'Shopaholic' Finds Small Business Niche
Jody Steinhauer’s small business has come a long way since she started it from her apartment with $1,000 two decades ago.
The Bargains Group, a Toronto-based discount clothing wholesaler, sells about 5,000 clothing products to retailers, as well as providing branded promotional items to other small and medium-sized firms and charitable organizations.Steinhauer, who mentors and often speaks to women entrepreneurs, has also garnered numerous awards, including Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year (innovation category) and Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.
“I was a huge disappointment to my family because of my education,” the company’s president and CEO says. “I have a whole family of doctors and lawyers and I was a 98-per-cent (average) student. When I said I was going to fashion school, they all kind of looked at me.
“It took me a long time – especially my grandparents – to convert them, to make them understand that I went to fashion school, I graduated No. 1 (in the class), I had the pick of jobs and within three years I was making double or triple than my cousins, who were doctors and lawyers. In my speeches, I talk a lot about that passion.”
No comments yet.
Leave a Reply