From Single Mom to DirtBoss Empire Builder

Summary

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Living Your Legacy — Episode Summary

Episode Title:

From Single Mom to DirtBoss Empire Builder

Date:

May 7, 2026

Host:

Ray Gutierrez (for Inside Success)

Guest:

Kim Liddell — Keynote Speaker, Consultant, Founder of Dirt Boss

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Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth interview with Kim Liddell, founder of Dirt Boss, a pioneering woman-led construction business in Australia specializing in non-destructive digging and excavation. Kim shares her inspiring journey from a background in aquatic sports and sailing to building a multimillion-dollar enterprise in a traditionally male-dominated industry. She discusses breaking industry barriers, overcoming personal and professional challenges, mentoring the next generation (including her Olympian children), and the importance of mental resilience in leadership and life. The conversation blends humor, candid stories, and actionable insights on mindset, entrepreneurship, and legacy-building.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Entrepreneurial Beginnings and the Origin of “Dirt Boss”

• Background in Water & Fitness:
  Kim’s early life revolved around water—swimming instructor, aqua aerobics, and even crossing the Atlantic on a tall ship (08:15).
• Entering Construction:
  Returning to Australia, Kim saw a market gap for safe excavation. She bought her first truck, and Dirt Boss was born (03:53).
• Name & Gender in Industry:
  The “Dirt Boss” moniker stems from being the hands-on leader in the business (“I was the boss in a male dominated industry.” — 02:13).
• On Women in Construction:
  “There were only like 4% women. And 76% of those were in admin roles. So not running companies, not out on the ground... you can’t be what you can’t see.” (06:10)

2. The Business Model & Market Impact

• Tech & Safety Innovations:
  Kim’s business uses high-pressure water to safely expose underground utilities, protecting critical infrastructure (03:01–05:15).
• Growth & Differentiation:
  Dirt Boss stood out for reliability and efficiency—taking on tough jobs where others quit, enabling massive business growth (06:15).
• Market Realities:
  “It was a couple of companies, and when things got hard, they just lent on their shovels and went, oh my God, it's too hard. ... My goal was we would be more efficient and more reliable and consistent.” (06:14)

3. Adventure, Sailing, and Building Character

• STS Young Endeavour & Tall Ships:
  At 19, Kim sailed from Greece to New York, learning resilience, teamwork, and adventure at sea. This experience instilled profound self-reliance and adaptability (08:15–09:11).
• Olympian Children:
  Kim’s sons compete at the Olympic level in sailing; she reflects on motherhood, competition, and supporting ambitious children through triumphs and disappointments (10:23–11:09).

4. Storytelling, Writing, and Legacy

• From Business Owner to Author:
  After selling Dirt Boss, Kim began writing three books:
  • A Whisper to the Weary – Addresses mental health, adversity, and resilience (“I now say, the river of pain allows the joy to flow through.” — 12:05)
  • The Dirt Boss Story – Her construction and entrepreneurship journey
  • Eleanor Digby Loves Dirt – A children’s story promoting non-traditional female role models in STEM/trades (12:46-13:40)
• Balancing Authenticity and Expectation:
  “For Dirt Boss, it was about writing what people wanted to hear... In the end I just went with the flow and I think that works.” (12:46)

5. Mindset, Mental Health, and Overcoming Adversity

• Resilience & Mental Health:
  Kim emphasizes resilience, meditation, and training the mind, drawing on her background as a fitness instructor:
  • “Mental health is critical. We need to look after our mental health and being really resilient in that regard is really, really important.” (14:26)
  • “Fitness is specific. You have to train each muscle specifically as you do with the brain.” (14:26)
• Lightbulb Moment & Ownership:
  Kim recounts a “rock bottom” moment as a single mom and business leader, and how shifting her narrative from victim to creator was transformational (15:36–17:01):
  • “There came this critical point in my business where I really fell into that victim mode ... until I had this light bulb moment... I created this business so I could create something different. And so that was the moment that switched everything...” (15:36–17:01)
• Thoughts on Legacy & Impact:
  “I was the silent achiever. I was just head down, working hard, achieving things but it wasn’t for the outside world... There’s a lot of unsexy businesses that make the world go round.” (17:18)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Industry Gender Balance:
  “You can’t be what you can’t see.” (06:10)

• On Mindset:
  “We are meaning making machines.” (15:15)

• On Mental Toughness:
  “Train the brain too. Fitness is specific. You have to train each muscle specifically as you do with the brain.” (14:26)

