Black Lives Matter. For Kanopi, this isn’t under debate. We support our friends, colleagues, neighbors, and fellow citizens of color in the United States and around the globe who have experienced, struggled with, or died from police brutality and/or systemic racism in all its forms. 

We are committed to doing better as a company. We will not always get things right, but we’re always willing to own it, apologize, discuss, and learn from our mistakes. We are working to educate ourselves on being better allies, and the ways we can help dismantle systems of oppression inside and outside of our industry. We want to help, and to be part of the solution.

While we pride ourselves on being women-owned, largely women-run, and having a high percentage of female employees, we are not as racially or culturally diverse as we would like to be, and that’s on us. Our inclusivity statement calls out a need to hire more people of color, individuals who identify within and beyond the LGBTQ+ spectrum, women, and people with disabilities into our ranks — moving forward, we commit to doubling down on our efforts. 

We work to practice what we preach daily by giving our employees extra space to process and discuss what’s going on in the world outside our virtual walls, talk about ways they can support and help to stop injustice, and have flexibility in their schedules to rest, and to take time to protest, advocate, and vote.

To put our money where our mouth is, we’ve donated to the Equal Justice Initiative supporting their mission to end mass incarceration, excessive punishment, and racial inequality. Specific to our beloved tech community, we’ve also donated to Black Girls Code to support increasing the number of women of color working to become innovators in the tech space. 

Let’s all work towards a more peaceful and inclusive world.

When I started Kanopi, I vowed to build a web agency that paired creative solutions with sustainable and strong architecture, while keeping the client’s entire ecosystem in mind. I wanted to work with great talent, great clients, and great partners. In order to accomplish this, I had to decide how I would approach the task, and what values I would follow in order to make it happen. I wanted to be a value-driven organization. 

Every organization, in my opinion, SHOULD be value-driven. You’re running your business for a reason, because you believe in something . . . right? Even if it’s about your belief that all people should wear purple while playing a recorder under a square-shaped canopy on a specific day in August, there must be a value behind it! 

Kanopi has seven values. These values guide our team so we can work in harmony with each other — and with clients — to create great outcomes. 

• We value human connection. We are #BetterTogether.
• We value being #Nimble and helpful.
• We value #Clarity.
• We value that when something is complex, we #OwnIt.
• We value contributing #Trust daily.
• We value supporting our #Community.
• We value expressing #Gratitude.

And the hashtag in front? Our remote team uses Slack to communicate and collaborate every day. In order to reward and support each other, each of our seven values is signified with a hashtag so that every day in Slack we can give recognition and prizes to our colleagues via our “HeyTaco” program, which gives tacos tied to our values. It provides constant encouragement to live our values as we improve the internet, one site at a time. And a chance to win fun prizes!

Let’s get started . . .

1: We are #BetterTogether

Kanopi is not about one person’s ideas. There’s no one ego we’re following, and it’s not about one person’s vision or direction. We are collaborators. We work together on everything. Everyone’s opinion is heard, always considered, possibly debated, but eternally valued. 

It’s also why we chose to work in open-source due to its collaborative nature and sense of community. Collaboration creates a better result because multiple voices allow for all angles to be considered, and those differing perspectives make an outcome stronger than what would have otherwise been. 

We also really like the people we work with. Not just as colleagues, but as people. If we have to spend most of our waking hours working, it’s so much nicer when we can relate to each other on a human level, enjoy each other’s triumphs, stories, and support. We have each other’s backs.

This is why we value client partnerships. We are excited to spend time with them; to dig into their needs, wishes, and wants. And while we’re going to do our hardest to understand their user and stakeholders needs, ultimately they’re the expert on their organization. So it’s critical to us that they are very much part of the conversation. Their voice matters. 

Without it, we would do a good job with our best intentions based on industry knowledge and best practices. But with it, we can create something that exceeds expectations. 

This is why we value human connection. We are #BetterTogether. 

