“I’ve never had a talent like him.”

Leman, can you please introduce yourself: Who are you, and how did you end up at yoummday?

I was born and grew up in Berlin, studied in Istanbul, and ended up moving to Kaş, a small, beautiful coastal town near Antalya in Turkey. My husband had already fallen in love with the place, and once I saw it myself, I felt the same. It’s quiet, at the sea, and surrounded by nature. Perfect for walks and diving.

I joined yoummday in 2023. Before that, I’d worked at Lufthansa, and a colleague who was also a trainer at yoummday brought me on board. I started in a training role, and over time worked my way up to where I am now, Senior Talent Team Lead on an energy sales project.

For anyone who doesn’t know what a Talent Team Lead does, what does your day actually look like?

I like to think of myself as the bridge between the project and the freelance talent. My job is to support the people on my team so they can do their work well – and that means being available.

A lot of what I do is communication. I respond quickly, I pick up the phone when a message isn’t enough, and we work through things together. We’ve got one-on-ones, for which I prepare by listening to recorded calls in advance. I also let talents listen back to their own calls, because I believe self-reflection is one of the most powerful tools for growth.

We also have weekly team meetings where we share tips, talk through challenges, and learn from each other. Even though everyone works remotely, it doesn’t feel lonely.

In your daily work, what are “you made my day” moments for you?

When a customer contacts the company specifically to say they only want to speak with a particular talent again. That’s when I know, this person has done something right. The customer came back looking for them by name. Those moments tell me everything is working the way it should. And that makes me proud.

You work with many freelance talents. What makes high performers stand out on your project?

Honestly, how they handle the uncertainty.

In sales-based work, you earn based on your results. There’s no guaranteed base. That reality hits people differently. Some talents try it, realize the unpredictability isn’t for them, and leave early. That’s completely valid. It genuinely isn’t the right fit for everyone.

The ones who grow are usually the ones who see the risk as a challenge rather than a threat. They’re self-assured enough to push through the harder early months, and once they start seeing results, that fuels them further. They know that if they put the work in, the earning potential is real. And that motivates them to keep going.

Your Operations Manager shared a talent’s earnings chart with me before this interview – and I had to look twice. Can you tell me about him?

That’s Tommy Talent. He asked to stay anonymous, so that’s what we call him. But his story deserves to be told.

Tommy started on the project when he was 23. Already married and a father. You could feel the responsibility he carried, and it showed in how seriously he took the work. From early on, his goal was to break his own record every single month.

But at the beginning, it wasn’t easy. He struggled to get comfortable with the system and the campaigns. There were moments where he genuinely wanted to quit, he wasn’t getting it yet, and that frustrated him. We actually sat down as a small group – our Operations Manager, Tommy, another freelance talent, and me – and went through everything together. We saw potential in him, and we wanted to make sure he saw it in himself too.

He briefly tried working across multiple projects at the same time, thinking that having guaranteed income elsewhere would take the pressure off. But he quickly realized that splitting his focus was holding him back. He came back, committed fully to one project, and things really started moving.

What specifically drove the jump in his numbers?

It’s how he works. When Tommy logs on for five hours, he works for five hours. No long breaks after a sale, no winding down. He’s in the zone, and he stays there. I’ve genuinely never experienced a talent like him. He’s in a category of his own.

The project also has a structure where you can build up returning customers over time – they get reassigned to you each year. So with every year that passes, Tommy’s base of returning clients grows, and so do his results.

The chart shows some dips along the way. What’s going on there?

Fluctuating earnings are normal in sales. In his case, it’s most often due to public holidays, fewer working days mean fewer opportunities. It’s completely normal, and it’s worth understanding before you read too much into a dip. The overall trend is what tells the real story, and Tommy’s trend has only ever gone one direction.

Tommy’s story is clearly exceptional. How common is a journey like his, really?

I want to be honest here: nobody on the project earns what Tommy earns. Nobody. There are talents who’ve been with us for over a year, some who are pushing hard and getting close, but Tommy’s consistency and performance is something else.

Part of it is emotional steadiness. Life gets in the way for most people – a sick child, a difficult week, something personal that pulls your focus. That’s completely normal and human. But Tommy rarely lets that happen. He just keeps going.

There are others on the team with real potential and strong results too. And I do see positive surprises all the time. People I didn’t expect to grow as fast as they did. But to be completely honest: you never know at the start who will reach the very top. What I can say is that the ceiling is real. Tommy proves it exists. What you do with that is up to you.

What would you say to someone reading this who thinks: I want that too?

First, be honest with yourself about what you’re walking into. The start can feel lean. Results take time to build, and the first payout cycle can feel slow. That’s normal, and it gets better with time.

Second: challenge yourself. Tommy was about to quit, but didn’t give up. He took on the support from his Operations Manager, me as his TTL and a fellow freelance talent to upskill, and his performance increased, which reassured him, and quickly skyrocketed.

And then, use the flexibility. That’s the real gift here. You set your own hours. You can work from anywhere. For me personally, it’s what made it possible to build a real career from a small coastal town in Turkey. That’s not something every job offers.

If you want what Tommy has? Be willing to put in what Tommy puts in. The platform gives you the tools and the support. The rest comes from you.

Thank you, Leman, for sharing this story and for your support of talents like Tommy Talent, empowering them to succeed. We wish you and your team all the best for the future.