Is your merch just a cost, or could it be one of the smartest marketing tools in your business? In this episode of The Festoon 500 Interviews, Dani Wallace sits down with Lisa Dalgliesh, the Mother of Merch, to talk about how branded merchandise can build community, attract clients and become a real revenue stream for founder-led businesses.Lisa started out with a personalised gift business while on maternity leave. She soon noticed that every business event handed out the same cheap freebies (and those dreaded scratchy pens), and set out to make merchandise as sexy as your business. Since then she has created merch for The Big Festoon, including the iconic varsity jackets.Dani and Lisa get into why merch is the marketing underdog, what the music industry can teach small businesses about merch profit, how a done-for-you merch store lets you earn commission without storing stock or doing post office runs, and how merch can support social impact. Lisa also shares why she is bringing creativity back into business through her new creative coaching, why AI is great for processes but not for creativity, and why realistic goals beat trying to conquer the world in two hours a day.If you have ever left your branding or merchandise until the last minute, or wondered how to make your brand something people actually want to wear, this one is for you.Lisa Dalgliesh, Mother of Merch Website: https://www.the-mother.co.uk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mother_of_merch/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MotherofMerchFree resources from Lisa Bringing Creativity Back Into Business guide: https://www.the-mother.co.uk/bringing-creativity-back Event guide: https://motherofmerch.co.uk/event-guideJoin the Festoon 500, The Big Festoon's cornerstone community of founders supporting founders: https://highlevel.thebigfestoon.com/festoon500CHAPTERS 0:00 Trailer 0:53 Welcome to The Festoon 500 Interviews 3:35 Meet Lisa Dalgliesh, The Mother of Merch 6:02 From Personalised Gifts to a Branded Merchandise Business 9:54 How to Use Branded Merch to Build Community and Attract Clients 13:27 Why Merchandise Is a Revenue Stream, Not Just a Cost 15:13 Done-For-You Merch Stores: Earn Commission Without the Admin 19:16 AI vs Creativity: Why Business Owners Need to Trust Themselves Again 20:53 Event Support: Why You Shouldn't Run Events Alone 24:17 Creative Coaching and Setting Realistic Business Goals 26:17 Where to Find Lisa Dalgliesh

Why do over 60% of #startups fail when there is so much business support out there? Ricci Colla of Those Collaborations joins Dani Wallace on The Festoon 500 Interviews.Those Collaborations: https://thosecollaborations.co.ukThinking Spaces: https://thosecollaborations.co.uk/thinking-spaceJoin the Festoon 500 community: https://highlevel.thebigfestoon.com/festoon500Going from employee to business owner can feel lonely fast. One day you have colleagues, the next you are wearing eight or nine hats, spending most of your time on things you never set out to do, and sometimes working for months with no money coming in. Ricci believes that is exactly where so many founders give up, often just before the pivotal point.In this episode Ricci shares why it takes a village to raise a business, how his coaching business began when a friend stepping into a CEO role asked for help, and why business advice that says "this is the only way" doesn't work for unique humans. He and Dani also talk about finding the leaders who support business leaders, why success leaves clues, and why being part of just one network doesn't really suffice anymore.Ricci also shares what he and his brother Paul are building next: a membership run with its founding members as ambassadors, action focused local meetups (no mouthful of croissant networking), Lunch Break Live, Thinking Spaces, and Collaborative, a business and wellbeing event by the sea in the South.If you are in the early years of your business and it feels like you are doing it all on your own, this conversation is for you.RICCI COLLA, THOSE COLLABORATIONSWebsite: https://thosecollaborations.co.ukThinking Spaces: https://thosecollaborations.co.uk/thinking-spaceLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/riccicollaFacebook: search "Ricci Colla"JOIN THE FESTOON 500The Festoon 500 is Dani Wallace's founding community of 500 business owners who believe we all do well when we all do well. Every pass includes tickets to The Big Festoon and the Beyond the Arena meetups, and sponsors grassroots organisations into The Big Festoon who might not otherwise be able to attend.https://highlevel.thebigfestoon.com/festoon500CHAPTERS0:00 Trailer: Why 60% of Startups Fail1:00 Welcome to The Festoon 500 Interviews3:54 Meet Ricci Colla: Business Support for Early Stage Founders7:05 Why Starting a Business Feels So Lonely8:29 Why Do Over 60% of Startups Fail?11:14 How a Coaching Business Started With One Friend14:16 Building a Business Community With Ambassadors and Local Meetups17:39 How to Get Involved: Lunch Break Live and Thinking Spaces19:23 Collaborative: A Business and Wellbeing Event by the Sea23:33 Why The Big Festoon Keeps Drawing Founders Back25:18 Where to Find Ricci Colla and How to Join the Festoon 500#startups #entrepreneur #smallbusiness

