We were lucky to catch up with Mir Garvy recently and have shared our conversation below.
Mir, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear your thoughts about making remote work effective.
My team and I worked remotely well before the pandemic; in fact, we’ve only ever been a virtual company. When Covid hit in 2020, we were able to continue working without any disruption whatsoever. We had one slow month, and the government’s payroll protection program saw us through, and then work picked right back up and we were able to get back to what we’ve always done: help people with their resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and cover letters so they can be more successful job seekers.
As far as making remote-work work for the company, here are the strategies that work for us:
1. We use online collaboration tools such as Google Chat and Google Spaces to stay in touch with day-to-day questions and issues as they come up. We might also jump on a phone call or a Zoom call or start a group email thread, as needed, to discuss something. We also have regular all-hands staff meetings by Zoom.
2. We use an online project management tool and file-sharing program to store all incoming/outgoing client work in a secure and organized way. Any team member can look up any client project and instantly know where we are with that project, what the next deadline is, and who is responsible for delivering it and by when.
3. We have a holiday party, in person, every December. But we do other things, too, like meet for lunch, have in-person staff meetings at rented co-working locations, even get pedicures. My writers and I traveled to Florida for an annual conference once. Another year, we participated in a 5k fun run for the Autism Society of North Carolina as a team, complete with children and spouses. Getting together face-to-face every now and then is good for our team, I think.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
When I started this business, I was writing resumes while running after two children under the age of six, working in the early mornings and around their nap times and playdates.
The year my youngest went to kindergarten was the same year I went through a divorce. As a newly single mother with full custody of two boys, it was time for me to put my business to the test. So, my purpose when I ramped up from part-time to full-time work was to support my children, pay my bills, and save for the future. It was that simple.
These days, I still need the work I do to support my family but the business’s purpose has evolved in its own right. It’s purpose now is three-fold: to write world-class career documents for our clients; to provide steady work and a supportive culture for my fully remote team of four; and to be continually improving upon what we do and the way we do it.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Some of my favorite books include, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, The One Thing by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan, Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, and Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis.
The common theme (that I see) in these books is about being strategic, being intentional. Gerber talks about working on the business, not in the business. Keller and Papasan say, “What one thing can I do today — or this week, this month, this year — such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?” Brown’s book challenges us to be intentional about developing resilience, being brave, and adopting a mindset of abundance. Johnson’s fable about the mice and the cheese is, among other things, a lesson about anticipating change and strategically pivoting before it’s too late. And Hollis, in her fun and feisty way, urges us, first, to set audacious goals and, next, to create a practical game-plan for achieving them.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Early on, when I was wearing every hat at the company, I felt overwhelmed, as many solopreneurs can feel. I looked for help with the aspects of the business that fell outside of my natural areas of giftedness; in my case, that was billing, bookkeeping, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.
I turned to a trusted friend who seemed to have solid financial acumen. For instance, she had worked on a contract basis with an accountant during the busy tax season. I needed the help; she had the skills, and the availability. It seemed like a great fit.
My first mistake was to turn too much over to this person; for example, I’m embarrassed to say I gave her permission to write her own checks. I also failed to check her work on a regular basis. Over the course of five to six months, this subcontractor padded her time card and paycheck and, all told, embezzled a little over $10,000 from the business.
In the grand scheme of things, the amount of money wasn’t crushing–but the betrayal was.
When I found all of this out, I terminated the subcontractor’s contract immediately, filed a police report, and waited nearly 18 months for the case to come before our District Attorney. Ultimately, he threw out the case, not for lack of evidence but for lack of a written contract between my friend and me.
All of this was an important (but painful) lesson for me. Since then, I’ve learned to delegate and outsource judiciously, to check behind people (because dishonest people are out there and even honest people sometimes make mistakes), and to have signed contracts with every person with whom I do business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jobmarketsolutions.com / www.getresumehelp.com
- Instagram: @getresumehelp
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jobmarketsolutions/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mir-garvy/
Image Credits
Professional headshot by Season Moore Photography (https://www.seasonmoorephotography.com/)