Beyond Earbuds: Rachael and Helen Share Insights on Audience Input, Podcast Evolution, and Business Impact

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:01

Hi everyone and welcome to this week's episode.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:05

I am very happy to announce that I have the lovely Helen

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:08

Calvert back on the podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:10

She came on as a guest May 22.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:13

So very early in, in the, the life of this podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:16

And we're here to hear about how Helen has got on and you know,

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:20

how things have the podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:22

So hello, Helen, welcome.

Helen Calvert: 00:00:24

Hello, thank you so much for having me back, Rachael.

Helen Calvert: 00:00:26

It's really kind of you to have me back again and you

Helen Calvert: 00:00:29

know, to give me a second go.

Helen Calvert: 00:00:30

I obviously didn't do too badly first time round.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:33

No, it was lovely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:34

I love chatting about your podcast and I, as many of you know, or hopefully

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:39

many of you know, I always talk about Helen's podcast and how much I love it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:42

So, and I always recommend your podcast to everybody that I speak to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:48

So yes, I absolutely love love your podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:51

So to those that might not know what Helen's podcast is called, it's the

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:55

No Bullshit Guide to a Happier Life.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:58

And Helen has started this podcast, it's been over two years now,

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:01

hasn't it for, for the podcast?

Helen Calvert: 00:01:03

Yes, I started it in May 2021.

Helen Calvert: 00:01:05

So I'm just coming up to the end of my third season, I've a

Helen Calvert: 00:01:08

season a year ish, you know, in my head, I've had a each time.

Helen Calvert: 00:01:14

But yeah, it's again, we were saying before.

Helen Calvert: 00:01:16

The interview started, how quickly time goes and yeah, it's flown by

Helen Calvert: 00:01:20

since the launch, I have to say.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:23

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:23

Cause I was thinking, Oh, what year was it?

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:28

It's those COVID years that make you kind of question what year it was.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:31

And you're like, was it that long ago?

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:33

Was it not?

Helen Calvert: 00:01:35

It's all a blur.

Helen Calvert: 00:01:36

Yeah,

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:37

it is.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:38

So I'd love to catch up with you a little bit about how things have been

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:42

going and what you've been up to in the interim between we last chatted.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:45

One big thing I know that happened was that your book launched last year.

Helen Calvert: 00:01:50

It did indeed.

Helen Calvert: 00:01:51

Yes.

Helen Calvert: 00:01:51

So the first season of the podcast became the book, the no bullshit

Helen Calvert: 00:01:57

guide to a happier life, which I published in October, 2022.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:02

Which was so exciting.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:04

I think I will always remember the day when my lovely, cover designer and,

Helen Calvert: 00:02:08

and print coordinator, Vicky turned up at my door with the boxes and I opened

Helen Calvert: 00:02:11

them and there was my book in my hands.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:14

It was so exciting.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:16

And it's got this beautiful yellow cover that Vicky's designed.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:18

It stands out.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:19

It's just brilliant.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:20

So yeah, even a year on, I still look at my book.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:23

It's here beside me at the moment.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:24

I'm like, Oh, it's so pretty.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:26

So yes, that was a real, a really exciting moment to launch the book.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:31

And what was wonderful was you launch a book and of course.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:34

Bless them.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:34

All your friends say, oh, I'll buy a copy.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:36

And you think I'll, that's really, you know, that's nice.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:39

And then they come back and they tell you that they've read it and they liked it.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:42

I'm like, my God, I wasn't expecting you all to read it . I thought maybe you'd

Helen Calvert: 00:02:45

get a copy 'cause you feel sorry for me.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:47

But no, actually it has, I've sold quite a few and it's.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:51

The feedback's been amazing.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:52

It has actually proven to be really popular, really well

Helen Calvert: 00:02:56

received, which is just, yeah, I couldn't ask for more really.

Helen Calvert: 00:02:59

It's so exciting.

Rachael Botfield: 00:03:00

Yeah, I have your book and I was saying to you

Rachael Botfield: 00:03:04

before we hit record that I keep it on my bedside table and I.

Rachael Botfield: 00:03:07

Read it and I dive into it when I, when I need it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:03:11

And, and the same with your podcast as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:03:13

There are definitely a few of your earlier episodes that I go

Rachael Botfield: 00:03:17

back to that are my favorite ones.

Rachael Botfield: 00:03:18

And the idea for the book came from.

Rachael Botfield: 00:03:21

Season one of your podcast.

Helen Calvert: 00:03:23

It did.

Helen Calvert: 00:03:23

It's funny, you know, Rachael, cause you're not the only person who says

Helen Calvert: 00:03:26

that to me that it's on the bedside table, ready to reach for when needed.

Helen Calvert: 00:03:29

You're definitely not the only person to have said that.

Helen Calvert: 00:03:32

So yes, it very much came from the first season.

Helen Calvert: 00:03:35

It's got some.

Helen Calvert: 00:03:36

Extra bits added in, it's got a bit of my story, it's got a few

Helen Calvert: 00:03:39

other reflections, it's got bits that sort of tie it all together.

Helen Calvert: 00:03:43

But season one was very much the crucial elements to me of being a business

Helen Calvert: 00:03:49

owner and having a happier life.

Helen Calvert: 00:03:51

So it's got all the good business stuff, marketing, networking, productivity, then

Helen Calvert: 00:03:55

it's got all the life stuff, so parenting, sex, relationships, it's got self worth,

Helen Calvert: 00:04:01

it's got money, it's got self care, so all of that good stuff is in the book as well.

Helen Calvert: 00:04:06

And then last year, so 2022, when the book was in production, the second series

Helen Calvert: 00:04:13

of my podcast focused a lot more on what I call the toolkit for a happier life.

Helen Calvert: 00:04:18

So I referenced that early on in the podcast and I talked about how we all

Helen Calvert: 00:04:22

need a toolkit and In that toolkit is all the different things we can pick out on

Helen Calvert: 00:04:27

any given day that might help us to feel better or feel healthier or feel happier.

Helen Calvert: 00:04:32

I'm not a big fan of consistent habits.

Helen Calvert: 00:04:36

We can sort of dig into that a bit more if you want, but I don't

Helen Calvert: 00:04:39

really believe there's one thing that solves everybody's problems.

