Niall Cleaver

Documenting the journey of crafting a timeless coffee cup brand | CEO & Founder of Cupsly

My story isn’t about a polished entrepreneur. My journey hasn’t been traditional. I left school without an English qualification, uncertain of what the future held. 

That failure shaped me, it forced me to think differently, fall into business, and ultimately embrace creativity, resilience, and the belief that change is possible, even when doubted. Fast forward to today, I’m growing and scaling businesses while sharing the real lessons that come from it.

Founder

Are you struggling to grow an engaging community for your business or personal brand.

Stop right there, I think I have you covered ⬇️

This is me (Niall), I'm a 22-year-old who is fascinated by growing communities in the online space. Actual communities that have meaning and purpose. 

The services we provide at Social Library 

➡️ Personal Branding (LinkedIn)

➡️ Guidance & support consulting


Drop me a message to discuss your social media strategy, review how well your current socials/posts are doing, and research how we can build your community and gain you more followers and leads.

or you can email us @

hello@sociallibrary.co.uk

Building vs scaling a business. What's the difference?

A few years ago, I learned one of the most valuable lesson in business. I left school with qualifications that made it hard for me to get any sort of job.

Luckily, my family ran a business. I jumped in and started learning. And here’s what I learned: There’s a huge difference between building and scaling.

Building a business:

Proving the idea
Short-term survival
Doing everything yourself
Energy, speed & scrappiness

Scaling a business:

Letting go of control
Long-term decisions
Patience, systems & people
Making sure it works without you.
Alignment throughout the whole company.

Building feels exciting. Scaling feels uncomfortable. Both are essential. I didn’t realise how different they both were until I lived them.

But the one thing that never changes between both? 
The hard work that comes with it.

Growing @thistlescientific and sharing the lessons while I do

I just spent 2 hours yesterday in one of the best meetings of my life!!!

What about? How do we build further on our foundation?

Yesterday was a special day, do you know where you get the team together and you leave feeling excited for what's to come? That's what happened.

It's been a pretty wild couple of months for Thistle, but it always comes back to the same thing. How can we deepen the connection we can have with researchers?

The personal touch.
The real support they deserve.
The professionalism and trust they have in us.

This year, we’re looking at how we double down on that.

We’ve set some big objectives, and the whole team is ready for them. If yesterday was anything to go by, this next phase is going to be an exciting one.

We can't wait to share more on this very soon.

We’re excited to announce our new collaboration.

I'm genuinely proud of the impact we're creating in research at Thistle Scientific. It started with one clear objective to make research the best it can be, not only to impact our lives, but also to impact the lives of generations to come.

Last week was a big reminder of this as we announced our collaboration with arcorisbio AG, which will help accelerate the industrialisation and commercialisation of their breakthrough MUSE® platform.

A collaboration that will help keep the world safe.

One of the best mistakes I learned pretty quickly in business.

Thinking strategy comes first in business. But it doesn’t… 

Understanding who you’re building for is.

I’m nowhere near successful yet. But I’ve been lucky to spend time around people who definitely are. And one topic comes up over and over again: 

Strategy.

How did you come up with your strategy?
Why has your strategy been effective?
When do you adapt your strategy?

The answer usually sounds complicated.
But, it keeps coming back to one word: audience.

Before you can plan anything, you have to understand them. What do they care about? When do they need to hear from you? How do they feel when they see you show up?

This is where a lot of founders go wrong. No strategy is 100% correct. It’s custom‑made based on how well you understand the information your audience is giving you.

So copying what works in another company or industry rarely works. You’re playing a different game, with different people, at a different stage.

Strategy is an understanding game.

I used to panic hearing the word strategy in business.

It sounded complicated... but it wasn’t.

I would hear the word and be like that sounds proper technical. I'd just nod like I understood exactly what it meant, when I didn't but now I get it and it's simple.

It's just a plan.

What are the objectives?
What action will you take to hit them?
Which data tells you it's working or it isn't?

We love to make words sound more complicated than they are. 

It's easy to overcomplicate things when you hear all of the advice online but it's simpler than you think. If something isn't working don't wait, go and find the reason why.

Try something. Learn. Adapt. Evolve. Repeat.
Just enjoy the process of figuring out.

That's what business is!

When I was younger, I hesitated on the idea of working for my family business.

Today, I’m 3 years in, working alongside nearly 50 incredible people.

It’s crazy how life works. Some days you’re completely against something before you’ve even tried it…then you try it and realise it was exactly what you were meant to do.

I always had this doubt in the back of my head:
That I had to prove myself somewhere else first.

That’s why:

- I started posting on LinkedIn.
- I kept looking for “my own thing”.
- I started learning more about business.

Now it feels like all of that happened so I could come back better and help continue to grow a business I genuinely care about. But this growth has hardly been me. It’s been the team I get to work with every single day.

A few things this has taught me:

- Don’t write something off until you’ve actually tried it.
- You can prove yourself elsewhere, but always bring the knowledge back

So don't resist an opportunity just because it didn't fit your picture in that specific moment of your life. It might be worth taking a closer look.

Stop listening to too much advice.

Read that again... throughout my journey, I've fallen for many distractions. Stuff that didn't feel right personally, and so many of us are going through this.

