Lia: Welcome to the Sparky Life Podcast, with Lia Lamela. I share with you my electrical journey, experiences and insight through engaging banter with those I've met along the way. If you're interested in trade tales, an industry fraught with excitement and risk, subscribe and be notified every Thursday when trade tales continue.
Today's guest is Ki Barritt. She is an electrician of five years, but not just an electrician, a personal trainer for the trainees. Think of her as a personal trainer in your pocket. Ki realized that a lot of women in the trades would get great value from having a personal trainer.
Thank you. Thank you for being here.
Ki: Thank you for having me.
Lia: You're coming to us all the way from South England, correct?
Ki: Yes, that's right.
Lia: Yeah. Awesome. And you obviously discovered there was a great need for training for trainees.
Ki: Yes. Yeah.
Lia: Talk to me how you came upon that.
Ki: Okay, so I have always been into fitness. Like before I started my journey into the trades. And then when I started in the trades, I got into fitness more, I realized, like, like the differences in strength from like training in the gym and just training to train the mobility that you need. For example, like if you're stuck in a tiny loft space, like the small holes, you have to get through things like this. So I started applying it to my own training and I also got into like an incredible shape. And then I came across like, I think you have a lot more female trades women in the US than we do in the UK, although it is up and coming. And I just saw like how many people struggled with like, you know what to eat on site and how to get the mobility better and how to become stronger. So I just thought it'd be a great niche to go down in as I've like walked the walk. Um, and I can talk the talk.
Lia: Yeah, there you go. I think it's an absolutely fabulous idea, because I experienced what you just described when I first got into the trades. I was taken aback at how difficult it was to eat in a way that would energize my body on site.
Ki: Yeah, you can't exactly meal prep easily and take things on site and then your hands are filthy and it's not really accessible for you. Typically like to be able to wash your hands or clean up and being able to use my body in a way that I've never used it before because there is a big difference between just going to the gym and then working in the trades. Yeah, and I'm a big proponent of having a coach to help you reach your goals faster.
Lia: Yes, yes, I know what it's like to try to bend three quarter pipe in the beginning. Couldn't do it. And now I can carry a bundle of three quarter pipe. No problem.
Ki: Yeah. I think mine was pulling cable out of houses. I'm like domestic. And I work with my dad and my brother as well, and I'd be like pulling cable out or drilling through floor joists and like, the sweat that you build up trying to do that is just insane.
Lia: And I was impressed with the amount of grip strength that you need for certain things that I wouldn't think of before.
Ki: You didn't think of any of this when you do it.
Lia: No, no, no. But let's journey back to the very, the very beginning of what? First you got into the electrical trade. Why did you find that as a viable career? What got you interested in it?
Ki: So my dad's an electrician and he's got his own business. And my brother also got into the trade before me. He went straight from school. I left school to move country. I moved to Egypt and I stayed there for around eight years. And I had like the world's most active job. And I just I always knew that I wasn't cut out for an office job like, at all. So I wanted like, a physical job. I wanted a hands-on job. Anyway, I came back and I thought about it, but I hadn't thought seriously about it because there's like a kind of stigma around it. It is very much a man's job. So I moved back to the UK and then I moved to a different part of the UK and I became a receptionist in a hotel. Hated it, absolutely hated it. One of the biggest things for me was like, over here, the apprenticeships, you take a massive pay cut, like especially as an older student.
Lia: Yes, don't get paid a lot at all.
Ki: But if you're over 25, they can only pay you like such a little amount for the first year of your apprenticeship. After that, it has to be like the national minimum wage. So I was like, I'm going. And he gave me a career in something. Because I was 26 at this point, I was like, I need to find a career. I was 25, I think 25 or 26. And so I need to find a career. So I spoke to my dad about it and he was all for it, happy for me to go for it. But I had to move back home because I wouldn't have been able to afford to rent somewhere or to buy somewhere on the wage that I was going to be paid as like a first year apprentice. So I moved back home and yeah, I started working for my dad and my brother and I went to college and I just absolutely loved it. I get on really well with my dad and my brother anyway, so I was very lucky to be able to work with them and I really enjoyed it. But also the fact that you're not doing the same thing every single day at work, even if it's just slightly different, it can be wildly different to like, even though you've got a standard fault, finding the faults can be so different. And yeah, I just absolutely loved it, excelled at it, and that was it.
Lia: Now, when you think about all the different types of jobs, because many people don't understand the variety, the wide spectrum of being an electrician, how commercial industrial, residential building, automation, power plants. There's, there's a big spectrum, elevators. Talk about the type of electrical work that you do. And I want you to think of one of your favorite jobs that you were on and just pretend I'm with you. Take me with you on one of the jobs that you experienced that you're most proud of, that you really enjoyed.
Ki: Oh, that's putting me on the spot, isn't it? Okay, so we do a lot of domestic work, which is just in people's houses. So I live in a very rural part of England. It's not a big city. I live in a village, so there isn't a lot of big industrial places near me. We do like, a lot of work in people's houses, whether it's like small jobs or a full rework. I think a full rewire is my favorite thing to do.
Lia: Some people might not know what a full rewire is.
