Help I Swiped Right - Help Here's Ten Lessons I've Learnt From Creating a Podcast

Episode Date: February 1, 2026

Help...it's the finale of Season Two of Help I Swiped Right!In this ep I share ten lessons that I have learnt from making my own podcast.Thank you so much for listening to Help I Swiped RightIt's bye for now as I prepare to launch my next side hussle... I would love to come back for S3 so watch this space....but it will be an extended breakAs ever, DM me @HelpISwipedRight on Instagram or email me at [e-mail] of love,SJam

Hello and welcome back to the final episode of Help I Swip Try of Season 2. Possibly the final episode ever. We'll keep you posted on that but for now we are wrapping up season two and as I shared in the last episode Help I've retired from dating or actually I didn't call it that did it I think I called the episode Help I've stopped swiping which is true I've stopped swiping so there is no more wiping right. Hence, is there any more podcast? TBC. Well, this episode anyway, I'm going to be sharing 10 things that I've learned from making this podcast as I just reflect, because I am setting in now to take a long break slash perhaps not come back to the podcast because I'm working on other things. I would love to come back. I really enjoy the actual making of the podcast episodes

and interviewing my guests. But anyway, it's been two seasons and here are my 10 reflections and 10 lessons from making my own podcast. So lesson one is that I can teach myself something new and something that I sort of previously framed in my head as something I couldn't do, I can actually do it. This has been a really good lesson for me. I am a technophobe, and the whole like editing the podcast side of things was something that really, I just, oh my God, how do I do it? It was a really big milestone to me creating the podcast. But I taught myself how to edit podcast. I made my own jingle. Again, I was like, I'm not very creative person.

I don't know about design. I made my own logo. And I learned how to make a podcast. So I'm proud of that. I don't know. There's something in my head where when I'm going into the unknown, I'm someone that that really scares me. And I really have this big barrier up of,

I can't do that, then I can't do it. But I actually broke through and I did it. So I'm so proud of that. And that's a lesson. And I say these lessons are things I've learned. I think these are lessons that, like, anyone can learn from this as well. Which kind of brings me into the next lesson, which is that I can do it myself. So, at first, I attempted to try and outsource making my logo and the jingle. And I went on Fiverr, and I tried to find people to do it.

So I assumed I can't do it a second day better than me. It was terrible and I hated what they created and this pushed me into I can make something better myself and I did. And yeah, that's kind of taught me like, have that confidence actually anything. I can actually do anything if I worked hard enough at it and I think it's better and more authentic when you do it yourself. On the flip side of this lesson, I think I definitely could have got help from others more. And I think that's a lesson that I need to learn the future, is that like, I should ask other people for help and collaborate. And I've loved having my

guests on. That's been really great. But yeah, everything you're hearing, recording, editing, jingle, all the posts, making it go live. I've been doing it all and just feel happy that I've tried something new. Okay, lesson number three that I've learned has been, don't hide and to be authentically you. Now, I released this podcast under my alias, under my nickname, S-jam. And that is because I wanted to create a bit of separation from this podcast, obviously from my professional life. But I think I've been hiding.

And that's been my big reflection. And like when I go into my next sort of, I'm about to call it business venture. What I go on to my next side hustle, I'll call it, what I'm going to be doing outside of work. I'm not going to be hiding at all. I need to dive in and sort of own my name and own who I am. So that's been my next lesson. I've had my reasons for why I've chosen my name. And I have been authentically me in the pod, but I can't really explain it.

I've had this like hiding secret energy on the pod. I don't know. I'd love to hear from you guys as listeners. if you've felt that energy, if it's felt like a secretive vibe, because that's how it's felt to me a little bit. And I've kind of loved keeping this podcast as a cheeky secret. You know, it's not a secret.

I'm happy to tell people about it, but it's also felt a little bit secretive and a little bit cheeky. I can't really explain it more further than that. And I think it's also felt like my sort of diary, when I talk into the mic, I'm super vulnerable. I share exactly what I'm thinking and feeling. And I sort of reflect on, you know, the highs and lows of dating, including experiences and dating that have been a bit painful for me.