• On Adversity and Agency:
  “I created this thing. Yes, it got a life of its own and became this bigger than Ben Hur business. But I can control that narrative as well.” (17:01)

• On Legacy:
  “The river of pain allows the joy to flow through.” (12:05)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Kim’s Introduction/Victim to Creator Mindset — 00:00–00:29
• Construction Journey & “Dirt Boss” Origin — 02:13–03:53
• Technical Approach & Market Differentiation — 03:01–06:15
• Women in Construction & Representation — 06:10–07:21
• Tall Ship Adventures & Character Building — 08:06–09:11
• Parenting Olympians & Family Legacy — 10:23–11:09
• Book Projects, Storytelling & Empowerment — 11:26–13:40
• Advice for Women Entering Non-Traditional Fields — 14:20–15:36
• On Resilience, Mindset, and Overcoming Victimhood — 15:36–17:11
• Legacy Reflections & Final Wisdom — 17:18–18:06

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Overall Tone & Style

The conversation embodies Kim’s straightforward, resilient, and optimistic demeanor. Humor and candor blend with practical wisdom, making the episode accessible and motivating to listeners from all backgrounds—pitch-perfect for aspiring and established entrepreneurs.

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Actionable Takeaways

• Ownership over one’s narrative is key to transformative leadership.
• Resilience is built like any muscle—train your mind as you would your body.
• Representation matters: “You can’t be what you can’t see.”
• Legacy is forged not always in “sexy” industries but through critical, often overlooked work.
• Supporting mental health and maintaining balance are foundational for sustainable success.

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Listen to this episode for inspiring stories, powerful mindset shifts, and expert advice on thriving in any environment—no matter how much dirt is in your path.

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Transcript

[Kim Liddell]

I really fell into that victim mode and I just didn't know how to get myself out of it until I had this light bulb moment.

[Narrator]

Kim Lydell is a resilient, strategic and purpose driven keynote speaker, consultant, and the founder of Dirt Boss. Through her work, she helps leaders and organizations build confidence, lead with integrity, and drive meaningful results, translating her journey from civil construction and entrepreneurship into lessons that create lasting impact.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Well, do you feel like you have an unfair advantage being a woman and seeing the world differently? Especially when you're in these massive construction yards and there's piles of dirt everywhere?

[Kim Liddell]

Well, I wouldn't call it an unfair advantage. I would call it that we were on an equal footing. However, as a woman, you had to prove yourself more. There weren't many of us, so actually there weren't any of us. I was just doing this solo thing and then created an industry around that women could do it too, and that actually we're 50, 50 and we should be like that. I created this business so I could create something different.

[Podcast Intro/Outro Voice]

It spans the globe like a super high cold Internet. Elvis Preston. Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over until I win. The Living youg Legacy podcast. Best for those who live to leave a legacy. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan open Chicago with the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Welcome back to another episode of Living your Legacy. I'm Ray Gutierrez for Inside Success. Joining me today is quite the boss of all bosses, a boss that enjoys getting dirty. And it is the Dirt Boss herself, Kim Liddell, all the way from Australia. Yes, you flew in. And boy, I'm sure your arms are tired.

[Kim Liddell]

Oh, my God. So good to be here. Thanks for having me.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Oh, it's such a pleasure. Where does I got to work backwards here? The Dirt Boss. How does one get knighted with this name?

[Kim Liddell]

Oh, look, it was a long journey, but a very gritty one. I. I built a business in the construction industry. We moved dirt for a living. Right on. And it was down and dirty. And so the Dirt Boss bec. You know the thing, I was the boss and I moved it. And so yeah, everybody had go nudge, nudge, wink, wink. We will have a boss too. But I was actually the boss in a male dominated industry.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Well, congratulations. How many puns a day do you. Do you have like when it comes to dirt?

[Kim Liddell]

Oh, look, so we actually have so many stories about dirt built from the ground up, you know, down and dirty. Give you the dirt on that.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Go on. I'LL wait.

[Kim Liddell]

I think that's enough.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Right, So I have to talk about dirt. Is the dirt different in Australia versus the United States dirt?

[Kim Liddell]

Actually, funny you should say that.

[Ray Gutierrez]

I do that.