Helen Calvert: 00:04:42

Like if you just meditate every day or do yoga every day, I think

Helen Calvert: 00:04:46

they're brilliant tools, but there's a time and a place for each one.

Helen Calvert: 00:04:50

So in the second season, I took a load of different tools that

Helen Calvert: 00:04:54

either I know work for me or other people had said work for them.

Helen Calvert: 00:04:58

And I kind of did a bit of a dive into each one and reported back and how it

Helen Calvert: 00:05:02

works and are there any bullshit elements, you know, maybe how it doesn't work.

Helen Calvert: 00:05:06

And we looked at just all the different tools that are available, because I

Helen Calvert: 00:05:10

think when people are feeling stressed or overwhelmed or a bit low, it's easy

Helen Calvert: 00:05:15

to forget what there is that can help.

Helen Calvert: 00:05:17

And everyone kind of thinks, Oh yeah, I'm supposed to exercise.

Helen Calvert: 00:05:20

It's like, well, yeah, but that's just one tool out of

Helen Calvert: 00:05:23

many that are out there for us.

Helen Calvert: 00:05:25

So I really enjoyed doing that as well.

Helen Calvert: 00:05:28

And then this year, series three has been all about our relationship

Helen Calvert: 00:05:32

with ourselves, which again is a whole other huge topic that I've

Helen Calvert: 00:05:35

had a wonderful time diving into.

Helen Calvert: 00:05:37

That's been really interesting.

Rachael Botfield: 00:05:40

Yeah, I love talking about the second series.

Rachael Botfield: 00:05:43

About when you talk about the consistency , doesn't necessarily mean it's every day.

Rachael Botfield: 00:05:48

Like, you know, if you meditate every day, you're going to be okay.

Rachael Botfield: 00:05:51

. You don't always need those tools either, do you?

Rachael Botfield: 00:05:54

There are days where you feel better and you feel like you don't need

Rachael Botfield: 00:05:56

to dive into your toolkit today.

Helen Calvert: 00:05:58

Absolutely.

Helen Calvert: 00:05:59

And as women, we're not consistent, we're cyclical.

Helen Calvert: 00:06:03

So I don't know if this is true.

Helen Calvert: 00:06:06

I've heard, well, this is one of these anecdotal things that I've heard, but

Helen Calvert: 00:06:08

I have heard tell that men actually have a 24 hour hormonal cycle, which

Helen Calvert: 00:06:14

would make sense because that is why they can be consistent because

Helen Calvert: 00:06:17

every day It's the same, whereas regardless of whether that's true or

Helen Calvert: 00:06:22

not, women definitely don't have that.

Helen Calvert: 00:06:24

We have a monthly hormonal cycle.

Helen Calvert: 00:06:26

So trying to be consistent is just, it's setting us up for failure.

Helen Calvert: 00:06:31

And the amount of times somebody says to me, Oh yeah, I started doing Pilates, but

Helen Calvert: 00:06:35

then, Oh, then I kind of got out of it.

Helen Calvert: 00:06:37

And now, Oh, you know, I feel bad about it now.

Helen Calvert: 00:06:40

I don't really want to think about it because I failed.

Helen Calvert: 00:06:42

I stopped doing it.

Helen Calvert: 00:06:43

And I'm like, I assume what happened was you started in your up phase, your inner

Helen Calvert: 00:06:49

spring, if you like, of your menstrual cycle, and then you stopped in your

Helen Calvert: 00:06:53

premenstrual phase, when we don't want to do anything except eat chocolate,

Helen Calvert: 00:06:56

and that's like, totally normal, so just start it again when you're in the mood.

Helen Calvert: 00:07:01

That's how, that's how we work.

Helen Calvert: 00:07:02

It's really important

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:06

to that we're well I know myself, big on that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:11

And I know this is one of your, you know, phrase of be kind,

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:14

excessively kind to yourself.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:16

That is one area that we are not, that we tend to not be kind to ourselves

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:20

about starting these things that are supposed to help us with self care.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:25

And then it turns into something that's not self care at all.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:28

Although we've just made it about.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:30

Something that we've failed at, quote unquote.

Helen Calvert: 00:07:33

We make it into a rule, like, if I try this and I'm not going to

Helen Calvert: 00:07:37

do it because it'll make me feel better.

Helen Calvert: 00:07:39

I'm going to do it because I should do it every day.

Helen Calvert: 00:07:41

Like, I'm going to do this 30 days of yoga.

Helen Calvert: 00:07:44

It's like, well, why don't you just do some yoga and then

Helen Calvert: 00:07:47

tomorrow do something else?

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:50

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:50

There's so many tools.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:52

Yeah, I still find myself falling into that, like, I wanted to do

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:58

stretching every day and I wanted to do walking every day and I was like,

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:00

well, it's just not possible every day because actually things change, things

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:03

happen and my schedule is different.

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:06

Like I can't get out at the same time like every day or

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:09

the same time every week even.

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:11

And yeah, but then you get, beat yourself up about it, but that's, I love that the

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:17

different things that you explored during that series and the different things that

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:21

you tried out to see whether or not you felt it worked for you or whether there

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:24

was a bullshit element to it as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:27

Was the one on like flotation tanks, I remember noticing that one.

Helen Calvert: 00:08:32

Now that's a really good example of what

Helen Calvert: 00:08:34

we're talking about because I happen to enjoy a flotation tank.

Helen Calvert: 00:08:37

I don't do it a lot, but I have done it and I do enjoy it.

Helen Calvert: 00:08:40

Now.

Helen Calvert: 00:08:41

As with all of these tools, but particularly with something like

Helen Calvert: 00:08:44

flotation, where it has a lot of different elements to it that you might or might not

Helen Calvert: 00:08:48

like, it's not going to be for everyone.

Helen Calvert: 00:08:50

And yet the amount of people who felt the need to explain to me

Helen Calvert: 00:08:53

why they couldn't do floating.

Helen Calvert: 00:08:54

And I'm like, it's, it's fine.

