#awinewith Jemima Fallows
MEET Jemima, Founder of Puddleduck Agency.
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:07):
Jemima, we're here. Welcome to Spark tv.
Jemima Fallows (00:10):
Hi. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me and inviting me along.
Danielle Lewis (00:13):
Of course, I'm excited to share your story with everybody. So let's start there. Who are you and what do you do?
Jemima Fallows (00:23):
So my name's Jemima Fellows and I have an agency called Puddle Duck Agency that I started mid last year. And we are a boutique marketing comms, events, partnerships agency for the hospitality industry.
Danielle Lewis (00:38):
Awesome. I love it. Why hospitality?
Jemima Fallows (00:43):
It's sort of been my background by way of default, and I love food and drink. I love the whole experience that comes from eating out or travel or accommodation and the passion that comes behind hospitality from venue owners and the people that work in the service industry. So yeah, it's just a passion really more than anything else. I love it.
Danielle Lewis (01:12):
I know, it's so interesting. I am a big foodie and big wino. I shouldn't say that, but I always think I'd ruin it if I got into that side of the industry and working too close to it. I feel like it'd make it work, but I'm like, then on the other side I'm like, how heaven could that be? Hi, I just have to come in and drink your wine and eat your food because it's part of my job.
Jemima Fallows (01:36):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, sometimes it's a bit of a dream. I spent a lot of time working for Mat Moran and Oh,
Danielle Lewis (01:45):
Cool.
Jemima Fallows (01:46):
Yeah, so I was very spoiled for choice with eating out and that sort of thing, but you kind come to really dissect things in a way that you wouldn't if you were normally just out and enjoying things with friends. So it has its pros and cons.
Danielle Lewis (02:02):
Yeah, it is funny. You've been out one too many times when you are starting to critique things just a little bit too closely.
Jemima Fallows (02:11):
I still collect menus and coasters from venues and I'm always looking at branding and the way that the brand is told throughout every customer touchpoint, that sort of thing. Yeah. But I enjoy it, so it's fine. I just look at things very differently to the average punter, I guess, which is good.
Danielle Lewis (02:32):
I love it. So what were you doing? So when you say your background's hospitality, what were you doing before you started your own business?
Jemima Fallows (02:42):
So I fell into hospitality because I studied acting for 10 years. So
Danielle Lewis (02:47):
Cool.
Jemima Fallows (02:49):
As an actress, you need a job that is not nine to five. So I was always working in bars or restaurants just so that I could make sure I had days free to go to auditions. So I was doing that and then I moved to LA and I studied acting there, and I ended up working nighttimes at Chateau Marmont. So with all the celebs, did big Vanity fair parties and worked in the sister bar to the chateau as a cocktail bartender and kind of learned about the American service industry. It's very, very different to over here. You sort of work for your tips. The hourly rate isn't as good as it is in Australia, all that sort of thing. So really interesting to get exposed to a very different side of the industry. And then, yeah, I just sort of came back to Australia. I actually opened my own restaurant up with my brother. Yeah, that's cool.
Danielle Lewis (03:45):
Would it be one we would know, what was it called?
Jemima Fallows (03:49):
It was called Stranded. It was in Strand passage. Very original.
Danielle Lewis (03:54):
Cool. Must been. Nope, I've never been.
Jemima Fallows (03:57):
Yeah, well, it's closed now. So we had that for five years and then I actually left to go and work for Soliel and Matt Moran. So I started there in marketing in a really small team across sort of 28 venues. And then we merged with Matt and that became 32, 33 venues nationally. And I was sort of the head of PR and partnerships across the group and the career just kind of grew from there. And then for the last three years, actually got made redundant from Soliel and Covid happened. And then I joined a plant-based meat company called V two Food for three years where I was a marketing manager, and that was started by Jack Cowen that owns Hungry Jacks and the C-S-I-R-O and a venture capital firm. So I spent three years in startup world learning what it takes to build a brand from scratch, taking a very niche product and category to market, working with major retailers, first role in FMCG I'd ever had. So very corporate for me then. And then, yeah, I got made redundant from that role as well and kind of went, oh, well, I've always loved hospitality. I've always sort of freelanced. People still come to me and ask if I'm able to help build my business and tell their stories. So why not do something on my own? So now I am. I love
Danielle Lewis (05:25):
It. I love, I mean, it's funny, so just chill about it, but I'm like, these are huge roles that you have. Oh, I was just the head of PR and I'm like, lady, that's nuts.
Jemima Fallows (05:43):
Yeah, it's so funny. For me, I think I never set out to do anything in my life other than be an actress. I went to a performing arts high school, that's all I ever wanted to do. And as time went on and I got older, I just went, I need a regular paycheck. I need to know. Although now I'm doing this, it's all over the place. But
Danielle Lewis (06:03):
Yeah. So you chose being in business, great call.
