How to Succeed in Scaling Digital Agencies With Ahmet Yavuz

Scaling a digital agency in a niche market is a relentless challenge—and Ahmet Yavuz understands this better than most. In this episode, I sit down with Ahmet, founder of Furniture Marketing Pros, to explore the journey from software developer to agency leader. Together, we discuss the tough realities of growing a business focused on a specific industry and the critical lessons Ahmet has learned along the way. With a rapidly expanding team and high client expectations, Ahmet shares his insights on building a culture of accountability, mastering remote team dynamics, and the need for continuous personal and professional growth.

A core part of our conversation delves into Ahmet’s commitment to client success and integrity—why he prioritizes delivering promised results and how he has structured his business to meet these high standards. Ahmet also opens up about his growth journey, discussing daily routines, reading, and the power of mentorship that equips him to lead at a higher level each year. For entrepreneurs and agency owners alike, this episode offers powerful takeaways for those looking to scale their digital business while navigating the complexities of leadership, team management, and client relations.

 Connect with Ahmet Yavuz:
 
As a leader navigating the intersection of digital marketing and software development, Ahmet Yavuz brings invaluable insights for anyone scaling a niche business in a competitive market. Connect with him through Furniture Marketing Pros or find him on LinkedIn to discover strategies that can help your business thrive. 

Books Mentioned: 

• Traction by Gino Wickman 

Join the New Catalytic Leadership Community

Check out our new online membership site, with new resources by Dr. William Attaway and his team added weekly: https://checkout.catalyticleadership.net/

Chapters

• 0:01 Ahmet’s Entrepreneurial Journey
• 1:54 Scaling a Niche Business
• 5:23 Leadership in Remote Teams
• 12:06 Client Success and Integrity
• 14:51 Personal Growth as a Leader
• 24:12 Continuous Improvement for Long-Term Success
• 31:20 Leveraging Mentorship and Lifelong Learning

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway (00:01.966)
I'm so excited today to have Ahmed Yavuz on the podcast. Ahmed is a multifaceted entrepreneur, a digital marketing strategist, and a software developer with a proven track record of driving growth and innovation in the furniture industry. As the founder and CEO of ASY Digital and Furniture Marketing Pros, Ahmed brings a unique blend of technical expertise and marketing acumen to the table.

His journey began in the tech world where he honed his skills as a software developer, mastering the art of creating robust digital solutions that enhance business operations and customer experiences. Leveraging his background in software development, Amit seamlessly transitioned into digital marketing, recognizing the transformative power of data and technology in shaping business success.

Ahmet Yavuz (00:51.198)
Thanks.

Dr. William Attaway (00:57.164)
He founded Furniture Marketing Pros in 2019, a specialized agency dedicated to helping furniture businesses thrive in an increasingly digital marketplace. By combining cutting edge technology with customized marketing strategies, and his team have empowered numerous clients to overcome challenges like restricted social media visibility and poor SEO performance, achieving significant increases in online traffic and

Ahmet Yavuz (01:12.835)
you

Ahmet Yavuz (01:26.687)
Thank you for having me William. I really appreciate the intro.

Dr. William Attaway (01:27.07)
sales. Ahmed, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being on the show.

Dr. William Attaway (01:37.646)
Absolutely. I've been looking forward to this conversation. I want to start with you sharing some of your story with our listeners on it, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader. Let's started.

Ahmet Yavuz (01:54.079)
To be honest, I didn't plan it. To be honest, it is not something that I can plan. I feel like I was in a road and trying something like helping businesses, helping people. Then I realized that I became an entrepreneur at the end.

I cannot do it alone. It's very technical and we are dealing with challenges, marketing challenges, IT challenges for our clients. And the market is really tough. It's not promising right now for special furniture stores. And we are dealing with problems every day. Early in the morning, it's like a war room for my team and for me.

Dr. William Attaway (02:49.118)
Okay.