DeclutterCon is on Saturday 10 October 2026 in Sheffield City Centre. Follow Heather using the links below for tickets and details.Get Heather's free download, Get Sh*t Done: 26 Weird and Wonderful Strategies for ND Brains: https://www.untangledbytingle.com/danipodHeather's website: https://www.untangledbytingle.comJoin the Festoon 500 community: https://highlevel.thebigfestoon.com/festoon500Why does a home that looks beautiful on the outside feel impossible to live in? In this episode of The Festoon 500 Interviews, Dani Wallace sits down with professional declutterer and organiser Heather Tingle of Untangled by Tingle to talk about ADHD, autism, executive function and the hidden shame of doom piles, floordrobes and cluttered homes.Heather works mainly with neurodivergent clients, many of them late diagnosed, to drop the shame and build a home that works for their brain instead of against it. She shares why decluttering is not just about a skip and a clear-out, why neurotypical advice like lists, diaries and reminders so often fails, why there is so little support for people who look capable on the outside, and why sometimes a client does not need to remove a single thing.Dani and Heather also talk about the full tent at Ideas Fest, and the story behind DeclutterCon, the UK's first decluttering conference designed for neurodivergent people, created after Heather felt truly welcome at The Big Festoon.If you have ever felt like a failure because you can't keep on top of your home, this conversation is for you. It is not a personal failing, and there is help.HEATHER TINGLE, UNTANGLED BY TINGLEWebsite: https://www.untangledbytingle.comFree download: https://www.untangledbytingle.com/danipodFacebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/untangledbytingleInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/untangledbytingleLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-tingle-848a2531Podcast: Decluttering UntangledJOIN THE FESTOON 500The Festoon 500 is Dani Wallace's community of serious business people running serious businesses, built on the belief that we all do well when we all do well. Membership includes tickets to The Big Festoon and supports grassroots organisations who would not normally be able to access a business and personal development event.https://highlevel.thebigfestoon.com/festoon500

0:00 Trailer: ADHD, Autism and Clutter With Heather Tingle0:51 Welcome to The Festoon 500 Interviews6:13 Meet Heather Tingle: Professional Declutterer for Neurodivergent Clients8:48 ADHD, Autism and Clutter: The Hidden Shame Behind a Beautiful Home11:13 Doom Piles and Executive Function: Why You Can't Rest at Home14:21 Why There Is So Little Support for Neurodivergent Adults Who Look Capable16:33 Avoiding Home: Shopping Malls, Dopamine and the Cost of Clutter18:19 Ideas Fest: Why a Talk on Neurodivergent Clutter Filled the Tent19:48 Why Lists, Reminders and Diaries Don't Work for ADHD Brains23:41 Decluttering With ADHD: Tools, Strategies and Getting a Cleaner26:29 DeclutterCon: A Decluttering Conference for Neurodivergent People in Sheffield28:44 How The Big Festoon Inspired DeclutterCon30:07 What to Expect at DeclutterCon: Quiet Rooms, Challenges and Real Strategies32:48 Decluttering Isn't About Getting Rid of Things35:59 Why DeclutterCon Is the Best Place to Start38:53 Free Strategies for ND Brains, Where to Find Heather and How to Join the Festoon 500

What if you took a health day instead of a sick day? In this episode of The Festoon 500 Interviews, Dani Wallace sits down with Emmaline McAndrew — The Slow Business Woman — to talk about building a business when your energy isn't reliable, why chronic illness changes everything about how you work, and why “success doesn't love speed.”

