This week’s post is brought to you by our marketing assistant, Rita Domingues. She was inspired to write this post after a couple weeks of our team being in different locations than their usual and still being able to “meet” and work.

For this small-town girl who has now lived in a few different places across Portugal and England for the past ten years, being part of a global team truly is the dream. It’s true I have the travel bug and a curious mind to discover more about the world and people. While this may not be true for you, I know some of the things we have learned as a global remote team, and systems we have developed to run and operate a functional business, can be applied to any type of business, and hopefully will bring you a fresh perspective to implement in your business or personal life.

The world we are living in today is rapidly changing, and globalization is a reality for most people across the globe. So in my opinion, keeping a curious mindset and a willingness to learn despite each other’s differences can only bring a positive impact to one’s life.

Today I would like to go over some of the benefits and challenges of not being tied to a physical location and how we run and operate Stacy’s business as a global remote team.

“I love being able to connect with people that I wouldn’t be able to if I had worked in an office. It also allows me to learn about the world and grow in a way that just isn’t possible in an office.”

Andrew Dare, Operations Manager, based in South Africa 🇿🇦

Living the dream!

Happy life, happy work life

As a global team of now six members across three continents, we all share a vision of location independence. This freedom of physical space allows us to have a more balanced work life and be able to still show up for our team and work, while showing up for our family and friends and other personal goals we all have, without compromising one or the other. Whether that’s getting that extra workout in, or having the luxury of a fresh meal for lunch, or getting that extra date night in.

Having this sense of freedom and choice in work life, and having a balanced lifestyle, creates a synergy of joy and happiness as individuals that is so reflective of how we then show up for each other as a team, and therefore to our clients and the work we are doing. You might be thinking, “OK, but with all that freedom, when and how do you actually do your work? No one is monitoring you, and you don’t have a place to be. How does that work?”

You may be surprised when you read this, but in my experience of working as part of a global remote team and having this freedom to be anywhere, we have to trust each other and believe we are all doing our best work. This feeling then creates a sense of responsibility and desire to show up as our best version for our team, which will support productivity and communication.

Bom Dia or Good Morning

Personally, a favorite of mine, I get to learn about other cultures whilst in the comfort of my home—heck, yeah! As much as I love to travel and explore the world, I also like the periods of my life when I’m in my home, with my dog, having our routine and our home-cooked meals, but I’m also able to learn about other cultures and the world during those periods of time. It’s so enriching on so many levels, including creativity.

From my personal experience, and for many shared conversations with friends and people I have met throughout the years from all over the globe, being open to understanding other people’s cultures and ways of being will increase your empathy and understanding that we all have differences and we all have something important to bring to the table. This mindset and exposure to differences will create positive impacts in all areas of your life and make you a more resilient human being.

“I love that we’re all in different parts of the world. It’s so fun getting little glimpses into each other’s lives and corners of the globe. Especially with all the recent trips we’ve taken.”

Cayla Lewis, Executive Assistant, South Africa, currently in the Netherlands 🇿🇦🇳🇱

In our team, this cultural exchange and openness to different ways of working increase a growth mindset, as well as a creative and innovative energy that supports the flourishing of the business.

It isn’t always paradise!

As much as we are all living the dream and working together from afar and learning about the world even from our homes, it isn’t always paradise. We do face challenges within our remote global team just like any other team. I like to see the glass half-full though, and despite the challenges, there’s some amazing things that come with it too.

We face challenges and friction when we end up having to think outside the box and create things that perhaps we didn’t even know were possible. And isn’t that beautiful?

Around the clock

Yes, time zones can be a tricky one, and sometimes that requires getting up a little earlier for our US team members, or clocking off a little later for our European and South African team members. It’s quite funny though when we do our big team meeting on a Monday, and someone has the energy of the end of the workday, and someone else is having their first cup of coffee in the morning.

“I love how connected we feel on our calls—despite being spread across the globe!”

