#424 Kibitz with Jenny

December 28, 2020Scott Benner

Scott and Jenny talk about stuff

End of year conversation

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:10
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the last episode of season six, the last episode of 2020. This is Episode 424. And did I don't know if it has a title, I just invited Jenny to come on and chit chat with me. And we just talked for a while. It was nice. 2020 actually began with an interview with Jenny. And I thought it would be nice if we ended with one as well. You know if you want to know how prolific 2020 has been for the podcast, that episode with Jenny, that went up on January 2 2020. That was Episode 293. And this is Episode 424. It's pretty crazy. This year is going to end with almost a million and a half downloads. That's just in 2020. So the podcast is taking off. And it's all because of you and how much you share and how much you listen. And I appreciate that. Give me just one second to shout out the sponsors. Although this episode is not sponsored, I fulfilled all of my sponsorships for 2020. But I still want to thank Dexcom Omni pod, the Contour Next One blood glucose meter, g Volk hypo pen and touched by type one. And I don't want to forget to mention the T one v exchange support from the sponsors is why the podcast is able to exist. It's why it's free. It's why it's plentiful. And I think it's why it's good. Sometimes I get emails from people, and they're like, can you please tell the host? And I laugh because I am the What do they call me the I do it all. This podcast is just me. editing, scheduling, recording technical stuff, making backups of the show. It's all a one man show. And it's supported by the ads and the advertisers. So thank you very much all of the great advertisers of the Juicebox Podcast. And a special thanks to all of you who have clicked on the links and check them out. dexcom.com forward slash juicebox learn more about that Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. Don't forget, if you're getting your insurance through the United States Veterans Administration, the VA, go check it out. You might be really happy with the coverage you find the Contour Next One blood glucose meter is my favorite blood glucose meter ever. It's the best one Arden's ever used. It's the most accurate, it's the easiest to use. And you can find out more about it at Contour Next one.com forward slash juice box. And of course my daughter has been using an omni pod tubeless insulin pump since she was four. She is in the other room right now 16 years old and still using Omni pod because it is absolutely terrific. On the pod we'll send you a free no obligation demo. And all you have to do is go to my Omni pod comm forward slash juice box to request it. Touched by type one is a fantastic organization doing great things for people living with Type One Diabetes. They're a sponsor of the show. And you can find out more about them at touched by type one.org. And of course, g vo hypo pet. It's the glucagon my daughter Karis. And you can learn more about it at chivo glucagon.com. forward slash juicebox. And if you'd like to take just a few minutes to add meaningful data to great work that's being done for people to type on diabetes, go to T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. You can help support Type One Diabetes Research. It's super easy to do right there from your home. If nothing else, you don't have to go to a doctor. You can actually be part of something p one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox links in the show notes, links at Juicebox podcast.com, etc, etc, etc. Thanks for listening. Thanks for supporting the show. Here's my conversation with Jenny.

I thought it might be nice if we just had a relaxed conversation. Not about anything specific.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 4:45
Not about anything fun.

Scott Benner 4:47
Yeah, well no, no, we don't have to do any like hardcore diabetes stuff today. So like I said, I'm recording. So like I said to you when we spoke about recording today the very first episode of the season. Season Six was with you. And I and we basically had like a almost individual a little bit. Right. And, and this is gonna be the last episode of 2021. So I thought it would be nice to do the same thing. See? Yeah, right.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:15
I agree.

Scott Benner 5:15
Well, I guess we just have to chill out and relax and do something good. Plus, you don't get to hear about, you know, the people who are asking about you all the time. You know? So? No, yeah. So I get the notes. And it's always like, thank you. And at the end, just like don't thank Jenny to it, or on the Facebook page, where, where people, you know, I saw someone yesterday, say, you know, I went to integrate a diabetes to work with Jenny. She wasn't available. So they put me somewhere else. And I said, I think I answered back. And that might be my fault that Jenny doesn't have any room on her calendar. I told somebody recently, how, when you're telling me about emails you get from the podcast, people are like, Oh, your people? And I was like, Yeah, they're just the people listen to the podcast, that there's much your people as they are my people.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:06
Right?

Scott Benner 6:08
I don't know. I just wondered 2021 that needed to be wrapped up somehow. So how was your year?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:17
My year was, I mean, all around. It was a fine year. I mean, it really was I, you know, nothing major. Thankfully, in our family, we didn't have any, you know, disruptions in any weirdness. But it is what it is. And we made it through and hopefully next year is better. Other ways. Like I really, I think this this year, like everybody sort of missed travel and that kind of stuff, you know, the conferences and things that I was supposed to speak at, and a couple of them. Usually I bring my husband and my guys along with me, and they kind of go and explore the city while I'm stuck inside a freezing cold conference center. So we didn't do that this year. But, you know, hopefully next year, that'll be back on the agenda. Maybe and

Scott Benner 7:09
so I missed my speed here. Yeah, I missed this stuff. I was supposed to speak out. I wish I could have. It would have been nice. My family never offers to come with me. That's one third just like goodbye. I think they're trying to get away from me. And, hey, we don't even have to run away. He's gonna leave this is perfect. But I do, I did miss like that conversation, meeting people. Right, who found the podcast and came out to say hello are watching the faces of people in the audience. As you say something, it clicks in their head, and you can see them think like, Oh, right, why did I never think of that, you know, at this, at this moment, I'm not 100% sure if you stood me up in front of people, if I'd remember any of the things that I used to say, I might have to go back and study up a little bit because it Yeah, I'm not I'm not certain.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 7:56
In fact, I think the travel I don't know if it was the last travel you had to but was literally like March 1, oh, no, I came home from Atlanta was when we were at the jdrf thing in Atlanta together. And that was the last literal travel that I did.

