Steve Orenstein is the founder & CEO at Zoom2u, an on-demand delivery platform designed for business or personal use.
Looking for your dream role at a start-up or scale-up? Check out global career opportunities at The Nudge Group.
1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I started my first company when I was 19 in IT support, helping small businesses with their IT needs across Sydney. I grew that to a team of around 10 people and learned a lot, including managing cash flow, and building systems and processes.
I also discovered how building software can help your business scale and evolve. I went on to use this knowledge to build my second business, Connect2Field, which was acquired by Fleetmatics in 2013.
Today, I’m using everything I’ve learned along the way to help build my latest business, Zoom2u – an on-demand delivery platform that enables customer-focused, reliable delivery services.
2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
I usually wake up around 9 am and get to the office by about 10:30 am, which gives me a bit of time to spend with my wife and my six-year-old daughter.
At the office, I’ll have a number of meetings throughout the day, to either help my team or to onboard new customers. I also make sure to schedule time out that allows me to work on some new ideas or new projects that we might be working on inside the business.
Usually I’ll head home around 6.30 pm and spend some time with the family. A few nights a week I’ll return back to the office to work from about 10:30 pm through till about 1 am or 2 am. I also have a personal training session with a trainer three days a week, which I usually do from 6:30 pm until 7:30 pm.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
I do have lots of flexibility, and I can choose to work remotely – although I do like working in the office. My wife has been working from home throughout this lockdown period, so I’ve occasionally brought my daughter into the office to give my wife some space to do her own work.
One of the benefits of running my own business is having that flexibility – I can take time off when I need it, and if I want to go out and have lunch with a family member or a friend, I can do that.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
I’ve got to be passionate about what I’m doing. If I am doing that, then it doesn’t feel like work at all. I enjoy what I do, so provided I’m spending enough time with family, then I don’t see a tension between work and life.
The other important factor is making sure the business doesn’t rely on me from a day to day point of view. I make sure that we have the systems and processes set up so that they can function independently. That’s much harder when you’re in an early stage business, but as your business starts to scale, it becomes much easier.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
I started with a personal trainer at the beginning of the year, so I do that three times a week. It’s mostly doing a fair amount of weightlifting – I can now deadlift 145 kg, and I could barely do 50 kg when I started!
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
There’s a podcast by Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn called the Masters of Scale. It’s a really good one for any entrepreneur wanting to learn about growing your business to scale. Then there’s another one called We Study Billionaires from The Investor’s Podcast Network, which is also very interesting from a finance and economics point of view.
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
Slack. I use it a lot for communication with the team and it’s just a really great tool to keep everyone in touch with each other. And of course, I love my iPhone.
8) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
As long as you enjoy what you’re doing, that makes things much, much easier. If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, then everything else becomes quite difficult. Doing exercise is incredibly important too: schedule it in, and make sure it’s an appointment you can keep.
Before you go…
If you’d like to sponsor or advertise with Balance the Grind, let’s talk here.
Join our community and never miss a conversation about work, life & balance – subscribe to our newsletter.