2: We value being #Nimble and Helpful

We are all problem solvers in our jobs, regardless of industry. Medical professionals, teachers, carpenters, judges, even ride-share drivers — they solve problems every minute of every day. Web agencies do as well: each project is a website that needs fixes and improvements in a number of areas, and needs them done under a certain budget and a specific timeline.

So what makes someone stand out as a problem solver? It’s in HOW they solve the problem, especially when they do it in a creative and flexible way. 

Kanopi does this really well. Every day we encounter a variety of issues, and our team of Senior talent has seen the most common problems repeatedly. But every once in a while we get thrown a curve-ball, and that’s where it gets especially fun. We put our collective heads to the task (remember our first value #BetterTogether?) and find a way to make it work. Solving puzzles is fun and satisfying. And of course, clients like it when we figure it out.

We also are good at pivoting when necessary. Did the project’s priorities change? No problem. Is there a budget shift? We’ll reprioritize. Web projects can encounter any number of unexpected obstacles. But Kanopi is skilled at managing the unexpected.

It’s why we have such a great reputation for amazing customer service. We “Kanopians” just love to be helpful, so we respond quickly, flexibly and creatively. We’re #Nimble that way.

3: We value #Clarity

Confusion is really fun when you’re at a carnival fun house. Or lost in a corn maze. Or watching a thrilling movie with plot twists and turns. 

It’s not so fun when you need your website working because your stakeholders can’t fill out the form they need, and the solution you got from your web team on how to fix it isn’t a solution at all. 

Confusion wastes time — and budget — in web design and development. It’s why Kanopi puts so much energy upfront in good research and strategy: the clearer the understanding, the smoother the process. And a smooth process keeps the stress levels down and the budget in range.

Kanopi also endeavors to use clear language, so there’s no confusion about what’s happening with a site. We encourage regular meetings so the status of your project is always clear. Emails and tickets are responded to quickly. And we encourage questions, no matter how small.

We also insert clarity at every stage of our process. Our research is designed to ensure we understand the goals and needs from the start. That informs the UX and design deliverables, which we then present in iterative stages, so we make sure we’re always on the right path with the visuals and UX. Our development is also handled in an iterative, agile fashion, so we can address the development in small bites. 

All of those small bites add up to create big wins for clients. Plus we provide documentation of every step, so they can always refer back to it. They get an expected result — because there was #Clarity from the beginning.

The unexpected part? How much they enjoy the process. It really can be fun to work on a web project when the process is clear. 

4: When something is complex, we #OwnIt

What we do is simple, but also hard. 

Some websites are relatively basic — just needing a place to get their content online, perhaps a link to a google map, and a few other basic integrations. But others need so much more: integrations, a particular custom piece of functionality, or a unique design. 

This is where Kanopi Studios comes in. 

Our team is made up of only Senior talent. We don’t hire Junior developers. This means we’ve got the experience to take your harder use case and find an elegant solution. It will look easy, but don’t be fooled: like professional athletes, our team has been practicing for long hours and years. There’s a lot of hard work that happened in the background to get us to that seemingly simple outcome.

And if we don’t know the answer right away? We figure it out. We’re committed to continually improving — both professionally and personally. It’s exciting to always be learning and pushing the boundaries of what we can do. We take pride in being accountable for our work, and seeing it through. 

And when we get there, we celebrate it. Every time. Because pursuing excellence is tough, and it’s always an accomplishment in the end when we can #OwnIt.

Web design and development can be hard. But we make it simple.

5: We value contributing #Trust daily.

When clients first come to us, we convince them that they can trust us with their project. 

Then we have to prove it. 

How will we do it? With small, incremental steps every day. We like to use the school analogy of, “filling the marble jar:” every time we make another positive step forward on your project, another marble will get added. At the end we’ve filled the jar up with confidence and goodwill. 

As Brené Brown beautifully put it, trust is, “built in the smallest of moments.” (Honestly nothing explains trust better than that video. It’s 23 minutes of fantastic.) 

Basically we have to deliver on what we promised, no matter how large or how small, earning trust one step at a time.

