It may be Winter Olympic season as I write this, and as we all know, you get absolutely nothing for seventh place in the Olympics. No medal. No flowers. Not even a commemorative tea towel.

But here in the 'ClusterCast Games' we do things a little differently… and Beth is absolutely getting a medal. She brings the skills, the know-how and the quiet mastery of that mysterious dark art otherwise known as LinkedIn.

Let’s be honest. For many of us, LinkedIn is either:

A) the place we panic-visit when we need a job

or

B) the digital peacock enclosure where we politely announce we’ve been “honoured and humbled” to speak somewhere that involved a lanyard and a slightly dry pastry.

But in this episode, Beth goes way beyond the humblebrag. She shares genuinely useful tips on how to tame the LinkedIn lion, how to show up with confidence, how to avoid sounding like a corporate robot, and how to make it actually work for your business instead of just feeding the algorithm and hoping for crumbs.

As ever, The ClusterCast is all about discovering how brilliant indie businesses across Oxfordshire started, how the human behind the business makes it all happen. It’s real advice, genuine experiences, and proper conversation. No buzzwords required.

Beth steps onto the podium in this one. And very well deserved it is too.

Subscribe to @TheClusterOx on YouTube for more relaxed chats with brilliant Oxfordshire indie businesses. And if you’re feeling generous, a rating and review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen) really helps other lovely humans find the show.

This episode is brought to you by The Cluster, a co-working and event space in Oxford. Find out more at clusteroxford.co.uk.

Recorded and produced by The Pod Collective, the team behind the PodBox OX podcast studio at The Cluster.

This episode is brought to you by The Cluster Co-Working and Event Space in Oxford.

Visit clusteroxford.co.uk to learn more.

Subscribe on YouTube and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a little different from our usual chats and in a good way. Slightly less “polished success story” and a bit more dust, graft and genuine magic.

This time, I’m sitting down with Samantha Sanders-Clarke, who’s in the early stages of setting up House of Bliss a home dressing and restored furniture business rooted in care, craft, and seeing potential where most of us would politely walk past.

House of Bliss is all about rescuing forgotten pieces, honouring the skill beneath the dust, and giving things a new chapter instead of a landfill ending. Armed with patience, serious skill, and an alarming ability to see potential where the rest of us see firewood, Samantha is breathing new life into forgotten furniture and she’s very, very good at it.

I’ve actually known Samantha for several years… although I should probably admit I’ve spent most of that time calling her Sam instead of Samantha. Remarkably, she still agreed to come on the podcast.

If shellac or patina are your thing (and even if they aren’t and btw that is also my Drag Queen name), this is a warm, funny and inspiring listen with someone launching a business with real drive and passion and I’ve no doubt she’s going to do bloody well.

Subscribe to @TheClusterOx on YouTube for more relaxed chats with brilliant Oxfordshire indie businesses. And if you’re feeling generous, a rating and review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen) really helps other lovely humans find the show.

This episode is brought to you by The Cluster, a co-working and event space in Oxford. Find out more at clusteroxford.co.uk.

Recorded and produced by The Pod Collective, the team behind the PodBox OX podcast studio at The Cluster.

This episode is brought to you by The Cluster Co-Working and Event Space in Oxford.

Visit clusteroxford.co.uk to learn more.

Subscribe on YouTube and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Episode 5 of The ClusterCast, I sit down with the utterly lovely Rebecca Galligan from Rebecca’s Home Sort to talk career curveballs, cupboard shame, and why sorting your house can feel oddly… emotional.

Rebecca made the bold leap from a very corporate job with a very large toy manufacturer to building a business helping people organise the stuff we all pretend we’ll “get round to one day”. In her words, she helps people fall back in love with their houses again which sounds wholesome because it is… but also surprisingly powerful.

Somewhere along the way, she expertly tapped into my not-at-all-embarrassing obsession with Tupperware and QVC (no judgement please, this is a safe space), and shares genuinely brilliant, very doable tips for getting started, actually finishing, and learning how to tell your inner saboteur to pipe down while your inner encourager takes the wheel.

It’s a warm, funny, honest chat about stuff, work, confidence, and why sorting a drawer is never just about the drawer.

Subscribe to @TheClusterOx on YouTube for more relaxed chats with brilliant Oxfordshire indie businesses. And if you’re feeling generous, a rating and review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen) really helps other lovely humans find the show.

This episode is brought to you by The Cluster, a co-working and event space in Oxford. Find out more at clusteroxford.co.uk.

Recorded and produced by The Pod Collective, the team behind the PodBox OX podcast studio at The Cluster.

This episode is brought to you by The Cluster Co-Working and Event Space in Oxford.

Visit clusteroxford.co.uk to learn more.

Subscribe on YouTube and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.