Ahmet Yavuz (02:52.709)
every day we are having another issue for our clients. And we are consistently getting new clients. So we are scaling our business and also we are scaling our problems when we don't fix them on time. for me, I have IT background. I used to be a developer, but then I became a businessman.

Leadership is like something for me that I cannot fake, you know, and I need followers, especially, you know, for my team. Like we are working with A plus team members, right? And we are hiring, you know, A plus people. So it means that, you know, they have to be fired and forget, you know, we are going to give them the task and then they have to complete it.

you know, on time. And it's not easy, you know, for my team and for me, especially like, if you are swimming against the current, you know, in the river. So like, this is pretty much about me. Like, it's like overall experiences like, you know, I like to be a problem solver.

It's part of my job, maybe 60, 70 % of my job, like it's just problem solving. And those problems mostly come from people and the business and the market. But then like 30 % sales, but sales is easy. If you have some testimonials, some success in the past, then sales is not the challenging part.

The challenging part is like delivering results, know, outcomes for our clients on daily basis, because we cannot say, hey, like we were successful in last three years with you and this month we couldn't do it. So definitely like our clients give us, you know, some credits, but it's you know, unlimited. So like...

Dr. William Attaway (05:05.002)
So,

Ahmet Yavuz (05:22.973)
the most business owners like, I have to keep my boat, you know, on the sea, right? And I need money, you know, to pay salaries on time, to pay my tools, you know, to, to deliver results and also to advertise my business, know, to promote my business. And, but it is not just about money because based on my experience, like if you have success, then

My new follow-up's here, but...

If you are just promising people and not delivering actual results, then it becomes a reputation problem at the end. And people will not give you, you know, unlimited credits, as I've said. And for me, like we have a team like 15 to 20 full-time team members and

Dr. William Attaway (06:08.318)
Ahmet Yavuz (06:26.449)
I need to motivate my team. I can easily motivate myself. Every day early in the morning, I thought about the wins from yesterday or the last week, and I can plan my day or my next week. It's pretty easy for me, but to do it for my team, it's not easy. You cannot motivate people with money all the time. You cannot motivate people with...

working environment only. And sometimes, you know, they go because they just want to go. They understand what I mean, like they've had up with the, you flow and it's challenging for startups. So like you have limited resources, you know, you cannot offer people like double their salary. You cannot do that or you cannot give everything that

They need to be successful sometimes. It's not easy for you to be, you know, motivational for others. And it is the most challenging part, to be honest. When I was in Miami, like three months ago, like we were there together and, know, and my flight had been canceled. And then I...

Dr. William Attaway (07:29.578)
So,

All right.

Ahmet Yavuz (07:55.077)
I stayed at airport, you know, whole night. And then I thought about, okay, so let's talk, let's think about business, you know. And I sit down and I thought, like, you know, why we couldn't hit our goal? Even I get, you know, some successful results, like some...

Dr. William Attaway (08:05.214)
.

Ahmet Yavuz (08:25.535)
of artists, know, during the ceremony. but it was like below my, you know, expectations, to be honest. And the number one reason was hiring wrong people. And, you know, it was the, maybe the only reason. We were growing, but at the same time, sometimes I needed to fire people, you know, during the previous quarter.

Dr. William Attaway (08:34.17)
Okay.

Ahmet Yavuz (08:55.615)
And also like I hired wrong people. It took a lot of time to, you know, fill their position with the right one. And we work with the, you know, seven figure agency coaches, like with Oscar, Brian and others. And I realized that like at that time we were hiring one out of 500 applicants.

Dr. William Attaway (09:25.866)
Wow.

Ahmet Yavuz (09:26.623)
It was crazy. And still I was complaining about it. And for me, if it goes wrong, I cannot blame others because everybody in my team hired by me at the end of the day. Do you understand what I mean? I cannot complain about it because

Dr. William Attaway (09:31.985)
That's great.