And how do we measure trust? It’s admittedly hard to measure. We could send out a bunch of surveys asking to judge our integrity, our commitment to your project, if we treated them fairly, or if we seemed committed to their project. But the biggest metric for us is this: we have a 95% referral rate from current clients who recommend us for new projects, and five stars on Clutch. So we must be doing something right.

We are honored that clients #Trust us to do this work. 

6: We value supporting our #Community

There’s a saying about parenting: it takes a village to raise a child. The input and influence of family and friends are nuanced and critical to the comprehensive development of raising each child. 

We view website creation the same way. We love our village, because the collaboration makes for better work. And we are fortunate to have several communities that help us in that mission:

• We have an internal community of staff who help each other out every minute.
• We have our community of clients that partner with us to create that work.
• Extending the circle, we have a community of vendors and partners who work with us to provide amazing hosting, multilingual services, and accessibility checks. They enrich the experience with their specialties and support us in our clients’ goals. 
• And beyond that, we have our communities in open-source: our friends in the Drupal, WordPress and Mukurtu spaces. 

It’s critical to Kanopi that we supporting our communities. We love to help each other grow in our learning, and attend community events so we can collaborate. We believe so much in contributing back, that we are one of the main organizers of BADCamp, as well as one of the few agencies with a dedicated open-source community ambassador on staff. She alone attends an average of 16 events annually. That’s not including the other Kanopians who help the community by attending or speaking at events, volunteering time, or contributing code. 

We also were recently listed as one of the top agencies contributing back to the Drupal project. 

Community is about collaboration. Learning together. Pushing the work forward with positive momentum. Asking for help when we need it. And giving back when we can. 

The stronger the foundation of the village, the stronger the individual. It’s why we value contributing as much as we can to our #Community.

7: We value expressing #Gratitude.

Kanopi was born from a desire to build strong, sustainable, creative websites and provide for their growth beyond launch. It was also born out of my love for treehouses. 

Having grown up in Costa Rica, my love for the landscape and the forests compelled me to purchase five acres of land in a treehouse community, with the ultimate goal of someday building my own treehouse. 

When I decided to start an agency that balanced new site builds with quality support, the name “Kanopi Studios” was chosen because both treehouses and websites are sustainable ecosystems under a larger canopy: both have beautiful architecture, can be simple or complex, are customizable within their landscape, have strong foundations, need to accommodate constant growth and change, and are limited only by creativity.

I don’t have my real treehouse yet, but I am proud of what we’ve built together. I’m lucky that I work with wonderful and talented clients and employees who make the web a better place, one site at a time. Being a value-driven organization has gotten us there. 

Our values shine though in our #nimble and can-do attitude, our #trust in each other, the #clarity with which we communicate, and the way each of us works to #OwnIt. From our #Community work, to our client work, to supporting each other, we prove that we are #BetterTogether. 

And that leads us to our final value: we are thankful we get to work with great people and great clients to make the internet a better place every day. It’s why we feel the need to express #Gratitude daily.

To express my gratitude, here’s a Spotify playlist of songs all about giving thanks. 

Thank you for being an integral part of the success of Kanopi Studios.

With #Gratitude,
Anne

I have always loved treehouses. Treehouses are amazing structures in the sky. Incredible works of craftsmanship and creativity that exist in a larger context of their surroundings. 

I vowed to build a web agency upon that same foundation: pairing creative solutions with sustainable and strong architecture, while keeping the client’s entire ecosystem in mind.

Having grown up in Costa Rica, my love for the landscape and the forests compelled me to purchase five acres of land in a treehouse community, with the ultimate goal of someday building my own actual treehouse. My passion for treehouses and my recognition of the need for greater customer service in our industry led me to start Kanopi in 2010. 

At the time, I was working on the side for nonprofit and social good clients. I got to know the community and its needs, and saw a market opportunity to create an agency that would provide superior customer service that included quality support, rather than relying only on building beautiful sites. So in 2010, I branched out and created an agency that provided the infrastructure to allow clients to grow their brand beyond launch, while representing my passion for treehouses, and allowing me to save money to build my future home. 

