
.

That

was

like

the

day
.

Speaker 2
2:26

So

when

that

happened
,

that

night

I

went

to

dinner

with

my

group

of

best

friends

and

I

said

hey

guys
,

I

got

this

work

I

can

do

from

anywhere
.

Do

you

guys

also

want

to

get

remote

jobs

or

jobs

you

can

do

from

anywhere

and

go

travel

together
?

And

they

all

kind

of

looked

at

me

like

I

was

crazy
.

These

are

investment

bankers

and

consultants

and

professional

types

of

folks

and

they

just

didn't

even

wrap

their

heads

around

it
.

They

said

that

doesn't

make

any

sense
.

We're

not

going

to

go

do

that

with

you
.

What

are

you

talking

about
?

And

so

the

next

day

I

quit

my

job

and

I

started

traveling
.

I
,

the

same

day
,

wanted

to

have

a

group

of

people

to

go

do

that

with
.

So

I

put

up

this

website

and

it

said

who

wants

to

travel

together

for

a

year

while

working

remotely
?

And

I

sent

the

link

to

a

couple

of

friends

and

they

sent

it

to

a

couple

other

friends

apparently
,

and

before

I

knew

it

the

first

day
,

over

a

thousand

people

had

signed

up
.

Speaker 1
3:22

Oh

my

gosh
.

Wow
,

totally

unexpected
,

so

right

when

I

just

got

started

the

same

day
,

over

1,000

people

had

signed

up
.

Speaker 2
3:25

Oh

my

gosh
,

wow
,

Totally

unexpected
.

So
,

right

when

I

just

got

started

the

same

day
,

all

these

things

sort

of

happened
,

like

I

got

some

remote

work
,

I

quit

my

job

and

then

I

put

up

this

website

and

it

just

sort

of

all

kind

of

was

happening

like

really

fast

at

the

same

time
,

and

then

over

the

next

few

months
,

more

people

kept

talking

about

it
,

journalists

started

writing

about

it

in

the

US

and

then

abroad
,

and

before

I

knew

it
,

50,000

people

had

signed

up
.

Totally

unexpected
,

yeah
.

And

so

during

this

time

I

was

traveling
,

I

was

kind

of

you

know

working

and

you

know

doing

all

these

things
,

but

all

the

while
,

all

these

people

were

saying

I

want

to

do

this

experience
,

I

want

to

come

do

this

with

you

from

all

over

the

world
.

Speaker 2
4:05

And

during

that

I

said
,

wow
,

there's

something

here
,

there's

something

more
.

Um
,

this
,

this
,

this

could

really

be

something
.

And

so

that's

when
,

um
,

you

know
,

I

was

talking

to

one

of

my

best

friends
,

sam
,

talking

about

this

interest

and

excitement

that

this

idea

was

getting
,

um
,

and

that's

when

we

kind

of

decided

to

formalize

this

into

a

more

formal

program

and

say

we

can

help

people

do

this

and

really

make

it

into

something

more

than

just

a

group

of

friends

traveling
.

And

so

during

that

experience

I

sort

of

went

from
,

you

know
,

working

freelance

and

traveling

to

building

Remote

Year

over

the

next

you

know
,

couple

months
,

which

was

sort

of

unexpected

and

came

about

really

because

I

wanted

a

group

of

people

personally

to

travel

with

now

that

is

has

got

to

be

the

ultimate

story

in

turning

your

passion

into

like

a

successful

business
.

Speaker 1
4:52

If

I

ever

heard

one

and

I
,

well
,

a

lot

of

people

I

mean

when

you
,

when

you

see

all

these

videos
,

all

these

gurus

on

youtube

talking

about

traveling

and

and

working

a

lot

there's

a

lot

of
,

obviously
,

fakers

out

there
,

obviously
,

but

for

sure

you've

turned

it

into

something
.

You've

not

only

have

you

turned

your

passion

into

something

that

you

can

do
,

but

you've

also

brought

along

with

you

people

who

want

to

do

the

same

thing

and

doing

it

really

and

truly

in

real

life
,

and

they're

doing

it

for

a

year

at

a

time
,

right
,

totally
.

Speaker 2
5:25

So

we

have

four

month

programs

and

we

have

12

month

programs
.

