Life Of A Female Tradie
Showcasing females in construction, from being on the tools to being in the corporate world. Female decorators, plasterers, plumbers, carpenters, brickies, electricians, kitchen fitters, builders, trade counter managers, CEOs and many roles in between, all filled by a female within the industry. Time to hear their story and have a good chat.
Life Of A Female Tradie
Transform your Health and your Home with Sharon Norton-Marshall - Decorator & Trade Health Coach
In this conversation, Sharon Norton-Marshall shares her journey from being a decorator for 25 years to becoming a health coach focused on improving the mental health and well-being of decorators and tradespeople. She discusses her personal struggles with mental health, the importance of active listening, and the need for mind expansion. Sharon emphasizes the significance of nutrition and supplements in maintaining health, particularly for women experiencing hormonal changes. The conversation also touches on the balance between her dual roles as a decorator and health coach, highlighting the importance of self-care and community support. In this engaging conversation, Laura and Sharon discuss the balance between indulgence and achieving health goals, the importance of nurturing clients through their journeys, and the significance of movement and recovery in maintaining physical health. They explore how spraying has revolutionized the decorating trade, allowing for better time management and improved mental health. Along with the evolution of community support among female decorators. Finally, they share quickfire questions that reveal personal preferences and insights into their experiences in the trade.
Key Takeaways
- Sharon has been a decorator for about 25 years.
- She transitioned to health coaching to help tradespeople improve their lives.
- Mental health is a significant issue in the trades community.
- Active listening is crucial for emotional support.
- Women face unique health challenges, especially during hormonal changes.
- Nutrition and supplements play a vital role in overall health.
- Sharon enjoys working with clients on weight loss and health improvements.
- It's essential to get regular health check-ups and blood tests.
- Health should be prioritized over appearance in the journey to wellness. It's all about balance when it comes to indulgence and health goals.
- Nurturing clients can involve psychological coaching.
- Sugar is highly addictive and can impact weight loss.
- Small changes can lead to significant health improvements.
- Spraying can enhance efficiency and mental well-being in decorating.
- Finding joy in work is crucial for mental health.
- Sharing experiences can help others in the industry.
- Time management is essential for decorators to maintain work-life balance.
- Community support among tradespeople is invaluable.
Follow me:
Instagram: @lifeofafemaletradie_
TikTok: @loaftpodcast
Follow Guest:
Instagram: @sharontradehealthcoach
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Decorating and Health Coaching
02:13 Mental Health Struggles in the Trade
05:22 The Importance of Normalizing Conversations
09:03 Active Listening and Emotional Awareness
11:47 Women’s Mental Health and Hormonal Changes
16:02 Health Coaching: Client Profiles and Approaches
24:41 The Role of Supplements in Health
36:24 Balancing Decorating and Health Coaching
40:33 Cravings and Comfort Foods
43:56 Injury Management and Strength Training
47:36 The Transformation of Mental Health through Spraying
52:38 Finding Balance in Work and Life
58:22 Community and Support in the Trade
01:04:02 Resilience and Learning from Setbacks
01:09:22 Future Aspirations and Trade Insights
Helpful Links if you need to support:
https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
Sharon Norton-Marshall (00:11)
Sharon from Obsessed Decorating I've actually been a decorator for about 25 years on and off.
it's been my fallback position. So I had a chop and change through estate agency and property and then also decorating and it was always there to save me. So essentially I'm a decorator. I've also now started a new brand, is Trade Health Coach, because I want to help decorators and tradespeople have better lives.
Laura (00:39)
Wow, what a combination. Where do we start? So let's start with your decorating. ⁓ How long have you been in that trade?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (00:39)
Ha ha ha
Quite a
long time, so initially I was going out on site with my dad. I've been really a decorator, I would say, from the age of about four years old. Just an illegal one. Yeah, so the first time I ever stepped out and did decorating, I guess, for myself was around about 25 years ago. Scary.
Laura (00:55)
⁓
Goodness me! Fantastic.
Okay.
And you've been self-employed ever since.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (01:15)
Yeah,
I actually, I went self-employed straight away. Like I literally just, I thought it was a really good idea. Just like, I really fancy painting and I can do a bit, you know, done a bit at home, done some for friends. And I just thought that's what I wanted to do. So I left my estate agency position that I was in at the time. And I had a little bit of an inheritance actually. So I had like, what's the equivalent of like two months salary, I suppose, maybe.
Laura (01:38)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (01:42)
And then I just thought, right, I'm just going to do it. I just phoned my friend and I said, shall I just try? And I initially wanted to do murals. I just thought it was going to be this amazing mural artist. And then more and more people asked me to do like, come to my kitchen, do you want to come and do my bathroom? And it's like, oh, all of a sudden I'm a painter, a decorator.
Laura (01:45)
that's a nice bumper.
you
Amazing. So what has led you into the health coach side of things? Tell us more about that.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (02:12)
Essentially my interest is mental health because I've had a lot of struggles with mental health myself. You know it has been actually quite horrendous at times.
There have been times when I've gone into work and not quite known how to actually operate. have been some times where I've had struggles. I was thinking back on it the other day, actually, there's struggles where I'd go to a friend's barbecue, say on a Saturday night, then were painting offices. This is a particular example. I was painting some offices over a weekend and I went to a friend's barbecue, just got absolutely hammered, turned up the next day and literally I was so hung over and the foreman of
that little group of people that I joined for that weekend to paint these offices in Totteridge. I don't know whether he was lying or if he was telling the truth, but he came and popped his head around the door at one point and went, don't think I didn't see you throwing up in that dustbin. Literally. And I was like, and I was just, you you just think back on it. There are times where you're beating yourself up and treating yourself badly, yo-yo sort of dieting, gaining weight and not
Laura (03:08)
⁓ no!
Sharon Norton-Marshall (03:19)
not just not looking after yourself. I didn't quite know, I'm always assessing like what's next for me, what's next for me with the decorating, what else can I learn, what can I do. At one point I was just like really like I really want to start really giving back to the community seriously.
Laura (03:33)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (03:35)
And just one day I was in a spa actually and I just sat in the sauna and was like, well, what do you want to do Sharon? And I was like, I want to help decorators because we're all pretty unhealthy. You know, we go for long periods of time without food. Yeah. We don't look after ourselves. It's like the worst trade I think for looking after ourselves, putting so much pressure on ourselves.
Laura (03:49)
I think we've all got our own sins. Yes, yes, definitely. Yeah, I think...
think it is, yeah. I mean, you hear constantly how people just work through the day and long hours, they don't get home till gone six o'clock and then they're working through their weekends as well. It's very tough. Yeah. ⁓
Sharon Norton-Marshall (04:04)
Hmm.
That's it. It is. So I really wanted to, I started to look about how
I was coping with stuff and I was getting better and better and better and I was getting answers to my struggles, you know, getting on top of the eating, getting on top of the energy, getting on top of the exercise and all of those things. And I started looking at myself and realizing how far I'd come with it all.
and looking around and thinking, why does this person look so unhealthy? And then I started to look at people and think, kind of know what's going on without, I can look at someone's body almost, or certainly look at their face even. And don't, don't get nervous by the way. I can't see you properly from it, but just kind of think.
Laura (04:49)
Wow. ⁓
Yeah, please don't look too close. ⁓
Sharon Norton-Marshall (04:52)
I just kind of think with just
some simple changes to diet or something like that or it could even be like sleep routine or something like that they could make a huge benefit to their lives. Also I suppose Laura it's kind of it's like we are now in a crisis aren't we? Mental health crisis where people are taking their own lives too often and I really I want to have I don't want me to make a big impact but I want there to be big change for this industry so I'm really passionate about that.
Laura (05:12)
yes.
Absolutely.
There has to be and I think the more that we talk about it and normalise certain feelings and emotions, then hopefully more people will feel okay about opening up to others. And it doesn't even necessarily have to be opening up to someone you know. Sometimes it's easier to talk to somebody you don't know because you don't have to worry about what
Sharon Norton-Marshall (05:44)
Mm.