Emmaline helps women with limited or fluctuating energy — including those managing chronic illness, disability, or neurodivergence — learn how to set up and run their own business, whether that's a freelance gig, self-employment, or a limited company. In this conversation, she and Dani unpack “the Great Unlearning” — the lifetime of social conditioning that teaches women to be quiet, be organised, and do it all — and why “work life balance” needs to become “work health balance” instead.

They also get into why professional boundaries work even when people hate them at first, why sharing the messy, unglossy parts of business builds a safer community than hiding them does, and Emmaline's challenge to every founder listening: take a health day, not a sick day.

Website: https://www.theslowbusinesswoman.com

Instagram: @theslowbusinesswoman

Join the Festoon 500 — The Big Festoon's founding community of founders supporting founders: https://highlevel.thebigfestoon.com/festoon500

0:00 The Big Idea: Work Health Balance Over Work Life Balance

0:58 Welcome To The Festoon 500 Interviews

3:10 Meet Emmaline McAndrew: The Slow Business Woman

4:14 The Great Unlearning: Hustle Culture, Hormones & Having It All

11:02 Why "Slow Business" Started: Building With Fluctuating Energy

14:56 Redefining Success: Wellness, Perimenopause & Burnout

17:22 Professional Boundaries: Why "That's The Point"

19:10 Sharing Your Story: Building A Safer Business Community

24:37 Neurodivergence & The Right To Be Cared For

25:57 Take A Health Day, Not A Sick Day

29:34 Where To Find Emmaline McAndrew

31:38 Join The Festoon 500: Founders Supporting Founders

Emmaline McAndrew — The Slow Business WomanCHAPTERS

Master community-based marketing by learning how to truly activate your audience. Stop treating your fans like a sausage factory.In this interview, Naomi Rose explains why modern marketing strategy relies on genuine human connection rather than outdated tactics. If you are struggling to build a loyal following, this conversation breaks down how to pivot from transactional messaging to meaningful interactions. We explore why your content often falls flat and how to fix your approach to ensure your message actually resonates with the people you want to reach.True audience engagement is about more than just numbers; it is about fostering an environment where your followers feel heard and valued. By prioritizing authentic connection over cold sales pitches, you can build a sustainable brand that stands the test of time. Learn why brand authenticity is the most powerful tool in your toolkit when trying to cut through the noise of a crowded digital landscape.Subscribe for weekly marketing strategy breakdowns, and comment below: what is one way you currently interact with your community?Catch this short podcast trailer for the upcoming Festoon 500 interview. Get a quick preview of our conversation with Naomi Rose.In this episode, we sit down with Naomi Rose to discuss her experiences and insights. We keep things focused on the stories and perspectives that define her work, ensuring you get the most value out of every minute of the full release.

