[00:00:00] Ben Poulter: You must admit that working in general sometimes is stressful. But when you're an electrician and under pressure, things can get to you. Sometimes I bet there's times you can just walk off site and leave and turn your phone off. Probably not a good idea cuz you won't have a good reputation when you eventually turn back up on site.

[00:00:22] That'll be even more stressful.

[00:00:24] This is Toolbox talks for electricians, the podcast loading electricians with the skills they need to reduce stress, gain back time, and earn more money. I'm Ben Paulter, your host. I'm very excited for today's episode. I'll be transferring to you the five ways that I've discovered over the years. To reduce stress whilst working as an electrician.

[00:00:48] After listening to this episode, you'll be able to level your stress levels starting today to carry on doing what you're good at, being an amazing electrician.

[00:01:02] Welcome back. My name's Ben Poulter, your host. And how do you get stressful at work? Well, it's normally brought on by the customers. It could be other trades on site too. Everyone wants the work done, but they don't want the electricity to go off. And this sort of puts pressure on us as electricians. Uh, how long's it gonna be off, mate?

[00:01:23] I hate that question cuz you never know how long, how long's a piece of string? I. Especially when you turn up on site and everything's already off, so you haven't got a clue what's happened so far. So how, how long is it gonna be off is You are never gonna know. This is the thing. You can't say how long.

[00:01:39] You can't give a time limit. Something might have blown up, so you might have to go out and replace it. So you can't give the customer or other tradesmen a specific time scale on what we. , and although these can be pretty stressful on us, sometimes it can be good for electricians bank balance too. I'll tell you a story about that one later.

[00:02:00] So my first tip, About getting rid of stress out your day-to-day life as an electrician, let's get your ass up early. Electricians, I think we always like to be punctual and we like to try and be there on time so when things don't go to plan, it becomes a bit stressful and it puts you under a bit more pressure for when you actually turn up, eventually get to the job.

[00:02:22] But if you think about it, Your customer or people on site, what would they prefer You get in there early or would they prefer you sort of turning up late? If you've ever heard of it? The early bird catches the worm. Just for example, if you've gotta be on site for sort of 8:00 AM with an hours drive, they leave your house around half six.

[00:02:43] Get your ass out a bed, R five, and this will be plenty of time to give yourself like an hour for a cup of tea or just to get up and sort of wake up. That's the main thing. In the mornings when you get up early, you've got a bit of time to spare. And you don't have to rush around like a blue ass fly.

[00:03:00] That's something my dad's used to say. Cause obviously flies, they buzz around a lot all the time. But my dad's used to say, rush around like a blue ass fly. Yeah, I do. I hate that. I hate having to get everything done at a hundred miles per hour. Sometimes you just want to get it done at a normal speed cuz you did it.

[00:03:14] Get it done a lot better. Another stressful situation that I suppose electricians have to deal with is the environment you work in. When it's cold and you, you feel your fingertips. They're about to fall off, they're numb, and you, you can't sort of do your work. It's, it's horrible when you're out in that freezing cold or the other end of a spectrum where you're red hot and switched sweats, stripping in your.

[00:03:38] It is a complete nightmare sometimes, and it makes you think, oh, I'm just gonna quit this job. I'm gonna get a job in the supermarket stacking shelves. But again, when you get up early, that half, five crack of dawn in the morning, take a look outside. What's the weather like? What, what's it gonna be like today?

[00:03:53] What's my day gonna be like? So if you're in the cold, then wrap up warm and take some extra layers in the van just in case. A spare set of gloves I always recommend like that is a must. Cuz when you're outside and you, you can't put your hands in your pockets cuz you're using them all the. And they get soaked through whatever, if they, they label themselves as we are waterproof gloves.

[00:04:12] They're never fully waterproof and ah, they get wet and you can't work with them. So an extra set of gloves in the van will be perfect. You can switch over all the time. Because as you may know, it's a nightmare when you're trying to click these cables. You can't even feel it, and you are, you're tapping your fingertips and you think, God damn, I getting bruised fingers.

