The EPIC Podcast

It was 2006 and Sophie and Ash Smith had just discovered that their much longed-for first pregnancy was, in fact, a triplet pregnancy. And while they were well aware of the increased risks of a triplet pregnancy, they were beside themselves with excitement and prepared for their impending bundle of joy x 3 with gusto – buying a triple pram and decking their house out for three little people. Out of nowhere and with no warning, Sophie’s waters broke at just 21 weeks and she gave birth to Henry, who lived for just one hour. At 24 weeks she gave birth to Evan and Jasper and so began a rollercoaster of hope and heartbreak. 58 days later Sophie and Ash went home empty armed to an empty house and a triplet pram staring back at them in the hallway. In the depths of unimaginable grief, Sophie and Ash decided to train for a half marathon to raise $20,000 for a new humidicrib for the neonatal unit where their boys passed away. On the first run, they had 98 runners join their cause, raising $80,000. Running for Premature Babies was born, giving Sophie a reason to live and to date raising $3.5 million for life-saving neo-natal equipment. Around 70% of neonatal unit equipment is funded by external fundraising and it’s estimated that Running for Premature Babies has so far directly saved the lives of thousands of the 26,000 premature babies born in Australia every year. After Sophie and Ash went on to have two more sons, Owen and Harvey, Ash sadly succumbed to brain cancer, less than a decade after the triplets died. Sophie again channelled her grief into running and fundraising, competing in the New York Marathon in Ash’s honour. Sophie’s full story has been captured in her memoir, Sophie’s Boys. You can purchase a copy, learn more about the foundation and join a running group or register for a running challenge at runningforprematurebabies.com Connect with RFPB on Facebook here. Connect with RFPB on Insta here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lyndell Palmer-Clarke had moved to London from Australia to pursue a career in singing and entertainment. When that didn’t pan out the way she hoped, she found herself at crossroads. As a self-confessed personal development junkie, she was frustrated that she wasn’t achieving her goals and dreams. ‘I had to face the brutal reality that I wasn’t seeing change in my life.’ After some honest conversations with herself, she realised that despite her love for singing and entertainment, her true passion was personal development. ‘It was what I spent my time and money on. It’s what I chose to do.’ It was the realisation that applied knowledge is what really creates change and transformation, she set about synthesising everything she’d learned into a tool that enabled people to create some daily rituals. The Dailygreatness Journal was born and after seeing some impact on her own life, she decided to publish it and invest in an initial print run of 1500. Selling through a handful of retail partners and Amazon, it wasn’t long before the first Dailygreatness journal print run sold out. Fast forward nearly a decade and the Dailygreatness journal series in the 100,000’s, is shipped to 137 countries and sets the standard on planning and productivity journals for business, life, parenting and health. Today Lyndelle is balancing product innovation with building a business and a young family and the responsibility of publishing a product that is saving businesses, lives and marriages. Dailygreatness and the impact it has on the world is Lyndelle’s life mission and she’s more inspired than ever about her brand, her customers and the future of the Dailygreatness brand. To enter the competition, head to epicpodcast.com.au, subscribe and review the podcast. The two best reviews will receive a copy of the latest Dailygreatness Vagame planner, valued at $149 each (winners will be chosen on December 20, 2019 and posted out within 7 days). To redeem a 15% discount on all Dailygreatness products, head to dailygreatness.com.au and use the discount code epic15 for a 15% storewide discount. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pippa Hallas joined the family business, headed up by her father John, as part of the marketing department in 2005. A few years later, the opportunity came to step into the CEO role and Pippa grabbed it. She was just 33 and the global financial crisis had just hit. One of the first decisions she made as CEO was to appoint 16-year old global sailor Jessica Watson as brand ambassador. It was a bold, polarising decision but one that Pippa felt was needed to bring a new and modern relevance to the Ella Bache brand. The move paid off and it was one of a series of brave decisions that has seen Ella Bache maintain market share in an increasingly competitive market and an increasingly fickle consumer. Today Pippa reports to a male board and despite Ella Bache catering to an almost exclusively female target market, she is often the lone female voice at the table. She’s balancing her uniquely female insight with emotional intelligence and vulnerability, while maintaining the confidence and tenacity to make tough decisions that aren’t always popular. Grab a copy of Pippa’s book Bold Moves here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maxine Windram had a hunch. Based on her own experience and those of other women, she knew that the bra shopping experience for bigger busted ladies was generally awful and in many cases downright depressing. Together with her mother Lin, Maxine got serious about researching this niche consumer market and in 2006, with no retail or bra fitting experience, launched Brava, a lingerie store catering for d-cup and up. Today, Brava has 6 stores and a booming online business and a cult following that most retailers could only dream about. Maxine freely admits that she has had a steep learning curve and notes building her own advisory board as one of the many ways she’s made up for her lack of business experience. She also outlines some of the nuts and bolts of the Brava customer experience strategy and how the Brava business, even in tough times, has doubled down on their customer experience rather than cutting costs. To learn more head to bravalingerie.com.au See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anthony Bell is widely regarded as the ‘accountant to the stars’, a term he hates but one that’s hard to escape given he manages the financial affairs of some of Australia’s most successful sports and television stars. Working up the ranks