Very Important People by Ashley Mears. That is a book about bottle services, models (she needs to be minimum 5’10 and taller) and very important people. Ashley was one of the models during the writing this book and observe VIP parties Miami to Ibiza, NYC to Las Vegas. This book definitely helps you to understand the dynamics of nightlife and “money spending” those clubs. Against this backdrop of rising financial fortunes, downtown Manhattan was transforming, as new luxury leisure services emerged to cater to the newly rich. As the amount of money on Wall Street shot up with each passing year, in came more young financiers with huge pools of disposable money who could afford a thousand-dollar bar tab. (one of my highlights from the book)

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. Scott Adams is the creator of Dilbert that is a popular cartoon character, especially for business/office life. This book about his life plus he is sharing some of the best practices works out for him. He tried tens of business ventures before started Dilbert. And also after Dilbert too. Such as easy to read a book. If you ask a billionaire the secret of his success, he might say it is passion, because that sounds like a sexy answer that is suitably humble. But after a few drinks, I think he’d say his success was a combination of desire, luck, hard work, determination, brains, and appetite for risk. (one of my highlights from the book)

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. This is a classic child book probably all over the world. I don’t remember reading this book while I was a kid. However, I remember either from movies or cartoons they were reading this book. I heard this book while I was listening to a podcast and purchased the hard copy. It is a great addition to my library. If you want to watch an animated version of this book (it probably helps to fall asleep) check out this video

TOP 3 BOOKS ARCHIVE

May’s Top 3 Books

April’s Top 3 Books

March’s Top 3 Books

February’s Top 3 Books

January’s Top 3 Books

I remember one of my friends was famous for picking the “right” Watermelon back in the day. He never shared his secret and he was always proud of himself. I never forget his smile while he was watching others when they were eating his “rightly” picked up watermelon.

One day I asked him “Dude, tell me your secret! He said you are not a stranger but please don’t tell anyone else. When you choose the watermelon, look at the bottom, if it’s a little orange, that is a good one.

Yesterday, I saw this image on Instagram:

In this picture, it not only shows how to pick the perfect watermelon but it also explains the details of all possible scenarios.

So, my friend’s secret is no longer a secret:) Many secrets can be revealed with one simple Google search. So, there is no secret anymore in 2020. “Stay Curious”

It is easy to do that. All you need to know:

• Do your homework well.

• Don’t ask a question you can google it and find it.

• Spend time and find the best insights & findings that might not aware of it. Even if they are aware of it, that still shows that you spend time on them.

• Find relevant use-cases and example something similar to their type of business.

• Read their top executives Linkedin or Twitter posts. Understand what type of companies they are. What is their mission or go-to marketing strategy these days?

• Check their top competitors just googling “XYZ competitors” and do the top 5 things on the above I listed at least their top 3 competitors.

You are all set. Now, you know their business maybe more than themselves. Because sometimes companies especially bigger scale they are super focused on their specific verticals. If you are talking Product person from your prospect client, they might not even know what their marketing does.

What’s the next level for you?

Everyone’s and every organization’s next level is different than each other. Sometimes one person or customer can take you next level. Sometimes one word or moment triggers you to move the next phase of your life.

These days what I’m working on, I feel it is going to take us next level. Yeah, no one is expecting this transition is going to be so easy. That’s all right. I’ll try to make it as smooth as I can.

Yesterday, I visited Burlingame downtown, it looks like business as usual(it is actually better). We were checking some of the restaurants which are not really popular pre-Corona days, now they were packed. Literally, people are appreciating anything open and serve whatever they have.

It looks like as long as people access food via restaurant or groceries, life at least will go on. Business? depends on what you are doing. But, society and people are so adoptive anyway since homo sapiens. If you don’t adapt, you won’t survive

You probably have people around you who have an idea for everything, also they share their opinions about almost anything (without even asking their point of view:)), however, all they do TALK

On the other side, others who try their best to execute. Instead of sharing how they will accomplish their goals, dropping names, or their past accomplishments, they just Do It. ( We have saying in Turkish, az laf, çok iş (less talk, more work) I love those people. When people who are reaching out to me to get my opinion about their works or try to get help from me, all I look, Is that person doer or talker?

“Ah, just a six month, what is a big deal” Tell me about it:)

Some days I didn’t have any motivation to say even say “Hi” but still wrote it here. I think I felt even one person who is waiting an email from me, that’s worth it to keep writing.

Thank you, 360+ daily readers. I know reading myself even every day doesn’t so interesting from time to time. I wish substack has an option to set the email frequencies like daily/weekly/biweekly etc.

I am planning to write at least the next 6 more (Yes, every day) months then we will see what’s going to happen. Thank you again for reading my post whichever frequency you are reading or not subscribed yet but still reading via visiting aykut.substack.com whenever you want to check out. (I know who you are:)

If you are dealing with the people day to day operations, you should ask them directly or indirectly “ What’s your motivation?”

Maybe, you are trying to push them the wrong path which is technically the right path to you but not for them. That’s why you need really know their motivation so well.

There is no excuse. I don’t want to hear your excuses. If I want to hear your excuses, I can find better excuses for you.

All I want to see results, no excuses.

KPI means a key performance indicator. Your KPI pretty much is how you are doing during the specific timeline. Anything you do within that organization should be match and related to your KPI.

Especially startups are either struggling to find the right KPIs for team members or not motivate them well. Either way, you should ask yourself “ What’s my KPI”? If you don’t have a clear one, create your own and share it with your boss. Tell that should be my KPI. I am a big believer in “What do you think or What do you suggest” questions.