When Ryan Malone started his digital marketing agency SmartBug Media in 2008, he didn’t bother opening an office. And as the company grew, he began to let staff work remotely. Today, Malone’s three-time Inc. 5000-ranked company, which did $8.9 million in sales in 2018, employs 81 people who work everywhere from Orange County to Halifax to Berlin.
As for an office? There isn’t one. Malone has been managing remotely–and with great success–since long before any of us knew the term shelter-in-place.
Malone has these six suggestions for those who are new to managing a team from home.
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
