The short version?!

I grew up in Ireland, started a carpentry apprenticeship when I left school, had an opportunity to travel & work in Holland, took it, worked as a carpenter there, 3yrs later travelled to Australia, worked for another 3yrs on the tools doing joinery & shopfitting before getting into construction estimating.

I then spent 21yrs estimating across different industry sectors and a couple of years doing project controls before buying a franchise which I’ve been doing for the last, almost 2 years.

Then I started a podcast - Straight Forward conversations

I’ve experienced myself avoiding uncomfortable conversations at times and seen the impact of that, mostly on my own life, costing me relationships, opportunities, friendships etc and as a reflective person, it occurred to me that I wouldn’t be the only one avoiding conversations.

The result of not having these conversations is that it will sit in our heads, doing laps, taking up space, niggling at us, we start to make up stories about why we can’t or don’t want to talk to the person, or what they might say, and so it drags on and then sometimes we avoid it because it’s been a while since we last saw them & it’s more awkward now… and on & on the stories in our heads go!

All this causes us stress, as if our lives are not stressful enough these days!

I find myself at a stage of life where I feel the need to step forward and speak up, sharing experiences and learnings to empower others to be confident in having these conversations.

And for me, this is an ongoing practice, keeping me humble along the way.