In this episode, Liam is joined by Julie White, who shares her experiences and insights on entrepreneurship and business growth. Julie emphasises the importance of determination, hard work, and perseverance as she recounts her journey from being raised in a family business to eventually purchasing the company. Together, they explore the significance of taking risks and finding one’s niche in a business. They also delve into the challenges in the construction industry and discuss the crucial role of apprenticeships. Highlighting the value of these programs, they underscore the necessity for women to support and empower each other in male-dominated industries.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Entrepreneurship and determination can come from overcoming academic struggles – Julie White was not the strongest student, but her determination, people skills, and passion for business allowed her to succeed as an entrepreneur.
- Taking risks and learning from failures is part of the entrepreneurial journey – Julie White describes experiencing major failures but emphasises the importance of bouncing back and trying again.
- Embracing your unique strengths and personality can be an advantage in a male-dominated industry – Julie White found success by being herself and not trying to fit a corporate mould.
- Advocating for apprenticeships and skills training is a key passion for Julie White – she believes apprenticeships are a valuable path that should be encouraged, especially in the construction industry.
BEST MOMENTS
“Sometimes in life, you’ve got to take risks. Sometimes you’ve got to get out of your own way. And people want the reward, but they’re not willing to put energy in, or effort or take the risk.”
“I think it was, was it Dyson did 238, prototypes before he sent out his first Hoover, or vacuum cleaner. So come on, we can do it, you know.”
“I hate quotas. We should never be a quota. We should be there, because we bring something different to the boardroom. We bring a different feel.”
“I think, I think we’ve, we’ve, we’ve said some you’ve got to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus. I know that sounds very, very straightforward, but it is, get the right people on and, you know, and get out of thinking that I’ve got to be good at everything.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to another edition of the deal maker podcast. If this is your first time listening, make sure you go back and listen to episode one. There’s amazing content to share with you on how to make money, manage money and multiply money. But before you do that, make sure you stay tuned, because today you are in for an absolute treat. I am joined by Julie White, who is an entrepreneur. She’s in construction, and she is an incredible lady who also heads up Driel, who focuses on concrete drilling and soaring, and we’re going to be doing a deep dive. We’re going to be talking about business blocks, barriers and challenges and really inspiring you to go out there and get the results that you’re looking for. So Julie, welcome into the show.
Thank you for having me. It’s great to have you and really looking forward to hearing your story and sharing some great tips and tricks with the audience.
Look, where did this all start for you? You know, business, entrepreneurship, wanting more out of life. Was there a certain time or age where you knew this was going to be your path? Yeah, I think it was from the beginning. D drill. I’ve come to D drill was always in my life, and it was the nicest part of my life. I always remember my mother was always in the office, when women was always in the office, and she ran the company from it was a family business, from the kitchen sink. We had this red telephone that rang all the time. My father was away working, and then when my father came back from working, there was diamond drillers and Sawers sleeping on the floor. A lot of action my dad would be make fixing equipment on the kitchen table. So it’s a great feeling. And to see, to see that grow as I grew up, you know, and see my father, you know, go through good times and bad times and and to see the company go from just one branching Coventry up to 10 nationwide and cutting concrete for every main, major contractor, every end user, every client, every specialist trade. So it was like you just saw it from the start, from the very start, and then at what point did you say, I want to buy that company? Because ultimately you bought the business and that’s not something which happens regularly. That’s right, when did you know you were going to buy that business. Well, I had a very, of course, typical me always make it a long journey or a harder journey for myself, because I didn’t want to be Julie white. That goes straight into deedral as Peter White’s daughter, because I would have been, I’d have been a conservative photo all my life. I would have, I would have drove Granada as he did in those days. I would have had all his views. So I ended up going traveling. And what I found was around the world yacht racing. So I ended doing three and three quarters, because the third one failed a non stop around the world. And so really, I excelled at that. I sold myself to get on to to into cruise. I became, I found my position on the crew, firstly as poor Decker, which is quite an active job and a major job, and then brought myself back to being Navigator, and then also captain in the end. So it’s finding that position that’s good for you. Then I and My Father bet me that I wouldn’t only be away because he is my best friend for three months, and I was away for 11 years. So one day did call me and say, You wouldn’t bet you know, come on, come home. Now he wanted you back. Yeah.