Dr. William Attaway (09:53.196)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (09:56.517)
It is the outcome and approved by me. I don't get into the whole process. We sent them a test, video ask, and then video interview with the team, technical interview. Then at the end, I just want to see that person, the candidate, if it is right for this position or not.

Dr. William Attaway (09:58.254)
Okay.

Dr. William Attaway (10:26.03)
Hmm.

Ahmet Yavuz (10:26.343)
In last five years, I hired maybe 150 people and I fired like maybe 100.

And it is something that not just because I'm ambitious, like I set the bar here and people cannot reach. No, like for me, it's very reasonable, but entrepreneurs, like, you know, they're challenging, you know, all the time. My team was talking about the success, you know, the wins from the previous month or quarter. And for me, like,

It means nothing most of the time. I feel like this is not enough. Still, we have a long way to do. My list, notebook is full of the things for the checklist. We need to optimize our process. And if we are not successful for our clients, I feel like I am kind of a scammer because I

Dr. William Attaway (11:11.178)
Hello.

Ahmet Yavuz (11:35.743)
talked to them, I sold something and I couldn't deliver. And personally, I feel like I am the only people or I am only... To be honest, I don't blame my team. I blame myself very hard. Like sometimes even I cannot sleep, you know, just because of the paper click.

Dr. William Attaway (11:41.038)
All right.

Ahmet Yavuz (12:05.599)
cost like sometimes, you know, because the market is not steady, you know, it is consistently changing and for furniture stores after COVID, day by day, it was getting tough. But like back in 2019, I was introduced to a furniture store in Carter, New Jersey. And I realized that they were just posting on

Dr. William Attaway (12:06.606)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (12:34.235)
social media and boosting it later. There's no, you know, it's manager nothing like there's no professional setup, no database, no look at the audience like and Facebook, meta like charges like 42 % more just because of that because Apple, you know, charges from meta whatever like and

Dr. William Attaway (12:46.705)
Okay.

Ahmet Yavuz (13:04.617)
they were paying double, you know. And I realized that most of the furniture businesses failed, not just because of the market stuff, it's because they are not getting right, digital marketing right. And for me, it was an opportunity. That's why since November, we've been working with furniture stores only because

Dr. William Attaway (13:31.602)
Thanks.

Ahmet Yavuz (13:33.587)
They're in crisis. They understand what I mean. And RO4 is like no brainer. Like I guarantee something, you know, and it is month to month. We don't have a contract. And because I trust my team, I trust my service and it's going well, to be honest, not a hundred percent well, because sometimes, you know,

Dr. William Attaway (13:35.994)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (14:02.567)
Especially in digital marketing, need budget to set up the right strategy for your client. But it's not possible for most of the businesses if they're in debt and if they give you $1,000 per month. So it's useless to be honest. We have some qualification process. We are not working with everybody at this moment.

Dr. William Attaway (14:12.445)
Okay.

Ahmet Yavuz (14:32.455)
because if I don't believe it's going to work, I don't sell it. You know, I don't take risks.

Dr. William Attaway (14:32.654)
That integrity, I think, is so prevalent throughout everything you've talked about, You want to make sure that you can fulfill exactly what you promise. You want to make sure you can deliver what you discuss with these potential clients. And this goes back to where you were saying that scaling doesn't get rid of your problems. Scaling just reveals new problems.

Ahmet Yavuz (14:44.767)
Hehehe.

Ahmet Yavuz (14:50.483)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. William Attaway (15:01.622)
Now you have different challenges than you did when it was just you, because you have team members that you've had to look for and hire and train and now supervise. supervising 15 to 20 full-time professionals from all over the world, that's a big job just by itself. Not to mention everything else that you're doing, just managing that many people. What are some things that you've learned about leading remote team members?

Ahmet Yavuz (15:01.791)
Correct.

Ahmet Yavuz (15:30.687)
This is something that I am still working on it, you know, because like I worked at corporate jobs like and it was like hybrid from office and from home and it was easy, you know, at that time. But for my team, like we, we, we rent, we ran to the office in Manhattan and it didn't work well.

