Hello, my name is Burak. I have a sweet wife, a crazy son, and a father with various pets. I graduated from a vocational high school of commerce and studied electrical and electronic engineering at the university. After nearly 10 years of engineering in various positions, I made a radical decision. I started our own company and started working in e-commerce and digital marketing with my wife.
By 2020, I said goodbye to my customers in Turkey and continued my career by serving global companies in e-mail marketing.
Why do you want to earn money?
Actually, money is just a means! Each moment I spend with my family is precious to me. That's why I chose to live in a smaller town where I might be happier. I can spend more time with my family by arranging my working hours as I want. My greatest ambition/aim is to support my son and young Turkish people, who can benefit both themselves and their country.
I have a great time having breakfast and completing daily tasks till noon because I work primarily according to European and American hours. Then, like a marathon runner, I focus on my work at night. There are times when I work till the morning.
When did you decide to become a freelancer?
Like everyone else, I began my freelance career in 2020 with Zekeriya's twitter series. In August 2020, I earned my first $20. :-) It was a small step, but it represented a significant step for me.
What do you suggest for new graduates/beginners in your department?
Of course, the sine qua non of this job is that you should know English. I believe that you can do great work with it.
The language barrier was the most difficult for me to overcome. To get around this problem, I believed giving free extended hours of counseling would be great. By viewing the actual problems of my customers, firstly, I was both practicing and attempting to deliver immediate solutions. It was pretty beneficial to me.
What pushes me to become a freelancer?
I have always wanted to work without a place and a specific time frame. The state of the digital world with technology and the covid-19 pandemic made it faster than I wanted. Considering today's conditions, being a freelancer feels very harmonious, and I think it is valuable. Because this way, I can spend much more time with my family.
Being able to provide a solution to the limitless needs of a worldwide market and the potential to export services is precious to me.
What issues do I detail in my profile?
I am working as a freelancer at Upwork and Fiverr.
I reviewed the profiles of excellent freelancers working in my field and then completed my profile. While completing my profile, I created my services to meet the basic needs of my customers; with the content and questions, even if my customer does not know anything, he can understand it.
While preparing my portfolio, I showed how my work with high-performance values, which are very important for the sector, can benefit the customer.
In which jobs do I apply?
Long-term and task-oriented occupations are more appealing to me. I work because I believe it is more effective to have a customer who understands what they want by definition of the job.
Working with customers who value the freelancers they hire and understand their needs inspires me. Before you start working, I believe you should discover what they want from you and what kind of work they expect from this position.
My working desk
- Desk: Deryawood
- Chair: JARVFJALLET - IKEA
- Monitor: Samsung 27"
- Curve Camera: Sony DSLR 6100
- Headphone 1: Jabra Evolve 2 65
- Headphone 2: Jabra Evolve 20
- Headphone 3: Anker Soundcore HiFi
- Pc: Macbook 2017 16Gb 512Mb SSD
- Keyboard: Apple A1243 -
- Mouse: Logitech G502
- Internet: Superbox
- Speaker: Edifier R1280DBs
- Console: Xbox Series S
My difficulties
Because my experience as a freelancer in Turkey is limited, I had numerous challenges before meeting the Freelancer Guide community. However, when I see the fantastic examples and knowledge sharing that the community provides to us as freelancers, I am confident that I will be able to conquer any obstacle that I face.
Being surrounded by people who share the same goals makes me more robust and motivated. I consider sharing information to be valuable. People here are solely concerned about exporting, and I am delighted to be in the same boat.
Oh, we come together, even Strava, by challenging ourselves so that you can send a message and join us!
What do I suggest to fresh freelancers?
I define a perfect freelancer as "the person who is improving shining hour"
I want you to know that the rest will come naturally if you believe in your job. I think it's great that you're willing to learn, and I think transparency in customer communication is crucial for your company's long-term success. Suppose there is a language barrier in the middle. In that case, I can quickly advise you to resolve the issue by working in the field (interacting with international consumers) and systematically using proven learning methods.
My first job
My customer writes books. He posted a job on Upwork since he thought there was an issue with sending e-mails on the e-commerce site. I wrote the answer straight and sent it when applying for the job, and I quickly accepted it and completed my first export.
What do I do when I am demoralized?
When I keep away from the computer and exercise heals me. It's a one-of-a-painkiller that allows me to care for myself while clearing my thoughts.
The tactics while contacting the customers
I enjoy offending customers :-) I am a stickler for keeping up with what's happening, communicating developments, and being open and honest. Any setback can occur, and it is critical to communicate it to the other side effects to maintain a continuous line of contact.
How do I handle irregular income?
If we say to level entry into freelancing from 1 to 5, I could level handling irregular income to 6-9. It is hard to handle. However, it is entirely in your hands to make it accessible.
You can face this problem by productizing your service and using various platforms for its intended purpose.
My future goals
Because I have limited service hours to sell, I want to turn this business into a scalable and targetable operation. One of my great goals is to support the people we walk with while walking on this road.
