Noami Englekamp of Love2Plumb
From the very start of my career as a plumber I knew deep down that self-employment was my aim. Both my parents and my Grandparents ran their own businesses and my father is a builder so its quite natural that I should find I have a head for business too
And what of my head for plumbing? The Spanish have a word they use, you might be familiar with it - its 'cojones'! It basically translates into 'balls'! Working as a plumber is teaching me to grab a tool and have a try at fixing something, creating something that will last and will serve a person well. This is a new experience - to build something that is study and that can be relied upon. When I remember to take stock of my achievements and let them sink in a little, I realise that some of that sturdiness has kind of rubbed off on its creator, me!
Okay, so its not the star-studded career (complete with handsome man on steed - anyone seen him yet?) I had mapped out for myself as a dreamy young girl of nine. When I've just run up the stairs for the fifth time in a row and I catch sight of myself in the mirror looking nothing like a princess, the temptation is to tell myself I must've taken a wrong-turn back there somewhere! But then come the moments when it all makes sense. Again and again I have some widget or gadget or other in hand and there is no making it fit where its supposed to go and I just keep calm and stand back a second, long enough to smile at myself and the bizarre predicaments life/myself has bought to my own path.
That smile is powerful. Suddenly I no longer feel so stuck and I remember that I felt similar in the past and I came through it okay in the end. Repeat the last three sentences a hundred times for each project (substitute plumbing for whatever your thing might happen to be) and you're really getting somewhere with yourself! Growing as a person you become more and more skilled. And it really doesn't matter what it is you're doing. As with any skill with constant repetition it gets easier and then one day you hear yourself talking like the expert you are finally gradually beginning to become...
Yes, sometimes I feel like I'm on the 'wrong' path. But really I know that it is this feeling alone which makes it so. I have learnt to enjoy visiting the plumbing merchants, instead of feeling shy and 'the odd one out' - the men who hang out there are just men, really not so scary at all and actually often quite pleased to see me there, spanner in hand, and be the one to give me a bit of useful advice. As long as I can carry on making a name for myself as someone that provides a fair and quality service I am a satisfied woman indeed.
Naomi is a fully registered gas plumber by Corgi, Gas Safe and can be contacted on tel:07816 366 351. naomienglekamp@gmail.com