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How to Start a Marketing Agency with a Full-Time Job

Gray MacKenzie
Gray MacKenzie is a true operations nerd who has spent the past decade helping hundreds of agencies build more productive, profitable, and healthy teams by solving the core issues plaguing their project management.

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In this episode of Agency Journey, Jes Schroeder from Ideas Factory and Red Tomato about starting an agency on the side of a full-time job.

Jes moved to Medellin, Colombia, from Australia, where she works for Red Tomato. She decided that she could use her marketing skills on the side to help businesses in Colombia.

Here are the main takeaways from the interview:

Overcoming Beginner’s Struggles

Jes talks about some of the common issues concerning getting started as an agency. There is the issue of managing budgets and getting the client what they need while making a profit. Finding the team necessary to make a project come together.

There’s a balance between too many touches on a project and profit margins on the service.

The most effective way Jes found to do this determined what she was or wasn’t good at and built a team based on her client’s needs.

Find Out How to Balance Hustle with Full-Time

Jes has a full-time job with Red Tomato in Australia while running The Ideas Factory.

Starting an agency on the side means long hours, which can affect your energy and work performance at your full-time job.

Jes took the time to be transparent with the team at Red Tomato about what she was doing. For some companies, this could be a risky move, but Red Tomato was supportive. She’s been able to continue to learn and grow Ideas Factory thanks to their support.

Her advice is to be open to wherever you are about your side projects and transparent to avoid burning bridges. As long as the work doesn’t interfere with your performance, you may be surprised to see how well some businesses handle the news.

You can reach Jes at the Ideas Factory website or LinkedIn.

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