Coffee Break with EM – Samoil Dolejan

Today we find out more about Samoil Dolejan, our GM-MM CEO, and his incredible professional journey. Stay tuned for a fun, wise & compelling coffee talk!

How did your career in EveryMatrix start? What’s your favorite thing about working here?  

Eight years ago, I wanted to shift away from my career in finance. I was working crazy hours in a very rigid environment at a private equity company. A friend of mine worked for EveryMatrix and promoted the “work hard, party harder” mentality that the company was pushing at the time. I was just turning 25 then, so that sounded great to me 😀. She gave me a link with open positions, and I applied for Junior Technical Writer & Junior Business Analyst, a 2-in-1 position. I managed to get the job, and here we are now.

My favorite part about working here is interacting with a lot of smart, interesting, and creative people.

What was your first job?  

I had a lot of jobs trying to make a buck when I was starting out (worked in construction, a supermarket, as a security guard, etc.). It was a useful experience that taught me where I didn’t want to end up (nothing wrong with those jobs, they just weren’t the right thing for me).

The first job where I started to use some of the notions that I studied was that of financial analyst in a private company that got a capital infusion from an investment fund and needed to implement standardized financial reporting, performance KPIs, etc, so that in time, it could attract more investors or even list on a stock exchange.

Are you an early bird or a night owl? Give us your top productivity piece of advice.  

I am naturally an early bird, and I always do stuff in the morning – be it working for EM, doing stuff around the house, going to the gym, etc. However, I believe you should try to get things done whenever you can, not only when “the time is just right”.

Advice no. 1: Write things down so that you don’t need to remember everything (simple, I know, but so many people just don’t do it).

Advice no. 2: Plan your day/week, or at least some of it, in advance.
Find time to focus and learn to say NO from time to time.
Book some time for answering emails/chats once, maybe twice a day.
Book some time to focus on your work and ignore everything for 2-3 hours (depends on your job how often you need to do this).
Book some time for working on recurring stuff & set reminders so that you don’t end up having to do too many things in a day and then get rushed or delayed on your tasks.
And don’t waste time, don’t use FB, Insta (and whatever other apps built to grab user attention at all costs) while you are at work.

Advice no. 3: Learn to share knowledge and teach others to be independent so that they don’t rely on you so much – very useful for leaders but also for specialists. If a person comes with the same question 3 times in a row, maybe you should write a document and share it, and maybe that person should look at advice no. 1.

Sorry, it was more than one piece of advice, but I consider these tips important.

What personality trait do you most attribute your success to, and why?   

I would say being perseverant helped me the most in life. If you keep trying, you get to learn a lot of things along the way.

What would you tell your younger self?   

Don’t worry so much. You can do it!

What is your biggest guilty pleasure?   

KFC.

Name one thing everyone should add to their Bucket List.   

Try a proper “hot sauna cold plunge”.

What would you do if you were gifted a million dollars, no strings attached?   

Well, I fantasize about buying some land, building a house, growing a vegetable garden, and starting a small business curing/smoking different types of meat.
But who knows, I might just get a vacation, donate some to charity and then get back to work. Let me get the million first!

Share a photo of your favorite pet!   
I don’t have a pet, BUT, this is Roxy the 3^rd (she bloomed in spring), the granddaughter of Roxy the 1^st, a flower that Roxana Utica from the finance team gave me years ago.

What are your most-used emojis?  

I guess this one 😀 ?

Name 3 apps you couldn’t live without.  

I wouldn’t say I can’t live without them, but I use these the most: Google maps, Bolt, and Uber.

And finally, give us an idea for our upcoming Summer Party. Pick a theme! 

How about “Protect Nature”? We also have a sustainability committee trying to find projects that can help the planet/people. Maybe we can brainstorm, and we can also use some of the time for the summer party to help nature.

Thank you Sami, for the delightful chat and the handy advice!
One thing is for sure, we’re all foodies when it comes to guilty pleasures!