I chose the name “Kanopi” because both treehouses and websites are sustainable ecosystems under a larger canopy: both have beautiful architecture, can be simple or complex, are customizable within their landscape, have strong foundations, need to accommodate constant growth and change, and are limited only by creativity. 

Consider this: no two treehouses are alike. Each has to be specific to its parameters; branch placement and thickness, trunk stability, height, weight, and climate have to be considered. While the tools and materials to create the foundation may be the same wood, the same nails, and the same bolts, the unique nature of each base tree requires a customized foundation to accommodate that landscape. Because the tree on which it sits is ever growing and evolving, the best have flexible foundations to accommodate constant growth and change. 

They can be bare bones but functional, with just walls, windows, and a roof. Or they can be elaborate, with shutters, lighting, and furniture. Both are a unique experience. 

They sit on strong roots that hold the foundation steady. That foundation supports the branches, which supports the leaves, which take in nutrients to support the foundation. It’s cyclical, and self-sustaining. That tree interacts with other creatures, and needs constant care and maintenance to balance the needs of the house with the needs of the tree’s growth. It’s all part of a beautiful balance of a larger ecosystem. 

Sounds analogous to web design and development, right?

Treehouses are placed at the top of the trunk to offer the most stability, but then reach up towards the tree’s canopy, allowing the canopy to act as an overarching support to the framework. The canopy layer provides protection from strong winds and storms, while also intercepting sunlight and precipitation. The canopy also supports the majority of primary productivity for the entire forest.

That’s what we do at Kanopi: we assist other well-intentioned organizations at any stage of their project, supporting their website’s needs so their brand can thrive online. We aim to grow and expand in ways that positively impact the people we reach with our work. 

But equally important is supporting the people who work here with satisfying professional lives so that they can have satisfying personal lives. We work hard so that we can play hard . . . or rest easy! We’re always working to improve our work/life balance so our employees feel fulfilled.

Someday I’ll build my treehouse in Costa Rica. But until then, I am proud of the community we’ve built together. I’m grateful that I’m able to work with great talent, great clients, and great partners who make the web a better place, one site at a time. Each of you makes up valuable members of the Kanopi community. Together, we do more than sustain this ecosystem. We thrive. 

That is the meaning of our name.

Deep roots. Strong foundations. Smart design. Custom builds. Creative solutions. Flexibility. Balance. Sustainability. Care. And support. 

All done with craftsmanship and consideration.  

This is Kanopi Studios. 

Working remotely is becoming wildly more in demand and popular among many agencies and organizations. It saves the cost of office space, allows for hiring the best talent possible regardless of location, can be a huge bonus to employees who require flexibility in their schedules, and saves everyone time in commuting assuming they don’t go to a shared work space. You can even wear what you want (being mindful of video chats, of course).

The flipside? While many folks have switched to working remotely, some people find the experience quite isolating and disconnected. Does remote work make people happier? Does it make them more productive? From my experience running a remote-only agency, the answer is not really. Going for days not seeing another human in person can be extremely isolating and demotivating. And while it seems as though you’d have more time at your computer, and therefore would be more productive, often the opposite is true: it can often be harder to have focused time to work on tasks if you are at home with multiple screens. And even worse if you are distracted by anything at home (deliveries at your door, that laundry in the corner, etc).

It can also be physically damaging: the human body is not designed to sit at a desk for long periods of time, and there’s less incentive to get up and move if you don’t have to move more than a few feet to your computer.

I know I’ve experienced all those issues. So I feel everyone’s pain. Literally.

The main reason Kanopi Studios exists is to support humans in every way.

We support our clients by giving them great work so they can be successful online, but additionally Kanopi serves to support its employees so they are successful in both their work and home lives. We want our people to always be happy, fulfilled, and constantly evolving in a positive way. So it’s critical that we create an environment and culture that fosters practices that provide meaning, collaboration, and happiness regardless of location. It’s also critical that employees feel empowered to speak up if they are feeling the negative repercussions of remote work.

