My other spouse
Long days, late nights, exotic travel, mundane travel, intimate hotel bars, a standing order at the Japanese soup place across the street, a shared purpose, a common drive, and occasional spat, a realization that we're still headed in the same direction, together. My relationship with Erica mimics (most of) the one I have with my husband.
As co-founders, co-creative directors, co-ceos, co-pilots of this crazy starship, Fancy, we are very lucky to have developed the friendship and sense of humor we have. Last week I let Lindsay Stein of CampaignUS in on our secrets of how we make it all work. The below was published in the September 7, 2018 issue.
Erica Fite and I have been co-running Fancy since we founded the agency in 2011. But we met as creative partners 10 years before that.
Having developed a creative relationship and then a friendship and then a business partnership means that we know each other’s quirks, idiosyncrasies, pet peeves, and work ethic quite well. In fact, creatives are probably uniquely groomed to be good co-owners of businesses, because we have grown up being co-owners of ideas. We also know what it means to have each other’s back, and to strive for the same goals.
In our particular relationship, as co-founders of a small, independent agency, the best thing is that we do not freak out at the same time. One of us is always capable of talking the other off the ledge. There is so much crazy in starting an agency, especially when you are two creative directors (and we all know how much business training creatives get as they move up the ranks in big agencies), having a partner who can see the big picture even when you cannot is a huge bonus. We often talk about how if we were going it alone, there are many times when we might have thrown in the towel and looked for creative director jobs at big agencies where all we would have had to do would have been to make the donuts instead of run the whole bakery. We are both glad that never happened!
Another great thing about running the agency together is having a sounding board—being able to throw out ideas and problem-solve together. Again, we are used to this as creatives, but it is a skill and a privilege that we are so happy to have as owners of Fancy. Neither of us gets upset when the other says an idea won’t work, or a strategy isn’t right, we are used to working through the options to get to the best solution. Neither of us can imagine trying to do everything we do together alone.