[00:04:31] Or you, you crack your fingers and it starts bleeding. So you gotta get the insulation tape out and wrap it around just to stop the bleeding going everywhere. It's these times when it's freezing cold where you think, damn, I just wish it was a bit hotter. I wish the sun was shining. But then if it's too hot and you're pulling in a 25 mil armored across a cable tray on a lifter inside of a big warehouse, it's just as bad at the ever end of the spectrum.

[00:04:55] You gotta keep yourself hydrated because no doubt you'll sweat your nuts off up in that high lifter in the middle of a warehouse , that's where the heat goes to. Especially if it's like a bus station. I worked in a bus station once and all the fumes, all they did was go to the top. So it was a bit of a kn.

[00:05:11] I had to get off the lifter every now and again because I was getting a bit lightheaded from all the fumes. . I think it's one of them things when you're self-employed, because you don't really take your lunch breaks, you're sort of maybe out there on a price, so it's always in a rush. And as always, time is money.

[00:05:26] But keep this in mind. Imagine if you fainted because it was too hot and you're not gonna get a lot of work done when you're seeing a home because you're recovering from maybe you fainted and smashed your head open. So in these rubbish weather conditions, just take your time. That little bit more slow down. .

[00:05:45] Another factor for the environment situation For us, electricians, we always get to go by places where no one ever goes. And those places obviously are never cleaned for a nice, simple job in a factory, maybe replacing lights, you think, yeah, this is a winner. They've gotta replace these lights, but these lights have got like an inch of dust attached to 'em, so you get covered.

[00:06:06] Your hands, your face, your everything you're wearing gets covered in crap. And I don't mind getting dirty every now and again, but I'd rather get in the van nice and clean. So I take a spare set of clothes I can change into to drive home. Maybe some shorts or some of them sliders you can just slip on just to drive home in the van so you've not gotta sit there covered in dirt and dust and grime.

[00:06:28] Let's be honest, it's the plumbers you get covered in dirt and poop and stuff like that. It ain't for electricians. And there was another contributing factor. To a stressful life as an electrician, it's the hours you have to work. Electricity is something that not a lot of people these days can live without.

[00:06:46] So when you start a job, It's gotta be completed. You've gotta get that electricity back on. You've gotta get everything back working. You can't just go, I'll come back tomorrow, mate. You've gotta get it back and working for that business or that household can function by the end of the day. And this is something you run into however many problems you run into in the day.

[00:07:06] Like you've gotta go out and get that part to get the electricity. Back on, especially like in industrial or commercial environments. For you guys that work the night shift as an electrician, there's always one specific part. You need desperately to finish the job properly and you're calling around everyone you know late at night to find that one bit.

[00:07:25] Even though more than likely in our vans, they're full of kit and some kit, they haven't been used for years. We just stash it because one day you will need that bit, you'll need that piece of kit. We've got it in there somewhere. But then when you go looking for it, it's never there is it? You think, I can't find that or I used it last week and I never bought a new one cause I never used it in two years.

[00:07:44] So the best way to overcome this and being stressed , on a night shift or a job that , you've gotta get done and , maybe you could be in the middle of nowhere, like nowhere near any wholesalers. You can't get that part Anyway, is having a good relationship with the wholesalers, it's a great idea.

[00:07:59] I'll go on really well with the wholesalers around where I am, and you can plan for every eventuality that's gonna happen in that job. What you are planning to do in the evening where you. A stupid amount of materials for whatever happens. And I think because I've got a good relationship with the wholesalers, I can just stock up my van with everything.

[00:08:17] And if I didn't use it, I can just give 'em it back like the next day. As long as it ain't been opened or used or broken, I can just give 'em it back and , they credit the account cuz everything's on account anyway. If you got an account or an electrician, you don't pay for things for like 30 days. So it doesn't matter if you take it back.

[00:08:33] , it just gets straight back into the system and no one. . Another thing in these scenarios of working at night or working in a place where there's , no chance are you getting any sort of materials anywhere At short notice, write out a detailed description of what you are going to do, what you plan to do, , exact scope of works.

