What's Your Stori?

What does it really take to build a business, overcome self-doubt and find your confidence?

In this episode of What's Your Stori?, James is joined by Crystal and Helen, the founders of She Thrives Collective, a community dedicated to supporting, connecting and empowering women in business.

From a chance meeting in a Swansea pub to building a thriving network of female entrepreneurs, Crystal and Helen share the story behind She Thrives Collective and why creating a supportive space for women in business matters more than ever.

The conversation explores their individual journeys through entrepreneurship, marketing and motherhood, including the challenges of returning to work after maternity leave, navigating redundancy and finding the confidence to pursue something new.

They also discuss the power of mindset, overcoming limiting beliefs, the importance of accountability and why networking doesn't have to feel intimidating.

In this episode:

- The challenges of balancing motherhood and running a business.

- Overcoming self-doubt, fear and limiting beliefs.

- Why community and accountability are so important for entrepreneurs.

- Practical advice for building confidence and making meaningful connections.

- The importance of showing up as yourself in business.

Whether you're starting your entrepreneurial journey, growing an established business or looking to build your confidence, this episode is a reminder that you don't have to do it alone.

🎙️ What's Your Stori? shares the journeys, challenges and experiences of business owners, entrepreneurs and creatives across Wales and beyond.

Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?

Subscribe for more inspiring conversations and stories from the people behind the businesses.

What does it really take to keep a food business safe, compliant… and out of prison?In this episode of What’s Your Stori?, James sits down with Katie Watkins-Young, Founder and Managing Director of Beacon Compliance, to uncover the world of food safety and the story behind building her own compliance business.Katie’s career has taken her from environmental health and prosecuting businesses for food safety offences, to working within food manufacturing and eventually launching Beacon Compliance in 2018. Today, she helps businesses ranging from small independent cafés to multi-million-pound food companies navigate compliance, achieve certifications and avoid costly mistakes.But this conversation goes far beyond food safety.Katie speaks openly about the realities of entrepreneurship: growing a team, making expensive hiring mistakes, dealing with cash-flow pressures and questioning what success in business actually looks like. She also shares the influence her late father had on her career, the possibility of passing the business on to the next generation, and why she’s determined to find the right future for Beacon.It’s an honest conversation about food, family, resilience, leadership and the lessons you can only learn by building a business yourself.🎙️ In this episode:• Why Katie moved from environmental health into the private sector • The reality of food safety inspections and compliance • How Beacon Compliance was born • Going full-time just before the COVID pandemic • Why more staff and more turnover don’t necessarily equal success • The costly business decision that changed Katie’s approach to growth • Building a business that doesn’t depend entirely on its founder • Family businesses, succession and Katie’s hopes for the future • Why Beacon Compliance is like a lighthouse guiding businesses around the rocksWhether you run a food business, you're building a company of your own, or you simply want to know what really goes on behind the food we buy and eat, there’s plenty to take away from Katie’s story

In this episode of What’s Your Stori?, host James speaks with Phil Evans, a long-time business owner who works in financial services and describes his week as primarily “problem solving.” Phil shares how he wanted to be a carpenter but entered finance in his early twenties and has spent 41 years learning and helping others. They discuss how business owners often leave employment perks like pensions, death-in-service, and sickness benefits behind, yet underestimate personal risk, and Phil stresses planning for living too long, dying too soon, or becoming disabled. Phil and James explore money mindset, the importance of mentors, paying yourself first, tracking spending, surrounding yourself with the right people, building loyal friendships, delegating to a strong team, and using listening and humour in communication, including stories from comedy and a magician’s “breaking of the wand” funeral ritual.

Meet Lucy Clark, co-founder of OatSoak, a 100% natural bath additive and skincare brand created for people with eczema, psoriasis, and sensitive skin. Lucy explains how the business began during lockdown after her nephew suffered severe eczema and store-bought products irritated his skin, prompting her and her sister Katie to focus on colloidal oatmeal without added preservatives. Starting with a borrowed blender and early sales on Amazon, they validated demand, then won £3,000 at a local Young Dragons-style competition run through CYCA, which funded machinery, mentorship, and their first unit.Lucy shares the realities of reinvesting, scaling into larger premises, and recently expanding to the US via a Natural Grocers pitch in Dallas, leading to distribution and a launch in 176 stores, including FDA approval and added compliance.