[Kim Liddell]

Quite a way into my story. We excavate with high pressure water for underground services. So it was a very specialized market. But in essence, we dug with high pressure water. Like you'd clean your driveway with a gurney or a high pressure washer, and then we'd vacuum it out with these big vacuum hoses. And it was just dirt and water. And so when they mix together, they become like this, what we call a mud slurry. And so then I went, actually, there's gotta be a way we can separate that mud slurry and turn it into something usable again. And so we did research the dirt, and it is a little bit different all around the world, but at the end of the day, dirt's dirt.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Of course, it's going the opposite way because it's in Australia.

[Kim Liddell]

Exactly.

[Ray Gutierrez]

So how does one get into dirt? What's your origin story? Were you walking to school and then you tripped and felt a bag of dirt? Like, how does this happen?

[Kim Liddell]

I think my story is more around water. We're an island continent, grew up with water all around me. Swimming teacher, aqua aerobics instructor, all those sorts of things. Just love the water. And then I sailed on a tall ship actually from Greece to America. So I turned up in the States and spent a lot of time here. But fast forward back into Australia after a whole lot of travel. And I married a guy who was from the construction industry, and we saw an opportunity in the market in Sydney, Australia. He kept his day job and I bought a truck and started digging dirt.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Wow. What was the. What was your. Why, what did. What was the problem with dirt?

[Kim Liddell]

Well, actually, the problem was, is that on construction projects, the old school way of doing things, digging with excavators and backhoes, mechanical means actually started damaging services under the ground. So imagine your optical fibers that provide the Internet. All our businesses, if you impact one of those, we're in big trouble. And so the utility companies started to support us because we excavated safely. We were like your insurance policy. So we'd go in and locate the services, physically dig it, expose it, work out what's under the ground, and then contractors could come in and build on top of it.

[Ray Gutierrez]

How, how nerdy can you get about the technology you use to kind of see underground?

[Kim Liddell]

It's pretty, pretty basic. So we say it's not rocket science. We're literally just Digging the ground with high pressure water and having a look what's under there. So we excavate a hole, we dig out the mud slurry, suck it out with the vacuum hoses, and then you see what's there. So it's pretty straightforward, but it's your insurance policy so that you can dig a job safely and effectively.

[Ray Gutierrez]

That's. That sounds awesome. Any random things that you've excavated? Fossils, anything Nuts. That would be really fun for the podcast.

[Kim Liddell]

Oh, my gosh. Many random things.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Really?

[Kim Liddell]

Yeah. I think we did a lot of work in the center of Sydney, so there are a lot of artifacts and things like that, which was really cool. So our principal contractors would deal with all of those things so that it was looked after effectively and safely. Yeah. Amazing.

[Ray Gutierrez]

So what is the market like? Are there competitors? Like, educate me here. Are you the only boss in town?

[Kim Liddell]

I was pretty much the only. I was definitely the only woman boss in town.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Right on.

[Kim Liddell]

But in the early days, when I started in the early 2000s, it was a long time ago, but when I started, there were a couple of companies, and when things got hard, they just lent on their shovels and went, oh, my God, it's too hard. Or they went home or they had a break. So my goal was, is that we would be more efficient and more reliable and consistent. And so when the going got tough, we'd come in and fix the problem. And so that became our trademark. We were honest and reliable and just got the job done, whatever it took. And so that made all the difference. We, from a couple of companies, we just grew and grew and grew so that I became this massive business. Multimillion dollar exercise. Lots of trucks, lots of workers. Yeah, it was incredible. And then we were able to impact the market and realize that there were only. We benchmark women. And they're only like 4% women. And so. And 76% of those were in admin roles. So not running companies, not out on the ground. So we worked out, you can't be what you can't see. And so we worked on that really quite diligently.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Well, do you feel like you have an unfair advantage being a woman and seeing the world differently? Especially when you're in these massive construction yards and there's piles of dirt everywhere.

[Kim Liddell]

I wouldn't call it an unfair advantage. I would call it that we were on an equal footing. However, as a woman, you had to prove yourself more. More. So perhaps we had an unfair. What's the word? Disadvantage, actually. So you had to work harder. You had to Prove yourself more. There weren't many of us, so actually there weren't any of us. I was just doing this solo thing and then created a industry around that women could do it too and that actually we're 5050 and we should be like that. So it was a lot of work in that regard.

[Ray Gutierrez]

So it seems like you're into adventure here. I've got some notes from your actual script that we're using to film your episode. Does the STS Young endeavor in 1992 ring any bells?

