We’re continuing our “Valentine” series on labours of love: interviews with people at inDrive who are doing amazing projects to help or inspire others (outside of work). This time we spoke to Isabella Ghassemi-Smith, Head of Awards for inDrive. Her podcast, “The Day I… “ inspires people to do that thing - the one you’ve been thinking about for ages, but just keep putting off. It’s a source of inspiration for “anyone who’s facing a moment in their life and needs a push to just go for it.” Here’s what she had to say about the podcast, and what she wants it to achieve…

Last year I started a podcast called “The Day I … ”

The problem I was trying to solve … was that in today's market, whether on LinkedIn or in the podcast scene or on YouTube, you're hearing or seeing a lot of “zero to a million” stories. So, “the day I transformed my life” or “I went from zero to becoming a billionaire” - but sometimes the biggest changes in people's lives come from the smallest moments. We should talk about those.

I had this hypothesis that it's the moments that we don't talk about, that matter to get to that end goal. So I went around asking the woman that I really respected in my life: "Could you tell me about the day that you truly backed yourself; you did something inherently just for you?” and it was never, getting their company to a million in ARR or getting this big job. It was all really ordinary stories of “the day I decided to move to a different country” or “the day I learned how to introduce myself” – that one was by Google’s ex- chief of staff. She really struggled with people thinking she was the secretary, essentially … so she had a really interesting story of how she started to introduce herself. Another person talked about the day they quit their dream job to start a cheesecake company.

If your big dream is to go to the gym and for the first time ever, you do that, it is a big deal. So, I guess that is my manifesto.

The premise of the podcast is that women communicate through stories. So if you tell me, “this is how you succeed at life, step 1, 2, 3”, I'm not going to remember that; but if you say “I started gardening and then I did this and then I did that”, I'll go to my friend and I'll say hey I met this person and she told me this really incredible story. The goal of the podcast was always for one person to come back and say, “had I not heard that person's story, I would never have done X.” And that did happen which was really, really cool.

So, I started the podcast last year and I think the normality of it … it just worked. I got some really interesting people.There was no research behind it. It was a gut feeling.

So far, I’ve only published four episodes. I didn't think that many people would listen to it, but even with those four episodes, essentially because they're so relatable, someone would send it to someone else and say, "I think you should listen to this," and random people started reaching out.

There've been two men that have reached out to me. They were single dads who basically said “your podcast helped me understand things that I didn't even realize my daughter could potentially go through”.

I had a podcast before, which failed phenomenally. It was a Formula One podcast, because I wanted more women to be in Formula One - not just talking about it – and so I did that with my brother for a year. We put way more work into that podcast, but you’ve got to know your audience, and fundamentally the audience there was a lot of white elderly men who didn't really care about my agenda about diversity and inclusion in Formula 1. So, it didn't do so well, which is fine. I learned a lot, and it was great doing it with my brother. We released 46 episodes, but not one of those episodes hit the numbers of the four that I have of “The day…”

I think before, I used to complain a lot: “the table's not built for me. It's so unfair.” This is an unpopular opinion, but I think it's very easy to blame other people for where you are. If you really want it to change that badly, get up and do it. Your life is in your control. If the table isn't built for you, build another table.

I was raised by someone that since I was three, always told me two things: one, you can do anything and two, never lose your financial independence to a man. So the mental wiring that I got was literally that I can do anything. And so my mission, I suppose, is to get other people to have the [same] confidence – because I think once you do, a lot can change. I think a lot of people operate with the mindset of “this is the best I could have expected”. Actually, you are allowed to want more.

Why only four episodes so far?: I'm very good at getting guests and selling the vision. I enjoy that, and I love the interviews, but I really hate editing videos because you spend your life on a computer … I have literally 35 episodes in the backlog which I recorded last year in the UK, and they're just sitting there. So now I have someone who’s bulk editing them. The goal is to relaunch this month, and then to have a weekly cadence.

I think one underestimates how hard these things are: you have to end work and then be willing to just do it. And when you're doing things alone, and no one is holding you accountable, it's really easy to just be like, "Doesn't matter, right?". Especially when part of it is quite a big energy drainer. But at the same time, I've had so many people, including my friends, asking, "When are you starting it again? I'm literally waiting." So that's actually the reason I keep doing it.

Tips for doing a podcast - well, this would be my advice to myself!

-Just start, because it's going to suck to begin with. That's just how it is, right? It took me 54 episodes of failing fine margins with the F1 podcast to understand the gist of it. It shouldn't take everyone that long – I think I was just stubborn.

-Be consistent… because with any of these things, consistency is what wins. It's just showing up – and no one's going to do that for you.

Take a listen to “The Day I…” here:

Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-day-i/id1735493741

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7ymkNG6cAwRcDsoVyBfK8w?si=81dfac536be547ab