Helen Calvert: 00:08:55

It wasn't me telling you you had to, it was me saying you could

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:58

do it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:59

This is, yeah, this is one of the options.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:02

It's not a rule, but we, we seem to be, we, not

Helen Calvert: 00:09:05

consistently, but we seem to be always looking for rules to follow.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:09

It's like, tell me what the rules are and then I'll just follow those rules.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:13

And my only rule, as you say, is to be excessively kind to ourselves.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:17

So I find myself thinking some days I'm achy, I've got a headache.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:23

So I'm like, I definitely need to stretch.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:24

I realize I need to do some stretching.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:26

I don't have to, it doesn't matter if I don't, but it will

Helen Calvert: 00:09:29

make me feel better if I do.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:30

If I'm feeling overwhelmed and my head is absolutely full and you know, those days

Helen Calvert: 00:09:35

where it's just like a clown car inside your brain and it's all going crazy, then

Helen Calvert: 00:09:40

what I actually need to do is sit down with a coloring book and do some coloring.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:44

Or it could be that I need some fresh air, or it could be that I

Helen Calvert: 00:09:46

need a bit more of a break, or it could be that I need to see a friend.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:49

I did that on Sunday.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:51

I was a little bit in my head about things like we get.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:54

And I suddenly had this revelation, Rachael, that I could reach

Helen Calvert: 00:09:57

out to another human being.

Helen Calvert: 00:09:58

Imagine that.

Helen Calvert: 00:10:01

They had a and I must go to the gym.

Helen Calvert: 00:10:05

That's not always the tool that we need to reach for.

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:09

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:09

And I think it's it is important to remember that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:12

And especially like you say, as business owners as well, we often feel like,

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:17

especially solo business owners or with small businesses, you know, a

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:20

lot of the time you're doing it on your own or with a very small team.

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:23

And there's a lot of, and.

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:25

You know, with life, family life, whether you've got kids or not, there's a lot of

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:28

pressure there, and it's easy not to take care of yourself and forget about some of

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:35

the simple things that we could do that could actually just make us feel a bit

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:39

better and be able to deal with the day.

Helen Calvert: 00:10:42

Yeah, absolutely.

Helen Calvert: 00:10:43

And if we think, yeah, this is it.

Helen Calvert: 00:10:45

And if we think of them as just tools that we can pick up and put

Helen Calvert: 00:10:48

down, then there's no pressure.

Helen Calvert: 00:10:49

So if I think to myself, do you know what, I bet if I went for a run,

Helen Calvert: 00:10:54

I'd never think let's go for a run.

Helen Calvert: 00:10:56

Cause I personally am not a runner, but if I thought I bet I'd

Helen Calvert: 00:10:58

feel better if I went for a run.

Helen Calvert: 00:11:00

I just go for a run.

Helen Calvert: 00:11:01

I wouldn't think to myself, Oh, I should do this every day or am

Helen Calvert: 00:11:05

I faster than I was last time?

Helen Calvert: 00:11:06

It's like, just go for a run.

Helen Calvert: 00:11:07

If it feels like it'll make you feel better, do that and

Helen Calvert: 00:11:10

then do something different.

Helen Calvert: 00:11:11

And there's no kind of pressure to have a hobby or be progressing or reach

Helen Calvert: 00:11:17

a certain target unless you want to.

Helen Calvert: 00:11:21

just makes us feel good to begin with.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:24

Yeah, I think some of those things can get completely

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:26

lost you know, depending on things that you might've done in the past, a long

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:30

time ago, so, you know, doing exercise and things like that is something that

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:35

I've gone through different swathes of wanting to do different things and

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:38

now I'm just like, I just want to do something that makes me feel better and

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:41

that's the attitude that I'm trying to have in, in those situations to make.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:46

To just with feeling pressure of business life and, you

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:50

know, all of those family life.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:52

I just wanna do something that makes me feel better.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:54

Yeah, absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:54

And that's where I wanna start.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:55

So I think yeah, the, the series there is really great for helping you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:00

Thank you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:01

You know, look at, explore those different types of things you can do.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:04

So then moving on to the third series.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:06

So how did you, how did you kind of think of the themes for these?

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:09

Did you have these kind of planned out beforehand?

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:12

Or was it like a natural flow of kind of progression between the series?

Helen Calvert: 00:12:16

A natural progression.

Helen Calvert: 00:12:17

I think after the first season.

Helen Calvert: 00:12:19

Because I talked about the tools in our toolkit and I work as a life

Helen Calvert: 00:12:24

coach, so I was dealing with a lot of clients who, I think, one of the things

Helen Calvert: 00:12:29

that came up was people didn't know what their needs were or didn't know.

Helen Calvert: 00:12:35

what would make them feel good, or didn't really know what they enjoyed.

Helen Calvert: 00:12:38

Because I work with a lot of midlife women who, especially if

Helen Calvert: 00:12:42

you've had children, you tend to have lost yourself a little bit.

Helen Calvert: 00:12:44

And you say, well, what do you like doing?

Helen Calvert: 00:12:46

And they're like, I can't remember.

Helen Calvert: 00:12:48

I thought a deep dive into a lot of these tools would be helpful.

Helen Calvert: 00:12:51

It's like a little tick list reminder of this is what we could do to enjoy life or

Helen Calvert: 00:12:56

feel better or get healthy or whatever.

Helen Calvert: 00:12:58

And then for this current season, season three, By the time I came to be planning

Helen Calvert: 00:13:04

this one out, the work I'd done with my clients, it was so apparent that the

Helen Calvert: 00:13:09

absolute silver bullet for everything is the relationship we have with ourselves.

Helen Calvert: 00:13:14

There's nothing more important or more fundamental to our healing,

Helen Calvert: 00:13:18

our happiness, our success.

Helen Calvert: 00:13:21

So that just became an obvious choice for what I wanted to dive into.

Helen Calvert: 00:13:25

And it's been really interesting because I've kind of done it with my audience.

Helen Calvert: 00:13:31

So some of it was things that I'd thought about a lot and other things

Helen Calvert: 00:13:34

were like, well, let's do this together and have a little think about what

Helen Calvert: 00:13:38

this means and dive into it a bit.

Helen Calvert: 00:13:39

But it's been so, to be honest, I think season three is almost like a little

Helen Calvert: 00:13:44

self directed coaching course at this point, because it takes you all the

Helen Calvert: 00:13:47

way through sort of meeting yourself.

Helen Calvert: 00:13:50

Who are you?

Helen Calvert: 00:13:51

What do you value?