Scott Benner 8:11
Well, the first thing you and I ever did together was the last thing I've ever done. So right,

Unknown Speaker 8:15
yeah. That's weird. It

Scott Benner 8:18
was really strange. I just, I feel like I feel I felt like back then. There was this talk of like, people are getting this thing and they're calling it comme Coronavirus. And it seems like it's getting serious, like that was the vibe around it. But I'm just gonna go to Georgia, because it's probably nothing and, you know, then by the time I got home, it was just like getting your homes, alarms going off and

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:44
close the doors

Scott Benner 8:46
through the street with pitchforks, and, you know, lanterns and I was like, Oh, wait a minute, I just made it back.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:52
Right. I can remember being at the Atlanta airport, you know, flying home actually is more like where I remember seeing a lot of people already like wearing masks in the airport. And, you know, my silly brain was just like, we know something is going on. Right? And I wasn't like being I mean, I always wash my hands. I was very cognizant of what I taught when I'm in a very public place like that, or even on airplanes. Yeah. And like wiping things down. But like the people with the masks on in the airport, I was sort of like, Hmm, maybe I should be a little more careful. Maybe not. And then of course, like two weeks later, everything got close. So

Scott Benner 9:33
yeah, suddenly you're running around going I need a mask.

Unknown Speaker 9:36
Where's Right, right.

Scott Benner 9:38
And that was a great event. They did a really nice job with that one. Kim ran that I think,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:43
yeah, it was a really they did a wonderful, wonderful job. In fact, I met several people actually who came there specifically for your presentation, which was awesome. had literally drove in from like other states to be able to come in Then called to do some work with

Unknown Speaker 10:03
me nice.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:04
So it was kind of nice because I'd actually gotten to meet them in person at that conference, and now I've gotten to know them. And they're lovely people. And

Scott Benner 10:14
it's so nice. I just interviewed the husband of one of the adults living with Type One Diabetes, that they'll be met there. And I think it just went up a little while ago. Awesome. Yeah, it just it was a great, it was really interesting, too, I thought. So let me say something nice about you. Oh, so aside of your knowledge of diabetes, and how you think about it, which I think jives very closely with how I think about it. You're really good at being on the podcast, you probably don't even realize that, but you're very comfortable to talk to you wait, and jump in at the right times. I don't think we ever talk over each other while we're talking. Nothing's planned, which makes it even more kind of crazy that it works. But when we got to Georgia, we did like, I think you did a room while I was doing a room. And then you came into my room. And then we did one together. Yep. didn't practice it. I didn't tell you what we were gonna talk about. I just grabbed the microphone, I started talking. And when it felt comfortable, I threw it to you. And when it felt comfortable, you threw it back to me. And I really thought it worked amazingly. Well. You were like the best partner for talking about diabetes was so thank you very much.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 11:25
Oh, thank you. Yeah. And I think actually, we have literally only talked in person, like five minutes prior to me coming in on kind of the second half of your whole presentation and talk and everything. So yeah, you had come in before I was doing sort of a breakout in another room about I can't remember what the topic was. But yeah, it was kind of fun. Because then I just got to chat with you on

Scott Benner 11:50
stage with everybody. We basically just met there. And then it gets crazy. Again, you can't find each other. Like I was like, well, I'll have lunch with Jenny. And then when it happened, I couldn't find you. Yeah, you know, and that was I think we said goodbye, maybe. And then we were back recording again a couple weeks later. But no, it's just you have no idea because there are people I have on throughout the years. And I think this person's very knowledgeable about this. And there's more to say about it. But it was just too hard to talk to them. Not that they did anything wrong. It just there was there's no there was no comfortable back and forth. It didn't work right. And I ended up not doing it again with them. So I'm just think I'm lucky. And everyone listening is lucky. Because you're just very good at this. And have you ever done anything like this prior to being on this podcast? No,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:37
not ever I need my other are much more professional, like, prepare it ahead of time put the PowerPoint thing together. You know, I think the the closest to this would be I've done some webinars for some type one adult groups kind of more on like the West Coast that I've done sort of in an evening kind of program for them. But again, it's more of a pick a topic, put some information together and then have some some discussion with the people who were joining in to learn. But it's never been this. I know I never think of like I always think that this is like a little bit of a break from my work day. Whenever I get to like talk and do this with you. It's very enjoyable. I totally I love it.

Scott Benner 13:23
I completely agree. Oh, no, no, I 100% agree. I always leave. I always come in the room smiling and leave the room smiling. And then I say your name a couple of times during the day. And my wife's like, Did you have a good time with anything? I was like we did. And then I start talking about it. And I realize she's making fun of me and then I stop. So

Unknown Speaker 13:39
that's funny. Yeah,

Scott Benner 13:40
it just is a really, it's a stroke of luck. Because, I mean, honestly, the podcast does really well. But it does better because of you. Like there's just no doubt about it. Like I could get on the microphone and talk through those ideas. But it just wouldn't have the same feeling. And I think it wouldn't be as engaging. I think it might taste like medicine a little bit when people are listening. There's something about our conversation that makes it, you know, easy for people to pick up. And because of that, and I'm sure you do too. But I'm up to about 10 to a dozen notes a day about people's lives getting better. And that's just a really big deal. I mean, I used to write about this stuff on my blog, and I would get them I'd get a letter like once a month, you know, a couple times a month, hey, this is really helping me. But the podcast just it's at a different frequency. And I really think it's got a lot to do with the fact that I found you so I'm glad that you think of it as a break. That's really nice. Like you're talking about diabetes all day.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:47
I do I think of it it's it's kind of like whenever I see it on my calendar for the weekend, like oh yeah, I get to talk to Scott this week. It's it's always fun to have a conversation even as in depth in some of The topics as we get, I think, the nice thing is that there's a, I know, there's a, there's a comfort level from both sides from your side and my side in terms of the discussion point. And again, like, I usually don't know what you're going to bring up for the day, which is even, I think nicer to keep it more conversational. But it's, we have a very easy like back end flow of information. And I, the big thing is, I never really feel like I'm like educating you. Which I guess is the reason that I like the conversations, because even though you ask some questions for me to elaborate on, right. And I know that it's helping so many other people when they're listening. It's also nice to have your sort of background and whatnot along with it.