So, those 11 years traveling the world, you know, yacht racing, yeah, yeah, that’s a skill set in itself. It is. Yes. What did you learn through that process that you’ve been able to transfer into being a business owner and doing great well.
It’s fantastic saying around the world, it’s tough as well. Everyone thinks it’s very romantic, but it isn’t 60 days at sea with 18 smelly women or 20 mixed crew. It isn’t always, and that’s what business is like. A roller coaster ride and and for me, it was when I could get to the position. I found the right people. I found the right people in the right positions. I had client, I had sponsors, which were, you know, a bit like a client. You had to, you had to talk to them. You had to make them, you know, feel good about you, to sponsor. You to so I had to make sure that I could give them back what they needed. I had to then do sponsor sailing. So I was proving myself that we could go. I was then bringing ideas to them and saying, we could do this yacht race. You would get this appetite from it, and so on and so on. And also you’ve got to maintain the yacht. You’ve got to have the right people. You have a shore crew which do the most of it when you’re on land, but when you’re at sea, you’ve got to get down and dirty, and that’s what business is about. Even how high you get, you still have to get down and do and be able to do pretty much every aspect of every role. Yes, because then you know how to delegate that to someone else. So it’s almost like you treated that like a business. It was you operated it. And of course, we had accounts. We were, we were we had to, we had a budget. We had, I had to make sure that we were buying the right, you know, blocks, and make sure that we weren’t, you know, over budget and we were delivering what they needed for the return on the profit. Where do you feel that determination to win, or that determination to be part of something came from? Was that maybe something at school? Was it a relationship? Was it something someone said to you, because you seem a very determined? Yeah, we’ve got a lot of interviews from a lot of years, and yeah, I noticed that a lot in myself ever since I was really young in school. I really wasn’t the brightest book to be fair, and I really struggled academically, but business relationships, selling skill set was good. So where do you feel that determination come came from?
I think again, it’s from seeing Deidre and seeing my parents being very true entrepreneurs. And it was a brand new technology in those days, so they were really selling this to the construction industry. So I heard things, you know, I came from school, it was there. And also when I went to school, I was always I was a head girl. I was captain of the tennis club. I was captain of any team you could ever find, because, again, I’m like you, I wasn’t academic. I was very nervous at school, so when it came to exams, I failed. I flunked, but I could get the right people on my team. I could talk to the bullies, I could negotiate, I could speak to the teachers. And again, you know, I’ll give you this if you give us our team that So, and that’s where it come from, that that kind of win.
So if there’s people tuning into this now that also don’t feel they’re academic, maybe they’re a bit like me, and they can’t read and write properly, or they suffer with dyslexia, or they bumped out of school, or maybe they’re in a job right now that’s not serving them. We are right in saying that it doesn’t have to be that way. No, it isn’t. I came out of school with 1o level in religious education, so I could have been a nun right now, and I actually thought I was stupid. I remember walking out that school thinking I was totally stupid, and what has the world got to be? And the world was, that’s it. I’m just going to go in the family business because my name’s white. But I determined that I wasn’t. So actually went from there. Did work for Deidre, on and off, but also worked for other construction companies, doing administration, making sure the site agent was happy, you know, making sure everything was going talking to the sub is everything, you know. So I kind of got myself into a fantastic position there and and also then that that experience has brought me to where I am now, that going that, you know, being out there on my own.
Do you think separates then, people that are successful, who stay stuck, you know, what could be some of those differences? Or What? What? You know, someone’s tuning into this now, and they are in a ruck and things aren’t quite working for them. What would you say to them to help them get out of that?
Well, I think it’s all it’s quite easy for us entrepreneurs to get stuck, especially when, you know, it’s external things that always completely piss me off, you know, you know, I bought a company, and then I had the biggest you know, I bought the family business out and had the biggest dark recession in under three years. Then we had breakfast, and then we had Brexit, oh, and then we had Brexit, and then a pandemic. So really is you feel like you’re being knocked. But I think being a true entrepreneur, it’s a gallop, and find the ability to to find what you’re good at. So like you, I’m very good at communicating. I’m very good at finding who I am. So to going out there and pulling the right people in, getting the ideas go out. I mean, I’m for I love a good exhibition. I love going to a concrete exhibition and and seeing, of course. Diamond drilling and sawing equipment. But what also can I offer the customer? What also is out there? What could I branch into to make me the One Stop concrete cutting, you know, concrete service provider to the industry?
