Inc.com

Advice from Emerson Spartz, founder of Spartz Media, and Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council.

Managing far-flung employees is always a challenge. (What are they doing, anyway?) Make it easier by hiring the right people first.Chances are some of your employees work from home (or from wherever they like). You probably do too, at least some of the time. If you're running a start-up where resources are scarce, that's even more likely.And even if all your employees work in established locations, the odds are most occasionally access data and mange tasks and projects outside the office on mobile devices.Face it: No matter what your business, at least some of the time your employees are cloud workers.That shift dramatically changes the nature of the workplace. According to Avinoam Nowogrodski, the CEO and co-founder of Clarizen, makers of online project management software and some really cool apps, that shift also changes the way you select and evaluate employees.Some of the qualities employees need to succeed in a traditional work environment are less important, while these traits are vital for cloud-based employees:1. Proactively set and share goals.It's easy for employees to get lost in the cloud. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Managers still set goals, but collaboration and water-cooler "aha!" moments are much less likely. And it's easier for employees to slowly turn into not much more than to-do list "completers."Great remote employees actively suggest new ideas, create their own projects, set and share personal goals, and recommend solutions.Working from home is appealing to relatively introverted people, so make sure the employees you hire enjoy working on their own but also thrive on stepping forward.Sure, it's a tough balance, but the best remote employees enjoy the benefits striking that balance provides.2. Stay connected—almost obsessively.Great team players are trustworthy—and available. Web and mobile connectivity makes it easier to connect with remote employees, yet also makes it harder and less certain. (Maybe he's on a call with a client? Maybe he's on Skype with another team member? Or maybe he's just ducking me?)It's easy for remote employees to hide behind the technology... or lack thereof.Whose responsibility is it to try to stay connected: the remote worker's or the home office? Either opinion is correct, but great employees assume the onus is on them; that way, no matter what, they stay connected.Great remote employees let others know when they won't be available, and why... and how they can still be contacted in the event of an emergency. They see working remotely as a trade-off: They know they have more freedom, but they also recognize that with that freedom comes the responsibility of hyper-availability.And they recognize that hyper-availability creates trust—with employees and with customers.3. Focus on results, not time.In some organizations it's enough to show up and put in your time; what you actually accomplish is almost secondary to being present. (We've all known people who have a positions but don't actually work.)That's obviously not the case for employees working outside of headquarters. Results, not presence, are everything. Great remote employees focus on accomplishing objectives as quickly and efficiently as possible. Who cares if a task "should" take a week; if it can be completed in three days that opens up time to accomplish other tasks.Great remote employees finish tasks ahead of time—and ask for more.4. Constantly want to learn.Remote employees often, but not always, have very specific duties, focus on a set list of tasks, or work on well-defined projects, if only because that makes managing them easier. They don't have access to some of the same formal or informal training and development opportunities.So they push for development and learning opportunities. Constantly. Incessantly. To their boss, irritatingly.And that's a good thing.5. Push to become irreplaceable.Say business is down and you're forced to let a few employees go. Who is easier to downsize: The employee in the office next to you or the employee on the other side of the country you never see ? (Come to think of it, he seems to get a lot done, but who knows how hard he's really working?)In an ideal world every employee is evaluated solely on performance. In the real world other factors come into play, sometimes fairly, sometimes not.Great remote employees understand that perception and bias can be a factor. But they don't just think, "That's not fair..."Instead of complaining they work hard to prove how valuable they are. In fact, they enjoy proving how valuable they are.Which, of course, benefits them... and your business.

