@SydneyPlumberChick’s formula for viral tradie content

Andy
In today’s episode of The Tradie Show, we’ve got the incredible Yana Marks, also known as @Sydney Plumber Chick, joining us to share her story. 

Ange
She’s going to reveal how she turned her daily grind into viral content, built a vibrant online community and continues to pave the way for young tradies into the future.

Andy
Don’t go anywhere because you won’t wanna miss this chat with the unstoppable Yana Marks. 

You’re listening to The Tradie Show. This is the podcast for trade business and contracting bosses like you who wanna lead with confidence, make more profit, and create a better lifestyle. 

Ange
We’re your hosts, Andy and Angela Smith, husband & wife team, and co-founders of Lifestyle Tradie. Are you ready to have some fun? 

Andy
Hell yeah!

Ange
Hey, I’m Angela Smith, founder of Lifestyle Tradie, and I know exactly what it feels like to be in your shoes. You didn’t plan on running the office, chasing payments, handling the marketing, and keeping the whole thing afloat while life keeps racing on. But here you are making it happen in your trade business, even when it feels like a lot. That’s why Andy and I created Stress Free Tradie. It’s a one day live event for tradies and their partners who are ready to stop feeling like they’re holding it all together with duct tape. We’ll show you how to get on top of your cashflow, attract the right customers, and build a business that doesn’t swallow your life whole. Tickets are free, but spots are limited. Head to lifestyletradie.com.au/events, see when we are in a city near you and book your seats. We’d love to see you there. 

Andy
All right, legends. We have a truly special guest in the studio today, a 20-year-old apprentice plumber who’s absolutely smashing it on social media, better known as Sydney Plumber chick on socials. Yana has over 300,000 followers on TikTok, plus another 80,000 plus on Instagram, and is inspiring a new wave of young tradies, especially women, to pick up the tools and have a crack. Welcome to The Tradie Show, Yana. 

Yana
Thank you guys. I’m so excited to be here.  

Andy
Oh, it’s so good to have you.

Ange
It’s so good to have you but even more so because you are actually here in the studio with us, we love this. 

Yana
I know. It’s crazy. I can’t believe it’s finally the day. I’m so excited to share my experience in plumbing and social media. 

Andy
Yeah, I just love it. I mean, obviously owning a plumbing company myself and, and already spending quite a bit of time with you before talking on the podcast here today. You’re such a superstar and a legend, and it’s just great having a chat with you and really getting that inspiration of helping out and being in the trades industry and it’s so good. There are so many females coming through these days. 

Yana
Yeah, there definitely are a lot more girls compared to when I started. It’s great to see all the girls messaging me and just like getting involved. 

Andy
That is so cool. So cool. Okay, Yana, let’s get started at the beginning. How did you first get into the plumbing trade and what drew you into this industry?

Yana
I grew up with my dad building coffee machines, and I was always in his workshop helping him and just like being around all that. I was at school and I always used to mention that I wanted to be a tradie, but I would always get those comments from the boys being like… 

Ange
You got harassed, right?

Yana
Well, yeah. Like they’re like, you can’t do that. And I was like. 

Ange
Man, just watch me. 

Yana
I was always in the back of my head wanting to do something hands-on tradie, but I never really thought that it was gonna be a possibility. Anyway, I was at school, I think it was year 10, and I did an In-school TAFE course.

Andy
Yes.

Yana
In animal studies. Then I left school and had to start to leave school. I had to pay rent and I had to get a TAFE course and a job. So mom gave me that option. So I immediately said, yep, I’m out. I hated school life and I actually got a TAFE course in, I did my cert dream fitness. 

Ange
Okay. 

