What motivates you when things get tough? Please be detailed and explain why.
Honestly, I come back to the decision itself. I walked away from a career that looked great on paper, a job with Virgin Australia where I was literally travelling the world, and I chose to plant myself in an industry that most people wouldn’t even consider glamorous. That choice reminds me, on the hard days, that I didn’t end up here by accident. I chose this. And when you choose something with that kind of intention, you don’t get to quit on it just because it gets uncomfortable.
The other thing that keeps me going is the team. I have three full-time admin staff in our Dover Heights office and a field team of plumbers who show up every single day and do the work. Watching them grow, watching the business earn the trust of more and more Eastern Suburbs locals, that’s the fuel. When things get tough, I think about what we’re building together and I remember that the hard moments are just part of getting there.
Tell us 3 surprisingly easy and 3 surprisingly difficult things about your business.
3 Surprisingly Easy Things
Communicating with clients has been easier than I expected because being upfront about costs and showing up when promised goes a long way. Most clients simply want to feel looked after, and that comes naturally to me.
Building a strong team culture has also been easier because our plumbers take pride in their work and genuinely care about what they do.
I also had a clear vision from the start of what Proximity Plumbing should represent in the Eastern Suburbs: reliable, honest, and fair on price. Having that clarity makes decisions simple because anything that doesn’t align with those values is an easy no.
3 Surprisingly Difficult Things
Scheduling a field team has been one of the biggest challenges because jobs run over, emergencies come in, and priorities can change quickly. It took plenty of trial and error, and it still keeps me on my toes.
Another challenge is overcoming the plumbing industry’s reputation for unreliable service, surprise invoices, and poor communication. Rebuilding client trust takes patience and consistency on every job.
Finally, learning to switch off has been difficult because there’s always a schedule to review, a process to improve, or another goal to work toward.
What are the 3 things you like best about your work and why?
The first thing is the people. I work alongside three full-time admin staff every day, and I get to oversee a field team of plumbers who are genuinely good at what they do. Watching someone on the team get better at their job, grow in confidence, or handle a tough situation well is something I never get tired of. People are the whole point of running a service business, and I feel lucky that I get to work with a group I actually respect.
The second thing is solving real problems for real people. When a client calls us stressed out about a burst pipe or a bathroom that’s out of action, and we send someone out who fixes it properly and leaves them feeling relieved, that means something to me.
The third thing is watching the vision come to life. I have always had a clear picture of Proximity Plumbing becoming the go-to name for locals across the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, and every month we get a little closer to that. Seeing the business grow in an area we care about, with a team that cares just as much, is honestly the best part of the job.
What are your greatest 3 skills and how have they helped you succeed?
The first one is communication. I spent years as a flight attendant for Virgin Australia, and that role teaches you very quickly how to read a room, stay calm under pressure and make people feel at ease in situations they didn’t plan for. That skill transfers directly into running a service business. Whether I’m talking to a stressed-out client, briefing the admin team, or working through a scheduling problem with a plumber in the field, clear and calm communication is what keeps everything moving.
The second is organisation. Managing a cabin full of passengers across long-haul flights is, at its core, a logistics problem. You’re tracking people, timing, safety checks and service all at once. Running the Dover Heights office feels similar in a lot of ways. I schedule a full field team, manage three admin staff, and make sure every job gets the right person at the right time.
The third skill is holding a long-term picture in my head while dealing with what’s right in front of me. It’s easy to get buried in the day-to-day and lose sight of where the business is headed. I’ve always been able to zoom out, check that what we’re doing today still connects to the bigger goal, and then zoom back in and get on with it.
Tell us about a time you were dead wrong about something.
Before I got into this industry, I had a pretty set idea of what a plumbing business looked like. I assumed it was mostly reactive, that clients would call when something broke, a plumber would show up eventually, and that was the whole service. I thought the bar was low and that simply showing up on time would be enough to stand out. I was completely wrong about that, and I say that with no embarrassment because it’s the kind of assumption you can only correct by getting inside the industry and seeing it properly.
Here’s what I learned. Clients don’t just want someone who shows up. They want someone they can trust with their home, someone who explains what’s happening, gives them a fair price without the guesswork, and follows through every single time.
Handling that realisation meant rebuilding how I thought about the business from the ground up. It pushed me to put communication and transparency at the centre of everything we do at Proximity Plumbing, and honestly, that correction was one of the best things that could have happened. Being wrong about something that early meant we got to build the right way from the start.
Have you ever moved for a new job? Tell us about that experience.
In a way, my whole career is the answer to this question. I started out as a flight attendant with Virgin Australia, which is about as far from running a plumbing company as you can get. I was travelling, meeting people from all over the world, and living a life that looked exciting from the outside. But somewhere along the way I realised that what I actually wanted was to build something, to put roots down in one place and grow something I could be proud of. Meeting Will and coming across Proximity Plumbing gave me that opportunity, and I took it without hesitation.
