37. Why you should give it a go

If you're afraid to jump in the deep end when it comes to any type of speaking - this episode is for you. Hear from the first person in the WORLD to attempt to swim the English Channel in winter! Sam Penny is a hell of an inspiration and a shining example of why you should give it a go - whatever 'it' may be.

Transcript

Sally: If you've got a goal, but fear or excuses are holding you back, then stay tuned. Because in this episode I chat to the incredible Sam Penny. Sam heads up Cheese Therapy. He's done about 100 hours of live television. And just to top it off, he's an extreme swimmer - the first in the world to attempt to swim the English Channel in winter. Sam is a shining example of why you should cut the excuses, fight the fear, and just give it a go.

I'm Sally Prosser, you're listening to That Voice Podcast. No matter who you are or what you do, your voice matters. So unless you've sworn a lifetime vow of silence, this is the podcast for you.

Sam Penny, welcome to That Voice Podcast. Could you do your job if you lost your voice?

Sam: Oh, Sally, a very interesting question. You know my company Cheese Therapy is an eCommerce business. Everything's online. And I've often thought to myself, could I do it without my voice? And I think I certainly could however I don't choose to. And I certainly find that people connect a lot more when they hear my voice. They see the videos of Helen and I, and I think it brings a lot of authenticity. It's easy to hide behind words and not have the guts to put your voice out there and your face out there.

Sally: Yeah. And Cheese Therapy. Let's be honest with everything going on, a lot of us have needed it. And so do you think that if you hadn't have got out on social media, put yourself on video and talked to people about it, that it would have had the success that it's been having in this time?

Sam: I think being on video has given us perhaps a boost of about 50% I would say. I do love doing a live video because there's no opportunity to stuff it up. You can't do retakes. And people really tune into the authenticity that comes with a live video. You know, I've been getting our staff to do live videos as well because the more they do it, the more used to it they become, the more confident they become. So I'm wanting everybody in our company to have that confidence to be using their voice. And to give our company just this authenticity that we actually care about the Australian cheese makers, dairy farmers, but also the people who are receiving our cheese packs around the country, like COVID-19 is not an easy time. And we really do understand how difficult it is for so many people. We just want them to know that we care and that we're listening.

Sally: Yeah. Fantastic. I remember when I did my first live webinar and I was quite nervous about it, but now I do it so often I don't think about it. So is that the same, that experience that you've had and your staff, do you think that it's just about getting over that first hurdle of doing the first one?

Sam: Oh, I certainly do. I threw one of my new marketing people in the deep end on Thursday, I was in Brisbane doing deliveries because it's all hands on deck at the moment. And so I called her and I said, Cassie, I want you to do a live video and here's the challenge. And it took her half the morning to get ready and prepared and started for it. But she did it and she got it done. And I'm really proud of the fact that she did it. In terms of my own experience, I've done a lot of public speaking. I've done perhaps a hundred live hours of TV on TVSN you know, like selling stuff, you know, big Kev steak knives style thing. And I remember the first time going on there, sitting in the green room, sweaty palms, just really anxious about how it was going to pan out. But what I found was that because I know my material so well and I'm so passionate about the things that I talk about, it just flows so easily. And I think people, when they hear someone speak, if they don't believe what they're saying or they don't have passion behind their words, then it shows through. And it also shows through in your confidence and how well it comes across.

Sally: Yeah, I agree. I remember delivering a workshop one day and often with workshops, it's a whole bunch of people that don't really want to be there. You know, they're just there because their bosses said they need to be there. And at the end one of the guys said to me, Oh look, Sal I don't really know if this stuff's for me, but I really love your passion. It's actually quite a nice, a nice compliment. And so I think it's interesting that we're talking about you doing live video or, or live TV as making you feel a bit nervous with sweaty palms and that kind of thing because you've done some other pretty extraordinary things that many people would say are a lot more terrifying. So last year you were the first person to attempt to swim the English Channel. Wait for it -

Sam: In winter. I, I, I know. And you know what, it's understandable that people call me a little bit crazy because like it is, it is crazy, but it's one of those things with confidence. The more you do something, you know, that next step is only marginally more. And if you get into a habit of just pushing yourself just a little bit further and taking another step in the right direction, then it doesn't seem that crazy. And yes, swimming the English Channel in winter and being the first person in the world to attempt it is ridiculous to 99.9% of people in the world. But it was just another step further. I set up a chest freezer in my garage, which I filled with water and I'd go and sit in that for half an hour at about two degrees most days. And it was a very interesting experience. And you know, like many things in my life, the more I do something, the more I've become comfortable with it. Sitting in a chest freezer at two degrees is not easy to start with.

