DAY IN A LIFE … Dharmesh Mistry
What does a day in the life mean?
Definition (expr.) a typical day; a normal day. Examples I wonder what a day in the life of a Rock star is like?
Today we have Dharmesh Mistry, CEO and Co-Founder of AskHomey which he describes as a Prop-FinTech. AskHomey is a home management platform that allows sellers (including new home developers) to handover key information to buyers. Thereafter buyers are assisted with advanced intelligent systems to manage their home.
Dharmesh tells us that by combining property and financial services they aim to help the average home save £1,500 a year on running costs and generate the same in valuable new income
A Day In The Life Of A Tech Start-up CEO
I’d like to think of myself as organised but having sold two start-ups and now on my 3rd not much has changed about my week. When running a start-up every day is different, and weeks change from one to the next. As you generally have to wear many hats until you scale, the week is pretty much about deciding and focusing on priorities which change as the company matures. I also don’t manage my teams time, days, or methods.
For over 20 years I’ve let people that work for me to do the hours they want, where they want and how they want. My job has just been to agree to the outcome required. This flexibility is what most people have come accustomed to only during Covid. An old book on this topic I’d recommend is called the “Seven-day weekend” by Ricardo Semler.
Aside from the business I also manage property and start-up portfolio’s, I write for a fintech magazine and provide consultancy to Investors and Banks. I also assist my wife’s chosen charity in fundraising for schools in Africa.
Hence, my days and weeks can vary greatly but are driven both by business and personal needs. Nevertheless, here’s a rough pattern to my day …
5:30 – 7am – Wake up: Sometimes I get up earlier but rarely later than 7am. I’ll do the occasional all-nighter, but I don’t have the need for that often now. I don’t see what I do as work and I’ve always had the philosophy that if you wake up 3 days in a row hating what you do, you should move on. I also believe you will only be your best if you love what you do, and I absolutely do. Now I only work with the people I want to, having that choice is a great privilege.
Generally, after I wake, I check emails, read news/social feeds, and get ready for the day. Mornings typically can be a productive time for me, so I am often writing my blogs or presentations then. If I’m on a roll this can spill into the rest of the day, I try to make the most of times when I am productive for my creative tasks.
7.30am – Max & Breakfast My new child is Max, a 2year old cockapoo that is a real character. I typically let him out and then give him his breakfast whilst I get mine ready. I try to listen to the news and have breakfast with my wife so that we both know what each other’s plans are for the day.
9.00 am – Day starts
I practice intermittent fasting, so 1 week a month I will have a 3 (consecutive) day fast and other weeks a 2 day fast. On fast days I have one meal of less than 600 calories, so no lunch on fast days. On these days I try to schedule meetings and calls I have to do as the distractions help take my mind off food. Interestingly fast days are when I am most alert and productive too.
The company has no office and everything we do is in the cloud. All our shared documents are on Google Cloud and we use Google Docs for documentation, slides, and spreadsheets. Our solution is fully based on Amazon Cloud. So the only hardware the company has is our own laptops, though there are days when most of what I need to do can be done on just my smartphone.
I focus on Strategy, Finance and Sales, at AskHomey https://register.askhomey.com/ but am involved in everything else too, even testing our solution. Hence my days can be pretty varied and means I am context switching a lot which can be hard.
On days that I’m doing calls it will be a mix of press, partners, and property developers. I’ve really enjoyed getting to grips with most of the property lifecycle and a diverse set of players from big brand developers to housing associations or other prop-techs. Speaking to prospects is really important for me to hear first-hand their challenges.
Evenings
I am a keen runner and try to run a few times a week, up to an hour a couple times during the week and a few hours on the weekend. I have done events from 5k’s to 100-mile races and multi-day events like the Marathon Des Sables. This is 6 marathons in 6 days in the desert with temperatures hitting mid 40’s, you also have to carry ALL your own food for the week and are sleeping on desert ground.
If I do not run, I try to take Max out for his walk. These are my most productive thinking times when I generate most ideas or solve most problems.
Dinner is around 7pm, after which is family time and I try not to work. I typically go to sleep around 10pm.
Editor’s Questions
Do you work at weekends, if so, how many hours? Yes, as needs must. An entire weekend might go with me putting together a presentation if I am in a creative zone. For me capturing creative time is key to getting things done, however this has to be balanced with getting rest and having quality time with my family.
And typically, how many hours a week do you work on average? There is no “typical week”, I literally might work 10 hours or 80 hours in a week. For me it’s not about the hours but about priorities and outcomes. I might average my hours to 40 if pushed to give you a number. Though those that know me might feel I am online all the time.
Do you work from home yes/no if so what % Pre-Covid typically 2-3days a week. I can see this being 4 days a week post Covid. My co-founding team has become very adept at WhatsApp and Zoom so there is little need to meet. However, I do believe physical presence is much more effective when trying to create business relationships.
How did you get your job? By creating the company. I’ve had the good fortune to be involved in a lot of ground-breaking and visionary work and as part of that I love writing about the future of banking. Looking at the dire support homeowners get from anyone but especially banks, I decided again to walk the talk – instead of talking about the future of banks we are trying to create the future.
Rock Star Rating 1 to 10 – How much do you like your job
10 – ‘I love WHY we have created AskHomey, I love WHAT we have created and WHO has created it. I’m genuinely excited to bring this to market in 2021 and I’d love to hear from Agents that want to change the game and go the extra mile for their customers’
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If you would like to share your ‘day in the life’ with the Estate Agent Networking community – scaling to over 100,000 now – just drop me a line – whether you are an EPC assessor, surveyor, corporate CEO, COO, CTO, Lettings manager, Inventory Clerk, Solicitor, in fact any vertical in the industry, what is your day like?
Please make sure you look in tomorrow to see who we have in the hot seat.
Would you like to feature in my series of ‘A Day in the Life of’? Reach me via Editor@stagingsite.estateagentnetworking.co.uk
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