In this episode of What’s Your Stori?, James speaks with Alex Shufflebottom, a long-time owner of the South West Wales steel building firm 'Shufflebottom Ltd'. They talk about growing a family business which started nearly 50 years ago from selling wrought iron gates into a market-leading steel fabrication company. Alex recounts the company’s moves to Cross Hands, her father’s death in 1993, her progression through roles after university, and a 2008 management buyout with her brother and general manager Alec just before the recession. She discusses major challenges including cashflow pressures and a site fatality, alongside highs such as winning major awards and delivering prominent projects like the new Pentre Awel leisure centre in Llanelli. Alex explains how they built culture by looking after staff and tackling health topics, why she sold the business two years ago, and her next chapter in mentoring, investing, and supporting manufacturing in Wales.

In this episode of What’s Your Stori?, James sits down with actor and musical theatre performer Samuel Wyn Morris, a fellow local from their hometown, Llanelli, where they went to school and played rugby together.

Sam shares what life is like working in the West End and on tour, describing the discipline of eight shows a week and treating performance like elite sport.

He retraces his late start in singing at school, training at the Guildford School of Acting, and the setbacks that followed—including stage fright, unemployment, and taking “normal jobs” before regaining confidence.

Sam details the competitive casting process for Les Misérables, his breakthrough roles (including covering key parts), the impact of COVID shutdowns, and his path to playing the Phantom on the international tour, while reflecting on hometown pride, giving back, mistakes onstage, and advice to “emulate, don’t replicate.”

This week, James interviews John Burns, founder of Burns Pet Nutrition and John Burns Foundation. John shares his background; born in Belfast in 1948, raised in west Scotland, trained as a vet in Glasgow, and moved to Whitland, Wales, where his interest in small-animal chronic illness led him to acupuncture and macrobiotics, shaping his nutrition-first philosophy. He challenges grain-free and raw-feeding trends, arguing whole grains are digestible and beneficial for pets. John recounts starting the business in the late 1980s by recommending home-cooked brown rice, vegetables, and meat, then finding a local manufacturer, selling directly to West Wales vets and pet shops, scaling to around 200,000 customers and 100+ staff, and exporting notably to Ireland. He explains selling after stress from Brexit, COVID, rising costs, and intensified competition, and describes his current focus on the John Burns Foundation, including the Reading with Dogs scheme in 70–80 schools and running the John Burns Centre while seeking volunteers and funding.Listen in for an inspiring story from the founder of the well known pet food brand

In this episode of What’s Your Stori, James sits down with Aaron “Shingz” Shingler. A Welsh international and long-time Scarlets player and now owner of property development firm GS6 Developments, founded in 2018 after injury. He describes a typical week balancing site visits, meetings, emails, family life, and intense training for triathlons. Shingler recounts his late rugby rise after focusing on cricket, earning a Scarlets contract, and fighting for his place, plus the surreal highs and sharp lows of his first Wales cap in 2012 and later involvement in a championship-winning 2013 campaign. He reflects on Scarlets success in 2017, overplaying and injury, then major setbacks including an ACL rupture and an 18-month battle with reactive arthritis during COVID. He explains how early property investing, calculated risk, and partnerships enabled his business transition, emphasises the need for athletes to plan for life after sport, and discusses challenges building a reliable workforce.

In this episode of What’s Your Stori?, Meet Richard Lee, founder of Innovators Uncensored, a startup and self-employment focused media company creating weekly newsletters, events across the UK, and the podcast series “Sharks, Snakes, and Shareholders” about investor horror stories.

Richard shares how Innovators Uncensored began after an investment pitch at Google’s London HQ revealed a knowledge gap between London and founders outside the capital. He reflects on early entrepreneurship buying and selling football boots and clothing, leaving Deloitte because employment wasn’t the right fit, and lessons from raising £250,000 for a previous startup but ultimately not taking the investment due to lack of validation.

They discuss James' new Welsh-language AI subtitle translation app and Richard’s new venture, Roca Card, aimed at helping self-employed people build pension savings through cash-back on business spending.

In this episode of What’s Your Stori? James speaks with Kay Augustus, a mother, business owner, and Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals member, about Augustus Payroll and why payroll is more than “pushing a button,” including its role in PAYE and compliance. Kay shares her path from an admin role in a local factory into payroll across industry and practice, and explains how software can create costly HMRC issues when used incorrectly. She describes registering her business in 2022, then scaling it full-time after her daughter’s severe mental health crisis in 2023 led her to quit her job and build the company around safeguarding her family. Kay outlines hustling for clients, acquiring a payroll business through networking, onboarding 85 clients quickly, growing to a team of three with 162 clients, partnering transparently with accountants, keeping payroll UK-based, and advising businesses to seek expert conversations to avoid missed reliefs like employment allowance.