There’s an old photo of Asha Russell, as a little girl of five, standing in front of a giant digger, with a smile on her face. Who knew that this little girl would grow up to be a leader in the field of civil?
Probably virtually everyone around her at the time.
“I was pretty much born into this role,” Asha says. “My dad was a diesel mechanic, and when I was a kid, I’d follow him around on weekends while he was fixing equipment.”
However, although Asha knew that her destiny was in civil, she wasn’t positive about the direction she should take. “When I left school, I knew I wanted to go into my family business – but I wasn’t exactly sure about what I wanted to do within it.”
Asha started working full-time in the equipment industry at the age of 17. At such a young age, the seeds for a career in civil had already sprouted. “We won a huge job in Newcastle collecting dredged contaminated material from the harbour, working with Thiess Services. This demanding project saw us working around-the-clock, 7 days a week, and hiring 250 employees. It took three years of my life and in return gave me the satisfaction and life experience needed to continue working in this industry!”
After having her third child Asha set up her own company - Sage Civil. Having three young kids and running your own business is a challenge – one that Asha has risen to. Asha is a firm advocate of working smarter and not biting off more than she can chew, “I don’t want to become a statistic, so I’m slowly growing the business up.”
Sage Civil specialises in wet hire of plant and equipment, and labour hire.
“If I see an opportunity, I’ll take it”, Asha says. With machines at the core of Sage Civil, it’s no surprise reliability and peace-of-mind are critical to her business.
“The photo below was taken on a site in Ballina around 12 months ago. Buddhi, a sales manager at WesTrac, had just delivered our new Cat 330FL Excavator and we were excited to see it in action,” Asha continues. “Everything is easy with WesTrac. From Cat Finance to delivery, the service I receive is top notch and that’s why I keep coming back. Since being with them I’ve bought a 336, 300, 314 and a D7E dozer.”
The foundation of any civil business is its machines. If they’re up and running, the business prospers. If they go down, profit drops. Asha has succeeded because she has invested in relationships to ensure her machines remain productive. She has been dealing with WesTrac since 2006.
“It’s been an amazing relationship thanks to the team at WesTrac; they're all absolute champions who I can rely on,” Asha enthuses. “Honesty, loyalty and integrity. That's what I care about and that's what I get with WesTrac.”
“When I bought the D7E, no-one in Australia knew quite what to do with them. They’re electric and the old-school thinking was to stay away from any electric machine, but I really wanted to give it a go and I’ve never had a problem going against the grain. Out of the gate, I had some issues getting it onto a mine-site due to the paperwork involved. When the team WesTrac heard about this they dropped everything and worked on it for two weeks straight. We got it across the line because of their quick response!
It’s the relationship she’s formed with WesTrac that’s led Asha to sign up to FitFleet® for her machines, including the Cat 330FL pictured above. “I’d never had an ongoing service agreement like FitFleet before, but by trusting WesTrac's advice I’ve since moved seven machines under FitFleet and I'll do more in the future. It just makes sense for me and business.”“For me, the relationship is what matters,” says Asha about her experience with WesTrac.
The peace-of-mind offered by FitFleet helps Asha keep growing Sage Civil at a pace that suits her. “When you find a good team you trust, you stick with them. It’s the service that drives me to stay with WesTrac.”
When business is your life, forging solid relationships built on trust and commitment is what drives success. For Asha, it’s a key aspect of ensuring that Sage Civil continues to deliver the results her customers deserve.