[00:08:53] Then when, if a problem does come up and you didn't expect it, and you thought, damn, that's an extra on this job, then you can easily explain why it's taking longer and obviously why there's gonna be extra costs. So another way to reduce stress as you and your busy electrical business. Don't just be an electrician being over something else as well.

[00:09:16] 90% of the people I know happy in their phone as Ive been the electrician or bend the Sparky, and that's the label that most people knew me in life and they'd call me, Hey Ben. Yeah, Ben the Sparky, Ben, the electrician I hated it.. So separate yourself from being an electrician. Sometimes be someone else, do something different, whether you go fishing, whether you go golf, football, and for me it's motorbikes.

[00:09:39] I ride motorbikes on the weekends and it's an easy way to take my mind off things. Take your mind off the stressful life of running an electrical business. And I do recommend something like being on a motocross bike on a track where you've got nothing else to think about except holding on for your dear life when you're going like a, about hell round a track.

[00:09:59] Cuz I'd assume I don't do golf or I don't do fishing. Maybe you can still take your phone calls or if you sit in there fishing, I know you can take your phone calls. So I don't really do them sort of hobbies., but I'm assuming football. Football, , when you want to pitch.. You don't have your phone in your pocket.

[00:10:12] You're concentrating on the matching hand. You're contracting on being competitive, so you can just take your mind off of work and that'll help a lot with stress it has with me. But when you are at work and you are running your business, be the best you can be. Be the best electrician that person's ever met.

[00:10:29] Cause I know so many electricians, they're fantastic at their job and they know exactly what they're doing. But the customer said he was a bit. It was a bit dry, it weren't really conversational. And sometimes you have a good relationship with your customers cuz that's how your business grows. You get recommended, people will remember you.

[00:10:46] And for me, I love to talk, hence the podcast. And I can talk forever and I'll talk to anybody and everybody. And this happens on site as well. Cause you leaving a good impression of maybe a manager or the customer or other trades cuz in the long run that can be quite rewarding. , I was subcontracting once for Virgin Media at the time, and when you work for like Virgin Media and big companies like that, the first day is always getting all the risk assessments in place and the scope of works and what you are going to do, make sure you're not gonna turn anything off that maybe shouldn't go off.

[00:11:19] But this is where I got to know all the project managers. And one night it was quite late, it was probably 10 o'clock at night. And , the company that employs me to work for Virgin Media, they phone me up. Which makes me think back. Now, why the hell did I ask my phone? Because I weren't contracted for call outs.

[00:11:36] I weren't interested in doing that. But however, Virgin Media had phoned up that company and specifically requested me to attend the job in London. My first initial thoughts were obviously get lost, man, I'm not going out. It's time of night cuz I don't wanna drive to London at , 10 o'clock at night.

[00:11:54] But my boss, he continues to say, you've been requested Ben, and they only want you to. He even admitted to me that you've sort of got me over a barrel. You can charge me whatever you want. So although someone rings you up at 10 o'clock at night and asks you go to a site in London, it's pretty stressful when you hear them words, you can charge me whatever you want.

[00:12:16] It sort of lightens the stress a little bit and, uh, I dunno what else would, to be honest with you when someone says that to you. So after London I went to reset an M MCB that had. I was in and out of in 20 minutes. So being an electrician might be stressful at times, but it has its perks.

[00:12:37] I can tell you now, there is a lot of lessons that I've learned over the 20 years experience in the trade

[00:12:43] I'm here to help. because one of the biggest mistakes that I've learned is that mistakes cost money. So being able to avoid those mistakes would be a massive advantage. And as you'll find out on this podcast, I'm a complete chat box. I've talked to so many customers and found out just what they want from an electrician.

[00:13:05] Along with some amazing tools that I've acquired through my life as an electrician that make my life a lot easier, which will also make your electrical business better, faster, and able to make more money and get more customers. I can guarantee you. Listen to this podcast will help you stand out from the rest.

[00:13:24] So your best bet is to get subscribing right now. You don't wanna miss the stories, the insight, the strategies that I'll be sharing every Monday of every week. I'm looking forward to help you put the spark into your electrical business.

[00:13:40] I had to put it in there. See soon