Celebrating women in business
Meet Marietjie Peart: " It’s time to embrace life…”
In May, I met Marietjie Peart for the first time to talk about her exciting business journey. Originally from South Africa, she has made Ireland her home. Following her passion for baked goods has brought her to open her first shop in Main Street Arklow: Donut Express Ireland. Completing a QQI Level 5 course on Entrepreneurship for Women with Gorey Community School along with the pandemic got her thinking “it was time to embrace life, to embrace my dreams, do what I love, take the bull by horns and make it all into reality.”
“Working for yourself is a journey of self-discovery, not only driven and motivated but embrace everything about yourself, not just your strengths but your weaknesses. I have to expand my knowledge, to build on skills I didn’t have; social media, financial planning and management skills. The more I do, the more passionate and excited I become. Sometimes, when the seed of doubt creeps in, you can really get very nervous… You can’t think that way because if you do, you just won’t do it, you won’t give all your energy into the business to make it a success.”
“The biggest, scariest thing has been watching your money disappear before you see any kind of results. What has helped was when I have gone back into markets. I realised how much I love it and how much I dislike the day job. I’m really driven more than ever to want to get everything to be successful so I can be in control of my time, my destiny and future. The more I put into myself and my business the more I will reap the rewards.”
With a day job in IT for 25-30 years we talked about balancing the day job with planning for the opening of the shop.
I asked her how her passion for donuts started.
The passion for donuts may have started at school. At 14 she started selling fudge to her classmates and they all love the fudge so much they called her the fudge queen. She wanted extra money to be able to have some of the things her friends had. “I chose to take my pocket money and do something constructive with it. The love of food and baking comes from my mum. She used to run a market stall and did a lot of baking.”
How do you feel about leaving the day job after so long?
“I feel happy, ready to leave. Turning 50 next year I just decided it’s time now to embrace life and do what I want, and I won’t be able to do that if I’m working for someone else.”
What would you say to people who have dreams and desires to do something, but they want the security and stability of the day job?
“If they have a dream and they can, start small. Don’t give up on the dream just because you are doing what everyone else is doing, going to a 9 to 5 job. You have to take a chance because if you don’t, you will never know and you’ll always wonder. You have to take a chance at least once. Start small.”
Watch the rest of the interview to learn what she does in moments of doubt to overcome them, key lessons she has learned and what she would do differently if she was to start today.
Link to interview - https://www.localenterprise.ie/!JW5XIV
NoteIn the interview it was mentioned that the Entrepreneurship for Women course was a LEO network course, however, it was a QQI Level 5 course on Entrepreneurship for Women with Gorey Community School.
If you would like to support Marietjie’s business, you can buy her donuts in Main Street Arklow and check out her Facebook page for updates on the different markets she is in. She invites you to “Like, share, let us know you are there. Happy to chat to you.”
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Amor Santovena is a business coach who works one on one with businesswomen following a solution focused methodology that supports you to think and feel better. Let’s get those neurons firing! You can connect with her on Linkedin.