Yana
And then the job that I got, I was working on the trucks down at hardware in general, kind of stepping my foot into the tradie kind of industry about six months into me working on the trucks, I was like, all right, trucks aren’t really gonna take me anywhere. I wanna try one of these trades out. And so I ended up taking it. I think it was a week or two off from my job. And then I tried out landscaping and carpentry, and then in that week that I took off, I had a guy come up to me like my old boss, and he was like. Do you wanna try plumbing out? And I was like, well that’s quite the coincidence because I’ve literally just taken the week off to try out trades. So I decided to try it out and the first day I did it, I absolutely loved it. I thought it was so cool how all the parts work, ’cause this guy actually asked me about three months prior. And I said, yuck. Absolutely not. I’m, I’m doing plumbing. Like, are you kidding? I’m not playing with shit for the rest of my life. And so it was just like a coincidence that in that week that I had taken off, he had come up to me again being like, Hey, like I, 

Ange
He was persistent. 

Yana
Yeah. Anyway, I ended up trying it and I was like, holy fuck, this is so cool how I can see all the pipes in the wall. I didn’t know that there was this side of plumbing. I always just thought it was poo. 

Ange
Associated to poo over. 

Yana
Yeah. That’s actually what I thought. And then the next day he goes. Do you wanna be my apprentice? And I was like, hold on. Like I haven’t even talked to my parents about this. I haven’t even thought about this. I don’t even know what an apprenticeship is. I had no idea at this stage. And I said, yeah, let’s do it. 

Ange
Wow.

Yana
I literally didn’t even talk to my parents about it. I just said, yeah, I’m in. We met up at a footy field, it was a Saturday, and he came and dropped me heaps of power tools and hand tools, everything to get me sorted.

Ange
Do you know why that was really smart? Because he immediately cemented you into saying yes. Because you hadn’t even started day one yet on Monday. 

Yana
Literally. Exactly.

Ange
But you were already in your head going, I’m gonna quit my job. Yeah, and I’m gonna start with this bloke on Monday. He’s just given me a whole heap of power tools. This is sick. 

Yana
I literally didn’t go back to my H&G job and I just stayed with him. And he was such a good boss. The amount of shit that I learned in my TAFE class, like I was doing really well in like all the practical side of things. I was really switched on that side of things. And that came a lot from how my boss would teach me, ’cause my boss was very, you do it yourself. I’m here, but I want you to work on it first. 

Ange
Awesome. 

Yana
He would leave me a lot, work it out by myself because he figured it out, and I figured that if I’m just watching him doing it, then I won’t learn ’cause I’m not doing it with my own hands. I cannot stress it enough how good it is for a boss to just leave your apprentice there and say, f*ck and just work it out. Like do it yourself, ’cause it’s so good for them. 

Andy
And I just love the fact that you’re working at H&G, a great place. You tried carpentry and you tried landscaping. You like that and you came over to the mother’s side. That’s the old plumbing, obviously being a plumber ourselves. What a great, great trade it is. But you know what, a lot of people have that, um, thought that when you are a plumber you’re dealing with shit. So I’m gonna ask you, have you dealt with shit before? 

Yana
Oh, of course. Anyone who follows me knows that I’ve dealt with shit. You’ve all seen it. You’ve all seen it. 

Ange
So that leads me to a great question, Yana. What actually inspired you to start sharing your work and daily life on TikTok and Instagram as Sydney Plumber Chick?

Yana
Prior to plumbing, I started posting a bit ’cause it was locked down and I was like, oh my God, I wanna be a little influencer fitness girl. I was doing my cert dream fitness at the time, so I was posting a lot in that sense. And then when I got my plumbing job, I started posting a little bit, but it wasn’t plumbing as such. It was more just me and my tradie outfit. And it started kind of blowing up, getting a bit of these, nothing new what I, what I get now. But at the time I was like, oh my God. Then I posted one video and it was like. POV. You do a plumbing apprenticeship at 17 or something and that blows up. It got like half a million views. 

Ange
Mad. 