There's advice here, there and everywhere.

And it's very hard to know which is the right or wrong advice, and you know what you'll never really know. The only way to find out is to...

Listen to your gut and try.

In a world full of advice after advice, trust yourself first. 
There's no right or wrong way to do anything.

If it works, it works!

P.S. Have a little day in the life vid

Your Personal Branding Gal💕 | Keynote Speaker, Consultant & Mentor | B&T Women in Media Finalist | Mental Health Advocate

I'm here to disrupt the LinkedIn platform with refreshing content and uncomfortable truths from a first gen Asian Australian millennial. 

I wear a lot of different hats - keynote speaker, social strategist at DDB and personal branding expert. But my heart passion comes down to one focus - content creation. And I wish I start sooner. Growing up I was always told that I would never make it as a creator and I would never make it in the world of social. But here I am, challenging every 'no' I was ever told and sharing my story to inspire others to start chasing their dreams. 

And if you've made it all the way down here, let's keep the good vibes flowing:
📸 Insta: @rosiechong
🎵TikTok: @rosiechong
📲Threads: @rosiechong

Rosie Chong

This might be the biggest lesson I learned in 2025... 👀

The power of using your own voice. 

In a day and age where AI is more prevalent than ever, there is one thing that can't be taken away from you, and that's your voice. Whether it's in an email, on a video call, presenting in a work meeting or creating content, who you are and how you speak is a core part of your voice. 

So here's how you can improve on shaping your voice and being heard in 2026
💡Practise writing every day, even if it's just a work email - curate and understand your tone of voice and how you speak
💡Put your hand up to present - at meetings, at conferences, on zoom calls
💡Start sharing content on social media
💡Network - in person, in DMs or in the comments section

What's the biggest lesson you're taking from 2025?

#linkedinnewsaustralia #personalbrandingtips

Rosie Boccamazzo

The 9 to 5 Personal Branding Gal💕| #1 Aussie Personal Branding Creator

LinkedIn in 2026 is not what it was in 2020...👀

And yes, that's probably the most obvious sentence you've ready. So here's what you're going to do about it. 

If you want to take LinkedIn seriously you need to: 
Freshen up your profile - remove old job titles, add descriptions to your roles, add an up to date cover image and profile image 
💡Leave meaningful comments on other's posts - regardless of their follower size, getting active on the comments is everything 
💡Review your content pillars - make sure they align with what you want to be known far 
💡Reconsider your audience - who are you actually helping, who is your ideal client (and no, it's not everyone) 
💡Post at least twice a week - if you want to be growing you have to invest the time and effort into being present 
💡Grow your network - respond to DMS, send intentional connection requests, meet people IRL or online. Converse with people! 
💡Pick a posting format & stick with it for a few months, this will help you learn if it's the right format for you and your audience. Whether it's video, text post or newsletters. 

If you're serious about owning your personal brand, now's the time to start. 

What's your LinkedIn tips for 2026? 👇🏼

I don’t need more ideas in 2026. I need more follow-through. 🚀

As someone working a 9-5 and freelancing, I’m balancing a lot of plates. So this year one of my goals is to take my half-baked content ideas and business growth tactics and turn them into something tangible. I want to double my side hustle income.

But as a one woman show, I’ve been way too naive to think I can do it all alone. 

This is where I’ve been leveraging Notion Agent to hold me accountable and help me maintain momentum, and automate so many tasks I used to do manually.👀

Here’s how I’ve been using it👇

💡At the start of my day, I put all of my current to-do’s and action points into Notion Agent, this then gets turned into a clear do list, client action points and even prioritises my tasks. I’m a big procrastinator so this has been a huge help. 

💡After client meetings, I used to rewrite notes (time waster let’s be real). Instead, I’m using Notion Agent to tell me what my action items are and draft follow-up emails for clients. This has been a game changer as someone that is so easily distracted. 

💡And lastly when it comes to creating my LinkedIn and TikTok content, I used to just create based on my content pillars and what I felt like writing for that day. But now I’m not only using Notion Agent to proofread my drafts, but to help point ok recurring series ideas, and streamline my overall creative process. 

The biggest shift I’ve started to notice? I’m wasting less time faffing around, and getting back to my creative roots to work towards my dream career goals.

No “new year, new me.” Just improving and evolving. 💥

#NotionPartner #NotionNewYear

PS you can try Notion Agent for yourself - https://ntn.so/RosieChong

Here’s one of the best things that you can do for your personal brand in 2026. 👀

Stop caring what people think. Start showing up. 

Whether it’s in the workplace or online - start sharing content as a thought leader.🚀

The creator economy is flourishing more than ever so if you want to have your voice heard then now it’s the time to start. 

The best thing I ever did for my career was create my personal brand and take charge of it. It follows you along for any stage of your career, in any industry. Remember your personal brand enters the room before you do.

What are your 2026 personal branding goals? 👇

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taplio

The Battle

Niall Cleaver

Rosie Chong

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreNiall Cleaver's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRosie Chong's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Niall Cleaver

Rosie Chong

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Niall Cleaver's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRosie Chong's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreNiall Cleaver's LinkedIn Performance