In this Festoon 500 interview, host Dani Wallace sits down with Claire Bartlett — The Simplified CEO — to talk about a topic that's rarely discussed in business circles: perimenopause, and the very real impact it has on founders, leaders and their teams.Claire built and ran an accounting practice for over a decade before perimenopause forced her to rethink everything — and now she helps perimenopausal coaches, consultants and business owners simplify their businesses instead of burning out inside them. In this conversation, Claire and Dani get honest about brain fog, lost confidence, the "sandwich generation" squeeze, and why hustle culture was never designed with women's cyclical bodies in mind — plus what allies, employers and mixed-gender workplaces can do to genuinely support the 13 million women in the UK currently navigating perimenopause.Whether you're a founder feeling like you're "losing your edge," a leader with perimenopausal team members, or simply curious about a life stage that affects half the population, this episode offers permission, practical language, and a reminder that this can be an evolution — not an ending.In this episode:What "The Simplified CEO" approach actually meansWhy so many women close their businesses during perimenopause — and why that's preventableThe cognitive symptoms nobody talks about (brain fog, word loss, decision fatigue)Claire's own story: 10+ years running an accounting firm before perimenopause changed everythingHow to build policies and support structures for perimenopausal employees and foundersWhat allies in mixed-gender workplaces can do differentlyConnect with Claire Bartlett:Instagram: @theclairebartlett | TikTok: @simplifiedceopodcast | YouTube: @clairebartlettPodcast: The Simplified CEO PodcastFree resource: https://therealclairebartlett.com/webinar-registrationJoin the Festoon 500: highlevel.thebigfestoon.com/festoon500Short version (social bio / caption):13 million UK women are perimenopausal right now — and it's quietly reshaping how they run their businesses. Claire Bartlett (The Simplified CEO) joins the Festoon 500 to talk brain fog, boundaries and building a business that works with your body, not against it. 🎙️Chapters

0:00 — Trailer

0:44 — Welcome & Introducing Claire Bartlett

3:34 — Meet Claire: The Simplified CEO

4:34 — Why Perimenopause Is a Business Crisis (the stats)7:17 — Compassion, Care & the Sandwich Generation

10:04 — Claire's Story: From Burnout to Rebuilding

12:47 — The Cognitive Symptoms Nobody Talks About

15:10 — Finding Safety in Shared Experience

17:16 — The Phone Battery Analogy: Understanding Cognitive Load

18:48 — Retreating, Embarrassment & Funny Relatable Moments

21:29 — The Power of "No F***s Given"

22:44 — Advice for Allies & Employers

25:29 — Building Policies as You Scale

26:23 — Where to Find Claire

27:00 — Outro & Join the Festoon 500

Most breathwork retreats look like a sweaty guru with a gong and a room full of people crying into headphones — and it's exactly why so many people never try it. Charlotte Saunders runs Charlotte Saunders Breathwork and Fire, helping people process trauma physically instead of just talking about it, from guided breathwork that changes the acidic balance in your blood, to fire walks, glass walks and bending reinforced steel bars with nothing but your throat.In this Festoon 500 interview, Charlotte explains how trauma gets encoded at a cellular level (and why talk therapy alone doesn't shift it), walks through a real case study of curing motorway anxiety in two sessions, and shares the moment — after losing a close friend — that she decided to train as a fire walking instructor herself. She also gets honest about the risks of untrained practitioners running this kind of work, and why she caps her fire walk groups at 20 people.In this episode:What breathwork actually does to your nervous system · why 90% of us don't breathe optimally · the case for physical, ceremonial healing over “just talking about it” · what really happens on a fire walk · and how to know if a practitioner is safe to work with.About Charlotte SaundersCharlotte runs Charlotte Saunders Breathwork and Fire, working with people ready to move through trauma physically and reclaim their power through experiential, ceremonial work — fire walks, glass walks, bed of nails, board and flaming ball breaks.Website: https://www.lottiesaunders.comFree guide — Breathwork for Stress and Overwhelm: https://www.lottiesaunders.com/breathwork-for-stressInstagram: @charlottesaundersbreathandfireFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.saunders.96LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-saunders-ceibc-cebhr-cefc-4a91b0152TikTok: @csaundersbreathandfireCharlotte's next Firewalk is in Surrey — and in July she's launching a “Breathe With Me” Telegram group for daily guided breathwork. Follow her channels above for dates.This interview is part of the Festoon 500 network, an extension of The Big Festoon, taking our conversations from the arena stage out into the real world. Festoon 500 members get a Big Festoon pass, a ticket to Ideas Fest (if you apply before September), and access to our quarterly Beyond the Arena meetups. Apply / find out more: HighLevel.BigFestoon.com/Festoon500 ⚠️ A note on safety: breathwork, fire walking and related somatic practices are regulated and need a properly trained practitioner. Please don't try fire walking, glass walking or breath practices like these unsupervised — they're safe in the controlled environments Charlotte and other trained practitioners run them in.#Breathwork #FireWalking #TraumaHealing #Festoon5000:00 Trailer0:59 Welcome & Festoon 500 Intro3:34 Meet Charlotte Saunders4:44 Breathwork & Fire: Healing Trauma at a Cellular Level6:11 “I'm Not Doing That Anymore” — Charlotte's Turning Point7:11 Please Don't Try This at Home (Important Caveat)7:25 Why You Need a Trained Practitioner9:00 Case Study: Curing Motorway Anxiety12:11 What Breathwork Retreat Marketing Gets Wrong13:15 The Real Danger of Untrained Breathwork15:31 Breathwork vs. Acupuncture vs. Big Pharma16:32 Why Ceremony Matters17:40 Inside a Fire Walk: Arrow Breaks & Bending Steel19:34 Reclaiming Your Voice & Power21:02 What People Feel: Joy, Tears & Disbelief22:08 Feeling Fear Safely23:24 Charlotte's Story: Grief & Learning to Walk on Fire25:06 Why Charlotte Keeps Her Groups Small26:39 The Physical Release That Surprises People27:29 Keepsakes: Proof You Did the Impossible28:22 “I'm More Than Capable of Doing That”28:55 Corporate Retreats & Building Trust Fast29:42 How to Work With Charlotte31:13 Free Resource & Final Thoughts31:35 Festoon 500 Outro