Laura (05:51)
emotions it might bring up for them. Because sometimes you might be worried that a family member may absorb too much of your ⁓ energy. So I think the more we normalise just talking about things, the easier others should feel about talking about their feelings.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (06:12)
100
% I really, love the way that you are talking about emotions and feelings. It's like inside, I'm obviously quite still, but inside I'm going, yes! Because...
Laura (06:23)
Hahaha
Sharon Norton-Marshall (06:23)
We all know it's
difficult to talk about our feelings, especially with men. It's not an easy task to ask your man or a man or any of us really to, I've always been very stoic about my feelings. I was brought up in a way that you don't talk about your feelings and you don't talk about your emotions.
And yet I had a very emotional mother, actually. She wasn't able to control her emotions in a way that was acceptable sometimes. So when she would get angry, she'd throw pots and pans and I even dodged a carving knife at one point. It just launched at my dad. know, so yes, the more we can control our emotions and we learn to build that resilience. It's not about
Laura (06:44)
Okay.
wow.
goodness me.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (07:09)
having control so that we don't have emotion, it's about able to express them. You know, certainly before they escalate into anger and something very reactive and harmful. And I think ⁓ what my focus is around now is trying to bring awareness more so to active listening, because I think there are more facilities for talking around at the moment, but we're not
Laura (07:16)
No.
Absolutely.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (07:38)
able to communicate which is through listening. I think that's really important.
Laura (07:39)
Yeah.
I totally agree. think the act of just sitting and allowing somebody that space to express their thoughts, literally any thought that's in their mind is something that a lot of us could do with learning, learning to listen, especially when it comes to our male counterparts. As you've said,
Sharon Norton-Marshall (08:04)
⁓ love it.
Laura (08:11)
males in the trades, their mental health is quite widely spoken about, which is fantastic. And I think as long as we are learning the skills to also listen, then it should hopefully work hand in hand and allow people that safe space.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (08:33)
Yeah,
yeah and in safe space as you so rightly say is actually I think practiced or learned.
Laura (08:42)
⁓ Definitely.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (08:42)
talking is something we've now just started to
accept. But when did we ever start talking about listening? Like nobody's really saying about listening.
my new branding that I've got coming out for the trade health coaches built off quite a history of my own struggles where I knew something was going to be going on with me. I knew when things would start going wrong because I would start craving to watch Frasier, which is probably before your time. I don't know if you've ever heard. Have you heard about the American sitcom Frasier? And I'd want to go to the shops and go and get chocolate eclairs. I just want to go and sit. Yeah.
Laura (09:05)
OK.
really? Okay.
Yes, yes, I used to watch it.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (09:22)
And the first thing he would say when he's like, you know, we're online too. And it's like, this is Dr. Frasier Crean. I'm listening. You know? And I'm like, so that's what I'm going to put on my brand. Like I'm listening because it's like, you want to, I want to create those two spaces. I can only serve so many, but I'm trained in communication, which is hopefully if I can pass enough through to people and hopefully teach those techniques,
Laura (09:33)
There you go.
Wow.
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (09:50)
I'll know that some you can send some send somebody away with even just a few skills to be able to have those conversations. But I think it's going to take a lot of time.
Laura (10:02)
Well, the best things do take a lot of time, don't they?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (10:05)
there's steps to do. think the thing is, is there's so many little steps I take during the day is sometimes I think about like, how can I really help somebody like, because we have our own days of struggle. So sometimes you feel like a little bit of an imposter because you're thinking, well, I'm really struggling today. But then my brain says to me,
Laura (10:05)
great.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (10:22)
Yeah, but look at what you're doing. What are those little things that you're doing? You're consciously making this decision. My routine is very set within a certain amount of things per day. And I know that if I stick to the routine that I have built over the course of a couple of years, then it serves your mind. I don't like to call it a mindset anymore. I like to call it mind expansion.
Laura (10:32)
Okay.
No? Okay.
No, I like that. That's good. Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (10:52)
because if our minds
set we'll never change it's like well we've always got to be stuck in that rut of set when actually if we could be more expansive with our minds it's gonna make a lot of improvement
Laura (11:02)
That makes so much sense, absolutely. Yeah. I think, ⁓ did you? Shh, don't tell anybody. ⁓ Brilliant.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (11:06)
I didn't, I nicked it from someone else actually. I could give him a plug. Yeah. He's got a very successful
business himself. ⁓
Laura (11:19)
there we go then, that's all right, he
won't mind. I also wanted to just say that obviously with the podcast being Life of a Female Tradie, we touched on men's mental health being quite prevalent at the moment, but obviously females, we can struggle quite immensely with our mental health on a totally different level, I feel.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (11:36)
Mm.
Yeah.
Laura (11:46)
Especially moving into later life with the imbalance of hormones and menopause and perimenopause, honestly. think allowing space for women to speak openly as well is extremely important when there's such fluctuations and dips of feelings and when you're not
Sharon Norton-Marshall (11:46)
Yeah.
Tell me about it.
Yeah.
Laura (12:11)
truly understanding why. Like sometimes on a day I have to step back and say to myself, why did you just react like that? Like there's not actually a reason to feel so strongly about that. Just let it go and carry on with the day. Don't let it ruin your mood. And I think sometimes...
The evaluation of your feelings and emotions can be blown up so much that you then beat yourself down. I don't know how you kind of feel about that sort of thing.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (12:42)
Yeah, yeah for sure.
Really strongly. my god, I could actually have you on here for about 12 hours to be honest, because it's literally been like this for like years for me. And I used to be the most probably the most reactive person. So as people see me now, you would never guess that I've been thrown out of two schools, you know, detentions, court smoking, all those sorts of things, you know, think I've done all those kind of teenage things, you know, got drunk, been grounded by my parents thrown up
Laura (12:56)
Okay.
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (13:18)
on a Churchill carpet you know dragged home by my dad and grounded you know people don't people look at me now and even my best friend will say to me my god Shaz it just sounds really weird when you swear
Laura (13:20)
Yep.
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (13:31)
I think the thing is, similarly to
mental health, that nobody knows what's going on. We must always understand that nobody knows what's going on. And in somebody's history, you know, I've been arrested three times. I've been through court battles with my ex-husband, married to police officer. So, you know, it was nasty. It was extremely hard, but I don't know why, but I get stronger when other people seem to struggle.
Laura (13:42)
Yeah.
wow. Wow.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (13:58)
So I've always managed to focus on someone else when I feel shit, basically. So thankfully I've had my son and he was just, you know, he was my reason for living a lot of the time. So I would be able to focus on him and just get through stuff. But you know, you're so right that the control of hormone, we haven't just got the kind of the control of our, our actual sort of physical control of our emotions and reactions. We've also got the hormonal.
Laura (13:58)
Okay.
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (14:28)
like you say, imbalances. And so I did my college course for a year, you know, took myself up to London every other week and did a full college course with the College of Naturopathic Medicine. The things I learned, even though I still sit in the back row like a naughty school kid, but the things I learned in that course room, I was like, why is this not wider knowledge? Like the most ridiculous things
Laura (14:30)
Yes.
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (14:52)
The most fascinating thing I learned, which I wish I knew when I had deep bouts of very, very bad depression, you you can call it chronic because it was continuous, it was every day and I felt like I was hauling myself up Mount Everest in high heels.
to get out the door, take the sun to school, get on site, you know, you, is that in order to get energy, you have to move. Now that can be different things for different people going for a walk in nature, could go to yoga class, go out running.
Laura (15:07)
wow.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (15:23)
going to join a gym. never did any of that. I was a dancer in my early life and even if I'd have just danced around the kitchen, I would have been able to have created different physical state for myself that would have made me feel better. But I just wanted to sit on the sofa and eat chocolate eclairs and watch Frasier, which is the worst thing I could have done. So yeah, I think really it's about knowledge.
