Life After The Apprentice: Steuart Martens on Being Fired and Moving Forward
Daedrian McNaughton ·
Life after The Apprentice seems rewarding for Season 10 contestant Steuart Martens. When I conducted this interview, Steuart was on a beach in Jamaica enjoying his vacation.
Steuart Martens, 27, was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and was the successful owner of four companies. As the economy turned, he was forced to close two of them and lay off his entire staff. A serial entrepreneur, he is always looking for the next big business opportunity. Martens attended Purdue University on a swimming scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Science in business. He also made it to the Olympic trials for swimming and is heavily involved in D.C. government.
Like all candidates on The Apprentice, Steuart's ultimate goal was to win — but his efforts were cut short. Here he shares his frustration and his path forward.
When you walked out of the boardroom after being fired, what was going through your head?
"It was an awful moment. I was really, really angry because, being a competitor, it's really hard to lose. I know he said there were no losers, but as far as I'm concerned I lost, and it's not fun. I'm a really, really strong competitor. When I walked out of there I had no idea why I was fired. I did everything I was asked to do and did it without any failure, so it was extremely frustrating."
How helpful was your consultation with Cathie Black in terms of continuing your career, and what advice did she give you?
"When you meet anybody who is an industry leader like that — someone with a lot of experience running such a large entity — it's great to pick their brain and have a real conversation. The biggest thing I took away from Cathie was that she is familiar with the idea of keeping your overheads down, especially when you're moving fast."
What have you taken away from the experience, and would you do it again?
"I would definitely do it again. I really loved the experience — it was a great period of my life where I got to learn a lot about the entertainment industry and a lot about other people. It was just a phenomenal thing. When you're in a stressful situation and working almost 20 hours a day for weeks on end, you really learn to focus. For me, that was the lesson — I had started four companies and was all over the place. That experience taught me to slow down, take a look, follow things through to completion, and stay focused on a couple of things."