Tiger-Lily and Demi, you have both created a powerful media platform for the flexible worker covering industries from managed workspace to recruitment. Tell us more about the inspiration behind this concept.
Tiger-Lily: “We wanted to offer a fresh take on industry engagement and exposure. By blending business insights with a cooler and more contemporary vibe, we hoped to inject a trendier energy into traditional flex media and reporting. In doing so, we were inspired to become a go-to hub for the industry- connecting the dots between operators, brokers, agents, landlords, and suppliers- something we felt the sector needed, especially after COVID.”
Demi: “The inspiration was that we wanted to bring media and coverage in a new, fresh, modern way that hadn’t been done before. We saw media platforms covering the office space and we wanted to be the one go-to platform for the flex industry.”
How did the COVID-19 pandemic, and remote working becoming the main way of working, shape your business model?
Demi: “We felt that, especially with COVID, everyone became more isolated in what was already quite a social business, so our whole online model, including the events business, is about bringing people together. This is exactly what we did with our Awards Night. We had over 350 people there from all different walks of the industry and it’s all about bringing everyone back together especially after something as disruptive as COVID.”
Your brand, ‘Flex and The City,’ incorporates elements of the popular US sitcom with a similar name. Why did you choose this to be your branding strategy?
Tiger-Lily: “We always wanted to make the witty play on sex and flex. It kind of encapsulates our branding- being new, fresh, trendy, and modern. It’s a playful name that reflects what we’re trying to do with our business, that is, shake up the sector. We’ve said before that the name is like Marmite, you love it, or you hate it. We get a lot of mixed feedback, but for us, it just shows it’s disruptive and that’s exactly what we want to do – we’re being talked about either way.”
How important was your branding strategy when promoting the flexible work economy?
Tiger-Lily: “We looked at other media titles and saw how we wanted to differentiate ourselves. In the traditional office sector, we saw the likes of Property Week and Estate’s Gazette and saw how we wanted to be creatively and visually different to those types of publications and that sector.
Demi: “Our branding is pretty much everything that makes us who we are and helped us skyrocket our growth. With everything we did, including the vibe, the colors, the format, we wanted to make everything different and make it trendy and cool. We also recognize that we are a key part of our branding strategy. Being two young female entrepreneurs represents the flex industry and everything we are trying to create within our business. The sector itself is quite young, but it has been a stuffy place like the rest of the property world, so branding us and the sector differently was crucial in the beginning of our business.”
As a media platform, what were some of the technical challenges that you faced when starting up?
Tiger-Lily: “I’ve had the experience from working in media and the editorial background using CMS so that helped us be able to set up a platform like this. One thing I would say is the technical challenges we had were to achieve a very specific look and feel that we wanted to do. Obviously, you can’t do everything at once in terms of design and development so we were a little impatient when it came to everything we wanted to build.”
Demi: “Ahead of launching there was a lot of hand holding and extra phone calls with web developers and that can be a challenge to navigate. We wanted everything to be perfect so our roadmap was longer than we expected it to be. It became apparent it was going to be longer when we looked at all the changes we wanted to make to reach that final end product for launch. Therefore we had to set our expectations according to the product we wanted versus the time we wanted to deliver it. For us it was more important to have the product right.”
How do you use social media to promote your business?
Demi: “Socials are huge for Flex and The City. Our LinkedIn is the platform that does the best. We have the biggest following on it with thousands of followers on there and so I’d say socials are extremely important for Flex and The City. LinkedIn is what gets the most eyeballs aside from our newsletter and the website.”
Tiger-Lily: “LinkedIn likes the way that our audience is consuming our content. It’s a solid combination of timely news stories and compelling video content being rolled out there. We’re very active on video, that’s a big priority for us. Since launching, our engagement rates have scored 807.9% above our competitors on LinkedIn. We’re always looking at optimizing our content too. We’re conscious of the fact that people are more likely to click on a video on their commute to work rather than read a whole long article, but giving people the choice and flexibility to consume content however they’d like is important to us.”
You represent your brand in promotions and in media interviews. How did you find this transition from behind to in front of the camera, and what advice would you give to a business owner that isn’t very confident in front of the camera?