Sally: I just need to say here that Sam lives on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland.

Sam: Yeah, certainly just before my swim in December in the English Channel. Yeah, it was 30, 35 degrees on the Sunshine Coast whilst I was sitting in a chest freezer at two degrees. You know, that contrast is really difficult. But like many things, the sitting in a chest freezer at, you know, ridiculously cold temperatures taught me a lot about adaptation. The first thing is that when you hop into that kind of environment, the first five minutes is ridiculously hard, but then your body quickly adapts. And then the, the rest of that 25 minutes, it actually becomes a little bit easier. And I find it exactly the same with so many things, you know hopping on stage that first five minutes is so hard and it doesn't matter how much of a seasoned veteran you are, that first five minutes can be quite nervous and nerve wracking for many. But then once you get into that groove, you get your confidence and your body really adapts, your mind adapts, and the rest of what you're doing just becomes a really pleasant experience.

Sally: Well, I don't know if you could describe swimming in 3.9 degree water as being a pleasant experience. I was sitting in an ice freezer, so take us through how it went. How did the, how did the swim go?

Sam: I landed in the UK in London on the 1st of December in the middle of a typical English cold snap. Let me just sort of set a bit more of the scene. I had analysed the daily water temperatures of the English Channel for 11 years. I had 11 years of data. The water temp I had forecast was going to be 12 and a half degrees and I figured at 12 and a half degrees I can make this. Air temp was going to be between eight and 12 degrees. Not a problem. I had swum the English Channel in 2018 so I knew what it was like to swim the English Channel and also understand what cold water acclimatization was all about. So landed on the 1st of December in the middle of a cold snap. Fourth of December we chose as the date for the swim.

The water went from 12 and a half degrees down to 10 degrees. The air temp hit a high of six degrees. We had to take that window because the next day the wind speed was going up to a hundred k's an hour and it was forecast to be like that for the next two, three weeks. And so we just had to take this moment in time to make the attempt. And when I stood on the side of the boat ready to dive in, I actually felt really confident. I knew that I had done all the work possible and it was just then more of a formality. I think also because nobody had ever attempted this. And particularly at 10 degrees, my team and I basically just said, well, we don't know what's going to happen at 10 degrees, let's just say. So jumped in the water and it actually felt almost balmy.

Sally: Come on!

Sam: Yeah. And for the first three hours it was OK. The water was extremely rough. It was like a washing machine and that made it very difficult for me to get into rhythm. I swallowed a huge amount of water and if anybody's swallowed a lot of sea water, it does, make you quite sick. And then at about three hours, I was starting to get a little bit almost disorientated, but I was getting dizzy. I felt like I was starting to drown. I was getting very heavy in the water and I know Sally you're a swimmer and you know, swimmers just have this natural ability to stay high in the water. But I was starting to feel very low in the water. I was starting to take on a lot of water and, and get little baby vomits happening. After about half an hour of this going on are, you know, I just thought I could try and go on to five hours. But I just thought, you know, I've got four kids at home. I think it's better to be safe than sorry. And also, you know, I had already gone further than anybody in the world already had. And for me I felt extremely proud and I hopped out - swam to the back of the boat after cutting the swim. Actually, I was climbing up the ladder and in cold water like that, every single muscle in your arms just goes into spasm. I was swimming with my hands like claws and I just couldn't feel a lot of my body. I tried to climb up the ladder of the boat at the back and I just fell backwards cause I couldn't hold onto it. And the sheer horror of everybody on the boat deck thinking that they were going to have to jump into the water and pull me out. Now these guys were all in ski pants and ski jackets with thick beanies on and ski boots and they were cold on the deck. Meanwhile, I'm in the middle of the English Channel in a pair of Speedos. That's it. And so I swam back to the boat, started to climb up the ladder and this big, big guy, Matt grabbed me by the back of my Speedos and hoiked me straight up onto the deck of the boat, gave me the world's biggest wedgie. And because my hands were like claws, I couldn't pick my wedgie out. And I then had to spend the next 40 minutes on the boat all rugged up with this wedgie that I could not pick out until I started to get movement back into my hands when I got back into Dover Harbour.

Sally: Oh gosh. Was it the air temp, was it the water temp? Was it the wind? No, it was the wedgie.