Jemima Fallows (06:09):
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. And then I think the natural thing for me was to move into a space that I know the back of my hand and I love and see what happens from there.
Danielle Lewis (06:22):
I love it. And it's really interesting, isn't it, where life takes you. You have this laser focus in on something and opportunities just arise and the next thing and the next thing, and then yeah, you turn around and you go, oh, I'm head of an organization. It's just crazy. And you don't set out for these things to happen sometimes, but it's wonderful when they do. And I think now that you are in a position where you are like, okay, I want to start my own business, you've just got so much behind you, so many networks, so many contacts, so much skillset that you can apply. You already know how to walk into a business and support them and bring their branding or marketing or comms or PR or whatever it might be to life. So it's cool.
Jemima Fallows (07:09):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I think that's it. I was always, and I still am sort of somebody that's connected people or had a very wide network of people in my sort of back pocket, I guess as you said, just because of the wide array of roles I've had. I've never been a traditional marketer. I didn't go to university. I've always just fought really hard for what I want and what I believed in and done things that I'm passionate about. So it's genuine. And I've formed really authentic relationships with people, which I think is the key to anything in business, for me anyway. It's like those relationships are detrimental to your success in the future because you just never know when you might need to call on someone for something or so I work into that.
Danielle Lewis (08:01):
Oh, it's so true. And it's funny because people always ask me about sales because my background's sales, and I'm like, it's the same. It's just building relationships with people and it's like you can overcomplicate things as much as you'd like, however, at the end of the day it is, it's just build great relationships, nurture them, and always do what you say you were going to do. And it's like, and then it just becomes a matter of if I'm not selling enough, then I'm not talking to enough people or building enough relationships. It's just relationships are seriously the key to success in business.
Jemima Fallows (08:37):
A hundred percent. And I think back to my time as an actress, there's sort of in the industry a little bit of a silent sort of code, I guess, whereby it's such a small industry, you want to be easy to work with and especially in Australia. So I was always really conscious of that, making sure I made a really good impression, making sure I was across everything. I always wanted to learn about every facet of being on a set. As an actress, I wasn't just interested in reading lines and learning a role. I wanted to know what the makeup artist's role was, what the DOP did, what the second ad did, all of that sort of stuff so that I was really across what went into building a film or shooting a commercial. And I think it's the same in any business. I think a lot of businesses have been in some corporate experiences run in silos, and I think they're guilty of that because people do get really head down and focused on what they're doing. So I think it's really important to understand how everything works together and then how it all goes, works to form that same story that's cohesive.
Danielle Lewis (09:56):
And it's really interesting. I can imagine in hospitality, there are so many moving puzzle pieces to bringing a restaurant to life or bringing food and beverage product to life. There are those moving parts. And as a marketer or a comms person, understanding all of those pieces and being able to tell the story is so important.
Jemima Fallows (10:16):
Yeah, a hundred percent. And I think for hospitality, a lot of venue owners are just so busy. It's constantly on their feet, and it's a retail bricks and mortar space, so it's like there's not a lot of time to think about things like website or customer touchpoints in terms of the customer journey from the moment that somebody finds out about your brand by searching on the internet or seeing something on Instagram to the moment that they, moment that they get to book a table online or walk into the venue, have the food experience, drink a cocktail, whatever that might be, have a coffee and then come back again or come back online and potentially leave you a bad review. So I think that's the thing too. Everybody's a critic now, so it's really, I think you just need to be really conscious of that as a business owner in hospitality.
Danielle Lewis (11:14):
It's so true. So it was my husband's, well, actually it's his birthday today. So I took him for this surprise weekend away and booked a brand new fancy restaurant, and it was so comical. We were having one of those weekends where it's like, you can't complain. You are in a great weekend away and you're eating and drinking fabulous things, but every little thing just was going wrong or taking forever. And we were just both. This is actually now comical. Fortunately, we're both good sports so we can make the best of it, but it was really funny. So I went through that whole process. I was looking for new in Perth. I was like, I want to eat Italian. Found a place, looked at their Instagram. The photos are gorgeous. The venue's gorgeous. Like, oh my God, I booked a table. They had great things on the booking form.
(12:07):
Is it an occasion? Send us to your picture and we'll greet you at the door, and all those things. And it was funny then from the moment we got there, none of that happened. And my partner, he went to order me a glass of champagne, and the guy was, the bartender was like, oh, it's happy hour. You can get Prosecco for $15. You don't want to be the guy that spends $30 on a glass of champagne. And I'm thinking, as a business owner, I'd be mortified. I'm like, your staff are costing you money. But I was just thinking of that. And now that I'm a business owner, I can't help but think about places as businesses and think about all of the details and where everything can kind of break down and go wrong. So yeah, it is such a challenge, I think for us as business owners to see the full end of that customer experience, especially when you have employees and you can't control what happens once you let them loose. Start with your customers.