As CEO, it’s my job to give my staff the right tools and systems so that they are as happy and healthy as possible, and to create connectivity in Kanopi’s culture. Building and sustaining strong relationships requires a unique approach that makes use of a variety of tools to create the right work culture to combat the isolation.

There’s a session I give on this very topic, and the DrupalCon video about working remotely is linked below. I cover how to be the best remote employee, as well as how to support your team if you are a leader of a remote team. I give key tactics to keep you (and all other staff) inspired, creative, productive and most importantly, happy! I hope you find it helpful in making your own work environment as connected and collaborative as possible, no matter where you are.

Kanopi Studios has a unique company culture, considering that we are completely remote and often our closest co-worker is in a different US state or Canadian province. As Cultural Ambassador, I have had the privilege to be sent to numerous conferences to staff our exhibit booth to engage with the public, and in this had the opportunity to meet several of my fellow co-workers from across North America in person. It only solidified what I know from our video chats: we are intelligent folks, genuinely nice people, and damn good at what we do. And we are ridiculously fun!

In January 2019, for the first time in forever… we ambitiously organized our first-ever Kanopi Studios company retreat. It would be the opportunity to put about 30 of our full-time staff together in one physical place, collaborate together in real life, and determine once-and-for all who is taller than who (and to my shock and to no one else’s surprise, I am the shortest person at Kanopi Studios, standing at just under 5’1”).

This was a new experience for us: coordinating 30 people to fly out to a locale in Palm Springs, determining lodging in spacious rented Airbnb Villas, and providing the on-site chef a hefty list citing half of the team’s food allergies (special THANK YOU to Park Place Productions for the incredibly delicious and thoughtful catering service: we were spoiled, full and happy).

Sure, we had fun. But there was also work: we rolled up our sleeves, put our heads together and sprinted down to the business of how to make Kanopi more efficient and effective in terms of our processes, procedures and other work-life hacks for long-term happiness. We reflected on 2018 and visualized what our 2019 would look like. Our fearless CEO, Anne Stefanyk, gifted everyone The 5 Second Journal. We workshopped and brainstormed on solutions to streamline pain points in each department and in our internal processes. Developers had the opportunity to sprint in the same room together. We partook in team building games and had professional headshots taken. Our remote team was physically together in real life, for the first time, and it was something truly special.

With respect to the team building and fun, here are some lovely highlights:

• Greetings. Every time a vehicle approached the villa, a flood of Kanopians would pour into the front yard to greet their fellow arriving Kanopian.
• A special greeting for Carlos. He finally arrived after being stuck overnight in a Houston airport. Our team was so excited that we had three false starts, with 30 adults piling outside to greet our comrade believing he was already outside. And when he finally arrived, it was truly celebratory!
• We celebrated a Kanopian Birthday. The first of the year! (Morgan on Jan 9th)
• Team building. We played a game where Kanopians had to silently form a line in the order from their Start date with Kanopi. It was eye-opening to see how much we had grown.
• Group photos. Jumping in the air, posing, having a blast!
• Impromptu volleyball. My face took one for the team.
• Awards night. We expressed gratitude, gave certificates of appreciation, as well as custom personalized Bitmoji mugs for all staff members.

• An epic ping pong game. Jim and Fonda had a nailbiter of a match, followed by around the table Ping Pong.
• Roommate bonding. One group called their space the “Harry Potter” room, while the Admin team had a “girl’s sleepover chat session” in bunk beds.
• The never ending goodbye at the airport. Even though we left in separate convoys over the course of three hours, we all wound up together again at the tiny Palm Springs airport to eat together, hang out on the grass, and laugh some more!

We were genuinely happy to be together. With renewed energy and purpose, these 30 travelers returned to their towns, turned on their computers and began making the magic we talked about at the retreat happen. 