So

in

each

one

you

live

and

work

in

a

new

place

each

month

throughout

the

experience
,

together

with

a

community

of

30

to

50

people
.

So

you're

doing

this
,

you're

working

remotely
,

living

in

different

places
,

and

it

is

an

unbelievable

life

changing

experience

to

have

that

opportunity

to

live

abroad
,

that

opportunity

to

live

abroad
.

But

the

thing

that

people

really

love

about

Remote

Year

is

the

community
,

is

you

build

this

relationship

with

these

folks

you

share

the

experience

with

in

ways

that

you

just

can't

even

understand

or

dream

of
.

It's

unbelievable
.

Speaker 1
5:58

It's

amazing
.

I've

been

trying

to

get

hold

of

Greg

for

a

while

to

interview

him
.

I'm

so

glad

that

he's

come

on

here

to

really

talk

about

it
,

to

let

you

know

that

this

is

happening
.

People

are

doing

this
.

Speaker 1
6:11

Um
,

people

are
,

you

know
,

not

only

working

remotely

I

think

remote

work

is

still

still

people

still

trying

to

get

to

grips

with

the

actual

idea

and

the

concept

of

remote

work

but

they're

traveling
,

they're

doing

their
,

what

they

do

professionally
,

but

taking

it

on

the

road

for

four

months

a

year
,

you

know
,

up

to

a

year

at

a

time
.

Road

for

four

months

a

year
,

you

know
,

up

to

a

year

at

a

time
.

So

it's

real

and

if

you

want
,

you

know
,

you

should

get

in

touch

with

Greg
.

I'm

gonna

leave

a

link
,

obviously
,

around
,

just

so

you

can

actually

see

what

you're

going

to
.

Have

a

look

yourself

as

well
,

because

if

you're

dreaming

about

doing

that

yourself
,

greg

can

make

it

happen

for

you
.

Speaker 1
6:48

You

know
,

and

what

I'd

ask

Greg

is

I

know

there's

lots

of

people

listening

to

this

that

there

are

remote

people

listening

to

this
.

There

are

also

people

who

are

trying

to

make

not

just

remote

work

happen

for

them
,

but

they're

also

trying

to

make

traveling

while

they're

working

happen

as

well
.

So

if

I'm
,

you

know
,

I'm

now

sitting

in

my

cubicle

in

my

digital

marketing

agency

or

wherever

it

may

be
.

Think

to

myself

I

need

to

convince

my

boss

to

let

me

go

remote
.

What

steps

should

I

take

to

do

that
?

Speaker 2
7:22

Yeah
,

it's

a

challenging

conversation
,

right
,

it's

a

big

ask

for

lots

of

people

and

we've

had

now

over

2
,

over

2500

people

come

on

our

programs

and

we've

we've

been

part

of

that

conversation

thousands

of

times

now
.

Um
,

so

we've

really

perfected

how

to

do

that

best

and

we

actually

have

a

full-time

team

dedicated

to

helping

people

have

that

conversation

with

their

employer

and

that's

all

they

do

every

single

day

is

they

help

people

that

conversation
?

So

if

people

really

want

to

do

this

and

they

want

to

make

remote

work

and

travel

work

for

them
,

they

should

reach

out

to

us
.

They

should

come

to

remote

year
.

Speaker 2
7:55

Um
,

they

should

reach

out

to

me

personally
,

greg

at

remote

yearcom
.

Feel

free

to

email

me

direct

and

I'm

happy

to

help

anyone

in

the

audience

that

wants

it
.

Um
,

and

we

have

a

team

dedicated

to

helping

you

do

that
.

So
,

um
,

we're

we're

happy

to

get

on

the

phones
,

understand

your

specific

situation
,

understand

what

your

company's

like
,

and

we've

built

out

business

cases

and

all

kinds

of

supporting

materials

to

help

people

really

make

the

case

to

their

employer

to

make

this

possible
.

So

if

people

want

that

help
,

we're

here

to

support
.

Just

come

on

to

remoteyearcom

or

send

me

an

email
,

greg

at

remoteyear
,

and

we'll

help

you

guys

out
.

Speaker 1
8:26

You

might

be

hearing

from

me

All

right
,

let's

do

it
.

No
,

well
,

yeah
,

I

eventually

want

to

do

it
.