Ki: So okay, so a full rewire is where you take out all the old electrics and you replace it with new cable. So it matches regulations and it will pass all the testing and inspecting to be able to carry on because I think a lot of wiring lasts around 60 years, like the old wiring. But there was this one house we did and it had the most insane view. The guy who had it, I think it had been in his family for years and he was doing it up. And I think it was just because it was just such a different house and he was like gutting it from the beginning. I think it was like the third or fourth rewire that I'd done. It had a cellar, and it just taught me so much about it. You're being able to harness this utility energy and bring it into somebody's home to help them live life. I mean, have you ever traveled to a third world country before?
Lia: Yes.
Ki: Okay. And I'm sure then you've noticed they don't have electrical and water the way that we do, right. In our countries. And the way that they interact with one another is different. Their priorities are different.
Lia: Yeah.
Ki: So we really elevate our environment when we are able to access these fundamentals like electrical and water. They're so important to how society operates and really brings the best out of us. Yeah, so this guy that has this home in his family for how many generations, how many memories.
Lia: And it sounds like where you live, everyone might know everyone.
Ki: Yeah.
Lia: Yes. I love, I love that.
Ki: I don't, I don't!
Lia: When you describe, I'm in my head, I'm thinking of Beauty and the Beast where she's walking down the village and,
Ki: It doesn't look like, it doesn't look like that at all.
Lia: No, not like that. That's okay. Kind of, you know.
Ki: Right. Most people know everyone or it's just everyone knows everyone's business. I think that's what it is. We're humans.
Lia: I don't like to think that. I understand that, I understand. We can't help it when we're so close and intertwined with one another. We grow up with one another. It's very easy to kind of want to get into each other's business, right? Okay. Now, after that rewire, every time you see that house, how does that make you feel?
Ki: I just think, I did that. I am now that person who, if I drive past it, my friend, I'm like, See that house there? I did, I did the electrics in there.
Lia: That's like a tradie passion. That's just that's like our biggest connect.
Ki: I know. But we can't stop doing it.
Lia: No, no, because it's beautiful. It's amazing to just be able to look at something like that and be like, I was a part. I built that. It's empowering.
Ki: One of my favorite things when I'm doing a job is watching like the end product come to life. So even if I'm putting a light in and it's just flicking that switch and seeing that light work and it's just that little sense of pride that you get like, Yeah, I did it, I did it. Yeah.
Lia: Yes, yes. As you move through your electrical career, you started to realize about the physical fitness aspect of it, and you have this passion for moving and enjoying your body to the fullest. I love your reels, by the way. I love it. But before I came across UK, I was lucky enough, enough to come across Chris Heskett, who is a trainer. He's not a trainer for the Tradies. He's a personal trainer. Health and wellness and being a part of his program really helped me physically get to the places that I wanted to be. But when I saw your reels picking up wire bundles and and like the latter, oh my gosh, showing exercise. Because one of the things I struggle with, and I think this is really valuable, when you're working a physical job eight hours a day to go home or to go to the gym right after an exercise. Not much motivation there, but you made it so fun. And there's tons of times where I'm out in the field where things are slow and I'm just standing around. And to do an exercise with materials that are right around me. That was genius. That was great. That was really great.
Ki: Thank you. I also don't have the motivation all the time to go to the gym, especially if I finish work or anything like that. But I think with motivation it's knowing like if you have an end goal, that's the thing that's going to spur you on to go. And also the biggest thing for me was like, I used to come in from work, change and be out the door in like five minutes, otherwise I wouldn't have gone.
Lia: Yes, yes, yes. I learned to keep a gym bag in my car and to not go home
Ki: So, right from work, go to the gym?
Lia: Yeah, but on the days that I can't muster that, when I started to see your reels, it made it fun. And I think that's really important, having physical fitness. Be fun.
Ki: Yeah. And being able to connect to my day to day. Like, just, just lifting.
Lia: I just, It was too good. It was too good. I love it. Do you have any special fun names for those exercises or…
Ki: No, I don't. Do you know like when I do those reels, the idea will come to me and I've got a film out there and then but sometimes it's really hard to think of things like that to do. But I just remember being on site and if it was a new house, I'd jump up to the like, the choice, and I'm just trying to pull up
Lia: Nice.
Ki: Yes, things like that. And it's like there's only 1 or 2 reps, but just trying to do it, Right?
Lia: Right. Yeah. Being able to lift your own body weight is so important. And I explain to people that construction’s like parkour, I mean, you've got to be aware of your surroundings. You've got to be able to move like a cat.
Ki: Yeah, you got to have the reaction and.
Lia: Right, right. So then, when you realized there was this, I want to say disconnect because a lot of women that I've spoken to who have entered the trades, a lot of the things that they thought the job was going to be or how they thought it was going to be was not how things were going to be. Maybe you probably have a different perspective because you saw your dad and your brother in it. So you had a better vision of what that looked like day to day. And then the self-confidence that grows in a lot of women who have had this experience of entering trade careers, because we're creating, we're building, we're doing things that didn't necessarily think we could do.
Ki: I think it's also as well, the biggest thing for me was like when we moved house and we renovated our new house, I could do so much, like I didn't have to run to my dad, my brother, and be like, Oh, can you help me with this? Can you do this for me? Because before I started, it wasn't even the fact that I could have learned to do it. I didn't even think about learning how to put up a shelf or put a TV on the wall or like put a new socket in. And then we moved and I could just do it. And I was just, I think that was one of my proudest moments and one of like, the days when I thought I did the right thing. Like, I'm so glad I got into this trade.
Lia: Yes, I think that's because it's independence. It's freedom. You gave yourself freedom. You don't have to rely you can be self-sufficient in a way that I feel most careers don't actually give you.
