In our latest conversation, we talk with Dexter Zhuang, Founder of Money Abroad. Dexter’s career path has taken him from Silicon Valley startups to launching his own media business in Mexico City.
He discusses his experiences in various roles, from working at Dropbox to helping build a leading fintech startup in Southeast Asia, and now leading Money Abroad. Dexter opens up about the challenges and rewards of adapting to different cultural environments and how he has integrated his work into his life rather than trying to balance the two.
Let’s start with your background! Can you share with us your career journey and what you’re currently up to?
I started my career in Silicon Valley, building and growing products for internet startups. This was a perfect career launchpad for me. I learned so much about building successful companies from working with the best and brightest in the industry.
Over the next 10 years, I worked at companies of various sizes, from public companies (Dropbox) to growth-stage startups (Xendit, CreativeLive). Along the way, I got the opportunity to lead a 70-person product org, scale product-led growth businesses, ship features that drove millions in revenue, and launch new products & teams from scratch.
4 years ago, I moved to Singapore to grow my career internationally. Since then, I helped build one of the largest fintech startups in Southeast Asia.
Now I’m building Money Abroad, a media business that helps professionals build wealth overseas. I’m also a fractional CPO, helping startups get their struggling product or growth teams back on the right track. My wife and I recently relocated to Mexico City for 2024.
The theme of my career has been to constantly pursue my curiosities, have courage to take risks, and push myself to take on new challenges.
We’d love to know what a typical day is like for you. Could you describe a recent workday?
To be honest, I don’t have a typical workday. Here’s what a recent day looked like:
- 8:30am: Kick the day off by walking to a nearby cafe with my wife to get coffee
- 9:00am-11am: Jump on a couple Zoom meetings with my team for a fractional client, making a couple decisions to improve our operational process
- 11am-12pm: Spend an hour synthesising and writing a draft document that I planned to present to the founders later in the week
- 12pm-12:30pm: Run outside to grab a quick taco lunch
- 12:30pm-1pm: Clear out as many emails and texts as possible
- 1pm-4pm: Focus time. I put on my headphones, listen to an ambient soundtrack, and spend most of this time researching and writing a draft newsletter edition for Money Abroad
- 4pm-5pm: Quick call with a potential partner for Money Abroad. I take notes during the call and plan the partnership after the call
- 5pm-6pm: I review my team’s work output, edit, write feedback, and assign new tasks
Can you define work-life balance for yourself and share with us your approach in maintaining it?
These days, I focus less on work-life balance and more on integrating my work into my life.
Work-life balance to me assumes that I can compartmentalise work and life, which is very difficult as an entrepreneur. Instead, I see work as one dimension of life.
Here’s how I align my work and life:
I start with defining my life goals and values—which influence how I want to spend my time. Then I map my work to these different goals and values.
If the work that I’m doing is aligned with my goals and values, I typically feel energised and like I’m leveraging my strengths.
If the work that I’m doing is not aligned, then I evaluate whether there’s something I need to change about my work or goals. And make those changes.
Change is constant, and it’s essential for growth. Have you made any lifestyle changes in the past year to improve your work-life balance?
While it’s not a recent change, one rewarding exercise I started doing a few years ago is my Annual Review.
Each year, I answer a handful of questions that help me reflect, clarify, and commit to changes in the following year. For example, “What did I not do because of fear?” is a powerful question that helps me deeply understand the role that fear played in my life.
We’re always on the lookout for new resources! Can you recommend any books, podcasts, or newsletters that have helped you in your journey towards balance?
On money and life, I recommend Morgan Housel’s Psychology of Money or the I Will Teach You To be Rich podcast. Both are great resources for professionals to understand and improve their relationship with money (which plays an underrated role in our lives).
Shameless plug: I also recommend the Money Abroad newsletter for professionals looking to learn actionable strategies for building wealth.
Before we wrap up, do you have any final words of wisdom or insights on work, life, or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Make friends with your fear.
Most people are afraid of something. But what I’ve uncovered in my own life (and others), is that fear shows you what’s important to you. By carefully observing what you fear, you’ll often identify the path that takes you forward.