Helen Calvert: 00:13:52

What are your boundaries?

Helen Calvert: 00:13:54

Allowing ourselves, allowing our emotions, kind of seeing ourselves

Helen Calvert: 00:13:59

just all kinds of different.

Helen Calvert: 00:14:01

Areas of who we are, and then it gradually brings us towards sort of more nitty

Helen Calvert: 00:14:06

gritty, if you like, like body image a bit about our mental health, a bit

Helen Calvert: 00:14:10

about our money mindset blocks and then for the business owners amongst us, a

Helen Calvert: 00:14:15

little bit about promoting ourselves.

Helen Calvert: 00:14:18

So it's just everything to do with how we see ourselves and how we look

Helen Calvert: 00:14:21

after ourselves, because I really don't think there's anything more important.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:26

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:27

Those are, I was having a little quick look through and the, you

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:31

know, the topics that you've been doing and yeah, it's really

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:34

interesting what you're talking about.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:36

And I do love how the whole seasons have flowed from where you're going to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:41

And of course, when you're talking about, you know, you're taking, you

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:44

know a guide from your audience and then, and the people that you're

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:47

helping, which are the people that are listening to your podcasts.

Helen Calvert: 00:14:50

You know, women like us.

Helen Calvert: 00:14:51

It's a lovely kind of cyclical thing because people who listen to my podcasts

Helen Calvert: 00:14:54

become my clients and as I work with them, they give me ideas for podcasts.

Helen Calvert: 00:14:57

So it kind of goes round and round, which is lovely.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:00

Certainly this season we've had a look at healthy and unhealthy relationships.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:05

Because that's something I talk about with my clients a lot.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:08

And I know some of my audience, I think one audience member said that she'd found.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:14

I think she used the word triggering.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:17

I'm almost certain she did.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:17

She said she'd found one episode a bit triggering, you

Helen Calvert: 00:15:19

know, like a bit confronting.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:21

But it was exactly what she needed to listen to that day.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:25

So I said, well, I feel like my work here is done really, because I don't

Helen Calvert: 00:15:28

want it to be such a fluffy, easy listen that it doesn't make you think at all.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:32

But equally, I don't want to be upsetting anyone.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:34

But she said, no, no, it was just what I wanted to hear.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:36

I just need to kind of take a minute and think it through.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:39

So it's like, yeah, that's, that's what I'm here for.

Helen Calvert: 00:15:41

I think.

Rachael Botfield: 00:15:43

That's great direction then from people who are listening.

Rachael Botfield: 00:15:45

Cause , you're creating episodes and talking about topics that are relevant

Rachael Botfield: 00:15:50

to, to what they want to hear about.

Rachael Botfield: 00:15:52

Not necessarily the easy thing.

Rachael Botfield: 00:15:54

And like when you talk about saying, you know, it sounds simple, but

Rachael Botfield: 00:15:58

it's not necessarily easy to do.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:01

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:01

You think, Oh yeah, well, I've just got to do that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:04

Have I?

Helen Calvert: 00:16:04

Yeah, I've just got to figure out what my

Helen Calvert: 00:16:06

values are and live them up.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:07

According to them.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:08

Oh, that's a piece of cake.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:09

Yeah.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:10

Yeah.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:10

Simple to say what you need to do.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:12

Write them down.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:13

Yeah, exactly.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:14

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:15

Yeah, I love that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:16

And talking of kind of your community and your listeners, how have you

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:20

found Has there been a lot of growth in your, in your podcast and

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:24

your community in the last year?

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:25

I know you have a Facebook group that goes alongside the podcast

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:29

so people can come in and talk to you or each other about the

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:32

different topics that have come up.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:34

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:34

So how have you kind of found that over the last kind of 12 months?

Helen Calvert: 00:16:37

It's been really interesting actually, Rachael,

Helen Calvert: 00:16:39

because I do have a Facebook group, the Happier Life Facebook group,

Helen Calvert: 00:16:42

and anyone's welcome to join.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:44

And it's, it's got, you know, a few hundred members and it's

Helen Calvert: 00:16:47

actually a really engaged group.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:48

So in terms of.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:50

participation in the group, it's brilliant, and I do get a

Helen Calvert: 00:16:52

lot of good feedback in there.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:54

But it's a drop in the ocean compared to the download numbers I've got.

Helen Calvert: 00:16:57

I've actually got really healthy, I'm surprised by my download numbers,

Helen Calvert: 00:17:02

but I think that's really interesting because in my show notes it mentions

Helen Calvert: 00:17:06

the Facebook group, when I send out my emails promoting my episodes that

Helen Calvert: 00:17:10

mentions the Facebook group and I also talk about how you can leave feedback

Helen Calvert: 00:17:15

and different things like that.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:16

But I think like, I listen to podcasts myself and hardly

Helen Calvert: 00:17:19

ever read the show notes.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:21

I probably am not on a mailing list for the hosts.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:24

So I think a lot of people listen and never really become part of a

Helen Calvert: 00:17:28

community, which on the one hand, it's lovely that they're out there.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:31

But on the other hand, it's like, come, come and talk to me.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:34

I want to hear more from you.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:36

So I think, I suspect a lot of podcast hosts would probably say this.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:40

It's converting those listener numbers to an engaged community.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:45

And.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:45

I don't have to, you know, my listeners are very welcome to just

Helen Calvert: 00:17:48

listen and carry on with their lives.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:50

They don't have to engage with me in any other way, but I'm curious.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:53

I want to know a bit more about them.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:55

I'm fascinated to know who's, who's listening.

Helen Calvert: 00:17:57

One thing that did make a difference was actually a

Helen Calvert: 00:18:01

fortuitous bit of free advertising.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:04

I think I'd seen someone post somewhere like they do that somebody was looking for

Helen Calvert: 00:18:08

books to review for psychologies magazine.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:11

So I submitted mine.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:13

And nothing came of that.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:14

They obviously had, you know, plenty of books to choose from, but the woman came

Helen Calvert: 00:18:18

back to me and I think I'd mentioned my podcast and she said, Oh, but I'll,

Helen Calvert: 00:18:21

I'll pop your podcast in the magazine.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:23

So she just literally on their podcast review page, but a tiny little thing

Helen Calvert: 00:18:27

directing people to my podcast, but my listener numbers jumped and it

Helen Calvert: 00:18:31

really showed me that, you know, a recommendation in, a trusted publication

Helen Calvert: 00:18:36

obviously made a big difference and people reading Psychologies magazine,

Helen Calvert: 00:18:40

they're interested in personal growth.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:41

They're interested in how people work.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:43

So it was ideal.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:45

And so, yeah, that was very interesting.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:46

But I think there is definitely a discrepancy now between my, what

Helen Calvert: 00:18:50

I think of as my community and the actual number of listeners.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:53

Whereas at the start, the two were one in the same for sure.

