My Career: ‘I love the community in my shop and around my table’

Name: Olga Prins

Age: 56

Lives: Ballincollig

Job title: Owner of Olga’s Own Craft Studio

Salary bracket: Basic, with potential to grow.

Education background: Nursing (four years) and the two years of honours in ICU.

Hobbies: Knitting, crochet, embroidery, quilting, reading, and spending time with friends.

Describe your job in five words: Fun, rewarding, creative, colourful, enjoyable.

Describe yourself in five words: Friendly, reliable, creative, inclusive, loyal.

Personality needed for this kind of work? Patient and kind.

How long are you doing this job? Four years.

How did you get this job?

I did not train to do my current job in so many words. I mostly taught myself, but did lots of courses in the field.

I stopped nursing when I became a mother and picked up lots of skills along the way. I always challenged myself to try something more difficult or new.

I decided to start a business as I did not want to go back to my old job, and my children are reared now.

Do you need particular qualifications or experience?

I definitely believe that experience is needed to help answer questions and to advise clients the best you can.

Also, knowledge of the different wools and yarns is of utmost importance. Ability to think outside the box will be helpful.

Describe a day at work:

I normally go to the shop around 9am. I process the online orders and clean the bathroom and shop. I go to the post office if there is time before opening at 10am.

At 10.30am, classes would start where I teach people to knit or crochet. I help customers in between.

After class, at about 12.30pm, I deal with new stock that arrived and do maintenance on my website that involves adding new stock, etc. I also try do some social media and plan workshops. (If I don’t get time for this during the day, I do it after hours). I also knit or crochet samples for the shop or for the workshops and help clients as they come in.

At 5.30pm, the shop will close. I do one late evening class a week that will run from 6.30pm to 8pm.

How many hours do you work a week?

Between 60 and 70.

Is your industry male or female dominated?

Female-dominated, but I would love to see more men taking up textile arts.

Does this affect you in any particular way?

No.

Is your job stressful? How? Rate it on a scale of 1-10: No, 3/10.

Do you work with others or on your own?

Mostly on my own.

When do you plan to retire or give up working?

I haven’t thought about that yet.

Best bits: Mostly, it does not feel like a job. I have amazing customers, and that makes it all worthwhile. A lot of them become like friends as they share their lives with me. I love the community in my shop and around my table. People need to feel welcome and included. What I like is to get people together and to make it fun. To give people something to look forward to and to learn new skills while making new friends.

I love to see friendships develop between the participants. I really like doing social events.

Worst bits: I sometimes don’t have enough time to do everything I want and to be more creative, as I’m too busy with other things like paperwork. Luckily, I don’t sleep much, so I get to daydream between 5 and 6 in the morning.

Advice to those who want your job?

It’s an easy job to do. I had a steep learning curve as I did not know anything about business, but you learn very quickly through your mistakes. You need to be resilient and stubborn, then you will be OK.

Any other comments?

I never thought that this would be the path that my life would take, but I am loving it.

Fibre arts brought me through tough times and now I can be there helping other people and offering a safe and inclusive environment to create and to grow as a person.