10 lessons from a decade at the helm of a PR agency

Late 2025 marked ten years of Thinking Hat Media, a journey which began with very little certainty. We didn't always know what the business would become, but we knew the type of work we wanted to do, the clients we hoped we could support and how we wanted the agency to feel.

Having spent many years in the agency world, some great and some not so, we wanted to build something meaningful, human and a hot house of ideas, talent, and growth.

A decade later, when we opened our first international office in Dubai in 2025, it stopped us in our tracks. Standing there in Dubai Business Bay as we signed our first Emirati client was an emotional moment of real reflection, the culmination of years of hard work, doubt, courage, late nights, hard conversations, and quiet resilience. Anyone who has worked in agency knows that it really can be a rollercoaster of triumphs (& at times what feels like tragedy).

These are ten things we’ve learnt during our journey to this point:

1. Belief has to come before proof. In the beginning, there was very little external validation. No track record. No guarantees. Just belief in the concept of an agency equally dedicated to producing great consumer and tech work, and the idea that we could build something different. Over time, we learnt that belief isn’t naïve; it’s totally, 100% necessary. The proof always comes later.
2. Building a business will build you too. Over the years we've mistakenly believed we were building a company. What we didn’t expect was how much it would shape us in return. It has challenged our confidence, stretched our resilience, and forced us to grow in ways we couldn’t have predicted. Our personal growth has been just as significant as the professional & business growth.
3. Partnership is tested in the quiet moments. Emma and I have learnt that partnership is defined by the moments no one sees. The tough conversations. The trust when one of us is carrying more than the other. The ability to say, “I don’t have this today,” and know the business and the partnership will hold.
4. The wrong fit costs more than you realise. Some of our hardest lessons came from holding onto work, clients, or directions that didn’t feel right because we were afraid to let go. Over time, we learnt that misalignment has a cost; emotionally, creatively, and strategically. Choosing alignment over comfort is always the best way.
5. People leave fingerprints on what you build. Thinking Hat Media is not just Emma and me. It’s every person who has believed in the vision and brought their whole selves to the work. The culture, the care, the standards, they’ve all been shaped by people. That’s something we hold with enormous gratitude.
6. Growth isn’t always loud. Not all progress looks impressive from the outside. Some of the most important growth for us happened really quietly and we actively avoided publicising it for many years. We wanted to concentrate on refining our thinking, improving how we work together, learning to lead with empathy. Looking back, those quieter seasons mattered just as much as the big, visible milestones.
7. You have to earn your own trust. Confidence was built slowly, decision by decision. Backing ourselves, learning from our (many) mistakes, and choosing to keep going when it would’ve been easier to stop. Trusting ourselves, our intuition and our partnership (& deep friendship) became one of the most powerful skills we developed. We instinctively know how ther other is feeling and always listen and trust each other's gut feel & intuition on things.
8. Saying no is an act of care. For a long time, saying yes felt like survival. Over time, we learnt that boundaries are not selfish, they’re actually protective. Saying no allowed us to protect the work, the people, and ourselves. It created space for better, braver yeses.
9. Milestones feel different when you know what they cost. Opening our first international office in Dubai in 2025 was a moment we’ll never forget. It was physical evidence of the journey and the trajectory. The good times make you look back and remember that to get there, it has taken a village of resilience, talent, dedication, energy (and at times, blood, sweat and tears)
10. Success keeps evolving. What success meant to us ten years ago isn’t what it means now. Today, it looks like sustainability, impact, trust, and pride in how we show up. It looks like building something that lasts, not just commercially, but culturally and emotionally too.Thinking Hat Media has been built with heart, intention, and a willingness to keep learning. Ten years in, we’re still curious. Still growing. Still grateful. Still making mistakes. And if there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s this: the journey has been every bit as important as the destination, and we wouldn’t change it for anything.