I came to Canada in the early 90s with my parents and siblings from Somalia as refugees. Settling into our new environment and learning a new language was not easy. Navigating through the education system was challenging. I ended up not going to university after high school. I got married and started a family. I remembered my family were disappointed as they thought I was throwing away my future. When my youngest daughter started kindergarten, that’s when I decided to go back to school to pursue my post-secondary education. I always gravitated to starting a business so I decided to study business and marketing management. I ended up starting my career in my 30’s. Although it seemed that I was late entering the workforce, I was able to accelerate my career rapidly due to my mindset, maturity and interpersonal skills. Within less than two years, I became the Managing Director of the YMCA-YWCA Employment Services. After being a manager for about 6 years, I realized that I was ready for more. As a single mom, I wanted to build wealth and create financial freedom. I started a few side hustles. I remember at one point I had three side hustles in addition to my day job. After doing that for some time, I realized that I was exhausted and my bank account was not growing as I had hoped.
One Saturday morning as I was getting ready to work on one of my side hustles, my body just said NO! I was too exhausted to continue. That’s when I had to take a step back and look at things differently. For the first time I asked myself – If you could have it all, what would that look like? That’s when I decided to build the foundation of my company - The Boundless Mindset Inc. I provide coaching and consulting for women of colour who want to start their own business. Working in the employment sector, I came across many women of colour who had the desire to start their own businesses but instead were stuck in unfulfilling jobs. They felt that starting a business was too complicated, they didn’t know how to do it. Knowing the freedom and fulfillment having your own business can provide, I decided to dedicate my services to helping ambitious WOC to become an empowering force and launch a lucrative online business they’ll love. I was able to leave my 9-5 in 2019 and focus on my business full-time. Now instead of having 3 different side hustles, I run a business that provides multiple streams of income
What were the biggest initial hurdles and how did you overcome them?
One of the mistakes I made early on was thinking that I could do everything by myself. This limited my ability to grow the business. Now I recommend to all my clients to work with experts that can help them take their business to the next level.
What books are you currently reading?
New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers
Start-up by Eric Ries
What do you know today that you wish you would have known when you first got started?
Everything that is considered a barrier can also be an advantage.
What advice would you give to an upcoming youth or talents locally and internationally?
To tune into their deep dreams and allow themselves to not resist the possibilities that those dreams hold.
To know that there’s no failure - only lessons to mastery
Fall in love with the process not the results
Social Media:
Facebook: @monaabow
IG: @the_boundless_mindset