Tara shares her personal battle with endometriosis and Vulvodynia, leading to her creation of a product that has helped over 10,000 women experience sexual normalcy and reduced pelvic pain.
The discussion covers the lack of adequate medical diagnosis and care for various pelvic conditions, VuvaTech's unique approach to customer support, and the importance of listening to and genuinely aiding the sufferers.
Tara also emphasizes the power of mindset in entrepreneurship, citing ‘The Secret' as a significant influence, and offers advice to budding entrepreneurs about thinking outside the box and the importance of solving real problems to achieve business success.
- Background: Tara Langdale suffered from endometriosis and underwent multiple pelvic surgeries, starting at the age of 11. She created a device to help with Vulvodynia, a condition that causes painful intercourse, and partnered with her business partner to establish Vuva Tech, located in Sarasota, Florida.
- Vuva Tech: The company's mission is to help approximately one in seven women in the US who suffer from pelvic and vulvar pain. Their product, the VuVa Magnetic Vaginal Dilator, has been clinically proven to alleviate pelvic pain and sexual discomfort, improving the lives of women seeking sexual normalcy. They have helped over 10,000 women in the past two years.
- CEO Hack: Tara recommends the book and movie “The Secret” as a valuable resource to help manifest and achieve desired goals.
- CEO Nugget: Tara emphasizes the importance of thinking outside the box when searching for solutions to problems.
- CEO Defined: For Tara, being a CEO means having the freedom to do what she wants, when she wants, and helping others get to where she is.
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Transcription:
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Tara Langdale Teaser 00:00
There aren't that many out there that actually know what they're talking about. Physicians, unfortunately, about all these pelvic pain conditions, they keep lumping them into this category of menopause and endometriosis or one or the other.
But there's other things going on besides those two conditions that everyone are, you know, are quite aware of. So we just kind of go beyond. the extra step and we really listen to people and give them advice and it's fun.
Intro 00:25
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?
If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO Podcast.
Gresham Harkless 00:53
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Tara Langdale of Vuva Tech. Tara, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?
Tara Langdale 01:03
Yes. I'm very excited about this opportunity today.
Gresham Harkless 01:06
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. But before we get started, what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Tara so you can learn a little bit more about her and hear about all the awesome things that she's been able to accomplish.
And Tara suffered from endometriosis and had many pelvic surgeries beginning at the age of 11. After creating advice to help out with the vulvodynia, a condition that causes painful intercourse, her and her business partner started a company based in Sarasota, Florida, dedicated to helping the estimated one in seven women in the United States who suffer from pelvic and vulvar pain.
The vulva magnetic vaginal dilator has been clinically proven to relieve pelvic pain and sexual discomfort and has improved the lives of women seeking sexual normalcy.
They have helped over 10,000 women in the past two years. So Tara, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?
Tara Langdale 01:55
Yes, I am.
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Gresham Harkless 01:56
Awesome. Well, first question I have is if you can kind of maybe delve a little bit deeper into your CEO story and what led you to start your business.
Tara Langdale 02:03
So it was one of those businesses that you're not planning on starting. I didn't think that I would be selling vaginal dilators for a living. I'm happy that I am, but I just suffered for so many years. And then I found out that I had another condition on top of the endometriosis, which is actually they can be related but more it's more unrelated and the vulvodynia which causes unexplained nerve pain during intercourse.
After doing a lot of research, I found that it was a same type of condition like fibromyalgia. It's an unexplained nerve pain. So a light bulb went off in my head and I saw fibromyalgia and vulvodynia in the same sentence in a paragraph and I was like, well, my mom used neodymium magnet therapy for her fibromyalgia back in 1996 when nothing helped So I'm going to try to do that for me.
So I called my husband and I said, listen, we're gonna put magnets and dilators and see if this works. And within two weeks, the pain was reduced about 60%. And then I had an idea, let's use the dilators right before intercourse. And that the reduced the pain about 90 to 95 percent then. And I couldn't believe it.