So we’re talking about diamonds. Diamonds, yeah, well, no, they’re not these beautiful things that we, both of us, have got on. No, no, no, no, they it’s it. We use industrial diamonds, horrible brown things from South Africa, usually, and we cut concrete with diamond tip drills. So we will drink drill something as simple as a hole for a plumber’s pipe to cut in a doorway, a window for McDonald’s or Rolls Royce, putting the track inside for Jaguar to cutting a motorway bridge in half, actually cutting a nuclear power station down. So it’s very diverse inside the construction industry. So I make money out of holes, and
you seem very passionate about what? Oh, I love it. You’re really passionate about that. And I think for anyone tuning in, it’s important to find your passion, yes, and then run with that. Right now, there’s so many people out there now that are in jobs or businesses that they absolutely effing hate, yeah, and they’re bitching, and I’ve been and they’re not willing to do anything about it, yeah, you know. And sometimes in life, you got to take risks, sometimes you’ve got to get out your own way. And people want the reward, but they’re not willing to put energy in, or effort or take the risk. But again, risk is that’s being an entrepreneur risk. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve done some massive failures. I’ve actually you think, what did I do that. But really, an entrepreneur can get back up and go, I’ll do it again. Yeah, you know, I think it was, was it Dyson did 238, prototypes before he sent out his first Hoover, or vacuum cleaner. So come on, we can do it, you know. So for me, from an industry that’s only 60 years old, I like going out find new technologies. I want to give that service. I can give you before and after. In between, I can bring my management team in to love it as much as I am. So then I can go off and do what I’m good at, yeah, go to exhibitions, go around the world, go and do my beautiful hobbies, yeah, and give me that breathing space to be able to have the vision to go back and set the plan, yeah, what would you what has been a struggle for you then over the years, if you could pick one or two things that were really difficult, and how did you overcome them? Yeah, I think the bit for, well, how I bought out the family business was I did come out back from sailing, and I first I bought my I started my own construction company doing floor preparation for the construction industry. New technology, new techniques. I could sell that. I could sell that to come out of your mind. I, you know, I made it fun. I’m terrible for being fun. I’m terrible, you know, I actually ground the black adhesive when you take off tiles, off the off of massive warehouses like wixes and Dixons and all that. And then I would come in and take the vinyl tiles off so I could do the vinyl time and grind away the DS if then a new floor put down. So it was a shop fitting industry very quick. And so I nicknamed my machine the super stripper. And the grinder was, of course, the, you know, the heavy grinder. And, of course, I was the best stripper and grinder in the business. So, you know, it’s
make a name for yourself, maybe a bit comical, a little bit quirky. Yeah, don’t take yourself too seriously. You definitely seem like a woman on a mission. Has it been difficult in a male dominated industry that is that being pushback on that I’ve had some great, great times, I know have, and you’ve got to again laugh, because, mean, I was a young woman, you know, was running that company, and I would go into Site, Site hurts with my maybe with my managers, and I’d be sitting there, and the side agent would run in and say, God, you know, we’re late. Can someone take the minute? And of course, I’d be the only woman in the in the in the room, so you’d say, I’ll take the minutes. Oh yeah, I’ll take the mix and go that now we’d finish. And he’d go, right, okay, Deidre take your contract to your Managing Director and get that sign. And I go, Oh, I can do that as well. Oh, that’s me. And, of course, you know, but you again, don’t take it serious. You know, it’s, it’s great to be different. And it’s, I took, I actually went when I first bought Deidre out from, from, you know, from having that business, I did the management buyout of the family business. I kind of pretended not to be me for a while. You know, I loved colors. I always dress. I’m quite boisterous. I’ve come bounding into of it. And I, for know, something, I’ll have a joke and, and, but that’s me. But I spent a lot of years not being me, and you can’t, because you there’s a lot of time. Did you lose yourself in I lost my time in my process because I thought had to be corporate and, you know, and I don’t. You know. And if people think I’m stupid because I’m bouncy and they’re wrong, yeah, you know. And that’s their thought, not I love that. I really love that people try and be what other people think they should be. Role models are great, but they’re not you, but be yourself, yeah, understand your values, yeah, the skill set that brings to the table. Let’s do that. Yeah? And the thing that I’ve noticed is that, look, someone will hate about you, the very thing someone loves about Yes, you can’t keep everyone happy as long as you’ve got a great product, a great service, and you’re genuine and you want to get out there and you’re really passionate. Like, talk about your business, sell your business. Like, just get people on board and don’t let anyone get in your way. Which is, which is incredible.