Helen Calvert: 00:18:57

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:58

That's interesting.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:59

I think you're right.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:00

If I think about the podcast that I listen to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:04

I'm, some of them I am part of the community, but some of them I'm not.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:09

So I guess it depends on the reason that you're listening to that podcast, I guess.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:13

So, you know, like yours is about as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:17

So something like, you know, different style of podcast, maybe there wouldn't be.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:23

The want?

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:24

I mean, I suppose there's always a want for community because it's always nice

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:26

to find your people around, you know, the subject that you're talking about,

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:31

but I suppose it depends on how many of those people, I don't know, some

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:36

people just like listening and lurking.

Helen Calvert: 00:19:40

If I like someone that I'm listening to or if I'm watching

Helen Calvert: 00:19:43

a TV show that I enjoy or anything.

Helen Calvert: 00:19:45

I'm more likely to look them up on Instagram and follow them there.

Helen Calvert: 00:19:48

And I do every now and again get, you know, Instagram followers that I've no

Helen Calvert: 00:19:52

earthly idea where they've come from.

Helen Calvert: 00:19:53

Maybe that's where they come from.

Helen Calvert: 00:19:55

Maybe they're listening to them find me on Insta rather than

Helen Calvert: 00:19:57

wanting to find me any other way.

Helen Calvert: 00:19:59

I do wonder though, for people who are not...

Helen Calvert: 00:20:01

You know, not really into podcasts.

Helen Calvert: 00:20:03

have never had one have never produced one.

Helen Calvert: 00:20:06

I do often wonder whether people even know what we mean

Helen Calvert: 00:20:09

when we talk about show notes.

Helen Calvert: 00:20:10

It's only because I listen to Tim Ferriss and he used to talk about his show

Helen Calvert: 00:20:14

notes all the time and how there was all this other information there that I

Helen Calvert: 00:20:17

figured out how to find them on Spotify.

Helen Calvert: 00:20:19

Before then, I had no idea that there were such things as show notes.

Helen Calvert: 00:20:22

So maybe a lot of listeners just have no idea they can find other

Helen Calvert: 00:20:25

information on the episode.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:27

Yeah, I mean, I know that a lot of the bigger podcasts,

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:31

so some of the, like one of the ones I listen to Go Love Yourself on Spotify,

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:36

they only have a very small description and then they don't actually have

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:40

any show notes or description really.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:43

. And I myself use my, put my full kind of show notes as my description.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:49

And somebody in my podcast community was talking about how he has a

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:53

shorter description, but then links to full show notes in that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:58

So you would put a link and say, you see the full show notes here.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:01

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:01

So I guess it depends on how much information you're planning

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:04

on putting in your show notes.

Helen Calvert: 00:21:07

I mean, this year I've started taking a little bit of sponsorship

Helen Calvert: 00:21:12

for my episodes, which is really exciting.

Helen Calvert: 00:21:14

So of course I want to make sure that my sponsors get noticed and I

Helen Calvert: 00:21:17

talk about them at the show notes.

Helen Calvert: 00:21:21

To make sure people can find those the sponsors there.

Helen Calvert: 00:21:25

So that's another use for it.

Helen Calvert: 00:21:27

The other thing that people understandably get confused

Helen Calvert: 00:21:30

about is how to leave a review.

Helen Calvert: 00:21:32

Because of course you can leave a review on Apple, can't leave a review

Helen Calvert: 00:21:35

on Spotify, but you can leave a five star, or maybe you can leave a comment,

Helen Calvert: 00:21:38

but you can't leave, it's really complicated where and how you can review.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:43

I absolutely, I was going to ask you about that because

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:46

this came up the other week as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:48

So one thing that somebody did say to me do you, how do, who

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:52

do you use to host your podcast?

Helen Calvert: 00:21:55

I have a producer, the lovely Lisa.

Helen Calvert: 00:21:58

So I would have to direct you to her to answer that question

Helen Calvert: 00:22:01

because Rachael has no bloody idea.

Helen Calvert: 00:22:05

I send my stuff to her and she does something magic and

Helen Calvert: 00:22:08

it appears on the internet.

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:10

Brilliant.

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:11

So so I don't know if you've heard of, well, Spotify have, they used to call it

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:15

Anchor, but it's Spotify for podcasters.

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:17

So, like, I use Captivate to host this podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:20

But when you distribute it, which is what your producer would do,

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:24

you link it all up to the different platforms and it appears there.

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:27

But a tip that somebody gave me, so in Spotify if you have a Spotify for

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:32

podcasters account, and not just link it through your hosting platform because they

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:37

like, they provide like a link to Spotify.

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:40

You can put you can add polls and you can ask people to leave, people can

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:44

leave a comment on the episode now.

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:47

So what I did the other day was I literally just...

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:50

went to create an account with them and added my RSS feed and it

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:54

pulled all the information and then it should now with, if somebody

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:58

listened to my podcast on Spotify, it should come up with the comment box.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:04

So even if you're not hosting it on there fully.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:07

Yeah, it comes up with that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:08

So you can ask a poll question or you can ask a standard question.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:12

I think like, you know, what did you think of this episode?

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:14

Or you can put a specific question.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:16

Oh, that's a great idea.

Helen Calvert: 00:23:17

I'm glad they pulled that through because I also have the

Helen Calvert: 00:23:20

episodes on my website and they, they go onto my website in the same way

Helen Calvert: 00:23:24

that you would put up a blog post.

Helen Calvert: 00:23:26

So there's the option to comment on each of those if people

Helen Calvert: 00:23:29

find the episode they like.

Helen Calvert: 00:23:30

on my website.