I

mean
,

I

I'm

at

the

point

now

where

I'm

probably

not

quite

ready

to

do

it

yet
.

But

what

I

really

want

to

know

is
,

what

is

there

a

certain

type

of
?

Obviously

my

community

is

is

a

mix

of

digital

marketers

and

people

in

tech
,

for

example
.

But

yeah
,

is

there

a

aside

from

this
,

the

sort

of

hard

skills
?

Is

there

a

certain

type

of

person

that

is

part

of

your

community
?

Are

they
,

you

know
,

are

they

quite

young
?

Are

they

what
?

What

sort

of

demographics

are

we

looking

at
?

Speaker 2
9:01

yeah
,

well
,

first

of

all
,

we
.

Our

community

is

full

of

curious
,

driven

professionals
,

and

we

mean

curious

and

driven

professionals

all

three

words

very

specifically
.

Everyone

is

pursuing

something

professionally

throughout

the

experience

and

they're

really

excited

to

learn

and

grow

as

a

person

on

the

experience
,

both

personally

and

professionally
.

And

so

that's

really

who
,

psychographically
,

the

people

are

in

our

community
.

Other

than

that
,

it's

pretty

diverse
.

So

we

have

people

22

up

until

76
.

So

super
,

super

wide

range

of

folks

from

over

40

different

countries

participating
.

So

it's

a

diverse

group

of

people
,

all

kinds

of

experiences
,

all

kinds

of

backgrounds
.

We

are

an

American

company
,

so

there

is

a

larger

proportion

of

Americans

than

other

backgrounds
.

But

other

than

that
,

it's

really

really

diverse
.

And

the

thing

that

really

binds

these

people

together

is

that

these

are

people

that

are

excited

to

learn

about

new

people

and

ideas

and

excited

to

grow

personally

and

professionally

and

they're

really

growing

while

being

productive

and

working

throughout

the

experience
.

Speaker 1
10:06

No
,

I

mean
,

it's

great

and

well
,

I'd

never

have

thought

that
.

I

suppose

you

don't

think

again

when

you

see

all

these

images

of

digital

nomads
.

They're

all

sort

of

like

Millennials

and

young

looking

people

and

you

never

imagine

so
.

The

reality

is

far

different

from

the

images

that

we

see
,

and

I

think

another

thing

that's

that
,

so

go

ahead

I

will

say

that

there

are

a

lot

of

millennials
,

of

course
,

um
,

that

is
.

Speaker 2
10:34

That

is

a

big

part

of

the

demographic
,

for

sure
,

um
,

but

it

is

more

diverse

than

I

think

you'd

imagine

and

I

think

I

mean

as

much

as

it's

it's

a

great
.

Speaker 1
10:43

It's

a

great
.

I

love

the

concept
,

I

love

the

idea

of

traveling

and

working
.

As

I

said
,

and

there's

so

many

people

out

there

who

like

it

as

well
.

There's

still

a

component

of

adaptation
,

especially

if

you

haven't

worked

remotely

before
,

and

I

know

one

big

issue

in

the

remote

community

is

and

I

know

obviously

you

being

in

a

group

or

community

kind

of

perhaps

negates

that

in

some

ways
,

but

there

are

people

that

might

feel

a

sense

of

isolation

or

a

sense

of

loneliness
.

How

are

you

as

a

group

sort

of

dealing

with

that
?

But

also
,

what

sort

of

recommendations

can

you

make
?

Speaker 2
11:22

Yeah
,

well
,

I

think

the

way

that

remote

work

can

become

lonely

is

if

you

just

are

working

from

home

and

you

never

leave

your

home
.

But

we're

all

about

co-working

and

bringing

communities

and

people

together

and

I

think

if

you

ask

anyone

on

our

programs
,

I

don't

think

anyone

would

say

they're

lonely
,

because

there's

this

constant
,

high

energy
,

social

interaction

happening

at

all

times
.

Interaction

happening

at

all

times
.

So

that

is

a

really

supportive
,

amazing

community

that

we

build
.

It's

outside

of

the

workplace
,

right
,

this

is

more

of

a

social

community
.

