Brodie Haupt is the CEO and co-founder of WLTH, a Brisbane-based startup, digital lending and payments provider.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I actually commenced my career in advertising, starting a street press magazine that was stocked in a number of retail stores including General Pants Co. I moved into the finance space about nine years ago, when I started my first business with my brother.
I have launched a number of businesses with him since then, including WLTH. As the co-founder, I am responsible for managing the day to day operations of the business and work with all the different teams to ensure that we are sticking to our aggressive product roadmap and hitting all our key milestones.
2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
My day starts off with family time in the morning, including taking my dog for a walk, before heading to the gym.
Once I get into the office my days generally consist of back-to-back meetings with different teams either in person or via video calls. With a number of team members in different states, this has become the new normal now.
In between these meetings I always try to get through as much work as I can, returning as many calls and emails as possible before heading home to help get my boys ready for bed. After dinner, I usually jump back on my computer and try to get as much work done as possible to be ready to dive fresh into a new day.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Yes, absolutely. There is a lot of flexibility to work from home, especially on days where there are a number of meetings with team members in different states. I always like being in our office though, and around the team. It’s important for the company culture to have different teams in the office and it’s a great way to drive collaboration between teams.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
Work-life balance is very important. I always do my best to spend time with my wife and boys. It’s important to be able to spend time with them before I go to work, when I get home and on weekends. This isn’t always the easiest thing to juggle, but understand how important it is. Making time for exercise is also really important and helps me prepare for a big day in the office.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
Acupuncture and training for adventure races. I’ve always loved training in the gym, and have been competing in Spartan races for the last few years, but this year I have entered into a few adventure races, which entail trail running, kayaking and mountain biking over a day or weekend. I’m loving spending time on different trails around Brisbane training for this.
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
I love listening to podcasts, How I Built This by Guy Raz and Masters of Scale by Reid Hoffman are my favourites. Along with The Jump, due to my massive interest in the NBA.
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
Love all Apple products and we use Apple across the business. For organisation and planning I’m a huge fan of the Any.do app.
It’s a great way to plan for the day, in the office or going shopping and helps me ensure that I’m able to tick everything off. I also love remote working and swear by the ten one mountie clip, which allows me to dual screen my i-pad anywhere on the go.
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
I’ve always looked at Richard Branson as someone who had a great work-life balance. He is a highly successful business leader who has been able to live his life, switch off on holidays and spend time with his family.
Also, the importance he puts on staying active and how he makes sure he is creating time in his busy schedule for exercise is something that resonates with me. Not to mention his purpose and environmental initiatives he works so tirelessly on.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
It is really important to make time for family and switching off. If we are not giving those important to us and our bodies the attention they need, it will create burnout. Being able to take some time away from work is very important to release the pressure valve that builds up in a fast-moving environment.
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