7 Questions with Ephrata Dereje

1. What have you found most challenging as an Entrepreneur?

Focus used to be my confusing point. As an entrepreneur you learn to wear different hats and so you get a lot of skills. And as a strategist, I used to have a difficult time deciding on which skill to help businesses on. But I found experimentation helps and that is how I learned to focus on what I offer my clients currently.


2. How did you become an Entrepreneur? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I had always been a fan of creating instead of consuming. I was always learning how to create things from anything I had on hand really. When I quit my first job to enroll for my Masters degree, I needed to find a way to make extra cash so I started making and selling knit and crocheted items. I have since then shut that down to create my digital marketing strategy business but that was the first time I went out into the world as an entrepreneur.


3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

The first thing I think about is getting enough sleep. I don't have hours set for it but I regularly wake up at 4:30AM and go to bed at 9:00PM.

In between those hours, I go through the tasks I have set for the day.

I try to give myself flexibility in my tasks because there tends to be a variety of unforseen tasks.


4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?

You can't always know what is going to happen so it is good to experiment


5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

How the Best Leaders Lead by Brian Tracy

The book approaches leadership from various angles and has questions planned out so I not only got to see myself in the professional sense but from a personal sense as well.

It then explained to me what was required of me to be a better leader and WHY which I really liked


6. How do you build leadership capacity in your Organisation?

I take 3 steps
- Listen
- Reflect
- Adjust & keep learning


7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as an Entrepreneur so far?

We always hear that you should turn your passion into a business. That is what got me started with my knitting business about 3 months in, I landed a big client. I was ecstatic at first but as I started working on more and more orders, the less happy I became and I just wanted it to be over with.

When I finally closed up shop and felt my happiness again, I realized that passions don't necessarily need to turn to a business. Some passions are better left as passions.