Dr. William Attaway (15:44.138)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (16:00.657)
because still I need talents. And if you want to hire people from New York City, you need to pay double salary. It cost me a lot. I couldn't hire local people. That's why we are taking advantage of remote working. But the problem is we have some tools. Maybe we are using five or six tools just to manage our team, like Time Doctor.

Dr. William Attaway (16:09.109)
Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway (16:29.741)
Mm-hmm.

Ahmet Yavuz (16:30.175)
ClickUp. So we have LiveDate. We have some tools like we are tracking their laptop, their screenshots, whatever. I'm not personally tracking it, but my operations manager takes care of it. But still, it is something that we are working on. Early in the morning, I had a management.

you know, meeting and then we were discussing about it because like, managing a remote team, it's not easy because I can not, you know, give free pizza on Friday. You know, I cannot talk to them directly. And in, in most cases, like I'm very busy during the day and I cannot allocate my time to my team personally. And they feel like, you know,

Dr. William Attaway (17:14.238)
Yeah?

Ahmet Yavuz (17:30.463)
It's really hard to build a relationship with my team. So we do have some meetings for that, like skip level meeting. So it's like everybody is on the same level and we talk freely. And they know that they're not going to fire that guy till the day. I guarantee it and we talk.

Dr. William Attaway (17:30.688)
Second.

Ahmet Yavuz (17:59.551)
And we have some coffee time with my team, but it is like one hour every month, nothing more than that. So it is something that we need to improve for my team. I am not satisfied with my leadership right now with our remote work, to be honest. I wouldn't be happy.

Dr. William Attaway (18:02.145)
you

Ahmet Yavuz (18:28.895)
with my leadership if I were a team member, as an XDA expert or operations manager, because I am stressful, because I am responsible for sales and growth. And also, I need to create content for my agency. those are the activities

Dr. William Attaway (18:45.302)
Okay.

Ahmet Yavuz (18:58.419)
that are taking time, you know, and I have a family as well. correct. And I am not successful to be honest. And still I am taking courses, you know, reading your book, you know, I really like it. And, you know, yeah. And work life balance is not easy. And for remote,

Dr. William Attaway (19:05.467)
It's hard to balance all of that, right? mean.

Dr. William Attaway (19:20.46)
So glad it's helpful.

Ahmet Yavuz (19:27.293)
You know, team, it is very, very challenging and I understand that. What I can do for my team, I set my expectations not so high. You know, we do have checklists, SOPs, and I want my team to, you know, follow up those, you know, procedures and that's it. I am not expecting from all of the team members, not for the management team, but

If someone is responsible for performance marketing, of course, those people need to come up with new ideas always and support me. But for my digital marketers or developers, I don't set my expectations too high because I know that they work efficiently for five hours a day, not eight hours.

Dr. William Attaway (20:04.525)
Hmm.

Dr. William Attaway (20:20.75)
Perfect. Yeah. Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (20:23.647)
I truly understand that because it is a very, very technical job and you cannot keep yourself motivated for work all the time. We have some minimums. On top of that, during some challenging times, of course, I want their full focus. But other than that, I give them some room for their...

you know, how do I say, like, not efficient time, you know, that's okay for me. I totally understand that for my team. And they are going to listen to this. They will laugh, but from my perspective, like, this is very normal and it's natural.

Dr. William Attaway (21:01.384)
Yeah.

I think that's wise because when you treat people like they're cogs in a machine or you treat them like they're machines, then people don't feel valued. They don't appreciate that and they don't lean in and they don't stick around long-term. And I think one of the things that I often work with clients on when it comes to leading remote teams and I try to teach and encourage

Ahmet Yavuz (21:29.503)
Okay.

Dr. William Attaway (21:43.07)
is two things, one of which you've hit, and that is you've got to right size your expectations. You've got to be clear about what those expectations are and what they're not. And the second thing is you've got to over communicate. So often I hear leaders and I'm working with somebody and they're like, well, I've said this a hundred times. I'm like, I realized you think you've said this way more than you need to. But really it's about a hundred times that people actually start to hear it and internalize it.