in his father’s accounting firm in the 90’s, Anthony soon realised he wanted to do things a little differently from the traditional accounting practice. He branched out on his own before his 30th birthday, facing the challenges of few clients, no financial backing and sketchy cashflow. He persevered and today Bell Partners is one of the most successful second-tier accounting firms in the country, with finance, legal and advisory divisions. Anthony is also an investor and has interests in over 20 different businesses and start-ups. In 2009 he, along with some of the greatest champion rugby union, cricket, swimming and Paralympian sports starts, skippered the maxi yacht Loyal to line honours victory in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. It was his first-time skippering and he set a record that is yet to be broken. What Anthony is most proud of is Loyal Foundation, a charity he established to raise money for life-saving equipment for hospitals across Australia. Among many gems, Anthony shares how he applied business strategy to yacht racing, what entrepreneurs can learn from the financial planning strategy of sports stars and what he’s learned from over 25 years in business and investing. To learn more head to bellpartners.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Samuel Johnson first became known and loved as Evan Wylde in the hit television series The Secret Life of Us. Since then, while continuing to grow and develop as an actor on stage and screen, Samuel has become best known as a brother, who, faced with his sister Connie’s devastating breast cancer diagnosis, set out to raise a million dollars for cancer research by riding a unicycle around Australia from town to town. It was a story that the media, along with the rest of Australia, found hard not to follow. The Love your Sister movement was born. But there’s more to the story. When Sam rode in on the unicycle after nearly a year on the road, Connie was already asking ‘what next?’ For Sam, it was the end of the journey and a goal achieved but for Connie,it was just the beginning. Together, over the next few years, they raised a further $9 million and now Sam is on an EPIC mission to demand personalised cancer care. He’s doing it with pure people power, both in dollars and support. Personalised medicine for cancer patients is the new frontier for cancer care and Sam believes it should be standard. Better data sharing, genetic testing and a centralised tissue bank will enable doctors to treat cancer with a customised approach, rather than false lines of treatment that are currently wasting dollars and lives. Get involved and support the FCB at loveyoursister.org Follow Love Your Sister on Facebook here Follow Love Your Sister on Instagram here See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just a few decades ago, the self-storage sector was a cottage industry made up of a range of independent operations, many of them husband-and-wife businesses. That's until Michael Tate and his business partner saw an opportunity to group them together under one brand, offering a strength of a standard, national presence to the individual operators and in doing so scaling a business quickly. Institutional investors soon followed and today, Storage King has over 160 sites across Australia and New Zealand. Michael has been at the helm of Storage King for 30 years now and has not only built an epic brand, he's fostered an incredible culture of collaboration and despite scaling the brand exponentially, still maintains a tight-knit family feel. Littered with sporting analogies, this interview provides fascinating insight into the strategic thinking of a leader in an increasingly competitive sector. To learn more and find out about a special storage offer for EPIC podcast listeners head to storageking.com.au/epic See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Luke Mangan was never really that interested in school so when he had the opportunity to leave to pursue an apprenticeship as a chef, he jumped at it. And so began a 30-year journey of ups and downs, including nearly quitting his apprenticeship more than once. He opened his first restaurant, Salt, in Sydney and after nearly going broke and losing everything in 2005, went on to build a truly diversified restaurant empire, with 20 restaurants, airline and cruise partnerships and one of the most enduring and respected celebrity chef brands in the world. In this interview, Luke takes us behind the scenes of his partnerships with Virgin and Hilton and discusses his philanthropic projects and his plans to expand the Luke Mangan brand even further. To find out more about Luke visit lukemangan.com To grab a copy of his biography, The Making of a Chef, click here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While most hairdressers in their mid 20’s are not long out of their apprenticeship and are busy balancing work with an active social life, Jaye Edwards was opening his third salon and honing the systems on what would eventually be the framework for a 7-salon, 8-figure business that is rapidly going global. And he did it all before turning 30 and without any external funding. In this epic chat, Jaye talks candidly about the challenges of growing a business at a young age in one of the most competitive industries on the planet and how he has built a business model that defies the rules. He also shares his secrets for building an epic and enduring team culture and why being the most expensive hair salon in the country has helped Edwards & Co build a powerful competitive advantage (along with a cult customer following). Jaye also talks about the power of partnerships and how harnessing A-list celebrity support has been incremental to the success of the brand. To learn more about Jaye and Edwards & Co, head to edwardsandco.com.au See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

30 years ago Di Williams discovered weight training and its benefits. Back then, in her words, men lifted weights and women did aerobics. Not long after, Di opened her first Fernwood Fitness, a female only gym in the outskirts of Bendigo in regional Victoria. Today Fernwood is a booming franchise network with over 70 gyms across Australia. In this interview, Di talks about the highs and lows of the Fernwood journey including what she’s learnt about franchising and more importantly what she’s learned about niche marketing. To learn more about Fernwood go to fernwoodfitness.com.au See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.