My Journey, a rockier road to a brighter future 

On this “I am Oliver Petri” page I will be sharing a little more about me, a little history and some philosophical thoughts. Ever tried, ever failed, no matter, try again, fail again, fail better! This saying rings true in so many aspects of my life. I never sit still, I always try and evolve and move forward, become a better version of myself. I believe whole heartedly that we live our lives for a reason, not to just be consumers, but to have a defining purpose making a positive difference!

My entrepreneurial journey started in 2006 in Spain, running my own event management gig. I had no experience, but just went out there to give it a go. I even recruited a team of 5 people. I had high hopes, big dreams of running huge events for party goers on the coast, little did I know what being an entrepreneur meant. Since that year I have continued on my entrepreneurial journey whole heartedly working towards a brighter future. I have learnt invaluable lessons about business start ups, money, marketing and how to find crucial information that is not being taught in schools.

I have also learnt that your failure rate is higher than your success and for a long time I lived through the emotional turmoil of failing. I didn’t understand that failing meant learning and learning leads to more success. The scales tip once you have failed enough, I understand that now and learning and succeeding has become exciting.

That’s enough of a philosophical start, now a little bit about me!

I was born in the north of Germany to both German parents Georg and Evelyn and spent the first 10 years of my life there. In 1991 my dad, one day picked me up from school, had a suit case packed for us and told me, while we were driving, that we were going to the airport to fly to New Zealand. Maybe this was my dad’s midlife crisis statement but I know it was much more than that!

Not knowing a word of English, we settled in Picton, a little picturesque town in the Marlborough Sounds on the South Island of New Zealand. I went to school there for a brief period until my dad decided to buy a sailing boat and sail with the whole family around the South Pacific. It was a magical time of my life and opened my eyes to the world. 18 months of sailing, it was amazing! We ended up moving to Fiji after that for 3 years and at 14 years old I went back to Germany to finish my schooling and start my tennis career. 

My love for writing and sharing content with my readers

My story is much much larger than this, but all I can say is I have been blessed to experience the world in so many different ways. 

I now live in New Zealand permanently and I have decided to start this blog, to share my experiences about travel, parenthood, entrepreneurism, health, fitness and tennis to name a few topics. You can find my latest postings on all topics by visiting my Blog Categories page and you can find new videos on my Youtube Channel Oliver Devout.

Because I love writing, there will be plenty of content to read about, so I hope some of this inspires or helps you in some way.

Devout to all my readers, Thanks Oliver