And I've shared that. So maybe I've liked being a little bit secretive and hygiene just a little bit. Which brings me on to point number four. people love vulnerability like the biggest responses I have have been from the episodes where I've shared like help I hate being single for instance I had a lot of responses to that

and that was from season one because I was you know in this podcast I was conscious I didn't want it to just be sharing like all of my crazy dating stories like yes I have heaps I have heaps more that I've not shared I also wanted to make sure I was showing the highs

and lows of dating because the lows are there. The highs are, you know, I've had these crazy dating experiences, had a lot of fun dating, that's for sure. But it's also a lot of emotions involved in dating and putting yourself out there. And sometimes if it doesn't work, that is painful. And I felt they need to share that on the podcast. I'm just constantly like, oh, it's wonderful, it's wonderful. I want it to be real and share the lows of dating as well and people actually love that hearing that. Not saying people love hearing me upset, but they appreciated the honesty and that's something that I feel grateful that I'm able to do in general, that I feel like I'm still tapping into my feelings. It's something you keep learning more

about yourself, the more that years go on, that's absolutely for sure. But for the most part, I'm an open book and I probably need to be a little bit less open with people I don't know so well, but that's me and I'm glad people enjoyed that. Okay, lesson five. I focused more on the creating and not the marketing of the pod. Now, I've very absolutely loved the actual creation process of this podcast. The editing, the recording, especially the recording with guests and the sharing of conversations. What I underestimated in terms of when I was thinking about time in a week of making the podcast was the time spent on marketing, which on my end has been close to zero, if not roughly like what, five minutes a week

where I've just quickly put up an Instagram post, okay? That is not marketing. And anyone listening that knows about marketing or has a grain of common sense might know that. But for me, naive little of me, my main focus was on, like, how do I actually like make a podcast? And I was learning all about the editing and the making. The marketing, less so. I've just like, people are going to hear it. Word of mouth.

which they have done. And I love how also my version of marketing has been making business cards and occasionally giving them out, which again I've done. I love my business cards. That has been the extent of my marketing. And, you know, I've got the help I swiped Instagram and TikTok, which I do shout out on the podcast every week. And I do encourage you all to follow and check out.

But there's nothing going on in that. I'm saying this myself. Like, you know, I occasionally put a post out when I've released a new episode. But being real here, it has been luckluster, not because I don't love the pod. I think because A, I found the timings hard, which is my lesson number six, actually. I underestimated the time and building a routine around the creating of the podcast. So I set my mission that I wanted to release one episode a week every Sunday, and that's what I wanted to do. And that's proven really hard to do with life when it gets in the way, and I'm trying to just find a moment to create this.

And sometimes that moment hasn't come up in a week, and I've let it pass. And, yeah, so that's been my lesson number six has been about I should have built a good routine. I record this from home, so then it becomes really flexible and it becomes really like, oh, I can record this whenever, that I should have treated it more like this is a booked in time slot that I record every week. And all my ideas and my schedule are all set out for the whole season. Because that's the other thing with the podcast. You do have to have your talking points. And it can be challenging to think of that every single week.

So, lesson six. And yeah, back to lesson five again, the time and the marketing link into each other. Maybe this is something that I could have and should have tried to outsource, would have been the marketing side of it because on reflection, what I've now learned when you're launching something is that you need to spend like the majority of your time marketing it. So a portion of my time is creating the podcast and the actual vast majority should have been marketing it, pushing it out there. like there's 8 billion people in the world

anyone in the world can listen to a podcast how on earth am I going to reach those people like yes there's the UK and there's the immediate community but that's the beat of a podcast anyone can listen to it so like even the world's biggest podcasts such as Diary of CEO they're always trying to grow like that podcast has been going for years and they're still trying to grow it and keep marketing it

because there's just still so many people that haven't listened to it, that could listen to it. And in my case, there are absolutely billions of people that could listen to it, that haven't listened to it. And in my case, I can still be focusing on the hundreds and the thousands, but you get my point, that's been a big reflection for me. I've sort of since learned more about marketing. And that's when I had that realization of like when I go into my next thing, marketing is going to be the major focus. And I've now wrapped my head around that and wrap my mindset around that in terms of like I'm in the mindset of making the marketing my main focus as opposed to the doing. The doing is important,

but especially at first when you're building a brand and showing something new. Marketing, marketing, marketing is what I've learned and that's what I've not done. And that's okay. By the way, this list of 10 things I've learned isn't meant to be a list of me just like dragging myself. It's just the list of me sharing honest lessons and reflections from the pod. And like I say, the positive from that takeaway has been the fact that I have loved the creating of it and I've just not dedicated the time on the marketing. So my lesson's been like, how can I do that going forwards for my future ventures. Actually, this lesson also links into lesson number three about hiding and being a little bit secretive and being S-jam, which has been, has my block on the marketing

been like, did I actually want a lot of people to hear this? If I'm being really honest, I think I truthfully have felt scared about the thought of a lot of people hearing this. And I think, I think, That is because A, I'm sharing vulnerable things. B, I'm doing something that's like kind of a creative project and everything's not perfect. That comes onto a future lesson I'm going to bring up. So, yeah, I'm proud of the pod. I'm grateful for the positive comments about the pod. And I'm grateful for all of you that have listened and been loyal listeners to help I swipe right.

