Thriving with kindness, optimism and fun

SYDNEY’S Lucy Bloom is on board Commerce Ballarat’s 2020 Business Day Out to inspire and challenge the perspectives of businesspeople, with ideas to elevate their trade and services.

Having a background in advertising, start-ups and running aid charities, keynote speaker Ms Bloom is ready to encourage people to do business differently, propelling their workplaces with more fun and care.

“You don’t hear or read about it much, but there are four really key themes and qualities I see in the really successful people I’ve worked with in my 27-year career; courage, kindness, optimism and fun,” she said.

“I’ve worked in some unusual places like Ethiopia and Cambodia, with clients who have done breathtaking things, and those four values are all things they implement in their personal lives and businesses, and I see it feeding into their bottom line.”

Bringing her expertise to a regional audience, Ms Bloom also understands all businesses need to be mindful of their “geography,” but access is changing.

“We’re all marketing in a very digital way and a lot of service and product-based businesses can market nationally and globally, so there’s a lot less regional challenge than there used to be,” she said.

“But there’s also that gorgeous benefit of being a regional business. There’s enormous appeal from markets in metropolitan areas who adore buying and patronising businesses in regional areas. The bushfires really pushed that along beautifully.”

Deputy chair of the Coogee Chamber of Commerce, Ms Bloom champions local businesses supporting each other and collaborating. She said all traders have so much to learn from one another.

“Chambers are all in it together and that’s what I love. There’s not so much competition, as much as comradery.

“I can bring some learning from the seaside to regional Australia. Chambers are creative, there’s a lot of sharing of solutions, and I think there’ll be some great thinking right now about finding the opportunity in crisis,” she said.

“If the whole business ecosystem is thriving, everyone is thriving.”

Ms Bloom will bring copies of her memoir, Get the Girls Out, to Business Day Out, and the second edition of her childbirth book for men, Cheers to Childbirth.

Regional Victorian businesses are invited to the event at the Mercure Ballarat Hotel and Convention Centre on Wednesday, 27 May.

Dave Dixon will also present about ‘leaving a legacy,’ and Shane McCurry is set to look at ‘The Big Five’ for business. An armchair discussion with Federation Business School’s Professor Christina Lee, will host Provenir’s Chris Balazs, Leroy Mac Designs’ Rodney McErvale, and MASH’s Tash Menon.

Visit commerceballarat.com.au to register.