What does it take to build a $70 million family business without destroying the family behind it?

James and Emma Salerno from Ringers Western sit down with Hard Ground to unpack the principles that helped their family build one of Australia’s best-known rural clothing brands while staying united through business pressure, disagreements and extraordinarily difficult seasons.

Raised on a million-acre cattle station in the Kimberley, James and Emma share how their family went from making clothing for themselves to building Ringers Western into a business with around 20 stores, more than 300 employees and roughly $70 million in annual revenue. But this conversation goes far beyond business growth. It’s about family business, succession, conflict resolution, leadership, rural Australia, resilience, workplace culture and staying together when life gets hard.

They explain the family philosophy of “sticking together,” why no disagreement is considered too small to address, and the practical conflict-resolution process they call Team Technology. They also discuss walking through intense public scrutiny, protecting their family relationships and why adversity ultimately strengthened their commitment to one another.

If you run a family farm, agricultural business, rural business or multigenerational company, this conversation offers a very different way to think about success.

Highlights:

→ James and Emma explain why successful family businesses need to treat the health of the family as seriously as the health of the company, including their belief that unresolved small disagreements can eventually become major problems.

→ You’ll hear how their Team Technology framework works, including the idea of verbal “sparring,” bringing a third-party “Wisdom Bank” into disagreements and beginning difficult conversations with the commitment that everyone will work toward agreement.

→ They share how Ringers Western grew from clothing made for their own use into a major Australian rural brand, why product quality became non-negotiable and why they believe strong teams and relationships ultimately drive business performance.

→ James and Emma also open up about navigating enormous public pressure as a family, how adversity affected their children, employees and commercial relationships, and why knowing who stood beside them changed their perspective on loyalty, resilience and success.