So where are you at now, then in your journey?
Yeah, what some of the great stuff you do? I know you’re a big inspiration. And you do stuff with the governments, Yeah, huge companies around the UK. Most amazing time. I mean, I can I take it a little bit back in 2011 12, I was put forward by one of my customers, and I won business for me a year. So Karen Beaty and hearing duvet were wouldn’t it be before me? So kind of the media got a hold of me in those days. Then I was very different. Woman in construction, not bad looking, you know? And yeah, I did question time, I did the one show, I did news night, I did I did all that, and what I found, what I could do then, with the passion I could give the media was, you know, radio four, you know, the times the Guardian have been, everything I could then push my other passion of apprenticeships. And that is really true. You know, why did we decide it was we could only go into into any industry or business or whatever, by having a degree. No, it’s wrong, and it’s not the right route for everyone, and we’re not stupid if we do apprenticeship. You know, my father was an apprentice electrician, but went into and was an entrepreneur. So so for me, then I actually managed to become the drilling and saw an association chairman, which is very good first woman, but that I’ve said to you, that’s by the by now being the first woman in anything we can do anything that doesn’t matter. Women are strong. Yeah, you’ve got, you’ve got many women now owning, controlling huge organizations all around the quotas. I hate quotas. We should never be a quota. We should be there, because we bring something different to the boardroom. We bring a different feel. I bring a different feel into my boardroom. You know, we have a lot of hairy art concrete cutters all arguing about a machine, piece of machinery. And I’ll come in and say, Well, what is that why? You know? And they’ll let me, it’s a different feel we bring to table. Great. You’ve got to bring different things to table. So really, from that, I then became the Chair of the drilling soaring. So from that, I then became the world diamond drilling and sawing president. There is a world there, the International drilling and sawing association. So then I was going around and pushing our beautiful industry of concrete cutting and demolition control demolition around the world, and setting standards for all the countries that haven’t got an association. That was incredible. And then from that, I then was asked by the specialist Society of specialist contractors, which I was one, which was, you’ve got the steeple jackets, you’ve got the white liners, you’ve got the flat floor, the flat roofers, the the steep roofers. You’ve got the floor layers. You’ve got every specialist trade, yeah, who knew that I made, as I said, made, who knew that there’s concrete cutting of us, and there was a whole employee system out there doing it. So from there, I was asked to go on to that board of that association, which was a fantastic we then joined with the main contractors, so the likes of Macau pines, Balfour, Beatty, you know, Kea, the massive boys, and we joined Association. And that was nearly coming up to 10 years next year. And I stayed on the board. I was asked to stay on the board. Can you write a little concrete cutter from Coventry. That’s a good concrete cutter from Coventry. And I was asked to be on the board, one of eight making policy, talking about apprentices, which is my passion, remember, and making a difference, making a difference. And then from that, you know, eight years later, I am now chair of build UK, wow. So I can then go and talk to any of the main contractors, any specialist trade, trade association, and I’m making a difference. Don’t ever forget Driel. I’ll never forget Driel, but I’ve brought a great team in. I’ve built a great team. So I can go off and do this, this, this passion. And also, don’t get me wrong, you know, I’ll go into, I mean, I go into Downing Street before we the the general election was called, and I advised them on construction, and also I was chosen by the government to be on their small business council. So we were looking at barriers, you know, to. New business. Because, you know, you know, 99% of us out there are employed by SME, a small, medium enterprise, and we are bringing something like 2 billion into this economy.
Sounds great. And I love the fact you’re so focused on The Apprentice help. Oh, yes, younger children, yes. You know, coming through college, you know, after school, helping them get a skill set where they can have value and set themselves up on the radio, listen down they’re moaning about their or their, you know, their graduate, their their loans that they’ve got, you know, 50 100,000 pounds, where you could have learnt on this, on the site, and you’re not stupid being apprenticeship right now.
