3 Systems I Use to Run a Business From Anywhere (61 Countries & Counting!)

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It's been crucial for me to implement structure now that my “office” is wherever my laptop happens to be. Here are three systems I lean on for streamlining my business operations so that they work just as well on the road. And there's real data to back up each one.

System #1: Use Asana for Task Management + Delegation

Asana is a super easy app for managing your to-do list. It's so intuitive that I jumped on the app ten years ago and never learned all the bells and whistles. If I need a feature I don't know how to use, I just look it up quickly in their help section and I'm on my way.

How I use it:

• Every member of my team (including me) uses Asana.

• My fabulous CEO at Sourceress, Kanjun Qiu, taught me the following way of organizing my Asana tasks. She put herself through MIT by writing stock-trading algorithms and now runs the $1B AI lab Imbue. So her systems generally work well! You can organize your to-do list in this super simple way even if you don't use Asana. The strategy is to break your task list up into three priority buckets:

  1. Now — what absolutely must get done today (or there will be real consequences).

  2. Next — what must happen in the next few days.

  3. Later — tasks that can wait awhile without immediate risk.

• Every morning, I open Asana and re-prioritize my existing tasks. e.g. I drag the "Next" tasks that have become urgent into the "Now" bucket, add new ones, and delegate any tasks that I can hand off to another member of my team. I can delegate directly in Asana by adding instructions to the task cards and assigning them to team members. 

• Every day I work through my Now list and use any remaining time to start on my Next list. 

Why this works (according to the research):

• In remote or hybrid work settings, structured systems and digital tools compensate for the absence of informal in-office scaffolding (e.g. quick hallway check-ins). A 2021 review of remote work found that people benefit from clear systems and consistent tooling to maintain productivity and reduce ambiguity. 

• In cognitive science, there's work showing that people tend to simplify complex tasks mentally, chunking and organizing them into manageable units. The “Now / Next / Later” structure mirrors that cognitive habit and helps reduce decision fatigue. 

• When tasks and ownership are visible and auditable (i.e. logged in Asana), you reduce the chances of having that thing you asked someone somewhere to do get lost and fall through the cracks.

So in sum, the method is (1) organizing tasks into Now / Next / Later buckets + (2) adding and re-prioritizating tasks daily + (3) delegating tasks in Asana. It's not only intuitive — it's backed by research.

System #2: Google Calendar + Email Reminders to Reinforce Hard Deadlines

I use Google's easy calendar app to keep track of all my appointments. It looks like this:

How I use it:

• The moment I learn of any deadline or meeting, I create a Google Calendar event (often far ahead). Here's a <2-minute tutorial!

• I set an email reminder in the event so that Google sends me an email (typically 12 hours before the appointment or time I intend to do a task). This means I wake up to emails nudging me about what’s due that day and what meetings are happening.

• I can then treat my inbox as a mini-dashboard: I don’t delete reminder emails until the task is done. Then, by the end of the day, I see what remains undone and act on it before I log out.

• This acts as a backup layer beyond Asana — if I get swept into something else and forget to check my to-do list, then the reminder emails from Google Calendar will resurface what matters.

Why this works:

• Productivity and scheduling research emphasizes that integrating tasks into your calendar (instead of leaving them only in to-do lists) reduces the risk of tasks falling through the cracks. Wikipedia’s entry on Timeblocking references multiple findings that professionals who use timeblocking frequently eliminate distractions and complete more tasks by actively blocking time on their calendar to complete important to-dos.

So in sum: Create Google Calendar events as soon as you learn of a deadline. In the event, schedule a reminder email to be sent when it's time to do the thing. Together, these layers make it extremely unlikely that a task with a hard deadline disappears into the void.

System #3: A Single Source of Truth (Create an Internal Knowledge Base)

Having an online manual for your workplace is everything! I use Notion, a digital workspace that allows users to create, organize, and store documents. Notion is where I document any and all shared knowledge required to run my business so that anyone on the team can access the company knowledge base (task guides, FAQs, and policies) at any time from anywhere in the world. 

How I use it:

• Even if I'm the only one working on something, I like to sort out and document the best/fastest way to do it. Then I can come back to my documented process later and follow the steps myself. I don't have to remember all the little tips and tricks I came up with along the way because they're all written down. 

• I organize the Notion space into categories like Client Onboarding for all the SOPs (standard operating procedures) and documentation about how to onboard a new client. There's a Marketing Operations section for all of our lead generation processes and outreach templates, and an Administrative Information section for things like the email directory and company holiday calendar. 

• Everyone on the team knows to check Notion first if they have a question about anything. They reach out to their direct supervisor only if they can't find the answer.

• Because everyone is remote, this prevents repeated low-value back-and-forth, ensures consistency, and maintains institutional memory.

Why this works (with evidence):

• The Panopto + YouGov survey of ~1,000 workers cited earlier also found that companies waste millions annually due to inefficient knowledge sharing — much of that time is spent searching for information or duplicating work when internal knowledge isn't organized or accessible. 

• One stat: employees spend ~20 % of their working hours (a full FIFTH!) just looking for information scattered across disorganized repositories and inboxes, or by asking colleagues. A centralized knowledge base helps reclaim that time.

• Remote- and distributed-work literature consistently flags knowledge flow as a friction point: when teams are not co-located, casual knowledge-sharing (water-cooler moments, overheard conversations) evaporates. That makes codified, accessible documentation more important than ever. 

In effect, your knowledge base becomes the glue that holds together workflows, reduces redundant questions, and protects against knowledge loss when people change roles or leave the team.

Want me to build you a custom set of systems that address your individual challenges?

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