A note from Amber: This blog post was originally written by our content specialist, Emma Crowe-Fleming for the Road Warrior Creative blog. I moved it over here when we closed down that business and took the website offline because I think it’s a good window into what our team was like in March 2020, and didn’t want to lose it forever. Enjoy!
Why We Believe In Working Remotely
Road Warrior Creative has been a traveling agency since the beginning. This love of travel has translated to our agency in a variety of ways (hint: that’s where our name came from!), including our company values. We believe the 9-5 is dead. We believe quality of life matters. And we believe in growing relationships, not transactions. That’s why we take the time to meet face-to-face with our clients from all over the country and grow relationships with them, all while allowing our team to have the flexibility and freedom to get a change of scenery or make a difference in their community.
Just take it from Amber:
When Chris and I were first talking about founding Road Warrior Creative, a big motivator for us was to be able to spend more time with our kids and travel more. I have this mom-dream of taking our kids to all 50 state capitol buildings and then making a coffee table book with the pictures of them in front of each one.
Our desire to travel was central to us starting this business. We didn’t want to spend 40+ hours per week always in an office for years and so it only made sense that when we got ready to grow our team we wouldn’t make our employees sit in an office every day either. In our industry, remote is so easy – we’re working remotely with our clients already, so it’s not that much different to work remotely with our coworkers.
Thoughts from the RWC Team
Amber- CEO & Creative Director
What Is Your Favorite Part About Being Part of a Remote Team?
“My favorite part of working remotely is the freedom it gives me to live and parent the way I want to parent – no commute, being home for my kids after school, and the ability to make anywhere my office…a beach, mountain, coffee shop, or campground. I love that we aren’t limited by geography when we’re hiring and I feel like that allows us to bring the best people to the team. As a business owner, it also makes me feel good to know that we’re providing a better work environment that is more family-friendly and flexible for our employees. We’re a values-based organization and remote is part of how we live our values.”
What Do You Find Challenging About Working Remotely?
“I’ll admit that I’m not the fastest typist and when you’re remote a lot of communication happens in writing! In an office, it’s easy to turn to someone and ask a question or say something quickly. On a remote team communication is more asynchronous which can be hard if you’re looking for a quick answer and have to wait for someone to see your message and respond. (On the flip side, there are a lot fewer distractions when you work from home than when you work in an office!)”
Chris- COO & Food Marketing Evangelist
What Is Your Favorite Part About Being Part of a Remote Team?
“From a strategic perspective, I like that our talent pool is not confined to a single geographic area. If the best person to fill a particular role lives in Montana and our home office is in Texas, I know that we have the systems already in place to hire and successfully collaborate with that individual. Personally, I find it really rewarding that Road Warrior Creative is offering the overwhelming majority of its team members an escape from the “rat race” by offering 100% remote jobs that can be done anywhere with a reliable internet connection.”
What Do You Find Challenging About Working Remotely?
“It is more challenging to build camaraderie and to have a strong “culture” for teams that are mostly remote. All too often, remote work can make people feel isolated. We try to combat that with weekly all-hands video calls and regular one-on-one check-ins with staff, as well as staying open with our team regarding the financial performance of our company. We also have specific policies that are designed to encourage our employees to put themselves out there, whether it’s contributing a monthly allowance towards health/wellness activities, reimbursing employees for coffee if they decide to work from a Starbucks, or helping cover costs for speaking engagements + continuing education. Is it exactly the same as working in a traditional office? Of course not. But, it’s pretty darn close.”
Steve- Developer
What Is Your Favorite Part About Being Part of a Remote Team?
“My favorite part about working remotely is the time flexibility it provides. With this time flexibility, I’m able to weave my personal and professional responsibilities together more easily, resulting in less stress and better available to those who count on me. Choosing to work remote also gives me the ability to compete as an employee in job markets outside my own. This creates the opportunity to find a truly unique company to work for and better job satisfaction.”
What Do You Find Challenging About Working Remotely?
“The most challenging part about working remotely is its difficult to get immediate feedback and have impromptu brainstorming sessions. As a developer sometimes ideas need to be fleshed out or you just need to bounce an idea off someone real quick. Rather than quickly popping into someone’s office you have to ping someone, wait for a response, check their availability and schedule a time to do a conference call. We’re still able to communicate in the end but it’s not without its challenges.”
Emma- Digital Content Specialist
What Is Your Favorite Part About Being Part of a Remote Team?
“My favorite part about being part of a remote team is the amount of freedom and flexibility I have. I’m able to work in a variety of places, travel, and spend more time with friends, family, and my dog! It’s also a really great feeling to know that I have the trust of my team to do my job well on my schedule and without constant micromanagement. It’s something that I think is hard to find and it makes me even more grateful to be a part of such a great company culture.”
What Do You Find Challenging About Working Remotely?
“I sometimes find it challenging to reach out for help when I have questions. We don’t have the ability to walk over to another team member’s desk, ask them a question face-to-face, and get the answer right then and there. At the same time, we all have busy schedules, and someone with an answer may be on a call or buried deep in some work. Because of that, I tend to hesitate before asking questions or leaving comments, but I know that realistically, anyone on my team would happily jump on a video conference or send a chat in our online hub any time I needed their help.”
Phil- Technical Support Lead
What Is Your Favorite Part About Being Part of a Remote Team?
“I love the freedom that working remotely gives me. I get to drop off and pick up my kids from school every day if I need to take my car to the garage, I can work in the lobby while it is being done. How about those cable company appointments: “Our technician will arrive between 9 and noon.” No problem, just open the door and go back to work. Instead of living around my work I get to work around my life.”
What Do You Find Challenging About Working Remotely?
“You don’t get to know your coworkers the same way you do when you sit next to them in an office. I can share a mad meme, but nothing can match the experience of being with people face to face.”
Bernie- Operations Assistant
What Is Your Favorite Part About Being Part of a Remote Team?
“My favorite part of working remotely is my home environment. It’s surrounded by pictures that my son has drawn, a window with a beautiful tree outside that a little squirrel likes to keep active in, and a coffee maker nearby!”
What Do You Find Challenging About Working Remotely?
“It can be challenging when working remotely from home NOT to multitask. It takes a bit of effort, but when the temptation to do a quick chore sets in, I have to remind myself that I have time blocked away later on to do that.”
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