In this episode of The Jasper Blueprint podcast, Bessi welcomes Co-Founders of Business Together, Nicky and Vanessa to discuss the concept of "Healthy Hustle" for sustainable business growth. They dive into their book Healthy Hustle: The New Blueprint to Thrive in Business and Life, a game-changing guide that challenges the grind of hustle culture, offering smarter strategies for business growth, empowering teams, and reclaiming time. By promoting sustainable business practices and personal growth, Nicky and Vanessa explore ways to integrate ambition with a healthier lifestyle.

Bessi challenges the notion of the hustle culture and suggests a middle path of achieving growth without destructive stress. Drawing on real-world examples and their own experiences, Nicky and Vanessa highlight strategic frameworks like the Growth Set Point and the Four Life Cycle Phases, offering practical advice for thriving in both business and life.

Also in this episode:

• Balancing personal ambition with sustainable business practices is crucial for long-term success.

• Identifying where your business currently stands and deciding which direction it should evolve towards.

• Focus on clarity of direction, sales, and profit to streamline business strategies that align with personal values.

About Nicky Miklos-Woodley and Ness Medling

Nicky and Ness are seasoned business leaders and coaches with over 50 years of combined experience in leadership, sales, and coaching. They co-founded Business Together to help business owners escape the cycle of "busy" and build thriving businesses on their own terms. Since 2015, they’ve empowered service-based businesses to move from chaos to clarity, giving owners and leaders the time freedom they crave through practical, real-world strategies.

They are also the hosts of the Smart Business Growth podcast, where they dive deeper into strategies for sustainable growth and leadership, providing listeners with practical advice to help them thrive in both business and life.

Connect with Nicky & Ness

BOOK - Healthy Hustle: The New Blueprint to Thrive in Business and Life: www.healthyhustle.com.au

TEDx Talk - Watch Nicky’s TEDx Talk The Art of Healthy Hustle: https://businesstogether.com.au/tedx-talk/

FREE SURVEY - Do the Smart Business Growth survey in under 2mins: https://businesstogether.typeform.com/smartgrowth

LINKEDIN - Connect with Nicky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connectwithnicky/

Connect with Ness on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamedling/

Subscribe to the Jasper Blueprint podcast:

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Connect With Bessi Graham:

Website | | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook Group

About Bessi Graham:

With nearly 25 years’ of experience working with business owners, governments, and large funding bodies to merge money and meaning, my experience spans from the grassroots of sitting in the dirt working with business owners across the Pacific Islands through to the United Nations in Geneva. This has given me an unparalleled perspective.

This Podcast Is Produced, Engineered & Edited By: Simplified Impact

In this episode of The Jasper Blueprint podcast, Bessi welcomes Joshua Spodek to discuss how leadership and personal transformation drive environmental sustainability. They explore how individual change can ignite systemic shifts toward more sustainable living, with Josh sharing his personal journey and the mindset shift that fueled his mission. He introduces the Spodek Method, a unique framework designed to help people discover and act on their intrinsic motivations for sustainability. The conversation covers key topics such as personal responsibility, behavior change, and leadership in sustainability, drawing from historical examples and modern applications. Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their values and take practical steps to contribute to a more sustainable future, both personally and professionally.

Also in this episode:

• Leadership in sustainability begins with personal responsibility and understanding one’s intrinsic motivations.

• Approaching sustainable living is about challenging the perception of deprivation and instead recognising it as a source of personal and communal enhancement.

• The Spodek Method provides individuals and leaders with tools to discover and act in line with their intrinsic values, promoting sustainable practices.

About Joshua Spodek:

Joshua Spodek hosts the award-winning This Sustainable Life podcast, is a four-time TEDx speaker, bestselling author of Sustainability Simplified, Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, and professor at NYU.

He holds a PhD in astrophysics and an MBA from Columbia, where he studied under a Nobel Laureate and helped launch a satellite. He left academia to found a venture to market an invention that showed animated images to subway riders between stations.

Connect with Joshua

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaspodek

• https://joshuaspodek.com/bio

Subscribe to the Jasper Blueprint podcast:

Apple Podcast | YouTube | Spotify

Connect With Bessi Graham:

Website | | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook Group

About Bessi Graham:

With nearly 25 years’ of experience working with business owners, governments, and large funding bodies to merge money and meaning, my experience spans from the grassroots of sitting in the dirt working with business owners across the Pacific Islands through to the United Nations in Geneva. This has given me an unparalleled perspective.

This Podcast Is Produced, Engineered & Edited By: Simplified Impact

In this episode of The Jasper Blueprint podcast, Bessi and Dr Amy Climer explore the power of team creativity and its essential role in driving innovation within small- to medium-sized businesses. They share practical insights on how leaders foster a culture of creativity, even when team members doubt their own potential, emphasising that innovation is a systematic, learnable skill—not just an inherent trait. Bessi explains that creativity isn’t about artistic ability but about developing novel solutions that add value. Key to cultivating team creativity are elements like a shared purpose, strong team dynamics, and a structured creative process. Drawing from real-world examples, including a response to Hurricane Helene, they illustrate how creative problem-solving leads to measurable improvements and efficiency.

Also in this episode:

• Creativity and innovation are systematic processes that can be learned and implemented in any team.

• The importance of shared purpose, strong team dynamics, and a structured creative process in achieving innovative results.

• Leaders must cultivate environments where team members feel safe to express and explore creative ideas without fear of judgment.

About Amy Climer

Dr. Amy Climer is a consultant, speaker, and coach focused on innovation and teams. She teaches leaders and teams how to be deliberate about creativity. She’s also an emcee, TEDx speaker, host of The Deliberate Creative™ Podcast, and artist and designer of Climer Cards. Her new book Deliberate Creative Teams: How to Lead for Innovative Results will be out Feb 6, 2025. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina in the U.S.

Connect with Amy and access resources we mentioned in the episode:

Climer Cards: www.climercards.com Unleash the Power of Collaboration & Creativity. We discussed the Climer Cards at the end of the episode so do check them out if you want to enhance group interactions, spark creativity, and foster deeper communication through unique, metaphor-inspired imagery.

NOTE: If you’re in Australia it will be cheaper and quicker to buy your Climer Cards from https://www.playmeo.com/shop/climer-cards/

The Deliberate Creative™ Podcast: https://climerconsulting.com/podcast/

Website: climerconsulting.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyclimer/

Amy’s TEDx talk: https://youtu.be/wtfo_JBFVGk

Subscribe to the Jasper Blueprint podcast:

Apple Podcast | YouTube | Spotify

Connect With Bessi Graham:

Website | | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook Group

About Bessi Graham:

With nearly 25 years’ of experience working with business owners, governments, and large funding bodies to merge money and meaning, my experience spans from the grassroots of sitting in the dirt working with business owners across the Pacific Islands through to the United Nations in Geneva. This has given me an unparalleled perspective.

This Podcast Is Produced, Engineered & Edited By: Simplified Impact