Kabuhayan | by Anjo
Ryan Benjamin never dreamed of coming to Canada.
His lola told him about life here. His parents made the move. But Ryan knew it wouldn’t be easy. “I was the last to arrive,” he says. “I knew how hard it was. I knew I’d end up doing hard labor.”
And he did. His first job was as a car mechanic. It was backbreaking work. He quit.
But Ryan didn’t stop trying.
He jumped into business. Selling light bulbs. Car accessories. You name it. “Lahat failure,” he admits. But each failure gave him one more reason to try again.
Then came COVID. While others panicked, Ryan saw an opening. He started printing t-shirts, stickers, banners. From a cramped apartment, he built something real. Every hour he was awake, he worked. “Kung gising ako, trabaho ako. Baka tulog pa ang kalaban ko.”
Eventually, Ryan went beyond printing. He started teaching others. Selling them machines, inks, ovens. Helping them launch their own shops.
“If they succeed, I succeed,” he says.
DTF Toronto now has locations in Ontario, Texas, and soon, Edmonton.
Ryan doesn’t want to retire. He wants to prove he can do it, help others do it too, and make sure people don’t give up just because they fail once. Or twice. Or ten times.
“Kung madali, lahat gagawa. Pero kung mahirap, konti lang. Pag ikaw ang natira, panalo ka.”
That’s the mindset that built his business.