Ki: We can apply to things that we learn at work to our day to day lives.
Lia: Yeah, somebody working in an office. It's not very often they get that changeover.
Ki: I agree. And also, if they were to lose or liquidate that position, it's not like they could reuse those skills somewhere else necessarily, right? Maybe some of them, but you couldn't directly translate. There's a lot of construction careers, trade careers that you can directly translate into several different types of career opportunities.
Lia: Yeah. Okay. So you realized the fitness aspect and the trade aspect and this beautiful marriage, right?
Ki: Yes.
Lia: What encouraged you to reach out to others? Because I know then you started to speak to women or make these amazing reels that I quite enjoy.
Ki: I didn't realize how many female trainees there were until I started looking for them online. And I also love how there's such a sense of community between right females in the trade purely for the fact that we are females doing a job that is widely seen as a man's job. It's not and it shouldn't mean, but it still is. And I think as well, one of the things is when you are in a minority and you walk on site as a female and you have all these other men that are there working, it is I don't know if like you had it or if anybody else had it, but I can remember like my first few months on the job and I was, I just had no confidence. Um, but one thing that correlates with like, my fitness journey and with this is in the gym, when I get stronger and I lift heavier, when I can show myself that I can do it, my confidence grows. You feel better about yourself.
Lia: Yes.
Ki: And transfers over into other areas of your life as well.
Lia: Yes.
Ki: But yeah. And then through like finding these women, I spoke to a lot of them before I niched down, before I became like the female trades coach. I spoke to a lot of these women and there were like problems with confidence. It wasn't as such, like the way they look. It was more that they had to fit into small gaps. They had to be able to crawl through loft spaces and some of them didn't have the bodies to be able to do that and they wanted to change that, but they didn't know how to do it. And that's when I started thinking like, what a great opportunity. I can show them that I have lived this life and I can pass on what I know and I can get them to where they want to be whilst filling them with confidence at the same time, both in their fitness journey and in their job outside.
Lia: Yes, it's so valuable. It really is. It's so valuable what you're doing. I love it. I just, I think that there are a lot of women in the trades and we have such a strong community with one another because a lot of us have experienced the same type of things, the same struggles, the same type of environment. And so having a woman like you who has experienced all of those things and knows what it's like and knows the struggles, like one simple thing that we just discussed the struggle of working a physical job during the day and then additionally wanting to go and exercise when you're done with work. Just that within itself is difficult. But there's many other different facets within our field that, you know, it's hard to say for someone can really understand until they've really gone through it. And I find that this is across the board in life, it's very difficult to communicate to someone what an experience is like if they haven't actually gone through that experience. Right?
Ki: Yeah, very true. Yeah.
Lia: You're in a great position. I mean, you're in this amazing position to touch so many who really do want to improve their physical strength. I know I do. I'm on this journey like I love it. And you hit on something really important, the correlation between physical fitness and the trades. When you start off on a, on a fitness journey, you have these goals in mind of how much you want to be able to lift or how flexible do you want to become. And as you start to see these things grow and build, you can literally see the progress that does so much for your mental health, your personal well-being, and the construction career is very similar to this because you start off so inexperienced. I mean, I was I didn't know what I was doing.
Ki: You know, it took my dad ages and I can remember saying to him, Can you just let me play with some cables? Can I just play with some cables? And he was like, No, not yet. And I was like, Dad, please, please.
Lia: Yeah. Do you find that the men held back a little longer in letting you get your hands on things than they would necessarily a male apprentice?
Ki: I don't know if it was that. I don't, I don't know how he was with my brother because my brother started with him as well. He did tell me he was the same with him. I think it was more the fact like, I learn by doing and making mistakes.
Lia: Yes.
Ki: He wanted me to watch before I did it. I don't have the longest attention span for something like that. You know, when you're just watching somebody wiring a socket. And we had so many like, arguments about this and I was like, please, please. And I'd say to him, let me make my own mistakes. And he was so good. Like, I can't fault him in the slightest. And he always said to me, like, if I do mess up, he's like, everything's fixable. Because, like, it doesn't matter what it is. I still, absolutely correct, my parents, every time I broke something or did something wrong or put like an extra hole in somewhere, it was like, everything's fixable. You don't have to worry about it. And I was like, okay, thanks.
Lia: I am so jealous. I am so jealous. It's a wonderful environment to be in. That's really fabulous.
Ki: I was very, very lucky. Um, yeah, I loved working with my dad anyway, but I know not every woman in the trade has the best experience working in construction. I have never come across anything like that. The men that I've worked with have just all been absolutely fantastic.
Lia: That's wonderful. That's wonderful.
Ki: Very lucky.Having an environment like that, you can really thrive and your skill will be top notch because you're being nurtured and uplifted and trained in a way where you're being set up for success.
Lia: Yeah, I can totally relate to the waiting aspect. A lot of apprentices, even though we don't get the wonderful opportunity of always working with family, but a lot of the time as a new apprentice walking onto site, they will make us watch and wait. I literally can feel the the impatience and the excitement and the frustration because you want to get your hands on stuff.
Ki: Yeah, but looking back, it makes sense because it's. Yes, it is a dangerous job as well.
