Dawn:
I just have a neat desire to create.
Text:
Dawn Mabee
Mabee Baby, Owner, Vancouver, BC
Alumni of Futurpreneur's Side Hustle Program
Dawn:
Hi, I am Dawn Mabee from Mabee Baby.
Text:
4 in 10 Canadians face income instability.
This is Dawn's story.
Dawn:
When I became pregnant, we decided not to know whether it is a boy or a girl and when I went shopping I wanted to find some things that could have been either.
And I had trouble finding those. So, I took my fashion background and decided to make some cool unisex sustainable loungewear for the little ones with a focus on salvaged and up-cycled materials.
In the beginning I was working a couple jobs and it was hard financially because I was just self-funding. So slowly building as much as I could afford to do myself.
I was really worried about doing a business plan, I looked it up and all the aspects that went into it seemed very overwhelming.
Text:
Through the TD Ready Commitment, TD is proud to support organizations like Futurpreneur that are focused on helping Canadians prepare for the jobs of tomorrow.
Dawn:
I found out about Futurpreneur, I went to their website and saw that they had an amazing business planner tool and some workshops. And I went to the workshop and that’s how I found about the side hustle.
My business changed a lot after I got the funding through the side hustle program. With a mentor we were able to plan a marketing plan and figure out where my customer might be and use the money to go to lots of markets that I couldn’t have afforded otherwise and really grow my confidence about the business and take a little bit of extra chances to build it and grow it to the size that I was planning. So, I am almost there.
I don’t think I could have imagined being lucky enough to do this side hustle and also have the balance in my family.
Text:
We believe with a little bit of help Canadians like Dawn can rewrite their story.
TD Ready Commitment