Icon Agency's husband and wife plus children team

Finding the perfect work-life balance is hard. A husband and wife who are in business together have extra challenges. 

However, Icon Agency’s Joanne Painter and Chris Dodds have found working together strengthened their relationship in both a personal and professional capacity.  

Except, it isn’t just the two family members in the same workplace. Their two children, Saskia and Sebastian, also work with them.  

The pair had different influences, experiences and backgrounds in the industry prior to working together. They’ve since founded Icon, a creative, brand, PR and digital agency in Melbourne. 

Painter, group MD at Icon Agency, started her career as a journalist, whereas Dodds, MD, embarked on a career as a designer and typographer.  

“I was always fascinated by business and inspired by the digital publishing and web revolution that was happening around me,” said Painter.  

“Chris was already a freelance graphic designer so after our son was born he and some close friends convinced me to leave newspapers and try my hand at digital content and communications."

Dodds's father was an art and media studies teacher.

"Growing up we were always surrounded by the latest gadgets, ideas and theories," he said.

"I started my career working for a few small agencies and quickly realised I could be far more successful running my own business.  

“I was lucky to be living across from Cato Design in Richmond, Melbourne, in the early '90s and had them as my first client – producing digital finished art for their designers.” 

Despite operating business well together, the pair didn't think they would share the same workplace for more than 20 years. 

Painter said it was just easier somehow, particularly when the children were young.

"Looking back, I am really lucky to have found a life and work partner like Chris. Our strengths and weaknesses both complement and offset each other. 

Dodds said: “We're incredibly lucky to have distinct skills with some overlap. In the early days, it was just me running a freelance design practice.  

"Jo's journalism, communications and business development skills helped us build a more rounded and successful business. We’re both risk-takers and embrace change when there’s opportunity.” 

Sharing a common goal and having different strengths that complement one another has been essential for the Icon founders to thrive in the workplace dynamic. 

Painter: “Chris is the digital, tech and innovation genius; my strengths are in overall business strategy, writing and client side. For couples and families working together, it is essential to carve out areas of unique contribution or specialisation that the other doesn't bring. We’re stronger together."

Dodds: “As a working couple we're able to support each other when times are stressful – taking turns sharing more of the burden to give each other a break.” 

On the other hand, the couple have placed an emphasis on putting in more effort to tackle the inevitable challenges of pairing business and family. They’ve learnt a few lessons during their time together, and credit the importance of respect; always taking both the emotional and logical sides of decision-making into account.  

Painter: “Being a family business is both terrifying and inspirational when the going gets tough. You have a lot more to lose, so you tend to work even harder and lean into each other to get through the tough times.” 

Dodds: “It is intensely personal as we’re not taking instructions from a Board or Holding Company. Jo and I don’t always agree on how to overcome a challenge, but we respect the process and take guidance from trusted team members and consultants.

"Learning to hand responsibility and trust to others has been important as we mature as people and a business."

Finding the balance between their personal and professional lives is a priority for both Painter and Dodds, ensuring they practice effective communication to separate work and life.  

Painter: “For us, it's not just the founders living and working together, but our children as well. Both kids are living at home, sometimes along with their partners, which we love.  

“We're unusual for an Australian family in that we believe the extended family is a source of great strength. Icon is just part of that family dynamic. We do talk business at home or debrief on a tough day, but we also make a concerted effort to separate work and life.  

“As a family business, I want our children to feel pride and a sense of purpose in what we are collectively building.” 

Dodds: “Empathy, communication, forgiveness and love are critical skills for building and maintaining a positive personal and working relationship.  

“We have a soft rule that business talk ends before dinner, but it’s often broken – especially when we’re on leave. Icon is such an important part of our lives and supports so many amazing people. The business is deeply entwined with our psyches and we’re driven to protect, nurture and grow it as a member of our extended family.” 

Painter finds that the level of trust and comfort that comes with this dynamic is one that people won’t get with other business partnerships.  

Painter: “Having those deep, trusted relationships at work is an advantage. Career-wise, having my husband and more recently our children to sense-check and bounce ideas off, has definitely helped me become a better leader and given me the confidence to take risks and build our agency.” 

On the current media market and where the business is headed, Painter and Dodds continue to place their focus on consolidation.  

“The business is now at a scale where we have a trusted senior team, many of whom have more experience than Jo and I, to help guide Icon through another period of disruption and growth.  

“We’ve always tried to stay ahead of the change curve – riding waves of change while keeping a keen eye on the horizon. As we scale, these opportunities get more exciting,” said Dodds. 

Painter: “It has been a challenging year. Much of our time is spent on strengthening culture and building strong foundations and systems for our next phase of growth.  

“Our focus remains on growing a national business and driving next-generation services through AI. Earlier this year we expanded into Queensland and are now looking to SE Asia for our next investment.” 

Dodds said: “We’re still backing Icon’s integrated service model, with deep specialisms in UX and CX, web development, content, communications, brand, marketing, behaviour change and reputation management. When client budgets shrink it is more efficient to have a single agency as a supplier.” 

Painter: “Having won a number of pitches late last year we're being quite selective in what we take on. That said we're excited about some fabulous branding and service design/CX briefs we're pitching.”