Scott Benner 15:53
Well, I see. That's right. I feel like you just referred to me like as almost appear. And that's way too kind. But I very much appreciate it, I have to say that some of the nicest things around this diabetes stuff that's been said to me over the years is by you. When you once told me, if you once said if you had a degree, you could do this, like you could do my job. I was really touched by that. And very similarly, when you said that my tug of war description for Pre-Bolus Singh was like the best way you would ever heard it explained,

Unknown Speaker 16:31
is Oh,

Scott Benner 16:32
no, no, that really makes me that makes me uncomfortable, even now that you just said it again. But it. But that meant a lot to me. Because I don't know, I just I don't know why it's surprising to me, other than to say that if you could get into a time machine and go back 30 years, and find 19 year old Scott, and you could really get to know him. And then I pulled you aside and said that kid, one day will be the person that people listen to about this, this this, you'd go No, No, that can't be right. I just met the guy and I don't think I think you've got the wrong person. There's no way it just, it is to this day. shocks me that I'm the person who runs this podcast. It doesn't Yeah, I don't. It's weird that it's me. And I don't I recognize that. What I'm what I'm good at. And, like, I'm not shocked on that level. Like, it's not false modesty. It's not like, it's not like, Oh, I don't really know that stuff. You shouldn't say that. It's not that I don't feel like an imposter. It's just if you could have seen the trajectory of my life. It just didn't. It wasn't I don't know how it ended up being me other than Arden got diabetes, you know. So, yeah, it's very,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 17:49
I think, I think life experiences

Unknown Speaker 17:53
shift people often.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 17:56
And I, whether people choose to keep moving along with that shift or not, sort of is the difference. I think, you know, I mean, when I, when I was diagnosed with diabetes, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I had wanted to be a veterinarian, since I was like, a very small child. My grandpa had a farm I loved like all the animals, I always ask big questions. We had cats when I was growing up, I always wanted to go to the veterinarian office whenever we did ask lots of questions. And then when I was diagnosed, you know, I had really good educators, thankfully. And in high school, then just sort of like shifted, I realized I was really good at science. And I really also started my mom is an amazing cook. She just, she's awesome. And I kind of realized that because food was such a big part of diabetes management, that maybe I should kind of switch gears and sort of go the route of in a different didn't want to be a nurse. I don't do some of nursing things very well. They bleed all over me. But like the whole, like mucus angle can do that thing. So I was like, Oh, I like do I like nutrition anyway, so let's be a dietitian. And then I knew that I didn't want to do that. Like I don't want to teach people about low cholesterol diets. That's just not for me. Right. But diabetes was the thing. So again, I I kind of think, you know, I don't know, who knows, maybe if something else had happened in your life with kids, maybe you would have had a very different angle. But this was the course that you were supposed to have. And you've done an amazing thing for so many people starting this you have,

Scott Benner 19:39
I just feel like I thank you. I just feel like I saw its value. And so I leaned into it. But I mean, there's a part of me, I won't lie to you. There was a part of me at one point that thought, This is what I'm going to do. Like I'm going to write about and talk about diabetes in my free time. Like I don't even have diabetes. Have you been watching my blood sugar's online? I definitely go. I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 20:03
haven't. Actually I should I definitely

Scott Benner 20:05
about it. I definitely don't have diabetes. So good. Yeah, yeah, you actually, isn't it funny the irony of what I'm doing? I haven't even taken the time to like, celebrate that I don't have it. There's a couple times I'm like, Oh, this isn't not very exciting for the people watching. Instead of just thinking, this is great that I can walk past that candy dish pull, like, three candies out that total like 30 carbs, it's just pure sugar. And Ethan, and my blood sugar doesn't move. And I haven't had I haven't even had time to be like, yeah, that's exciting. But to what I was saying, there was a moment where I was like, This is what I'm gonna do, because my trajectory was, I wanted to be a screenwriter, like I wanted to write movies. That's how I, that's what I thought about when I was growing up. And then I was in a poor family, I didn't get to go to college, I had to go right to work. And I just had terrible jobs. I mean, like, I worked in sheetmetal, shops and paint rooms, and just terrible things. And the entire time I was there, I would just feel like, I'm not supposed to be here. Like, this isn't my I didn't, I didn't I love the guys that I worked with. And that whole part of it was terrific. But I just kept thinking, like, I have these things in my head, I should, okay, and but I'd get home, I'd be so tired, it wouldn't matter. And I was still broke, and just kept going over and over again, like that. And one day, I just thought, I've got to get out of this, like I can't, you know, I can't keep doing this forever. And a friend of mine was collecting debts. And she's like, you can talk, you can, you could do this job easily. So then the next thing I knew, I went from like, a sheet metal shop to sitting in a cubicle with a screen in front of me and somebody whose information would pop up, you'd have 10 seconds to familiarize yourself with this data on the screen. And trust me, it didn't look like computers. Look. Now it was you know, wasn't easy. And then you'd hear a voice and they'd be like, hello. And they were there. Hi, Jenny. My name is Scott. I'm calling from I forgot what it was something bank. You're 28 days late, on your on your payment, you're in jeopardy of going to 60 days late. We really need you to make a payment right now. I was Dunning people. And wow, I didn't know that I was so good at it. I quit the job. Because it made me feel bad how good I was at it. Like it was a job you didn't want to be good at. Right. You know, and, and so I used that experience to move to a credit union doing the same thing. And then the minute I could get out of it, I became their graphic designer, which I had no background in whatsoever. It was it was a little tiny credit union. And the job came up. And I went to the Human Resources person. I said, I can do that. Like I've seen the things that you guys produce here. I can make them all. And they just what would it hurt them? Like I wasn't making very much money. So they took a flyer and I did well at it. And did it for a number of years until Kelly got pregnant was cold. And then I quit my job and I had been a stay at home dad for I quit my job at the end of 1999. Wow, yeah, I haven't had a real job since then. And but I never, I would write things I would try to write things and never had enough time, I was always exhausted. And then Arden got diagnosed. And I was I didn't know what to do. So I wrote a blog about diabetes. You know, I just didn't, I didn't want her to struggle at some point. And I really felt like she was going to and I wasn't understanding it. And I don't have the kind of brain this is gonna sound strange. Maybe I can't I couldn't figure it out. Like I couldn't step back and look at it and figure it out. I had to like live through it, and then go back and write about it. And then like little lights would get turned on as I was going. That's why some people are, you know, I see some people online, they're like, I'm not getting this quickly enough be very upset with themselves then, like your kids had diabetes for six months. Like it two years, I was still crying in the shower, you know, like it's only six months in, and your kids a one c seven, and I can see it coming down consistently like you're, you know, three months from now you have this? Right, you know, it took me a lot longer to figure it out. And it really wasn't until I wrote something on the blog, one day when it really just hit me I was like, there's a system here. I didn't even realize it at first. And, and I didn't even know what it was. I just knew it was there. So I picked through everything that I wrote and it was like that and that plus that and that equals a good outcome. And you know, and then I picked those pieces and I refined them down

Jennifer Smith, CDE 25:00
It's kind of like data analysis, really. But you just did it in a different way.

