What We Learned At The Mabel's Labels HQ

It’s no secret: We’ve had a girl-crush on the women of Mabel’s Labels since, well, pretty much since we first laid eyes on them almost ten years ago. Admiral Road has always had lots in common with Mabel’s Labels, so it was a natural attraction: We started our companies around the same time; both companies make personalized products here in Canada; and we all started businesses in our basements. It’s on this last point that our corporate lives diverged. Whereas we’ve always deliberately run Admiral Road as a cottage industry, the women at Mabels always dreamed big. They envisioned their factory from day one, and yesterday, we took a trip to Hamilton, Ontario to get the Grand Tour.

 

Here’s what we learned at Mabel’s Labels:

 

Get Organized. Everything at the Mabel’s Labels office is set up with a specific purpose. Certain staff members sit close to each other in order to facilitate dialogue and idea generation. Manufacturing is very organized to derive maximum efficiency. Even though we’re not all managing large staffs and factory floors, we can all benefit from efforts to get organized. Touring the offices at Mabel’s was a reminder to always be streamlining our processes and the way we work.

 

Get Inspired. Walking the halls of Mabel’s HQ we were literally surrounded by inspiration. Quotes adorn office walls and hallways. Artwork can be found painted onto walls. Posters that define what it’s like to work at Mabel’s Labels are everywhere. Just by stepping into the facility, one gets the sense about exactly what it must be like to work there. For those of us who work on our own, we often need to create our own inspiration. We’re reminded of solo-preneur we know who keeps at dream board above her desk to continually remind herself of why she’s doing what she does.

 

Celebrate Your Accomplishments. On the walls of one of the boardrooms at Mabel’s HQ, good news is everywhere. There are the newspaper articles and magazine covers, but there are also acknowledgments of smaller, more personal accomplishments, like pivotal early emails the women shared with each other. When you choose to work for yourself, no one is there to pat you on the back, or to congratulate you on a job well down. When something goes your way, share your news! We want to hear about it! It’s up to you to celebrate your accomplishments.

 

We have learned so much about small business over the past decade, and many of those lessons have come from the women of Mabel’s Labels. And even though we’ve chosen different paths to reach our own goals, one thing remains a constant: We still love ya, Mabel.