Heart And Hustle: How To Thrive In A Crisis

When everyone&rsquo;s working from home, who needs clothes for events and work?&nbsp; &nbsp;Australian fashion royalty GINGER &amp; SMART faced a crisis this year as it&rsquo;s reason for existence, well, ceased to exist!&nbsp; So what did owner Alexandra Smart do?&nbsp; What all great business owners know is necessary: she let go of the past and adapted accordingly, creating a new offering for working from home, doubling-down on digital and noticing that her long-running sustainability work was now being valued by customers.&nbsp; She says terror of those early days was quickly replaced with opportunity and she took the lessons learned by bringing in an equity partner to transform the business.&nbsp;  To find out more, and to hear why we shouldn&rsquo;t drop our dress standards when on Zoom, listen to this next episode of Heart &amp; Hustle. &nbsp;See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alexandra Smart: Managing Director & Co-Founder, GINGER & SMART

Author, journalist, speaker and all-round media personality Felicity&nbsp;Harley barely knew how prescient she was with the release of her book, Balance Is BS.&nbsp; It was released in April, just as its theme of overwhelm was playing out right across the globe. For many, she says, lockdown brought a sense of release from the rush of life, but for others it created more worry and work.&nbsp;&nbsp; For&nbsp;Felicity, this year has been a time of wrestling with her own ambition and family commitments, with husband and Sydney Swans CEO Tom Harley completely consumed by the challenges in his work. She says &ldquo;it&rsquo;s hard to take on more at home when you&rsquo;re ambitious in your career&rdquo; and she speaks frankly about what that has meant to her, in this latest episode of Heart &amp; Hustle.&nbsp;See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Felicity Harley: Experienced Editor and Author

Values. &nbsp;Everyone&rsquo;s talking about them in business. When disaster strikes, is it time to forget the values &ndash;the slogans and the luxury of contemplating them - &nbsp;and focus on survival?&nbsp; Or could it be that your way out will be found by reinforcing those values, lifting your leadership and your business higher? In this interview with Ben Lucas, Owner and Director of Flow Athletic, Ben describes the disaster of owning a gym during lockdown and the bright, shining opportunity for an online business &ndash; just launched - that came next. &nbsp; After a career in professional football, Ben and business partner Kate Kendall&nbsp;opened Flow Athletic in 2013 mixing strength, fitness and yoga and attracting high profile devotees including Kate Waterhouse and Sunrise&rsquo;s Edwina Bartholomew, and winning Telstra Start-up of the Year.&nbsp; Ben and Kate have always shared the dual intentions of creating a community where staff are supported to grow and members feel safe and cared for.&nbsp; And they knew that during a crisis, their staff and members needed them more than ever. &nbsp;Perhaps thriving in a crisis is just about sticking to your values. I hope you enjoy this inspiring conversation with Ben.&nbsp; CREDITSHost: Margot FaraciGuest:&nbsp;Ben LucasCONTACT USIf you'd like to get in touch with Margot, head to her LinkedIn profile here; https://www.linkedin.com/in/margot-faraci/Find out how NAB can help you today by visiting https://www.nab.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Lucas: Owner and Director of Flow Athletic

In this episode of 'How To Thrive In A Crisis' Margot sits down with Richard Facioni. Richard is a well-known investor and retail identity operating a diverse group of business including LEGO Certified Stores, e-tailer SurfStitch, high-end fashion label Ginger &amp; Smart and a portfolio of more than 40 discount variety stores with Cheap as Chips. He&rsquo;s also Executive Chairman of the country&rsquo;s largest apparel group -&nbsp; ASX listed MOSAIC Brands - which represents a substantial part of Australia&rsquo;s mass fashion landscape with more than 1200 stores and a portfolio of brands including Noni B, Rockmans, W Lane, Katies and Millers.&nbsp; The interview with Margot draws upon Richard's truly inspirational work ethic which is perfectly summed up in his mantra, 'what we're doing is never enough'. &nbsp;To consistently operate like this - even in a crisis - is truly encouraging. CREDITSHost: Margot FaraciGuest: Richard Facioni&nbsp;CONTACT USIf you'd like to get in touch with Margot, head to her LinkedIn profile here; https://www.linkedin.com/in/margot-faraci/Find out how NAB can help you today by visiting https://www.nab.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.