Case Study: How Bloom Agency Went 100% Remote and Doubled Revenue

The Decision: Office or Bust?

Agency: Bloom Agency Founder: Jessica Park Service: Content marketing & copywriting Team: 8 people
Revenue: $800K/year Office lease: $7,500/month (downtown SF)

March 2024:

Jessica loved her office. Open floor plan, exposed brick, espresso machine, ping pong table.

But the numbers didn't lie:

• Office rent: $90K/year
• Utilities, internet, snacks: $18K/year
• Commute time (team average): 90 minutes/day
• Total cost: $108K/year + lost productivity

"We were paying $13,500/person/year just for the office," Jessica says. "Plus everyone was exhausted from commuting."

The wake-up call: Her best designer quit. Reason? "I'm tired of commuting 2 hours/day."

Jessica had a choice: Hire a replacement (and lose more people to commutes), or go remote.

"I resisted for months. I thought we NEEDED an office to be a 'real agency.'"

Then COVID happened. They went remote out of necessity.

6 months later: Productivity was UP. Team was happier. Jessica realized: "Why are we paying for this office?"

The Transition: 90 Days to Fully Remote

Month 1: Infrastructure

What they built:

1. Communication system

• Slack (all-team communication)
• Zoom (meetings)
• Loom (async video updates)
• Google Workspace (docs, drives)

2. Project management

• Yuktis (client work, deliverables, approvals)
• Notion (internal wiki, SOPs, templates)

3. Team rituals

• Monday: All-hands (30 min check-in)
• Daily: Standup in Slack (async)
• Friday: Social hour (optional, fun)

Cost: $800/month (vs $7,500 for office)

Month 2: Policies & Processes

What they created:

Remote work policy:

• Core hours: 10 AM - 3 PM (must be available)
• Flexible start/end times
• Must attend Monday all-hands
• Response time: 2 hours during core hours

Communication guidelines:

• Urgent: Slack DM
• Can wait 2 hours: Slack channel
• Can wait 24 hours: Email
• Needs discussion: Zoom call

Meeting rules:

• Default to async (Loom video)
• Meetings need agenda + time limit
• No meeting Fridays
• Camera on for team meetings

Home office stipend:

• $500 one-time (desk, chair, monitor)
• $50/month internet reimbursement

Month 3: Culture Building

The challenge: How to build culture remotely?

What they did:

1. Virtual coffee chats

• Randomly pair 2 people/week
• 15-minute call (non-work topics)

2. Slack social channels

• #pets (share pet photos)
• #wins (celebrate successes)
• #random (memes, jokes)

3. In-person retreats

• Twice per year (3 days)
• All-expenses paid
• Team bonding + strategy planning

4. Care packages

• Quarterly surprise box (swag, snacks, gifts)
• Birthdays (Uber Eats gift card)

"Culture is harder remote," Jessica admits. "But not impossible. It just requires intention."

The Results After 12 Months

Financial Impact

Metric	Before (Office)	After (Remote)	Change
Office rent	$90K/year	$0	-$90K
Utilities/snacks	$18K/year	$0	-$18K
Commute costs (team)	~$40K/year	$0	-$40K
Remote stipends	$0	$15K/year	+$15K
Remote software	$0	$10K/year	+$10K
Net savings			$123K/year

What they did with savings:

• Gave team 10% raises ($60K/year)
• Hired 2 more people ($120K/year)
• Invested in marketing ($20K/year)

Productivity Impact

Metric	Before	After	Change
Billable hours/week (per person)	28	34	+21%
Average commute time	90 min/day	0	-7.5 hours/week
Sick days taken	12/year/person	6/year/person	-50%
Employee satisfaction	6.5/10	8.8/10	+35%

"People have more time and energy," Jessica says. "No commute = 10 extra hours/week. They use that for deep work or personal life. Win-win."

Business Growth

Metric	Before	After 12 months	Change
Revenue	$800K/year	$1.6M/year	+100%
Team size	8	14	+75%
Clients	18	32	+78%
Profit margin	15%	28%	+13 points
Employee churn	25%/year	7%/year	-18 points

Why revenue doubled:

• More productive team (handled more clients)
• Lower overhead (higher margins = could invest in growth)
• Better talent pool (hired nationwide, not just SF)

"Going remote was terrifying. I thought we'd lose our culture, productivity would tank, clients would hate it. The opposite happened. Best business decision I've made."

The Unexpected Benefits

What Jessica didn't expect:

1. Access to better talent "Before: Limited to SF Bay Area. Now: We hire anywhere in the US. Talent pool 100X bigger."

2. Happier team "People LOVE remote work. We lost zero people in 12 months. Before, we lost 2-3/year."

3. Better work-life balance "My commute was 45 minutes each way. Now I see my kids before/after school. Game-changer."

4. More focused work "Office was distracting. Open floor plan = constant interruptions. Remote = deep work."

5. Client didn't care "I thought clients would think we were 'less serious' without an office. Not one client asked."

The Challenges (and Solutions)

Challenge #1: Timezone Differences

Problem: Team spread across 4 timezones (PT to ET)

Solution:

• Core hours (10 AM - 3 PM PT = 1 PM - 6 PM ET)
• Async by default (Loom videos, Slack)
• Record all meetings

Challenge #2: Onboarding New Hires

Problem: Harder to train remotely

Solution:

• 2-week structured onboarding (checklist of 30+ tasks)
• Assigned buddy (answers questions)
• Daily check-ins for first 2 weeks
• SOPs for everything (Notion)

Result: New hires productive in 2 weeks (same as in-office)

Challenge #3: Feeling Isolated

Problem: Some people miss social interaction

Solution:

• Coworking stipend ($200/month if they want)
• Encourage local meetups (if multiple team members in one city)
• Twice-yearly in-person retreats

Challenge #4: Client Meetings

Problem: Can't meet clients in person as easily

Solution:

• Most clients prefer Zoom anyway (saves them time too)
• For big pitches: Fly to them (save on office, spend on travel)
• Professional Zoom setup (lighting, background, camera)

The Remote Playbook

How to go remote successfully:

Common Remote Mistakes

What NOT to do:

1. Recreate office culture remotely "Don't try to have 8 hours of Zoom calls. That's exhausting. Embrace async."

2. Micromanage "You can't see people working. You have to trust them. Judge by output, not hours."

3. No boundaries "Remote can blur work/life. Set clear start/end times. Encourage people to log off."

4. Skimp on tools "Bad tools = bad experience. Invest in Zoom, Slack, PM software. It's cheaper than office rent."

The Metrics That Matter

Track these to know if remote is working:

Metric	How to measure	Target
Productivity	Billable hours/week	No decrease
Employee satisfaction	Quarterly survey	8+/10
Client satisfaction	NPS score	8+/10
Churn (employee)	% leaving/year	<15%
Churn (client)	% leaving/year	<10%
Revenue per employee	Revenue / team size	$100K+

If any metric drops significantly, diagnose the problem fast.

What's Next for Bloom

Future plans:

• Continue remote forever
• Grow to $3M revenue with 20-person team
• Open "office" → coworking memberships for anyone who wants
• Host annual retreat (Hawaii next year!)

Jessica's advice for agencies considering remote:

"Try it for 3 months. Seriously. Track your numbers. I bet you'll be surprised.

We thought we needed an office. We didn't. We needed great people, great tools, and great communication.

Going remote saved us $120K/year, made us more productive, and let us hire the best talent in the country.

Best decision we've made."