Why podcasts are so important

I love a good podcast, don’t you? There’s so much out there to learn and podcasts make everything so easy for us don’t they? You have the convenience of listening when it suits you and you can learn something while you’re out for a run, cooking dinner, or simply walking into town.

I have become a little obsessed with them and am always looking for recommendations - let me know in the comments which podcast is your favourite at the moment?

I love the ones that make me laugh and I’ve heard a few that have made me cry too! If you look back through my blogs you’ll see the one I referred to in July Heart-wrenching challenges of a modern mum Why Mum’s Don’t Jump podcast.

Jules White’s Human Conversation podcast.

There is an intimacy with a podcast that you have the listeners attention for about 30 minutes - that’s often longer than we pay attention to a TV programme for! - so I’ve found it to be a really valuable way for me to reach my audience and spread the campaigning message.

Recently I was lucky enough to be invited onto Jules White’s Human Conversation podcast. Jules has had some incredible guests on her show so I was really proud to be included in her line-up and we had a great conversation.

Jules likes to look at the journey you take and what brings you to where you are today and I have to admit it’s a varied journey. After graduating from University in programming, I only worked in that field for 7 months before I changed direction altogether and bought and ran a fish & chip shop! No, it wasn’t on my career path initially but it gave me some great customer service experience and being my own boss was something I really wanted to be. I suggest you have a listen to the podcast to hear what happened next…. 

Passionate female entrepreneurs

The key for me was to find something I was passionate about and it all happened by chance. An article I read was telling me that women, once they hit the menopause, are likely to struggle with their pelvic floors regardless of how good they had always been. Well I was quite determined that wasn’t going to happen to me and so started my journey to find a weighted product that would help me.  

Jules, like many of you, was staggered when I said I’d been doing my Kegels since I was 14. That has been the common thread throughout my research on this. I am so lucky that I learnt this as it seems very few are, even now!

We also touched on the 2001 study I’d seen which looked at young women aged 18-21 who were very athletic and, when asked, 40% of these young ladies admitted they had incontinence issues. This to me is overwhelming proof that this issue is not purely down to childbirth as many women believe.

Jules could feel how passionate I was (and am!) about pelvic floor education and could see a fellow entrepreneur looking for ways to get her message across and actually commented on how empowered she felt having a conversation about pelvic floors - particularly on a podcast - we really need to overcome this awkwardness don’t we?

Who do you talk to?

I think having had face to face conversations with so many women who have felt they could come and talk to me, when they likely haven’t even been willing to talk to their own doctor, is what drives me forward.

We touched on my moment of doubt at the end of the summer when it all felt too much, combined with the other stresses this year has brought us, trying to home-school and maintain a business, and I was ready to throw in the towel.

If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll remember I received a lovely email from a customer, a lady called Sue just when I needed to hear it. Jules was able to empathise as she recalled a similar moment in her business. Have you ever felt like it was all too much and then you got a sign at just the right moment? The Universe making me sit up and realise that I am on the right path and I am making a difference!

The business journey

Jules’ podcast was such a fabulous business conversation, and interesting to talk more about the development of my product. Not many of you will know that I personally designed this Secret Whispers™ Kegel Weights Kit and the process of bringing a product to market was a huge undertaking for me.

There were many late night calls as these conversations were with suppliers in different time zones and I remember it took 7 months from start to finish. That was an exhausting 7 months though! When the kits finally arrived my husband said “did you make these?” - he was so impressed with what I’d achieved, and all I could say was “yes and now I need to sleep”!

What followed was a period of testing and checking they worked with friends before launching it to the market. Who knows, maybe the TV shopping channel is next or even Dragon’s Den!

My reason for continuing to drive this movement so hard is understanding that when the statistics come out saying 50% of women suffer some level of prolapse (see last week’s blog for more information on pelvic organ prolapse if you missed it) which is bad enough, but knowing there are so many more women who don’t even seek help, so we know the numbers are far higher.

We (yes, all of us) have to tackle this head on, we must get the message out to younger women and girls that doing your Kegel exercises is simply like going to the gym for your pelvic floor.

Any help you can offer to spread the word is truly appreciated, simply sharing on social media is a great help. We can conquer this challenge, but it’ll take us all to make it happen.

Thank you for all your support so far and I’d love it if you’d stay with me for the journey. 

If you’d like to hear more, catch Jules White’s podcast here.

Buy here >>> Secret Whispers™ Kegel Weights Kit

Kegel exercise can help prevent, control and improve urinary incontinence and prolapse.