Katie King, Author Influence Circle Community Manager, US based in Portugal 🇺🇸🇵🇹

Time zone differences can create some friction when it comes to communication and require extra mindfulness of each person’s working hours. But this friction and extra thoughtfulness also make us more adaptable and respectful humans.

This is highly impactful in our personal lives and also in how we show up for our clients. As a service-based business in the nonfiction writing industry, we meet a lot of people from all different backgrounds with an important message to share with the world. Our mindfulness of our own differences helps us be more respectful of everyone’s circumstances. This mindset allows us to create frameworks that are more supportive of more people in achieving their success. And with our clients, that means going from their first idea to a finished first draft.

Humans behind a computer screen

This point is probably the hardest one. We are all real human beings in flesh and bone—I know, mind-blowing that we have real bodies outside a computer screen—and like any other human beings, we need people around us; we need connection and being in community.

It takes longer to get to know someone because we don’t get to see each other in person very often, or sometimes ever. We don’t get to see how they walk into a room, or how their facial expressions or body language shifts when something is good or bad. We don’t get to share meals or take a coffee break and share about our day.

But when we meet in person, we truly are grateful and enjoy every minute of it! Even though we haven’t yet all met in person, the few of us who have met truly value those moments when we can finally see, hug, talk, share coffees and meals together, and create a bigger sense of connection. These moments make us more grateful and appreciative of one another!

Building a powerful team—despite the distance

As our team has grown over the years, we’ve had to find ways to create a sense of connection and accountability to keep showing up to do work we love, and to be present with our clients. Whether that’s when we are in the same city at the same time to meet and work together and grab a meal or coffee, or when we have our yearly and quarterly calls doing exercises together that create a sense of team culture.

More recently so, we started meeting every day for fifteen minutes for a daily check-in. In those check-in calls, we discuss our work in progress, our top priorities for the day, any hurdles we are facing, and each day we have a theme that we anchor to.

• Mondays and Tuesdays: teammate shout-out or team win (this will rotate weekly)
• Wednesday: personal win
• Thursday: one thing we are thankful for
• Friday: what we need to clear up to have fun for the weekend and something we are looking forward to in our weekend

These calls have been highly impactful on our team culture, and how we feel connected as a whole, despite not having an office that we get to go to every day and work alongside each other. For any remote global teams, I can’t even express how important having this daily check-in with your coworkers is, and more so than the daily check-in is having it anchored to a theme for each day. It will improve your team dynamic and productivity, projects will get to the finish line quicker, prioritization of tasks will support the bigger company goals and objectives, and you will get the right support you need to accomplish your tasks.

“It’s amazing to be so connected with a team that’s all over the world! I appreciate the fact that we have the flexibility to live our fullest lives and pursue meaningful work at the same time. I’m constantly inspired by the adventurous spirit of our team and feel that our ability to live connected, aligned personal lives helps us show up as a connected, aligned team.”

Stacy Ennis, Founder and CEO, US based in Portugal 🇺🇸🇵🇹

My goal with today’s post is to give you a little insight into what it’s like to work with a remote global team, our favorite things about it, how we overcome challenges, how this way of working makes us better human beings and professionals, and how powerful it can be when we foster a curious mindset and learn together through our differences. I believe this mindset can be put into practice in any sort of team you might have or are a part of—or even in your personal life.

“I appreciate how our team has been strategically brought together, so we can use our strengths to fill in any gaps there are. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to support each other in that way.”

Kim Foster, Writer and Editor, based in the US 🇺🇸

We spend so much of our time working and with the people we get to work alongside with, so then why not make it fun? Why not make it simpler? And why not make it richer and more impactful for all of us?

Oh, and I almost forgot to include my popular Portuguese saying for the day. I think this one is very suitable for today’s insights. Diz-me com quem andas, dirte-ei quem és—Tell me who you surround yourself with, and I will tell you who you are.

To building stronger connections and powerful teams!

Tchau for now, Rita