But

I

would

say
,

if

you

are

lonely
,

if

you

can't

do

remote

year

or

you

can't

do

a

program

that's

going

to

help

you

have

that

kind

of

experience
,

I

would

say
,

at

least

join

a

co-working

space
,

because

those

are

some

great

places

to

have

some

social

interactions
.

It

gets

you

out

of

the

home
,

even

if

you

don't

have

to

go

into

an

office

every

day
.

Speaker 1
12:08

No
,

definitely
.

I

think

the

key

is

I

think

actually

I

suffered

this

myself

when

I

first

started

working

remotely
.

I

worked

from

home

a

lot

and

perhaps

at

that

point
,

going

back

10

years

ago

now
,

I

did

tend

to

just

really

sort

of

engross

myself

in

the

work

so

much

that

I

just

kind

of

one

moment

I

looked

out

and

it

was

sun

and

the

next

minute

it

was

sort

of

dark

outside
.

So

yeah
,

greg

hits

on

a

great

point
.

It's

that

we're

human

beings

and

we

need

that

interaction
,

we

need

community
,

we

need

people

around

us
,

we

need

that

inspiration

around

us

to

actually

get

to

do

our

best

work
.

Speaker 1
12:50

But
,

greg
,

what

I

want

to

ask

you

as

well

is
,

again

there's

a

number

of

people

in

my

community

that

have

their

own

businesses

as

well
.

Well
,

when

I

say

businesses
,

they

may

be

freelancers

or

they're

working

in

relatively

small

teams
.

So

one

big

question

is

as

well

is

about

uh
,

community
,

so

not

just

community

but

but

um

culture

as

well
.

I

don't

know

if

you
,

if

you're

sort

of
,

if

this

is

an

area

that

you

delve

too

much

into
,

but

people
,

a

lot

of

questions

I

get

are

around

actually

building

teams
,

so

like

building

remote

teams
,

and

I

know

that's

obviously

something

that

you're

doing

right

now

actually
,

yeah
,

how

do

you

go

about

what's

your

hiring

process
?

How

do

you

go

about

it
?

Speaker 2
13:36

Yeah
,

I

mean
.

The

cool

part

about

remote

teams

is

there's

a

big

talent

pool
.

Lots

of

people

want

to

work

for

remote

companies
.

If

you

put

out

a

job

that

is

open

to

remote
,

you're

going

to

get

a

lot

of

applicants

usually
.

So

that's

the

great

part

about

remote

work
.

Global Recruiting and Distributed Team

Speaker 2
13:52

The

hard

part

is

vetting

those

candidates

right
.

You

have

to

understand

the

right

way

to

get

to

know

people

throughout

the

experience

and

filter

through

a

big

stack

of

folks
.

I

like

to

figure

out

what

are

the

motivations

of

the

person
,

why

are

they

looking

to

have

this

job
?

And

if

their

motivation

is

they

just

want

to

work

remotely
,

I'm

probably

less

inclined

to

want

to

hire

that

person
.

I'm

looking

for

people

who

are

much

more

connected

to

the

mission

of

what

we're

doing
,

and

so

I

like

to

really

find

people

that

we

call

zealots
,

people

who

just

love

remote

year

and

are

so

passionate

about

our

mission
,

and

I

think

any

company

should

be

able

to

really

clearly

articulate

what

your

mission

is
,

their

purpose

for

being

there
,

and

if

you

can

articulate

that

well
,

then

anyone

that

you

talk

to

you

could

find

out

if

the

reason

they

want

to

work

for

you

is

aligned

with

your

mission

or

if

it's

more

of

a

mercenary

engagement

and

they

really

want

to

work

just

for

the

money

or

just

because

they

have

a

certain

perk

or

benefit
.

Speaker 2
14:48

So

that's

the

first

thing

that

I

like

to

do
,

and

then

the

other

is

you

really

get

to

know

people
.

We

like

to

do

a

pretty

aggressive

referencing

process

where

we

get

to

know

other

folks

that

you

worked

with
,

learn

what

that's

actually

like
.

We

like

to

get

to

know

people

through

multiple

interviews
.

For

some

roles

we

bring

people

out

and

meet

them

in

person
.

So

it's

really
,

you

know
,

taking

the

time

to

make

sure

that

the

folks

that

you're

bringing

onto

your

team

is

the

right

person

for

the

role

and

for

the

org

you

know
,

and

bringing

a

different
,

diverse

sort

of

perspective

to

the

table
.