Who doesn’t love tacos? They are nature’s perfect food: crunchy and fresh meets creamy and savory! They’re a wonderful mix of Mexican culture wrapped in all this yummy goodness and enjoyed around the world. They bring people together one bite at a time (a little melodramatic? I am a bit of a foodie).

Here at Kanopi Studios, we definitely love our tacos. More specifically, we love this fun little Slack integration app called HeyTaco!, an employee engagement tool that has become a huge part of our Kanopi culture. As a completely remote company that heavily relies on Zoom video chat and Slack messaging to stay connected, how could we keep connected in a consistent, interactive, and fun way? Now with HeyTaco! we can both literally and figuratively say “Thank you” virtually with tacos!

We have essentially gone nuts over it, giving away tacos we can never eat (kudos to our CEO, Anne Stefanyk, and VP of Operations, Jill Taiji, for bringing HeyTaco! to Kanopi). Each staff member is given 5 tacos a day to give away, which resets the next day (we have since increased this threshold to 10 tacos!). And boy do we give them away, and exuberantly so: with almost 60 Kanopians and a cap of 10 daily tacos, often we have other staff members donating their tacos to someone who runs out, just to keep the giving going. We even have staff members log online over the weekends just to give away their daily taco limit.

But wait! There’s more random goodness, like GIPHYs of dancing taco people popping up on your screen when you earn a certain amount of tacos. Or collecting special “gifts” depending on how you give and receive tacos; for example, there’s a Super Taco (a taco wearing a cape), a taco tree, and bottles of sauce that come in jalapeno and “ghost” flavors. There are even the coveted rare gifts you can unlock (thus far, I have collected a tornado in a bottle, a snow globe, and a pet rock). What is the purpose of these “special” gifts? To give them away to other team members to show how awesome they are to be receiving such a special gift.

Admittedly, it is the silliest thing, this random taco-ness . . . but it is highly effective at building camaraderie, ridiculously addictive, and just plain fun. A random aside: since the introduction of HeyTaco!, there has been an increase in staff members eating tacos for lunch (go figure). This phenomenon is unsurprising given the nature of our team as a whole; it seems that Kanopians really love their novelties and dive head-first into such things for the long haul (we are also obsessed with customizing Slackmojis, and our annual GIF Off competitions… that’s a whole other blog post right there).

So where am I going with this? Well, we have turned this novelty into something meaningful and truly special. Basically, this spawned our employee incentive program where we thank one another using specific hashtags that correspond to one of our Company Values:

• We value human connection. We are #BetterTogether
• We value being #Nimble and helpful
• We value #Clarity
• We value contributing #Trust daily
• We value that when something is complex, we #OwnIt
• We value contributing to our #Community
• We value expressing #Gratitude

Each month, the person who receives the most value hashtags per value receives a $25 reward of recognition, typically in the form of an Amazon, Starbucks, or Playstation gift card. Even the Top Taco giver for the month receives an award. It is our company’s way of encouraging everyone to give taco gratitude (with #hashtags) where it is totally deserved as a fun way to recognize the efforts of our fellow Kanopians!

Similar to how we depend on one another to make magic happen here at Kanopi, monthly winners depend on the team thanking them as a collective with value hashtags. It is through team effort and recognition that anyone even wins a prize. It is such a lovely process.

And as if the spirit of giving stops there, it doesn’t! Even recipients of a HeyTaco! reward for that month would request to have their $25 gift donated to a charity of their choice or opt to gift their gift card to another Kanopian because they want to recognize their efforts.

I even had to announce to all staff that it was okay to redeem the prizes for themselves. Like, I literally stated in a staff meeting, “Don’t ever feel selfish for claiming your gift!”

We fully intended to set up a redemption program for staff to trade in their accumulated tacos for prizes, but thus far people are just happy to give #Thanks over and over again and collect tacos with gleeful abandon.

Does our culture sound like a place you’d like to either work with or work for? Contact us to get started. 

