For International Women’s Day this year, Front Door Communications shines a light on what it means to be a female entrepreneur in 2020. We spoke to our co-founders, Kath Chadwick and Lynsey Walden to get the inside scoop on setting up and running a business.
What first made you want to set up your own agency?
After working in-house for a number of years, I had worked with a lot of PR and digital agencies (good and bad) so I knew what worked and what we could offer. We’re a small PR agency but we aim to be an extension of an in-house marketing team which I think makes us a bit different.
And what’s been the best thing about running your own business?
I love that we work with a range of companies and our clients are so varied, so we are always working on something different. I also love that Kath and I are both mums so we provide flexible working, which means I get to spend as much time as I can with my daughter.
Have there been any challenges? And how do they compare to the challenges you might have faced as an employee?
One of the biggest challenges is the responsibility of employing people and making sure you’re doing a good job on that front. I didn’t worry about this in the same way when I was in-house as I had an HR department to help me - now we’re on our own!
What advice would you give to other women who want to be self-employed or launch their own company?
I think you have to be in the right frame of mind to do it - it’s all very well to say “go for it” but unless you’ve planned financially and mentally for it, you won’t be happy and the business will become a burden rather than an enjoyable experience.
Have you had any role models throughout your career, or who are the women that you look up to?
There are loads!!!!! Hayley Parsons is on the list as the woman who launched GoCompare and unleashed Gio Compario on the world. She’s a woman with so much ambition but also so much warmth as a person. I also think Louise O’Shea at Confused is really inspirational. Elsewhere, I look up to my mum who worked full time while raising me and my sister. Now a mother myself, I love people like Victoria Beckham who have undeniable ambition but are equally able to manage a loving family life.
Being in the PR industry allows us to work with so many brilliant businesswomen and it’s pretty exciting to witness the evolving landscape for working women across the board.
Join us this Sunday, 8th March 2020 to celebrate all the legendary females that we have the pleasure to work with on the regular. Stay tuned to our Instagram page for the IWD hall of fame!
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