And I appreciate any one of you that has sort of shared it with a friend. That's what I've been asking you to do. to do my marketing for me, but I definitely should have done a lot more myself. So that has been a lesson learn. And yeah, I've already touched on lesson number six, which has been underestimating the time that it took, that it takes to build the podcast. You know, I have been able to squeeze it around my work. I have been able to create 20 episodes, you know, alongside work, but I haven't done it at the pace that I thought I was going to be able to do it at with this one episode a week every Sunday, when you lead a busy life that I do and when you've been a serial date like I have been, it's been hard to squeeze that in and amongst all the dates, etc.

I'm being self-deprecating here. Obviously this year I've been on one date and that's the way it will be saying, well, you know, pretty... to be taken zero dates this year. So TBC. Okay, lesson number seven has been, I enjoy interviewing with people and connecting with people. So yeah, I've loved the guest steps. I found it really enjoyable. I've loved hearing people's dating stories. And I love connecting with people. I think through the pod, I love connecting with you, my listeners, and I've loved connecting with people that I've been interviewing and having really good chats with them. So thank you to all my guests that have been on the pod. The listeners have loved those episodes and I've loved those episodes. And I think connecting with people, what I've come to realize over the past year or so is

that I think that is a strength of mine and it's going to come useful for my next. venture. Yeah, connecting people's A, what I enjoy, B, what I'm good at, I think. And when I say connecting with people, is that just sort of a posh way of saying yapping? Because I love to yap, but it might be lesson number seven in all freefulness. I love to yap. I've enjoyed the guest episodes because I love conversations and talking with people. And clearly, other people love listening to conversations. Basically, we all love yapping. We love a good yap and a gossip and a chat and we love listening to it too, has been my takeaway from the pod. What does that say about human beings and what we like? We love connection. We love talking to people. It sounds so obvious,

but I think it's something that can be so lost in the modern world. Having a proper good chat, not an exchange of WhatsApp messages, not sending each of a memes on Instagram, which you know, we all do love that too, but pick up the phone and talk to your bestie and have a good yap and a laugh. That is what some of my podcast episodes have felt like. It's felt like having a good chat with a friend and we just recorded it. So yeah, bring back yapping, bring back mean people for a coffee and a walk, having a good chat, and bring back, you know, Face times and phone calls, less texting while yapping. Okay, lesson number eight is that I can get in front of a microphone and talk.

Now, this again might seem like a small point, but I remember episode one, when I first picked up the mic and I started to record, I just kind of froze. And it is really hard. like you're sitting by yourself in front of a screen talking. It doesn't feel natural to do at first, but over time I've got into it to the point where now I just pick up the mic, there's zero prep, really, there's zero. I used to do like warm-ups and stuff. I now literally just pick up the mic and go and I just speak into it.

That has been a really big development and learning point. And it's such a skill, I think, that again might come and useful for me in the future. future is being able to articulate myself, which again, I'm still working on. I still do a lot of ums and I still don't always say things as a sort of finessed ways as I would like. But we keep going. Every single time you do it, you learn and you get better at it. So I can pick up a microphone and talk into it. It has been a massive lesson for me and something that I'm really happy that I've been able to develop because, yeah, it's something that I didn't find easy at first, and now I'm able to do it. Okay, lesson number nine has been just start, learn along the way,

and it's okay if it's not perfect. So I had this podcast idea at the beginning of 2025, okay, slash late 224. When did I end up bringing it out? Summer, 2025. Okay, so that's six months that lapsed. Now, there was reasons why for that. I was doing a coaching course. So I was, I was finding it hard to think about taking something else on you. So actually, I don't beat myself up for that. And even when I'd started it, things weren't 100% ready yet, but I thought to myself, I have to just start this. Are you only going to learn when you'll start? It's never going to be 100% perfect. But you have to just dive in. Like, you know, I changed my logo as I went along.

I bought a new microphone and I upgraded my mic as I went along. I was constantly, and I still am learning, so many things along the way. But when you've got an idea, I think as the perfectionist in me, I am tempted to just wait until everything's perfect and if things ready and do a lot of research. But then the risk in that is that you never actually start it and you never released it. And if I waited until everything was perfect with this podcast, and I would have released it. And now look where I am, 20 episodes down the line.