Laura (15:37)
Yeah.
It's very hard to dig yourself
out of that, isn't it?
Yeah, absolutely.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (15:47)
Yeah, for sure.
So I don't know, I would say that's the essence of why I wanted to.
Laura (15:50)
I think I'm.
So as a health coach, who are your typical clients?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (15:55)
Yeah.
Oh yeah that varies. What I love most, I actually really dig the weight loss thing. I love it when people have got some weight loss because we can get big wins on that very quickly. So even if somebody came to me and said oh my god I absolutely have to lose I work in kilos. If they were saying you know I really want to bring my weight down by 10 or 20 kilos I'd love to get my teeth into that. Just some very simple
Laura (16:14)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (16:27)
Inputs with as a health coach. We're trained to make sure we put things in rather than take away You know, I've got a client at the moment who says I absolutely love my glass of rosé every evening It's how I relax and I'm like, it's okay. Let's leave it in there Just don't expect to walk around looking like really twig like you know, you know But she's a lot she lost very quickly within the time span that we were working together
Laura (16:39)
You
Hahaha
Sharon Norton-Marshall (16:53)
and she was able to retain that. So I would say that I don't have a typical age group. It would be somebody who I think essentially what I really love is the improvements we can make to say if people are overweight, I really love that. Or if there's a particular problem like somebody might be saying, I've got really bad knees, I've got really bad hips, I've got really bad back.
Laura (17:00)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (17:15)
We can rule out what's going on, obviously, if I'm recommending that they'll go to a chiropractor or an osteopath or something like that. But what we do is actually the concentrated first part of it is we're to do like a two hour consultation where we go through everything. We're looking at a holistic approach. you look at what your routine is like, what your sleep is like, you know, what are your systems working like? What's your thought process? You know?
Laura (17:15)
Mm.
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (17:42)
What are you eating?
And even just a small couple of shifts can make a massive difference, which is, it's just so thrilling. So there's no restriction on age. ⁓ the thing that has to come through more so than anything else is the willingness to, to come on board with it. Because if they're, if people, I'm an accountability partner for change. we facilitate change and we can create guides, but we can't do the work. That's the thing.
Laura (17:53)
Okay.
Okay.
That's it. Yeah. You've got to stick with it.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (18:14)
someone's gonna want to have to change it so you really want to help create that vision with that person yeah
Laura (18:21)
Definitely.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (18:21)
Yeah, so men
and women love working with both. I'm fascinated at the moment by the sex differences. What we can do, there's somebody that I follow and I'm devoutly concentrating and actually absorbing her work. And she works with people who are athletes and she looks at the differences. So what works for men may not work for women, particularly when we get into our menopause and perimenopause.
Laura (18:31)
Yes.
Okay.
Definitely. think I've ⁓ caught a particular, we may be speaking about the same woman actually. I've caught a particular woman on a couple of other podcasts who has quite recently spoken about how creatine is extremely important for brain function, especially for women. Yet in previous like,
Sharon Norton-Marshall (19:11)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Laura (19:16)
years gone by, it was thought of as mainly a supplement for men who want to bulk up and build muscle. And the research that's coming out now is showing how important it is in cognitive function for women, which
Sharon Norton-Marshall (19:25)
That's it.
Yeah
it sure is. Dr Stacey Sims. Yeah so Dr Stacey Sims is she recently did her I was Hallelujah because she did a podcast with Mel Robbins. So this is a really really good one to catch that for some basics and I would stress that it is really aimed for people who are in the menopause and perimenopause.
Laura (19:39)
Yes.
Yes.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (19:59)
So because the things, you I can look around the gym and I think it's easy sometimes to be in the gym and kind of go, why is that person doing that? Why is that? she should be doing it like this or.
But we then have to remember that the body responds in a different way when you're younger. So if there's a girl there with her little stretch bands around her knees and she's doing a little, you know, exercise like that, it's like, yeah, knock yourself out. You're going to get good results. Whereas it's much, much harder. We have to do a lot more like HIT type workout, like a high energy intensity stuff. When we get older to shift any belly fat. And just a few, a few months ago,
Laura (20:35)
Okay,
Sharon Norton-Marshall (20:37)
I went to my doctor and they did the two blood tests on me and they said that I was pre-diabetic. And I'm like, seriously? ⁓ She ran through everything with me and she was like...
Laura (20:47)
Really? Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (20:55)
Seriously, like she's like, what do you have to breakfast? What do you have this? And I was like, I said, yeah, and that's, don't forget my snacks. I said, you've asked me what's for breakfast and for lunch and for dinner, but you haven't asked me what my snacks are. And she was like, you snack as well? I was like, hell yes. And so she's like, you are the most healthy trades person I've ever had in my, in my clinic. I was like, yes, ma'am. Yeah. But she's like, this is mad. So we had to do the blood tests again, because you had to just make sure that it was the right result.
Laura (21:13)
Hahaha!
Brilliant
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (21:25)
Yeah,
so even somebody who's slim like myself, you you could have something going on in there that needs, needs work, needs some attention somewhere along the line, because we've got visceral fact that people can't see.
Laura (21:30)
Yeah.
I think when you probably get, say, into your 30s onwards, maybe having these sort of MOT type blood tests is a good thing to ask of your doctor to see if there is anything. Obviously, if you've got any sort of changes in your typical day-to-day health, then definitely go and see your doctor. But I think it's easy to not know.
or to not understand that blood tests can show so many deficiencies, which could then be the point of a certain ache or pain somewhere in the body.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (22:08)
Yeah, they can.
Yeah, yeah and I think you're so right Laura because and if there's one thing I would really urge and I'm sure as a woman you'll be on board with this, one of my clients that offered to be a guinea pig for me for my exam.
I sat in a park with her kids running around and I took the full questionnaire and we got to point on the questionnaire where I said, now do you have any concerns about your health? Is there anything that you've noticed? Any changes in your body that you'd like me to be aware of before? Because it all leads to giving you a program. At the end of it, you'll get my recommendations. And she said, well, actually, I've got a lump.
Laura (22:56)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (22:58)
And I said, okay, where's the lump? You know, are you happy to tell me where that is? And she said, it's on my breast. I said, okay, how long have you had it? She said, a fair while actually, she asked because she was a friend of mine. I said, okay, well, maybe just get it checked out by your doctor and then we can see where we're going with that.
Laura (22:58)
Really?
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (23:16)
So it's important not to cause alarm at this stage or anything like that if there's something that's obviously we are not doctors but sadly she's no longer with us. So between that time that she was my guinea pig, that was in the July, this time last year yeah she was in a hospice and she died the following July. So yeah so crazy so ladies get checked.
Laura (23:20)
Hmm.
⁓ I'm so sorry.
Hmm.
Yep,
definitely do it.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (23:45)
If it doesn't
matter if it's not anything, like literally just get those appointments and get checked because the sooner we catch stuff, the better off we're going to be. we can, we just, I there's a thing with being tradies as well. We're always guilty about being off site. Oh, we've got to get this done. We've got to get that done. Haven't we all, know, if you're a plastery, all that, I want you to get that bin. It's going to go off like I need to finish this room, but there's no.
Laura (23:56)
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (24:13)
you know, a bedroom is not going to get finished painting, a plaster is not going to get finished, know, a wall is not going to get built if we don't go and do our checks. So that's what comes first. I think it's probably really important that we mention that as well. So, yeah.
Laura (24:23)
There you go.
Absolutely.
Health first, 100 % because if you're not healthy, who else is going to fill your boots on that site, on that job?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (24:31)
Yeah.
Exactly. 100%. Yeah. Good platform to let people know that sort of thing, Laura.
Laura (24:39)
So if there was...
