Omar Khalifa, founder and CEO of Shaghalni: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Omar Khalifa, the founder and CEO of Shaghalni (LinkedIn). Edited excerpts from our conversation:

My name is Omar Khalifa, and I’m the founder and CEO of Shaghalni, an online platform connecting blue- and gray-collar job seekers to the latest openings in the market. I'm an impact-driven entrepreneur, meaning I would like to have a social element in whatever I do in business.

I studied at AUC, and we used to have employment fairs every semester with all the biggest companies in Egypt, and we never had any trouble finding work, you know? I thought that the bigger opportunity was in the rest of the job seekers. There are thousands of other job opportunities for people who are not very tech-savvy and cannot use the internet, and yet they're very much needed in the market. So I thought, why not create a platform that serves these people and connects them with the latest jobs?

I wake up at five every morning, and spend time with my two daughters; Carla is five-and-a-half, and Diana is eight months old. I help my wife with getting Carla ready for school and then go to the club for an early-morning workout. If I don't work out from 7-8 am, I won't work out any other time. I always read the 6am edition of Enterprise, which I’m a big fan of.

I finish my workout, and I'm at the office by 8:20-8:30 every day. Usually people in Egypt start interacting with you around 10-10:30 so I use the first 1.5 hours peacefully, laying out what I want to achieve with the day. I start with the most important issues that need to be addressed, and I lay out the strategy with a clear mind, away from phone calls, people knocking on your door, and meetings. I try to avoid meetings as much as possible unless there's something very important.

I try to make the most of every hour of the day. I don't like to waste any time and try to use my time efficiently. I work from the office until 3pm, and then I head home where I continue working until 7pm. When work is done, I like to just sit on the couch, watch football, and drink tea. That's my peaceful time.

My responsibilities at work include laying out the company’s strategy for every quarter; what we need to do, how we need to serve our customers, up sales, and cut costs. I make the big decisions, with zero micromanagement. I think micromanagement is very hindering.

The constants in my day are my workout and the fact that I eat every day at the same time. For the past five or six years, I have had breakfast at 8 am, then lunch around 2-3 pm, and usually I don't have dinner. I can maybe have a snack around 6pm. Another constant in my day is sales. If the day passes and we didn't sell, I don’t feel that it was a productive day.

I'm not a multitasker at all. If I'm working on a pitch deck or on a document I just work on it until it's done and then I can jump to the next task. I don't keep jumping between tasks. I think it becomes very unproductive. On the Notes app on iPhone, I write everything I need to do today, and I check my progress. I think that's a good way of tracking things in general.

I love fishing. I curresntly hold eight fishing world records, but there's one specific record I've been after for three years now: catching a yellowfin tuna on a two- or a six-pound line. I was really close to it last year, but it's very challenging.

I enjoyed reading Raouf Ghabbour's book because, to be honest, when we read books by people from other countries and circumstances, you just feel that things are too good to be true. This book is different because he's someone from Egypt who has done it all and who's been through the same problems that we entrepreneurs are facing. Seeing how he overcame these problems and how smart he was has definitely inspired me.

I try to balance between work, my family and sports. I think that’s very important because I've seen a lot of great entrepreneurs who get burned out. Running a company is extremely tough. You have to take care of yourself, your health, and your mental health.

Being persistent is key. Anything good that happened to me came through persistence and never came easy. If I had gotten burned out and given up earlier, I would've regretted it big time. I think it's very important to be persistent, to take small steps, and don't get dragged into something big too quickly. It's important to take the small steps and fix smaller problems so you can move on to solve bigger issues. And always focus on your reputation in the market.