The business podcast for the adult and sexual wellness industry. Host Johannes sits down with the founders, creators, and operators actually building in the space. Real conversations about what it takes to start, run, and scale a business in an industry everyone uses but nobody wants to work with. Payments, growth, platforms, the wins and the shutdowns. No judgement, no fluff, just straight talk from people who've done it.
In this episode of Hard on Business, Bethany Burgoyne shares how a journalist covering intimacy and sexuality became the founder of Sassy Talent, an agency representing the creators and brands the mainstream overlooks. She talks about life as a bearded woman in front of the camera, the censorship that turns every post into a creative puzzle, and why owning your audience matters more than any follower count.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Bethany and Sassy Talent
01:06 From Journalism to Body Hair Representation
03:44 Landing the First Big Client at a Conference
05:14 One Blog, Two Goals, Ten Years Later
06:26 What Journalism Teaches You About Managing Talent
09:16 Striptease as a Way to Strip Away Shame
12:15 Your Openness Is Your Superpower
15:25 Why Media Should Stop Using Sex Lives to Shame People
16:08 The Daily Grind of Working Around Censorship
18:50 Only Working With Talent Who Have a Mission
19:44 When a Platform Deletes the Whole Business
22:08 Where's the Newsletter? Owning Your Audience
23:26 Appeals, Paid Fixers and Getting Accounts Back
25:50 Building a Marketing Mix Through Collaboration
29:00 Comedy as a Way Through the Algorithm
33:03 Why Face-to-Face Beats Cold Email
36:31 Frozen Accounts and the Banking Problem
39:21 Reframing the Language to Survive Moderation
42:05 Advice: Community Is Everything
The Sassy Show, Bethany's podcast mentioned in the episode:
https://www.thesassyshow.com (https://www.thesassyshow.com)
Find Bethany on social:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bxsassy2 (https://www.instagram.com/bxsassy2)
Sassy talent - https://www.instagram.com/sassy_talent/ (https://www.instagram.com/sassy_talent/)
The Sassy Show on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/_thesassyshow (https://www.instagram.com/_thesassyshow)
Follow your host Johannes:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-kanter (https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-kanter)
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johanneskanter (https://www.instagram.com/johanneskanter)
FastoPayments - https://fastopayments.com (https://fastopayments.com)
18 Sept 2026
Too Much for One Side, Not Enough for the Other with Kate Batchelor
In this episode of Hard on Business, Kate Batchelor shares how a registered nurse ended up buying a pole studio, stripping in her thirties and founding House of Gaia, discussing the whiplash of selling that studio to go online, the judgement that comes from both sides of the industry, and why visibility, not failure, is the thing that actually holds founders back.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Kate and House of Gaia
01:25 Blowing Up Her Life and Buying a Pole Studio
02:16 Selling the Studio and Moving the Business Online
04:16 Twenty Years of Curiosity, Shame and Coming to Terms With It
07:14 Does Lived Experience Make You a Better Teacher
11:16 Beginner's Mind and Why She Keeps Taking Classes
13:14 When Family and Old Friends Get Confronted
17:28 Too Sex Workery, Not Sex Workery Enough
20:28 What It Takes for a Partner to Be on Board
23:00 Venues That Ghost You and Printers Who Raise an Eyebrow
24:50 Shadow Banning: 100 DMs, 20 Percent Delivered
26:37 Where Clients Actually Come From Now
29:54 The Emotional Cycle of a Launch
34:05 Twelve Reps, Not One Failure
35:18 Visibility Is the Real Bottleneck
37:41 Advice: Find a Mentor and Start Before You Feel Ready
Find Kate on social:
Website - https://houseofgaia.au (https://houseofgaia.au)
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/gaia_kate/ (https://www.instagram.com/gaia_kate/)
Follow your host Johannes:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-kanter (https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-kanter)
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johanneskanter (https://www.instagram.com/johanneskanter)
