In March 2024, Onur (29, IT project manager) and Ezgi (28, designer) of Maltepe, Istanbul, decided to turn two years of dating into marriage. The target was clear: ₺200,000 minimum for down payment and honeymoon by September 2025. The result, 18 months later: ₺222,400.
The Decision and the First Math
When the couple put their wedding budget in a spreadsheet, the numbers were cold. After rent and bills, Onur could save ₺8,500 a month, Ezgi ₺5,000 from freelance. Classic saving over 18 months: ₺243,000 — minus inflation. With ₺180,000 projected for the wedding itself, the down payment column was zero.
A LinkedIn post from Onur's former colleague — claiming 6-figure monthly income from the thMenu affiliate program — was the trigger. One Saturday afternoon, they signed up, generated a coupon code, and studied the dashboard. Initial investment: zero. First commission target: 3 restaurants in 30 days.
The Shared Routine
The secret was discipline. The couple built a calendar and stuck to it for 18 months with almost no exceptions:
- Tue, Wed, Thu evenings 20:00–22:30: Ezgi on graphics and content (reels, carousels), Onur on outreach (cold emails, demo invites).
- Saturday 10:00–18:00: Field day — face-to-face visits in Maltepe, Kadıköy, Bostancı, walking into cafes and restaurants with a coffee-filled tote bag.
- Sunday: Completely off — pure rest and relationship time. It became a rule, not a preference.
Onur built a shared Notion CRM tracking lead temperature (cold/warm/hot), last-contact date, and expected commission. Ezgi's design polish made a difference; restaurant owners perceived "a professional team." In the first 90 days, 11 restaurants onboarded; monthly commission reached ₺8,400.
Stress Test and the Relationship
Money didn't always bring good news. In month 7 the couple hit a serious crisis: Onur carried most of the outreach load, while Ezgi felt the design work was bleeding into her main income. The argument locked on "who is working harder." In month 8 they took a family-doctor referral and went to four sessions of couple therapy. Sessions delivered concrete tools: a fixed "business-talk window" and a shared goal-visualization board.
From month 12 onward, commissions stabilized in the ₺12,000–₺18,000 monthly band. In month 17, a 4-branch Kadıköy cafe chain upgraded to Platinum, generating a single ₺9,300 commission. By September 2025, the total bank was ₺222,400: ₺160,000 down payment, ₺42,000 honeymoon (Cappadocia + Greek islands), ₺20,400 wedding overrun buffer.
FAQ
Will running affiliate as a couple hurt the relationship? Role separation and a "Sunday off" rule are critical. Onur and Ezgi took 4 sessions of couple therapy in month 8; that investment saved both the relationship and the business.
What role split works best? One partner on outreach (sales, negotiation), the other on content/design/ops. If both do outreach you get lead collisions and internal competition.
What kept them consistent for 18 months? A visualized goal board (a "down payment thermometer" on the kitchen wall), a 15-minute weekly retro, and a small monthly celebration kept motivation alive.
Found this helpful? Share it.
Related articles
Why Digital Menus Increase Restaurant Revenue by Up to 30%
Studies show restaurants using digital QR menus see measurable increases in aver…
When a Customer Downgrades, What Happens to Old Features? — The Silent Feature-Drift Problem in SaaS
Most SaaS apps run a single line of code when a customer downgrades — but old fe…
JWT alg-confusion attack — why Supabase's HS256 → RS256/JWKS migration breaks legacy verifiers
Verifiers that never decode the JWT header are wide open to `alg=none` and alg-c…