Are you learning a skill set? Yes, you can then go set up your own business. You can always be employed. Yeah, you’re doing something which someone’s always going to need. I think it’s incredible. I you know, I left college after three weeks. My son is he 17. He left college. He’s now working for me, but we’ve got them learning the phones and send them off around the world sailing, but there’s so many kids leaving school now they idea, and there’s all this pressure on them, yeah, and it’s and also for construction, remember, this is what my passion is, apprentices and construction. We’re not stupid in construction. Yeah, we every pound spent in the economy, three pound gets given back to the greater economy. There’s over 2000 different jobs inside construction. You could be a bid writer, you can be a concrete cutter, you can be a Qs. You can be a white liner. You can be a steeple jacker. There is everything. So look out there and and keep asking, yeah, any young person, any person that’s got a child that, you know, not academic, you know, construct, you’re not stupid going in construction, and you just walk around the center of London and see what we built over the years and what we’re still building. I love that.
So what’s next for Julia?
Doesn’t sound like you’re slowing down? No, I don’t. I don’t know. That’s always a thing. And I’ve woken up a few times at night last probably year or so, thinking, what next? What next? And I’m not worrying about it, because I never knew what was coming next. So why should I worry about it now, so you know, and live every day, yeah, and get out there and speak to people. Speak to I’m fun. I like speaking to anyone I can find. I can speak to a guy on the site, you know, selling the big issue to your a Chief Exec of a massive company. Speak to them. They’re only human then, and from that, and I really do believe it, sometimes it’s who you know, not what you know. I know that is, yeah, build your network, you know. And also just ask, why not? You can only say, No, exactly.
I really love your attitude.
It’s really great to have you, have you on this show, and I know for sure you’re going to inspire and motivate lots of our listeners. What would you say? Final tips to anyone tuning in now that want to grow a business, get into property. Want more success. Want to be a better person. You know? What would you like to say to people?
I think, I think we’ve, we’ve, we’ve said some you’ve got to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus. I know that sounds very, very straightforward, but it is, get the right people on and, you know, and get out of thinking that I’ve got to be good at everything. You know, people think that they’re, you know, am I a leader or a manager? I should be both. You’re not always good at both, you know. So get to a point when sometimes you can’t afford it, when you’re a one man band and you’re going through, I do that myself. It would take only take me five minutes. I can’t teaching someone else, teach that person. Take that time so that you can lasso what you’re good at and go and do that, get an accountant, external or internal, as soon as you can. I hate accounts, and also, don’t be ashamed. I always go into all my meetings with financial people, with legal people, and say, talk to me like I’m a 16 year old son reader, because your acronyms and your bollocks words sometimes don’t mean nothing, and you’re just trying to talk your own words to make us feel that we have to pay more. So I stop. I’ll stop a meeting, even in Downing Street, I’ll stop. Excuse me, what’s that? What’s that mean? You know, so never, ever, ever worry about being that great and you will fail. And with business every day, always expect the unexpected. Fantastic.
Well, this is called the deal maker podcast. So in your own words, what does being a deal maker mean to you? Getting out, unleashing what I’m good at, and finding those people that will see my vision come with me some. Won’t, so we’ll screw you over, you know, but just, you know, back them off, move on and actually finding what you’re good at and your passion and promoting them, if it’s for the greater good of your industry, for your pocket, just for your own company, just do it. Find that passion and really go for it, and find anyone else to do the not the crap that’s wrong, but the stuff that you’re not good at or you don’t like doing, then just spend that money on them so that you are free to do and expand your life, your vision and your company.
Wow, fantastic. Well, they are fantastic words from a fantastic lady. Thank you so much for coming in to doing a show here at the deal maker. So there we have it. Julie white, Wow. What an incredible lady. Real inspirational. Some extremely valuable content. There some golden nuggets. Outsource the things you’re not good at or you’re not passionate about. Really find something that you love, something you’re good for. Don’t let anyone get in your way. Thanks for being here at the deal maker podcast. And hey, if you’ve not yet left me a review and you’ve got some great value today, I really want to get this podcast into as many people’s minds as possible, so please subscribe, leave me a review and make sure you listen to the next episode. Thanks very much, Liam Ryan, the dealmaker podcast, and we’ll see you, Sarah very soon.
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