Adrien Jarvis is the Marketing Manager at Sharesies, an investing platform that’s making investing more accessible than ever.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I work for Sharesies AU as Marketing Manager. The Sharesies platform is an investing platform that’s making investing more accessible than ever – you can invest in over 8,000 companies and funds across the AU, US, and NZ share markets from as little as 1 cent.
The platform was made accessible to Australians in April 2021, and it’s been my responsibility to drive brand growth here in this market.
Previous to Sharesies, I worked in a variety of marketing and advertising roles both client and agency side and across all different industries and businesses – from Nestle, one of the biggest corps in the world, to small 10-person sized teams.
I’ve learned so much working across such a variety, but I really love being in the tech start up space and working for a business that has a focus on social impact.
2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
One of the things that I love about being in marketing and working at Sharesies is that no two days look the same. But if I were to map out a usual flow to the day, I like to take time in the morning to get started, so I usually get up an hour before work and spend time drinking my coffee and setting myself up for the day.
Then I will typically go online and work through Slack messages and tackle a few meetings before taking a late morning break to walk my dog, Tobey. I speak to a lot of people in New Zealand, so I often have more meetings until around 3 pm, when they clock off.
I might use that time as another opportunity to go out with Tobey for a walk before transitioning into my focus work and critical thinking for any projects and upcoming campaigns. All this combined means my work day stretches across more time, but I love getting those walks in to shake up my day.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Sharesies is the best place I have ever worked for work/life balance. Even separate to the pandemic, Sharesies places a big emphasis on respecting you as an individual with a life and responsibilities outside of the workplace.
You are given the trust to work on a schedule that suits you. This approach also means that Sharesies operates remote-first, so meetings cater to a blend of in-person and remote attendees.
For me, I will take a look at how my week is planned out and balance working from home when I have a video call, meeting heavy days with lighter days where I want to go into the office and connect with the local team.
When I am working from home, I usually opt to work longer days with more micro breaks in them. Recently I traveled overseas to Boston and ended up staying a little longer than expected, and Sharesies was really accommodating to my working from there for a couple of days.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
Work-life balance is really about that acknowledgement and support of the whole individual. I love my job and I am super passionate about what I do, but I also make sure to balance that with having a robust personal life.
When work is about output versus arbitrary measures like the number of hours you work and location, I really think this fosters the best outcomes and inspires the best out of people. I know that’s what motivates me!
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
I am a big walker now! I got a COVID puppy, and he’s a great reason to get up from my desk and take a break, even when I am completely immersed in a project. I find that these breaks really help me do some focused thinking and come back to my work refreshed.
I also recently took up golf, and a small group of us went golfing every Sunday during lockdown. It was a great activity that got us outside and had some normalcy to it.
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
I am a huge fan of financial podcasts “She’s on the Money” and “Equity Mates Investing” for financial and investing conversation, and “What the Flux” for a quick daily Aussie news download.
Sharesies also puts out a 3x weekly market newsletter called “Lunch Money” that’s been a great way for me to get across what’s happening in the AU, US, and NZ share markets.
Personally, I am an avid reader. Some books I love include Educated by Tara Westover and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
From a professional point of view, definitely Slack. I love being a Slack-first business rather than email – it’s a great blend of work communication and connectivity, which was a really important mix during the COVID lockdown. I definitely am obsessed with checking my Sharesies portfolio as well, so I will regularly login to see how my investments are doing.
From a personal view, probably my Kindle. I spend a lot of my time reading – it’s how I decompress before bed every night.
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
I think it would be really interesting to read about work-life balance for politicians, as they have this “always on” sort of lifestyle that I can’t imagine. How do you wind down from that?
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
The recent pandemic has taught a lot of lessons on the value of time and how to best spend it, and we can see the outcomes of this in the cultural and professional shifts happening globally. My best advice is to find a workplace that cares about who you are beyond being their employee. Life is too short to work somewhere that doesn’t value you.
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