Speaker 1
15:21

Okay
,

and

your

team

must

be
.

I

mean
,

is

your

team

based

different

parts

of

the

world
,

or

are

you

mainly

America

or

Europe
?

Speaker 2
15:30

Yeah
,

we

have

about

110

people

now

and

we're

fully

distributed

all

over

the

world
.

So

we

have

people

across

Asia
,

across

Europe
,

some

in

Africa
.

We

have

people

in

India
,

all

over

LATAM

and

then

a

bunch
,

of

course
,

in

North

America

as

well
.

Speaker 1
15:45

And

typically

I

mean

of

that

100
,

what

does

your
,

what

I

mean
?

Can

you

sort

of

dissect

how

your

team

is

sort

of

split

up
?

Speaker 2
15:54

Yeah
,

about

half

the

team

is

on

a

global

operations

team
.

So

we

have

people

full

time

in

each

of

the

cities

that

we

operate

in
.

We're

operating

in

12

different

cities

globally
.

We're

operating

in

12

different

cities

globally

and

so

we

have

that

infrastructure

in

place

to

plan

and

provide

the

experience

and

the

what

we

call

infrastructure

so

the

apartments
,

the

co-working

spaces
,

the

transport
,

things

like

that
.

So

we

have

a

really
,

really

amazing

team

all

over

the

world

to

really

deliver

that

experience
.

And

then

the

rest

of

the

org

is

on

the

experience

team

the

product
,

the

finance
,

the

marketing
,

the

set

sales

and

people

operations
,

sort

of

you

know

technology
,

all

the

different

parts

that

you'd

sort

of

think

about
.

Speaker 1
16:36

You

know

you

need

to

support

that

org
.

It's

amazing
.

It's

an

amazing

story
.

It's

like

you've

gone

from

sort

of

wanting

to

travel

yourself

for

work

to

setting

up

a

business

that's

distributed

across

the

world
.

You've

got

more

than

100

people

in

that

business
.

Did

you

ever

imagine

that

it

would

get

to

this

level
?

Speaker 2
16:51

You

know

it
,

it

didn't

start

there
.

You

know

it

started

with

I

was

kind

of

looking

for

sadly
,

looking

for

friends

to

travel

with
,

but

it

became

pretty

clear

early

on

from

the

reactions

that

we

got

the

excitement
,

the

interest

that

there's

something

bigger

here

and

that

it

could

become

something

pretty

important
.

And

you

know

that's

really

been
,

as

we've

seen

that

opportunity
.

Our

mission

is

to

build

that

and

we

really

believe

fundamentally

that

as

we

enable

more

people

to

have

this

kind

of

experience

who

maybe

otherwise

wouldn't

have

that

opportunity
,

we

build

that

kind

of

global

understanding

and

empathy

in

a

way

that

really

makes

the

world

a

better

place
.

And

that's

really

important

and

that's

really

valuable
.

And

we

want

to

try

to

have

that

impact

on

as

many

people

as

we

can
.

And

so

that's

that's

why

we're
,

you

know
,

focused

on

how

do

we

continue

to

evolve

our

experience
,

evolve

the

way

we

communicate

with

the

world

and

evolve

the

different

type

of

experiences

that

we

offer

to

make

this

accessible

to

as

many

people

as

possible

wonderful

and

managing

a

hundred

people
.

Speaker 1
17:57

Obviously

you've

got

your

managers
,

who
,

who

help

you

out
,

but

how

do

you

guys

all

stay

connected

in

different

corners

of

the

of

the

world
?

What

and

what

sort

of
?

Speaker 2
18:07

so

I

guess
,

what

sort

of

apps

are

you

not

apps
,

but

sort

of

tech

are

you

using

to

stay
,

stay

in

touch
,

and

sure

yeah
,

I

mean
,

the

cool

thing

about

remote

work

is

it

didn't

used

to

be

possible
,

but

now

connectivity

is

just

seeped

into

every

corner

of

the

world

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

that

you'd

expect
.

It's
,

it's

zoom
,

or

you

know

maybe

other

video

Building a Remote Work Culture

Speaker 2
18:41

conferencing

tools
.

Um
,

slack

is

great
.

