Dynamic Duos: From 5am emails and an unfortunate Media Watch segment to full-service success

In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two colleagues with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.

Fran Chalmers:

We met in London, while I was working in broadcast PR and he was working at OFCOM, the British broadcasting regulator — I remember my old boss getting very twitchy about us spending time together.

George is a Kiwi and when we met, he was growing tired of the London rat race. Whereas I had not long moved back to the UK from Brisbane and was missing Australia terribly. We also both had a desire to work for ourselves and felt that our differing skills would be a great starting point to build a business together.

After just a few months of knowing each other, we started doing some research into broadcast PR in Australia and spotted an untapped niche in an industry that was largely saturated in London. We started concocting our business plan and set the wheels in motion to move to Australia — over a year later, we got visas approved and took the plunge.

It turns out we were right. George’s experience in large enterprises, tech and project management paired with mine in business development and working closely with clients on PR campaigns in a highly competitive media landscape in London set us up well for success. We have very separate and defined roles in the business, and this has helped us work harmoniously together for the last 10 years.

We had a steep learning curve when first setting up in Australia, having to get up to speed with a completely new media landscape and start from scratch building up a client base, but we are very proud of the organic growth we’ve achieved over the years. Evolving into a full-service PR agency and adapting our offering to where the market was at the time has allowed us to capture and develop three defined business streams which provide both business security and diversity to the agency’s offerings.

Our relationship is built implicitly on trust and respect, for each other’s strengths and roles within the business, allowing us to not double up on time spent and focus on our own areas of expertise. Having said that, we still run every big decision past each other, not just out of respect as a fellow business owner but also because we rely on each other’s perspectives to make informed and balanced decisions.

I am the risk taker, while George is very risk averse. We’ve found this to be a good balance, in driving the business forward, in an informed manner. We share a belief that the business will only continue to grow, evolve and improve with other perspectives, expertise and skills from the people that work with us – as colleagues, not staff. This has allowed us more freedom in recent years to trust team members with the business and either focus on other endeavours or prioritise a healthy work-life balance.

George Van Velzen: 

Fran and I met for the first time in 2013, in London. We both worked in the media and communications industry, though we were involved in very different aspects. Fran had a background in sales, client and account management, whereas I had spent 20 years on the technical and business side. I think this is what helped us gel so well.

After both already having had successful careers, we agreed on how frustrating it could be working for bigger companies, which is why we decided to go out on our own.

Our separate disciplines allowed us to work in harmony without stepping on each other’s toes, and we knew how to lean on the other’s skillset. I was able to take care of the backend functions to support everything going on in the frontend.

We took the decision to launch the business in Brisbane, initially as a lifestyle location, but it also proved to be of benefit in costing less than setting up in Melbourne or Sydney, while still being able to service those markets.

When we first launched, it was very much a case of being careful where we would spend money. Until last year, when we purchased our own office, we had always been cash positive and preferred the route of organic growth rather than seeking growth through debt. I think this helped us keep sane, especially when Covid came through.

Fran has been the ideal business partner for me because we both look at the world differently, and our different cultures help balance each other out. We are also both grafters. For the first few years we didn’t get weekends off or a proper holiday.

We found solace in each other and celebrated each little milestone. We created little traditions like ‘Friday Sushi’, where we would get out of our home office for an hour and enjoy some good food, beyond what our normal ‘start-up capital’ would afford.

We also had the shared view not to make the business about ourselves. We wanted to build something where we could empower others and to step back over time.

I would say the hard yards have now been worth it. After 10 years and with an amazing team, we are finally in a position where we can have more flexibility in our hours and take those well-deserved holidays.

Fran on George:

Most memorable moment with George: For me, celebrating the early wins and milestones together were very memorable. Starting out on your own is an incredibly daunting experience so looking back on the highs we felt at key moments, like bringing in new clients, securing our first piece of TV, our first tender win and our first referral for example stand out as proud moments.

I do also remember us both starting work at the crack of dawn before we automated some of our processes with our own software, Buzzhub, which meant getting up at 5am to send emails — I’m glad those days are gone!

Best word to describe him: Meticulous.

His risk averse nature and attention to detail has ensured we have so far avoided too much drama and unnecessary scrapes. I still to this day ask George to read any legal document before signing as his eagle eye picks up the detail that mine never would.

Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour he has: Probably the same as the above. His meticulousness can be frustrating when you need to go at speed, and he wants to question, check and recheck the fine print, but that is his greatest asset too.

His advice in the heat of the moment is logical and grounding, and he also has the patience of a saint.

George on Fran:

Most memorable moment with Fran: One of the most memorable moments came just a few months after we launched. We’d recently landed our first big client and delivered a really successful campaign.

Then, out of nowhere, we were used as an example on Media Watch as part of a segment on PRs taking jobs from journalists. It was devastating. We’d done everything right and coming from the UK communications regulator, I was used to crossing my Ts and dotting my Is.

I couldn’t believe that we were just getting started, and suddenly we were on national television being used as an example of everything wrong with the industry. Where in reality, it demonstrated how we’d helped deliver news-ready content in a way that made life easier for journalists.

Fran and I sat in silence for a bit, wondered whether that was it… Show’s over and it had barely begun. I guess we had landed with a bang.

Best word to describe her: Perceptive.

Fran always knows what’s really going on, whether it’s with the team, the clients, the business. She has this uncanny ability to read people, spot issues before they surface, and know who’s performing and who’s about to check out. She’s smart, intuitive, and a relentless grafter. When things get messy, she has this way of pulling a solution together that nobody else saw coming.

Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour she has: Fran has this wonderfully frustrating habit of diving in head-first without always sweating the finer details up front. She moves fast, trusts her instincts, and backs herself. This can result in having to read the fine print on her behalf. But it’s part of what makes her so effective. She leads with confidence and conviction.

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