Scott Benner 25:03
Yeah, trust me, because I can't analyze data. And so and so I kept distilling them down. But I, I understood them already. I didn't need I was distilling them down so I could write about them. Right, because I have a real belief about communication. And I don't think that people like to be talked at. And I don't think people like things that sound like medicine, especially when they're already, you know, upset. And so I just kept going. And I just kept telling myself, like, if you can make these ideas, t shirt, slogans, and people will be able to remember them. And that was it. And, and then I guess it's just lucky that I wrote that book. Because I got to write a book called Life is short laundry is eternal. And it was about being a stay at home dad. That got me. I can remember the exact day that I decided to make a website for myself, like Scott Benner calm, which is don't go look at it. It's, I haven't looked at it in like 10 years. But because I made that around the book. Katie Kirk's producer found me looking for Father's around Father's Day. Wow. Right. And so the next thing I knew, I was on a soundstage in in New York, doing this interview with Katie Couric. And when it was over, she grabbed me and she was like, you're so good at this. And I was like, What is it? I'm good at, like, cuz I didn't even know. I didn't know what she was talking about. She's like, you're just so entertaining. And you speak so freely. This was wonderful, as like, thank you. And then I left. And like two weeks later, a different producer called me and she said, I'm Katie Kirk's producer. And I was like, No, you're not. I already spoke to Katie Kurtz producer. She's a different person. She does know that her web producer, I'm her television producer. And I was like, okay, and she goes on, we have a slot. In a couple of days. We're having some single dads or some stay at home dads, come on. And we'd like you to come. I was like, yeah, I'll do that. You know. So the next thing Oh, awesome. It was so cool. But I got there. And she looked at me and smiled. Like she knew me, like, recognize me, which was nice. And I sat down. And Jenny, it if one of these things is not like the other ever existed, it was me. Right? Like, I was like, much older than these other guys. These guys were all like very kind of like metrosexual guys from like New York and stuff like that, right? Who are just like, you know, taking care of their kids. And, and I'm just answering the questions that come along. And then this one guy starts talking about this whole experience is making my wife and I closer, and he's just it was so pie in the sky and like happy and I just, it wasn't my turn to talk. But I leaned down, I looked down the line. I was like, Hey, I interrupted him. And I was like, how long have you been married? And he goes, Oh, we've been married like a year. And I laughed. And then I could see on the monitor, the cameras swung over to me. And I was like, You don't have any idea what you're talking about. You're not even married yet. Like I said, Come back 15 years from now and tell me that story. And then I'll tell you, you're doing a great job. And then I said something old

Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:15
are your kids at this point?

Scott Benner 28:17
It was eight years ago. So Cole was like,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:20
Oh, so it was a long it was Yeah, they were old enough, like well, old enough that you had been married and had life with kids. And I

Scott Benner 28:28
had already been yelled out a couple of 1000 times I knew what like what it was like to be married. And so and, and I don't remember what I said next. But whatever I said next made 500 people who were in the studio audience laugh at the same time. And I have to tell you that that is a feeling that is difficult to duplicate. Because now you feel like you feel like a puppet master. Like I wonder if I can make them do this. And what if I could try and write you know what I mean? And then, and then Katie pulled me aside again afterwards and said, Wow, that was terrific. She's like, you were this whole thing. And I said, Thank you. And she's like you, this was going nowhere, and you absolutely saved it. And it was just such a nice moment. And then she's awesome. And that made me think about making a podcast. So that's it. I never would have leapt from the diabetes blog to a diabetes podcast. It didn't occur to me to do that. So sure it was her so if you're all happy with your agency's thank Katie Clark.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 29:33
Well, I think you know, the big thing too is like I and maybe this is just sort of like reading into but like the feeling you got when the people laughed, and you knew it was an honest laugh. Like it wasn't a generated like, audience please laugh kind of signed up above like, they thought it was hilarious.

Scott Benner 29:52
Yeah.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 29:53
And you kind of took that even if it was on like a subconscious level and said, you know, if I can make people laugh Why can't I take what I know? And like, give that to more people to just be able to feel like they can do better to, like, I don't want to be the only one doing a good job at this. And I mean, that's kind of myself too. Every time somebody sends me a message that, you know, I got my agency down, and now my doctor has given me a go ahead to get pregnant. Or, you know, my child's endo team is astounded at what we're doing together. And they're amazed at his agency being here. And they're usually happy if it's just at seven and a half, you know, I mean, then the notes and things that's my like, audience happy laughing to me, like, I just, that's why I like doing what I do.