Helen Calvert: 00:23:31

But yeah, it isn't always clear to people how they can leave feedback.

Helen Calvert: 00:23:34

And of course, as podcasters, we want feedback.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:37

We love feedback.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:39

Oh, absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:40

I really struggled to to get reviews.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:43

I, I direct people to Podchaser.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:45

So I claimed my podcast on Podchaser and you can go on there and rate and

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:50

review other podcasts you've listened to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:52

So I actually, I think I have two there now.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:55

One lady I was talking to, we said, Right.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:57

We were listening to this podcast and I said, we're going

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:59

to go ahead and leave a review.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:02

So I always try to, because I know that I would like people to leave podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:07

So, and when I do listen to episodes, I, I do, I think I need to write a

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:13

review, but I tend to listen in Google app and my phone, and that's awful.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:18

You can't leave anything in Google, in the Google.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:19

I don't, I can't actually figure it out.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:22

So I'm just like, and I don't have Apple, so I can't just leave.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:26

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:27

So I can't just leave a review.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:28

I always do the follow and do if I've listened to it in Spotify, but I often

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:32

don't listen in Spotify, but I've, I mean, I have a bit of industry news.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:35

Someone sent me the other week.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:36

I think Google podcast is going, it's been absorbed into YouTube.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:41

So that won't be available much longer.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:45

So I guess I would have to change my app.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:48

So perhaps.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:49

With Spotify adding that feature.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:51

I know in Podbean I listened to someone's podcast in there, they

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:55

had some kind of feature, but I found the whole website quite busy.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:59

Like it wasn't, I didn't find it very user

Helen Calvert: 00:25:02

friendly.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:02

There's so, as well now for listening to the, that's why we say, isn't it?

Helen Calvert: 00:25:05

Listen, wherever you get your podcast, 'cause there's so many

Helen Calvert: 00:25:08

places people can get their podcast

Helen Calvert: 00:25:10

. Rachael Botfield: Yeah.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:10

I, I must say, I dunno what the review is like on, you know, the Stitcher

Helen Calvert: 00:25:15

and geezer and stuff, I guess.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:17

I should probably have a look and see whether there's any

Helen Calvert: 00:25:19

functionality within that.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:20

But you would think it would make it easy.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:23

They would, the apps would make it easier for you to listen because

Helen Calvert: 00:25:28

you want to keep people on your platform and if people can leave

Helen Calvert: 00:25:31

reviews, surely that would help drive.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:35

Podcast listens as well because people are going to be coming

Helen Calvert: 00:25:37

back and listen to that.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:40

So if you're listening, anyone from anywhere else, make it easier.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:45

That's just, that's just the inside of confusion of

Helen Calvert: 00:25:47

hosts not knowing how things work.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:49

So goodness knows how listeners are supposed to know how things work.

Helen Calvert: 00:25:51

Yeah,

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:53

absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:54

But I think leaving like I say, I leave a link to Podchaser.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:57

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:57

You couldn't.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:58

It makes it very difficult, well if you're on Spotify, do this, if you're on so and

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:02

so, do this, it makes it very convoluted, and ideally you only want to leave a

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:07

single call to action or a single thing for somebody to do, because otherwise

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:12

it's like, no, there's too much here to do, and I would find that as well, if you

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:16

go, oh no, I only want to do one thing,

Helen Calvert: 00:26:18

I don't, you know, we haven't got time for

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:20

more than one thing, no, yeah, exactly, that's it, you've

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:23

only just had a chance to listen to the episode, now I've got to do

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:27

all of this so yeah, reviews is one thing I, I thought about as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:34

So how do you feel with your podcast and your business?

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:38

Do you feel that they are?

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:41

Well, they still, they still sound like they're very aligned with

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:44

what you are doing as a business.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:46

Like how do you feel that the podcast supports your business?

Helen Calvert: 00:26:50

Yeah, it all, it all fits together quite nicely

Helen Calvert: 00:26:53

actually, Rachael and I've, I've seen how it works as I've gone along.

Helen Calvert: 00:26:56

What does happen sometimes people listen to the podcast and then they

Helen Calvert: 00:27:01

inquire and they want to become a client, which is obviously fantastic.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:05

What also happens though is that.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:07

It can be a really good kind of taster for people.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:11

So I'll often get people say, Oh, my friend, so and so, you know,

Helen Calvert: 00:27:14

she, she should coach with you.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:15

And you always think does poor so and so realize they should coach

Helen Calvert: 00:27:18

me, or is this just your opinion?

Helen Calvert: 00:27:20

But, you know, fair enough.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:20

But I always say, well, get her to listen to the podcast, because that gives people

Helen Calvert: 00:27:25

a really good indication of who podcast.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:30

That's what you get when you coach with me.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:32

So equally, if you don't like it, people can kind of self select away

Helen Calvert: 00:27:36

and I never have to hear about it, but it's like, right, I had to listen.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:40

Nope.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:40

Can't stand her or, oh my goodness, absolutely love her.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:42

And then that kind of helps people to understand if they

Helen Calvert: 00:27:45

would want to work with me or not.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:46

So for that, I think it's been brilliant.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:49

And then the book obviously, you know, goes alongside that

Helen Calvert: 00:27:53

compliments that very nicely.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:54

I've had a fair few speaking opportunities over the last 12 months.

Helen Calvert: 00:27:59

And I've definitely found that that is when I sell the most books, because people

Helen Calvert: 00:28:04

will hear me speak and then, Oh, okay.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:06

Really like your style.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:07

Definitely interested in the book.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:09

And I've got some bookmarks with links to like a QR code on for the podcast as well.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:13

So again, that brings in listeners cause they've enjoyed hearing me speak.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:16

So they want to hear a bit more of what I'm doing.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:18

So it does, it all kind of pulls together really nicely.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:22

And It was all pulling together so nicely, Rachael, that I decided to do something

Helen Calvert: 00:28:26

else because why would we ever want to be bored or not have enough to do?

Helen Calvert: 00:28:31

So I decided that in April 2024, I'm bringing the podcast to a live event

Helen Calvert: 00:28:37

and I'm doing the Happier Life Live two day event in Manchester in April.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:43

As I say, because clearly I was I needed more things to do.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:48

But I'm hugely excited about it.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:50

And what's lovely about that, just going back to what we

Helen Calvert: 00:28:53

were saying about community.

