IAM245- Managing Director Leads Company to Help People Book On-demand Relief and Therapy Services

Moaz Hamid joined REME in 2018 as managing director. In this role, he runs the company’s daily operations and creates a long-term roadmap and vision for the company. He is also focused on assuring that business development, tech team, product team, concierge, and other REME staff offer the highest level of customer service that can help a large number of people. REME’s strategy is to view its role through the customer’s perspective to guarantee that the customer’s life is enhanced. Clients are made to feel that they are appreciated, part of the REME community, and that REME is adding value to their lives and making their lives healthier, happier, and more creative and productive.

• CEO Hack: Running every morning, one-hour meditation
• CEO Nugget: Make everyone you meet feel valued such as wishing them a Happy New Year and also be kind
• CEO Defined: Being present for everyone around you and taking the past and future into consideration

Website:https://remeapp.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theremeapp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/reme_app
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reme_app/
YoutTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg1MgQO7LadbTgfKsEQ_LRw/featured?disable_polymer=1
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/remeapp/

Bonus Advice: Understanding Your Purpose

Full Interview

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresham from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Moaz Hamid of REME. Moaz, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Moaz Hamid 0:26

Let's get a meeting of your show.

Gresham Harkless 0:28

No problem. I'm super excited to meet you and have you on the show. And what I want to do is read a little bit more about Moaz so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing and Moaz Hamid joined REME in 2018 as managing director. In this role, he runs the company’s daily operations and creates a long-term roadmap and vision for the company. He is also focused on assuring that business development, tech team, product team, concierge, and other REME staff offer the highest level of customer service that can help a large number of people.

REME’s strategy is to view its role through the customer’s perspective to guarantee that the customer’s life is enhanced. Clients are made to feel that they are appreciated, part of the REME community, and that REME is adding value to their lives and making their lives healthier, happier, and more creative and productive Moaz, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Moaz Hamid 1:24

Yes, definitely. Whatever I can do to help you and help them as well.

Gresham Harkless 1:29

Awesome. Wow, I'm super excited to have you on to hear a little bit more about you. And the first question I had was to hear about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Moaz Hamid 1:38

Yeah, definitely. So I come from a deep tech background I was a managing partner at Google before it also a managing partner at Microsoft helping launch Windows Mobile and plus the HTC brand. So I come from a very extensive tech background. And it doesn't have much to do with wellness, I started advising the investors of the startup in the early days of the creation of it, and later on the light for a lot of this strategy that I was helping to create. And they decided to allow me to run the company.

And it was a lot of learning for me to learn about health and wellness and what tech and value we bring into the industry. So through that learning, I realized that there is a lot of value from the tech that can come into wellness and help bring it to everybody and make it very much accessible to everybody.

Gresham Harkless 2:32

Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like technology is literally everywhere. It's funny, I was just talking with somebody. And I was saying that there's not really any industry that hasn't been disrupted or affected by technology. So just like you saw, I kind of see the exact same thing where technology is everywhere.

Moaz Hamid 2:47

Yeah, the biggest challenge right now is like there is some industry that people are rushing, bringing tech into without actually understanding what is the value that they're trying to bring to that industry. And, and without fully understanding the industry as well. And that could create some issues in the community surrounding this industry and the cities that champion this industry. And I just really hope we just don't rush him to bring tech into everything. And take a moment and really understand what we tried to bring into the industries.

Gresham Harkless 3:25

Yeah, absolutely. And I think you know, when I was reading your bio, that kind of touched on that customer service piece, because a lot of times people will, as you mentioned just so easy to say let's make it quicker, faster, stronger, or whatever. And they don't take into account the actual stakeholders. And it kind of sounds like you guys are doing that with REME.

Moaz Hamid 3:39

Yeah. And then the more actually you understand about your customer, your expert, and everybody who is part of the circle that you create things, the more valuable you become to them. And the more attached they are to you. It's basically very, very important that you sit down and listen to them and try to understand the problem, try to walk into your customer's shoes before you actually propose the solution.

And once you do that you will be you might even come up with a better idea or another problem that actually was solved and instead of the original problem that you do, and that's something we faced with REME as well, we actually pivoted the company multiple times. And this last pivot when I took over as the CEO made us focus a lot more on the community and a lot more on the issues that facing people today and blocking them from entering or even taking a look at wellness and just hammering themselves with work and getting back to work and forgetting about life and forgetting about health and families and everything else that that life brings.