[Kim Liddell]

Oh my God. Now you're going to show my age, so don't do the math. That was a life changing thing. It was a tall, it's Australia's sail training tall ship. And so they ran a world voyage in 1992 and we sailed from Athens, Greece or actually Piraeus from the port through into New York for the 4th of July.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Oh my God.

[Kim Liddell]

It was four months at sea, I think 20 odd days without any land in sight. Completely character building. Still friends with those people today?

[Ray Gutierrez]

I was gonna say 100% character building. Were you sailing towards something or away from something where you're in that?

[Kim Liddell]

We were actually reenacting Columbus's discovery of America. So Columbus's discovery of the New World. And so we sailed with replicas of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria and a massive fleet of tall ships. So we raced across the Atlantic. I was outstanding.

[Podcast Intro/Outro Voice]

Wow.

[Ray Gutierrez]

How does one sign up for that? Like, how does this work?

[Kim Liddell]

Well, when my way back, my parents divorced, so I came from a split family and my dad took up sailing to fill the gap. And when I got to college, one of my school friends then said, oh, you're from a sailing family. Which really I wasn't just my dad. And they said her and her siblings had sailed on the young Endeavour. And they said, she said, you might like that. You're a little bit adventurous. Like, yeah, I might like that. So I actually did a sail training trip from, in Australia, from Geelong, which is in Victoria, across Bass Strait to Tasmania and then back again. And it was wild. Like the storms of Bass Strait. I thought those waves were only what they made for movies. I was up aloft and they were crashing on me. It was insane. But it ignited something in me, that real sense of adventure. And when I was on that trip, fortuitously they said that they were gonna run a world voyage. And I'm like, that's me. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I'm just like, that's what I wanna do. So I was a fitness instructor, so I trained hardcore so that all I had to worry about was the mental side of it to get selected amongst thousands of applicants.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Are you still sailing today?

[Kim Liddell]

My kids are sailing. My son just competed in the Olympics last year.

[Ray Gutierrez]

I was in his notes here. What's it like being a mentor, a speaker and a mother to an Olympian?

[Kim Liddell]

Oh, look, it's actually really interesting because I have two sons and a daughter, but my sons are the sailors and they compete against each other. Sure. So my oldest son had a dream of going to the Olympics and his little brother thought that was an amazing idea. And so they've been sailing together and against each other for a really long time, and his little brother got the spot. So. Deservedly so, completely, hugely talented. But it's hard as a mum, watching two boys both wanting the same dream and only one realizing it at the moment. But there is. There are future Olympics, so I'm holding out hope.

[Ray Gutierrez]

That's. That's so powerful. Quite a legacy you're building here.

[Kim Liddell]

It was really powerful. And I think, you know, when we're in Marseille watching that, the sailing at the Olympics, and I'm holding my other son, cheering for one and, you know, just holding the other. That is a moment for a mother that, you know, I'll never forget.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Right on. It says here you're writing three books.

[Kim Liddell]

I know, I know. Don't. Why? Stuff at one.

[Ray Gutierrez]

So how does one write a trilogy?

[Kim Liddell]

Okay, so they're quite different. About dirt, I sold my business at the end of 2023, and I was pretty tired and I thought, I'll take six months off. It had a nice ring to it. Six months sabbatical, and didn't know what I was going to do. But I had a bit of traveling and then we had the Olympics, which was amazing. Very cool. And I wrote this book called A Whisper to the Weary about what it's like when you get some tough.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Oh, sure.

[Kim Liddell]

And, you know, mental health challenges are really huge in our world.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Oh, yeah.

[Kim Liddell]

And what to do when it's tough and how to survive that. I now say the river of pain allows the joy to flow through. So we know that there's pain and what you do about it. So A Whisper to the Weary is about that.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Right on.

[Kim Liddell]

And then, you know, my publisher said, well, who is Kim Liddell, actually? Who's the Dirt Boss? And I'd started writing it way back, and then it just all flowed out. So the Dirt Boss story had to be told. It's. That's a legacy in Itself.

[Ray Gutierrez]

What was the most challenging part? Was it the takeoff? The first page word, one sentence, one or the last word? What was the most challenging part?