Lia: Oh, 100%. Oh, yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. In our apprenticeship program in the states here for the union anyway, they don't allow us to work on anything that's live until we top out. However, I felt even though they would make all of us watch that I was always the last one to be allowed to put hands on. And I did feel that it was this concern that the guys would be able to somehow catch on faster than I would because it always seemed like I was that little kid. You know, where you're going to play kickball and they're picking teams. And I just felt like I was always the last one picked and I was foaming at the mouth to get my hands on stuff. And then when I finally was given a tool and allowed to do something, it was a knockout. I broke it. I broke it. Let's just say I didn't do a good job of supporting my case.
Ki: Yes. Yes. Oh, that is priceless. I wish I'd been there when that happened.
Lia: Oh, my God. So that journeyman was like, That's it, you're done. And I just stood there and kind of like, let him get his steam out. It was like that cartoon with like, you know, the smoke coming out of the ears and the face, blood red boiling, like furious because I just made that job ten times harder because fixing that tool to be able to we probably wouldn't get it till the job was done. So finally, when he calmed down and realized like, I wasn't going anywhere, like I just stood there, I stood, you know, I waited. He's like, No, no, I'm serious. Just leave. And I just stood there very calm. It actually worked in my favor because he in that moment realized that I was. Isn't going to be easily deterred. And I didn't take it personal that I knew like I messed up. I broke it. It's, you know, on me. And then he kind of was like, okay, come here. I'll show you what you did wrong. And then from then on out, he was so invested in teaching me.
Ki: Yeah, That's amazing. Yeah.
Lia: Yeah, It was a crazy experience. Have you ever broken anything on site? That was a whoopsies.
Ki: Yeah, I've done a couple of things, so, um, I burnt a hole in somebody's carpet. So I put like a dust sheet down and I had gloves on and I was taking these bricks out and I didn't realize how hot they were. So I put it on this dust sheet, just one of them, when I realized went back up and I picked it up and it cooled down, but it was like stuck to the floor. No, I was just like, Oh, my God. And I left it up a bit, this carpet as well. So this was just after the conversation with my dad where he told me everything's fixable. So I'm like, okay. Like, he's not going to be mad. Oh, boy, was I wrong. So I told him about it and I get nervous laughter.
Lia: I get nervous, too. Me too. Me too.
Ki: I'm telling him. And I'm, like, laughing away. And his face is, like, deadpan. And he's angry. Anyway, my mom had my back, and she turns around and she's like, Pretty sure you put your foot through someone's ceiling. The other week, Chris and I was like, I think this is what you've got insurance for.
Lia: Mom to the rescue.
Ki: I know. I know. I was so glad she said that. And then, like, I've broken, like, little tools and things, but they've always been, like, easily replaceable, so that's okay. But off road in his van. So we've got a lot of country roads where I live, like windy roads. And he got me a shot on his van to drive it. And I don't, I can't even remember what year it was. So the first few months because like I've got a little car and it's quite a big van. I was a bit like apprehensive about driving it because it's just so big, you know, We were going up this country road and there was a bus coming down, so I moved over, but it was like autumn going into winter. It was like horrible, sludgy. And he said to me, Don't go too far, like off the road bit. I went too far and I thought it was really funny. So this is like a perk of work, of my dad. Like I can laugh. He obviously did not laugh and I was like, Dad, it's going to be one of these stories. We'll look back in like four months time and see where does. He's like, No one. But I did it in such a place. I got really lucky. I did it opposite a farm, so a tractor came and rescued us. Oh yeah. He didn't let me drive that country road again.
Lia: No. Okay. Well, in the end, it did turn out to be a great story, so.
Ki: Exactly. That's it. Yeah, that's what I figured. But I think that was like the worst bit.
Lia: I really feel that you've found your passion. I mean, talk about perfect marriage, right? This is really incredible. You're a talented crafts woman. You understand the beauty and the marriage between physical fitness and trades and assisting females, understanding the type of challenges that we particularly face. What would you say was one of your biggest challenges that you had to kind of overcome.?
Ki: Physical challenges in the trade? Upper body strength?
Lia: Yes.
Ki: Um, as women we have better lower body strength and men have better upper body strength.
Lia: Yeah.
Ki: So I think that was the only one I'd get frustrated at myself having to go and ask my dad and my brother to help me lift something up or something like this. And then I think my personal challenge was, I hate insulation in lofts. Hate it with a passion. And it was like if you were going right down in the eaves and it'd be like this and you'd have to, like, crawl right under it was having the mobility to do that.
Lia: Yeah.
Ki: So it was just making sure and I'd never really worked. Like, I'm really flexible, I'm hyper mobile, so I have the flexibility, but I don't have the mobility. So it was having to learn how to work on something to allow me to get into those eaves, to be comfortable with being there, not hurting whilst I was in there.
Lia: How tall are you?
Ki: Five ft, 11cm.
Lia: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. I'm a shorty, so.
Ki: Yeah.
Lia: Five, five. I love the confined spaces. I could, like, fit in a generator. I, like, go in there. So I prefer. What was difficult for me is when I have to do above a lot of above the head types of things where I'm holding my arms above my head, like you said, upper body strength for long periods of time and and stretching. And I don't have the flexibility that you probably have. And so that is very difficult contorting in a way where I need to work.
Ki: Oh, God, yeah. That's the hardest I think for me as well is, um, if we were putting in like down lights or something and we'd already done the first fix and they'd pass it over and we'd have to find the cable without ruining the ceiling and mine would be the smallest. So it would be my arm that went up there to try and. And then you're there on the ladder, like bent in all these positions trying to get round it.
Lia: Yeah. Yes.