Yana
And I was like, oh my God. I was literally getting so many followers by the minute. I just remember looking at my account and I was like, oh my God, it’s gone up Another 2000. It’s gone up another thousand. And then I think I went to like 20,000 within like a week. It was insanely fast growing, and then I just kind of kept posting those little videos of me at work. And it’s actually crazy. I was thinking about this the other day when I first started posting, I was getting a lot, a lot of hate, like a lot of people being like, what are you doing? You can’t do this. You’re closer to cleaning. You shouldn’t be doing this. Whereas now when I post, and I don’t know if it’s ’cause I’ve got a big following now, but, now when I post, I rarely ever get hate comments, the haters comments like I still get them, but I’ll have all my folks back me up being like, I bet go fuck yourself. This chick can do it. So just leave her alone. 

Ange
I love the fact that as a female tradie, you have been brave enough to become this influencer. I. I think it’s really important that the industry knows that it is okay as a female to actually take on a trade and be one of them. Like, why isn’t this a female industry?

Yana
I just wanted to show people as well that you can be a chick and do it as well. 

Ange
A hundred percent. There’s a lot of stereotypes around women in the industry or females in the industry. 

Andy
Yeah, there’s no doubt there is, and I suppose, you know, it’s tough and, and I think when you put yourself out on socials, if you’re doing it as a business, if you’re doing it as the Sydney plumber chick, it doesn’t matter how you’re doing it. You know, there’s a lot of hate out there at times, and it’s the way you deal with it. So I can understand that you’ve had that. So what do you think makes your content so relatable and engaging for your audience?

Yana
Well, my content’s my job and my day to day life. And I think adding that, because I do post a lot of things like me getting dressed up as well as me doing the dirty jobs, like me playing with sewer, doing that kind of stuff. I think… 

Ange
You’re a world rounded female. 

Yana
Yeah, and I also post all the ups and downs in my life. Like if I’m sad, I’ll post about it. Like that’s sh*t happens. And then also my sports, I do a lot of sports, so I love posting that. And I think people really appreciate how much I do in a way. 

Andy
How busy you are, not just with work and socials and going out. So what are some of the most fun things you’ve been able to do work-wise, since starting to build your following on social media? What are some of the real cool stuff that you’ve done? 

Yana
Definitely like events and meeting people, like when I meet my fans out. Yeah. People who follow me. I don’t know. I just love it so much. Like hearing how I’ve inspired them. I was recently at a plumbing event and I had this kid come up to me. And he looked super shy when he came up to me and he tried to speak to me and then I got called off and then I went back up and spoke to him and he was so sweet and he actually told me that I was the reason why he got into the plumbing. And he was like, in his third month, like if I was in year 10 and saw a chick like me posting what I post, I’ll be like, oh my God, I wanna do that. I love it and I love showing girls that they can do it and I love all the messages I get off girls as well. ’cause I do, I get messages all the time of girls being like, Don, I just wanna let you know I’m six months into my apprenticeship because of you. Like thank you. And it just makes my heart melt. 

Ange
That’s amazing. 

Yana
Knowing that, I’ve just changed someone’s life.

Ange
So Yana, have you had much negativity? And if so, how have you handled it? 

Yana
Definitely over the years it’s gotten better because I think with the content I post, I’ve been able to normalize. What I do and that a chick can actually do the job. And I’ve shown people that I can do the job. There’s been so many times where I’ll rock up to a job, whether it’s like a private one or with a builder, and they’re looking at me like, who are you? Who are you? Like, are you the cleaner? What are you doing here? Oh, literally. So I’ve been asked like, are you the cleaner? Like, or, or are you the office lady? People think I’m the office lady. And then by the end of it, they’re loving it. They’re like, oh my gosh, this is so cool. Like watching me work. You’re actually plumbing. You know your shit and you know what you’re doing. And I just think that’s really cool. Like even just person by person changing everyone’s opinion just by doing a job. I love that. 

Ange
So what message do you hope to send to other women and girls considering a trade career? Well, specifically in plumbing. 

Yana
I think I’ll definitely just give it a crack. Plumbing is so rewarding and there’s so much to it as well. It’s not just sh*t at the start, I was really scared of the sh*t, and that is, there’s a little bit, but you’ll get used to it. Like you do get used to it. 