Like you've got to say it way more than you think you should have to. That's over communication. You know, we utilize Slack on our team. And so this is a way that we can not only communicate with one another, but we can always go back and look at what we said or what they said previously, right? This is just another tool to help us with us spread all over the world with our team. Like I want to make sure that there's no lack of communication. There's no lack of clarity. I believe clarity is kindness.

Ahmet Yavuz (22:27.241)
Hehe.

Ahmet Yavuz (22:38.783)
You

Dr. William Attaway (22:41.806)
So I love that you were moving in that direction. And I mean, I'll tell you, you said you would not be happy if you were a team member with your leadership. I think you're probably being a little hard on yourself because we all are. Every entrepreneur I work with, including the one I look at in the mirror every day, we all know we could do it better. We all know we want to take the next hill, the next mountain, right? We all see what's in front of us and we don't celebrate the past nearly as much as we should.

And I just want to encourage you, you I love that you're in the habit of celebrating your wins of writing them down and celebrating those. Keep that going because that's what's going to help you not only celebrate those yourself, but as you begin to expand and celebrate those with your team more, you're building a culture that from your leadership circles down and touches everybody.

Ahmet Yavuz (23:34.783)
So we do have one-on-one meetings. It was with me, but I removed myself from that process. It is with our operations manager. She is like my right hand. So, and it is a meeting that, like team members, they put three topics, two personal and two professional goals. And it is a monthly meeting.

Dr. William Attaway (23:48.472)
Great.

Dr. William Attaway (23:59.338)
Okay? Okay? Now that's...

Ahmet Yavuz (24:05.03)
and they talk whatever they want with their manager. And I removed myself because I realized that, like, it's not...

Like they have some concerns like with me because I am the business owner, you know, and they want to hide something about their personal or professional goals. And they do it with their operations manager and it works better. And I attend retro meetings, you know, other than that, I removed myself from almost all of the meetings with the team.

Dr. William Attaway (24:34.236)
Love that.

Ahmet Yavuz (24:47.387)
I have demo meeting and retro meeting and I give them some opportunities to be genuine, to talk about problems freely. And I don't talk much. Like in my first three years in my agency, like I talk a lot. And as you mentioned in your book, like you cannot learn, you you can only learn by listening, right? And

Dr. William Attaway (25:10.993)
Okay.

Ahmet Yavuz (25:17.343)
To be honest, after four or five years, I learned that I need to listen to my team. sometimes I feel like I'm alone, but that's not correct. It's like emotional, Ahmed, I feel like, but it is part of growth. It means that I am challenging myself and my team, my company. And if I say, hey, like,

Dr. William Attaway (25:34.378)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (25:47.007)
They just only pay us blah, blah, blah on monthly basis. And we are delivering more than we promise. And that's enough. Let's keep it like that. Everything is OK for my team and for me. But I consistently challenge myself because I believe we can do better. I can do better. And it is like a growth mentality. And I have mentors.

Dr. William Attaway (25:54.51)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (26:17.225)
To be a seven figure agency, is our goal as a team, but then it's not over. We're gonna be multi seven figure, maybe over 10 million, 20 million, 200, it goes like that. There is no end goal for us. We have to push ourselves and it is tiring for me, for my team.

Dr. William Attaway (26:43.75)
And.

Ahmet Yavuz (26:45.019)
And I accept that challenge. It's totally okay for me. You know, you can understand it from my gray hair. You know, I like, you know, challenge myself, but I cannot blame others if they don't accept that challenge. If they want to live after two years, you know, it is totally okay. It's not my fault. It's not their fault. They can be tired because their expectations from their life can be different. And

Dr. William Attaway (26:59.731)
Yes.

