Meet Jeremy Rosen, one of the innovative minds behind Happly, Australia’s first technology-driven, centralised moving platform. With a mission to simplify the chaos of moving, Jeremy and his team at Happly have transformed the way we think about and manage the moving process.
From his early entrepreneurial journey with TAXIBOX to his current role at Happly, Jeremy’s career is a testament to his passion for technology, efficiency, and making life easier for people on the move. In our candid conversation, Jeremy opens up about his career path, the evolution of his work-life balance, and the insights he’s gained along the way.
Let’s start with your background! Can you share with us your career journey and what you’re currently up to?
Sure, my first venture was the mobile storage company TAXIBOX that I co-founded back in 2010 and I was co-CEO of that business for 12 years. This became the fastest growing storage business in Australia with operations nationwide.
I’m really proud that it’s now the fourth most recognisable storage brand in Australia (the three above us are massive corporations). That journey was amazing but pretty relentless so when I stepped out operationally from that business I took a break for around 9 months and learned failed to play golf amongst other things.
As of around a year ago I joined Happly as employee #2 – a proptech business that is aiming to be the booking.com of moving houses. Moving is one of life’s biggest pain points and we think technology can solve for a lot of it. Our tech lets customers create their bespoke moving checklist for all the things they need to conquer in their move – and they can then get it all done with a few clever clicks. No more call centres!
Around the instant comparison and booking of all the providers and services one might need (removalists, cleaners, packers, electricity, gas, insurance, change of addresses etc.,) we imbed smart tech like calendar and text functionality with a modern tone of voice.
We also throw in some relevant social cause options that people might not know about like electronics recycling and furniture donation. It’s really been a pleasure watching it all come together.
Prior to that I worked in corporate finance doing M&A, capital raising and business valuations.
We’d love to know what a typical day is like for you. Could you describe a recent workday?
Wake up before the kids are up at around 6 and take our golden retriever for a walk down to the local café and get my morning infusion of caffeine. A friend advised me to get up before my kids do and it’s really become my zen time because it’s the only time of the day that I have the time to think.
Then it’s back to my house to get my 1 and 4 year old girls out of bed and get them ready for their day. I try to do their hair (and then my wife usually comes and does a do over). Next stop is Happly HQ down in Rose Bay where I’ll spend the first 10 minutes or so writing out my priorities for the day.
Then it’s a combination of solo work and meeting time with others including leadership meetings, standups with our dev team and other ad-hoc meetings around different initiatives the team are doing. I’m usually home for dinner with the family and kids bath time and then I try to chill for an hour or so before either doing some more work, going for a swim or hanging out with my wife or friends.
Can you define work-life balance for yourself and share with us your approach in maintaining it?
Apart from the usual stuff which is sometimes easier said than done (eat well, exercise, get enough sleep etc.,) I’m fairly intentional about how I spend my time at work – I like to maximise my efficiency during the work day so I’m a big fan of Trello boards, agendas, meetings starting and finishing on time etc., so that I can have a life outside of work.
I also really like to get out with Andrew Weinman (Happly founder) and Matt Adams (CTO) for walking meetings on the beach behind our office – I find this breaks up the day nicely (everyone should work by a beach…!).
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?
I played around with my diet a few years ago to get more energy so I can focus better and get more out of the day. I couldn’t keep up the intensity at TAXIBOX without making some changes. I went through stages of eating vegetarian only, intermittent fasting, no sugar, and a few others. I’m sure everyone is different but the one that worked for me is reducing sugar intake – I don’t cut it out completely but it definitely helps with maximising what I can do in a day.
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?
Check out Bryan Johnson. I definitely don’t recommend his approach to life (and I could never do it) but equally seeing extreme life choices got me to think about my own life choices and after seeing his I made some small but meaningful changes to my lifestyle (no I don’t swap blood with my offspring).
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?
Always the hardest question, last! I joined a business group years ago and one practice they made us do was to reflect monthly (in writing) how we were going in respect of our work life, personal life and community life. I don’t do this formally anymore but it did give me a framework for checking in with myself which I think has been helpful.