Absolutely, thank you. So if there was, well let me phrase this a different way. Do you include supplements in your diet?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (24:50)
Yes, I do. I'm a big proponent of supplements actually, but what I like to do is to make sure that like what are we working with to start off with. So if we can get a blood test done as the first port of call, I really love that. So I might say to somebody, because we have
We have a bit of a set up in the UK, is, you have to be on your knees before you get a blood test. You know, it's very difficult, I think. So I think you have to go to your doctor and say, I'm really feeling like low energy or something like that. I want to find out what's going on. Can I have a blood test?
We're not the states, can't just, you just don't go and pay for your blood tests unless you have the money to get what's going on inside. So you're right when you said earlier on, can show so much. So ideally I'd like to see what, whether people can get a blood test. Let's get those results. And if we've got those, then that's really, really cool.
Laura (25:32)
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (25:46)
But then we can just sort of see how someone is feeling and actually it's just such a lovely process because you start asking these basic questions and it's all separated by my questionnaire is separated from the college so it's quite a professional one. So you might say have you got any headaches? you got this? Have you got that? And then they go no, I'm absolutely fine. No, yeah periods are all fine. Yeah, no I don't get that. No I don't get that. And all of a sudden
Laura (26:05)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (26:16)
they relax with me they'll go do you know what happens right I have sometimes got this and it's like tell me more
Laura (26:22)
Yes. ⁓
Sharon Norton-Marshall (26:25)
And so you can quite quickly get all of this lovely information about who they're all. Everyone's so special. love it. And it, might say to them, okay, well, this sounds a little bit to me like this might work. So let's try. And usually it's electrolytes. So somebody says to me, I'm, you know, I'm like really thirsty. I've got this. I don't, don't sleep too good. Uh, I've got low energy, pretty low mood.
Laura (26:45)
Is it?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (26:55)
say to somebody, what we're going to do is we're just start with the basics first and then just see how you go because obviously I'll be then catching up with them as we go along the program and what I'll put in first is electrolytes which is potassium, magnesium and salts and people can feel absolutely amazing even with the introduction of electrolytes in their daily program. It makes a massive difference.
Laura (27:09)
Okay.
Yeah.
I've read recently that magnesium is quite an important part of our, should we call it baseline health, so to speak, especially for energy levels. And I personally have started introducing it to my everyday
Sharon Norton-Marshall (27:24)
So yes, I will.
Yeah.
Laura (27:47)
supplementation and I can say it definitely perks me up in the morning and allows me to kind of just fire through the day. So I think that's definitely a good one.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (27:58)
Nice. ⁓
on the subject of, I won't go into it too much now because there is an element of possible confusion, but just for your guests and for us all to be aware of, there are three stroke four types of magnesium.
and they all do different jobs. when someone says to me, yeah, I take my magnesium, I'll ask them which one. So we had this on one of the forums the other day and the guy said, yeah, I'm taking magnesium. It is actually working for him. So whatever he's doing is either a placebo effect or it is actually genuinely working for him. So I'm not going to question that because I think that's the important you can tend to be, I don't want to be a bore with health stuff like, which one are you having? Is that threonate or is that something else? Just like, so
Laura (28:42)
Hahaha
Sharon Norton-Marshall (28:43)
But
I would say to somebody, dependent on what their symptoms are, what times of the day they're feeling low energy and whether they're getting the right sleep or whatever, will be what kind of magnesium I would recommend. And then I'll send them links to the places that I recommend to buy from as well because I think it's really important to get quite pure supplements. ⁓
just as you're asking about supplements, would not buy any supermarket ones. So what we're looking for is we want to have very pure ones. There's also quite a lot of for women on the shelves and also if you'll go so I noticed the other week that L McPherson is really behind a supplementation drink as well. I'd look very carefully into what's in those. because a lot of
Laura (29:14)
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yes.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (29:38)
time your body will only absorb and use what your body needs and it'll just piss the rest out.
So basically is a case of like, well, if you're on, if I'm spending 12 pound nine to nine every 30 days on, and more by the way, obviously, as you know, they're very expensive. It's like, how much of this is my body actually needing? So this is why it was actually quite good to speak to somebody who is a health coach for you or a dietician. That's personal to your body because you could be getting the right amount of supplementation naturally through something else. So it would have to be personal to you.
Laura (29:53)
Yes. Yeah.
True. Yeah.
No, that's good to say really because you, especially at the beginning of a year or coming up to the summer, you see in the supermarkets and the shops this big push of ⁓ protein powders and ⁓ BCAAs and things like that. And it's like, but what's actually in these things? I know it's like marketing for kids almost, isn't it? Some of them with the bright colours and the big fonts and stuff, but
Sharon Norton-Marshall (30:27)
Yeah.
yeah.
Yes.
Laura (30:42)
Yeah, definitely, like you say, check the ingredients in things because there's gonna be all sorts of bulk agents in things, isn't there, if it's not.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (30:43)
Yeah. ⁓
Yes.
Yeah,
they could potentially be a low value of the actual vitamin you're wanting, but also your body might not need it. So if you're, if you're the sort of person who's having a really fantastic diet, eating loads and loads of vegetables, you've got really good protein sources through your day, you know, and you've got a really nice balanced menu throughout the week. 'A' I'm probably not going to see you as a health coach because you won't be asking for any help. But
Laura (31:01)
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (31:22)
you don't need any supplements necessarily. It would depend. It really would depend because like you were saying about creatine, I would always recommend now that particularly people in perimenopause or if you're training to have it as well, definitely for muscle rebuilding and repair.
Laura (31:27)
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (31:41)
definitely for cognitive function and it has been noted to have some other health benefits as well. So yeah, but ⁓ it just reminds me when we're talking about supplements that are really fantastic guy who did my fitness stuff at the college. is, he's one of the CEOs of really amazing vitamin supplement package.
Laura (31:47)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (32:05)
I'm not going to say who it is, doesn't matter, but I was, I was caning the AG1 at the time and he's sort of strutting his stuff across the classroom like, and I'm going, yeah, but what about AG1? I had it on my desk. He's like,
Laura (32:05)
Okay.
Wee-ee.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (32:20)
That's all right. And I was thinking, what is this guy marketing? Like what have they created that makes his product better than AG1 then? You know, and it, yeah, so I was well impressed. So we did actually trial that out as well. My son did get some huge benefits from what he was doing. So, but I haven't tried it myself. It's actually quite expensive.
Laura (32:22)
You
Wow.
Mmm.
Okay, you'll have to let me know afterwards what that is.
⁓ gosh. Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (32:45)
Yes, I can. Yeah. Yes. He's
a great guy. And actually, even now I drop a message to me. In fact, this is actually available to anybody that he is doing. He does the body composition tests. He'll do a full blood count. And he will just literally test everything. So he does that a clinic down in Chelsea. So it is hugely expensive, but it's well bloody worth it. Because what Josh wanted to find out is, can I get more muscle mass?
Laura (33:05)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (33:13)
because he's concerned, I know we're talking about men's health there for a second, but He wanted to find out what his body capabilities were. ⁓ this biometric test was able to tell him that his body will be able to bulk up if he does do certain things. Because sometimes our body will either reach the right amount of bulking up or can I actually get
Laura (33:21)
Okay.
wow.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (33:38)
to my because some clients might say to me, ⁓ I want to be 60 kilos. And they might be quite a lot heavier. And it'd be like, okay, what is that realistic? So we're always looking to see what's realistic for somebody.
Laura (33:48)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (33:52)
Cause really what you want to try and do is get the right balance between like you want a healthy person is your weight loss achievable for your body frame, for your, all of that. It's got to be, I think people sort of concentrate on health. I think we are getting better at this, but some people just want to be thin and worry about their weight loss. Whereas really I think what I'd like to promote is health. Really you want to be healthy.
Laura (33:58)
Yes.
I know, yeah. Yeah.
Definitely, and there's so much involved in that. Like you said, you've mentioned sleep patterns, and I'm sure all the tradies out there are, well, deficient in sleep at some point throughout the year. I know, honestly, And I'm sure we can all, absolutely, and I'm sure we can all work.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (34:28)
Run Ragged! Yeah, tough, isn't it?