Helen Calvert: 00:28:55

Because my Facebook group, my community have been with me since the podcast.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:01

When I started talking about doing an event, they got it immediately.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:04

You know, sometimes you're like, I've got this brilliant idea,

Helen Calvert: 00:29:06

but no one seems to understand.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:08

But no, this time around, everyone totally got it straight away.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:10

And it's been really exciting because people have been very enthusiastic and

Helen Calvert: 00:29:15

keen to sort of see it all brought to life and have other speakers, but on

Helen Calvert: 00:29:19

the same sort of topics I talk about.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:21

So yeah, so that's happening next year, apparently.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:26

Wow.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:26

That sounds fabulous.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:27

So a live, are you going to record an episode at the live event?

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:31

No, it's not.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:33

You're just going to do the.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:34

Yeah.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:34

It's kind of linked to the podcast in the sense that if you love the podcast,

Helen Calvert: 00:29:38

you'll love the event and the event is for and about my podcast listeners.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:42

completely.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:43

But no, we won't be recording at the event.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:44

I'll be speaking.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:45

I've got a lineup of other amazing speakers and much like,

Helen Calvert: 00:29:49

well, exactly like the podcast.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:51

It's not a business event, but most of the people there will be female business

Helen Calvert: 00:29:55

owners because that's my audience.

Helen Calvert: 00:29:58

So there'll be a lot of talk as if people are self employed, for

Helen Calvert: 00:30:02

instance, even though employed people are more than welcome.

Helen Calvert: 00:30:04

There'll be a lot of talk as if everyone is.

Helen Calvert: 00:30:08

You know, female, although every gender is welcome, you know, but it's

Helen Calvert: 00:30:11

just that happens to be my audience.

Helen Calvert: 00:30:14

But I think it's going to be really, it's going to be really good.

Helen Calvert: 00:30:17

We're going to have a lot of people there talking about the different tools

Helen Calvert: 00:30:20

that we were talking about earlier.

Helen Calvert: 00:30:21

The different tools for wellbeing and happiness and just all the things I

Helen Calvert: 00:30:25

talk about kind of my, my core values of freedom, passion, joy, adventure, owning

Helen Calvert: 00:30:31

our own story, all that good stuff.

Helen Calvert: 00:30:32

Of course, excessive kindness.

Helen Calvert: 00:30:34

So I'm very, very excited.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:37

Oh, that does sound exciting.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:39

Well, if, if you would like to leave any.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:42

If there's any links, any more information, I can pop those in

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:45

the show notes or the description.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:47

Yes.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:47

Well, yeah.

Helen Calvert: 00:30:49

And those, it's actually, I don't, I don't want to sound too cocky

Helen Calvert: 00:30:52

because these things never, never sell out straight away, but it's selling quite

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:56

quickly.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:58

Quietly confident,

Helen Calvert: 00:31:00

but yes, I will definitely give you the link to

Helen Calvert: 00:31:02

where people can get tickets.

Helen Calvert: 00:31:04

Yeah, where

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:05

is the event?

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:05

Just out of interest.

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:06

You said Manchester, but what kind of venue is it at?

Helen Calvert: 00:31:09

Yeah, so it's in Greater Manchester.

Helen Calvert: 00:31:10

So it's actually in Sale, where I live, which is part of Greater Manchester.

Helen Calvert: 00:31:13

And this is, this is one of the reasons this event seems to have come together

Helen Calvert: 00:31:17

because My network now, I seem to know everyone who has anything useful to

Helen Calvert: 00:31:22

offer for such a thing, because one of my friends is hugely connected to

Helen Calvert: 00:31:27

the Trafford Metrovic's rugby club.

Helen Calvert: 00:31:29

So as soon as I mentioned this, she said, Oh, come and see the rugby club.

Helen Calvert: 00:31:32

It would be perfect.

Helen Calvert: 00:31:33

And I went down there and it is perfect.

Helen Calvert: 00:31:35

It's got, it's got what people actually want at these events.

Helen Calvert: 00:31:40

Because we've all been to a lot of these events and sometimes they can be, you

Helen Calvert: 00:31:43

know, in gorgeous hotel type venues in the centre of town, but there's

Helen Calvert: 00:31:49

no parking, or there's no outside space, or, you know, it's not ideal.

Helen Calvert: 00:31:53

Whereas this, it's a lovely venue inside, but then outside, it's

Helen Calvert: 00:31:58

obviously got the rugby pitches, it's right by the river, lots of parking.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:01

Nice loos, Rachael, which apparently people told me was very important.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:04

It's got to be nice loos.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:06

So I checked the loos.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:07

The loos are acceptable.

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:10

So

Helen Calvert: 00:32:11

it's got all these things that people actually care about, you know,

Helen Calvert: 00:32:13

but it's a really, really friendly team.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:15

They're taking very good care of me.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:16

So I know we're going to make it into something really special.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:20

Oh, fantastic.

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:21

Well, best of luck with all the planning

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:23

and everything to do the event.

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:25

I'll have to take a look about when it is myself, see whether

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:28

or not I can make, yeah, to, to make the trip up to to Manchester.

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:32

I've not been able to make any of the events that you do.

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:35

And also Caroline Boardman, who is how I met you originally.

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:41

Through like the organized entrepreneurs club Caroline Boardman is my accountant.

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:46

And that's, I know that you guys also do some events, which is together, which

Helen Calvert: 00:32:52

is a lovely community.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:52

I mean, I, I joke, but she really is my business wife.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:55

She's my accountant as well.

Helen Calvert: 00:32:56

I'm her coach or one of her coaches and we run the organized

Helen Calvert: 00:33:00

entrepreneurs club together.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:01

And that is a network of.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:03

Our clients, our team, our suppliers.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:06

So genuinely our network, there's no one in there that doesn't actually work with

Helen Calvert: 00:33:10

us or we work with them in some capacity.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:12

And that's, I mean, that's another community that's just been absolutely

Helen Calvert: 00:33:16

fantastic and we have done events.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:19

We've done some down South.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:20

We do a lot up North where we live.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:22

We try and.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:23

Kind of reach out as much as we can, but there's only two of us,

Helen Calvert: 00:33:25

but we absolutely love it because it's such a supportive community.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:29

So yeah, watch this space for different OEC things coming up next year as well.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:33

We have plans.