And I said, I have to do this. I have to, I have to help women. We have no choice, but to help women because they don't have anything. The doctors aren't even diagnosing them correctly. So, so that's, and that's how the business was started.
Gresham Harkless 03:19
Okay. Okay. Well, obviously, sorry to hear you. There's any type of pain and discovery that obviously that you've had, but to be able to be, you know, a true entrepreneur and be able to not just have the issue, but also to be able to solve the issue to help yourself, not dish yourself, but also so many people is phenomenal for it.
And you deserve much respect for doing that. So I wanted to delve a little bit deeper into your business and get a better idea of exactly like how I mean, you kind of help out these women.
Tara Langdale 03:42
So we have, we have dilators here. We have magnetic vaginal dilators. You can buy them singly. You can buy combo sets or you can buy a full set.
Some women don't need all the sizes. If you have vulvodynia, your muscles might not be tight as tight as somebody with vaginismus, which is another condition dilators are used for. So you might not need all the sizes. So we've kind of broken it up where you can get single ones, combo sets, or the full set.
We wanted the women to have option, so they didn't feel like they needed to just purchase the whole set, you know, and that would save them some money. So we do that. Also, what we do is we provide lubricant with the dilators because a lot of lubricants that women buy in the store, just over the counter.
They have harmful ingredients that actually are going to irritate their pelvic pain condition even more because the skin there's a skin issue going on down there a nerve issue and they have citric acid and things so we we provide a very safe water based lubricant with about four or five ingredients in it as well but what makes Vuva Tech different than I think other dilator companies which there are actually aren't that many is we actually talk to our customers we let them vent you We point them in the right direction.
We help them find pelvic floor physical therapists, which not a lot of women don't know exist. We help them find vulvar pain specialists, pelvic pain specialists, because not a lot of companies will take the time out of their day to search a half an hour to find a doctor in Australia. That is something that we do because we have to stick together.
Me being a pelvic pain patient, I didn't know who to go to for four years. And I still didn't go to a pelvic pain specialist that I went to one, but he didn't even give me a diagnosis. So. There aren't that many out there that actually know what they're talking about. Physicians, unfortunately, about all these pelvic pain conditions, they keep lumping them into this category of menopause and endometriosis or one or the other.
But there's other things going on besides those two conditions that everyone are, you know, are quite aware of. So we just kind of go beyond. the extra step and we really listen to people and give them advice and it's fun. It's really nice helping people, you know, on a different level than just providing them with the product.
Gresham Harkless 05:54
Yeah, absolutely. And I imagine that when, you know, people have nowhere to turn or they're so frustrated by everything that's happening, even their doctor who may not necessarily be versed in exactly what might be the issue or be able to provide the right solution. You'll be able to turn somewhere and be able to actually get a solution to the problem, but also know that somebody has also gone through the same issues.
Probably definitely, you know, helps out a ton. Now I wanted to touch on it. You might already touched on it before, but kind of like your secret sauce or kind of like your differentiator. Do you have something in additional? Or did you already touch on that kind of makes your organization unique?
Tara Langdale 06:27
I kind of touched on it like we go that extra mile. But I think part of that is the reason why we do that, which I could touch on a little bit is because I actually have the condition. I have a couple of the conditions that these women have. So I understand. I'm not a man trying to sell a woman a device for pelvic pain.
That man doesn't know how it feels. I know how it feels. I'm in it to help people. I created something that's safe, has no side effects. I'm not gonna try to steer you, like you could call me and if I don't think you need dilators, I'm gonna tell you. If I think that you need to see a physician first, because maybe I don't think you have one of the pelvic pain conditions, I'm not gonna tell you.
tell you to buy my product. I'm not in it for the money. I'm in it to help people. So I feel like if you're really in it to help people, then the monetary rewards will come. It's, you know, karma is a real thing and I believe in it and you know, we've had a lot of success and I think it's because our patients and not, they're not our patients.
I call them our patients, but our customers, you know, really feel like we really care, which is very important.
Gresham Harkless 07:31
That's it's huge. And like I always usually say myself, it's like kind of giver's gain. And when you do something good for the universe and you put good out there, I mean, like you, like you mentioned, you're not necessarily, you're trying to help at the end of the day.
