At just 25 years of age, Josh Fritz loves a challenge. He’s the owner of Patch Agency in Brisbane, as well as eSpace, a luxury event space for hire. And when he began one-to-one business coaching with me, in October 2021, he already had a successful business under his belt – Patch Pets, an app for dog lovers.
Josh initially found me through Google. He wanted help with growing, nurturing and structuring his team and was about to launch a second business, eSpace, a gorgeous venue for e-commerce photoshoots.
“I wanted to scale but had no experience working in an agency,” says Josh. “I read about your agency experience and applied to work with you.”
“I loved the questions I was asked when booking the initial call to speak with you. I know you vet your one-to-one clients closely, and I was keen to make a good impression! Ha. I needn’t have worried. We got along great, from that very first call.”
Rapid growth: from home to Brisbane CBD
In less than two years, Josh’s growth trajectory has been swift, expanding the Patch team from five people to 16 (a mix of full-time, part-time and contractors), repositioning and rebranding the business, and expanding their premises.
When we started working together, Josh had six desks in the loungeroom of his apartment, with the dining room doubling as a meeting room for his team of five.
Within a few months of working together, Josh took out a lease on premises in Adelaide Street in Brisbane CBD and was able to reclaim his living space.
A lot of our initial coaching focused on increasing Josh’s personal capacity and self-leadership skills. Together, we worked to grow Josh’s sales, pitching and leadership skills, as well as developing sales assets including proposal and briefing documents.
“You helped me implement a better onboarding process, a minimum engagement period for clients as well as tighten our processes, boundaries, and terms and conditions, which has been invaluable not just for cash flow, but for lowering stress.”
We also focused on Josh’s work/life balance and self-care rituals, to expand his energetic capacity and focus.
Repositioning Patch Agency
Josh didn’t want to niche into a particular sector or service offering, instead, Patch Agency offers a broad diversity of digital marketing services across a wide range of industries. But we needed a connecting thread to tie the Patch brand together.
Josh is a lover of the finer things in life, and it was clear that Patch’s point-of-difference was luxury. Their tagline, “where luxury brands are born” speaks to Patch’s partnership approach to working closely with clients so as to better understand their sales cycle, profit margins, goals and aspirations, in order to better craft effective digital marketing.
“It’s been so exciting to develop and launch our new brand strategy,” says Josh. “Luxury doesn’t just call in our ideal clients, it also speaks to the care, diligence, and service we pride ourselves on.”
Patch’s refined positioning is reflected in their 2023 client calibre, which includes Brisbane’s largest LGBTQ event company, one of Australia’s leading venture capital firms, Brisbane’s largest rooftop venues and restaurant group, and one of Brisbane’s top real estate agents.
Watch out world!
Josh’s savvy development and expansion of both eSpace and Patch Agency has created synergies between both businesses. The “Insta-worthiness” of eSpace has attracted photographers, influencers and content creators while also doubling as an event space for corporate events, parties and weddings.
Recently, eSpace hosted META, the global tech powerhouse behind Instagram, Facebook and Threads, for its first-ever event in Brisbane. Queensland’s biggest influencers, with a combined following of over 16 million, gathered at META’s event at eSpace.
“The META event was a dream come true for us,” says Josh. “It was surreal to be hosting their first Brisbane’s event and to share eSpace with so many influencers.”
Josh is committed to Patch becoming one of Australia’s most sought-after agencies for young creatives. The Patch team are all digital natives, all under the age of 26, many of whom have been hired after doing internships with Patch, through Queensland University of Technology. Josh has just hired a business development manager, so he can focus more of his time on team development.
In less than two years, Patch’s growth is swift: from a team working from Josh’s home, to 16 staff in Brisbane city; more than doubling recurring monthly revenue; and, as of June 30, 2023, Patch cracked the one million turnover mark, a massive triumph for such a young company.
“One-to-one business coaching with Brook has helped me notice and seize opportunities, focus on only the most important things, anticipate problems before they occur, and prioritise my wellbeing. She gives me invaluable feedback on changes I’m considering, and her different perspective enables me to see blind spots that could otherwise become a problem.”
But Josh is not someone who rests on his laurels. He’s now got his sights set on expanding interstate – and beyond. Watch out world, Patch Agency’s star is rising.