Jemima Fallows (13:06):
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's why it's so important to make sure everyone's across things. So the instance in that case might be that they have outsourced a marketing team or they've out there might be, so that there might be a disconnect in what's actually happening in venue versus what's happening online, which is quite common in my industry, I think because everything's always changing so much in a restaurant. So there's daily specials, there's stock that they can't get in that might be on the menu. There's people that have sick days. There's a lot of personality clashes in kitchens especially. There's just human beings in general. Yes,
Danielle Lewis (13:57):
If you're dealing with humans, it's the worst.
Jemima Fallows (14:00):
And it's just a really highly stressful environment, being in the kitchen and being in that industry, so in that environment. So I think there's lots of changes. So I like to be really hands-on. I guess I understand what it takes to run a venue as well. I've worked back of house, I've run a floor, I've done everything except cook in a kitchen. I'm not even the best cook. I love to do it, but my mom is amazing. My brothers are amazing. So I have a really good appreciation for it. And yeah, I think that's why sometimes when you do leave a bad review, make sure it's warranted. Because I've just seen so many business owners that get really disheartened when they're just putting their blood, sweat and tears into, and it's just like, and as human beings, we only remember the negative comments, unfortunately. Totally. So it can really make or break a small business if you
Danielle Lewis (15:05):
I know, and it was funny. So I would never leave a bad review, but I was
Jemima Fallows (15:11):
A hair in your food or I mean, I don't know, within
Danielle Lewis (15:14):
Reason. Even then I wouldn't, I'd be like, I'll just see it around it. It's fine.
(15:19):
But there was part of me that was like, I wonder if sending an email to the business owner and saying, Hey, I only want to say this because leaving money on the table, I know how tight margins are. And so just whatever. But I, it was one of those just dinner conversations where I was like, just became obsessed with the restaurant business for a couple of hours. But it is really interesting. So I wanted to ask since we got there, so then for you in this business right now, what are all of the things that you would support a hospitality business with?
Jemima Fallows (15:56):
So I am still really working it out, but I guess my main,
Danielle Lewis (16:00):
Well, we all are. I'm 10 years in and I'm still working it out, don't worry.
Jemima Fallows (16:05):
I guess my forte is publicity and communication, so media management, marketing, so yeah, all areas of marketing, digital marketing, strategy, branding. I'm not a graphic designer. Creative direction, content, events and partnerships. So everything I've learned over the last few years and all the really fun stuff that I like to do, I'm good at doing those. Wrap
Danielle Lewis (16:35):
That up. I love it. That's so good. How did you go, one thing I was thinking of asking you as we were chatting, so what's it been like you going from being in that kind of employee role and moving over to business owner? I guess you've done it before with the restaurant, but have you noticed a change or any challenges coming from the regular paycheck and then moving over to now your own business and kind of starting from scratch?
Jemima Fallows (17:03):
Yeah, totally. I mean, I'm not even a year in, so it's like there is no regular paycheck, so that's really difficult. Came from a pretty good corporate position. So it's a big adjustment. So you have to make sacrifices in that respect. I did things the other day, put my gym membership on hold and canceled subscriptions that I don't need. And I was like, okay, just got to trim the fat here just while I figure out what's going on. So I think that, and then I guess having sounding boards from people. I had a really fantastic mentor in my last role who's actually remained a very close friend, and I can still call for any advice anytime. He's great. But yeah, I think that day-to-day interaction. So I try to counteract that by getting out as much as possible, meeting people, having coffees with people, trying to stay connected. But I think too, over Covid, I was employed full time. So I think we all learn how to sort of pivot in that time. But the biggest thing is the financials and also learning things that I'm not good at. So having to upskill and things,
Danielle Lewis (18:21):
You have to become the jack of all trades. You go from go marketing extraordinaire too. Now I have to have 10 different jobs and I've got to figure them all out on the go because I need to nail them all by the end of the month.
Jemima Fallows (18:34):
Yeah, exactly. And I think too, staying on top of what's happening in the industry, for me, I try and read as much as possible and stay in contact with all the publications and all the people in the industry that I know and that I have learned from. But for example, in my role at V two, there was this fantastic junior in our team who was in her early twenties, and I'm 40 next in the next couple of months. So it is like, how do you use TikTok? And one day she gave me this really awesome rundown. She'd done a full presentation for me and we had an hour. She just ran me through how TikTok worked, how to make a TikTok video, who's doing what on TikTok, what trends, just stuff like that where I think it's like you get older and you get busier and you don't have your finger on the pulse as much as you do when you just,
Danielle Lewis (19:34):
Yeah. And I find there's just a lack of enthusiasm. We've had so much change in the last decade. I remember when Instagram first came out, even Facebook. So the first thing I had was a Facebook page, and I was so obsessed with getting Facebook followers for my, I had a blog back then that I was growing OG influencer over there, but I was so obsessed with it. And then Instagram came out and I was so obsessed with growing an audience and all this stuff. And then it's like, Snapchat happened, Pinterest happened, TikTok happened, and I'm like, I don't give a shit anymore. I don't care what you're posting on there. And you see all these things. And I'm like, can I be bothered learning how to use a green screen on my Instagram reel? Probably not.