We

spend

a

lot

of

time

on

slack
,

um
,

obviously

it's

a

tool
.

It's

got

to

be

used

correctly

or

else

you

could

waste

a

lot

of

time
.

Speaker 2
18:45

Oh

yeah
,

chatting

and

slack
,

um
,

and

emojing

and

sending

giffies

all

day
.

But
,

uh
,

slack

is

a

great

tool
,

um
,

if

you

use

correctly
.

Obviously
,

email

as

well
,

um
,

but

you

know
,

we

like

to

also

have

people

come

together
,

um
,

and

we

have

budgets

for

people

to

come

together
,

uh
,

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

um
,

a

little

bit

more
.

But

you

know
,

all

these

things

are

tools
.

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
.

Speaker 1
19:30

That's

great
.

And

is

that

those

meetings

Because

I

mean

speaking

to

Nick

Francis

from

Help

Scout

and

a

number

of

other

remote

CEOs

like

yourself
,

they

have

meetups

baked

into

their

actual

way

that

they

work

so

that

they

can
,

like

you

said
,

build

that

trust

and

that

collaboration

that

sort

of

community

feel
.

Is

that

something

that

is

baked

into

your

culture

as

well
?

Speaker 2
19:59

that

sort

of

community

feel
.

Is

that

something

that

is

baked

into

your

culture

as

well
?

Yeah
,

yeah
,

definitely

we

have
.

Like

I

said
,

we

have

budget

and

process

for

people

to

meet

up

once

a

year

with

different

teams
,

and

that's

a

big

part

of

it
.

But

I

think
,

you

know
,

truly

the

digital

components

are

the

way

that

that

culture

gets

reinforced

and

the

work

actually

gets

done
.

I

mean
,

I

think

most

companies
,

even

companies

that

are

co-located

most

of

that

stuff

actually

happens

digitally

and

that's

a

big

part

of

how

we

get

things

done

at

Remote

Year

and
,

I

think
,

how

most

people

get

things

done

otherwise
.

Speaker 2
20:29

You

know
,

one

thing

that

I've

been

thinking

a

lot

more

about

is

this

idea

of

asynchronous

for

synchronous

communication

and

there's

this

big

meeting

culture

and
,

I'll

be

honest
,

at

Remote
,

you're

pretty

guilty

of

this
.

We

have

all

kinds

of

meetings

for

all

kinds

of

things
.

If

there's

something

going

to

get

done
,

we'll

call

a

meeting

and

bring

everyone

together

to

talk

about

it

live
.

I've

been

diving

in

and

talking

to

a

lot

of

other

remote

leaders

about

how

they

do

things

and

I've

been

learning

about

ways

that

they

really

sort

of

inspire

and

encourage

asynchronous

written

communication
,

and

I'm

trying

to

think

about

how

does

that

work

for

us

at

Remote

Year

how

can

we

sort

of

build

out

some

more

processes

so

people

can

do

less

meetings

and

spend

more

time

actually

working

and

being

productive

through

asynchronous

written

touchpoints
?

That
,

I

think
,

is

a

really

exciting

idea

that

some

other

remote

companies
,

I

think
,

do

better

than

us
.

Speaker 2
21:22

One

cool

example

is

GitLab
.

I

don't

know

if

you've

heard

of

GitLab
,

yes
,

oh
,

very

cool
.

For

anyone

who

doesn't

know
,

it's

a

large

software

tool

that

helps

people

collaborate

and

build

software

together

and

they

are

fully

remote

and

distributed

and

they

have

the

GitLab

handbook
,

which

is

publicly

published
.

You

can

Google

it

and

it

has

all

the

different

processes

that

they

have

internally

documented

really

well

and

written

very

clearly
.

I

think

that's

a

really
,

really

cool

idea
,

a

really

cool

concept

that

I'm

trying

to

think

about

for

us

at

Remote

Year

formalizing

and

publishing

different

processes

that

we

have

around

how

we

do

one-on-ones
,

how

we

do

video

conferencing
,

how

we

do

Slack

to

sort

of

take

the

best

practices

that

we've

developed

over

these

years

and

share

them

out

with

the

world
,

but

also

formalize

them

a

little

bit

more

clearly

for

folks

within

our

org

so

there's

less

confusion
.