Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Derkey Ford. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Derkey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

After developing Marketing and Branding Agency Uraeus Inc. I maneuvered the marketing for close to a year working with entrepreneurs to help bring their ideas to life. This is where I noticed a gap which needed to be bridged between new business owners and business professionals who provide services to the entrepreneur. While spending countless hours properly conveying topics such as branding, business law, finance and marketing and how these should be considered in a business plan I quickly realized my clients needed more education. Not to say that the only way to operate is with an education but it was discovered that a large barrier in entering their markets was not having the tools needed at their fingertips. Ideally this is a problem, so me being as solution based as I am I thought of a product that would allow entrepreneurs the opportunity in becoming well versed in the business environment. I call it the Entrepreneur Flash Deck by Uraeus Inc.

Derkey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a 33 year old Army Veteran with two combat tours to Afghanistan and a College Education from the first HBCU in the south Shaw University Raleigh, North Carolina where I obtained an undergraduate degree in Business Administration & Management. After serving 12 dedicated years I decided to further my knowledge of business to leverage my ability to provide value and “hustle.” My interests were always aligned with the entertainment industry since I am somewhat of a social lite. Turns out I was just really creative and loved exploring the creative arts. So I decided to take business a little more serious than I ever have knowing one day I would create something with lasting value. I thought of myself as a serial entrepreneur all the way until I realized that I was doing to much!…. One day I saw an opportunity with the United Negro College Foundation that awarded a scholarship and Entrepreneurial training. I seized that opportunity and gained a ton of invaluable information. Most of all I learned principles of an entrepreneur and purpose which led me to begin what I call a life-style business. I now focus to assist my client-partners in building successful brands with unique identities and marketing them by taking advantage of new age marketing tools. No matter what I do I aim to do successfully and efficiently which earned me the nick name “The Coefficient” by some of my clients. Investing and having faith in myself was the best thing I could have done because it allows me to bring forth value to everyone I work with.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

UNSCALED, Hemant Taneja Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek
Raising Capital, Andrew J. Sherman
Naked Economics, Charles Wheelan

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Like everyone, during the 2020 Pandemic alot of things changed. Technology changed the way we did alot of things, together we learned that we could all definitely work from home. Before the pandemic i would have never had as much faith in a digital business model as much as I do now. In any case the Pandemic caused me to change lanes in business throwing into gear all I knew when it came to entrepreneurship I had plans on starting may different businesses and entertaining some of my profitable ideas. However when we were told that we had to stand 6 feet apart and the curfew was in affect it looked like all businesses were going to tank! I pivoted little and turned to digital business. I didn’t stay in one spot to long after realizing alot of issues faced by entrepreneurs. This is when I first began thinking of the entrepreneur flash deck. “What could i do differently to help all entrepreneurs” was a question I constantly asked myself. So I came up with a bright idea and executed, not knowing that I was going into a widely underserved market in which I could make a large impact on.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Derkey.o.ford
• Facebook: Derkey Ford
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derkeyofordmba26/
• Twitter: TheKey_MBA

Image Credits
(Headshot) Ariana Earle