Tom Mansfield is the Head of Marketing at Zoomo, a subscription service providing electric bikes to brands like Uber, DoorDash, Domino’s, Pizza Hut and more.
Interested in talking about how you balance the grind? Get in touch with us here!
1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I started my career in Sydney at Foxtel before transitioning to the US for graduate studies. After completing my masters, I got scooped up by a tech-focused marketing agency to lead digital strategy for their portfolio of B2B clients in Silicon Valley (Box, Cisco, etc).
A year or so later, I landed a role at Visa working under the Chief Brand & Innovation Marketing Officer. Over my 4 years at Visa I took on a bunch of roles, including PMO of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games and later Marketing Director for North America.
In 2020 I left Visa, I returned home to Sydney after 8 years abroad (right before COVID hit) where I took a consulting role in growth and marketing partnerships at Zip Co, reporting into the Chief Customer Officer.
Nowadays I head up marketing and communications globally for Zoomo – the Aussie scale-up providing electric vehicle solutions to the world’s biggest and most innovative brands including Uber, DoorDash, Domino’s, Wholefoods, Just Eat Takeaway and many more.
2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
On my ideal day: I wake up around 7am, meditate for 30 minutes and maybe go for a quick surf (I live 1 block from the beach) before grabbing a coffee and logging on to get the day started (in my COVID home office aka bedroom).
The combination of meditation and surf really brings me back to center and sheds any baggage I was holding onto from the day before.
Every morning isn’t this perfect though, sometimes i’ll swap out the surf for a call with my US team. I never miss a meditation though.
I have a decent few direct reports, so a lot of my workday is in meetings. Although I generally try to carve out an hour or two for focused working time as well as 30 mins for a quick walk to stretch my legs.
Being in a fast-paced startup and global organization, it’s not uncommon to have meetings before-and-after the traditional 9-5 – so I try to compensate with a quick lunchtime surf, stretch or run every now and then.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Yes, we have adapted to remote work and built it into our culture. I’ve always been a huge fan of WFH – it just works with my life and I’m definitely more productive in certain ways when I am at home. But that’s not to say that we should discard the benefits of the office.
I think in the future we will build a mixed remote and in-office culture that allows the flexibility to WFH when appropriate while committing to a cadence of building relationships and collaborating in person at the office.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
Work is a fantastic, beautiful thing when you find the right role – but it should never consume you entirely.
Work-life balance to me is making sure that I surf 4-5 days a week, making sure I meditate every day, making sure that I have time to think about my goals and ambitions outside of the workplace and above all making sure I have time to relish and be present with my loved ones.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
I stopped eating sugar and processed foods about a month ago – and feel great! Although I miss desserts.
Removing the 12 month window from the question – the best habit I ever formed was meditation. Subtract the associated mysticism and woo-woo, because it’s quite simple and practical when you actually do it. Think of it as a bicep curl for the brain. It’s the universal solvent for suffering and 100% changed my life.
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
Books:
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- Waking Up by Sam Harris
- 10% Happier by Dan Harris
Podcasts:
- The Tim Ferriss Show
- Making Sense with Sam Harris
- Equity Mates
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
My surfboard. Give me a roof over my head and a surfboard and I’ll be as happy as can be.
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
Definitely Sam Harris – he’s an incredible thinker, neuroscientist and philosopher
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
There’s a difference between finding work-life-balance and just being in a crappy job that gives you no joy. Life’s too short to stay in a job you hate. Cut off the bowlines and follow your heart. No matter what anyone tells you. You will never regret it.
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.
