Chris Samios is the Partnerships Lead at Limepay, a merchant-focused and secure payment platform, who currently works remotely on the mid north coast of Australia.

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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

After finishing High School, I’ve mainly worked for mid stage startups with 20+ employees, with only a short stint for Optus in the corporate sector. My roles have been varied in industries such as Real Estate, Telecommunications, Educational Training, Foreign Exchange, and more recently Media.

My current role is in the Payment sector where I’ve been the 1st employee working alongside the Founder and CEO. I met Tim Dwyer the Founder and CEO of Limepay about 5-6 years ago. He was working in the same co-working space as I was at the time.

Five years passed by and we ran into each other outside the ASX building in Sydney. We discussed a few things, then I received a call about an opportunity he was working on a few months after.

After delving into the opportunity further and researching for about 4-5 weeks, I could see there was a real opportunity for Limepay to kick some massive goals in the market. 12 months in and we are about to raise our first investment round with 8 employees and a genuine opportunity to shake up the Payments sector.

2) What does a typical day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

I work remotely on the mid north coast of Australia so I have a lot of flexibility to work wherever I want.

A typical day would see me up early, going through my routine, but at the same time looking after my 3 and 5 year old with breakfast and chores around the house. I’ll usually touch base with Tim around 10am to discuss the focus for the day.

Throughout the day I’ll be in touch with clients, new and existing, plus the development team, discussing the improvements we can make to our product/solution. I like to get outside during the day at times, especially to take the kids away and allow my wife to have some time by herself (away from the kids).

I’ll be in touch with the team until 10pm most nights since most of the devs are working overseas.

3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?

Yes it does. I get to work remotely full-time. Having the flexibility is great, but its important to keep a structure for each day so you stay consistent for getting things done.

I have times though where I need to do errands like getting the tyres on the car replaced. It’s amazing to have the flexibility to get them done when it’s convenient for us and the tyre businesses. If I was working full-time from an office, I wouldn’t be able to do that.

My wife would have to do it, which is not something she would like to do. Something she does like is to do is the shopping which she can do during the day while I’ll be at a cafe on my laptop working. Most of the time, the shops are less busy then too.

4) Do you have any tips, tricks or shortcuts to help you manage your workload and schedule?

The most important thing is to plan ahead either the night before or first thing in the morning & stick to it. I also set easy to reach goals each day and keep track of them.

Setting goals and hitting them gives you a sense of satisfaction, which also means the quality of your work tends to lift and you get into that creative space which is needed for creating a special type of business as we are.

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5) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

I’m not into the work-life balance as much as you’d think because I really have that down pat organically due to the nature of working remotely. It’s become second nature now. I am a massive advocate of businesses pushing the remote working scenario for their employees because I now understand the benefits of employee satisfaction levels going through the roof.

My age group tend to have kids and the stress they have on parents in the early years of life, especially when you add a one income household to the mix, it’s hard. I work very hard to maintain the remote working scenario because I have seen it play a huge role in my kids happiness, my wife’s happiness and my own happiness.

6) What do you think are some of the best habits you’ve developed over the years to help you strive for success and balance?

Adding more value to the employer than I get paid for, reading books, staying current in the specific industry I’ve been in.

7) Are there any books that have helped you improve over the years?

I have 7 Habits of Highly Effective people on repeat for a podcast, plus I read it too. This is the only book anyone in life needs to read. It’s the most valuable book on the planet as far as I’m concerned.

8) What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?

Set simple goals.

9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

I think if anyone is reading this and contemplating working remotely, then I would highly suggest you focus right now on adding more value to your current employer than they pay you for.

At the same time, let them know of your intentions of wanting to work remotely often. You may get push back, but don’t let that bother you. Its just a sign that your boss is thinking how this would impact his/her business.

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