Laura (34:40)
sufficiently off different amounts of sleep as well, but it's finding that balance, isn't it, of rest and work because obviously our bodies repair whilst we're sleeping.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (34:51)
That's it, I'm so glad you said that because a lot of people don't realise that.
That everything that all the systems go into overdrive when we're asleep so that rest and repair is Doubly important. So I do actually take my creatine towards the evening It doesn't really matter when you take it, but I do take it towards the evening Because I think it's just psychological for me. I'm like, you know, this is my also I do have pre Sleep snack as well, but if I can't get that in at the right time What I'll do is I'll put my creatine into milk because it's really great
Laura (35:06)
Do you?
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (35:25)
do you like do you have it and it's really it's like chalk you I'd have to so just on the subject of creatine guys if you could have the make sure it says CREA Pure so if it's then you can be sure it's a pure creatine product so it does actually say all the ones that you want will actually on it somewhere say with a trademark CREA Pure
Laura (35:25)
⁓ I have the gummies to be honest.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (35:48)
So that will make sure that you're actually getting a true creatine product. So I have that sometimes in milk, which is disgusting. hate it. Yeah. A health coach just says she hates taking creatine. Nice. I don't think Dr. Stacey Simms says that.
Laura (35:49)
⁓
⁓ no. The things we do to stay healthy, honestly.
⁓
So how do you find combining the two things as in you're being a health coach and you're decorating, how do you balance the two?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (36:24)
It is quite hard. ⁓ I think the difficulty for me is I've kind of got two social media sites running. So you kind of see this anybody, I'm sure people aren't necessarily following me, but I noticed myself that I'm like, shit, I haven't posted on my decorating page for about two weeks. I haven't done this for about two weeks. no, damn. I tend to do is I've got
Laura (36:26)
Mm.
Yep, yep.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (36:50)
Um, Wednesday nights, usually, and Friday nights, cause I'm a sad person. don't go out on a Friday night. I'm too old now. Um, that I do my consults just at home with my cat most of the time. Um, so I do Wednesday nights and Friday nights, I'll kind of consultations and I tend to find that that that's quite good passion. Cause I don't take on too many clients ever at one stage. I'm not doing group coaching at the moment. So I'm just doing one to ones.
Laura (36:55)
Neither do I. Don't worry about it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (37:18)
and I
like that because I can give them focus because what I like to do is I like to be in touch with people all the time I don't just do ⁓ well let's have our weekly catch up on such and such you know we'll have a weekly catch up on a such and such day but during the day at lunchtime I might say hey have you tried this or let me share this with you I've seen this this is really cool
Laura (37:23)
Yeah.
⁓
Sharon Norton-Marshall (37:36)
night with your recipe or I might see something and just say hey how do you fancy trying this or this is really cool or they might see something on my social media because I literally do my whatsapp is open for people to just contact me because some people need a lot of hand holding it's like they'll send me a photograph like is this all right can I eat this like yes or maybe just go a little bit easier that like because I don't want everyone to say no to people but it's just like
Laura (37:55)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (38:02)
I'm like anyone else. love an almond croissant. You know, I love, I love cake and stuff like that. So I'm never going to say to people, you're not having it, but you just got to, it's just like you said earlier, it's about balance. So yeah, but if people have got some real goals,
Laura (38:15)
Yeah, because
Sharon Norton-Marshall (38:18)
I think that we're either doing this or we're not, particularly with me, I just love a weight loss goal. So if somebody says, I really want to reach this target, I like to kind of go quite heavy and committed at the beginning. So you kind of, hit it quite hard.
Laura (38:24)
Okay.
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (38:37)
within
their scope. So if a client says to me, like I really want to go for it. I'll be like, yeah, let's do this. Whereas some people might say, I don't know, like I really, really want to do it, but I'm really not sure. Like, is it going to work or
Yeah, so some people need more hand holding than others. So yeah, I love, I love taking those people and just, you're nurturing them then. So you, you become more of a psychological coach, which is nice because I've been studying the mind for like 10 years. So I love to take those people and just like you can do big things with really small actions like
Laura (38:55)
The doubt.
Mmm.
There you go.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (39:19)
The easiest one for me is like if I notice somebody's taking like a lot of say sugar energy drinks or something like that. ⁓ That can be something that can be not easily curved because it's an addiction at the end of the day sugar is the most addictive thing on the planet. But they can make a massive difference to your weight like if you've got weight loss and it can make a massive difference to your health if you just eliminate a few of them a week.
Laura (39:36)
Ye- yes.
Yeah. ⁓
Definitely.
I think about how long ago now? Three or four months ago now, you would find me eating at lunchtime probably about five packets of crisps because I didn't eat very well during the day. So I would just eat snacks constantly. Crisps were always my downfall. And I thought to myself, I need to find something different. So...
Sharon Norton-Marshall (40:01)
Mmm.
Yeah.
I love crisps.
Laura (40:15)
I, instead of cutting them out completely, because doing that for me just makes me want them more. I, yeah, yeah. I cut it down to a pack a day.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (40:21)
me too the only thing i don't
Laura (40:26)
⁓ the...
Sharon Norton-Marshall (40:26)
And you can never have
more than you can don't you find you can never have just one packet like they always taste better when you have like two I Was online with my own coach yesterday and I said to my coach I said have you ever had those proper chips those barbecue proper chips from Tesco's Laura have you tried those? Proper ⁓ no that Then they're actually a little like triangle shape
Laura (40:31)
⁓ absolutely, definitely, definitely.
⁓ yes, I have like the disks.
What are those ones? Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (40:53)
I looked up to someone's cat once
and they left me these packet of crisps they left me a packet of crisps in a bottle of wine I said well thank you for the wine but I don't drink but I will take the crisps and my god me and my son just like I can't get around Tesco's now without going and buying a couple of packets of those and I have to buy two big bags because I need to eat it on the way home from the Tesco's and I'm like ⁓ damn
Laura (41:11)
That's brilliant.
my gosh.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (41:18)
That's my dad. It's usually when I come out of the gym. I am like really want something really savory when I come out the gym. I think it's the salts thing. Salty crisps. Yeah, it's really weird that.
Laura (41:21)
Is it? Okay. Yeah. See, I always used to crave
a glass of red wine after the gym, but I don't drink now either, so yeah. Yeah. ⁓
Sharon Norton-Marshall (41:35)
Did you?
Sweet
and you train don't you? You do train as well don't you?
Laura (41:41)
I don't actually.
No, I don't. ⁓ I used to play-
Sharon Norton-Marshall (41:44)
You just keep a good physique,
I can tell you've got good shoulders.
Laura (41:48)
That's from just carrying lots of heavy tool bags, I think, yeah. And the 10 litre tins of paint, that does me. ⁓ But yeah, I want to start training ⁓ in some fashion, but I've had a few injuries over the last year or two, knees, lower back. So it's just evening out that.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (41:53)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nice.
Yeah.
Laura (42:17)
those sore spots ready for me to feel ready to start lifting weights and stuff again, I think. So I'm getting there, nearly there. So yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (42:22)
Hmm. Yeah. That's cool.
Yes. I think it's really important to work to, to nurture your injuries and to look after that. You know, I've been going to a chiropractor myself for a couple of weeks now and I though I'm my own worst enemy. Like today I wanted to go and train legs again. My son's really knowledgeable on strength and conditioning. He's partly trained.
Laura (42:47)
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (42:49)
So, and I said to him, I'm really worried about my back. think it's like niggling me a little bit. I don't want to fuck it up basically, which is what I tend to do. I go in the gym, hoof the weights on. And I was really proud of myself for getting up to this like nice weight on the leg press machine. But then I spent the last, the next four to five weeks out of action completely. So I really lost momentum. So I know what you mean. You've got really nurture your injuries, but then I would say,
Laura (42:50)
brilliant.
Yeah.
⁓
⁓ no.