And as much fun as it is to give and receive, there is a bit of intercompany competition here, which adds some spice to the taco fun. A dirty secret about me: I make it a point to be the Top Taco Giver as much as possible because:

1. I like winning, and I am secretly competitive
2. Because I know this would guarantee that I would earn a HeyTaco! reward, and,
3. Once I get the reward, I can gift it to a team member that I feel was deserving of a HeyTaco! recognition but just did not pull the highest amount of hashtags.

There. The secret is out. I love to give, and I happen to work for a company that shares this same disposition.

Truth be told, having an attitude of gratitude can do wonders for the psyche. I was once in a really bad mood regarding my personal affairs that seemed overwhelming at the time, but instead of lashing out at the world (i.e., yelling at my plant) or myself (i.e., ice cream therapy), I decided to give away all my tacos for the day. I found myself reflecting on team mates and how they contribute daily to the awesome that is Kanopi. I thanked someone who helped me in a big way. I thanked someone else for helping me with a small task. I thanked someone that I know hustles but may not be as conspicuous or obvious to others. I was even skimming thru other Slack channels and picking up conversations where one Kanopian fixes a big problem, or helped a client, or made someone laugh and brighten that chat room, and I gave them a taco for being their awesome selves. It’s amazing how one can receive such an abundance of something unquantifiable in the simple act of giving thanks to someone.

And this is why the average Kanopian may appear happier. Coz Tacos.

Anyone who works remotely has a ‘why’ – they want to be there when the kids come home from school or fit in that afternoon game of dodgeball. Some prefer to work when creativity hits, even if it’s in the middle of the night or spend their money on the latest XBox game instead of gas or meals. As long as the work gets done, working from home offers a lot of perks and flexibility.

According to the U.S. Telecommuting Forecast for 2009-2016, it is estimated that about 63 million Americans will be working from home this year. As more and more companies move towards this type of work arrangement, many people are exploring the option of working in a remote environment. The fact is that this work set-up is here to stay. Today’s work opportunities are less about being in an office 9-5 and more about results.  Employers today are looking for people who can work independently and with little hand-holding, are passionate about what they do and can be collaborative even from thousands of miles away.

Successful remote workers usually have the following attributes in common:

• They contribute trust every day. Their word is everything.
• They communicate early and often
• They find time for focus
• Do one thing, do it really well
• Are proactive

Working remotely does present some challenges: You miss out on being around people not just for face-to-face meetings but also for the fun stuff like playing ping-pong in the office or going out to lunch, you lose a clear distinction between work and the rest of your life and distractions can make it difficult to focus on your work.

Here are some ways to address some of these challenges and make a remote work arrangement a win-win proposition for you and your employer!

Taming Distractions
The load of laundry from last weekend, that home project you’ve been meaning get to. Temptation runs aplenty at home, and it’s too easy to putter away and not know where your day went but finding ways to focus and execute tasks among the distractions is key. Whether it’s taking an extra hour in the morning to make sure the rest of your world is in order before sitting down to work or setting a timer to finish a work task before taking a break to take care of personal phone calls, getting your work done takes discipline and time management skills.

Face Time
If you look forward to in-person meetings and water cooler chats about the latest binge-worthy TV show, then working from home could be a struggle for you or require a major adjustment. Most companies have regular communication, but it is all online. Working remotely can get lonely. If your need for social interaction is high, attend regular networking events or meetups, schedule coffee time with friends, or join groups for hobbies or sports that you enjoy.

That said, tools like Slack or Skype can help to address some of the social isolation. In addition to our daily team standups, project chat channels and monthly company-wide check-in calls, at Kanopi we have channels for talking about movies, sharing funny videos, motivating each other to exercise and we are co-authoring a company novel. We find that our team feels more connected when we exchange fun information not just work information.

Workaholics on Overdrive
Are you able to shut-off your mobile devices and leave work behind at the end of the day or do you wake up in the middle of the night just to get out one more email? Workaholics be warned – it is very easy to fall into working 24 hours a day when your work is only a couple steps away. You need to create work-life boundaries!

