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It's Sunday and I have been madly working away since 6am. That I suppose is the life of an entrepreneur.

Of late, it's been crazy. My 'to do list' seems endless and there really isn't enough hours in the day. On top of that, I only recently realized that I am not utilizing my time effectively enough and need to make some changes - except I feel like I need to catch up before making changes. It is 'the chicken and the egg' scenario all over again.

People can look at Sundays in a number of ways; For me, I look at the day as the first day of the week, as in Australia it is a Monday. I am of course sitting in my hotel room in Atlanta.

By chance, I had an invitation to join Steven Jackson's box at Sunday's NFL Game with the Atlanta Falcons versus Chicago Bears. I had never seen an American football game, on television or live, and when the invitation came, I leapt on it like you wouldn't believe. It's an experience, and possibly a bucket list item that I should do while I have the chance and am staying in a city where everything seems accessible.

Through friends, I met Steven Jackson and the first thing that I learned about him was his ability to hold a conversation by asking the right questions. You would think that someone with his type of fame, the type that comes to very few people, would be so used to talking about themselves that they would be completely out of their comfort zone when roles are reversed. Wrong. This man not only has great range in conversation, he is incredibly well travelled and has had experiences that most of us just put on our bucket list, but never get around to doing.

Open Date: 10/06/14

Location: Atlanta, GA. USA

Division: Marketing – Independent Agent

Category: Marketing

Job Description:

The Marketing Communications Manager will support the growth of the US business for a quickly growing marketing consultancy company.  This person will be responsible for managing the marketing needs of companies in the areas of technology, professional services, health and property. Initially we are looking for an Independent Contractor with the potential of permanent employment based on proven capabilities after 3 months.

Check out our website: www.marketingeyeatlanta.com

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Managing the marketing needs of clients
• Implementing Marketing Eye’s methodology in clients businesses and explaining it to new client acquisitions in the sales process
• Developing marketing strategies
• Implementing marketing campaigns, from development and concept creation through to execution
• Reporting
• General marketing consultancy
• Maintain positive client relations with new and existing customers to discuss their needs and how to best utilize our solutions to achieve their intended outcome. 
• Deliver presentations to multiple levels of decision makers during face-to-face meetings.
• Perform other job duties as assigned. 
• Previous experience in marketing leadership is a plus.

It was 8pm at night and as we boarded the plane at La Guardia Airport in New York, Maikayla (#24yrold), our 24 year old President of US Operations, started a conversation about the things we are not doing as a business to get clients.

Marketing Eye Atlanta has gone from startup to multi-million dollar company in over a year of operations. The company provides SMB's with an ability to have a qualified outsourced marketing department for an investment that any business that has opened their doors can afford.

The goal post has changed from the original business plan of 1,000 clients over 5 years. Our sales targets have been moved by 2 years and now the entire team is in a spin working out how they will achieve this goal in 3 years. 

It's an ambitious task, but one that is doable and if something is too easy, then it won't be as rewarding. Stretching ourselves and pushing limits, dreaming big and opening doors, is something that will keep everyone in the game.

Maikayla's thoughts:

Landed in Atlanta, and within minutes and I am getting the run-down on what's going on in the office. Clients are happy, new brands are being launched, marketing campaigns executed, clients acquired in January have been on-boarded, moved to a new office within our building because of our continued fast growth and a new employee has started.

It's no secret that our Atlanta team is the highest performing marketing team I have ever worked with. As a team, they are game-changers. They see things that other's don't and communicate creatively and insightfully our clients brands in a way that resonates with their target market.

Winning is part of the culture. Each member doesn't know how to lose. They push each other to perform at a level that blows my mind and are forward thinkers. I never have to ask if something has been done - because it was finished yesterday.

Late on Wednesday, Maikayla Desjardins (aka #24yrold), a marketing consultant at Marketing Eye Atlanta gave her weekly pep talk to the team. In her talk, she encouraged them to take Friday off and enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend, coming back to the office on Monday all fresh and ready to achieve our company goals for December.

Then, out of the blue, she said, "I want to kick-ass in December and to do this, I need all of your help. I need for you to take the next four days to think about just one thing that we can all do in December that will improve our sales performance and ensure that we achieve our goals."

I can't help wondering what I did to deserve to be continually packing things up and moving but somewhere along the line in the past year or so, it has been something that has become almost second nature. So much so, that I don't think I had time to unpack everything.

Four hours of checking to see if I have everything, and packing up my most valuable possessions, I am finished. My dog is looking at me scared about what possibly could be next. Moving still isn't something she is use to and I realized early in the piece that it is what brings her the most fear. For that matter, it does the same to me, however my New Years Resolution this year was to put myself in "uncomfortable" situations and I have certainly lived up to that.

If I could have a dollar for every time I didn't trust my gut instinct, I would be a very rich woman.

Like most entrepreneurs, I have failed more times than I have succeeded and every single time I have failed I have thought back to how I could have done things differently. 9 times out of 10, it was because I didn't trust my gut instinct.

Trusting in yourself and your intuition is important, but if you are anything like me, you second guess what you think you should do and find reasons as to why you should do something a different way. It's not too indifferent from taking a risk. We are all reluctant to take risks but sometimes there is this thing inside us that tells us that we must do it - even though there a thousand reasons why we shouldn't.

A few weeks ago, we met with the delightful Jack Rehm and Karen Larkin of Midsouth Planning in Atlanta. The first thing that struck me about both Jack and Karen is how nice they are. Now, nice isn't a word that many people would like associated with themselves because of the connotations that it has, but its true. They are smart, thoughtful, considerate and nice.

It was a big step for both of them to take to hire a marketing company as it isn't something that they had done before.

"Same bed, but it feels a bit bigger now" is the lyrics in the famous Bruno Mars song "When I was your man".  An apt description of Marketing Eye's business expansion into the US market. It's the same company, but its a bit bigger now. 

What started out as a step to expand the international footprint of our brand, has taken on a whole new dimension. Australian and America have long been tied and now more so than ever. The ebbs of the economy has led to an opportunity for Australian companies that are geared for expansion to leverage the strength of the Australian dollar, and affordable set up costs in the US market without breaking the bank. The downside, is US dollars are not worth as much, as the dollar loses its grip on parity.