Mm-hmm.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (43:19)
because it's a very commonplace complaint isn't it with our knees and our backs so but we need to try and still keep moving yeah i think a lot the thing is as you as the obvious difference is that we've got boobs so you know we always you tend to get that like curvature of the spine at the base of the like just above your bum so your your boobs stick out your back arches and the bum goes out so you've got a weakness point at that part of the back
Laura (43:22)
⁓ yes, especially lower backs, I think, for women.
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (43:46)
around the top of the pelvis there so that can you so we could benefit from some strength and conditioning around those regions to help with strengthening. So I would always be a massive proponent of people continuing to do strength training even when they are recovering, but it would be working around the injuries is really important. So when I used to manage a gym years ago, a lovely story of a lady came in and she said that she had arthritis in her neck and in her back.
Laura (43:46)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (44:14)
So we
put her on a program and within 12 weeks she had no arthritis in her
you're exercising around your joints, it's not just what we're doing, we're not just building muscular strength. You're looking at the joint and the way the joints and the compounds are made up is that things start rebuilding and rejuvenating. So what you're doing is you're building bone density. So it actually keeps it all moving in momentum, which is better, or much better with movement. So even if you're going to do something like light stretch,
yoga or something like that or swimming is a really good idea. So something gentle even going walking on the treadmill if you're you know if you're on site all day it's nice to just have a bit of a change of movement isn't it.
Laura (44:55)
Yeah.
definitely. Yeah. mean, sometimes you can come back from a day's work, but you you feel absolutely knackered. But you've been doing skirting boards or woodwork up the stairs. So you've literally literally been sat down all day, but working, but also up, down, up, down, up, down off your knees. And you feel knackered, but you feel also like you've not really moved much. So it's like, what? Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (45:22)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do
you know what I call that? Because sometimes I come home and I'm like, I am absolutely knackered. And then you get up the next morning, don't you? like, Jesus, what have I done? But the way I look at it is you're doing an eight hour yoga class.
Laura (45:33)
Wuh.
Wow, yeah. That's a good point.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (45:46)
isn't it?
So this is why I learned to spray because my average woodwork day, even if I'm doing say a three-story townhouse, is a day. So I'll be like, I'll go and maybe put the primer on one day and then I'll go home and then and it'll take me
Laura (46:04)
Yeah. Okay.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (46:08)
At the most it's probably going to take me 15 minutes once I've organised which way I'm going to be coming downstairs putting the primer on. So then I'll literally go home. I won't touch it. And then the next day I'll come in and put the two top coats on. that, you know, I'm literally and then I'll go to the gym. So then because this is there are so many I'm not not necessarily going to be on here and just, you know.
Laura (46:19)
Okay.
And that's spraying it, is it?
Wow.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (46:33)
I'm a spray ambassador at the end of the day, I love it. that, but the biggest difference to my mental health and my physical health was spraying.
Laura (46:37)
Okay.
Wow, that's good to know. It's not something I've tried yet. Not ruling it out. It's obviously quite ⁓ an expense, isn't it, for the equipment, I imagine. And the training, of course, because you need to know how to use it safely. ⁓ So it's good to know that it's a positive for your health, though. That's something I've not heard before, so.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (46:48)
Yeah.
It is, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah,
I was really lucky last year I did a talk at the Trade Decorator show and
That was one of the points I really wanted to make is spraying has improved my mental health. So going back around about, it would be about five years ago, it was actually during COVID. I had a course booked and I was going on to a spray course and I, it was a bit of like stop, start, stop, start, because it was canceled, then it was back on, canceled, then it was back on and I finally got to do my spray course.
I was like my god this is a whole change of life and I'd wanted to learn to spray for many years actually but my local paint shop put me off it was kind of like ⁓ all that masking though why would you want to do that for a tiny bit of spraying like now by the time you've masked it all up I could have painted it and I'm like yeah I suppose you're right yeah
Laura (47:45)
⁓
Hmm. Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (47:59)
But
then I was so glad that one day I was like so done with decorating. I was like, so done. And I was listening to a book. It was Eckhart Tolle.
So he, he had brought out this, ⁓ this series of episodes with Oprah Winfrey and he was talking about a new earth and they were talking about the fact that, cause you know how we get really unhappy, don't we? Like we're unhappy. We're in our heads. We're on site. We're overthinking everything depressed, lonely. I'm not painting a very good picture of decorating. ⁓
Laura (48:26)
Yeah.
Yes.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (48:36)
I
just, I was just beside myself. I was decorating this little hallway and I just thought, I can't do this anymore. I just can't do this anymore. But then I heard, it's almost like I heard this voice because I was listening to this podcast and it said, yeah, but what if you, are you really at the top of your game yet? Are you really like, is there something else you could learn?
because I'd gone and done some wallpapering as well for some other decorators who didn't like wallpapering, so they got me in to do it. And I overheard this decorator talking to the client and she said, it's a shame that this lad couldn't come and do it. And he was like, yeah, he just doesn't like wallpapering, but he's at the top of his game. And I was thinking.
Laura (49:01)
Okay.
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (49:20)
Sharon are you at the top of your game? I was thinking well actually no you're not really are you? Like what else is there you could be doing? Like is there anything you wanted to do that you haven't done yet? Yes I want to learn to spray. So I went to learn to spray and the difference that made to my mental health because it's really fun when it goes right it's fun.
Laura (49:26)
Okay.
There you go.
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (49:43)
but also
because it just gave me so much time Laura, I literally I'd put one time I've got a picture of me on my social media of my feet up in a garden like I was sitting sunbathing in the garden waiting for one of the top coats to dry just sunbathing a lot of decorators might say oh yeah but I could hand paint it in the same amount of time
Laura (49:59)
There you go. Wow.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (50:10)
I'd be like, well, yeah, but did you get to sunbathe in the garden for an hour?
Laura (50:14)
This is it,
it's weighing up what's important, isn't it? How much do you value your time is a key question I think people need to think about. Because if you're working eight till seven or eight till eight, these long, long days, when you could do something to cut that down and use your time for something that...
Sharon Norton-Marshall (50:24)
Mmm. Yeah.
Hmm.
Laura (50:40)
that feeds your soul so to speak, whether it be sat out in the garden absorbing the sunshine or with your kids, if you've got kids or your dogs or you know, it's...
Sharon Norton-Marshall (50:44)
Yeah.
Exactly! ⁓
At one point I was getting well known in Leighton Buzzard for being at Costa because they'd always say well if you can't find Sharon if she's not here on site she's either at home or she's in Costa.
Laura (50:59)
really?
Yeah, it's a tough one. Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (51:08)
It's mad, isn't it? But yeah, I cannot like I
will always be a massive proponent of spraying because it really gave back so much time, so much easier. I was able to charge the same amount of money, but do do the work in far faster time. when people say, say, if somebody said to me, right, you know, what my whole house done, I will be like, how many rooms can you give me at a time? They won't be expecting that. Like I want to work on
Laura (51:33)
Okay. Yep. Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (51:37)
two to three rooms at a time if I can. So if I can have like with one client we worked with on the back half of the house on the upstairs at the same time. So which was perfect for a team of two and then basically one day I'll go in and do the ceilings together.
Laura (51:45)
Okay.
Yep.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (51:52)
and
on those particular days I'll spray both ceilings at the same time taking the hose from one to the other then I'll change the paint over and then I'll put the primer on the woodwork so you can get so much more done you get through the work faster and you can get paid the same amount of money as if you were with a brush and roller you're effectively earning more money it's mad that's good for your mental health
Laura (51:59)
Okay.
There you go.
Good way to, isn't
it? Absolutely, absolutely, Brilliant.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (52:17)
Yeah, Like
anything, it's easy when you know how, and that's the thing I will say. It took me a few months to get really comfortable with it, but it took me a surprisingly short amount of time before I was able to really like duck and die with it, and it really improved my life.
Laura (52:24)
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah. Wow. That's brilliant.