Ange
You actually ever get used to it. 

Andy
Yaa, back in our day, we didn’t even use gloves. You were softy, if you used gloves. But now, 

Yana
Hey, you haven’t watched my sh*t, because I rarely wear gloves. Seriously. I rarely wear gloves. There’s also so much technology coming out and definitely, in the older days, it would’ve been harder for us because there weren’t these power tools helping us. But there are so many tools coming out that have made our jobs so much easier and easier for women to be able to get into it because it’s now like helping us and we don’t have to be so physical. It’s definitely just less labor intensive.

Ange
Innovation’s come a long way, right? 

Yana
Yes. Seriously. 

Andy
So I wanna ask you a practical question. How do you actually film the work you’re doing and what kind of equipment are you using and how much footage are you actually filming in a day? 

Yana
Definitely recently with this whole school, ’cause I work in schools now. Yes. So with working in schools, it’s a bit harder to film, but I actually have spoken to them and they have allowed me to be more free with posting because at one point I wasn’t allowed at all. I’d lose my job. Yeah. But when I film, say it’s just like a normal plumbing one. I will literally have my phone hit record, put it down on my tool bag, or lean it against a brick or whatever it is, and I’ll have however long I’ve been working for. So I could have like an hour, two hours worth of footage. Yeah. Just sitting there. I finish the job, I press finish. And then once I get home or on my lunch break, I’ll be sitting there editing.  So my job doesn’t finish at 3:30. 

Andy
So how much time and effort do you put into your editing at the end of the job to make sure you’re up to date with all your socials?

Yana
Oh, it really just depends on the video. Like you can make little videos and it can take 10 minutes to make, but those long ones that I make could take me like two hours to fully edit and finish and then figure out captions and all that, like it takes a long time. There’s definitely a lot that goes behind creating quality content, which is how I’ve got myself to hear.

Andy
Yeah, exactly. And, what does your boss normally say? So realistically, if you put a camera in the corner of a room somewhere, push a button, it doesn’t take too much out of the day. Right. It’s very simple and easy. 

Yana
No. It doesn’t, and it’s, if anything, it’s good because it stops me from playing around on my phone. Yeah. Because my phone’s sitting up there out of the way. It’s literally sitting there. 

Ange
It’s like someone’s watching you. 

Yana
Yeah. And yeah. Exactly. And it makes me wanna do a good job because it’s all on film and I wanna promote good quality plumbing.

Andy
Yeah. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. And have you ever had a chance where it’s really helped your boss get his name out there? Like, does that, or do you normally just keep it to all about you?

Yana
I do keep a lot of it to myself, but here and there I will reshare something or like, he posts quite a bit of me on his page. Yes. So I do like reshare some of that. And he loves it. He gets all excited when he gets more views, ’cause obviously if he gets shared on my page, it’ll bring him more views. So he loves that. But my boss is very supportive and I’m very grateful to have him as my boss. Just, he is really good with working around me and my schedule as well as my social media. I need to go to events sometimes. So he’s very helpful in the way that he’ll let me have a day off if I need it and go to these events.

Ange
So Yana, from the perspective of a young plumber, how do you see technology and social media shaping the future of trades? 

Yana
So I was recently at an event that showed me a lot of the latest technologies to save water and be more environmentally friendly. And it was really cool to see how far products and the plumbing industry have come from that. And trust me, there’s like so much more to plumbing and this job than to just be unblocking a toilet. Like there’s so much from roofing, from fills to rough in like there’s just so much to it. And a lot of the time when I say I am a plumber, like the first thing that’ll pop into someone’s head is, oh my God, she plays me sh*t. She stinks, but it’s not, and I don’t stink. 

Andy
Well, we’re in a, we’re in a very tight studio here and um, no, you don’t. So beyond social media success and you mentioned that you finished your apprenticeship in July this year. What are the longer term goals in the trade? Where do you think this path is gonna lead you?

