Date: June 2014

More than two years ago, a former CMO for a tech company in Australia that I worked with rang me from her new role in London and said, "Marketing is so different over here." 

"The systems and processes are excelerated by the use of technology so much so that our sales process is automated to the nth degree - you really have to come over and see it."

My heart is beating fast and I begin to feel agitated. Something tells me that it's not going to go away, but an experienced perspective tells me that it will.

It's tough enough running a business, without having to deal with the things in life that make you question your own decision making process and to a degree, the path that you are going on.

I have wasted the last few years in no-man's land, pushing through on the business front and having great success that has made me proud of the people involved who have made it happen, but for me personally, I am not quite there.

Everyone at some time in their lives has felt that their world has curved in. Things become heavy, dark and almost impossible to keep afloat - but there is light at the end of the tunnel, if only we all can see it.

It's how we handle these experiences of difficulties that show our real character and ability to be resilient in the face of adversity now and in the future.

The Wolf of Wall Street was in many people's opinions a celebration of the bad life - drugs, sex, expensive toys, opulent homes and super expensive suits.

As we watched on as Leonardo DiCaprio spruiked, "The way I look at it, their money was better off in my pocket," many of us couldn't believe that world existed quite like that. But it does. And it's right here on our doorstep too.

Start-ups by their very nature are exactly that; just a start. In every new entrepreneurial adventure, you’re drawing up your blueprint for business from scratch and the journey is often terrifying and exhilarating. Laszlo Szabo, the creator of Little Sale Birdy, a revolutionary retail website that will change the way Australian’s shop by sale, shares the seven lessons he learned in the first year of his successful start-up (ones they’ll never tell you in business and marketing school):

There is one thing that employees can learn from a Navy Seal that will be life changing - and that is to make your bed every morning to perfection. By completing this task, according to Navy Admiral William H. McRaven, who gave a talk to 8000 graduating students from the University of Texas last month, you would have completed the first task of the day.

I watched the video of his speech that clocked up 1.7 million views in 2 weeks on YouTube a few weeks ago and was inspired.

"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 it's 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. Australia 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.

Historically, Australian companies that have expanded into the US have benefited immensely from foreign exchange rates. After the initial shock of start up costs, companies see the silver lining of building businesses in the US and bringing US dollars back to Australian shores.

UPDATE: There were 70,000 plus views within 48 hours of publishing story.

Who would have thought that a blog titled "Why married women are more successful" would receive 54,256 views in less than 24 hours, 555 likes, 634 comments, 702 Facebook likes, 2,632 shares on LinkedIn and 79 retweets on Twitter? I did. And that's exactly why I wrote it. I am a new author on LinkedIn and I know a thing or two about blogging and going viral. If I just write about marketing, at most, I will get between 1,000 and 10,000 views over a week. If I write about something personal - more. But if I write about something that people have strong opinions on or that hits a raw nerve - the sky is literally the limit.

Let’s be honest. Generally, businesses are happy to celebrate their wins, and sweep their losses under the rug. We drink champagne when our marketing strategies work, and suck lemons when they don’t. But the minute we stop running from our failures, we can stop and examine them to find solutions and refine our approach.

Not every marketing campaign comes to fruition; sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Let’s get very honest and face the five possible reasons yours flopped: