Lucy Davis, Factory
💭 Thoughts on Paynter Jacket Co., Evil the show, and trying harder to be kind.
Lucy Davis is the co-founder of Factory, a London-based CX agency that puts customer happiness at the centre of everything. During her varied career in e-commerce, she has consulted for aspirational lifestyle brands like Toast, Alessi and Toteme and visited the HQ of every major supermarket chain in Europe apart from Tesco. If anyone can help her tick this off her professional bucket list, please connect with her on LinkedIn.
🎯 Current focus
Depending on when this goes out, I’m either excited about getting married or going back to the grindstone with zero distractions after getting married.
When my co-founder Tim & I decided to start Factory, my dad asked me if maybe I wanted to ‘wait until after the wedding.’ I knew these sorts of opportunities don’t come around very often, so I quit my cushy job only a few weeks later and never looked back. I’m so proud and excited to finally be working on something that belongs to me, even if it’s scary sometimes.
🫶 Trying harder to be kind
Maybe I’m an optimist but I’m really loving how - in my corner of the business world at least - everyone is trying much harder to be kind to one another. My co-founders and I regularly have what I call ‘feelings meetings’ and yes, they are usually instigated by me, but I really think everyone is a lot more effective and successful when they aren’t terrified they’re about to be shouted at or told off.
I used to have crippling anxiety before meetings, to the point that I’d not eat or drink for hours before to stave off potential nausea. Now, it’s completely normal to tell someone you’re feeling a bit nervous. I loved watching Industry on BBC Iplayer and though I envied their inevitably sickening salaries, I don’t envy how thick-skinned they all needed to be just to get through a normal workday.
I’ve just started watching Evil on Amazon - a plucky and broke ex-mountaineer with an enormous number of children teams up with a cynic and a trainee Catholic priest to investigate miracles and possessions in an American town or city that I think is New York or Chicago. It’s real, I promise, look it up. The horror element makes it perfect for these longer, darker evenings. Watching an episode or two of television in the evenings is escapism for me. If it’s not gripping, I’ll end up looking at my phone and not paying attention which we all know is a filthy habit.
🕉️ Mantra of the moment
As a child, I would eat all my vegetables first before letting myself enjoy ‘the good bits.’ I’m trying to remember that, as a business owner, the work you enjoy doing often has as much value as the work you find difficult or draining. It’s okay to eat some of your nuggets before you eat some of your peas.
💪 Believing in others with great conviction
It’s cheesy, but it’s also going to be a good test to see whether he’s actually reading this. I massively look up to my co-founder Tim Richardson. In all the years we’ve worked together he has always believed in me with great conviction. He’s a shrewd business-person and I’ve learned a great deal about how to run a company from him. He’s also a snappy dresser.
🏃🏻♀️ Multitasking at its finest
If, like me, you do not like going to the gym, I can highly recommend finding an obscure subtitled TV show and watching it on your phone whilst on a treadmill. 45 minutes flies by and you can feel smug on multiple levels. These last couple of week’s I’ve been enjoying the scandi drama Billionaire’s Island on Netflix and running a 38 minute 5k.
I can’t live without pasta. Do I need to explain? If that’s a cop-out answer, see this recipe.
They’ve made nighties cool again and they email me just the right amount. Their sample sales actually contain things I’d like to buy and they seem to really understand their audience.
Paynter’s product drops are so impressive – they sell their products for four days a year, they always sell out and there’s always a waiting list. Their commitment to making one really beautiful piece of clothing and getting it right is clearly communicated through their business model but also all of their marketing and messaging.
Follow Lucy on Linkedin and check out her agency’s podcast here.
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