Scott Benner 30:48
So I appreciate that. And I feel the exact same way. When the first person told me that their doctor told me to listen to the podcast. I was like, Ooh, I'm doing I'm onto something. You know what I mean? Yeah. And that same kind of interaction where the audience laughed? Is, I tried to, I don't know how to say I don't. I don't. Is it funny? I'm not trying to insult anybody, because I'm definitely not I don't have those feelings. But I know how your blood sugar can be stable and steady. Right? And it's, I see it as my job to get it across to people. Anyway, I can. And I know that the picture you paint for one person that makes them go, Okay, this is it isn't the one that works for someone else. Right. Right. And so while I think most people make podcasts thinking, well, I am tangentially related to this subject. And I'll have conversations with people about it. It'll be interesting. And those people are always wrong, or not always wrong. But podcasts are interesting. There are a lot of podcasts, I believe that at the moment, there are 1.5 million of them. Of those 1.5 million. I forget what it is, maybe only a half a million, put up an episode a month, have only 50% of them get like 140 downloads per episode. So the truth is, it's easy to have a podcast like it used to be easy to have a blog, the large majority of them are either aren't being produced regularly or no one's really listening to them to begin with. Sure, like for perspective, while you and I are recording this, I should have a couple of 100 new downloads. By the time I put this down again, this podcast gets a lot of downloads. So there's this very finite amount of podcasts that anybody's actually listening to. And I realized that not everybody hears the tug of war story and then goes, Oh, Pre-Bolus thing, I got it. And you also have to realize that not everybody's hearing every episode. So right, my job's not just to do it once. It's to do it over and over and over again, in a way that hopefully doesn't take the people who found the show five years ago, and and bore them. Like I want them to stay for the community aspect. And because in truth if they stay, then the podcast gets more downloads of the podcast gets more downloads, then it's easier to sell ads. And if it's easier to sell ads, and I get to keep making the podcast, right like this thing kind of like all ties itself together. But I am working the strings of the puppets a little bit like I do say things to trick the people listening to into understanding diabetes. It's it doesn't it's not that's not the intention, but it is a positive trick. Yes, it's a very positive.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 33:41
It's, it's a positive reasoning trick. There's not like anything, you know, malicious.

Scott Benner 33:48
Right. Now what I've basically done is I've taken my superpower, and I've turned it to good. Like, really, unless you ever seen the boys on Amazon, some of these guys get superpowers and they just do terrible things with it. Not me. I've decided to do something good with it. So yeah, it makes me think of the last day of ninth grade. I have very few memories of school. But I'm going down the hallway. And my guidance counselor comes out of his office and grabs me and it's such an impactful moment that I I remember his name and I remember no one's name, and I'm sure he's got to be long passed, but his name was Mr. Wiley. He pulled me into a like a little nook, which today I think would be assault. And he goes, What are you gonna do in high school? And I was like, What? What do you want to be when you grow up? And I'm like, I, my brain. I'm like, Well, now we're talking about this, oh my god, we're out of here in three hours. I'm never coming back to this building. I said, I don't really know. And he said, You should be an attorney. That's what I think. And I said why? And he goes, you're just very good at talking to people. You should be an attorney. And I remember feeling very filled with like, I came from a divorced family. Nobody ever told me nice things about myself. You know, there was no time for that. And I think Felt good that he thought I could be an attorney. And then I said, I couldn't do that. And he said, Why? I said, Well, then I'd be an attorney. And he laughed, because I think he thought I was making like casting aspersions at the law profession. But what I really meant was that I'd be an attorney every day for the rest of my life. Like, and I don't want to do that. I don't want to do anything every day for the rest of my life. I feel like there's a lot of things I could do. And he laughed, I laughed, we were like, hey, and then I, you know, I walked out. I remember it because it was a positive impact because somebody, an adult, said something to me as a child that was positive. But then I did exactly the opposite of his. Like, I didn't lean into my education at all, like I looked at high school as something I had to get through. Right, which was a huge mistake. But I just negotiated my way through that. Just every I got to high school. They put us in this auditorium, and said there was a technical school that was a few miles away, where you can learn to weld or, you know, do all this stuff. And there was a field trip, you could go look around. And I was like, that sounds like for losers. That's how I write. And then they said, and the way the schedule runs is two weeks a month, you go to tech school full time and two weeks a month, you go to high school full time, and I thought, so I only have to go to high school for a year and a half. If I go to tech school, put me on that bus. So I went over, went through every room. No small engine repair, making the food for the cafeteria, there was hairdressing school. I don't want to do any of

Jennifer Smith, CDE 36:36
that way to come in handy. This past separate. See my

Scott Benner 36:39
hair right now, by the way if I could cut my own hair. So I made the decision to go to baking school. Because that had the most pretty girls. Listen, if I have to come to avoid a year and a half of high school, I'm gonna come I'm doing this. My parents were like, whatever. Like they just nobody cared. And, and I just picked the room with the most pretty girls. And now I can bake like you wouldn't believe.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 37:11
I'm glad you learned something out of it besides just looking at pretty girl. Yes,

Scott Benner 37:15
yes. Where you can make a cinnamon button six at a time. I can make 600 of them at a time. So I'm, that's the kind of baking I learned to bill. But I really I got out of that. I got a job in a bakery. You had to start at 130 in the morning. I did it for a week and I quit. I was like I'm not doing this. Yeah. I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 37:37
was so happy during my my dietetic internship, the food service aspect of it. I mean, I knew that I was never going into food service. I'd never wanted to do that. But we had to do that type of a rotation. And I too had to be in the bakery of the hospital system food service area. I think it was like 230 in the morning. And I was like,

Scott Benner 38:01
I couldn't do

Jennifer Smith, CDE 38:02
glad this four weeks is done. Bye. Bye. I will not be

Scott Benner 38:08
I texted my brother last night around six o'clock to wish him a happy birthday. And he was just waking up and getting ready to go to work because he works a shift and like shift work.

Unknown Speaker 38:17
I'm like, Oh my god, how

Scott Benner 38:18
does he do that? You know? But yeah, I just, there was nothing. And I just jumped my my uncle gave me a job. But did that for a while I did everything else that I told you about it. There's a bunch of others. I've worked in a 711 for like a year. Like, that was it like I just I wanted, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I cut lawns for people. And it's Kelly really, who deserves a lot of credit for seeing who I was through what my life made me look like I was Yeah, I don't know if that makes sense or not. But I didn't like if you looked at what I did and how I did it. I appeared one way but she actually listened to me and you know, kind of heard my thoughts and I just got randomly lucky. I really, I really belong, like in a trailer somewhere. Oh, no, I do. You know, please

