Gen X Women in Business

I'm a chatterbox. Always have been. So when I lost my voice for almost two weeks, it threw my whole world (and business) into a bit of chaos. In this episode I'm sharing the five things this experience taught me, told countdown-style.

In this episode:

• Why being quiet is harder than it sounds when your voice is your main business tool
• The podcast banking lesson I should have learnt the first time (and didn't)
• The "awkward middle child" problem of small business owners: not great at being sick, hate letting people down, and find it hard to ask for help
• What happens when two people in one house lose their voices at the same time (washing pile included)
• The biggest lesson of all: gratitude for health, for feedback, and for the work I get to do

If you've ever pushed through when your body was telling you to stop, or struggled to ask for help when you needed it, this one's for you.

Enjoyed this episode?

If something resonated, forward this episode to a friend who might need to hear it. Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if you're feeling generous, a five-star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts goes a long way.

Where to find Belinda:

Belinda Bayliss Co

www.belindabayliss.co

BelindaBayliss.co (Insta) and Belinda Bayliss Co (Facey_
Want more chat straight to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter here 

The Gen X Women in Business Podcast is produced for general educational and informational purposes only. Nothing shared here constitutes professional psychological advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and should not be treated as such. If you are experiencing mental health concerns, please seek support from a qualified professional. Where guests appear on this podcast, their opinions and views are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Belinda Bayliss Co or the Gen X Women in Business Podcast. Always seek the advice of a qualified professional with any questions you may have.

Community. Tribe. Circle. Whatever you call it, belonging matters. And in midlife, especially as a female founder, it hits differently.

In this episode, Bel unpacks why connection shifts so significantly across our lives. From school friendships and the great post-education scatter, to the sideline communities of parenting years, to the particular kind of loneliness that can creep in when you're running a business and navigating the hormonal rollercoaster of perimenopause and beyond.

She shares stories from her own journey. The Southbank Sirens, back-of-the-pack triathlon life, business besties who travel from all corners of Australia just to be in the same room. And she makes the case that community isn't a nice-to-have. It's a business strategy. It's a nervous system strategy. It's a staying-in-the-game strategy.

In this episode, Bel covers:

• Why friendship and connection naturally fragment across our 20s, 30s and 40s, and what that leaves behind
• The specific isolation that comes with being a female founder. No colleagues, no water cooler, often working from home
• The sandwich generation, menopause, and why so many women start to quietly retreat just when connection matters most
• Six reasons community is genuinely essential in midlife. Decision-making, nervous system co-regulation, permission by proximity and more
• Why seeing real women doing real bold things is more powerful than any Instagram reel promising 10k days
• Bel's own experience of medical menopause at 26, finding her people, and why she's now an associate member of the Australian Menopause Society

A gentle nudge:

If this one resonated, I would love it if you could send it to your business bestie. Or the woman you think needs a reminder that she's not alone.

Hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. Every interaction helps more women in business find this podcast. Which is kind of the whole point.

Gen X Women in Business is hosted by Belinda Bayliss. Business mindset coach, online educator and the Gen X friend with a psychology degree you didn't know you needed.

Want to know more about Belinda and what she offers  - check her out at...

Website: www.belindabayliss.co

Insta - belindabayliss.co

Facebook: Belinda Bayliss Co

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We talk a lot about self-compassion like it's a nice idea -- something to aspire to on a good day. This conversation with Dr. Hayley D. Quinn goes a lot deeper than that.

Hayley is a mindset and wellbeing coach, speaker, author, and former clinical psychologist with nearly two decades of clinical experience. She's also a late-diagnosed autistic woman with ADHD who's spent years figuring out what it actually means to work in a way that honours who you are -- and she brings all of that to this conversation.

We cover a lot of ground, including why self-compassion is so often misread as softness (it isn't -- courage and wisdom are at the heart of it), the three flows of compassion and why receiving it tends to be the one most high-achieving women struggle with most, and what happens in midlife when the identity you've built around caring for others starts to shift.

Hayley also talks about her book From Self-Neglect to Self-Compassion -- how it came to be, what it's really asking of readers, and why she included guided meditations you can record in your own voice.

Plus -- practical stuff. How Hayley structures her work week, why white space in your diary isn't a luxury, body doubling as a real productivity tool, and why she's doing pottery on purpose even when it's imperfect.