Did I like every single episode this podcast? No. Some episodes, that's been my other big lesson, has been putting out things that I'm not 100% happy with and that I'm not perfect because I just have to put it out. And that's where the every Sunday thing has kind of been a bit helpful for me because it's kind of like, even though I've not ended up to it.

it every single Sunday, it still helped me stay roughly on track. And it's kind of been like, if I didn't do it last Sunday, and then like, right, I have to do it this Sunday. And yeah, my episodes have not been perfect and that is okay. That's been such a major lesson to me. Like, I have got perfectionist tendencies for sure. And I think putting out things that are not perfect and I'm not happy with has been a great lesson and thing for me to do. Yeah, to just release the episode and think I was like, oh, don't really love this about it. Don't really love that about it.

Some episodes, I've just really not liked them at all. And I've had to put it out. And it's been interesting. The ones that I've been really like, oh, I'm not sure about this one. Other people have loved them. And some people have also, like, I guess, felt the same by-bye, felt about not loving those apps. But that's okay.

And I thought to myself, like, I again, because I love podcasts, even in my favorite podcast, the ones I listen to every single week. I don't love every single one of them. Like, there's some episodes that they release that you're just like, oh, that wasn't the best one. Or, you know what I mean? Like, that is life. When you're producing a podcast every single week or you're producing multiple episodes, they're not all going to be amazing. Or when you think even about TV shows that you love, like, there's some episodes that you love more than others and some that just a bit mere. And that's been a big thing for me, has been letting go of this.

Every single thing needs to be amazing and it needs to be really engaging. Like, that's always my aim. Don't get me wrong is to make podcasts that I'm proud of and that you're going to love listening to. But if there's been the odd one, that hasn't been my finest work, that's okay. And that's been a big kind of point of growth for me actually, because I, am a perfectionist has been two. That's been my biggest challenge I think has been the learning along the way, the accepting that I'm on a journey and that it's not all perfect. That's been a big lesson for me. Okay, lesson number 10 has been that people are kind. People and my friends,

my friends, my listeners, the support has been amazing. That's how I can sum it up. basically. I'm really, really grateful. What all I can think of on this journey is that. All I can think of alongside when I look back at making the podcast has been my listeners, you're lovely, anyone that's taken the time to leave a review, anyone that's taken the time to leave a supportive message, a supportive piece of feedback, anyone's taking the time to listen. I'm really grateful. So yeah, my top or my last lesson is that. that people are kind. Yes, there are haters out there. Yes, the internet can seem like a mean place at time and it does exist. But I think that's the minority. And I think that for the most part, people are kind or I have found myself a community of people around me that are kind. And I'm really grateful for that, just in life, I'm grateful that I'm surrounded by kind. people or again for us to flip that that I surround myself around kind people because ultimately

you know we are responsible for our own lives we choose the company that we keep and it's important to me that people around me are the kind of people that are kind and are loving and I'm grateful that I've got those kind of people in my life and I hope to carry that forward into my next venture, which I've been teasing. You'll see more on social media and you will see it because best believe I'll be marketing the hell out of it and I'm prepared to spend a lot of time marketing it. But yeah, this is so not related to this podcast at all, but in essence, what I'm going on to launch will be hopefully my own social enterprise. I want to help women I want to help survivors of abuse through coaching, therapeutic coaching.

So that is my next venture, which will come out in due course. And maybe if I've got time at some point, I would love to come back to the podcast because I have really enjoyed it. But for now, this is the end. And I'm sorry not to leave you with a dating. story. Like I said, in the last app, I just don't find talking about dating fun anymore, which has probably been another reason why it's got to be the end. A, I'm going on to my next thing and I've only got so much time in my life with working full time. B, talking about dating just

isn't doing it for me anymore. Like, I don't mind it and I look back and, you know, I have got I've had some really fun experiences, but still, just it's not the vibe I'm on. It's not the main thing in my life going forwards, which I feel grateful for to turn over this new leaf. But talking about dating is fun and can be fun and it's a big topic and obviously it affects a lot of people's life. My fellow single girlies out there, like don't stop dating if it's something you want to do and you're enjoying it. But I think my sort of MO for the next year is certainly no apps. The apps are out. There is no more swiping. What's in is IRL meet Qutes.

So what's this space? Thank you so much for listening. 20 episodes. We've made it, super proud. I can't thank you enough for your support and for listening. But for now, this has been the final episode of Her Pie Swiped Right season two. Love you all and maybe see you again sometime. Okay, that's a love.

Bye.