Unknown Speaker 39:06
really don't left

Scott Benner 39:08
my own devices. I'm somewhere with a with like a bog. like Shrek basically is what I'm saying. I think that's about all I would have accomplished on my own. Kelly was the one who I think saw like my potential. And not that she was trying to coax it out of me. But she didn't judge me for the other stuff. You know, like that I was working in the 711 which there's nothing wrong with it was a perfectly fine job and, and I did it I worked hard at it. But you know, it's not a career, obviously. And it just was a way to pass time and make some money to pay bills. And one day I just realized I'm like all you're doing is living to pay this bill to live to pay the bill like this. You don't have to do something. But a lot of just lucky. Like I said like how do I talk to a human resources person into letting the credit card collector do the it's so If any, if all this tells you one thing, it's that my, it's talking is what I'm really good at. So I talked my way.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 40:08
And I think you've, you've sort of finessed your talking, though, to a point of really being able to teach. And that's there's a difference. Because, I mean, there are a lot of professionals who have gone to college and spent 1000s of dollars to do what they do, and still do not talk. Well. They just and that's I feel bad saying it, but it's the truth. I mean, and dust is. Dust is I think a lot of the reason, and I certainly wouldn't down any of the diabetes professionals that are out there. But when you're in a, in a when you're managing a condition, like diabetes, talking sometimes needs to go beyond, like, the basic hit points on a list to address. And you have to get to a very personal level of talk in order to meet the need. And everyone's needs are everyone's needs are different.

Scott Benner 41:15
Right? So well. Yeah, that's that's basically what answered the question to me when people like when I talk to somebody privately, that doesn't have diabetes, like they're like, wait, so someone listens to your podcast to learn about diabetes, instead of talking to their doctor. And I was like, Yeah, I was like, the doctors are, generally speaking not great at explaining it to them. And you know, it's hard for like a lay person who doesn't have type one to even understand how that would be. Because most people's experience with doctors, is one of the problems with going to a doctor, is that your support you people think you go in there and you sit quietly, and they tell you something, and then you leave with the answer, right? And it just doesn't work that way, especially with type one. But still even talking. Like if I'm not lying to you, if I tell you that 30 seconds before you popped up, I was thinking maybe we should talk about like some, like, do some defining diabetes stuff. And then when I saw you, I was like, No, let's just talk like, do like an end of year wrap up. So nothing that I've said, while we were talking Have I ever considered before I said it, and I speak pretty quickly. So that I make sense. While I'm talking. That's where I think, again, I think everyone's good at something. But I'm proud of myself, like I can't believe I'm this good at speaking in a coherent way that leads to something I'm not just filling time.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 42:39
Yeah, you should be proud of what you've put out there. I mean, it's, it's, it's been beneficial enough in specially in terms of what you've seen in the listeners that you have and the growth and who it's reaching that more and more and more people keep, like, Hey, you should listen to the juicebox. Hey, you should listen to the juice box. And that outreach is beyond. I mean, I don't know how many other places I know, online, too, that I could send people to listen to, or do a little bit more reading or whatnot. And but many of them, I don't I mean, there are lots of them. Yeah, and I don't direct people to very many other sites, I just don't, because when, when you want somebody to really learn and to continue to learn, especially in the past five years, with all the changes that have come with diabetes management, you have to continue to evolve and move along with that in your discussion. And you also have to be willing to say, Hey, you know, a couple of years ago, I remember we talked about such and such, and with today's technology, we don't need to do that anymore, or we don't need to do it as much, or it's changed now. So you need to continue to sort of move people into learning that things aren't just gonna stay where they are.

Scott Benner 44:07
Well, those. So I think where most people get stuck, and this is where the listeners deserve. A lot of the credit is there, those people get so stuck trying to drive traffic that they take what's what they hear people talking about online, and they turn it into content. And I don't think of it that way. I don't look to the people who need the answers, for the ideas about what to say. And I think those other blogs and probably some of the look, I don't know, I've never listened to another type one podcast, but I can tell you that I can see some metrics online. And as far as Type One Diabetes podcasts go, there's this one, and then the rest don't come anywhere near this one in terms of listenership right and, and I don't mean them, I think it's terrific. Like I really think it's terrific that people do what they do and if they're helping people, I think that's terrific, but If they they'd see more growth, if they were giving people something that made a listener, like get off and think I have to tell somebody about this. Right, right. You know, I, I listened to podcasts, and some of them, I enjoy, but I would never tell anyone else to listen to. And there are some that every time I'm with somebody, I'm like, have you heard this conversation on this thing? Like, it's, it drives you to want to talk to somebody. I just think that, while he, you know, Jenny and I talked maybe a week ago, we set a schedule. So like, she's on the schedule throughout 2021. And I told her what I wanted to do in 2021. And then I was like, hey, in 2022, I also think we should start moving in this direction a little bit. And, and that's what she's talking about, like, I know where diabetes is going. And I need to understand it so that when it's happening to you listening in real time, I'm already, you know, I can I can articulate it in a way that will help you do it. Right. I just see it that way. Like I've never worried about the clicks, I always think about anything that I've ever produced and put online. If it's good people will listen to it, if it's great people will tell people about it. But you can't force people to tell people about things that we're sharing, like, please share, please click please. Like, just if it's good, it's good if it's not stop wasting people's time. And I think the diabetes space where it fails over and over again, is that it just does the same kind of banal over and over again, like, Hey, here's a recipe for a fourth of July. Right, Great, thanks. I don't my kids chart jumps up my graph goes 463 5082. Right, I don't your low carb, you know, hotdog bun recipe is not gonna save my life, I have bigger problems. And, and all of those other places, no matter how friendly, they try to make them, Look, our businesses, and they are not going to go out on a limb and tell you how to Pre-Bolus they just won't. It's the it and it's despicable that it's despicable that some doctors won't even do it. Because they don't want you to get low and come back and say, Look what you did to me. I would rather you drop dead 15 years before you're supposed to and have nobody to sue. And and, you know, I gave them I gave them competent care is what they would think when it was over. And not everyone's like that. But if there wasn't a lot of people like that, then this podcast would have no need and nobody be listening to it. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 47:33
well. And I think that's, that's kind of you can't really sugarcoat things, right? Because people eventually see that. And you have to give it like it is this is the information. This is how to do it, if you choose to go forward and use it. Great. And if you don't, well, then at least you heard it somewhere, right? I mean, it's kind of like the eons ago. I mean, my nephew, who is now 21, he was diagnosed when he was seven. And at that point, when he was diagnosed, his doctors kept telling his parents, it's okay, if his blood sugar is, you know, 250 he's little. And that's okay, for right now. We're just worried about him being too low. And whenever my husband and I, we didn't have kids at that point, but whenever we'd go and visit them, I'd be like, it is not okay for his blood sugar to be 250. I mean, that was like eons ago, right? Like 15, or whatever years ago. Not quite but and so bringing this up now is really important, because there are a lot of little kids and teens being diagnosed. And for them to know from the beginning that despite their services being much more conservative, and that quote, unquote, like, let's make sure that you're safe. And by no means am I saying Don't be safe. But that down the road, like you said 15 years from now. They're little blood vessels and things are not going to be safe because you were more comfortable with a blood sugar of 200.

