Introduction:
In this interview, Jotform affiliate account manager Yaren Büyükdere talks with Çağrı Sarıgöz, founder of BizStack, LLC, a growth expert, a solopreneur, and an angel investor. They talked about the importance of automation for solopreneurs and how to become successful in affiliate marketing.
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Yaren Büyükdere: Let’s start with our first question. Can you start by telling us about Çağrı Sarıgöz, LLC, its mission and vision, and its industry focus?
Çağrı Sarıgöz: I have more than 13 years of experience in growth, marketing, and also some product management experience. And I am also a solopreneur on the side. This company is solely for my solo business activities — that’s why it has my name.
My main business property is BizStack, which is a website for solopreneurs, mostly, and also early-stage startups. Other than that, I share my experiences, tips, tricks, and also from time to time campaigns from specific brands on my social channels and my newsletters.
Yaren: So as I understand it, you’re like a business consultant for your clients. So to serve your clients, how do you determine which partnership programs to work with?
Çağrı: I started partnering up with the brands that I already use in my professional life, or in my personal side businesses. So it started from my needs.
For example, Jotform is one of them. I have been using Jotform for more than five years. So when the Jotform partnership programs launched, I directly applied for the affiliate program, then to the reseller program — because I already have experience with [Jotform], and I already use it and like it.
I don’t talk about or promote a product that I have never used or I haven’t had a good experience with. I suggest only the tools and software services that I’ve actually used.
Yaren: Absolutely! Clients trust a recommendation from a consultant or an influencer when they know the person has used the product and are familiar with it. And as an affiliate marketer, you can trust that you’re making a good recommendation.
So how important is affiliate marketing for your company and its revenue?
Çağrı: So for Çağrı Sarıgöz, LLC, as it’s my side business, [affiliate marketing] was almost the sole revenue source for the first six months. But now, I am also starting to generate some income from simple software tools I have built using AI. I also use Jotform for getting feedback, getting information from my users, and also getting payments.
I use Jotform a lot in my business — mostly for affiliate marketing, and I started to get some income from these payments for the products and services I provide.
Yaren: Can you tell us about one of your greatest successes in affiliate marketing?
Çağrı: To be honest, I’m somewhat new to affiliate marketing, but I am a very experienced tools guy. For example, in the company I work for, I introduced maybe more than 20–30 tools that I still manage. And also I tested maybe 20 or more tools that I didn’t decide to go with. Especially SaaS tools because I have experience with many of them. So I think it comes from my experiences before that.
I started with affiliate marketing around the second quarter of 2022, and my biggest achievement was the Black Friday season last year. I used almost all my web properties, social media channels, and some forums to talk about these discounts for the products I use. That’s when I generated the most sales for the brands I work with. That’s when I decided OK, I should build this company, and I should start this website, BizStack. It was a realization that OK, this really worked for me.
Yaren: Perfect. What do you think makes you become successful at affiliate marketing?
Çağrı: It’s not just sharing the discounts. For example, there are different kinds of websites. Some of them just share discounts. I think that’s not enough. Because when you search for, let’s say, “Jotform discount coupon,” you will see maybe thousands of websites.
I think what’s more important is sharing your insights, sharing your experience, and sharing a unique review for that product, both on your website and your social media. I think that’s very important. And also, of course, some tips and tricks on how to use these tools.
One example could be not just writing a general review. Let’s say for Jotform, I have written a general review, but I have also planned some more blog posts. For example, one will be about using the PDF filling feature and Jotform Workflows. I already use them and have experience with them, so I think talking about these features, or your favorite aspects of the brand, also makes you a good source of information about how to use these products.
Yaren: These are great tips, and I think they will be helpful for our other partners to hear. So how do you promote Jotform as a partner and how does this bring you conversions?
Çağrı: As I said before, I use social media, forums, and my website, BizStack. And also, of course, from time to time, I suggest it to my friends, and I also advise some companies, some entrepreneurs that are taking a look at Jotform, because it has many capabilities. For example, instead of hiring a software engineer, you can do things with Jotform plus some other tools like Zapier or something like that. I also suggest it to people who ask me about different kinds of productivity tools.
Yaren: So in the service you offer as a partner with Jotform, who do you think are your ideal customers or industries? Do they come to you saying they want to use Jotform, or do you have an ideal type of profile that you refer to Jotform?
Çağrı: For the blog posts and my social posts, I have an ideal audience persona, which is either early-stage startups, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, or professionals working at different kinds of companies. So, people like me. I work at a company as a growth and marketing operations manager. Growth people, product people, and marketing people can all benefit from Jotform. That’s my main audience. But of course, from time to time, I suggest Jotform to people in my network.
Yaren: OK, perfect. So, to finish up, we’ll do some rapid-fire questions. The first one is: What is your favorite Jotform use case, feature, or product?
Çağrı: There are many, but some of them are, as I said, PDF fill and Sign, because I use them at the company I work for, and they have helped us a lot. Also conditional logic – I’ve used that heavily. So yeah, those are my favorites.
Yaren: Perfect. You have more than one feature — it’s hard to choose, right?
Çağrı: Yeah, but if I have to choose one, it would probably be conditional logic, because I use it all the time.
Yaren: Perfect. So what would be the biggest piece of advice you could give to people or companies just starting out in affiliate marketing?
Çağrı: It’s really hard at the start for most people. There are many people who are interested in affiliate marketing, being an influencer, but I would suggest starting with a niche that you have experience in or passion for. You might not have the experience, but if you have the passion to spend many hours learning about it and sharing about it, that’s also OK.
When you choose a niche, start with the core audience, and not a very wide audience. Because you’re not going to be in the New York Times right away, but you can be on some small websites. Once you start to own that core audience, you can expand.
Yaren: Do you have a mentor or influencer whom you look up to and get inspired by?
Çağrı: One name, actually a group, that comes to my mind is the Affiliate Marketing Millionaire podcast. I suggest everyone listen to it. There are many podcast episodes. They don’t have a very stable pace of publishing, but you can start from the first episode and listen to all of them. I think it would be very helpful.
Yaren: OK, and the last question is, can you tell us your favorite productivity tip?
Çağrı: That’s really important for me, because I work a full-time job and I have my side business. I also co-founded a company for another area. So you know, I work for three different business lines.
My suggestion would be to automate, especially low-value tasks, and also delegate them if you cannot automate. For example, currently, I have many automation tools similar to Zapier, and also, I’m using some developer tools as well. I have some knowledge of coding, so I’m using that as well.
For the things that I cannot automate, or I don’t have the time to automate, I delegate it to a virtual assistant I hired at Upwork. I highly suggest that. You can find a virtual assistant for $5 per hour, and he or she can do your repeated tasks for you. Without automation and delegation, I don’t think I could do my side business. I would highly recommend that.
Yaren: Perfect. So that’s the end of our interview. It was a pleasure speaking with you. Thanks a lot!
Çağrı: Thank you very much!
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