Based in Portland, Oregon, Mehariw Gelagay has driven operations at the 24-hour residential care facility RoyalCare, Inc., as president and executive director since 2020. In this position, Mehariw Gelagay oversees business strategy and operations for the company, which provides services to adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
In 2024, Mehariw Gelagay, an active broker in Oregon and Washington, expanded his business activities by establishing the real estate brokerage and rental business Mehari Properties. As the company’s chief executive officer, Mehariw Gelagay oversees the rental of multi-unit properties to various end users. In addition to business leadership experience, he has published several research articles through the University of South Florida and the Baba Farid Group of Institutions. Apart from real estate, his professional interests include technology, education, and human resources.
Mehariw Gelagay is studying a doctor of philosophy in business studies at Punjabi University, his master of business administration from the University of Gondar, and his marketing management degree from Adama University. He earned his marketing degree as a gold medalist graduate. Mehariw Gelagay enjoys traveling and learning about world history.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
I am not a morning person, usually my kids wake me around 8 AM. I take a shower, I pray. I am not a breakfast person either, so I skip it most of the time. I then go through my daily calendars and execute each task in order.
My day mainly focuses on my care home business, stopping by my job sites, and executing real estate transactions and showings, if any.
I will get home between 6 and 8 PM and spend time with my family.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I start with briefly analyzing the business idea, then jot down my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and obstacles. Based on the SWOT analysis, if the idea makes sense to me, I will work on getting a plan in place and executing it as quickly as possible. If I find an exciting idea and don’t act on it, I will never get to it, I will just move on to the next idea. Delaying is costly to me.
What’s one trend that excites you?
AI. It equally excites and scares me. To be honest, I don’t know what to expect in what this technology will do to our generation.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Fear of God and flexibility.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t volunteer information to anyone. Whether it is a business idea, tough time, obstacle, plans, or ambition…keep it to yourself and do your job in silence.
Not all people that look bad are actually bad, and not all people who sound good are really good.
Everything has its own timing, but you have to act fast when the time comes.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Take time and listen to yourself. Understand your abilities and resources. Do not seek advice all the time. Some advice, even though it can be helpful, may also delay you. Don’t delay. If you believe in it, execute it.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
I list my tasks in order, based on priorities. I go through and resolve things that need immediate attention or that will have bigger consequences, and then follow through on other tasks. I will not rest until I finish what I must finish. I respect deadlines and appointment times. People who don’t respect appointment times irritate me the most.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Hire and delegate tasks. When I hire, I focus on their personality traits. I make sure they don’t get frustrated too easily. I hire more respectful, attentive, and energetic people.
I believe I am a humble person, and people who are humble are the types of people I want on my team.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Focusing too much at work and not giving the time to myself and to my family that they deserve. I am working on improving, though.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
For my care home business, I use Google platforms to take care of my business and collaborate with my team. For my rental business, I use Turbo Tenant. For my brokerage, I use multiple software programs side-by-side.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
Don’t Eat the Marshmallow Yet! by Joachim de Posada. It’s about delaying instant gratification to build a million-dollar business in a short period of time. Other than that, I am into business journals and magazines. As an academic, I also read certain subject matter books.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I love watching Suits, Bloomberg originals, and documentaries.
One of the most important ongoing themes in Suits is how to be collaborative at work. The series captures the real-life dynamic of staying with your core work group, no matter what changes take place during your career.
Key learnings
- Ultimately, the most enduring and significant relationships are familial. Professional and social connections, while valuable, do not hold the same lasting primacy as family.
- Good leadership entails leading through demonstrable actions, leveraging insights from past errors, valuing subordinate perspectives, addressing issues with immediacy, and avoiding unnecessary delay.
- Effective delegation involves the purposeful assignment of tasks, not simply the transfer of workload and responsibility.