So however best you're able to do that, whether that be a connection with somebody who actually is a doctor that might know exactly what it is that they're going to and can prescribe them the right thing, or your product itself definitely helps out at the end of the day, you're trying to help. So I think that definitely does come back to you.
You know, triple-fold or fourfold sometimes. So now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this CEO hack could be an app, it could be a book, or it could be maybe an app or maybe an habit that you have that you lean on, on a regular everyday basis that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.
Tara Langdale 08:14
So the one, it was a book and then it was made into a movie and a lot of people are aware of it, but. I, there's no book that I can talk about that I love more than the, the book, The Secret, because it's whatever you put out into the universe, you're going to get back. So if you're constantly in a mind frame, I was in this mind frame when I thought these dilators, I'm going to make this happen.
I have no choice, but to make this happen. I am going to, to this appointment because by the end of these couple of months, I'm going to have a mold made. I'm going to have picked the color of the dilators. I'm going to have the website finished You have to set goals and every day you have to work towards those goals.
You put it out into the universe. I'm going to have a dilator company. I'm going to help women. I have no choice. I'm going to do it. If you're constantly focused on every single day, what you're going to do to get to your point B or your point C or your point D, then every action that you make those days is going to help you get, you know, to where you want to be.
So, The secret really what you put out into the universe, you get back. I mean, I believe it works 100%. You know, if you just every day, just right on your wall, put reminders, put notes on your desk. Like I am going to do this. It really helps.
Gresham Harkless 09:28
Exactly. Yeah, definitely echo that. And that is a phenomenal book in a movie.
As well and being able to kind of speak things in existence and saying, I want X, Y, and Z, or I'm going to have X, Y, and Z and actually have that come to fruition is very true. And it's awesome to hear that that has definitely manifested itself in your business and in your life. It sounds like.
Tara Langdale 09:44
It has, it has, it's really been helpful.
Gresham Harkless 09:47
Awesome. Awesome. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget and this CEO nugget can be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice that you might have for other entrepreneurs and business owners.
Tara Langdale 09:55
So my golden nugget for business owners is. A lot of people want to do things that have a lot of competition.
So they want to sell t shirts. They want to open a restaurant. They want to do the things that they see other people doing that are very simple. You have to think out of the box. You have to look at things that don't have a lot of competition. You can sell t-shirts, but at the end of the day, you might make five dollars profit off each one.
Well, you have to sell a lot of t-shirts to make money to pay your start paying your bills like you have to think outside the box, something that people want and that they need or a solution to a problem. A T-shirt's not a solution to a problem. So you want to pick things that are lightweight, that are easy to ship, that have high markups on them.
Just not worth some businesses. A lot of business that people try the obvious ones. They're just not worth it anymore. They're not with the cost of, you know, everything, the cost of goods, everything that's going up. You really have to think outside of the box in, in research and find something that is not what you just don't want to do what everybody else is doing.
There's no point to it. There's just too much competition now with the internet out. So and then things, you know, why sell water? I would never want to sell water. Do you want to know why it costs so much to ship? Because it's one of the heaviest things. So somebody that's selling eyelashes for 15 a pair, it costs 50 cents to ship.
That's what I want to sell. So, you know, why sell water when you can sell feathers? for the same markup, you know, but less shipping, you really have to weigh the pros and cons of something that you pick and think of everything down to shipping and packaging and really price every piece of that thing out from the time in the morning where you go in and you turn on the lights, what that electric is going to cost you that day to your water machine.
I mean, people don't think of the everyday little things. And then when they start paying all their overhead, they're like, well, I'm not making any money. So, well, it's because you said, decided to sell t-shirts and make 4 a pop, you know? So that's my tidbit. That's what I could go on all day. That's my tidbit.
Gresham Harkless 11:57
I love it. I love it. You know, it is. It kind of speaks to like knowing your numbers and knowing exactly what your margins are, especially in understanding that just because so and so is doing this type of business doesn't mean that you want to continue doing that. You really want to inspect it, kind of look and see why and ask yourself why exactly you're doing it and what is kind of like your end result or your goal and how does that help you to get there.
