Hello Everybody
This is the story of how I got to this place.
Before I continue on there are people to give credit to.
I must say a big “Thank You” to Roger Hamilton, Daniel Priestley, Michael Clark, Bob and Mandy Doyle, Eileen Cann, Annie Meecham, Mica May.
For ages now I’ve been trying to figure out what I’m going to do in my older years. The thought of not being able to ‘plumb’ was not one I wanted to contemplate.
Then gradually it started to come to me….
I started reading, and talking to business people. I realised that I was spending so much time in my business, that I wasn’t spending time working ON my business.
I had to change this.
The more I thought the more I realised the opportunities before me. How much I had to offer to the world and to the people around me and to women who want to become plumbers.
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind like none in my life before. And then the indescribable experience of last weekend. Where I got to talk to over 200 people at a huge gathering of entrepreneurs, about my dreams of a women’s plumbing company that’s nationwide, or even wider; and the bigger purpose of access to Fresh Water for everyone on the planet.
Not only do I believe I can achieve this but so do many other people who’ve pledged to help me.
So the first step is to take on more women plumbers to work with me.
The only difficulty with this is finding young women potential plumbers and lettting them know I exist.
By the time a woman has jumped through all the hoops, beginning with persuading her parents it isn’t a ridiculous idea, and even finding a college that will take her, putting up with the harsh male environment, finding a placement, sticking the course out, she deserves to be employed!
It is a tragedy that after sucessfully jumping over all these hurdles, a newly qualified woman plumber is still very unlikely to find a job.
Most employers still harbour outdated attitudes, the more enlightened of which is that a woman plumber is just the same as a man. The fact is that we are different, it’s our differences that should be celebrated.
In my 16 years of plumbing all my clientelle without exception hired me because I’m a woman, and no matter how many plumbing firms exist in my local area, I have no competitors.
I want to find those brave women who have jumped through hurdles and hoops and who want to join me in my great new and exciting venture.
I have affiliated myself with local colleges in order that those young plumbers can have access to me as an employer, mentor, role model, visionary.
My passion for the job, my dedication to passing on those skills and my purpose of “Global Water Management” makes me jump out of bed in the morning. I can hardly contain the exhilaration I feel at the prospect of being able to effect world change. The energy that generates in me is what spurs me on to get the national company of women plumbers started as soon as possible.
If you are reading this blog and know of somebody struggling to get her dream of being a plumber acknowledged, pass them on to me.