Chen Clarke — founder of Dare to Thrive — helps entrepreneurs, executives and high performers who are overworking and overthinking finally regulate their nervous systems, find inner safety, and reconnect with their joy. In this Festoon 500 Interview, she and Dani go deep on high-functioningburnout: why your body treats success itself as a threat, why "just slow down" doesn't work, thesurvival strategies driving perfectionism and people-pleasing, and Chen's own story of decades ofburnout that came to a head with perimenopause. If you're a high performer who feels successfulbut exhausted, numb, or like you're one email away from falling apart — this conversation is for you.FREE: Take Chen's Blocks to Success Quiz — find out which survival strategy is running the show foryou: https://chenclarke.scoreapp.comConnect with Chen Clarke:● Website: https://www.chenclarke.com● LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chenclarke/● Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chen_clarke7/● Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chen.clarke.3Chapters0:00 Trailer: what's coming up0:51 Welcome to the Festoon 500 Interviews2:53 Meet Chen Clarke, founder of Dare to Thrive3:58 What high-functioning burnout really looks like6:25 Why your body treats success like a threat8:25 The undefended state: why vulnerability terrifies high performers10:15 “The whole house of cards will fall down if I stop”12:25 Chen's own burnout story: decades, perimenopause & hitting the wall14:21 Tens of thousands spent looking for the wrong fix15:55 Learning to receive love from yourself18:20 Am I a high performer? Meet your “bodyguard” (inner critic)20:28 Why nobody does anything remarkable if they feel remarkable22:56 The real magic of pausing (and why we're scared to)25:20 The Blocks to Success quiz, explained27:22 “The ladder is on the wrong wall” — losing touch with your own success28:31 Practical tips: be gentle, get grounded, rebuild the scaffolding32:10 Connect with Chen & take the free quizAbout the Festoon 500The Festoon 500 is a curated network of the UK's best founder-led businesses, built by Dani Wallaceas part of the Big Festoon — the UK's fastest growing business and personal development event.Want to join? https://highlevel.thebigfestoon.com/festoon500The Big Festoon is coming to the AO Arena — grab your ticket via the link at the end of this episode.Hashtags#Burnout #NervousSystemRegulation #HighPerformers #HighFunctioningBurnout #DareToThrive#Festoon500 #Perimenopause #Perfectionism #ExecutiveCoaching #MentalHealthContent noteThis episode discusses burnout, chronic stress and (briefly) childhood trauma. If anything here bringssomething up for you, please reach out to a trusted person or professional support.