Tara Langdale 12:18
Exactly.
Gresham Harkless 12:19
Awesome. Awesome. Well, I love that that CEO nugget. And now I wanted to ask you, which is my favorite question, which is kind of like the definition of being a CEO. And we're hoping to have different types of CEOs on this show and be able to ask them exactly what it means to them. So what does being a CEO mean to you?
Tara Langdale 12:34
Being a CEO, what it means to me is the freedom to do what I want. when I want, but you can't take that to your advantage. So you do have to work hard. And I put three years into this company where I worked night and day when I every breath was put into VUVA. Now I get a little bit more time. Now it starts to get a little bit more fun and I have a little bit more free time for myself.
But it's just that freedom. To do what you want and to help others and being a CEO And being a successful CEO means to me is helping other people try to get where you are. So sometimes when you're so busy, it's people come to you. I mean, as we're speaking now, I get a text on my phone. I have a website.
This. Can you look at it? Can you give me your opinion? But it's hard because you're you're so busy that you Your time is precious, but you have to stop and realize that I didn't get to this point without asking 10 to 20 other people the same, those same questions that I was just sent in the text. So I like to help others become CEOs as well.
So share your knowledge and how you got there and then help others. Other people become CEOs around you.
Gresham Harkless 13:41
Awesome. I, I love that definition and the idea of kind of paying it forward and learning like where, where you got the opportunity to get to where you've got, you've, that you've achieved, the point that you achieved has come because somebody also paid it forward as well.
I appreciate you for obviously taking some time out of your schedule and kind of speak with us and helping us to be better CEO. So I wanted to pass you to mic, so to speak, to see if there was anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best people can get ahold of you.
Tara Langdale 14:06
I really appreciate the opportunity to do this. Anytime I can get the word out about the pelvic floor conditions. talking about. I like to take it because unfortunately, it's really hard to do marketing for our products because of what it looks like, even though it is a device that helps women, you know, cervical cancer, dyspareunia, vulvodynia, vaginismus, vulvar vestibulitis.
You know, we don't get a lot of time to talk about it anywhere because Unfortunately, people aren't interested in it or not for they think it's, you know, taboo. So I do appreciate it. One thing that I like to tell women and listeners as is there's very important is there's actually pelvic floor physical therapists.
So pelvic floor physical therapists are trained for women's health. You can find one going to the APTA women's health section on their website. We also, if you go to our website, which is www.vuvatech.com or you Google Vuva magnetic dilators, you'll find us. We also have a resources page where you can find a pelvic floor physical therapist, pelvic pain specialist or physician.
So a lot of women. I mean, I didn't know that until a year after I created the dilators. I'm like, wow, There's probably four physical therapists and they're the ones who use dilators the most, so they're not going to put you on these medications with harmful side effects that give you bad thoughts or make you gain weight.
It's a muscle and nerve issue, so they're going to do physical therapy inside your, your vaginal canal and do manipulation and Maybe it's being caused by a tight hip muscle. That's, you know, pulling your pelvic floor. So there's a lot of things, you know, a doctor is going to sit there, do a pap smear and then write you a prescription for an antidepressant.
And that's just not okay anymore. So I just like to throw that out there that there's actually pelvic floor physical therapists that are very helpful.
Gresham Harkless 15:53
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. I truly appreciate you for all the awesome things you're doing to help people out that are feeling so much pain and discomfort and for every Kind of piece of advice and word of wisdom that you gave to us today.
So I truly appreciate it. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
Tara Langdale 16:07
You too. Thank you so much. And for being a male and caring about this enough to let me come on your podcast and create some pelvic pain awareness. So I appreciate that.
Outro 16:17
Thank you for listening to the I Am CEO podcast. Powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I Am CEO is not just a phrase. It's a community.
Check out the latest and greatest apps, books, and habits to level up your business at ceohacks.co. This has been the I Am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless, Jr. Thank you for listening.
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