Ahmet Yavuz (27:15.547)
Nobody is guilty for that. So that's my mentality. That's why we hire consistently. It is a continuous process for us. And we give people opportunities. We pay for their trainings. I hire people for my team to train them. And also, if they say, I don't know, it is not a problem.

But if they don't put their attention, you know, it's not okay for me. Like if they do it just for checking the, you know, something from checklist, it's not okay for me. But if they don't know, it is easy. there is, we can educate, we can get training, you know, and we can learn it and digital marketing, IT like.

Dr. William Attaway (28:03.413)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (28:13.881)
We used to have WooCommerce websites. Now we have Shopify and we highly recommend it. So maybe five years later, it's going to be a different platform and that's totally fine for us. If we have a better one, then we switch to that. For our SEO tools, every year, maybe every other year, we have a new tool and that's perfectly fine. And we need to learn new things.

Dr. William Attaway (28:35.889)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (28:42.899)
You know, it is part of our continuous learning process. if they say, I'm Ahmed, like, Ahmed, don't expect more from me. That's it. You know, and I'm sorry, like, I'm sorry, guys, like, I cannot give you the comfort zone that you like. No, all the time. You know, it is different than five, six hours.

Dr. William Attaway (29:06.07)
Yes.

Ahmet Yavuz (29:11.653)
our productivity, you know, that's something different. If you want to grow, then there is no country for you.

Dr. William Attaway (29:21.134)
That's so good. You know, I love your growth mindset on it. I think that's one of the things that really stands out about you. You know, your company needs you to lead at a higher level today than it did three years ago. And that same thing is going to be true as you continue to grow in scale. Three years, four years, five years from now, you're going to have to lead at an even higher level. How did you stay on top of your game?

How do you level up with the new leadership skills that you're going to need and that your team and your clients are going to need you to have?

Ahmet Yavuz (29:49.801)
He

Ahmet Yavuz (29:57.855)
I start my day by reading a book. At least 30 minutes, one hour I read. Sometimes it is just biography book or a business book. doesn't matter. Or fiction, non-fiction. It doesn't matter. I start my day by reading, not checking my emails, my phone. And I think about...

Dr. William Attaway (30:25.634)
Thanks. Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (30:26.781)
my previous day and also like I check my notes and I do my best to be prepared for the day early in the morning. And after that, like,

Ahmet Yavuz (30:48.453)
I have my meetings with my team and I watch a lot of YouTube videos. Like it is my weakest point to be honest, like my one of my weaknesses because like I watch listen, you know, books, like podcasts, you know, but it is for me, it is like free, you know, experience from.

Dr. William Attaway (30:56.414)
Okay.

Dr. William Attaway (31:17.681)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (31:18.291)
You know, videos, podcasts, books, like webinars, it doesn't matter. And I listen, you know, books a lot when I am reading. know, after I finish my day, then I walk in the evenings, you know, like 30 minutes, one hour at least. And I think and I listen, you know, it's peaceful time for me. Other than that,

I have always mentors in my life. And like I am a part of seven figure agency, you know, community, and I have tons of people and they already scaled their business. They know what to do, what is next for me. And I, I will do their opinion, opinions always like, and it's not something that like for me, copper paste is that the same.

Dr. William Attaway (31:50.763)
Nice. Yes.

Ahmet Yavuz (32:16.575)
But getting benefits from their experience, is valuable for me. On top of that, I attend some webinars online and in person. For us, for digital marketers, IT people, I say IT because we have unique solutions for furniture stores. integrate more than 20, 25 manufacturers, database.

into Shopify, it is something unique to us in the United States, by the way. and it's like API integration, is like high level. we basically like, we upload products dynamically. And when I say products, it's like over 2000, sorry, over 200,000 products, like in a couple of days. So it is something unique to.

Dr. William Attaway (32:51.066)
Good.

