Writing is my preferred medium - I have a face for radio and a voice for writing so I’m playing the hand that God has dealt me.

Dennis Gray is a friend of mine in California who works as an IT professional but his real passion is in communicating his experiences as a father. He was confronted, as many of us are, with the actual fecal reality of a newborn - a bubbling, gurgle of joy that requires a full scale, chemical emergency team in HazMat gear to deal with on occasion. When my firstborn arrived, my feelings flew to how it would be cheaper to slap £20 notes to his bum instead of disposable nappies - I mistakenly trooped off to Costco and bought a giant size, warehouse box of nappies only to be told by mum that he was going to outgrow them before we got a quarter of the way through the box.

Dennis, being a less economically minded sort of chap, focused on how useful babywipes are and his blog, which turned into a global podcast, was born - 101 Uses for Babywipes

What struck me about Dennis and how he got his “break”, is that he started off from humble blogging. Writing about his experiences as a new father with his son, Evan. Note that - writing - on a blog.

Now Dennis has a podcast as his expertise has evolved with using the media technology that is available to all of us with an internet connection. More than that, Dennis’ show regularly attracts a worldwide audience of in excess 80,000. That’s right - more than 80,000 people tune in to his podcasts and blog to hear about his latest experiences and what other uses he has found for babywipes. The show and blog have altered direction to take into account other parenting issues from international child abduction to premature birth.

80,000 is more than the circulation of most UK provincial and town newspapers.

No staff, no budget, no training - and an 80,000 following across the US, Europe, Asia and elsewhere.

So with this following, Dennis has found a new career calling that funds a neat lifestyle? Actually, no - as he put it in a recent newspaper interview, the podcast and blog attract enough sponsors to keep the car on the drive but not make the house payments. Needless to say, Dennis is one of many people I have come across who have found a niche and a means to express themselves to the benefit of all of us.

It just takes a modicum of courage to put pen to paper and you never know what the ride will be that results.

Way to go Dennis!

Bookmark, Share or Email this article