Gabby Leibovich came to Australia as an immigrant child and worked hard. He worked hard at school, he and his brother worked hard at the markets to make some money and he worked hard to build one of Australia's best known and loved online retail brands; Catch of The Day.

Gabby is a great Australian success story and a font of wisdom and knowledge about retail sales, online sales, marketing, brand building, team building, money making, investing and, also importantly, knowing ones business limitations.

Gabby also invested hard in adjacent supplier relationships and the logistics side that supported his (and his brothers) business. What is revealing is the important focus on input costs as much as retail prices.

Gabby is a straight-shooter, but incredibly warm and generous with his time, insights and views. For Episode 50 of Disciplinn, this is a real highlight. Enjoy our discussion.

Jim Penman started a part-time gardening business while earning his PhD in history at Latrobe University. He launched a full-time mowing business in 1982 with a $24 investment.

He originally aimed only at taking on subcontractors, but his business grew and he gradually began to specialise in the building up and selling of lawn mowing rounds. By 1989 he franchised his business, and since then Jim’s Mowing has become the largest franchise chain in Australian and the largest and best-known lawn mowing business in the world.

Jim’s Cleaning was launched in 1994, followed by more than 50 other divisions which now operate in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom. Jim’s Group now has over 3,800 Franchisees and a turnover of approximately $500 million.

It was great fun talking to and learning from Jim! Listen in now because I’m sure you will too on how you can take the ordinary to the extraordinary!

Throughout her career as a successful lawyer, Laura Keily felt a great need to address a common problem many people on the opposite end of the table were experiencing. She wanted to relieve her clients from the usual financial roadblocks that prevented them from getting what they deserved.

In her determination to preserve business relationships, and clients from losing hope. Laura came up with the idea of integrating technology as an alternative to the already fragmented legal system. That would help people seeking legal advice cope appropriately, and succeed in their undertakings in a lesser amount of time and cost.

Join me and I sit down with this superhero of a woman and her selfless desire to make the world a better place through her efforts, experience, and expertise.

Marathon swimming champion Chloë McCardel believes that we all have the potential to be great at one thing, but may not know what that is. For most of her early life, Chloe identified herself as the best in her class, desiring to swim her way to the Olympics.

When things turned out to disappoint, it was here where Chloe got to learn what a breeding ground for excellence looks like. That failure along the way does not dictate the mindset. Fast-forward to 2020, Chloe beat the men's record for number of cross-channel open water swimming on her 35th try.

As my guest in this episode, Chloe shares her inspiring story of trials and tribulations. The importance of a self-analysis, and the will to keep on pressing forward.

Whether you’re an athlete, business owner or simply someone with a dream. Tune in now because this just might be the episode for you!

Many of us start off on the “wrong foot” or wind up in a seemingly dead-end job. The kind of place where our growth and need for creativity are limited. While a few of us stay, there are those who decided to take the plunge for little soul searching until we strike gold.

Today’s guest, Larah Loutati — founder and CEO of her own company, Vitable Australia — grew up in the coastal town of Agadir, Morocco. Larah later moved to Europe to take a degree in communication and finance, and finally Australia to build her start-up.

Larah left her seaside childhood town in Morocco to joining the corporate rat race in Europe, to breezing through hospitality in Bondi Beach. Until she found her calling for product development in nutrition. Enabling her to connect directly to customers with ways that could optimise their experience. She is also now expanding her vitamin business overseas. It is an incredible journey and even better story.

Hit the play button now to listen in Laura’s amazing journey to destiny and get inspired!

Navigating the pathway to success isn't a smooth ride. With the bumps and reroutes you may experience along the way, how can you achieve the goals you have in mind?

Brendon Gale has had an amazing career. He is the current CEO of the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Before that, he played for the club from 1990 to 2001, became the CEO of the AFL Player's Association, and was a member of AFL's rules committee. Being one of the most influential people in the field, he brought Premiership Glory to Richmond after the club had had decades of on field mediocrity.

For Brendon Gale, CEO of Richmond Football Club, you need to have a vision and equip yourself with the right values to gain success. In this episode, we will talk about Brendon's journey towards being the CEO of the Richmond Football Club. He will share with us the experiences that moulded him and the RFC football team magnificently.

Kick-start your journey to success with our conversation on Disciplinn. Enjoy

Where does one start to describe Dave Prior?

You can start with strong-foundations; his vision, commitment and self-belief. What about his history? Simply track the incredible story of his family, his understanding of the power of brands, the dedication he has to himself, his craft and his team. Now look at the incredible products that this extraordinary entrepreneur has built and bought. Add these together and you get an incredible entrepreneur with an amazing story, and plenty left in the tank.

Dave’s penchant for risk is off the charts, matched only by his ability to deliver outstanding outcomes. What is clear is that Dave draws additional strength from his tight-knit family, and doesn’t make everything one way traffic - he gives back to his staff and community and that makes his journey all the more impressive.

Our discussion of self-belief and values is very informative, as is the resolve that Dave displayed against all odds when "experts" told him that he was destined for failure.

Enjoy our discussion.

Everything Ben Ross has done in his working life is clearly top-shelf. And throughout his career, Ben has been in complete control of his own destiny, stepping into different roles and guises in different countries and levelling up his career every single step.

Ben is self aware, well-rounded and poised, a risk-taker with a brilliant mind and deep understanding of product market fit and customer driven innovation.

Ben believes that great businesses happen when customer driven innovations (insights) MEETS technology driven innovations MEETS great design. And why is it important? Because "...disruption never finishes. There is another wave of disruption coming right behind the first wave."

Whilst your going to learn heaps about product market fit, lean start ups, customer validation and so much more, what Ben really drives home is how culture, values and people (especially product managers) are always the building blocks of great product and leading indicators of company success.

Enjoy our discussion.

Gavin Appel has the trifecta for any tech entrepreneur:

- Global Exit

- Partner at preeminent Venture Capital firm

- Scale up and tech advisor to scale ups and large corporates

It really is a journey to marvel at.

Gavin believes businesses need to be close to their customers, and solving real, large-scale, problems. And understands that founders must be razor focussed on their goals, whilst founders should obsessively become the subject matter experts in their domains.

Importantly, Gavin has certainty of his position and views and doesn’t mice his words or water-down them down. It’s this strength of conviction that had guided him through his career, and will no doubt give you some inspiration and fresh perspective. Enjoy our discussion.

This episode of Disciplinn is proudly brought to you by Edison Partners.

PR (Public Relations) is, for many of us in business, a black box, a dark art of achieving editorial over advertorial, of earned vs paid, of authenticity vs concoction; or as some call it, "SPIN".

Lahra Carey is an ex-ABC journalist who was one of the forerunners in crossing over from media to media advisory. Her networks are significant, her entrepreneurial curiosity unbounded, and her depth of knowledge on both creating good PR, and dealing with crisis management is world-class.

This interview contains abundant, critical, insights and you won’t be disappointed with our deep dive into company values, storytelling, the value that PR can add to company boards, messaging for crisis management, editorial relations and more.

If you don’t get value from listing to Lahra’s first-hand knowledge of how to communicate as a business, and inspiration from her own entrepreneurial journey - then I would suggest that you are probably not awake! Enjoy our discussion.