Scott Benner 49:17
Yeah, so the the evil person that lives inside of me that, you know, that I got rid of a long time ago who could have become an attorney and become really rich doing it. That person doesn't get the worst thing that I can imagine Jenny is wasted time. Like I have a real trouble with that. I do not like to waste time. I don't like to have conversations that that aren't valuable. I don't like to have friends that I just I hate wasting time right? It feels like the ultimate sin. And if I was the type of person who could put out a podcast about nothing and draw you into it when You could be out there using that time, legitimately learning how to make yourself healthier. I couldn't live with myself and do something like that i and i think that there are too many people who have talked themselves into believing there's no real help for these people with diabetes. So I'll just serve them this bland content. And I'll get them excited every year about a cure coming. And then I'll string them along with some recipes for something. And then once in a while, I'll let somebody tell a story about how scary it was to have diabetes. And that'll keep them locked in with fear. I mean, I want you people to listen, which is why I do the interviews with other people. I think good stuff comes out of the interviews. But I think also that too many of you listening don't know another person with Type One Diabetes. So you get to listen to people who have type one, I try to make it entertaining, so that it's not just like, the same thing over and over,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 50:58
where they could essentially be watching like a presentation on a PowerPoint. Yeah, you don't want that there's no personality.

Scott Benner 51:07
I talked to April Blackwell a couple days ago, and I put it right up. And I think we talked about diabetes for eight seconds. And then she, she flies the International Space Station. So like, this is what we need to be talking about, you know, and she has type one diabetes. Same thing with when Alyssa Wallerstein was on. She said, world class cello player, like I asked her about how she Pre-Bolus is, you know what I mean? Like, like, no, like, like, let's have great conversations. Those conversations to me are really interesting and help you meet people who have type one diabetes who do interesting things. Because if I just came on every time and I was like, Alright, feet on the floor, this is what it is, you know, you'd be out of here, and it wouldn't help you then. And I have to part of my job is to trick you into doing better with your diabetes. Like it really is. Like I said something online the other day, somebody asked a question. And I was like, Jenny said that I can't remember where. And there's this part of me that's like, wait a minute, are you not listening to every episode? I'm doing this very specifically for you. But I understand everyone can't listen to every minute. Or that maybe I don't do a good job sometimes or whatever, or you know, but the idea is that I honestly believe if you went back, I don't know, I haven't heard episode one since I recorded it. I don't know what's in it. But what I can tell you is if you went back, found a way to listen to 420 episodes of this podcast, when you got to the end, you'd be incredibly good at taking care of your diabetes. And you may have heard, you may have heard 50 hours of conversation that later you could write off and say it had nothing to do with it. But I don't know how to point you to the exact episodes you need to hear like I don't know which episode, Jenny said when you fall asleep. your digestion slows down. Like I don't know which one that is. And you know, Jenny, there are, does this happen to you? I'll get a note from somebody. And they're like, Oh, my God, what you said worked. And I'm like, Who are you? And

Jennifer Smith, CDE 53:11
what was it that I said that works? Let me apply

Scott Benner 53:15
it exactly. Like tell me that. And then I have to like I dig backwards. And I'm like, Oh, this is a person, they have a kid and I read it. And then I realized that we had enough meaningful back and forth. I get that she thinks I know who she is. Except I've had them back and forth like that with 100 more people since then. And I don't know who you are anymore. Like, I it's the worst thing to like somebody go I'm so sorry to ask this. Who are you?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 53:37
What was your name again?

Scott Benner 53:38
Don't don't I don't have time to go look, and but that's good. Like, that's good. Because the more people who learn how to handle themselves, well, the more they'll tell somebody else which will lead to other people having healthy results. And I'm telling you, like it's a it's a long shot for me. But I want for this podcast to fundamentally change how doctors talk to people with type one diabetes. Like I want to my whatever my last day is like I want I want one of my last thoughts to be no one's gonna cry in the shower. And I helped, you know, right, right. That's what I'm shooting for. Well, I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 54:16
think what helps to is kind of what you were elaborating on with discussion, just mentioning those two other women, where you might have spent like a minute talking to them in the whole discussion about their diabetes. But that's a that is a piece that's missing in, in diabetes. Education, it's not really the right word for it, because what you're bringing in is a piece of real life. The fact that you could be this person, you could do this, you could do that. And our whole conversation for 45 minutes, was not about a BD. It was about what an awesome cello player you are in. Where you've been and what you've seen and what you've been able to do. Yes, you have diabetes, but you still live. And those are grabbing points for a lot of people, I think, and a big reason. Many people would continue and do continue to listen. I mean, that's a grabbing point for me, in terms of listening. I mean, I don't really go to the episodes that are about education. Other ones are, they're awesome. And I listened to, because they're their people. And one of my favorite things that I ever did in my life with diabetes, is I attended a diabetes training camp for adults with type one who wanted to be better athletes. And while the whole week was all about diabetes management, the in between with all of the other people I was at camp with was life. And that's kind of what your podcasts spring, it's, it's life. And it's also Oh, I want to learn a little bit more of this. Let me click on this one, versus I just want to learn about the cello player.