Blogs used to be a valuable way for entrepreneurs to develop, and communicate with, a business or industry community. Sadly, those days are gone.Many of my clients ask me: Should my company start a blog? Once I would have given them an unqualified yes. But today I would add a few caveats.There are many great reasons to maintain a company blog. A blog allows you to:share knowledge and demonstrate your company's subject matter expertisegive your company a voicehelp generate the new content valued by both users and search enginesencourage valuable "link love" from customers, colleagues, and industry peersprovide a living and easily accessible archive of company content for future referenceA company blog used to also be a way to gather feedback and welcome consenting and dissenting opinions, particularly through its comments section.But I'm not so sure that last rationale applies anymore. The reason stems from what I consider a dismaying trend, and one that I don't see reversing any time soon: the decline of commenting on blogs and articles.These days it feels like unless the blog is quite niche or controversial, it's less likely to attract many comments. And that means that while blogs are still useful, they're no longer a driver of community. That's something I consider unfortunate.Just take a look at this latest blog post from Marriott International's executive chairman, on China's "Nobility of Nature" – Bees, Honey & Clean Water. Here's a screen grab from the bottom of the post: It's got 1.1K Facebook recommends, 12.5K tweets ... and zero comments.Why is this trend happening? I can come up with a few reasons.Social Media Makes People LazySocial sharing icons and buttons next to content have become ubiquitous. Read a blog post and find value in its content? It's so easy to just tweet it, "like" it, or share it through other social media platforms that fewer and fewer people find it important to leave behind comments in order to express their approval.On the one hand, this form of sharing is great; it helps "amplify" your content, carrying your post–and therefore your information, thoughts or opinions–from your website onto other platforms. On the other hand, content shared on these platforms is ephemeral (Twitter) or potentially restricted from the public (Facebook). It has limited lasting value for your presence, and may never allow you to collect feedback or engage with your audience.I also question whether the sheer number of tweets or likes carries the same weight as a well-crafted comment. On social media, someone's like is one of dozens, hundreds or perhaps even thousands. But a comment on a page, singular and nestled among others, creates a community–and a conversation–in a way that simple shares don't.In other words, a comment has meaning.Spammer Overload Another reason comments are dying: spammers! They ruin everything for everyone, and blog spam is no exception. No one dares to have an unmoderated blog anymore, for fear of nasty spam comments appearing and offending other readers. Because so many blogs have moderated comments, it may be a while before a comment appears–and when it does, other readers may have already come and gone. How unmotivating.Blog Saturation It might be hard to imagine, but blogs used to be a novel thing. So novel, in fact, that back in 2001 my agency had to ask a guest contributor to explain blogging to our email newsletter subscribers! Early bloggers benefited from being in an uncluttered space; many became quasi-celebrities in their own right.After blogging caught on, however, suddenly everyone wanted to have a blog: individuals, businesses, nonprofits, trade associations. Users searching for subject matter could be inundated with reams of similar content and not know where to turn. With so many blogs, reader attention and loyalty got divided, which led to fewer blog comments on any single blog, too.In a video interview on Social Media Examiner, Shani Higgins, CEO of Technorati, a premier blog directory site, declares that it used to be that "a story wasn't a story until comments were there." Those days are gone.Bloggers Have Been BoughtOne final issue: While blogs once provided online expression and sharing of thoughts, ideas and news, today's blogs have been coopted by more commercial comment.In addition to straight self-promotional content and in-blog advertising–both of which are transparent to the reader–blogs may also feature less transparent compensation models like paid-for posts, paid brand-spokesperson bloggers, and sponsored event attendance by "blogger celebrities." Many brands also conduct blogger outreach to harness the influence of a blogger. There's also self-promotional blog commenting, where the comment really adds no value to the post other than to give a link to the commenter's product or service.Some users have recognized these less-than-genuine blog posts and comments and have become leery of all bloggers' and commenters' intentions. As readers' trust in the blog platform and community becomes compromised, the importance of posting comments suffers, too: "If this blog post is essentially an ad, does anyone care what I have to say in my comment anyway?"What does the future hold for blogs, particularly non-personal ones? Will blogs become nothing more than yet another one-way broadcast medium? It wouldn't be my preference, but I fear that's where they're headed.

