How To Start a Fully Remote Business in 2023

From saving money on monthly overheads to increased flexibility and easier access to global talent, it is no wonder that fully remote businesses are on the rise across the world. Whether the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted you to take your business online permanently or you are an entrepreneur eager to start a fully remote business in 2023, we have you covered.

In this guide, we briefly highlight the seven easy steps to start a fully remote business in 2023. 

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Step 1: Develop a Business Plan 

Whether you are transforming your existing brick-and-mortar business into a fully remote business or building a remote business from scratch, developing a business plan is essential. A business plan is a document that includes an executive summary of your business and comprehensively outlines your business’s objectives and the strategies your business will take to achieve its goals. 

A business plan will set you up for success when you start a fully remote business. The plan will provide you with a thorough overview of your business, which will highlight the immediate actions you can take to start achieving your goals. It can also help you gain any necessary investment during the finding finances step. 

Step 2: Outline Software Tools You Will Need 

From task management and document sharing to tax compliance software, starting a fully remote business will require an array of software tools specific to your business and industry.

Depending on your business, you may simply need a project management tool and a virtual fax number in Canada, or you may need advanced software solutions to run and manage your remote business. Create a comprehensive outline of your necessary software tools, begin searching for reliable providers and note any associated costs. 

Investing in a digital sales room would provide an ideal virtual space where salespeople can engage with, and pitch to, potential clients. This enables the sales team to have a dedicated, and branded, virtual sales environment to entertain clients and it also offers a means to measure and track the team’s progress on a sale.

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Step 3: Register Your Business

To establish legitimacy, be eligible for funding opportunities and reduce personal liability, you will need a new registration when starting a fully remote business. When registering your business, you will need a virtual business address, a business bank account, a name for your business and a formulated business structure. 

Registering your business is an exciting but often overwhelming aspect of starting a fully remote business. You can hire a company that specializes in business formation services to ensure this step is done accurately, compliantly, and is aligned with ensuring your future success. 

Step 4: Find Funding 

While a fully remote business comes with the perks of not having to pay rent on an office, there will still be initial costs involved with any necessary software tools, supplies and potential employees. There are three common funding sources for businesses: 

  1. Business Loans: Fund your business by applying for a business loan from a bank. 
  2. Personal Funds: Finance your business with your personal funds, such as with personal savings or credit cards. 
  3. Angel Investors: Approach an angel investor or angel investment group for funding in exchange for an equity stake in your business. 

There are various other methods to fund your fully remote business, allowing you to find funds in the best way suited to your business. 

Step 5: Create a Remote Work Policy

If you are planning on hiring employees or transforming your existing employees into remote workers to start a fully remote business, you will need to develop a remote work policy. 

Your remote work policy will act as a formal guideline for your remote employees and will cover aspects such as data security rules, availability and responsiveness requirements, legal, home office recommendations and more. In your remote work policy, you will also need to outline your medium of business communication for your employees. 

It is also important to make sure that you find a way to foster team engagement as part of your work policy. These could be through scheduled virtual team building events or even an activity that requires the remote team to meet in person. 

Having a strong remote work policy is essential if you want to have high-performing virtual teams. You will also want to encourage a positive team culture of global thinking and shared responsibility to bring people together.

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Step 6: Hire Your Employees

Get your fully remote business operating by hiring your first employees. In America alone, 68% of the workforce would choose a fully remote job, so there will be plenty of high-quality candidates for any vacancies when starting a fully remote business. As they’re fully remote roles, you can choose to hire locally or globally, allowing you to gain the best talent for your team.

It’s also worth considering how your teams will be set up in order to reach business goals and make improvements in various processes and services. For example, perhaps splitting up a larger group of employees into a small, agile team can help deliver faster results and ensure better communication across the business.

Step 7: Start Marketing Your Business 

Use effective marketing to allow your fully remote business to start reaching your target audience and converting them into loyal customers. Marketing your remote business will include a website and developing an online presence, as well as creating a marketing plan that will outline long-term marketing strategies. 

Unless you’re experienced in marketing, you should consider outsourcing to professional marketing services or hiring a dedicated marketing employee to ensure your fully remote business is marketed successfully.  

READ — 12 Ways to Repurpose Social Media Content for Email Marketing 

The Bottom Line

Starting a fully remote business or transforming your existing business into a permanent remote model can be easily achieved when you follow the right steps. 

 

Grace LauGrace Lau is the Director of Growth Content at Dialpad, an AI-powered platform for better and easier team collaboration with the help of Dialpad business phone systems in Vancouver. She has over 10 years of experience in content writing and strategy. Currently, she is responsible for leading branded and editorial content strategies, partnering with SEO and Ops teams to build and nurture content. Here is her LinkedIn.