Scott Benner 56:06
I think it's incredibly important. And I didn't realize so I'm a boy. So when something happens when something happens in front of me, I just think like, we'll blow it up kill it. Or don't worry, it's not a problem. Like you don't mean like I I genuinely, I genuinely don't think women understand how men think any more than men understand how women think, right? But there's nothing you could say to me that I don't think I could do. Like, I'm sitting here right now. I'm almost 50 years old, I'm completely out of shape. And if you brought a 25 year old guy in here and said, Can you kick his ass? I'd be like, god damn right. I can. And by the way, I can't. Okay, like, but but but it makes, I don't ever have that thought. And so when Arden got diabetes, I was just like, well, I'll just do it. Like, I'll figure it out. And I'll do it. So to hear that somebody might not think that they could be an athlete, because they have type one that doesn't like, that doesn't resonate with me at all, I would never think of that. Even when people are saying, like, I'll get notes. Sometimes they're like, you know, how do I keep my kids? Excuse me blood sugar from falling during, like an activity? And I was like, well, you get your settings. So right, that there's no active insulin while you're running around, and it won't fall. But that's not really an answer to that question, is it? You know, so? And the answer to that question is so much bigger, and why it works in audio, and doesn't work as well in writing. And also doesn't work as well in audio, if you're not good at talking about it. Right? Right. It's just, there's, there's a lot there that has to coalesce to make it. I can tell you don't have active insulin while you're being active. And that but people don't, it's just diabetes moves too quickly. Right, just one meal rolls into the next meal rolls into the next day. It's like, it's almost like, they don't recognize that three times a day, they're doing something that's going to screw up six hours from now. Right? That's the biggest caught get caught in this wheel of of doing something, getting fooled into thinking it's okay for a couple of hours, and then having it go wrong. And the insulin that they worked with happened so far in the past, they don't recognize that's what's going on. So they never see the real problem. They're always just they're swinging at ghosts all the time. Right.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 58:20
I think that's a lot of the reason, though, that our conversations together that are about specific, like diabetes, like topics, right? are more, they're conversational in nature. And that helps people to think further than, like you said, a written kind of paragraph about something is just that there's nobody to converse about with it. It is you read it. And you kind of try to apply it. It's sort of like going to a doctor who takes the clinical cotton dry. Well, you should adjust it this way. Because this is what's happening. Yeah. But there's no like back and forth, which is kind of what we have, which is fun.

Scott Benner 59:03
Well, I recorded with Kenny the other day to add another loop episode. And I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 59:07
haven't listened to it yet. He gives I came into my email, and I was all excited.

Scott Benner 59:11
It gives this great explanation about putting in a Bolus, but changing the time to the future. And then when it adds, but then when the loop says okay, we're gonna put in three units now saying no. And so that right, and so it gives us great explanation. But in my mind, I'm like, I don't know if that's clear to people listening. And so I said, So you're telling me that basically, what I'm doing is giving Luke some pocket money, some walking around money that he can spend wherever it wants? And he goes, yes, and then Okay, great. And we kept moving. Five, five notes I've received so far in the last two days. That changed my whole understanding of something. And I didn't know I was gonna say that. I just, it's just how it occurred to me in the moment, you know, so if the weird way that my brain works Somehow was helping people. That's cool. But I can't even take that much credit for it like it just like, basically what happened was I understood what he said, but I could not re articulate it in a technical way. If you asked me to say what he just said, in my own words, I would have been lost this, you know,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:00:18
that it like a guy walking down the street who has no knowledge about you're like, this is like this instead. Yeah, it's not just the medical term. So

Scott Benner 1:00:27
what you're saying is this, and that's my whole approach to diabetes. I'm, at this point, I'm sure you feel the same way. But anyone could walk into this room right now. And I could, I could set them right in a couple of hours. It wouldn't be that hard. But

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:00:45
and give them tools to move forward with as well,

Scott Benner 1:00:48
that would take another day. Yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:00:50
a bit. But the right now you could say, this is definitely a big part of the problem. Let's do this. And then we'll work on the rest as we see that this

Scott Benner 1:01:00
work. And so we're gonna keep doing that, we're gonna, you're gonna keep coming back. Jenny's gonna record all through 2021 and 2022, we're going to talk about all kinds of stuff, I would imagine there's going to be more conversations about algorithm pumping, because that is kind of the future. And I want to get people into that way, it'll

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:01:19
be interesting to have a conversation when some knee pads, yeah, system comes,

Scott Benner 1:01:26
it will be. And so that'll be good. And then we're gonna get people in to talk about, we're going to talk about control IQ, we're going to talk about on the pod five, I'll talk about that Medtronic one when it comes out if we need to. And I'm just kidding, I would be happy to do that. But the podcast is gonna keep moving forward, I have no plans on slowing down. And I want to thank everybody listening 2020 downloads, and I know some people are like, I stream it does that count however you listen counts. But from 2017 to 2020. We have doubled our monthly downloads every year. So 2018 was doubled, over 1719 was doubled, over 1820 was doubled over 19. And if 2021 doubles over this, it's gonna be easier for me to get other guests because it's gonna stick us into a stratosphere where people are actually gonna be like, Yes, I'll come on, because they know that we'll do something for them. So we're kind of making the podcast into a commodity, which then will allow us to, to do a little better. Right now, I still have to fight to get some people on the show a little bit, you know. So it's interesting how the how much the downloads mean, behind the scenes.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:02:37
So maybe you'll have to ask only once versus three times.

Scott Benner 1:02:40
Yeah, we'll have to, I'm gonna have to work so hard to get them. So Jenny, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And I want to cut this off now because I want to tell you something privately that these people can't hear. Sorry, guys. That's it for 2020 131 episodes, one pandemic, and a lot of a one sees going down and getting stable. Thanks so much for listening to the Juicebox Podcast. I'll be back in just a few days with the beginning of season seven. I have a great story about someone who is diagnosed with Type One Diabetes as an adult, just as they were finding out they were pregnant. One of my favorite stories in the last couple of years. And I finally got to record with the person that it happened to. I'd like to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. I'd like to give you a lot of credit for making it through that last year. And I think we can all agree that if 2021 can just be a little less than a disaster. That would be amazing.