This week’s My Trade Story is from an amazing lady in the industry – Michaela Clark. I first encountered Michaela when she gave a talk at the ProBlogger conference I attended last year. I was so inspired by her presentation that I then went on to research to find out more about her. Twelve months ago it was rare to find others who were passionate about content marketing, and in the construction industry. To find Michaela who was another lady involved in construction, who made her own business based on providing remote business support to trade based small businesses like theirs, was amazing. Since then I have subscribed to her podcast, and in fact yesterday I lucky enough to be a guest. So without further ado, let me introduce Michaela!

My Trade Story with Michaela Clark

My trade story started with a drunken night in a city pub and probably the worst pick-up line in history.

A long haired tradie with a freshly ironed flannelette shirt and steel cap boots approached me.
“What nice rings you have!” Apparently my tradie’s mate had told him to use this line as it allows for personal contact by holding the hand whilst inspecting the rings. Due in small part to my consumption of too many vodka and oranges, I completely fell for it.

At the time I met my tradie I was working in my ‘dream job’ in radio promotions. Days were filled with free concerts, overseas travel and meeting rock stars. No two days were ever the same and I loved every minute of it.

But that life wasn’t compatible with having a family – something that really hit home when I found myself sitting in my home office at 11pm working on a client proposal, whilst nursing my sick baby. That was the exact moment I knew I was going to leave the corporate world.

When my second child was diagnosed with Autism it cemented my move out of the corporate life and into a trade life. I chose not to go back to my radio job and instead started working with my husband in our plastering business.

I did find this transition rather tough at times.

I went from days spent talking to celebrities and attending exclusive parties to taking phone calls from homeowners about water damaged ceilings whilst changing a dirty nappy. Multitasking took on a whole new dimension.

Word spread quickly about the work I was doing in our business as I was an early adopter of mobile technology and moved all our operations online. This had a massive impact on our productivity and revenue as well as giving us an additional 10+ hours a week of family time.

Before I knew it I had started a new business of my own providing remote business support to trade based small businesses like ours.

We helped tradies with outsourcing, virtual teams, remote customer service, online marketing and productivity through streamlining their systems and procedures.

I really enjoyed this work and particularly the difference we made each week in freeing up my clients’ time which allowed them to put it back into growing their business. Better still, it allowed them to spend time with those they loved which was the reason I left my own corporate job in the first place. I’m sure I even helped saved a few marriages along the way too!

Over the past 18 months I have moved away from the hands on, implementation work for a small number of clients to an education and teaching role which is where my true passion lies.

In late 2014 a colleague introduced me to a guy named Warrick who apparently also ‘speaks tradie’ in his role as a building and construction business mentor. Over a coffee on the Sunshine Coast, the Tradies Business Show podcast was born.

Who would have thought that 16 years after meeting my tradie, I would be co-hosting a podcast aimed at helping them?

The Tradies Business Show was the first podcast in Australia specifically made for building and construction industry business owners. It didn’t take long to be one of the country’s leading small business podcasts and has now been downloaded in over 30 countries.

The mission of the show is to help tradies get off the tools and into true business ownership.

We are now approaching 150 episodes which equates to over 80 hours of free business and mindset advice (as well as a few dad jokes along the way).

That has lead to the creation of the Tradies Business Toolkit, an online community for like-minded trade business owners to network with each other as well have access to video courses, tools and templates to help them start or grow their business.

As much as I miss the glamorous days of radio, celebrities and travel, nothing comes close to the satisfaction I feel every week when we get feedback from listeners – letting us know the difference our show is making to them personally and their entrepreneurial journey.

Warrick, Duncan and Michaela doing an onsite episode

Wow, what an awesome journey! I am continually inspired by women who have the determination to make a complete career change and pursue a career in the construction industry. It is stories like this that show just how much can be achieved with the right attitude and drive. If you would like to know more about Michaela, you can find her on Tradies Business Show, or Facebook. If you would like information on how to grow your business or to network with others in the trade , I thoroughly recommend you check out Tradies Business Toolkit.

Are you a lady tradie or do you work in the construction industry? I’d love to hear from you.

Nicole xxx

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