Ki: But you know, in those times I was like, yeah, I'm the only one who could do this. You can't do this. Yes. It's a great feeling.
Lia: Yes. Yes. You are a valuable key player. So 100%.
Ki: But also as well, I don't know if it's the same in America. I'm going to take a guess and say it is. A lot of people now like having a female going into their homes to work. They feel safer with a female, like especially if it's like an older lady or something. They feel safer having that female there.
Lia: Yes. Yes. I, I find in the states that to be the fact, even a lot of the men that I've spoken to enjoy having a female on site. The stats have shown that when you have a female on site, there's less likely to be a safety violations. They're more willing to follow the rules, so to speak, because men are generally right, general not all, but in general they tend to be more of a risk taker and wild, and having a female presence really helps to kind of be like, okay, tone it down. I guess I'll put that harness on. You know.
Ki: I found that as well. I, I never thought about that, but I can remember I would literally wear all the gear and I'd get laughed at. And I'm like, I'd rather not have an injury, not have like fibreglass in my throat and look like this then come away with not. Or like if you're chasing up walls and you get concrete up your nose, I'd rather not have that.
Lia: Yeah.
Ki: So and then, yeah. And then you see the other men actually doing it as well. So I agree with you on that. That's mad.
Lia: Isn't it great. It's men and women are meant to work together, when we work together, it's been shown through the stats over and over again. You get the best results and it's because we both have these strengths and weaknesses and we balance each other very well. I mean…
Ki: Right.
Lia: That's why we're made to procreate.
Ki: Exactly.
Lia: That's the biology of it, right? We're supposed to grow and work together.
Ki: Yeah.
Lia: The other great thing is that men are more willing to talk through disagreement with females present as opposed to when they're not. When they're not, then things can escalate more easily. So that's another value.
Ki: I've never come across that.
Lia: Yeah, they've always been remained…
Ki: Like so, because like everyone knows everyone, you know all the trades and yeah no, I have been very, very lucky on the sites that I've worked with, the builders, the plumbers, the carpenters, everyone has been so nice and there's never really like they're just so chilled out as well. I don't know if it's because we live by the beach and it's just such a chilled vibe.
Lia: I'm so jealous. You live by the beach? Yes. That is why. That is why.
Ki: It could be. It could be. Yeah. But I've not worked on like, an industrial site, so I don't know how it is with bigger numbers.
Lia: No, the guys can be. What I call, have you, this is a horrible I'm hurting New Jersey even by saying these words right now. Have you ever seen the New Jersey Housewives, American horrible reality TV show?
Ki: Maybe 1 or 2. But yeah.
Lia: Yeah, it's terrible. It's terrible. But for this analogy, they're professional table flippers. Okay? So they're just, you know, cart flippers, tool tossers, like just, you know, like a bear or gorilla. Make a big scene. Okay? This is a common thing typically on sight. And that's why there's a stigma, right, that a lot of construction guys are, you know, short tempered cavemen, which is completely untrue. But that's one of the reasons why this stigma exists. But when you have females present, they're less likely to put on a show like that. They're much more likely to control themselves. I can't tell you how many times I've been put with a journeyman and they're like one journeyman in particular. His nickname was Crazy Kevin. When Crazy Kevin worked with me, Crazy Kevin was not crazy. He went out of his way to really monitor his emotional outbursts because I was there and he felt, he he felt more responsibility to maintain. Now, it's a shame he wouldn't feel more responsibility to maintain self-control around male or female. However, at least in this fashion, he was able to conduct himself in a more professional manner with a female being present.
Ki: Oh, that's that interesting. I didn't know that.
Lia: Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool, right? Like all these random, you don't think of it and then you get exposed to these different experiences. And it's just fascinating how we all interact with one another.
Ki: Yeah, massively.
Lia: Yeah. Now, if I was just starting out in the trades, what advice would you give me?
Ki: Ask as many questions as you can. Don't be afraid of messing up. Don't be afraid of asking for help either. I think that's the biggest one. I think, I think if I didn't work with my dad, I would have been a lot more wary or a lot more self conscious about asking for help or like, not wanting to seem like I didn't know something.
Lia: Yeah.
Ki: So I was very lucky because like, we'd work on a building site and I'd have no problems, like literally screaming his name to come and help me.
Lia: I love that. I love that. And then, of course, because Sparky life is based around construction careers, I love asking, what tool is in your tool belt? What's something that you carry with you all the time that you've learned throughout your journey that helps you to achieve your goals? What's something that you've learned along the way that you're like, Wow, okay, if I, if I apply this every day, this is going to help get me where I want to go?
Ki: Self belief.
Lia: Oh, yes. Yes. How does one get self-belief? Because that sounds like.
Ki: Oh, yeah, of course. Right.
Lia: But it's not that easy, is it?
Ki: It's not. It's really not that easy. And even now, like, I still struggle with it. But I think when I started, so when I started my journey going into college, the final exam is a big three day exam over here. And the…
Lia: Wait. Wait, wait, wait. So college, you you go to college for trades?
Ki: I think it's different here. Your’s, your college is like university.
Lia: Yes, we we use the words interchangeably. Yes. Yes.
Ki: So ours isn't.
Lia: Okay.
Ki: So you have like high school. So it used to be when I was at school, it used to be college or somewhere. You went to do like, the next step before you went to university.
Lia: Okay, I got you now.
