Life Lessons

There’s a question I am often asked, both in media interviews and in quiet conversations after I step off a stage. It’s a question that invites reflection, and it is a powerful one: "Naomi, what would you tell your younger self?" (A lot - as it turns out).

In that moment, none of the "important" work I was doing felt important at all. It felt hollow. I was so busy doing business that I was missing out on being human. I was so focused on building a life for my family that I was forgetting to live my life with them.

I want to take you on a journey to redefine CSR. We will explore its true meaning, uncover its tangible, hard-nosed business benefits, and lay out a practical framework for building a business that is not just profitable, but powerful.

I have lived this paradox. I have felt the exhilarating G-force of RedBalloon's growth and the gut-wrenching moments when our systems broke under the strain. I have sat in the Shark Tank and watched founders with fast-growing businesses who were on the verge of collapsing under the weight of their own success.

After listening to hundreds upon hundreds of pitches, both in the Tank and in boardrooms across my entire career, you begin to see the patterns.

It’s one thing to be the "experience lady," and another thing entirely to be the one strapping into the pilot’s seat. A little trepidation set in. But I’ve always believed that the best things in life are waiting just on the other side of our comfort zone.

Braze Keynote: Satisfied customers leave. It’s a harsh truth. They might be happy with the transaction, but they have no real loyalty.

I believe that for many of us, the common understanding of resilience is fundamentally flawed. We often picture it as a kind of brute force, an unfeeling toughness, like a granite boulder being pounded relentlessly by the ocean waves.

What does it really mean to be a "business with purpose"? It has become a buzzword, often slapped onto a marketing campaign like a fresh coat of paint. But true purpose is not paint. It is the very architecture of your business. It is the load-bearing walls, the foundation, and the North Star in your sky.

Your personal brand is not what you say you are. It is the sum total of what you do. It is the consistent, lived-in, and hard-earned reality of your reputation.

I want you to think about the last truly tough week you had in your business. You know the one. The week where a big client was late to pay, a key employee was off sick, a shipment was delayed, and you were staring at your computer screen at 10 pm, running on caffeine and pure grit, wondering if you were completely mad for ever starting this journey.

I have lived in that state of perpetual pushing for years. It's a place of high adrenaline and even higher anxiety. A few years ago, I found myself standing on a dark beach at Mon Repos, near Bundaberg, and had an experience that completely rewired my understanding of effort, patience, and success.

This is one of the most profound small business life lessons any founder can learn. It’s the slow dawning that there is a vast, life-altering difference between a full day and a fulfilled life. Our businesses give us the most incredible platform to make a difference, but only if we lift our heads from the endless to-do list and consciously decide what our contribution will be.