5 Tips While Working from Home
Speak Agency • March 20, 2020
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We are currently in unprecedented times and many of us are getting used to a new work-from-home lifestyle. Zoom meetings and Slack chats have become our new working normal for the time being. Working from home is whatever you make of it. Do you want to wear pajamas all day? Okay! Do you want to blast your favorite music from 8AM to 5PM? Sure! Take the time to figure out what works best for you. In the mean time, here are some helpful tips and tricks to help you get settled.
1. Choose a designated work space
First things first-make sure you have a comfortable workspace – including a good desk, ergonomic chair and computer that works properly. Use a room within your home with a door so you can close to work and take calls. You’re going to be spending a lot of time there and it needs to feel good. Even though you’re working from home, personalize your workspace with some of your favorite photos or a plant!
2. Check-in with co-workers more frequently
During this time, your co-workers are also busy working from home and probably miss chatting with you (we can hope). Be sure to check-in with them throughout the day and ask them how they are doing. Give them a call instead of just emailing or messaging them.
3. Stick with a routine
Working from home means you no longer have a normal routine throughout the day. Our commutes have changed from a 20-minute drive to 10 steps. Make-up has been forgotten and most of us don’t know what jeans are anymore. In order to stay productive, we still need a routine and stability in our lives. Get dressed in the morning, continue working your normal hours, and make sure you define a specific “ending” point to your work day. Make sure you build in transitions throughout the day. Take some time in the morning to make coffee or tea and sign off on all your work devices at the end of the day.
4. Practice self-care
It’s a difficult time. They are a lot of uncertain things at the moment and we are all feeling the impact on society. While you’re working, make sure to set some time aside to practice self-care. Make yourself a delicious lunch or go for a 15-minute walk outside. Don’t forget to give yourself breaks and stand up every now and then. Also, limit your exposure to the news. A quick check of your favorite news site can become a rabbit hole of distracting and discouraging information. Turn off notifications and have one or two designated times during the day to catch up and stay informed.
5. Have fun!
While it’s important to maintain routines and ensure you meet deadlines, make sure you are taking care of yourself and have fun. We are all in this together and remember that you are not alone. Listen to your favorite music or an interesting podcast. Put a reality TV show on in the background, the Kardashians are always entertaining. Compete against yourself while working on a task. However you have fun, make sure it’s a part of your daily routine!
Marketing and sales are supposed to work in sync. Marketing creates the messaging, sales takes it to market, and customers get a consistent, compelling brand experience. But in reality? That almost never happens.
For tech startups, creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) — the stripped-down version of your product that allows you to test core assumptions with real users — is a common approach to product development. But what about your brand? Enter the Minimum Viable Brand (MVB): the essential elements needed to present your company professionally and connect with early customers, without over-investing in elaborate brand development.
Let's cut to the chase: In a world drowning in digital noise and AI-generated content, brand authenticity isn't just a nice-to-have — it's your survival kit. Today's tech-savvy customers can smell manufactured messaging from ten browser tabs away, and they're not afraid to hit "unfollow" faster than you can say "corporate values." The Power of Brand Truth Here's the deal: brand authenticity means getting real about who you are as an organization. We're not talking about your product specs or your tech stack — we're talking about the raw, honest truth of why you exist and what drives your team to show up every day. Your brand truth might be buried in your startup story, your unique approach to solving gnarly problems, or the way you're fundamentally changing how your customers work and live. Take Microsoft's transformation under Satya Nadella. When he took the reins in 2014, he didn't just pivot the company's technology — he unleashed its authentic truth as an enabler of human achievement. This wasn't some slick marketing play; it was a fundamental shift from "Windows first" to "empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more." The result? Microsoft's stock price soared over 600% since 2014, and they've become one of the most valuable companies in the world. Why Truth Matters More Than Ever The numbers don't lie: According to Stackla, 88% of consumers say authenticity is crucial when deciding which brands to support. Even more telling? A recent Edelman study found that 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before they'll even consider buying from them. In an age where every startup claims to be "disrupting" something, customers are developing highly sophisticated BS detectors. They're not just looking at your product dashboard — they're scrutinizing your GitHub contributions, reading your engineering blog posts, and watching how you handle service outages on Twitter. Uncovering Your Brand's Truth Finding your brand's authentic truth requires serious introspection. Ask yourself: What technical problem made you angry enough to start this company? What conventional wisdom in your industry are you willing to challenge? What keeps showing up in your customer success stories? What principles would you defend even if they slowed down your growth? Sometimes your truth is hiding in plain sight. Look at Twilio. Their brand truth isn't about APIs — it's about democratizing complex communications technology. This core truth drives everything from their developer-first approach to their acquisition strategy. Expressing Truth Through Story Once you've nailed your brand truth, you need to tell its story in a way that clicks with your audience. And no, we're not talking about another "Our Journey" blog post. Consider how Stripe tells its story. Their truth isn't about payment processing — it's about increasing the GDP of the internet. This bigger narrative has turned what could have been dry technical documentation into a compelling story about empowering entrepreneurs worldwide. Their transparency about their engineering challenges and public infrastructure investments has built unprecedented trust in the developer community. Building Trust Through Consistency Real talk: authenticity means walking the walk. When Zoom faced security criticisms in 2020, CEO Eric Yuan didn't hide behind PR speak. He admitted the problems, implemented a 90-day feature freeze to focus on security, and hosted weekly webinars to address concerns. This transparent approach turned a potential crisis into a trust-building opportunity. The data backs this up: According to PwC, 71% of consumers say they'll lose trust in a brand if they perceive it's putting profit over people. And once that trust is gone, 46% say they'll stop buying from the company altogether. The Bottom Line In the tech world, where every other company claims to be "revolutionary" or "game-changing," authentic brand truth is your secret weapon. It's not about crafting the perfect message—it's about having the courage to be genuinely, consistently, unapologetically you. The next generation of successful tech brands won't win because they had the most sophisticated tech stack or the biggest AWS budget. They'll win because they dared to be real in an increasingly artificial world. In an industry obsessed with automation and scalability, never forget that authenticity is the one thing you can't fake. Remember: Your brand truth is like your source code — you don't write it from scratch, you refactor and optimize what's already there. When you commit to pushing authentic commits to your brand repository, you're not just building a better story — you're compiling a more resilient business that resonates with users on a fundamental level.
