Over the past 2 months there has been massive growth within our companies and we have seen several of our projects come to fruition successfully. This year has been one of the most challenging, but equally rewarding years for our company. Since the year has begun, some of our largest competition has gone completely out of business, leaving only EWA Network to reign at the top of the industry. It’s amazing to think that only in February we hit our 3 year anniversary, and we are already recognized as the top tier network with a reputation of reliability, honesty, and most importantly: making our merchants and affiliates more money.

In early 2012 we were forced to completely renovate and readjust the way our accounting department works in order to accommodate the massive growth we’ve encountered. We work with over 1200 merchants on one side, and on the other side between all our companies we maintain upwards of 50,000 clients. In order to stay ahead of the curve, we had to transfer the existing employees that focused on affiliate support into receivable management. This was absolutely necessary, but was a double edged sword leaving only two employees managing affiliate support. We immediately noticed that additional workforce needed to be brought into our company to focus on interviewing, hiring, and training employees to cover the difference. For anyone that’s run a business that’s grown rapidly – I’m sure you understand how difficult it is to find, train, and integrate employees while existing employees are already overburdened. It was quite the challenge, but like all challenges – something that Eagle Web Assets was up for.

To add to the calamity, last month alone we approved nearly 20,000 publishers to BLAM Ads, adding to the mess. I’ll be the first to admit it – we probably moved a bit too quick! One thing I can say though, these types of growing pains are good to have, and it’s these new challenges that keep the upper management motivated. If every day were easy we would grow weak because there would be not outside pressure forcing us to grow and optimize. Unlike the competition, we keep a close pulse to our clientele and helped this entire calamity clean up by using existing employees to ease the communication flows.

Over the past 3 weeks we have successfully hired four new employees inside of the accounting division bringing the entire team to about 12 employees managing everything from invoicing to cash flow management and controlling. We have seen massive improvement already and integrating these new employees into our company has just begun. Within the next 2 to 3 weeks the new employees should be fully trained and integrated into our new ticketing system which is already in partial use. Right now we cannot have emails “bottleneck” with one or two people, whereas our new ticketing system will allow the multiuser support needed for the influx of publishers we work with. I’m confident that the changes we are making will not only bring systems back to normal, but will speed up the service to a higher level than our clients have ever had. It’s hard to admit that these growing pains exist, but at the same time admitting it keeps us accountable.

I would like to commend everyone in the accounting department especially. These guys probably have not only the thickest skin, but are the hardest workers out there working hours that parallel mine (and I wouldn’t wish those upon my enemies):

• Tom Eagle – Acting as our Executive Vice President, he oversees the highest level affiliate support within limitations and manages all higher level controlling decisions. Oversees entire accounting division with Savy as part of his three other divisions. 
• Savy Lam – This lady is a superhero, the one that most of you know (sometimes on great times, sometimes on bad terms) and she handles affiliate support for BLAM Ads and EWA Network. In addition, she oversees and help setup infrastructures for every other aspect of our company; acting as Vice President of Accounting.
• Sue Ferro – Sue actively clears payments on the A&R report for BLAM Ads and EWA. She updates and double checks all payment terms of incoming merchants to ensure invoicing is done properly. In addition, she handles production of a wide array of reports ranging from projections to coordination of collections.
• Tasha Kimbrough – A newer hire of Eagle Web Assets, she will be focusing on the ticketing system along with helping the transition of affiliate email support to the ticketing technology. She will also be used to help make payments.
• John Riley – A new hire and personal friend of mine, will be handling email support before complete transition into ticketing system, payment setups and book keeping, along with all payouts for BLAM Ads.
• Yean Ean - Acts as management and oversees for tax documentation, payment setups. Soon to take a more supervisory role overall to help answer questions for our accounting team members, along with answering any elevated issues that need immediate resolution.
• Jennifer Barka – She’s been with Eagle Web Assets for a long time, transitioning around three different divisions to find her place in accounting. Jennifer works in the invoicing for EWA Network and helps manage vital controlling documents.
• Kevin Frees – He has also been with us for quite a long time, transitioning to find his place in accounting. Kevin, too, works in the invoicing for EWA Network and helps manage vital controlling documents.
• Phil Gordon – He produces vital reports for our sales team, acts as the companies resident expert in Excel, and handles all invoicing for BLAM Ads merchants.
• Greg Carter – He is fully integrated into our ticketing system and helps assist with client support for our angel investment companies.
• John Son – He acts as check processor for Eagle Web Assets and all angel investment properties, maintains check registers, and handles all long-term accounting projects.
• Charlie Son – He handles the accounts payable spreadsheets full time, along with auditing of payments incoming and outgoing.