Leigh Price is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Salesforce, working on the company’s Marketing Cloud team.

Prior to Salesforce, Leigh was the first employee at Amicus Digital, helping grow the business to become the largest independent Salesforce Marketing Cloud partner in Australia.

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

After a misfire in the entertainment industry working as a talent manager for Big Brother contestants, I started my career at digital organisations like eBay, News Interactive and DealsDirect.

When social media burst onto the scene I became very passionate about the opportunities it held. For the past decade I’ve worked heavily with social analytics for companies like Telstra and General Electric.

That led me to join Amicus Digital as their first employee. We ended up becoming the largest independent Australian Salesforce Marketing Cloud partner by the time I left the business.

I got lucky and won the US green card lottery last year, so I took the plunge and relocated to the US. I’m now in my dream job working in product marketing for Salesforce’s social marketing products – the very products I’d been geeking out about 10 years ago.

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

We’ve all noticed the difference in productivity if we’ve exercised before we start the day – so if the Texas heat permits, I’m usually cycling or jogging before sunrise.

I spend a lot of time working with our internal sales teams to ensure they can position and sell our product effectively. A lot of my focus is also on managing events, working with our internal teams to develop messaging around the products we’re building and producing content.

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

I’m a remote worker, and am grateful that Salesforce embraces this style of working, and does it really well. We all work fairly flexibly and you’re trusted to get the job done.

Isolation isn’t too much of a problem. I’m on video calls with colleagues throughout the day, regularly catch up with other Austin-based colleagues and spend a lot of time traveling to our offices around the US.

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

Having a system you can trust equates to far less stress. For me, that’s relying on Omnifocus to manage my workload. It’s based on the Getting Things Done methodology.

Supporting that, I have a daily routine of tasks I try to complete every morning over coffee. A lot of these act as inputs into Omnifocus.

After years of over-scheduling myself, these days I try to build in flexibility to my week. Salesforce moves quickly internally, which means I’ll inevitably be drawn into fast-moving projects or requests that I haven’t planned into my week. I used to see these as interruptions in old roles, but these days I welcome them as new opportunities to work with talented people and exciting projects.

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

Getting happiness from what you do. Always focusing on learning something new. Having the freedom to work flexibly.

My home office is in a guest house that’s physically separated from the rest of my house, so I try to avoid bringing work back into my personal space.

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?

Having a genuine curiosity to learn new things, and learning from people’s experience. Being excited about both your work, and things that don’t involve your work in any way whatsoever. Not being afraid to give your life a good hard shake now and then to see what change brings.

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

Getting Things Done by David Allen. That’s a style of working that resonated as soon as I read it.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It’s a classic, it’s simple, and I believe it’s a good way to live your life. I try to re-read it once or twice a year.

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

Strive for happiness.

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

I strongly recommend listening to heavy metal while you work. Nobody can see you headbanging if you’re working remotely.

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