Helen Calvert: 00:33:34

We always have plans, Caroline and me.

Rachael Botfield: 00:33:37

Well, it's lovely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:33:38

And I always I was, I was actually, I emailed her the other

Rachael Botfield: 00:33:41

day, actually, because I was recommending someone and I met.

Rachael Botfield: 00:33:44

A lady called Jenny who was also Caroline's, she introduced me

Rachael Botfield: 00:33:48

to a different networking group.

Rachael Botfield: 00:33:49

So we're part of the WIBN now, I found a group of ladies there as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:33:53

So it was really nice to kind of like have a bit of a full circle.

Rachael Botfield: 00:33:56

Yeah, you know, meeting different people and.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:00

you know, recommending because Caroline was recommended to me by

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:03

a fellow VA that I knew as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:05

So it's yeah, it's all really lovely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:07

And it's it's nice to be part of that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:09

I just love how Caroline worked and got me involved when I, when I signed up

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:13

with her and she's good with you as well.

Helen Calvert: 00:34:16

She's fantastic.

Helen Calvert: 00:34:17

She really has created something.

Helen Calvert: 00:34:19

Brilliant for, again, not just for female entrepreneurs, but that is a lot

Helen Calvert: 00:34:23

of her client base and she just takes such good care of us, doesn't she?

Helen Calvert: 00:34:27

So thank goodness.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:27

Yeah, absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:29

I know everything is sorted.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:31

I have full confidence in Caroline.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:35

It's brilliant.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:36

Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing all about your

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:39

journey in the past 12, 18 months.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:42

Just wanted to ask one last thing.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:44

What's your biggest learn from your podcast kind of as a

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:48

whole or in the last 12 months.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:50

Yeah,

Helen Calvert: 00:34:51

that's a good one.

Helen Calvert: 00:34:52

And it's something that some people don't have to learn.

Helen Calvert: 00:34:56

But with my kind of brain I have had to learn to reach out and talk

Helen Calvert: 00:35:00

to other people, which is not news to many people, but to me it is.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:04

What I mean by that is that I am the kind of person who will plan everything

Helen Calvert: 00:35:08

out in my own head, which is what I did with the first series of the podcast.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:12

I had it all planned out what I was going to do and it went brilliantly.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:15

You know, it's great.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:16

But I've realized that there is so much power in reaching out to your

Helen Calvert: 00:35:21

audience, asking them what they want, asking them what they would

Helen Calvert: 00:35:25

enjoy, especially with this event.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:27

It's been very collaborative and listening and thinking about,

Helen Calvert: 00:35:30

you know, other people's views.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:32

And like I say, with this venue, you know, when I actually asked

Helen Calvert: 00:35:35

what do people want in a venue, it wasn't what I thought it would be.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:38

So I've reached out to talk about.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:41

What season four of the podcast is going to be about.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:43

And again, some of it's like, Oh yeah, that's what I thought.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:45

And other things, Oh yeah.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:47

Wouldn't have thought of that.

Helen Calvert: 00:35:48

So I have definitely learned to trust in my audience as much as they trust in

Helen Calvert: 00:35:54

me, which I think is a really important learning because yeah, we're all just

Helen Calvert: 00:35:58

stronger if we work together, aren't we?

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:02

Absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:02

I do.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:02

That's a great, a great a great learn reaching out.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:06

Sometimes it is easy to forget to speak to people.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:10

You become, you know, insular in your planning.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:14

Especially if we're working at home alone.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:15

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:16

I often find myself doing this and I found that within my business as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:20

And you think, Oh, why can't I?

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:23

Why is no, why am I not getting any, Oh, because I'm not talking to anybody.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:26

I've not gone out and actually had lovely conversations with people

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:32

because I'm not talking to them.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:33

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:33

So I remember that last year I did that a lot.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:36

And this year I've really pushed myself to . And I've really enjoyed it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:40

I have really enjoyed it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:41

I do find it quite draining sometimes.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:43

Like I did a conference a few weeks ago, which was such a fantastic day, but after

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:47

talking to lots of different people and it was, I had an expert pod and I was

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:51

so over the moon that I was booked out.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:53

I was so pleased.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:54

I was so very worried.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:55

I had no one would book in with me and I was very scared.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:58

You know, it's one of those things like, well, what if no one comes?

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:01

So that was such a lovely surprise.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:02

It was wonderful.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:03

But yeah, I was, I was very drained the next day.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:06

day, but I did feel a real big sense of achievement for actually I've built

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:09

up this year to go and speak to people.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:12

And there was lots of women there who were just like us and they wanted to

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:15

start their podcasts and they just didn't know where to start and that is.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:18

You know, that's what I want to help with, getting,

Helen Calvert: 00:37:21

you know.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:22

And I think you're so right there, Rachael.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:24

We have to block out time after things like that to recover.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:27

It's so important.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:28

You can't just push on through after something as draining as that.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:31

You need a bit of time to rest and recuperate.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:33

Even if it's been brilliant.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:34

Well, maybe especially if you've been brilliant, because that's just as

Helen Calvert: 00:37:36

exhausting as if it doesn't go well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:39

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:39

Cause you, you kind of want to high and you're like, Oh, cause I've got a back

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:42

and I was like, Oh, this is so great.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:45

It's such a great day.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:45

But yeah, I was like, Oh no, I need to, I need to wind up and chill out after that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:50

But yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:52

So get out there and talk to people.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:54

Absolutely.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:54

Yes.

Helen Calvert: 00:37:55

Top tip.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:56

Top tip.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:57

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:57

Brilliant.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:57

Well, thanks again, Helen.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:58

It's been lovely chatting to you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:38:00

Maybe we look at each other in another year's time and see where you are

Rachael Botfield: 00:38:03

then and see how your events gone on.

Rachael Botfield: 00:38:05

That'd be fantastic.

Helen Calvert: 00:38:06

Oh, thank you so much for having me, Rachael.

Helen Calvert: 00:38:08

It's been a really lovely time.

Helen Calvert: 00:38:10

. Take care, Helen.

Helen Calvert: 00:38:11

And you.

Helen Calvert: 00:38:12

Bye bye.