Welcome to the OWN IT podcast, where we celebrate the growing number of (women and non-binary) ad agency owners and talk about buying out of the boys’ club of advertising, one agency at a time. Today I’m talking to Jaime Robinson and Lisa Clunie from JOAN. Both are amazing women with impressive industry credentials in their own right. But when they came together and joined forces to create JOAN, magic happened. They share the story of winning seven brands in one of their first pitches.
It’s easy to hear how much fun Jaime and Lisa have working together and owning their agency. You’re going to love what they have to say.
Thanks for listening to this episode of OWN IT. You can find out more about Jaime and Lisa, their work and their team at joancreative.com. Be sure to connect with Jamie and Lisa on LinkedIn as well.
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The co-founders spent significant time before launching their agency to define their purpose, values, and what they aimed to accomplish. This included identifying issues within the industry they wanted to challenge and change, such as adversarial client-agency relationships, consumer avoidance of ads, and lack of diversity. This foundational work ensured they built a business aligned with their vision.
While a blank slate allows for creativity in shaping a company's identity, the co-founders learned that bringing in senior individuals requires careful consideration of alignment with the company's evolving vision. It's a delicate balance between top-down leadership and allowing employees' ideas to shape the company, especially when not everyone aligns with the core values.
A deep personal relationship and mutual trust are vital for co-founders. They engaged in exercises like writing down individual aspirations for the company before sharing, which revealed strong alignment despite some initial differences in scale expectations. This foundational trust and collaborative work on initial projects helped them understand each other's thinking and work styles.
Many capable individuals overthink and self-doubt, preventing them from taking the leap to start their own ventures. The advice is to acknowledge these feelings but ultimately push them aside and pursue entrepreneurship. There's a strong network of support, especially among female founders, who are willing to help those who are brave enough to ask.
Starting and running an agency should be seen not just as a business venture but as a creative act in itself. This perspective allows founders to be excited about shaping and playing with the company's identity and impact. The process of building something from scratch, including addressing industry challenges and fostering growth, can be deeply gratifying.
