Joseph’s future looks bright after Empower Works support
24-year-old Joseph Davison is thriving in his new job after a successful work trial in a state-of-the-art factory.
Empower Works
I've turned my hobbies into a start-up
A games fan has combined their hobbies into a start-up business with help from the Empower Works programme.
Teddy, 20, from North Shields loves sewing, and is a big fan of the Five Nights at Freddy’s video game series and film.
So they’ve set up an online store selling beautifully hand-sewn plushies based on the animatronic characters from the series.
Their shop is called The Prize Counter – named after a gift shop from the series – and can be found on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ThePrizeCounter.
Teddy says: “I’ve been making things for almost as long as I can remember.
"I started with doll clothes when I was younger, then moved to plushies. More recently I’ve moved onto sewing costumes and my own clothes."
“I’ve been a fan of Five Nights at Freddy’s since 2016 – I was actually terrified of the game at first. For ages I didn’t even play, just binged Game Theory videos and listened to fan-made music.
“Then the movie was announced and FNaF kind of took over my life for a bit. A single golden Freddy figure became a collection that covers the entire surface of my desk, part of the floor, and with the plushies now requires another shelf.”
Teddy joined Empower Works in the hope of finding regular work that would suit them. They had briefly worked in retail last Christmas but found it overwhelming, and have also worked as an actor and made props and costumes.
"I mostly wanted an employment programme that was both, ‘OK, here is how you get into work’ but also ‘Yes, we’ll take your interests into account’."
“Going into my first meeting with my employment adviser Jenny Hynes, I mentioned how I liked sewing as a hobby and how I’d made FNaF plushies for my younger siblings.
“She asked if I wanted to pursue that as a business .. and here we are.”
Jenny put Teddy in touch with Vicki Stone from On The Up which supports start-ups, to learn more about the business side. “Both of them have been so tremendously helpful and I’m super grateful for them,” Teddy says.
Teddy has seven different characters on their store so far, and can cater to requests and custom-made plushies.
“For now, I’m happy to keep The Prize Counter small from my room,” they say. “If demand does get higher, I’d hope people who wanted a plushie from me would appreciate and like the fact that I am just one person.”
Employment adviser Jenny said she could see how talented Teddy was right from their first meeting. “It made sense to try to make a business out of this hobby,” she says.
“Teddy put all the hard work in and I’m sure The Prize Counter will be a success.”
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