What does it take to build something from nothing while life keeps trying to break you?

From a childhood in a tin shed with no bathroom, to building and successfully exiting a multi-million dollar civil construction company in one of the toughest, most male-dominated industries in Australia. Kim Liddell didn’t just survive. She built.

In 1992, she was selected from thousands of applicants to sail the Young Endeavour world voyage. A tall ship adventure that cracked open a different future. Nobody saw it coming. Least of all her.

The week her third child was born, her first truck went to work. Eight weeks later, a cancer diagnosis. Sleepless nights, payroll pressure, personal loss — and the relentless demand to keep showing up.

DirtBoss is a raw, hard-won account of what building actually looks like for women in environments that were never designed for them. Through powerful storytelling and grounded insight, Kim shares what the real work looks like:

• Why grit is a system, not a personality trait
• How trust, not talk, builds a reputation that wins
• What it takes to lead when you’re the only woman in the room

One son races at the Paris 2024 Olympics, then the story ends somewhere she never expected.

It turns out grit runs deep.

DirtBoss is about building businesses, resilience, leadership, and self. For anyone who has ever been underestimated and decided to prove otherwise.

Because sometimes, the mud is the message.