By Roxanne, Per Capita Co-Founder
This week, we spoke to Clarissa and Tim Harris, the couple behind True Tribe, an established boutique communications agency based in Melbourne, Australia.
We tend to believe that we’re either one or the other – the manic creative who pays no mind to structure, or the compulsively organized rigid task manager. The first time I sat down with Clarissa, Tim, and Zephyr, their 8-month old, I left with tips for improving my bouldering technique, a recommendation for the best katsu curry in town, ideas for jazzing up my dog’s food bowl, and Russian conspiracy theories surrounding the Coronavirus that I would later spend a whole evening googling.
I also left wondering how they fit so much into their lives – the demands of raising a brand new human, the nuances of championing and growing a fast paced creative business, and room for creativity and spontaneity in their everyday routines.
I later learned that the magic lay in the way these two wildly creative people have built for themselves a structured routine in which their creativity is allowed to thrive.
We spoke to Clarissa and Tim about the coronavirus, the changes they’ve made to their everyday routines in this season, and how structure can be a powerful conduit for creativity:
What does a typical work-day look like since work from home regulations have been put in place?
We kick start our day with filter coffee from our Moccamaster. We're new parents to our 8-month old, Zephyr and are currently juggling working from home and child caring, so each day is different. Tim usually minds Zephyr in the mornings, while I check emails, campaigns and make a few calls, and then Tim tackles his editing workload in the afternoon while Zephyr and I have our version of Play School at home. In between all that, we break for walks to our local park with our staffy Scout, waving a quick "hi!" to neighbours and like most of us during the lockdown – cooking up a storm in the kitchen!
How have you enabled your home space to adapt to work, play and family routines?
We're fortunate that we had a small office nook set up in our lounge room for when Zephyr came along so one of us could work while looking after him. We usually love to climb at the bouldering gym or do yoga classes, which have been replaced with push ups in the backyard and Zoom fitness classes. It's a strange time we are in but knowing that it's temporary encourages you to be creative with your time.
How will it inform your future daily routines when regulations are lifted?
Although we're looking forward to getting back into the studio, Tim has always found a clear mind comes from being at home. The beauty of running your own business is that you're able to create routines that work for you. We worked really hard to find the right routine that fit for us when we started True Tribe, so we're looking at getting back into it once things go back to normal.
What role do you think the home will play in our future routines, and how is it different to life before Covid19?
It's been a great opportunity for everyone to learn, experiment and adapt during this time. Hopefully we all don't just go back to our old ways. At the same time, we are looking forward to home becoming home again. It's nice to do a little work from the comfort of your lounge room but we are firm believers that you need to create space just to dream, relax and unwind too. It can be hard when there are less boundaries between work, play and family time. But this whole process has brought back perspective to what is important.
True Tribe is an established boutique communication agency based in Melbourne, Australia, helping businesses elevate their profiles and engage with the right audience.
www.truetribe.com.au
@true_tribe