Demi: “I feel like Tiger-Lily is so used to being behind the screen and doing all the editing and you can see it yourself, she has to come out of her comfort zone when being put in front of the camera now. I actually think she’s realized she’s not only good at it but she actually enjoys it.”
Tiger-Lily: “As a more of an introverted character I feel a lot more confident behind the scenes, writing articles, designing websites, editing videos, that kind of thing. I knew that this would throw me out of my comfort zone but as Demi said it helps you grow as a person and I’m enjoying it.”
Demi: “The advice we’d give to a business owner is knowing that you end up wearing hundreds of different hats, whether that be in front of the camera or behind the camera, it’s something you just have to prepare yourself to do. Your business is your personal brand.”
Tiger-Lily: “Whenever you’re scared, just think how important it is to show a face behind a brand, that human-centric element is going to aid your business growth. Plus, it’s all in the editing so if you need to change something, just breathe. You can do it as many times as you want and everyone is still winning.”
How has your friendship been a business advantage?
Demi: “I think the fact that we know each other so well and therefore know each other’s strengths extremely well allows us to be up front and honest with each other constantly. We also play against each other’s strengths in a way that, maybe if you weren’t friends, you would have to learn that over years.”
How do you keep a balance between social and work with each other?
Tiger-Lily: “We can dip in and out very easily between work and leisure. The relationship we have with each other, because we are very sisterly, it just comes very naturally. We also believe in being authentic as ourselves as part of our brand, so we can have that laugh and be serious entrepreneurs at the same time.”
How do you like to unwind after a busy day?
Demi: “Honestly, in the summer we will unwind via a pickleball game. We’re actually having an event, a pickleball event, in summer and failing that, we go for a walk and grab a coffee, just to step away from the desk for a little while.”
Which entrepreneurs do you most admire and why?
Demi: “Just to name a few female founders who have not only set up their business but grown it from the ground up and made it into an incredible business – Niki Fuchs of OSIT, Gabriela Hersham of Huckletree and Natasha Guerra of Runway East. Each of these three businesses are so different and have amazing and authentic brands. We just admire them and what they’ve built as three female leaders and hopefully we can be as successful as they have been in our own way.”
What were some of the early pitfalls you encountered when starting up and how did you overcome them?
Tiger-Lily: “In the startup days – having not worked in the industry and being completely fresh faced, in an industry that had a lot of more established companies doing similar things to what we were doing – I was expecting it to take quite a long time to get established and fortunately we had success a lot quicker than anticipated which helped build confidence.
“As with most other first-time entrepreneurs, there’s a bit of imposter syndrome which comes when you start a business. In quite a male-dominated industry as well, it can be daunting. Luckily, having a business partner and best friend like Demi helped to fill in any gaps in knowledge I had.”
How do you see your business model developing over the next five years?
Demi: “Our desire is to massively scale it. We already have different pillars and subsets of Flex and The City, such as our news and media section, a recruitment arm, and our events that we’re looking to kind of just grow. We will just keep giving love and nurture to each of those pillars to take it to the next level.”
What top tips would you provide anyone setting up a niche media platform?
“There are a few things to consider that we would recommend to anyone looking to start a media platform in a niche sector.
“Content – know what you want to focus on and laser focus on that. That focus will underpin everything else on the platform.
“Build – When building out the platform, do your research. Look at others in other sectors and see how you want to model your own platform. Don’t be afraid to take inspiration from other brands in different industries and have a clear vision of what you want it to look like from the start.
“Time – Don’t rush it. What we learned is that it’ll take a long time to perfect. But, you’re better off getting it right than trying to cut corners, launch, and then trying to fix issues on the fly.
“Effort – Be prepared to work incredibly hard. Even then, you’ll probably still underestimate the work it’ll take, but whatever you do, don’t think it’ll be easy. Working hard doesn’t always equal success but it will increase your chances of having a successful enterprise.”
Lastly, if you weren’t running ‘Flex and The City,’ what business would you be running?
Tiger-Lily: “Demi would be running a law firm or be a barrister – she is sassy, persuasive and knowledgeable.”
Demi: “Tiger-Lily would be a Netflix director – she is a perfectionist and would be a fantastic movie director.”
