The RUNESILK Story · January 2023
#BEARDMAIL: The Beardmail Podcast
Starting a podcast is no small feat, but Damo4Show and I took on the challenge nearly a year ago and have just finished recording our 51st episode of The Beard Mail Podcast. Time has flown by.
I had wanted to start a podcast for a long time, but was never sure of what direction I wanted to go with it. So I approached Damo4Show with the idea. Luckily, he was very keen on what I had envisioned for #BEARDMAIL.
Producing a podcast can be a lot of work, but it has also been an incredibly rewarding experience. Having a good co-host has made all the difference, as we've been able to bounce ideas off each other and keep things interesting. It also helps with the accountability, more so from me, ha-ha.
Consistency is key when it comes to maintaining a successful podcast, and it has certainly been a challenge for us to consistently produce new episodes. There are times when you think "I can't be bothered today" or "what are we going to talk about this week?" But the hard work has been worth it, and we've enjoyed every minute of it.
Not your typical bearded podcast
We try to mix up the topics as much as possible. Yes, we do talk about beards and offer advice on occasion, but we've also covered retro gaming, stag dos, artificial intelligence, beard competitions, dreams, scams and plenty more. I will inevitably mention food at some point too. I think it has something to do with recording from 5.30pm. Who isn't hungry then?
The Beardmail Box
What started as a multi-brand discovery box has since become fully ours. The Beardmail Box is now taken over and run entirely by RUNESILK, hand-packed with over £50 worth of our beard care products for £34.99. It's a great way for beard enthusiasts to build out their routine at proper value, and we're glad the concept found a permanent home with us.
Out and about promoting the podcast
During the Opies Beard Championships, we threw out a large number of t-shirts to the crowd. Unfortunately, the vinyl print wasn't applied very well, so after a few washes the shirts turned into plain grey tees. Free t-shirt nonetheless.
We took a trip to the London Craft Beer Festival, where we spoke with plenty of bearded individuals and tried a wide variety of unique beers. One brewery offered a cherry chocolate porter as their closest option to a lager, which I found amusing. Damo, on the other hand, confirmed he hates craft beer.
During one of our filming sessions, we dressed up as post boxes and took to the streets of Oxford in the midst of the Royal Mail strikes, entirely unplanned timing. It made for a fun and unexpected twist that created some great content along the way.
On that day in Oxford, we had a number of strange and memorable moments, including when a man approached us and asked if he could take a photo with us and his baby. To our surprise, he then handed us the child. It was a moment that caught us off guard, and I'm pretty sure I said "is this really happening" out loud.
If you haven't seen the footage yet, head over to our YouTube channel. It was a properly amazing day out in Oxford, and we plan on doing this again in several major UK cities.
Running for a good cause
Damo and I also adorned the post box outfits for the Milton Keynes Park Run, tying in nicely with my fundraising efforts for Prostate Cancer UK. The link to food in nearly every episode isn't just a timing thing, I also need to lose some weight, so the challenge has been an ideal excuse to get out there and run. Plus, it's for a good cause too.