The transition wasn’t just a job change. It was a full identity shift. I went from the sky to a desk in Dover Heights, from serving passengers to scheduling plumbers, from a role with a clear script to one where I was figuring things out as I went. There were moments early on where I genuinely questioned whether I had the right background for it. But the skills I built in aviation, staying organised under pressure, communicating clearly and reading people quickly, turned out to be exactly what this business needed. I wouldn’t change a single part of that experience because every bit of it led me here.
What do you value most and why?
Reliability. It sits above everything else for me, both in business and in life. I came into the plumbing industry and very quickly saw how much damage an unreliable tradie could do, not just to a client’s home, but to their trust in the whole industry. People would call us with their guard already up because someone else had let them down. That made me deeply committed to making sure Proximity Plumbing was the company that always followed through. If we say we’ll be there at 8am, we’re there at 8am. That standard is non-negotiable for me.
The second thing I care about just as much is honesty, especially around money. One of the biggest pain points in the trades industry is clients getting hit with invoices they didn’t see coming. From the very beginning, I made it a priority that our clients always have a clear, upfront view of what a job is going to cost before anyone picks up a wrench.
Those two things, reliability and honesty, are the foundation of every decision I make at Proximity Plumbing. They’re also the reason I think we’re building something that genuinely lasts in the Eastern Suburbs.
What achievement are you the proudest of and why?
Building Proximity Plumbing’s reputation in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney from the ground up is the thing I’m most proud of. I came into this industry with no trades background, no plumbing knowledge, and no blueprint for how to run this kind of business. What I had was a clear picture of what it needed to look like and a genuine belief that the Eastern Suburbs deserved a plumbing company that actually treated people well. Turning that picture into something real, with a full office team, a field team of plumbers and a growing base of clients who trust us, is something I don’t take lightly.
The part that means the most to me is that the reputation we’ve built is earned. It didn’t come from a big marketing budget or a flashy campaign. It came from showing up, doing the job properly, being honest about costs, and treating every client like their problem matters. Every time a local recommends us to a neighbour, or a client calls back because they trust us, I feel that. We’re not a household name across the Eastern Suburbs just yet, but we’re getting there, and knowing that every step forward is built on something real makes me genuinely proud of what this team has created together.
What is your favorite movie and why?
Mine is “The Devil Wears Prada.” I know that might sound like an unusual pick for someone running a trades business in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, but hear me out. At its core, that film is about a woman who walks into a world she knows nothing about, gets thrown in the deep end, and has to figure out very quickly how to hold her own. That story hit differently for me after I made the jump from aviation into plumbing. The industry was unfamiliar, the learning curve was steep, and there were absolutely moments where I felt like I was just trying to keep up.
The thing I love most about that film is that the main character doesn’t just survive the experience, she comes out of it knowing herself better than when she went in. She figures out what she actually cares about and makes her choices based on that. I think that’s a pretty honest reflection of what a big career change does to you. It strips away the noise and shows you what you’re really made of. Every time I watch it I find something new in it, and for me that’s the sign of a genuinely good film.
What advice would you give to your younger self and why?
I would tell her to stop waiting until everything feels ready. When I was a flight attendant, I had moments where I could feel that I wanted something different, something I could build and own and grow over time. But I kept talking myself out of taking the leap because I didn’t have the right background, or the right experience, or a clear enough plan. The truth is that none of those things were ever going to line up perfectly before I made a move. The readiness came after the decision, not before it.
The second thing I would tell her is to trust the skills she already has. I spent a lot of energy early in my time at Proximity Plumbing feeling like an outsider, like I needed to prove I belonged in an industry I hadn’t grown up in. Looking back, everything aviation taught me, how to stay calm when things go sideways, how to communicate with people who are stressed and how to keep a busy operation running smoothly, was exactly what this business needed. You don’t always have to start from scratch. Sometimes the skills you’ve already built are just waiting for the right place to be used.
Are you willing to be a mentor? If yes, what is the best way to reach you?
Absolutely, and I mean that genuinely. If there is one thing my career has taught me, it’s that the right conversation at the right time can completely change the direction someone is heading. I didn’t have a mentor when I made the jump from Virgin Australia into the plumbing industry, and there were moments where having someone in my corner who had already navigated a big career shift would have made a real difference. Because of that, I feel a real responsibility to be that person for someone else who is standing at a crossroads and trying to figure out their next move.
I’m particularly drawn to supporting women who are thinking about stepping into trades, operations or service-based businesses, especially if they’re coming from a completely different background and wondering whether their existing skills are enough to make it work. They are. The best way to reach me is through Proximity Plumbing’s website or our social media channels. I’m a real person running a real business in Dover Heights, and I’m always happy to have an honest conversation with someone who is genuinely trying to build something they’re proud of.
Just for fun, what is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Salted caramel, and I will not be taking any further questions on the matter. There is something about that combination of sweet and salty that just works perfectly, and I think it says a lot about a person. The best things in life are rarely one-note, and salted caramel gets that balance exactly right. I discovered it properly a few years back and I haven’t looked at vanilla the same way since.