Writing an about page is much harder than writing a post. I published a post per day for the last five months, but I didn’t update my about page during that period.

Now’s the right time to update this page, because you’re probably wondering who I am and what I write about. Here are the answers.

Who Am I?

I’m Burak Bilgin, a 39 years old software developer living in Genk Belgium. I’m originally from Istanbul, Turkey. I completed my Ph.D. in Informatics in 2012.

Throughout my career, I’ve always been on the technical side of the business. My focus was on B2B software. With my blog, I dive into the commercial side of B2C. That’s quite a switch, and there’s a lot to learn.

From an Expert to a Novice

There’s a big contrast between being an expert B2B software developer and a novice B2C marketer. That’s a challenge.

I always wanted to build a B2C business in information marketing. This goal kept my mind busy for too long. I want to stop procrastinating on it and do my best to achieve it.

If I succeed, that would be great. If I fail, I will have at least tried it. In that case, I’d let it go and move on.

Using My Experience as a B2B Software Developer

Even though I’m a beginner B2C marketer, I don’t feel like a complete novice. I bring all the experience in my career to my new venture.

Qualities like analytical thinking and focusing on what matters help me in this challenge.

I apply the scientific method and reverse engineering to my marketing goals. I developed these qualities and experience in my B2B software development career.

Extracting Lessons from My Marketing Experience

One thing that helped me a lot is to know how to extract lessons from my experience.

I spent only five months on my blog. Yet, I learned a lot about B2C and marketing. I document those lessons on my blog.

Using B2C Marketing Lessons in B2B Software Development

After five months of blogging, I developed an eye for what the end user would be interested in and what they wouldn’t.

Anything that wouldn’t interest or benefit the end user, directly or indirectly, is busy work. I try to avoid that as much as possible.

What Do I Write About?

In the last five months, I wrote about a wide range of topics.

• Personal Development, Life Lessons, Leadership, Motivation
• Blogging, Writing, Marketing
• Entrepreneurship, Startups
• Business, Management
• Investing, Cryptocurrencies

When people visit my blog for the first time or sign up to my email newsletter, they might get confused. They might expect posts on one topic, but receive posts on another. I want to clarify my position for my first-time readers.

Which Topics to Expect from Me

The majority of my blog posts and page views are in the personal development category. Lately, I didn’t write much about this topic. This doesn’t mean that I stopped writing about this topic. Personal development is a topic that I’m interested in.

Blogging, Writing, and Marketing

Lately, I write mostly on blogging and marketing. It’s a topic that I’m trying to figure out.

I document my thinking process, my plans, and my progress. Some of my readers enjoy that insider look at my journey. Some of them give me feedback and tips. All of that helps me make my mind on how to carry on toward my goals.

Entrepreneurship and Startups

I see blogging and marketing as a part of entrepreneurship and starting up a business. Most of my posts on entrepreneurship and startups are also on blogging and marketing.

I have some posts on the inner game of entrepreneurship as well. I plan to keep writing such posts.

Topics I Stopped Writing About

There are two topics that I don’t plan to write anymore. Those two topics are management and investing.

Management of established businesses doesn’t excite me anymore. I’m more interested in starting something from scratch and turning it into a business.

Investing

I don’t like to write about investing for two reasons. First, most people don’t have any funds to invest. Second, my investing strategy is exceptionally boring. I believe in dollar cost averaging and buying and forgetting until retirement.

People want to read about trading, technical analysis, and the latest cryptocurrencies. My posts don’t satisfy the “turn $100 to $10 million, buy a Lamborghini, and party with models” crowd.

My Goal for July 1, 2019

My goal for my blog is to build an audience of 100K Medium followers and 20K email newsletter subscribers by July 1, 2019.

This goal requires a lot of writing, marketing, blogging, personal development, productivity, leadership, motivation, and entrepreneurship lessons to be learned. I’ll write on those lessons as I learn them.

Burak Bilgin, Saturday, May 5, 2018