Gresham Harkless 4:43

Yeah, absolutely. And it's great to hear that you guys are doing that. Because like you said that a lot of times I'll sit down with somebody or somebody will say that I have everything to solve your problems and they have no idea what your problem is. They don't know anything about what exactly you're going through or what you're looking for, what better mousetrap you're looking for, but you've been able to kind of lead the team that is able to kind of dial into the customers get an idea of exactly how and what better mousetrap they may need and develop something for.

Moaz Hamid 5:09

Definitely. And it's not the same also from person to person. It's always like the problem varies, and you could understand it for one person and not the other, you can solve it for one person, but not another. So it's very unique for people. And this time from having AI to machine learning and the ability for you to study a lot more data, it became a lot easier today. But people have to take the effort, CEOs have to take the effort and step back and actually look at data, study data, analyze the data, talk to consumers, and understand them to walk in their shoes. And then as soon as they do that, then hopefully they've come up with something that could solve whatever they're trying to solve for everyone.

Gresham Harkless 5:52

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Data is kind of like a measurement that you can use. But it's not everything. So you want to have that other kind of advantage points to kind of pull in from to make those decisions. And I know I touched on it a little bit, could you break down a little bit more about what you guys are doing with REME and what you guys are doing to support these clients that you work with?

Moaz Hamid 6:07

So we have a health and wellness that help bring customizable services wherever you are in your office, in your workplace at your home, in your portal, if you're traveling. And at the same time, in order for us to be able to touch the lives of everyone around us and bring wellness to them, we needed to actually take it to a higher level where we become a lot more educational and be there for people from the first step of them entering the wellness journey, and from services that we offer to educational services that maybe someone cannot afford your services, for example.

So you need to have something for everyone that touched their life that helped them through their journey. So some of the services we offer today, for example, are stretch services that runners could use a tennis player could use before their game. So to help them not get injured through the games that they're about to play. Or if you play basketball or something. And it's been a while like you've been busy and you're not playing anymore, talking about myself.

And then suddenly you want to go back to play again, you end up hurting yourself. But if you if somebody actually taught you a way to help keep your muscle active and keep your body active. So your body is always ready to get back to that game. And if you didn't have the time to do that, then you could actually open our app and order a service, and an expert will come to you and prepare you to prepare your body to prepare your muscle for that activity you're about to do.

Gresham Harkless 7:39

I actually tore my Achilles tendon not playing basketball well. And it was one of the most painful things. But as you said, I would love to have been able to have an app that I could just pull on to get the experts and get me going and in the right place so that I wouldn't have potentially torn my Achilles tendon to it. So I completely understand where you're coming from.

Moaz Hamid 7:56

Awesome. Awesome.

Gresham Harkless 7:57

Yes. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this is what you feel kind of distinguishes either you or your organization. What do you feel kind of sets you guys apart?

Moaz Hamid 8:06

Yeah, actually, I'm looking at myself, like when I took over. And I saw, like, we tried to get into a service industry. But we didn't look deeper into the problem we're trying to solve. So I took a step back, and I started trying to understand the problem is trying to solve and I try to understand who we are trying to solve it. And then I noticed like, wait a minute, I am planning too nonprofit, I was always on a plane every day.

So I'm going to solve this for myself first. And then I'm going to look at my colleagues in the office, how can I solve it for them as well? And basically, this is particularly sauces like, are you building something for who, for Who are you building it? So take a look at yourself, take a look at your team, take a look at people around you make sure you're surrounded by people who are actually you are solving the problem for them. If you don't have somebody in your immediate circle, make sure you reach out to your customer, bring them into your office sit down with them.

And by doing this, you actually build something very robust. So REME is helping me today. It's helping my colleagues, it's helping a lot of the people around us our family members, because we actually took the time to understand really, what's the problem we're trying to solve.

Gresham Harkless 9:17

I absolutely love that. And this idea of scratching your own itch, so to speak, because you start to create something for yourself. And the next thing you know this person, it's your family member starts to have the same thing that they're trying to work through. And then you solve that, and then you solve your friends, your neighbors, and so on and so forth. And then you start to build a movement, which I absolutely love so

Moaz Hamid 9:34

Exactly, exactly. And the funny thing is like, by the time you're done, you actually start talking about it to people. I was like, Oh, I could use that. I can use that and everybody around you starts saying then you know like you're actually on the right track.