Has Facebook reinvigorated the IPO market? Here are a few tech companies racing to go public--and what you should know about them.On Friday, Facebook raised a record-setting $18 billion in its IPO, placing its value at a staggering $104 billion. Not bad for a start-up founded just eight years ago in a 19-year-old's dorm room. While the company's IPO has helped plenty of its investors get very rich very fast, it has also set the scene for several other companies to go public.In the last year, there have been several Silicon Valley darlings to go public; Yelp, Zillow, Pandora, and LinkedIn, just to name a few. Facebook's IPO will certainly cast a long shadow against the next wave of tech companies waiting to hit the markets. The question, of course, is whether the IPOs will live up to their hype.Here's a look at a few tech companies that have filed their S-1 documents in preparation to go public.KayakThe hotel and flight booker had originally filed to go public in November, but market conditions held the IPO at bay. Riding the coattails of Facebook's IPO, the company has expressed renewed interest in going public; Last week the company announced it planned to raise $150 million at a $1 billion valuation. Back in 2010, the company reported revenues of $128 million, 140 employees, and local websites in 14 countries outside the United States. WorkdayFounded by PeopleSoft veterans Dave Duffield and Aneel Bhusri, Workday provides business management and HR software to thousands of businesses in the form of dashboard analytics. The company's revenue exceeded $300 million in 2011, according to AllThingsD, and the company is estimated to be worth around $2 billion. In April, the Workday hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to lead its initial public offering, and has already raised $250 million in venture capital.GoGoIf you've ever connected to the WiFi on a transatlantic flight, chances are you've used GoGo. The Itasca, Illinois-based company filed to go public in December, 2011, hoping to raise $100 million. Founded in 2008, the company now has nearly 500 employees and earned over $113 million in revenue in 2011.ServiceNowThis San Diego-based company, headed by CEO Frank Slootman, filed to go public in late March 2012, hoping to raise $150 million. The firm, which offers IT management cloud services to small and medium-sized businesses, was founded in 2003 and now has MORE THAN 730 employees. The company earned nearly $50 million in revenue in 2011, but is saddled with about $150 million in debt and liabilities from capital expenses.ShutterstockThis photostock service, which was founded as the personal photography website for its CEO, Jonathan Oringer, plans to raise $115 million in its public offering. Taking on photo industry giants like Corbis and Getty, Shutterstock plans to use its IPO capital for human and working capital, and, according to its filing, "to acquire or invest in complementary companies, products, or technologies." With 167 employees based from its New York office, the company earned $120 million in revenue in 2011.E2openThough you've probably never heard of them, E2open is a huge supplier of cloud-based software companies use to aid in their supply chain process. Based in Foster City, California, the company has about 330 employees and earned nearly $60 million in revenue in 2011. One Network Enterprises based in Dallas is a major competitor, but E2open services about 30,000 companies, 88,000 users and is growing; A few notable clients include Boeing, Cisco, Dell, IBM, and Xerox.

Ongoing education is a core part of every great business. The investment is small, but the return can be a game changer.Education is easy to make part of any business. That does not have to mean bringing in outside experts or sending employees away to expensive courses. Drawing on in-house resources can be just as rich. At Metal Mafia, we used to have sales seminars on a regular basis, at which different staffers would present on everything from the pros and cons of new products, to techniques for communicating better with customers. As we got busier, the seminars were scheduled less frequently, and finally, not scheduled at all. Two weeks ago, I asked my staff to tell me why a customer would want to spend money on a specific new product we now offer. I thought the answers could have been better, so I decided we all needed a refresher course in how to explain the value of our products in a meaningful way to our customers. I held an in-house tutorial this week, and the investment paid off.Here's what I think you'll find most useful.Let your staff know it's OK to ask questions. People have a tendency to allow embarrassment over not knowing something trump the need to know it. Even if you think you have clearly shown your staff how to do something or gone over the benefits of a product with them a million times, the concept may not be as firmly in place in their minds as it is in yours. It is important to give your team an opportunity to learn and re-learn key ideas that are core to your business's success. It sends your team a strong message--this information is worth mastering--if you set aside time for a seminar about the concept you want to be sure everyone understands.I could have typed up a list of the key points I wanted my reps to memorize instead of making time to re-teach the concepts in a class setting, but that would have made the process about dictation instead of education. A workshop rather than a memo encourages your team to ask questions in a low-pressure setting.Communicate strategies in non-threatening ways. The freshest ideas in business come from conversations. If you want your employees to not just understand something, but to really own an idea, you need to give them ways to engage in your strategy on their terms.Teaching situations are not meant to be lectures, but to invite participation. I had ideas about what I wanted my team to take away from the class we scheduled, but I left the teaching up to everyone who attended. The sales reps came to the class ready to participate--and because they knew their input was both sought and valued, they were willing to teach and learn openly. They each talked about five products they thought could bring value to our customers' businesses, and explained concretely how the products should be talked about to get that value across. They asked each other questions, reviewed talking points, and discussed the customer concerns they had fielded. In the end, we all left as "A" students because we found better ways to help our customers.Raise awareness and energy levels.Devoting time and resources to promote continuing education emphasizes to team members that you value not only results, but also development. If you want your team to always examine interactions for deeper meaning, creating time for learning and evaluation is crucial. Employees who are encouraged to learn are the first to spot additional market opportunities, the best at increasing customer satisfaction, and the most effective at trouble-shooting. Learning to ask questions in a class setting hones one's instinct to probe outside of the classroom as well.My team left our "class" today with both ideas and enthusiasm—and a feeling they were better-equipped to do their jobs. The confidence that came from being well-prepared was evident in their energy level.