Ki: They've changed it so that ages you have to stay until you finish, like what would have been college and then go to uni. But if you go into the trade, you do it through college, you don't go to uni.So I was there and our final exam for the electrical one is a big three day exam and days. Three days.
Lia: Yeah.
Ki: And there's so much fear put into you. Right? This isn't just like the only exam. You've got exams throughout the years, but at the end of the four years you've got three day exam. The pass rate for it first time isn't very high. It is so hard, but it's more like the fear and the anxiety and the nerves. You get around it like, no, I've done it. I can see that. But the whole way through we had a tutor who would be like, It's so hard, you're not going to pass it. Basically.
Lia: That’s a terrible human being.
Ki: Made us feel so crap all around, like the whole situation. Like, and I spent four years like, I'm I don't know if I can do this. Like, I don't know how hard it's going to be. So there was like a lot of exams and a lot of pressure. And I do I do pretty well with like written exams. I can like revise for them. I'm okay with that. The final exam, I had no clue what to expect. I didn't even have a teacher. So the teacher who was meant to be putting me through this exam like he unfortunately had a stroke so he could. Oh, but they didn't bring in anybody else. And so the first time they do it, it's a very expensive exam. It's like nearly £1,000. I think it's like £800 to take it, that you have to pay. So the college pays the first time. Then if I fail, I would pay.
Lia: It’s rigged, that's why.
Ki: No. They want you to pay. Well, no, because it's like the examination that I do. It's nothing to do at the college. So it's a different sector completely.
Lia: Wow. So it's like, is it, I don't want to say state because it's not the it's it's that's not what you guys have there.
Ki: No, but I think it might be something similar. I'm not really sure like, a jurisdiction, the town or county or the province.
Lia: So it's literally, so it's like nationwide and they've got different.
Ki: It's nationwide.
Lia: Okay. Okay.
Ki: College will put you in for the exam. So they've got like connections with those centers. And like, that is where you go once you've done your trade and you're ready to take it.
Lia: Okay.
Ki: So yes, the whole way through my experience, being an apprentice and I was just like, I don't know if I'm ready to take it. And like I can remember thinking from day one, will I ever be ready to take this fourth year? Will I ever be ready to take this? Like, I didn't think I was ready. So yeah. So then when I got the result, so I didn't pass. There's like six parts to it and I passed four parts. The first time failed too, but I knew that I'd messed up. And when I was driving home and I was like, I missed a test. I missed the test, I failed. I know I failed. I hated it. And but yeah, and then I retook it and I passed and I got like 97.6% overall, which was amazing. And I was so chuffed with it. But I think when I got that pass rate and I saw the percentage of like my overall of all the six parts was so high and I was like, I can do this. And then after I'd done the first one, I was like, Do you know what the fear of me not being ready was? More the fear of not knowing. And even the examiners in that center were saying, like, it really annoyed them that all these tutors would put so much fear into people. And then when you get that pass, because it's such a hard exam as well, like the feeling's just like next to none. Like I had a little scream. I was just so dead chuffed about it. And it just kind of brought on like, You can do it.
Lia: Yeah.
Ki: Like everybody kind of laughed at you when you first started this journey. I'm like, Why are you doing that? And yeah, you can do it. So I think that's where the self-belief came from.
Lia: Yeah, well, that, I mean, three day exam, we don't have anything like that here. Like that sounds like, holy cannoli.
Ki: It is. It was horrible. I think I lost a kilogram through stress.
Lia: Yeah, I bet. I bet. And then what? It really. Ah, I hate that your tutors and teachers are like, oh, it's really hard. It's really hard. You're going to fail. It's really hard. Like, that's not constructive at all.
Ki: Ridiculous.
Lia: And if it's that hard that so many are failing, it's not because the test is so impressive. It means you guys are doing something wrong. Okay? Means you're set up. Sucks. That's what it means.
Ki: That, that was. Yeah, that was just the one teacher. And I think his goal was because, like, I brought it up so many times, like the other teachers and teachers, and I was like, from day one, we've been told that we're going to fail in like, it's going to be such a hard exam. And I don't know whether it was like, meant to put because I went to school or I went to college with like a load of kids. So I was like 26 at the time and they were like 18 having just left like high school, right? So they were a lot younger than me. And I think he was doing it because like, I did my work. I did all my coursework because I wanted to be there. I was an older student. I'd been at school where I'd like it off to the last minute.
Lia: Right.
Ki: And I think a lot of them were sucking it off to the last minute. And he wanted to, like, put the fear into them to, like, get off their asses and actually do it. But what he just succeeded in doing instead was just making everybody feel so crap about it.
Lia: A lot of them probably didn't even try either because then they felt so self defeated. See, that's the thing. I understand that logic. I think you're probably right. I think he is a poor teacher and not understanding the psychology of how we interact with one another, how we communicate with one another. That if someone's slacking off, telling them your piece of shit, it's really hard. You're not going to be able to do this, isn't going to all of a sudden put the fire or the fear of God in them where they're just kind of like, okay, I'm going to study and buckle down and or do this. Like, that is not enough.
Ki: The amount of people that start the course, so the amount of people that finish it like the difference is huge.
Lia: Yeah, Yeah.
Ki: So many people drop out. So many people think it's going to be easier than what it is, so many people like. But I think a load of them had to finish their coursework by a certain date to be able to go in for the exam and they didn't do it. So now if they want to do it, they have to pay like 2500 English pounds to redo it. And I'm just like, Why? Why did you just not do it?
