The Rise Of Podcasts For The Female Entrepreneur

Podcasts are not new, and for the last ten years it has mostly been a male dominated media. When you look at the top podcasts in iTunes, gender inequity still exists but the good news is we’re beginning to see a shift in the last couple of years with the rise of podcasts created for women by women (particularly for female business owners). Some of them have become my go-to resource and sets the tone for a great work day.

There is a fast growing choice of new podcasts targeting women in business, and they have given me a new way to soak up valuable information without having to be seated at my desk or be one place to get the information I need. It's the closest thing to sitting down for a coffee or carpooling with a motivational speaker or your favorite influencer. Plus it relieves the guilt I feel when I should be getting on with more pressing work instead of trying to read an informative article in Fast Company magazine.

As a busy mom of two young children I savor the art of reading (I mean proper reading, not just scanning) but something that was once an everyday exercise has become a rare guilty pleasure. Now it is something that I can only do before bed (when I am trying to switch off from work) or at weekends when I am constantly being interrupted by snack requests. Now I can do a lot of my research for work through listening to podcasts, while multitasking (making snacks, cleaning, driving to the office, etc). And, I love that I have my evenings and weekends for more recreational reading (well mostly).

Why are women particularly business owners gravitating towards these types of podcasts?

From talking to other business owners, particularly females juggling work and family, it’s not surprising that they are relying on podcasts to gather information and inspiration while they multitask throughout their day. While as a working community, we’ve made progress toward equality, in many cases women business owners are often still the ones responsible for the school run, grocery shopping, and weekly chores around the house. Podcasting provides us a way to get those things done while still continuing to widen our business horizons.

Listening to other people who are in the same boat as you creates a feeling of support and connection, something that women entrepreneurs especially need. The insights we get from other women sharing topics that we talk and think about everyday makes the small business world a bit smaller.

My Top Three Podcast for Women Business Owners:

Being Boss:

My podcast obsession started when two of my favorite creative business owners collaborated on a podcast together called Being Boss. Being Boss is a podcast for creative entrepreneurs by branding expert Kathleen Shannon and web strategist and designer Emily Thompson who have had a great variety of guests including Brene Brown, Paul Jarvis, Melissa Hartwig, Val Geisler, Danielle Krysa and more. They have grown a community of loyal listeners who tune in religiously (like us here at Prim’d Marketing), and continue the conversation on their Facebook group. Also subscribers get exclusive bonus episodes and pre-released information about their Being Boss Vacays. Jenni and I were fortunate to go to their first trip to New Orleans in October and have signed up for their next one in the Spring! As their podcasts have created an amazing community we want to be part of.

Emily Thompson & Kathleen Shannon with their Being Boss podcast listeners in Nola

 

I thought I would share my two of my favorite podcasts that I am listening to at the moment that shine a light on entrepreneurs following their passion and doing inspiring things:

After The Jump With Grace Bonney

I have been a huge fan of Grace’s blog Design Sponge for the past 5 years so when I came across her After The Jump podcast I was delighted. Two of my favorite episodes is Growing Your Business With Purpose without losing the original spirit featuring Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito of Baked Bakery, Becoming Your Brand with Design Sponge managing editor Amy Azzarito:

“ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT BEING AN EXPERT IS THAT YOU NEVER WANT TO STOP LEARNING. EVEN IF THIS IS YOUR FIELD OF EXPERTISE, YOU’RE ALWAYS GOING TO WANT TO WORK TO BETTER YOURSELF.” [8:25] — AMY AZZARITO ON AFTER THE JUMP”

Grace has a huge archive of episodes to choose from (since 2011) that covers categories like business growth, work and life balance, finances, social media, design, publishing, blogging, film making, photography etc. so enjoy pouring through the rich and inspiring content on there!

#Girlboss radio

I was tardy to the #Girlboss party because I was initially under the impression that Sophia Amoruso, the Nasty Gal founder and author of #Girlboss was just just targeting millennials.T hat was until I went to see her at a recent book signing at a local bookstore (that was a family affair as they live locally). I heard her read extracts from the book and answer questions (including my own about her yet to be launched podcasts) and realized she was smart woman who is passionate about her evolving brand with deadpan humor and razor sharp attitude. Sophia is also someone who has the perfect voice and tone for podcasts (I tend to switch off high pitched voices and bad audio).

#girlboss radio started just six weeks ago and Sophia’s first guest was actress Charlize Theron. Since then, she has interviewed a variety of girl bosses including a YouTube personality, an author, screenwriter, director, celebrity nail artist and her own Nasty Gal CEO, Sheree Waterson (my favorite episode so far that I highly recommend).

Sophia Amoruso interviewing Grace Helbig on #GirlbossRadio 

For those of you who have been resisting podcasting, or just haven’t fallen in love with them, I’m rounding out this blog post with my top five favorite things about podcasts:

5 Best Things About Podcasts:

1. Female Equality: Women hosted podcasts are creating a gender balance in radio and expanding the podcast audience and inspiring women!
2. Listen On-Demand: you can listen to podcasts on your mobile when you want to and in whatever sequence you want.
3. Updates Make It Easy: thanks to RSS Feeds when you subscribe to a channel on your iOS’s My Podcasts app and the latest episodes automatically appears.
4. Perfect For Multitasking : You don’t have to be sat at your desk or glued to a screen to get the information like reading a blog or watching a video. You can listen to podcasts while you multitask such as making food, doing laundry, driving, taking a walk, working out, and helps time go quicklier when doing menial tasks such as standing in line or being stuck in traffic.
5. Affordable: Podcast are FREE

I’d love to hear which podcasts you’re listening to at the moment? Also what are you doing while listening to them?

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