Hasan Toprakkaya is the founder of Sociality.io, an all-in-one social media management platform trusted by global businesses, digital agencies, and enterprises since 2015.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I am a lifetime entrepreneur. It all started from the ground up from managing a small deli shop in secondary school to co-founding various tech startups.
I graduated from computer engineering in 2005 and since then I am always in tech-related businesses.
Now, I am leading Sociality.io – an all-in-one social media management platform. We have achieved the number of more than 200 enterprise customers in around 30+ countries with team members in 4 countries.
2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
I am waking up around 6:30 am with my 20 months old boy. I am spending an hour with him playing and preparing his breakfast. Then, I am taking him off to the creche around 8 am.
I am starting to work at 08:30 and try to respond to emails and slack messages. Then, I am spending my time on the tasks on my to-do list of the day that needs deep focus.
On a normal day, I have 2 meetings on average that last a maximum of an hour in total thanks to our async working environment.
2 or 3 times a weekday, I am going to the gym in the middle of the day for an hour-long training.
In the early afternoon, I am checking my emails and messages again.
Then, I am clearing my remaining tasks. After finishing all the tasks of the day, I am checking the next day’s tasks and my calendar. If there are some small tasks that I can finish in a few minutes each, I am trying my best to finish those tasks right away rather than waiting for the next day.
Around 5 pm, I am going to the creche to pick up my son. And, I am spending the rest of the day with him and my partner.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Working 5 days/40 hours a week seems to be a valid concept in the current work culture. However, the rapid development of technology causes radical changes in the way people work.
4 years ago, even before the pandemic, we decided to be a remote-first company. It was not an easy decision at that time. Thus, we made this transition step by step. After all, we didn’t notice a negative impact on our business, on the contrary the team productivity improved a lot and we decided to switch to working remotely.
Actually, after 4 years of working remotely, I can’t believe how I was working in an office environment with a 9-5 hours routine.
Thanks to remote and flexible working, I can arrange my working hours. This allows me to spend more time with my family.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
For me work-life balance is, working in calmness with the people that I enjoy a lot, and spending quality time with my family and lovely ones.
To achieve this goal, I am surrounding myself with people that have the same goals in their life. And I am trying to build a company culture that enables it.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
I started to document everything from my daily working routine, to our company culture, from internal meetings to external meetings. Documenting everything helps me to understand where I am spending my time and how I can improve it.
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
I suggest the “In Depth” podcast series hosted by Brett Berson which is focused on not only the thoughts about growing a startup but also is focused on the tactical advice from the founders and startup leaders. It helps me to understand the company culture of successful startups and how I can implement the best of those into our company.
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
I am a big fan of the Todoist app. I am planning all my days, weeks, and months using it. Otherwise, it might be a nightmare for me to keep up with all the tasks. It calms down my mental health at work.
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
I’d like to read an interview with Amir Salihefendić – founder and CEO of Doist. With 70 team members, they are able to work remotely and async and they are achieving amazing things.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Saying “No”, is the key to happiness. It’s one of the most important skills that needs practising every day to achieve a better work-life balance.
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