Ahmet Yavuz (33:16.863)
my agency in our industry. So other than that, for me, as I said, podcasts, reading webinars, and sometimes I listen people out of my niche, you know, like even there in retail business or like,

Like some other IT guys, don't have any business experience, know, they're you know, developers or others. Like I listen to them because sometimes I realize that, you know, even they talk like lack of knowledge or experience. Sometimes you can learn, you know, from them as well. How? Like they talk something wrong, but you will think that, like people...

Dr. William Attaway (34:09.41)
Nice.

Ahmet Yavuz (34:15.391)
don't have an idea about it. And in that way, I sold two AI projects. It is out of my niche, but we built AI chatbot and we sold it. And I made my money from AI in that way. It was like I was talking to AI developers about AI. And then one of my clients asked me something about the chatbot. And I said,

Hold on one second, do you really need it? Do you have budget for that project? And he said, yes. OK. And then I talked to my AI developers, and then we built an application. And it was like a two-month project, but we made really good money from AI just with a couple of projects. So it was an opportunity from non-niche friends or mentors, whatever.

Dr. William Attaway (34:46.974)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (35:14.493)
And I value my parents' opinion as well. Even they don't know about my business. They have a limited knowledge, but they lived in this world more than 60 years. So sometimes they talk irrelevant, but sometimes they talk like, hey, that's my problem. Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway (35:29.326)
That's right.

Dr. William Attaway (35:41.09)
Hmm.

Ahmet Yavuz (35:42.623)
I push myself a lot sometimes. I feel like when I go beyond for my work, like when I lose my work-life balance, they say, you cannot live like that in your early 30s.

Dr. William Attaway (36:07.915)
That's right. Well, and I think that learning posture that you have, you know, whether it's learning from books or webinars or podcasts, or whether it's from, you know, intentionally engaging mentors, you know, and hiring coaches like Seven Figure Agency, these are opportunities that you're availing yourself of.

that has helped you to go farther than many entrepreneurs will ever get already, and it is going to help you get there faster. And that growth curve is only going to increase in the days ahead, because as you continue to grow and learn and scale, right, you're able to invest more in your team, you're able to invest more in your business and see greater results. And I think we're just seeing the beginning of that for you. And I can't wait to see what's next.

Ahmet Yavuz (36:43.689)
Hehe.

Dr. William Attaway (36:56.062)
Has there been a book that has made a big difference out of the ones you've read, one that you would recommend to the readers who are listening? Hey, if you haven't read this, you should check it out.

Ahmet Yavuz (37:07.135)
like, I read a lot, but

Ahmet Yavuz (37:15.391)
To be honest, like...

I am a person like...

Like books are huge in my life. And the latest book is the biggest one for me all the time, to be honest. And I was reading your book and what I can talk about your book, like it really hit me because you have a pastor background and you have some quotes from Bible, you know, and I realized that like I am a Muslim.

Dr. William Attaway (37:26.478)
That's great.

Ahmet Yavuz (37:55.379)
But, you know, and it's like everything was correct based on my professional experience, my beliefs, you know, and I thought like, you know, I am not alone. people in this journey, in this entrepreneur journey, like we have some similar problems, almost same. And also like

Dr. William Attaway (38:14.564)
Yes.

Dr. William Attaway (38:20.334)
Yes.

Ahmet Yavuz (38:24.883)
we are like look alike, you know. And it surprised me when I joined to Seven Figure Agency, like, and you were the like one of the first trainers like for the last year you had a training, you know, about your book when you published it first. And I realized that, you know, I am not alone, like even multi Seven Figure Agencies like dealing with

hiring, you know, and they complain about their team structure, clients delivering results like onboarding, like we do have similar problems. At the end of the day, I realized that this kind of books help us to understand people because at the end of the day, it is all about people reading people, you know, not the books.

Dr. William Attaway (39:17.88)
That's right.

Ahmet Yavuz (39:24.211)
You know, and if you read people and if you know how to use their talents in a proper way for your business, then you will be successful. If you put a monkey, you know, like a swimmer, and if you expect from a dolphin to, you know, climb a tree, then

It's not going to work. Same for our business as well. If I hire someone, I do have two expectations. First, having the right skill and passionate about his job or her job. And then I realized that if I read people, it's not possible always in a Zoom call.

in an hour, cannot do it. That's why we do have some disc, you know, assessments, character assessments, whatever like tests to understand their characteristics. But every book is like a step to be a perfect analyzer for the people, know, actual people.