Lia: You bring up an excellent point. When you're that afraid, it's more terrifying to try because then you find out, yeah, I did fail as opposed to, Oh, well, I didn't finish the coursework, so I couldn’t even try the exam. So I don't really even.
Ki: Yeah. No, it could be that.
Lia: You know, what's, what's the saying? Some people are so afraid of trying and failing that they’d rather not try at all.
Ki: But failure is all part of success.
Lia: Yes, but so many I mean, I learned that much later in life. I was one of those that was scared of my own shadow. I was terrified of failing. Terrified to the point where I wouldn't even attempt anything that I didn't feel confident that I could do, which only held me back and threatened me for growing in life. But yeah, I just didn't understand and didn't have a good relationship with failing, with being able to fail.
Ki: No, I'm similar to that. I don't like failing, but over the years I've changed my mindset around it to, I'm scared to fail, to, I don't want to fail because for me it feels like a waste of time, right? But then as well, I put so much pressure on myself in the lead up to an exam or something like that, I will lock myself away and just revise because I'm like, I've got to do everything I can to pass it right? I don't put in the work. I'm not going to have a chance of passing it. If I do put in the work, then I will be able to pass it. But yeah, but I think that's what spurs me on. Like instead of being like, Oh, if I fail, like I'm a failure, I try not to think like that and I try to be like, Oh, if I fail, like, what's the worst that's going to happen? I retake it.
Lia: Right, right, right.
Ki: So if you go for a job interview or something and like you say, I don't want to do it and like, what's the worst it's going to happen? They're going to say, no, there's going to be jobs out there.
Lia: Right. Exactly. Yes. I've changed my mindset over the years. And now it's more, I fail, if I don't even try, I automatically fail. That's how I think of it. If I don't make an attempt, I immediately fail. And so that urges me to try whether I feel ready or not, as opposed to not making the attempt at all.
Ki: Yeah, I think another big one is like, I've got a friend who is like, really successful in business and he's got his own company now. And I met with him the other week and he was telling me that he's had like a fair few failed businesses along the way. And like, you listen to podcasts as well, and even the owner of Gymshark, I'm pretty sure he tried out a few things before the clothing came along and he failed at them.
Lia: Yeah.
Ki: So it's literally just sort of part of that because like. One of the biggest. Another one of the biggest things was if I fail, was everyone going to think of me.
Lia: Right? Right.
Ki: That’s one of my hardest things to overcome, like other people's thoughts. And they don't bother me like any other time I do something. But like, if I fail, what's everyone going to think? Well, what do they say? Like today's news is tomorrow's paper or something like that?
Lia: Yes, yes, yes. The reason those people are so successful is because when they failed, they assessed, where did I go wrong and try to pivot or try to learn from it in some way so that their next attempt would be more successful? So I think that's a key part to the act of failing. Can't just like willy nilly, just, you know, just do it all. And whenever I fail, I fail. But you actually have to assess what, what happens there.
Ki: I used to say on exams if you fail. So like the final exam I took, they don't tell you what you did to fail and they don't tell you exactly what you got wrong. They just, they break it down. So it used to be even worse than what it is now, but they break it down. So it's got like the six parts and then they've broken the six parts down into like smaller sections. So like the test and inspection, you've got all the tests that you have to do if you're like dead live. So if you like mess up on a particular test, they will just put like a Red Cross next to that test. They won't tell you what you did wrong on that test. They will just tell you that that test was a fail. That was it. Yeah, they. Yeah. So. But at least then you can like go back and figure out what you did wrong.
Lia: Yeah, that's, that's the thing. It's so important to be able to know where you screwed up and therefore you can actually do something about it as opposed to floundering around like I failed. But you have no clue where you went wrong. That's not efficient. That's not constructive.
Ki: Not at all.
Lia: Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that you've got great, great motivation, persistence, drive, passion. What would you say to somebody who struggles with those things?
Ki: I think drive comes from within. The biggest thing is having a goal to work towards. If you don't have a goal, you're not going to have to drive. You're not going to have the motivation, you're not going to have persistence or anything to reach that goal. So, for example, I did a photo shoot last year for my fitness journey. I had 12 weeks to get into like the best shape of my life. That was my goal. Okay, so I booked a photographer I like got a studio to do it in. I had to diet down for it, to eat the right stuff. I had to train hard. I had to go out every day and get my steps in, and do all of these things on top of my working day and on top of getting ready for a final exam. If I didn't do it, I wouldn't have got to that goal. I also told people about it because telling people it's just going to hold you a bit more accountable to doing it. And then like, I gave myself a pep talk as well, and I just said that the only person you're letting down if you don't do it is yourself. Like you want to do this. So this is what you've got to do to get there. And just having that goal on the days that I didn't have the drive to go out when it was paying it down with rain and get my steps in or the days I was just so tired I didn't want to go to the gym or the days where they stopped by a fast food store at work and couldn't go in and get anything. It was like my motivation for that was my goal and that it was short term with fitness. Fitness is a lifestyle change.
Lia: Yes.
Ki: So a lot of people want a quick fix. They want to get their desired body, their desired strength, and then go back to their old habits. So what they have to realize is you can't eat fast food every single day at work. Like if you want to look a certain way and feel a certain way, like these are the things you have to do over time. But the best thing I ever heard was if you miss a day, don't make it two days. One day is a mistake. Two days is the start of a bad habit or an old habit again. So it's just having that goal. And once you get into the habit of it, you'll realize how much better you feel doing it.