Sam: That was a very memorable part. And when I got back to to Dover and back to my apartment, I took a photo of myself after I'd spoken to Helen and I was really upset, you know, I had felt like I had failed and I put this photo up on to Facebook just to say, you know it's okay to fail sometimes. And thousands of people from right around the world flooded me with messages because as it turns out, a huge amount of people had been watching this swim and all these people just telling me how inspired they were, how amazing this was that I had the guts to go and do it. Later that night I did a live video just as a bit of a debrief for everybody and I recognize that the main thing was that I gave it a go. I got out there, I got on that world stage and knew that I had prepared as best I possibly could for this and jumped in the water and you know after that, it doesn't matter what happens because I gave it a go. People really appreciate others who do give it a go, who get up on that stage, you know, whatever the stage is, whether it's, you know, at the stage of the English Channel in the middle of winter, getting on the stage of doing your first live video or getting up in front of just a group of work colleagues and speaking and being there. But the huge response from thousands of people really highlighted to me that it doesn't matter if you fail just as long as you give it a go. That's what people love.

Sally: And Sam, I was following the journey and I was so inspired. I totally agree. And if people aren't feeling inspired by your story, I don't know what they need. It's almost like you gained something from having such a challenging environment and not being able to complete it - this time.

Sam: Yeah, that's 100% correct. You need to know when you're taking things too far, when you're pushing too hard and always have, I guess it's, it's sort of like a risk analysis in your mind. You know, I had the thoughts of our kids always in my mind. And hypothermia is obviously a very, very dangerous thing. You know, if I was to push on, you know, it doesn't matter - five hours, three and a half hours, it's still the same result. Still the first person in the world to attempt it. And I am a very, very proud person for giving it a go.

Sally: Oh you absolutely should be. I'd love to talk a bit now about the communication around it. The swim wouldn't have really meant that much if people didn't know you were doing it. And so I know you did a lot of media. You were interviewed by The Project. Take us through how important it was alongside your actual training to be keeping up the communication.

Sam: It gave me a lot of fun around my training, my training involved going into the ocean at Mooloolaba here on the Sunshine Coast for six hours at a time. Basically just swimming back and forth in the ocean, blowing bubbles - six hours. But then being able to share my experience of those six hours with a lot of people made it a lot more fun. I was then able to interact with people rather than just go down swimming six hours, come back and there you go. In terms of things like The Project that was, that was a huge amount of fun. Me sitting in a chest freezer at two degrees whilst we did the cross. And for that I have to sit in there for about 15, 20 minutes because that's how long it takes to do all of that. So trying to be sharp trying to be in that Project, witty mode is quite an interesting thing when you're in Speedos on national TV at two degrees. And the opening question from one of the panelists was, "Sam, don't you like your balls?"

Sally: If that's not a career highlight. I don't know what is.

Sam: Exactly.

Sally: Oh, fantastic. So what would you say to anybody who - they feel like they're just too afraid to take that first step, whether it be into media, whether it be, you know, even making one social media video. What would you say to them?

Sam: The experience I've always had is that if you keep having a go, things get a lot easier. Just like running for example, you don't go out and run a marathon the first time, but you work up to it, you know, a couple of kilometers, three kilometers, five kilometers, 10 kilometers in it, you know, you need to train to get to that point. And it's the same with video, with public speaking, with speaking in front of your colleagues, all those kinds of things. It does take exercise to be able to work up to that. It is nerve wracking to start off with, but people will really applaud you for having a go.

Sally: Amazing. So what's next for Sam Penny?

Sam: The only thing I have on the horizon, and I actually haven't told Helen my partner about this yet, so I know she's going to hit me when she hears this. So I've got a 300 kilometre run from Launceston to Hobart in November for Just Like Jack of which I'm an ambassador for. And yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to take a lot of training and I hope to God that I'm able to squeeze in some running between now and then because 300 K's of running for a swimmer is a bloody long way.

Sally: I know I'm struggling to run for two minutes by the river down in Teneriffe! Not that I would ever compare my sporting prowess to yours in any way. Sam, how can people contact you or follow you for the big run?

Sam: All have that onto my, my sporting side of my Facebook page, which is called Sam Penny middle-aged bloke that can swim good.

Sally: That's too good. And how can people get some cheese therapy?

Sam: Yes, definitely. Head on to cheesetherapy.com.au and definitely get onto our socials, Facebook and Instagram.

Sally: Sam, thank you so much for chatting.

Sam: Excellent. Thank you, Sally.

Sally: Wow. What an inspiring kick up the behind to get out there and try. If you're listening to the podcast, you might be wanting to improve your speaking skills and My Six Week Voice Makeover is the perfect place to start. We kick off on Monday, May 25 and if you use the code TIKTOK, you get $100 off, you'll find more info on my homepage, which is www.sallyprosser.com.au.

Thanks for listening to That Voice Podcast. All episodes and full transcripts are at www.thatvoicepodcast.com.