Most people who deal with E-Stim Systems never speak to me. They speak to Kay. She runs our sales, answers the phones, handles the emails and the live chat, and quietly built the wholesale side of this business from nothing. So for once I handed the microphone to the person who actually does the talking.

We recorded this in a hotel room in Barcelona, the night before a trade show, with a brew and no real plan. Remember Victor Kiam? The man who tried a Remington and was so taken with it he bought the company. "So impressed, I bought the company," as he put it. Kay's version went a bit differently. She turned up in 2006 as a customer, bought a Series 1, came back for a remote, made a glib comment about why nobody stocked us in shops, and then talked her way into getting us into shops. She didn't quite buy the company. She just helped build the wholesale side of it from nothing, and put up with me and my little black book for the best part of twenty years.

We get into the bits nobody tells you about this trade. The Dragon's Den moment where a store manager told us we'd never survive. They're gone. We're worldwide. Why you can't just double your money on adult products. What actually makes a stockist sell, and why it's never the margin. The nervous customer who walked past the shop three or four times before he came in. The Python that US customs flagged as an endangered species. And how a company this small keeps innovating with no development team, no design house, and no crowdfunder in sight.

Kay also talks, in her own words, about coming out as trans during lockdown, and what changed from Mick to Kay. We're putting this one out in Pride Month. That felt right. You'll notice we didn't make a song or dance about it, and that was deliberate. It's her story, told her way.

Next month, the machines take over. That's the second Tuesday of July.

You'll find E-Stim Systems wherever you care to look, and the podcast wherever you're listening to this right now. Give it a follow, and as always, be safe and have fun.

Drop us a message, we cannot reply directly but it would be great to hear from you

"I Make Sex Toys" is the personal podcast of Wayne Allen, the Director of E-Stim Systems. We have been creating ElectroStimulation Technology since 2004, Find out what really happens behind the doors of a specialist sex toy company.

Please Note the content of these podcasts are not designed to be Explicit or Erotic but we may discuss adult topics and therefore these podcasts are not suitable for children or those of a nervous disposition. You have been warned.

If you are interested in E-Stim Systems the company, or any of our products, have a look at https://estim.store

A bonus mini-pod from the road back from EroSpain.

We went to Vegas in April. Three and a half thousand miles across the Atlantic. Customs paperwork was a web form. Some clicking, some typing, done. Then we went to Spain for EroSpain Barcelona. Nine hundred miles across one short hop of Europe. Customs paperwork cost nearly eight hundred quid in stamps, an ATA carnet via the chamber of commerce, four stamps each way, and a building site we had to cross to get to work. The doorstep cost more than the ocean.

This is the EroSpain episode of record. Caz and I sit down together for the mini-pod treatment — about thirteen minutes, two-handed, no script — and we walk you through what it actually takes to ship a trade show stand into the EU since Brexit. The carnet. The chamber of commerce. The four stamps. Frankie the Tankie versus the budget Fiat. Spanish drivers who treat the car horn like a percussion instrument. A 787 with a tail cam and crew sales versus an A320neo with a packet of pretzels and no wifi. Three days of paella. A rooftop pool we never got near because Brexit didn't get us that one, the wind did. And the Spanish, who frankly speak better English than I do.

It's a working podcast, not a holiday slideshow. If you ship product internationally, if you've watched post-Brexit trade shipping turn from a clipboard into a forensic accountancy exercise, or if you just like the gap between what a trip costs on paper and what it actually costs in admin, this one's for you.

If you're enjoying the show, hit the follow button wherever you're listening. And if you've got a moment, a rating or a quick review genuinely helps other people find us.

Mentioned in this episode: EroSpain Barcelona, ATA carnet, post-Brexit trade shipping, Altitude Intimates Las Vegas, Frankie the Tankie.

"I Make Sex Toys" is the personal podcast of Wayne Allen, founder and Managing Director of E-Stim Systems, the UK manufacturer of electrostimulation products. Made in Britain since 2004. Find us at e-stim.co.uk and at imakesextoys.me.

Drop us a message, we cannot reply directly but it would be great to hear from you

"I Make Sex Toys" is the personal podcast of Wayne Allen, the Director of E-Stim Systems. We have been creating ElectroStimulation Technology since 2004, Find out what really happens behind the doors of a specialist sex toy company.

Please Note the content of these podcasts are not designed to be Explicit or Erotic but we may discuss adult topics and therefore these podcasts are not suitable for children or those of a nervous disposition. You have been warned.

If you are interested in E-Stim Systems the company, or any of our products, have a look at https://estim.store

This episode is different.

No product launches. No tech talk. Just Wayne, a camera, and something that founders and creators don’t say out loud often enough.

After 22 years building E-Stim Systems, Wayne still has moments where his brain constructs a perfect, logical argument for why everything is about to fall apart. A competitor appears. A troll hits. The orders go quiet. And the spiral starts.

In this episode Wayne talks honestly about what triggers it, what the spiral actually feels like, the coping mechanisms that work (and the ones that sort of do), a near-miss that almost ended the business, and why — after 22 years — there are still 34 new product ideas in the notebook.

This is about male mental health, running a small business, and why the spiral is lying.

In this episode:

• The 3am panic — what it actually feels like
• Competitors, trolls, Reddit
• Why E-Stim Systems will never compete on price
• The cash fear — coming very close to the end
• Plan A through F and when planning becomes its own problem
• The Trading Standards story — the spiral is lying
• The little black book and why writing things down works
• A friend Wayne lost, and why he’s still thinking about it
• Why a single good review can break the whole spiral
• “We don’t have the sole right to create e-stim”

If any of this resonated, Wayne would genuinely love to hear from you.

Find E-Stim Systems on social media @estimsystems or visit https://estim.store

I Make Sex Toys is also on Facebook — search I Make Sex Toys Podcast.

If you’re going through something harder than a bad business day, please talk to someone.

Samaritans (UK): 116 123 — free, confidential, 24 hours a day.

Or reach out to Wayne directly on social media. The offer stands.

Links

• E-Stim Systems: https://estim.store
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@estimsystems
• Instagram / X / Threads: @estimsystems
• Facebook: facebook.com/estimsystemsltd
• Podcast: imakesextoys.buzzsprout.com
• Samaritans: samaritans.org | 116 123

Drop us a message, we cannot reply directly but it would be great to hear from you

"I Make Sex Toys" is the personal podcast of Wayne Allen, the Director of E-Stim Systems. We have been creating ElectroStimulation Technology since 2004, Find out what really happens behind the doors of a specialist sex toy company.

Please Note the content of these podcasts are not designed to be Explicit or Erotic but we may discuss adult topics and therefore these podcasts are not suitable for children or those of a nervous disposition. You have been warned.

If you are interested in E-Stim Systems the company, or any of our products, have a look at https://estim.store