[Kim Liddell]

I think for Dirt Boss, it was about writing what people wanted to hear. They wanted to hear how I did it. What that story was like working in construction in one of the biggest construction markets in the world. So that was hard. I think it was trying to live up to expectations. And in the end I just went with the flow and I think that works. And my other story, which was actually the first one I wrote before Whispers, it is called Eleanor Digby Loves Dirt because I went, we can make the difference for adults, but where we can make real difference is with the kids. Let the little girls know, and the boys too, that you can be whatever you want. But a little girl in a pink tutu playing in the dirt, that's cool. You know, you don't have to be in shorts and work boots to be able to play in the dirt. You can do it whichever way works for you. And so Eleanor Digby Loves Dirt is about a little girl who can play in the dirt and be really happy there.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Amazing fun fact. My first kiss was with my backdoor neighbor. She enjoyed playing in the dirt and when we kissed, it was just a mouthful of dirt.

[Kim Liddell]

That is, that is great because I grew up like that too. Now you've taken me back. I used to climb this tree and I used to sit up and watch the world go by. But I remember my first kiss was a little boy that just kept running around the tree and I sort of had to chase him.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Amazing. That's. I'm glad we went there.

[Podcast Intro/Outro Voice]

Yeah.

[Ray Gutierrez]

I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to cheat a little bit. I'm going to pull some questions from, from, from your episode. It says here you built a multi dollar. Multimillion dollar business in a male dominated industry.

[Kim Liddell]

Yeah.

[Ray Gutierrez]

What advice would you give to women entering non traditional fields about thriving or under pressure?

[Kim Liddell]

Yeah, there's so many things and where to start is probably a good question. Where to start, I think is the mental resilience. And being able to cope under pressure is critical. No matter whether you're running a multimillion dollar business or you're raising a family or you're working a 9 to 5. Mental health is critical. We need to look after our mental health and being really resilient in that regard is really, really important. And so meditation has been a massive part of my life. Being a fitness instructor, I learned that you have to train the Brain, too. Fitness is specific. You have to train each muscle specifically as you do with the brain. And, you know, we're meaning making machines. We're making meaning all the time. Just like our heart pumps, our brain thinks, and those thoughts are not ours.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Yes.

[Kim Liddell]

So to control that narrative, you need to train it.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Making meaning machines.

[Kim Liddell]

Yeah. We are meaning making machines.

[Ray Gutierrez]

That's great.

[Kim Liddell]

Yeah.

[Ray Gutierrez]

You can tell. You got the approval when I look off camera. That was great. I'm gonna grab another one here. Your resilience came from owning your story. Can you share one strategy for rewriting personal narratives to overcome adversity and build confidence?

[Kim Liddell]

I remember distinctly there was a moment in time where everything was hard. I just. I didn't know whether I was coming or going. I didn't know how. I'd been running this really big business. I was about seven years in. Maybe I had the seven year itch, but I was about seven years in and I went. I am not actually coping very well. I had a husband at the time who was suffering with severe mental illness. I had three kids. I actually sent my first truck to work the week I had my third child. Not just my first kid, but my third child. So I had three little kids. I had this big business. I'd been through melanoma diagnosis. I'd had so many things. But then there came this critical point in my business where I really fell into that victim mode. And I just didn't know how to get myself out of it until I had this light bulb moment. And how that happened was I just sat with a group of peers one day and went, actually, you know what? I created this business so I could create something different. And so that was the moment that switched everything that went, okay, I am no longer a victim. I'm gonna own this. I created this thing. Yes, it got a life of its own and became this bigger than Ben Hur business. But I can control that narrative as well.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Right on.

[Kim Liddell]

And so that was. That was momentous. I just always remember that moment where I went, I created it. I get the choice to create something different.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Right on. You're about to film your Legacy Makers episode. What are we going to learn about you in this episode before we wrap up?

[Kim Liddell]

You're going to learn that I came from a tough background. I had challenges. You're going to learn my philosophy on life about, you know, the law of equilibrium. The higher the high, the lower the low. The river of pain allows the joy to flow through, but just get in and do it. And, you know, I was the silent achiever. I was just head down, working hard, achieving things but it wasn't for the outside world. It was not a sexy business. I was in construction. You know, there's a lot of unsexy businesses that make the world go around. It's really important and to do that critical work, there's a lot of us out there doing it and it's hard and you need to find ways to survive and do that successfully because it makes the world a better place.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Kim, thank you so much for your time and energy and for raising my IQ a couple of points. I really appreciate your mentorship and congratulations on becoming a legacy maker. And you're off to film with Lauren and really excited for you.

[Kim Liddell]

Thank you. Ray, thank you so much for having me. It's an absolute pleasure. I'm really grateful.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Hell yeah. And that concludes yet another episode of Living youg Legacy for Inside Success. I am Ray Gutierrez.