I'm so glad you found that new aspect of the trade to perk your passion again and also feed, that need to have your own time as well. Yeah, it's great that there are options out there for us to explore and master.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (52:48)
Yeah, it really
Laura (53:00)
to then bring to the table.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (53:01)
Yeah.
Yeah, I
really envy you. It's almost like I look at you young girls coming into the profession now and wonder what it's going to be like. Will you look it? Can I ask, am I allowed to ask your age?
Laura (53:09)
I'm not that young.
Yeah,
sure. I'm 38.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (53:18)
Yeah, see you're a baby. So we're exactly, exactly 20 years apart. I'm 58 this year, you're 38, so exactly 20 years apart. So I wonder what it's gonna, it's hard for you guys coming in, I think.
Laura (53:20)
Yeah, no, I don't feel it anyway.
Are we? Okay. There we go. And there's...
Yeah, I mean, I've spoken to a couple of other decorators that, one of which is in her twenties, and we actually connected through her openly sharing her burnout, I'm not gonna call it a breakdown, but her reaching a point where she was done, shall we say. She was nearly ready to hang up the brush and roller, like they say.
And that's how we connected, because I reached out to her and gave her bit of advice because I found that when I started, I was doing a typical Monday to Friday week, but then I was using a Saturday to get all my materials and getting ready for the week ahead over the weekend. So was like I didn't have any time off. So I now take a Monday off and have a three-day weekend.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (54:04)
Wow.
Yeah, you don't do you?
Laura (54:31)
but use the Monday to go and buy materials and get everything ready for the week ahead. And for me personally, that works perfectly. So suggesting that to her, I believe she's taking it on board now and it does work for her too. So I think it all goes back to that reaching out, supporting and talking, but also listening and
Sharon Norton-Marshall (54:49)
That's amazing.
Laura (54:58)
Being on social, sitting and watching stories, people's stories on social media can sometimes be a positive thing, I think, in that fashion, because if I hadn't have done, I wouldn't have seen her story. So, yeah, it's, there's struggles along the
Sharon Norton-Marshall (55:07)
Yeah.
Yeah, I love that you've done that because
a lot of people don't take that initiative do they to reach out and I think you doing that there is so much more of a community now which I didn't have like when I started I actually had the like there would be quite a lot of attention on my god
Laura (55:25)
Ugh. Really?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (55:35)
you're a lady decorator at that time you know we're talking a long time ago now really and i i have had that only recently about three years ago where an older chap came into one of my sites and said my god you're a you're a lady and i went ⁓ yeah while standing in there i was actually about to put one of the coats on the woodwork and i stand there with the gun in my hand and i'm like
Laura (55:38)
Yeah.
Okay.
You
Sharon Norton-Marshall (56:03)
can you get out the room kind of thing that he's like, you're that lady decorator. And I was like, yes, I am. Thank you. And you're the carpet guy, right? So do you need anything from me or like how long is this going to take? Cause I'm thinking I want to go home. And I, and I, but I couldn't, I couldn't help myself. And I said, I said, you know what? I said, the amazing thing is as well, we even have babies. I couldn't help myself.
Laura (56:05)
Hahaha
Yeah.
that's brilliant. That's brilliant. ⁓ you do get people like that. Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (56:32)
What an idiot, oh bless him. yeah, back then it was I think so nice that you guys have
got the support. You've got the support with each other now like the you young pups. Whereas I was like, you know, just like I felt so isolated. And then when I found out about social media, like really, it was only like five years ago when I started to do social media, I never even knew about this whole kind of stuff. And yeah, I was like, wow, it's opened up a whole game, whole, whole new world.
Laura (56:53)
Yeah.
it really has. Absolutely.
mean, it's yes, we have the the decorating shows and the trade shows to go to, but I think building connections on social media prior to seeing people in person, it almost gives certain people a bit of a, I don't know, like a star aspect, doesn't it? I think it's crazy, you know. Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (57:22)
Oh, for sure it does. It's a kind of celebrity status. People are
going to do that with you all the time now. When I walk around the P &D show, I've had people like going Sharon like this and I'm hi, like have no idea. But it's quite nice. Everyone's going to know who you are. They're going to be like, oh, yeah, I'll have my
Laura (57:29)
No!
I'll be doing that to you when we go in And you now, yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (57:41)
trade decorated t-shirt on by that time as well. Are you going to be wearing your t-shirt by then? You'll have your brand on it. Excellent. Excellent. And I've spoken to some pretty high level, very well known brand decorators as well. They're like, basically, we just come for the social. That's true.
Laura (57:46)
Hopefully, hopefully.
Yeah, yes, I've heard that too,
Sharon Norton-Marshall (58:03)
I'm always really disappointed
Laura (58:04)
definitely.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (58:05)
if I'm out in front of the sports bar and I can't find anybody. Like it was empty when I last went and I was like, my God, where is everyone?
Laura (58:12)
Oh no.
Right, so.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (58:17)
So do you find painting
and What do you find hardest for painting and decorating when you're in your age? How long have you been doing it?
Laura (58:23)
So I have been doing it on and off for about...
six, seven years now. I did it for about four years and then I had a bit of a break and came back to it in 2023. And yeah, ⁓ I wouldn't change it. I love it. I definitely prefer working for myself overall, but being able to...
Sharon Norton-Marshall (58:31)
amazing.
awesome.
Laura (58:53)
Transform somebody's home for me. I know it sounds a bit corny, but being able to transform a room in somebody's home, I think is priceless sometimes. If they're not able to do it themselves and somebody else can give them that joy in their house that they see every day, to me that is the value in being a decorator.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (59:04)
It is. Yeah.
It's wonderful. You you really is, you're a creator.
We are creators, aren't we? We're artists. Yeah, and very, very valued. And I think if there was something I could really hope to instill in other decorators is to say, really know your value because that's where all of those decisions like, I'm actually intrigued now by what you said about the Mondays off. Do you find that you're able to maintain that and still get your work done by the Friday or is there a lot of pressure for you by the time the Friday comes to get it all in? You do okay. So you've got like a-
Laura (59:25)
Exactly. We are. Yeah. Yeah.
No pressure.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (59:55)
four day system, you can turn a rim around in four days. That's cool.
Laura (59:56)
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think
I've got it down to a T near enough now where I know how long I can look at a room and know how long it's all gonna take with the certain level of prep, which each customer expects. Cause obviously everybody is different in that part of the job.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:00:15)
Mmm. Yeah.
Laura (1:00:19)
But yeah, four day week definitely suits me better. unless I have to, I won't compromise a weekend or a Monday, unless I truly have to, to work with the client then, yeah. I I got back into decorating to better my mental health and find a passion again.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:00:24)
gosh, this is valuable.
Laura (1:00:47)
And it's definitely, I've definitely been able to do that. So yeah, I hope others.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:00:53)
That is a massive
win. So many people are going to take so much from that. And I think that the more, the more you're able to share that with people, the better off people are going to be. And I think that, you know, other trades could potentially, you know, certainly take the same from that as well. You know, if you're looking at electricians or plumbers to a certain point is actually easier because they haven't necessarily got to turn a room around in a four day or three day kind of time span.
Laura (1:01:04)
Definitely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:01:23)
which
is something that we're quite under pressure to do sometimes, I think, aren't we? So I think the more we can instill that, you know, that's a massive win.
Laura (1:01:27)
Yeah, I think.
100 % definitely, I think for me, finding something that made me happy again, and I know happy can be used as quite a loose term for a feeling, but just finding something that brings joy to my day again and then leading to it being a passion and then wanting to know
more about it and learn and better my skillset is I think what we're probably all striving to find. for me, it's always a work in progress, I think as well, let's say. There's always gonna be something new to learn and something more to better of yourself.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:02:12)
sure.
Yeah.
