A DEVELOPHER BUILDING TALE WITH SONIA FROM GAMA HOMES

I WANT AND NEED A SONIA!!!

We love chatting to our DevelopHers about their journeys and asking them to share their stories on this podcast. It’s inspiring to see what other people are doing and find out what they’ve learned along the way. Each journey is so different and that’s what makes it so fun!

Today Kribashini catches up with Sonia De Gregorio, one of our Master BuildHers and the Creative Director at Gama Homes where her husband, Ricardo, is the Founding Director. Working together as a dynamic duo, Sonia and Ricardo are kicking goals in their business and loving the flexibility of being their own boss. How great is it when you love what you do!?

In this episode, Sonia talks about her transition out of her previously demanding full-time job in the financial services industry and what prompted her to take the plunge. She shares her tips on how to make a transition and why it’s important to weigh up the financial and emotional reasons.

Having a whole other career prior to working in the development industry, Sonia was able to transfer across a range of skills that have complimented Gama Homes and enabled the business to thrive where it was previously lacking. Bringing a wealth of experience and understanding in processes, organisation and client relationships, Sonia’s role at Gama Homes has made things flow both at work and at home. Sonia talks about how fun it is to work alongside Ricardo and how her passion for what she does makes it not even feel like work.

There’s so much to learn when it comes to building and there’s nothing like onsite experience to help it all make sense. Sonia shares about how seeing a project through from beginning to end helps to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and everything comes full circle when you see things in action on site. Enjoy a cuppa and a bickie with this episode. It’s a feel-good one!

If you have a topic or question you’d like us to cover, contact us here.

SOME TOPICS THAT WE COVER:

  • [1:40]: Sonia’s background in financial services and how wanting to spend more time with her children urged her to make the transition to working alongside her husband at Gama Homes
  • [3:45]: How Gama Homes was growing at the time when Sonia was ready to make the transition which allowed her to take on numerous tasks within the company
  • [5:00]: Sonia discusses her role in the business and how her skills compliment Ricardo’s role, enabling him to scale up the business
  • [6:18]: How things flow now with Sonia on board and she is able to work with clients to prep them throughout the building process instead of everything being rushed when it was just Ricardo
  • [7:30]: How having to choose fittings and fixtures quickly creates overwhelm so having someone dedicated to helping clients through this process is really helpful.
  • [8:50]: Sonia shares her tips for transitioning out of her job into the business.  Make sure it’s the right time financially by speaking to your accountant and other professionals.
  • [10:15]: How Sonia joining the company has strengthened their relationship because they are more on the same page and Sonia understands more of what’s going on
  • [12:30]: How Sonia now has the capacity to add value to the developments and how she now loves what she does, even though it’s round the clock
  • [13:45]: Seeing a project through from beginning to end is an amazing opportunity to learn and how Ricardo has encouraged Sonia to go on-site to help understand why things need doing

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

We have several Facebook Groups at BuildHer Collective.

MEMBER ONLY FACEBOOK GROUPS

BHC DevelopHers Circle and BuildHer Collective Members Only – these are closed groups for women who are doing our Build Like a BuildHer course or who have joined our DevelopHers Inner Circle.

FREE FACEBOOK GROUP – Join Us!

Anyone is more than welcome to join our Women who Design, Decorate, Renovate & Build group. You will note that it’s a closed group but ask to join and if you’re into building and renovating, this is such an amazing and supportive FREE community, so come on and join in the building goodness!