Lia: Consistency.
Ki: Consistency is key. Always.
Lia: Yes. Yes. And definitely when you're starting new habits like that. I know through my lifestyle change journey, the consistency has been, that was the hardest part.
Ki: That's why having a coach to hold you accountable is the best thing. Like, I have a coach myself.
Lia: Yes.
Ki: And she holds me accountable to it. But yeah, consistency is always the hardest part. Finding somebody to do things with you, even if you're going out for dinner and you're like, okay, well, I need to make it work for me. So it can't be somewhere where it's just like fried up food. It's got to be somewhere that can accommodate for my goals as well. And I don't know how you found it with your journey, but I find that a lot of people who aren't on that journey themselves kind of like, not look down on you, but they kind of like ridicule, sabotage. I don't know whether it's a feeling that they themselves think, Oh, I should be doing that, but I don't feel crap and try to do that. Yeah. So it's just having like people who support you as well.
Lia: If you break down the response, it comes back to survival. So they know they should be doing it and they know that they're capable of doing it. But if, if they see that you're doing it, you're mirroring to them what they should be doing. So that's having to face that. You're basically not doing what you need to be doing for yourself. That's a very hard thing to face. And so by kind of sabotaging in a way, or not being supportive or saying, you know, looking down on helps remove themselves from what you're accomplishing so that they don't see the fault within themself. Right. That's very common. That happens a lot, actually, when you're trying to do lifestyle changes for health and wellness.
Ki: But also if you then have a takeaway on top of that or you go out with a different bunch of friends, it's not going to be sustainable for like your way of life.
Lia: No.
Ki: Um, and that's what people struggle to see. And I get a lot of like, oh, you only live once. And I'm like, Yeah, you only live. How do you want to live?
Lia: Yes, exactly. That's a great response. I love that. That's fabulous because I get that a lot too. And it's because they don't want to see, if you're doing it, that means they could do it. So them, complaining about why they're unhealthy, unhappy about this aspect of their health or why they're unhappy about this or that or whatever, the excuse is no longer there because you're doing it. So you take away that ability to take the burden off of themselves. And that's why this then creates this animosity towards the person that's mirroring what I say I want to be doing but am not doing.
Ki: And it is a hard change to make. Like it's not easy, and I 100% get that.
Lia: Oh yeah. If it was easy we'd all do it.
Ki: Exactly, we’d all be exactly where we want it to be.
Lia: Right? Exactly. But the positive is that everyone is on their own journey. So if you start to take a different path, then you're going to find those people that are on that path with you. So now I surround myself with people that are conscious of the life that I live, the lifestyle that I want, and they are accommodating and do so as well. So I know that if I go to their home, they're going to specifically have something that they know is within my diet with what I eat and what I don't eat, and they're aware of it and vice versa. Or if we go out to a restaurant together, we pick a place that we know that we can enjoy, something that we don't feel is like, going to be toxic to us. You get to, you get to then attract the people that are on the same type of path that you are.
Ki: I saw this post the other day. I can't remember who posted it on Instagram and it basically said like, if you surround yourself with five people who go out drinking, you're going to be the sixth. If you surround yourself with five people who go to the gym and eat well, you're going to be the sixth. And I was just like, It's so true. But people don't like, they don't see it. And I get it. It's like because like, a lot of my friends are not into fitness. Um, and one of my best friends, she doesn't live near me, but she's like the complete opposite of me. She's not into fitness at all. And. She has never, ever tried to push that on me.
Lia: Yeah. Yeah.
Ki: We come together and she knows how I am. I know how she is. And we just work because of that. Because you're respecting that other person's boundaries and the way that you used to live. And so, like, friendships like that can work. But in your hometown, in close proximity, there's a lot of truth in it.
Lia: Yes, for sure. For sure. The key with people who live different lifestyles is about respecting that the other one doesn't. So I'm sure that your friend, although she's not into fitness, would never say to you like, Hey, let's go get go for a walk down like Charlie Chocolate Factory or whatever. She'd pick something that you guys mutually like or are interested in. She wouldn't put on you what she knows that you won't enjoy, Right? Because it's about preference, isn't it? It's, you prefer to live a life like this, she prefers to live a life like that and neither of you are pressing it on the other one.
Ki: Exactly. Yes.
Lia: Yeah, that's a beautiful, that's a really beautiful thing. You learned so much from others also that you associate with that live different lifestyles but are on an elevated state that don't then push that lifestyle on somebody else.
Ki: Yeah.
Lia: Very cool. Very cool. I had too much fun. Like usual. This was fabulous.
Ki: Thank you. I've enjoyed it as well. Thank you for having me.
Lia: It's a pleasure. It was a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Everyone is going to want to know where to meet you, like how they can reach out to you. So please tell us, where can we find you?
Ki: Okay, so I'm on Instagram as @thefemaletradiescoach and I'm on Facebook, I think just as Kiomi Barritt at the minute.
Lia: Spell it for us, please.
Ki: K-I-O-M-I, then Barritt is B-A-R-R-I-T-T, and you can follow me on there. But yeah, but they're my two main platforms at the moment.
Lia: I will have all of that in the show notes below so that if anyone wants to reach out to you, they can.
Ki: Yes, that would be awesome. Thank you.
Lia: All right. Thank you so much, Ki. This is awesome.
Ki: Thank you for having me. I've had the best time. So thank you so much.