There's a lot in this one. Take what's useful and leave the rest -- as Hayley would say.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why compassion is built on courage, not kindness alone
• The three flows of compassion -- and why receiving help is often the hardest
• Midlife identity shifts as an opening, not just a loss
• How Hayley structures her work as a neurodivergent business owner
• The case for white space, rest, and the occasional nap (nappetizer, anyone?)
• From Self-Neglect to Self-Compassion -- what Hayley hopes readers take away
• Finding joy outside of work, even when work is something you love

Connect with Dr. Hayley D. Quinn:

Website https://drhayleydquinn.com

From Self-Neglect to Self-Compassion Book https://drhayleydquinn.com/product/book/

Podcast https://drhayleydquinn.com/podcast/

Free Resource  https://drhayleydquinn.com/resources/

Instagram https://instagram.com/drhayleydquinn/

LinkedIn Linkedin.com/in/dr-hayley-d-quinn-43386533

Facebook https://facebook.com/drhayleydquinnbrisbane

You can connect with Belinda:

Insta: @belindabayliss.co

Website: www.belindabayliss.co

Facebook: Belinda Bayliss co

Gratitude shows up everywhere online - but is it actually doing anything for you, or is it just a nice idea you scroll past?

In this episode, Bel gets into what makes gratitude genuinely useful - and it has everything to do with how you train your brain to notice things. (There's a story about a sports car in traffic that explains it better than any neuroscience lecture.)

She also unpacks what gratitude has to do with midlife specifically - the freedom, the fewer cares given, and the quiet shift in what actually matters - and how leaning into it on the hard business days can genuinely change your perspective without tipping into toxic positivity.

Plus, six practical ways to weave gratitude into your day - none of which take more than a minute.

In this episode:

• Why gratitude works better as a practice than a one-off moment
• The "new car" effect and what it tells us about how our brains are wired
• What Bel is genuinely grateful for in midlife - and why caring less about strangers' opinions is a gift
• The freedom that comes with being your own boss in this season of life
• How to reframe the small catastrophes of a hard business day
• Six simple ways to build a gratitude practice that actually sticks

Connect with Bel: Instagram: @belindabayliss.co Website: belindabayliss.co Newsletter: The Midweek Pause

If this episode landed for you, share it with someone who could use a 10-minute reset. A rating or review also helps more women find the show.

This episode follows on from our conversation about the invisible load that midlife women carry, and this time we're getting practical. If you're a woman in business navigating perimenopause or the menopause transition, this one is for you.

Bel walks through five real-life shifts that can help you manage the invisible load without a new system, a new app, or another thing on your to-do list. From the way you talk to yourself, to how you move between tasks, to how you plan your day, these are small but meaningful changes that work with your energy and your nervous system, not against them. Because sustainable business doesn't come from pushing harder, it comes from working in a way that acknowledges what you're genuinely carrying.

If something in this episode lands for you, Bel would love to hear about it. Find her on 

Instagram and 

Facebook at Belinda Bayliss Co, 

or reach out directly at [email protected]. 

And if you found value here, sharing, subscribing, or leaving a comment helps this podcast reach the women who need it most.

We talk a lot about the invisible load for younger women, but what happens to it as we age? 

In this episode, Belinda explores how the invisible load shifts for women in midlife from the sandwich generation caring responsibilities to the very real cognitive and physical load that comes with the perimenopause and menopause transition. And for women in business, where there's no HR department, no sick leave, and no one to delegate to that load lands somewhere specific.

In this episode:

• Why the invisible load doesn't disappear in midlife, it just looks different
• The sandwich generation reality and what that caring load actually costs
• How perimenopause and menopause directly affect the brain, memory, focus, emotional regulation, and stress tolerance
• Why brain fog, disrupted sleep, and shifting energy aren't character flaws,  they're biology
• How scarcity thinking shows up in business decisions during this transition
• The concept of "sageessence" and what it means to lead from wisdom rather than hustle
• Why "name it to tame it" might be the most important thing you do this week

Key reminder from this episode:

The transition period for perimenopause can be up to 10 years and in Australia, research suggests it can start as early as age 42. If things feel harder than they used to, it might not be you. It might be your biology and that changes everything about how you respond to it.

Find Belinda at 

Website: www.belindabayliss.co, 

Instagram: @belindabayliss.co,  

Facebook: Belinda Bayliss Co, 

or send her a note at [email protected]

Does this sound familiar? Just one more course, one more webinar, one more credential... it just needs one more edit, and then everything will be ready to go. And then you watch people moving ahead while you continue to plan, perfect... maybe avoid?

In this episode, Belinda gets honest about patterns she's noticed in her own business journey, the gap between knowing what she wants and actually doing it, the habit of waiting to feel ready, and the perfectionism that disguises itself as preparation. Spoiler alert: she's pretty sure she's not alone.

In this episode:

• The "procrasti-planning" pattern and why it's so easy to justify
• Fear of failure (and fear of being a phony) dressed up as due diligence
• Why intelligence and insight don't always move us forward -- and can sometimes keep us stuck
• The one thing that actually builds confidence: doing the thing

Want to go deeper?

The knowing-doing gap is something Bel keeps coming back to in her own work -- and it's shaping something she's building right now. If this episode landed for you, stay close. There's more coming on exactly this topic, and you won't want to miss it. Find Bel at belindabayliss.co to keep the conversation going.