FastoPayments - https://fastopayments.com (https://fastopayments.com)
14 Aug 2026
Building a Premium Adult Brand in a Post-Communist Market with Borislav Donchev
In this episode of Hard on Business, Borislav Donchev shares how he built Cleopatra into one of Bulgaria's leading premium adult brands from three physical stores in Sofia, discussing the bank rejections that nearly stopped him online, the supplier who cut him off overnight, and why he learned SEO himself because he could not afford to pay anyone else to do it.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Borislav, Cleopatra and MAX Digital
02:09 Opening an Adult Store in Bulgaria on a Joke
04:10 Rejected by Every Bank in the Country
06:59 How a Competitor Solved the Payments Problem
09:25 Two Kinds of Adult Shop and Who the Real Competition Is
11:11 The Supplier Who Cut Him Off Overnight
13:38 Seventy Hours of Cold Outreach to Find New Distributors
17:39 You Cannot Be Fully Independent, So Know the People
18:54 How to Actually Work a Trade Show
22:29 Moving Toward Wellness and Education
26:00 The Hardest Year: Currency Switch, Inflation and Stress
29:57 What Adult SEO Teaches That Normal SEO Never Will
35:20 AI Models Are Just New Search Engines
39:42 Advice for Founders Starting Out in the Industry
Find Borislav on social:
LinkedIn - https://bg.linkedin.com/in/borislav-donchev (https://bg.linkedin.com/in/borislav-donchev)
Personal Website - https://donchev.bg (https://donchev.bg)
MAX Digital - https://maxdigital.bg (https://maxdigital.bg)
Cleopatra - https://cleopatrabg.com (https://cleopatrabg.com)
Follow your host Johannes:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-kanter (https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-kanter)
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johanneskanter (https://www.instagram.com/johanneskanter)
FastoPayments - https://fastopayments.com (https://fastopayments.com)
4 Aug 2026
Shadow Banned: Building a Business the Platforms Keep Deleting with Amari Leigh
In this episode of Hard on Business, Amari Leigh shares how she accidentally built a sex-positive virtual assistant and social media agency that now supports 128+ clients across 17 countries, discussing shadow banning and platform censorship, the mistakes she made in her first year of business, and why diversifying beyond social media is survival rather than strategy.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Amari and Admin by Amari
02:20 Who Hires a Sex-Positive Agency
04:39 From Sociology Student to Accidental Agency Owner
09:02 The Hardest Parts of Running the Business
11:02 Early Mistakes: Contracts, Payment and Vetting
14:55 Shadow Banning Explained and What It Costs
19:30 Which Platforms Censor the Hardest
21:49 What Adult Industry Founders Are Really Like
23:15 Why Industry Knowledge Beats Generic Marketing
27:54 How Amari Actually Gets Clients
30:08 Growth Plans Beyond Social Media
31:35 Advice for Newcomers in the Adult Industry
Amari's censorship guidebook and webinar, mentioned in the episode:
https://www.sexcoachingbyamari.com/for-sexual-wellness-professionals (https://www.sexcoachingbyamari.com/for-sexual-wellness-professionals)
Find Amari on social:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amari-leigh-629b95197 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amari-leigh-629b95197)
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/adminbyamari.agency (https://www.instagram.com/adminbyamari.agency)
Agency Website - https://www.adminbyamariagency.com (https://www.adminbyamariagency.com)
Sex Coaching by Amari - https://www.sexcoachingbyamari.com (https://www.sexcoachingbyamari.com)
Follow your host Johannes:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-kanter (https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-kanter)
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johanneskanter (https://www.instagram.com/johanneskanter)
FastoPayments - https://fastopayments.com (https://fastopayments.com)
9 Jul 2026
The Art of Storytelling in the Adult Industry with Deidre Olsen
Host Johannes Kanter interviews Deidre Olsen, a sexual wellness industry social media expert, about leveraging human storytelling to navigate online challenges and build community.
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