Building Omni, Finding Balance
By: Joe Lazar, Co-Founder & Principal
Six months ago, I left corporate tech and started Omni Strategy Partners. I expected uncertainty, stress, and long hours. What I didn’t expect was how much better my life would feel.
There’s a particular kind of pressure that comes with corporate tech. It’s constant, layered, and often difficult to separate from your identity. For years, my days were driven by meetings, deadlines, competing priorities, and the invisible expectation to always be “on.” Stepping away from that environment brought a level of clarity I hadn’t realized I was missing. The pressure today is still real, but it feels entirely different because it’s connected to something I genuinely care about building.
Building something of your own carries weight that can’t be ignored. Every decision matters. Every conversation has consequences. Every opportunity feels earned instead of assigned. But unlike the pressure I carried before, this pressure feels fulfilling because it’s tied to purpose. The work is no longer about maintaining momentum for someone else’s vision. It’s about creating something meaningful, intentional, and aligned with the kind of life I actually want to live.
What has surprised me most is the quality of my time. My thinking has become more focused and deliberate. There’s less noise, fewer distractions, and a greater sense of ownership over where my energy goes. The hours no longer feel consumed by urgency for urgency’s sake. Instead, there’s a rhythm to the work that allows space for thinking, creating, and actually enjoying the process. Even as the business has started to ramp up and gain momentum, the balance between work and life has remained intact rather than disappearing. That balance hasn’t happened accidentally. It’s something I’ve learned to value and protect because I now understand how essential it is to sustainable growth.
Working with my sister, Liz Lazar, to build Omni has also been a major part of what has made this experience so positive. There’s a level of trust, honesty, and shared vision that makes the work highly collaborative and grounded. We each bring different strengths to the table, but we’re aligned on the kind of company we want to build and the kind of people we want to surround ourselves with. That alignment has also shown up in the response we’ve received while building out our Specialist bench. The number of talented, thoughtful professionals who have reached out with genuine interest in what we’re creating has been both validating and energizing. It’s reinforced our belief that there are a lot of exceptional people looking for a more intentional and human-centered way to work.
Six months in, I can honestly say leaving corporate tech was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Not because entrepreneurship is easier, but because it feels more honest. The challenges are real, and the responsibility is heavier in some ways, but the rewards extend far beyond business growth. There’s a sense of fulfillment, clarity, and balance that I hadn’t realized was missing until I stepped outside the noise and started building something for myself.
