Founder Bob

On my first day at Frause, I came across a friendly gentleman in the hallway who introduced himself to me as Bob. My excited response was: “Founder Bob!” He chuckled and said, “Yes, Founder Bob.” One month into my internship at Frause, I had the opportunity to sit down and ask questions of the guy who started Frause in 1998. This is what I learned.

What led to the decision to name the agency based on your last name?

Bob mused that when he founded Frause he “only had $72 to his name. I rolled the dice and went for it solo.” In testing a potential name for the agency Bob pretended to answer the phone. He experimented with, “Hi, this is the Bob Group” or “Good afternoon, Creative Communications, this is Bob” and “The Frause Group, how may I help you?” After he pondered it a bit more, Bob realized his advantage was his “black book.” So he wanted to keep his last name in the title. He ultimately decided on The Frause Group, simply because it sounded like there was more than one person working at the agency. As the agency grew, the name evolved to simply Frause, with a logo created from Bob’s own handwriting!

What do you enjoy most about your job?

“The game,” he said. “Having an idea for building a business, seeing if you can make it happen, and then creating a great place to work. That’s the real challenge.” His idea was to create a place to learn and be happy while making some money doing it. For Bob, working at Frause now is different than when he first started. He no longer has to worry about putting his son through college or some of the many challenges he encountered earlier in his career. Today, he says “It is primarily about having fun and doing great work.”

What do you find most challenging?

For Bob, the challenge resides with the “status quo – I don’t like it.” Bob noted people can become buried in the status quo, and he prefers optimism and innovation instead. Now Bob just wants a “transporter so Scotty can beam me up.”

Frause was founded with three guiding principles:
1. Deliver services ethically.
2. Provide an open workplace where employees are given the opportunity to learn about the business of running a business, and cultivate staff as business partners first and communication professionals second.
3. Build a supportive and desirable place to work, such that when looking back on their careers, employees will think of Frause as the best place they ever worked.

What experiences in your personal or professional life led you to develop Frause with these guiding principles?

When Bob founded Frause he only had one thing to prove, “that I could make it on my own.” But as Bob started hiring employees, he wanted to activate those principles. He has found that by “showing people how to be business people where you challenge and support them and pay them well – they stick around.”

What does the post-Frause world look like for you?

Bob is mulling around several ideas of how to spend his time once he “retires.” Bob shared he might, “buy a van and stock it with tools to become a maintenance man for old ladies. Go work at Home Depot and get an orange apron. Write a book on ethics. Start a business with his son, or even go back to school for a Masters of Fine Arts in welding or painting or a degree in integrated communication.” For Bob it all boils down to “Why not try something new? The only disappointing thing is to not have enough time to try everything.”

On Frause’s website a lot of attention is paid to turkeys. It describes you as a “social pillar/turkey killer” who occasionally lives with turkeys, and the “extras” tab on the website sometimes states, “Turkeys can run up to 20 MPH.” How would you describe your relationship with turkeys these days?

Bob does indeed occasionally live with turkeys! He explained, “The ‘social pillar/turkey killer’ mentioned in my bio comes from the chorus of a song my friend wrote for my 50th birthday.” The biggest argument Bob ever had with his wife was whether or not to get chickens. His wife didn’t want to be tied down by poultry, although they did eventually get chickens. After they got their first set of chickens, their animal kingdom grew to include rabbits and even cattle. They decided to ditch the cattle for a baseball field in their backyard, but this created a sort of animal void. Turkeys were the answer. Over the years Bob has “raised and butchered more than a couple hundred Turkeys.”

Frause has a well developed internship program and sponsors the PR education fund that pays the first year of PRSA dues for recent college graduates. Why do you think it is important to provide such professional development opportunities for students and recent grads?

These are opportunities for interns to sharpen practices and acquire news skills. They provide real world foundations to establishing careers. Bob hopes, “Ideally, every intern will learn to pay it forward and do the same thing for the next generation of communications professionals when they are the big shots.”

Fun Facts:
Favorite color: Blue.
Favorite food: Pork.
Favorite pastime: Amateur radio, gardening, art, piano and carpentry.
Favorite memory from Frause: Winning the Washington State Best Companies to Work For in the small business category for the first time in 2002. The second was a Frause retreat to Palm Springs where we had a Project Runway task with two teams sewing dresses.