Tracy: Hi, I’m Tracy Matthewman. I’m the editor for WomenCanDoAnything.com. I’m here today withYvonne Williams, Founder and President of Total Confidence. Hi Yvonne, thanks for joining me today.

Yvonne: Hi Tracy.

Tracy: Well I just wanted to start by asking you what does your business do?

Yvonne: Well my business is a one stop shoping really for home owners. We provide home renovations for women generally. So we have all women staff that come in and do it and we have a different way of communicating obviously cause it's women with women. We offer on-site renovations training for women so if you want to learn how to do your drywall in the comfort of your own home we come out and we'd do that. We offer job specific tool bags, so if you want to do your own drywall but don't want to own all of the tools and keep all that storage we do that as well. But our main focus is the tool parties. So that's where we teach women how to use power tools and that's where they first get their experience. So usually you start off with a tool party and work to your on-site renovation training.

Tracy: So tell me how did you get into this business and why did you want to start this type of business?

Yvonne: Well I got into it...I took a course last year which was a Women In Skilled Trades and I loved it. I worked out in the renovation field for quite some time and I just found that I was learning what not to do and so I decided, you know what, I wanted to start my own business, I knew I wanted to start my own business and I figured this is what it's going to be because there's so many things that are out there that aren't right, I figured I'm gonna set out and I'm gonna make it right and I'm gonna make it comfortable for women to have renovations or to learn to do it themselves, cause a lot of women are interested in doing it themselves, they just don't know how or where to start.

Tracy: Exactly. So what kind of obstacles did you face considering that this is such a male dominated industry?

Yvonne: Well when I worked out in the renovation field I found that I wasn't very welcomed and other than that the obstacles that I face right now are just basically eliminating the women's fears and letting them get over that initial stage of using the tools.

Tracy: Why do you think you're business has been successful?

Yvonne: I think it's successful because of the sense of accomplishment that the women feel after they've actually used the tool. Like you go in and you're thinking "oh my gosh, I don't know if I can do this" and you're scared cause of the noise and you're, you know...there's a lot of....tools are scary really. That's the end of it. They make noise and they can hurt you. Right? (Tracy: Yup.) Sort of like guns, they make noise and they can hurt you. You're automatically scared. But as soon as you actually hold it and learn about the tool and what it can do..you get to feel it, you get to hear it, it's a, it's a wild difference as soon as you touch it and feel it and then you start feeling empowered. And by the end of a tool party women are like "Ok" cause they know they can, they come in and they know "Well I wanna do this and this and this", but then after they've used the tools they're like "I'm gonna do the deck and I'm gonna go home tonight and I'm gonna start the drywall!" They're all gung-ho. (Tracy: Right! Cool!)

Tracy: So you said earlier that you do renovation for people, now is it mostly women or what kind of people hire you to actually do the renovations?

Yvonne: It is women so far, like it's more the fact that it's single women, divorced women, but it's also the women who's husband hasn't been doing it and uh, basically it's the communication that I have with the women versus a man cause obviously we all know how men talk and we all know how women talk so it's ok "you tell me what you want" and I'll say "Well ok did you consider, you know the fact that if you're doing the floor and you wanted to move the vanity later that we should move the vanity now in order to make sure that you have tile where there needs to be tile. (Tracy: Right) So it's just the fact that women are orchestrating the communication whereas normally it's, I believe, it's been men who have hired the renovators. (Tracy: Yes) So women are getting more involved.

Tracy: So how many employees do you have?

Yvonne: Right now it's me, but what I do is I subcontract out so when I need help on jobs I hire women that have been in the course with me.

Tracy: And they have the special skill sets in drywalling and different areas of renovation?

Yvonne: Yes. Exactly. We all took the course together. So the girls...when they...when I know that they don't have a job going and I need help on a job, then I hire them. I've also got right now a female electrician that I contact and I'm looking to source a plumber and um a heating and cooling technician that are female.

Tracy: How do you promote and market your business?

Yvonne: So far what I've done for promotions is mainly through networking groups. I've done one flyer drop and ah..but it's mainly been through promotional, um...through networking groups.

Tracy: Where do you see your business going in the next five years?

Yvonne: I'm hoping that in the next five years I will be able to start purchasing homes. My end goals, what I want to do is, I want to purchase homes for women who are not necessarily in an abusive situation, but in a marriage where maybe their financially dependant on their husband but yet they do want to leave. We had a lady in the course who was very unhappy but she was stuck with herself and her kids at the home with the husband who just told her basically that she actually couldn't do the course. And I want to be able to help women like her that want to get out but can't financially so I wanna purchase homes and then renovate the home with them so that they've got everything they want. They pick out their tile and what not and they learn the skill. So I want to be able to provide them with affordable housing.

Tracy: Great. Well thanks a lot for joining me today. My name is Tracy Matthewman. I'm the editor for WomenCanDoAnything.com and I've been talking to Yvonne Williams, owner and president of Total Confidence. Thanks a lot Yvonne.

Yvonne: Thank you.

You can find out more about Total Confidence at their website:

www.ihavetotalconfidence.ca

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Interviewer: Tracy Matthewman