Jemima Fallows (20:28):
Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (20:29):
It really is. It's not only just keeping up with your industry, but sales trends, marketing trends, all that kind of stuff. There's just so much to know.
Jemima Fallows (20:41):
Yeah, there's so much to know. And it always used to overwhelm me when I first moved into the PR space, I worked agency side as well. So I've been there and sort of been in that realm and obviously brand side majority of the time. But yeah, I think I always used to get overwhelmed with how I was going to keep up with everything that was happening. But I think you just do what you can and you just do your best and believe in yourself, and you can't do everything. And that's why there's digital marketing managers and social media managers and publicity managers and account directors. And if you're just a one woman band with various suppliers or contractors, it's different. It's a different model. So just trying to trust.
Danielle Lewis (21:34):
Totally. And I love that. It's like just cut yourself a bit of slack.
Jemima Fallows (21:37):
Yeah, just be kind to yourself. I dunno.
Danielle Lewis (21:40):
Yes. I think that's a great life philosophy in general. Yeah. Oh, I love it. Well, that is a great way to end. Let me ask you one last question. So reflecting on your journey over the last almost a year, if you could give a piece of advice to another woman in business who's on the journey as well, on the roller coaster, what would it be?
Jemima Fallows (22:05):
I think don't wait until things are perfect. Do it. Just take a chance, because I actually was watching one of your other wine widths earlier and from Pick Studio.
Danielle Lewis (22:21):
Oh yeah.
Jemima Fallows (22:22):
Cool. Yeah, she's fantastic too, by the way. It was a great, great piece. But yeah, I think it's, it's never a right time and you never really know what's happening. But now in terms of where we are in 2024, there's so many resources and it's such a great time to just start a business. Everybody's starting a business. Just do it. Don't try, then you'll never know. And then you'll have regrets, and that's boring.
Danielle Lewis (22:52):
I couldn't agree with you more. I saw a post today on Instagram, of course, but it was something along the lines of, yeah, if you never try, you can be guaranteed that you'll never succeed. So it's like, why not just throw your hat in the ring and if it doesn't work, just throw your hat in another ring.
Jemima Fallows (23:11):
Yeah, exactly. To be honest, I never set out going, I mean, I still cringe at the name. I still am not sure if
Danielle Lewis (23:18):
I love the name. Where did that come from?
Jemima Fallows (23:21):
Because I was named after Jemima Puddled up.
Danielle Lewis (23:25):
Oh my God. That's the best
Jemima Fallows (23:28):
Beatrix Potter character for anyone that doesn't know. Like Peter, Jeremy Fisher. Yeah. And my dad's English anyway, and it was actually him that was like, yeah, you should call it this, because I had a million other names. And to be honest, I still don't even know if I want to do what I'm doing, but I'm just roll with it and every time I go, meh, somebody's like, oh, hi, I heard you did this and would love to meet you. And so it's kind of like, I guess just follow your intuition and do what feels right and just trust your gut and see what happens.
Danielle Lewis (24:05):
I do, and I totally agree with that as well. It's really interesting. I think that business can look so many different ways. It doesn't have to follow a formula, and that's kind of what I love about it. You are in the driver's seat. You get to wake up and decide what you want to do. And sure, if you want to go out and build an empire and get listed on the stock exchange and raise millions of dollars, that's fabulous. But not everyone wants to do that. Other people do want to wake up every day and just go, you know what? I don't want to work today. Or they just want control of their life and their lifestyle. And that's the awesome thing about business is you can make it anything that you want. So I love that idea of just put one foot in front of the other, follow your gut, trust your intuition. Yeah, it's beautiful.
Jemima Fallows (24:55):
Yeah. Thanks.
Danielle Lewis (24:57):
Amazing. Jemima, thank you for
Jemima Fallows (25:00):
Being You're very welcome. Thank you sharing your story for having me
Danielle Lewis (25:04):
Anytime. I can't wait to check in another 12 months and see where you're at.
Jemima Fallows (25:08):
Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, thank you so much. I love what you are doing too. Thanks for supporting women in Business, giving people a voice, being really inspirational. So yeah, appreciate that. I'm so stoked to have found your business and what you're doing.
Danielle Lewis (25:24):
Oh, thank you. You've made my day.
Jemima Fallows (25:27):
Awesome.
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