Connect with Bel: 

Instagram: @belindabayliss.co | 

Facebook: Belinda Bayliss Co | 

Email: [email protected]

This week I'm joined by Michelle McMahon - Founder and CEO of Flourish Mama and someone who learned the hard way what happens when you consistently put yourself last.

Michelle spent years pouring everything into her kids, her family, and her home - quietly dropping all the things that were hers along the way. She didn't notice it happening until her physical health collapsed completely. Migraines, gut issues, and barely functioning. 

What followed was a long road back and eventually, a business built from her own experience. Flourish Mama exists to give other mums the shortcut she didn't have, reconnecting with themselves through the small, everyday acts of self-care that make the real difference.

We also get into perimenopause, the myth of the mum who can do it all, positive ageing, and why Gen X  and Millennial women are very much not done yet.

I loved this conversation, and hope you do too. 

Find Michelle at: 

Instagram: @theflourishmama 

Email: [email protected]

Find Belinda at:

Instagram: @belindabayliss.co

Facebook: Belinda Bayliss Co

Email: [email protected]

Go to www.belindabayliss.co to sign up to our newsletter.

Recorded on the eve of her birthday, Belinda explores two ideas that are deeply connected: nostalgia and positive aging.

 She unpacks what the psychology research actually tells us about nostalgia, why music is such a powerful trigger for it, and how it links to meaning, gratitude, and belonging. She also takes an honest look at the cultural story around aging, why it skews so heavily towards loss, and what the research shows about women in midlife that largely goes untold.

In This Episode

•          The origins of nostalgia: from Greek roots to a military medical condition to what it means to us now

•          Why music and memory are so deeply intertwined

•          Belinda's personal nostalgia: high school, Rockford's, dance, and the songs that still live in her body

•          What 25 years of psychology research tells us nostalgia actually does for our wellbeing

•          The social element: why nostalgic memories almost always involve other people

•          The nostalgia-to-gratitude connection, and why it matters for daily life

•          Where nostalgia can become a problem: rumination, avoidance, and getting stuck

•          The cultural narrative around aging, and why it skews so heavily towards loss

•          What the research on women's personality in midlife actually shows (it's more positive than you've been told)

•          The link between nostalgia and positive aging: how looking back can help you go forward

•          A closing invitation: the song exercise

Key Takeaways

•          Nostalgia is not just sentimentality. Research links it to higher life meaning, optimism, self-esteem, and gratitude.

•          Music accesses episodic memory in a way few other triggers can. A song doesn't just remind you. It retrieves the whole scene.

•          Nostalgia is most powerful when it's social. The memories that move us are almost always connected to other people.

•          Healthy nostalgia brings you back to the present enriched. Unhealthy nostalgia keeps you stuck in what was.

•          The dominant cultural story about aging, particularly for women, focuses on loss. The research tells a more interesting story.

•          How we approach aging genuinely shapes how we age. Attitude is not a cliche here. It has documented impact.

•          Looking back with warmth is not the same as living in the past. A good relationship with your history makes the future clearer.

 Connect

•          Website: belindabayliss.co

•          Instagram: @belindabayliss.co

•          Facebook: Belinda Bayliss Co

Something resonated? Bel would genuinely love to hear from you.

Have you ever caught yourself acting in a way you don't quite recognise, and felt  unsettled by it? In this episode, Belinda explores the identity shift that many women in midlife and the menopause transition experience, and what it means for those of us running a business.

 She talks about the hormonal science behind why this happens, the situational pressures that compound it, and the difference between shame and accountability when we show up in ways that don't reflect who we know ourselves to be.

In This Episode

• Why identity loss in midlife is a real and documented experience, not a character flaw 
• The hormonal science: estrogen, the brain, and why midlife is a significant transition point 
• Why we extend grace to teenagers and pregnant women, but not to women in menopause 
• The sandwich generation: how caring responsibilities above and below compound an already stretched bandwidth 
• A personal story: the Christmas she became someone she didn't recognise or like 
• The business risk when identity shift goes unaddressed 
• What finding your way back can look like (it's different for everyone) 
• The crucial difference between shame and accountability 
• A closing question to sit with

 Key Takeaways

• Identity shift in midlife is hormonally and situationally driven. It is not weakness or failure.
• Estrogen impacts memory and communication. The 'brain fog' of menopause is real, documented, and deserving of the same grace we give to pregnancy and adolescence. 
• For solopreneurs, the nervous system is the business. There is no HR, no sick leave, no backup. 
• The first step is recognition, not correction. Noticing that something has shifted is where movement begins. 
• Shame internalises and stalls. Accountability opens a path forward.

Connect

• Website: belindabayliss.co
• Instagram: @belindabayliss.co
• Facebook: Belinda Bayliss Co

Something landed? Reach out. Bel would love to hear from you.