Gresham Harkless 9:49

Exactly. you're onto something big. So I absolutely love that. And that's definitely a great reminder. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Moaz Hamid 10:03

So I love running. I'm from the Bay Area and running through the hill in the early morning through the fog. Carol is called the name of the fog in San Francisco. So running through Carol is one of the most fun and enjoyable and relaxing things I do, just making sure that you actually take the time and do something that you love and enjoy. It's like the biggest and most important thing you could do for yourself to get to LA, where we are based in Santa Monica is not as cold as the Bay Area.

So I don't find myself running as much. So I fell back into meditation. So I tried to do like one hour to two hours a day of meditation to help me refocus and understand and absorb all the data that I'm receiving every day and all the issues and challenges that we might face and try to solve as well. So just making sure that you take the time to take care of yourself and relax yourself is very, very important for a CEO because it gets overwhelming very quickly and the issues and challenges that you're facing, will never stop. So just be present and be there and take care of yourself first.

Gresham Harkless 11:11

And now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Moaz Hamid 11:19

The most important thing, and I wish there was this time machine. So I go back and do it again. Because I started doing it at a later time in my life. Make sure every person you meet in your life, you will always remember them, you always make them feel something, your kindness, your connection to them, you've been present for them. And always, always make the time to actually wish them a happy New Year, happy holidays, or Happy Birthday, or whatever it is that's going on in their life.

And I know for a CEO, this is a very challenging thing to do. But just think about Christmas time or New Year's time or Hanukkah time or any of the holidays around the year, select one of them, maybe the New Year, select one of them and just make sure that you wish everybody around you from your circle, a Happy New Year, and stay in touch with them. Because you never know like when you need them in your life.

And how they're doing in their life and when your paths going across with them again, and always be kind to everybody. Because today your barista tomorrow is your CEO, and today's your Uber driver tomorrow is the Fortune 500 startup CEO. So you never know like this life is really funny. And just make sure you stay in touch with everyone at least once a year and just build a strong network around you because it will carry you a long way.

Gresham Harkless 12:46

Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And I know we touched on it a little bit. But what does being a CEO mean to you?

Moaz Hamid 12:54

Yeah, being a CEO is working in the shoes of all of your colleagues of everybody working for your company, at the same time, making sure you take a small look back and a long look forward as well. But not forgetting being present for everybody around you, especially your team.

Gresham Harkless 13:14

Absolutely. I absolutely love that definition. Because it keeps in mind that you have an entire team that you hold and are responsible for. But at the same time, you have to understand and look to the future as well to know where to go.

Moaz Hamid 13:25

Yeah. And if you know sometimes also, like you give lots of work to your team, teammate and colleagues and stuff. And they might not know how to do it the right way. Make sure you have the time also to sit down with them, and show them how to do it. If they couldn't do it at all. Sit down with them again, a second time a third time, and be kind to them. And I'm sure 100% They will learn it and start delivering for you.

Gresham Harkless 13:50

Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes you find those are the people that are your loyal, ardent supporters. And they'll run through a brick wall because you've shown how much you cared as we kind of talked about a little bit earlier.

Moaz Hamid 14:00

Yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely.

Gresham Harkless 14:03

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Moaz I truly appreciate the time that you took today. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and our listeners know, and then how they can find you get in touch with you and of course download the app.

Moaz Hamid 14:16

Definitely. So I'm gonna start with the last one. So we have a reme_app in our social media and Instagram and Twitter. Our website is remeapp.com. I personally @moaz on Twitter and Instagram. I don't post much but just beautiful photos on Instagram, but something important. I want to leave you to make sure you pay it forward as well.

There is a lot of up-and-coming new CEO startup CEO. We run a nonprofit in Santa Monica that helping like young entrepreneurs connect to a lot of mentors and a lot of future customers and future partners and We make time to actually teach them how to create a successful business model, how to look at growing their business, how to look at your business plan, the right way to look at your market and market sizing and it's completely free program. It's not just me, I have over 50 people that dedicate their time to come and help other entrepreneurs.

The program is called Startup Boost. And we open the cohort twice a year for startups and it's completely free. And no catch at all. It's just we trying to do our best to help the next set of notes, and the next CEO. And it's very important to keep paying it forward. And I hope every CEO does the same thing.

Gresham Harkless 15:44

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. We'll make sure to have those links in the show notes and Moaz I appreciate you for the time you took today the time you took to help us pay it forward as well too. We can learn a lot more from you. So I truly appreciate you and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Moaz Hamid 15:58

Thank you, Gresham, and you too! Stay well!

Outro 16:00

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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