• Create a specific office space where you work.
• Don’t run the TV during work hours.
• Block times on your schedule for work and also for personal goals like exercising or catching up with the kids when they get home from school.
• It’s important to remember the home part of working at home and give yourself the benefit of downtime.

Get Up. Move Around.
When you are in an office you tend to walk to co-workers desks, the printer or stroll to get coffee. When you work at home – your footprint is small. Make the time – or set reminders – to get up and move around. Go for a walk. Do a small 5-minute exercise or like Kanopi does – the PLANK challenge.

Change up your Work Environment.
You have the freedom to be wherever your laptop and you can be, so do it. Change up your work environment. Try a coffee shop. Or a co-sharing space. A change of scenery is a great physical and mental shift!

There are many rewards and benefits for employees who are able to work from home! Here are just a couple examples:

Embrace the Flexibility and Rewards
“Working with the entirely distributed team has been really satisfying. Conversely, there are a unique set of rewards, and since everyone shares in these, there is a natural resonance among us. Happiness makes us productive, and being distributed makes us dynamic. You might say we are naturally agile.”
Shiraz Dindar, Senior Drupal Developer

Strike While the Iron is Hot!
“Development is a creative process, working from home allows me to work when the creativity is high and relax when it is not. Being told to be creative between 9am and 4pm just doesn’t produce good work.
Jason Savino, Senior Drupal Engineer

Healthy Body and Mind!
“I love working at home because I can live a healthier life. The time that others spend on the road, I use to exercise, cook nice and healthy meals for myself and socialize with my friends. For me, working from home helps me have a healthy body and mind”
Bekir Dag, Drupal Engineer

Enjoy the Freedom and Flexibility!
“I love working from home, Can wear whatever I like, There is no commute, There is no limit on when I work. Can set my own schedule, Can concentrate better since no annoying coworkers. Have nice tax breaks. Have more hours to work (no commute remember). Eat more healthy and live more healthy.”
Erald de Hoog, Senior Drupal Engineer

Goodbye Commute
“Eliminating my daily commute has made a huge difference in my life. Not only do I start the day without the added stress, I am saving on parking and gas, not to mention that I’m doing my part for the environment.”
Dave Bezuidenhout, Developer

Family Can Come First!
“I’ve been working from home for almost 20 years now. As a single mom it afforded me the ability to be with my kids, to be involved in their activities, and to not feel guilty about staying home to take care of them when they were sick. I like working when I work best and setting my own schedule. I also get to enjoy my home and my pets as well as my family on more than just evenings & weekends. Finding a remote team you enjoy working with is just as tough as finding an ‘in person’ team you enjoy working with. But once you do it is awesome. Working at Kanopi I am enlightened, entertained, educated, encouraged and that makes for enjoying my chosen profession.”
Kathy – Support

There are many ways to make a distributed arrangement work for you. Here are some additional tips and tricks for better organization, accountability and personal interaction in a remote environment:

Contribute Trust Everyday
“Make a point of staying in touch w/ your client, boss and other team members on a regular basis through daily check-ins, updates and follow-up on the status of your projects. Being responsive and available instills confidence in your work and trust that it is getting done even if it’s from your kitchen table.”
Deborah Pappalau, Project Manager

Set a Consistent Schedule. Structure your Workday.
“Some workers find when working from home they actually work longer hours, where some seem to not be able to keep a consistent schedule – working a couple hours one day and then working three times or more or overnight. Same as if you have your list of items to do and your breaks set out at the office, structure your day working from home in the same fashion.”
Lynette Sawyer, Marketing

Get Ready For Work.
“You can easily fall into a pattern of pajamas or workout attire when you work from home. Wake up in the morning, and get dressed to approach the day like you are going to the office.”
Darlyne Dolap, Executive Assistant

In short, the best remote workers contribute trust every day, communicate early and often, are proactive and find time for focus. With some planning, organization and limit-setting, achieving a successful remote work arrangement that is good for you, your family and your career is within your reach!

For information about remote work opportunities at Kanopi studios visit: https://kanopi.com/careers