Yana
Well, I’m definitely loving the whole inspiring girls to get into it. I’m very excited to finish my apprenticeship, just to cut down the days a bit. I do wanna work not five days a week. Yes, I’d love to just work a little bit less so that I can focus on my social media and showing girls to try it out to get into it. But I’m very excited to finish and finally have that under my belt. 

Andy
Yeah, well it’s a great thing to have to get that apprenticeship to be a tradie. And are you looking at doing those next two years to be more of an advance? 

Yana
Yeah, I think I am. I definitely have no idea what’s happening within the next six months. So I don’t know. I do wanna go traveling. I do wanna start a business. I wanna start a brand. I wanna do all these different things, so I really don’t know what the future holds for me. But I don’t wanna lose plumbing. I wanna keep that because I do think it’s very good for me and it keeps me busy, and I like that.

Ange
It’s like having plumbing as a base, right?

Yana
Yeah, exactly. 

Ange
It’s the train that will always be a part of you. 

Yana
Hundred percent. Anywhere I go. 

Ange
So Yana, if you could give one key piece of advice to someone just starting out, especially young women in trade, what would it be? 

Yana
Just back yourself and don’t wait for approval. Just learn everything you can and ask questions and just prove everyone wrong by being damn good at what you do.

Ange
I like that response. 

Andy
So Yana, we play a bit of a game where I’m gonna ask you a few questions. They’re gonna be rapid fire questions, and you have around about 10 or 20 seconds to answer them. Are you ready? 

Yana
I’m ready. 

Andy
The pressure’s on. The pressure’s on. 

Yana
I’m ready. 

Ange
Okay. First question, what is one strategy you use to start your day right? 

Yana
Personally, I have been going to the gym. I wake up at 5:00 AM and I’m going to the Chocolate Box just here in Narrabeen and I’m loving it. It’s so good. Good. 

Ange
Awesome.

Andy
That is so good.  

Ange
You join my 5:00 AM club. That’s where I love time to train. 

Yana
So good. Yeah, it just gets you up and away. 

Ange
A hundred percent changes your state. Sets you up for the day. 

Yana
Definitely. 

Andy
So what’s something that has made you smile recently? 

Yana
Just meeting you guys has followed me. I just love it and I love seeing you. Definitely when I was at that Corona event and that young boy came up to me and told me that he was the reason he decided to start plumbing. That really made my heart just melt like I love. I love hearing those stories and he’s not the first person that said that. I’ve had girls and guys coming up to me telling me this. Um, so it’s just really cool to see me changing people’s lives in a way. 

Andy
I absolutely love that. 

Ange
You are probably more of an influence than you realize. 

Yana
Just like, holy shit. Like I’m actually doing something. Like, it’s really overwhelming. 

Ange
It’s amazing changing life. 

Yana
Yeah. I love it. It’s so good. 

Ange
Alright, last question. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Yana
Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Just start. You’ll figure it out as you go. And literally just send it. Like, just send it, send it. Literally, like if it comes into your head, that’s something you wanna do. Why not just give it a fucking shot?

Ange
Hundred percent. Life’s too short, right?

Yana
Exactly.

Andy
There you go. Get out. Get out there and smash it.

Yana
Yep. That’s it.

Andy
Yana, you’ve been an absolute breath of fresh air. It’s so good to see you and be involved with us here in the studio and just be promoting to get more young women into the trade. I think every trade business owner out there will be looking and thinking, well, the apprentices coming through now are not at the level that they used to be, and we actually need more apprentices coming through. Because there’s still a hell of a lot of work to do out there. So I just wanna say a big thank you for joining us on The Tradie Show today and sharing all your wisdom and insights on your journey so far. We have definitely loved having you on the show. 

Yana
Oh, thank you guys. I’ve had so much fun today sharing my experience. And I hope you girls get into it. And if you wanna give it a shot, like I said, literally just send it. 

Ange
Continue being an inspiration to those that continue to follow you, and we wish you all the best of success for the future. 

Yana
Thank you. I’m so excited for what the future holds. 

Andy
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