I realized that reading the books and collecting experience from those books and having the ideas, not I'm talking about all of the books. Like sometimes I feel like I'm reading a book, but I need to stop because I am not agree with the writer all the time. Like if you read a lot, maybe you feel in that way. Like it is just collecting ideas from other books and nothing new, but not.

Dr. William Attaway (41:11.318)
That's right, absolutely.

Ahmet Yavuz (41:20.509)
for your book, like it is great. And at the end of the day, like I highly recommend your book for everybody running your business, you know, and also I highly recommend people like getting a mentor, you know, and maybe just for the book recommendations, like, and I do have

Dr. William Attaway (41:37.202)
Yes.

Ahmet Yavuz (41:49.062)
mentors from SCORE mentors. It is like government based. I don't know if you know it or not. And mostly they are retired entrepreneurs. sometimes I call my mentor from SCORE and we talk like, and he is like, hey, Ahmed, like read this book and that, and that's enough for me. And, know, and

Dr. William Attaway (41:52.654)
Yes.

Dr. William Attaway (42:16.339)
Yeah.

Ahmet Yavuz (42:18.973)
Yeah, I highly recommend your book. Other than that traction, know, like image, profit first, buy back your time. Like, it's like fancy books, you know, I respect all. But to read people, you know, we need to read first, you know, our books, you know, especially related to our job.

Dr. William Attaway (42:49.515)
Absolutely.

Ahmet Yavuz (42:49.535)
And world classics are highly recommended, especially in early ages. sometimes, for me, I was born in a family and in a neighborhood. And my mind was restricted by my surroundings.

Then I moved to United States from Turkey back in 2019. And I realized that I was not the only one right in the room. people have different tops and beliefs. And that's totally OK. They are not wrong. You can be right.

Dr. William Attaway (43:26.49)
Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway (43:42.946)
Yeah. Love that.

Ahmet Yavuz (43:45.809)
It doesn't mean that I will be wrong. I don't need to prove my beliefs to you. Just all we need is respect from each other. That's it. And to achieve that, think reading a book is a cornerstone.

Dr. William Attaway (44:09.954)
I could continue talking with you all day. Every time we talk, learn something new about you, about how you're leading. And I'm so grateful that you spent some time today sharing it, not just with me, but with all of our listeners. I know people are going to want to stay connected to you and learn more about what you're doing. What is the best way for them to do that?

Ahmet Yavuz (44:31.231)
They can visit furnituremarketingpros.com and about us page. It's kind of all about me because my team picked me for branding face. So other than that, they can type Ahmet Yavuz on LinkedIn or my email addresses like ahmet at asydigital.com or furniture.

marketingpros.com and also like, yeah, they can reach out to me from social media on Facebook and Instagram. I do have a blue check mark, you know, and yeah. So for people in furniture industry, I do have a note.

Dr. William Attaway (45:16.818)
Nice.

Ahmet Yavuz (45:29.907)
like if they are listening to us, they should have a checklist during this tough period. And they have to question their team in a respectful way and their marketing agency. You know, there might be room for improvement. They might not discover it by them yet. So...

Dr. William Attaway (45:48.062)
Yes.

Ahmet Yavuz (45:59.903)
That's the biggest advice for them because I feel really sorry when I hear that furniture stores are shutting down their doors.

Dr. William Attaway (46:03.886)
and that's why you can help. And I will have those links in the show notes. you so much for sharing so freely today from your journey so far. And I can't wait to see what's next for you. I think your best days are ahead.

Ahmet Yavuz (46:20.595)
Yep.

Ahmet Yavuz (46:33.617)
Thank you, William. Thank you so much for reminding me.