Six Reasons Why RebelMouse Is Remote-Only + Why It Works for Us
RebelMouse is a global team that has no central office. We create our own office culture right from our laptops, which are proudly distributed across the world.
When RebelMouse first launched in 2012, we had a fancy office in New York City's SoHo neighborhood. But in 2016, our founder and CEO Andrea Breanna made the decision to close its doors, and none of us have looked back since. Becoming a remote team has ironically brought all of us closer together, and it's opened up the doors to hiring even more people from around the world. Many clients will hop on calls with us and say, "When I'm on a call with RebelMouse, I feel like I'm talking to the whole world." And it's true, too. We take great pride in how well we work as a fully distributed team that doesn't let location or time zones hold us back from building a great product and excelling as a fluid creative agency.
Here are six reasons why we choose talent over time zones.
1. We Can Offer Round-the-Clock Support
Our CMS is based on a centralized model. This means that — unlike decentralized alternatives, such as WordPress and Drupal — our updates are deployed all at once to every site we power. As soon as we catch wind of a vulnerability or bug to fix, the patch is pushed live immediately once it's available. And thanks to the nature of our remote team, this level of support is also available around the clock. So even when a client is asleep, there's a Rebel somewhere watching their site's performance and monitoring its security.
2. Overbearing Office Walls Are Broken Down
Working in an office can put you in between more suffocating walls than the average employee realizes. Aside from unavoidable office politics that no one likes to deal with, many office-based work environments promote a clock-watching culture. After all, if an employee doesn't sit at his or her desk for a certain amount of time during their shift, it must mean they aren't performing, right? And let's not forget how most of us can't wait to escape the shackles of our post toward the end of a work day.
Conversely, our team is built upon a foundation of trust that propels every Rebel to go beyond what's expected of them, on a schedule that fits their lifestyle. We operate based on results, not regulations.
3. We Have the Ability to Travel or "Work from Family"
Being part of the digital nomad community means that as long as you have a laptop and a serviceable WiFi connection, you can work from quite literally anywhere. Anything from the beach to the jungle to the coffee shop around the corner will do. But on the flip side, remote working means you also have the freedom to create an office around your family. We have plenty of Rebel parents who get the best of both worlds — a job they love, and the flexibility to stay home with their children or drop them off and pick them up from school every day.
4. We Find Talent You Would Never Find Locally
Even offices with multiple locations don't have the talent pool that all-remote companies do. At RebelMouse, we're so lucky to open up every position to the entire population of Earth. Because our talent searches span the globe, we're able to find amazing individuals who would never have hit our radar if we were confined by any one location. It's helped make our product what it is today.
5. It Promotes Becoming a More Open-Minded and Creative Learner
With a global team, not only are you constantly exposed to new languages and cultures, but you get to see how other people around the world approach workflow. Being able to blend these different backgrounds together makes every one of us open to new ideas within our own team and for our product. Working with so many different people takes a certain amount of creativity and flexibility, which is reflected in not only how we work, but also what we create.
6. We Get to Live a Life That Prioritizes Happiness
This is probably the most important perk of having a remote, global team. Each one of us has plenty of goals for RebelMouse as a company. We're all working toward a level of success that we know is inevitable given the quality of the work we do. But more importantly, before anything else, we make sure to prioritize the people, places, and things that bring happiness to our personal lives. We move mountains to protect them. And we believe that our combined happiness will directly impact our dreams for RebelMouse.
Here's a little more from the Rebels themselves on what makes remote working a joy, and how working with a global team helps them put their happiness first.
Rebel: Thekra Dwairi Location: Amman, Jordan
I have two kids I can take care of, stay close to, and always be around. They've gotten used to my own workspace, have somehow learned how to stay calm during calls, and they even call themselves "Little Rebels." :D
My kids are a little older now since I started at RebelMouse (3.5 and 1.5 years old). This means I'm sending them to a nursery for seven hours a day, which gives me the freedom to work from my couch at home or a cozy cafe nearby. I can then pick up my kids and spend some quality time with them, and RebelMouse gives me the flexibility to schedule my work hours around that. I have the time to give them a bath and cook a quick meal, which, trust me, no other office job lets you do anything remotely similar so easily.
Rebel: Maithra Jadhav ~ Location: Bangalore, India
I don't like to be put in a box! I am an artist and a coder. I like QA, and I like sales. When I applied to RebelMouse, the job description said, "Roles are boring, we are fluid," and it spoke to me. I am amazed by the diversity and efficiency at RebelMouse. The efficiency comes from extremely helpful team members and managers.The trust and the small acts of appreciation rejuvenates my energy and dedication.
-Maithra
Rebel: Amanda Branquinho ~ Location: Goiânia, Brazil
It's always fun to work! You always want to make your clients happy because you're happy, and you want them to be, too. RebelMouse understands and respects the differences between people. It's the reason why we work so well across many countries. We value the differences. When it comes to RebelMouse, I have never been so proud of being on a team like I am here. I have all the support that I need. People really care about how you feel and it truly feels like family.
-Amanda
Rebel: Elisabetta Torretti ~ Location: Barcelona, Spain
I can spend more time with my family that is 1,400 km away. I can easily work from there whenever I visit them. A stronger company culture means higher motivation for its employees, and increased focus and productivity. Better work-life balance and better health!
As long as you have WiFi, your location doesn't matter!
-Elisabetta
Rebel: Lika Nikanorova ~ Location: Russia
To me, being a remote employee means:
- Working from bed (I'm writing this from my bed)
- I don't have to wear stupid office clothes (I hate wearing shoes all day)
- I don't lose time getting to an office (I hated going to an office in the rain/snow/heat)
- I get a salary in USD ($) instead of my nation's currency
- I don't need to take days off when my kids are sick (office managers typically don't like this)
- I get to be flexible with my working time
- I'm able to plan my round trips without impacting work
Rebel: Anne Burns ~ Location: Austin, Texas
Being office-free for three years has truly been life-changing. I recently married a partner who shares my wanderlust, and we've worked all over the planet — from Hawaii to the Swiss Alps! I particularly value that my coworkers trust me to do what I need to do, and it makes me even more motivated. I also love that I can work during times when I know I am operating at 100%. I am one of those crazy morning people!
-Anne
Rebel: Christiaan Myrberg ~ Location: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
I've been working remotely for over four years now, and it's easy to echo the statements of my colleagues because they're all correct. How can you argue with flexible schedules, the ability to work from anywhere, and the freedom to travel the world? (Remember: Experiences over possessions!) But there's something else, something intangible, that really hits home for me above all else: Being able to work remotely means that I'm trusted.
Building a world-class company with a lean team — from the ground up, no less — is no easy feat. And when I joined RebelMouse over a year ago, I got to help stoke the passion that keeps the fires roaring here. But you can't build something successful if you don't trust every member of your largely unsupervised team to do what's right for both themselves and the company.
These days, I don't travel as much. Instead, I decided to move my permanent office (home!) to paradise instead. Sure beats driving to and from an office every day.
-Christiaan
Rebel: Francisco Lavin ~ Location: Chile
For me, I love having the flexible working time. I was able to change my working hours to start around 5 a.m., which has been very productive for me. Most importantly, it allows me to spend more quality time with my kids in the afternoon.
-Francisco