Laura (1:02:19)
Yeah,
it's a journey, isn't it? Everything's a journey and I think every hurdle and every setback is a learning and you have to remember that when you hit these hurdles. think that don't beat yourself up too much. Yeah, you've probably painted a room and then it started to peel or something like that or, you know, the wallpapers fell off the next day because something's gone wrong, you know?
Don't beat yourself up too much about it. I mean, it's happened. You have to find the solution and move forward. you beating yourself up about it is only going to hurt yourself more than anybody So I think just try and be kind to yourself all the time.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:03:02)
Yeah, like we were saying earlier.
Yes, like we said earlier about resilience. I mean, would say it sound to me like you've managed to find that kind of composure of resilience where you can actually handle those situations that you've come across that are negatives today. But the thing is, is that there's always a bottom line as to what's actually controlling the anxiety in the first place. So there's actually quite a few, well, quite a limited amount of
Laura (1:03:27)
Yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:03:31)
stressors actually and it's usually time and money so the anxieties usually stem from have I got too much to do in too little time is there a way I can manage that further or for me the biggest stress factor a lot of the time is shit I need to get this done by this time you know or I'm not going to get paid in time which means it's going to have a knock-on effect to the next one you know
Laura (1:03:36)
Yes.
Yep.
Yeah, or I'm
gonna be working for free.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:04:00)
So that's
Yeah, that's right. I love what you've said about I pretty much now know when I look at a room what's what my process is going to be what the amount of prep is going to be, which is also a lovely balance between what you said about the client's expectations as well. I think it's really important that you get those right.
which can only be developed really, like you said, over the course of years, which you've had that seven year practice. I think about the first few years I was doing it and I just looked back and I put my head in my hands because it's like, I'm just so ashamed. It's just awful. ⁓ God.
Laura (1:04:35)
Yeah, same,
same. Yeah, I think we've all been at some point in that boat, especially at the beginning of our, yeah.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:04:40)
the things I did and said and
⁓ my god yeah and again I think the more we share these stories with people the better off they're gonna be so I think it's lovely that I can pass this down because I am a what did somebody call me the other week when I went to the Q-Tech Academy I was photographed in there and I was called a veteran
Laura (1:04:52)
Definitely.
⁓
nice.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:05:05)
Here we are
with some of our veteran decorators and I'm like, have I actually reached veteran status? I said that to my son, I'm like, is that good? He's like, hell yeah, that's a compliment. was like, that's all right then. Veteran decorator. I literally have met every single scenario under the sun. I don't think there's anything that I haven't come across.
Laura (1:05:13)
Aww.
Yeah, definitely a compliment. Awesome. ⁓
Yeah.
⁓ goodness me.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:05:33)
I'm actually considering writing a book about it. think it would be hilarious.
Laura (1:05:38)
Brilliant.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:05:39)
I actually, I'm actually
been I've been put in touch with the publisher today about how we're going to get this book written. It's just quite fun. Yeah.
Laura (1:05:50)
So
I'm gonna start rounding things off and I want to kind of bring the episode to an a quick fire, this or that question round as I do with most of my guests, just to kind of learn some random bits about you. So if you're ready, I'm gonna go for it. first
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:05:55)
Mmm.
Cool. Fantastic.
Haha
I think I'm ready,
Laura (1:06:14)
Driver or passenger.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:06:16)
Driver.
Laura (1:06:16)
Brush and roller or sprayer.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:06:18)
Sprayer, fuck yeah. Of course.
Laura (1:06:20)
There
of course. Tea or coffee?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:06:22)
coffee.
Laura (1:06:23)
Sunshine holiday or a cold holiday?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:06:25)
I snowboarding all the way. Yeah. I definitely chose a snowboarding holiday over a sunny holiday, but I would quite like to go to Bali. ⁓
Laura (1:06:34)
There is that. Brilliant. Weights or cardio?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:06:38)
weights. I'm peri- I'm menopausal, I've gotta say weights.
Laura (1:06:43)
Brilliant. This might seem a bit random, there's a reason I've put this in. Snooker or pool.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:06:46)
Ha!
Snooker.
Laura (1:06:53)
So he'd say that.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:06:54)
That's actually a really good question because actually I love watching snooker, I'm shit at playing it and I'm really good at pool. I could watch snooker literally all day. What does that say about us?
Laura (1:07:09)
Brilliant, brilliant. I know.
⁓ goodness me. ⁓ Pancakes or a fry up?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:07:17)
⁓ god, how dare you do that to me? ⁓ my god, you know, I actually, this is supposed to be quick fire, but I always wanted to write the book, the best breakfast in Britain by also my favorite of anything to treat my Sierre. I absolutely love batter. So I love anything that's got like what pancakes are one of my favorite things I love to make myself. Shit, I'm going to have to go fry up.
Laura (1:07:20)
Hahaha ⁓
really?
⁓
saying that I'm going for fry up
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:07:48)
with the fried toast as well please I've got to the fried bread
Laura (1:07:50)
⁓
nice, yes. And to end on that, sweet or savory?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:07:54)
Yeah
Savory. Give me them crisps.
Laura (1:07:59)
Gimme them crisps, that's
right.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:08:02)
Ha ha!
Laura (1:08:04)
Brilliant. ⁓ dear me. so two final questions for you. If you could be another trade, what would it be and why?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:08:13)
god that's a really tough one. I've actually thought about being a plasterer and the reason I quite like the thought about being a plasterer is because my dad was a plasterer and he's a really bloody good one as well and actually there's something about it has changed over the years but I love the smell of it.
Laura (1:08:27)
Gotcha.
⁓
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:08:35)
I love that sheen look you can get, love the smell of it, I love the sound of it, I love the... So anytime I can actually skim work myself I do it because although I'm not a good plasterer I also, I'm gonna be really boring now, I also love playing with spray plaster machines they're really cool. ⁓ yeah.
Laura (1:08:35)
really?
Ooh, I've not really come
across those. That does sound fun.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:08:58)
Yeah,
spray plastering is another level, literally, pardon the pun. Yeah, it's awesome.
Laura (1:09:03)
Wow.
And on that note, what other trade do you think I should have on the show next? Who would you like to listen to next?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:09:07)
Yeah, I love it.
I'd
like to hear more. Have we got any lady plumbers?
Laura (1:09:18)
Maybe.
Yeah?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:09:21)
I think we should hear from all the trades.
I really like to hear from a lady brickie because she needs some serious muscles for that. And also working out in all elements, like, you know, builder. Let's have some lady builders on and see what that's like. But I think that it'd be cool to hear from lady plumbers because I'm always of the opinion that plumbers and electricians have it quite easy.
Laura (1:09:29)
Yeah.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:09:45)
because they come in and make the
mess for us and then we have to clear it up you know so I'm also I'm actually intrigued at how because these are the big earners so they tend to earn quite well gas heating engineers and electricians earn really really well
Laura (1:09:50)
Yeah.
They are. Yeah. Yeah.
Mmm.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:10:05)
and I'd like
to kind of know more about what it's like behind the scenes. Like I know what it's like for my electrician, but I don't know any, I don't really get a chance to speak to any plumbers and it'd be really cool to hear from lady plumbers, I think,
Laura (1:10:10)
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
thank you. So where can people find you on social media? Let's get some followers for you. What are your social media handles?
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:10:24)
Thank you so much.
Yeah. So I'm Sharon Trade Health Coach, both on Instagram and Facebook. Well, I say I like that on Facebook as well. It's actually Sharon Norton Marshall on Facebook, but really my concentrated page is Instagram and it's Sharon Trade Health Coach.
Laura (1:10:39)
Okay.
Fantastic. Well, I'll make sure that people can find your handles and your links at the bottom of the show notes. And thank you very much for your time, Sharon. It's been brilliant.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:10:53)
Thank you so much.
It's been amazing to connect with you Laura. I wish you every success and it's been great to be with you and I look forward to hearing from some of your gals.
Laura (1:11:05)
Thank you very much.
Sharon Norton-Marshall (1:11:06)
You're welcome. Thank you.