As part of the Morning Lazziness series about empowering women who encourage and do incredible things with their ideas in society, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jody Steinhauer.
Jody Steinhauer, President and CBO of Bargains Group, has transformed her discount wholesale and promotional products company into a multi-million dollar business. Known for her belief that “giving back makes great business sense,” Jody also founded Engage and Change, a charity helping Toronto’s homeless, and Kits For A Cause, a social enterprise connecting charities with groups through kit-packing events. With numerous accolades, including RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, Jody is a trailblazer in both business and philanthropy, driving impactful change in every endeavor she pursues.
Here’s what we found out about Jody’s daily routine, followed by an exclusive Q+A.
What inspired you to become an entrepreneur and what sparked the idea for your business?
I actually never thought of being an entrepreneur. I just whenever I worked for anybody, I always ran it like it was my own business. So that’s just, that’s just what I did. And when
one of the last bosses I worked for, I ran his division, he ran into financial difficulty, it suddenly left me with a choice of, well, I could do this all over again, or I could just put my name on the door. So I think it came from timing and the opportunity that was there.
I also recognize what’s the worst thing that happened? It didn’t work, and I would get a job and do the same thing over again,
I’m so inspired. I love what I did every single day, and I figured it’s a great I can just continue and do it and do it on my own, if that makes sense.
And really, what did I love doing? I loved shopping. I loved finding a bargain, whether it be for myself for being a very large, large job lots that I bought for on behalf of my clients. And then I also love teaching people how to make money and how to market these amazing bargains.
As a woman navigating the business world, what challenges have you faced, and how do they overcome with them?
So I don’t love the financial and and that part of the business, nor was I good at it.
I recognized that, for example, when I needed to establish bank loans and everything, I didn’t really know how to go about it. So my father had retired and enjoyed my team as my controller. So I decided, instead of me meeting with a bank and and coming across like I didn’t notice a time when I sent him in and said, Go get me a six figure line of credit. And he did. He walked in, he negotiated exactly what we needed. He came back. And the joke was, the bank just assumed he owned the business, and they didn’t even ask him, and he was just, you know, an employee in the business.
Second, if I’m not good at send the best person in the job for doing that. Which feeds into the next question, how do you balance the demands of running a business, maintaining a healthy personal life. I don’t think there is such thing as balance, but I do think there’s a point of recognizing what is important. What do I have to make sure I do, and hopefully majority of those things are things that I like doing.
If it comes to anything to do with my family, and I have to, you know, be at specific events for the kids or my husband. I live by my calendar, and I make sure that those are non-negotiable times, and I try and geta listing of everything that is going on, and I’ve trained them to let me know months of advance. If you know something’s going on and I have to be there, please make sure it’s in my calendar so that I don’t ever, ever disappoint. So that’s something that’s really, really important.
And the same thing goes for when you say a healthy personal life, I have a lot of health practitioners that are very important to keeping me like a well oiled machine. So I schedule a year appointments in advance with all of them. Yes, sometimes they have to be moved around, but if they’re in my calendar and blocked off every January, then when I have other commitments, I can book around those so health and family are the are the two most critical ones that I’ve had to make sure that I pay the attention to them they needed. Then, on top of that, in order to do all of the day to day things, e.g running, my personal life and my family, cooking, cleaning, errands, all of that. I don’t love doing that. I have a housekeeper who drives and she’s responsible for literally running the house, buys the groceries, does the cooking, you know, helps me pick up the errands, do the things that they have to do. And she’s a godsend, because I don’t like to do those things, and I’m not good at them, so I’ve got someone who does she’s great at them, and it allows me to do more with the things that I need to do.
Regarding business, making sure that I’ve got time booked with every one of my team members every single week, that time is sacred. Again, it’s all about time blocking the calendar and making sure that they know that they’ve got time with me in case the week runs away and they’ve got to talk about something, and I know that I’ve also got time with them. So those are just some of the many time management skills that I’ve used to help, help, help me, run my business, run my family and run my personal lifein the best way I possibly can.
I’m all about efficiencies and effectiveness, and it really is troublesome for some people. They don’t like it, but it’s the way that I’ve chosen to run my life and again, anything that I’m not good at, outsource it.
Which networking strategies have most effectively built meaningful connections within your industry?
To figure out what are the most important groups that I belong to, both online and in person, and because there’s quite a few now, I can’t be at every single thing, so I try and make sure that at least a couple times a year I’m face to face with those networks. I try and attend as many you know, Zoom presentations or meetings they possibly can. And I’m constantly looking for, you know, new places and groups where I can both learn and add value to that would be enjoyable. The days of going to something because you have to and you don’t want to…I’ve chosen not to do that if I don’t think I’m going to learn something or see a group of people that are really important that I see or have fun, I’ve chosen not to do those anymore.
How do you approach mentorship? How has it shaped your entrepreneurial path?
I love both mentoring and being mentored, and I’ve done this my entire life. I currently mentor three people, and I’m always being mentored by people in both peer group situationsand people that I’ve reached out to in my network that have an area of expertise that I’d really love to learn from. I’m not a mentor for my overall everything I do, but for a specific area that I want help in, or I want to learn more I want to grow in. And I really think it’s important that you have that kind of network that you can reach out and ask for help, but you also have to reach out and give help to those that need your help also and can gain from your experiences.
What strategies have worked best for selling your products and reaching your ideal customers?
I have several different types of clients, but I think tone of he best strategies I’ve ever used is be authentic and help them. I’m not interested in selling them anything they don’t need. I truly only want to help them with products that they’re either going to satisfy the needs they have or make more money with. Even if they choose a product that I don’t think is right, I will be honest with them, and I train my people to be honest with them and say I don’t think that’s the right choice. I’m happy to take your order if you’d if you’d like, but this is what I would recommend instead, and why. And people you know truly are grateful for the honesty, which sadly, I think is very unique these days.
Also – telling stories are a great strategy…like a blog, but on the phone or in person! Thereally telling, the best strategies I have are telling stories that the person can relate to of a similar type of client and what the problem was and what, what solution we solved for them.
Which marketing techniques have been most successful for your business, and how do you track their performance?
Our biggest marketing is awareness and just again, letting people know what we do, price point is really important, and showing pictures. Iused to be fax broadcasting we sent to our clients, but now it’s, you know, eblasts every week.
From a marketing perspective, LinkedIn has been fantastic for telling stories about what we do and who we’re helping.
People, see in a different way on LinkedIn and all forms of social media. (I think the key word is constantly evolving) What worked last year or two years ago may not work as well this year, so constantly having to change. But what we’re really grateful for is something called Google. We don’t reach out to a lot of clients. Most of them find us on Google.We are SO r grateful for search engines that we’re looked at as a thought leader in our space, and Google directs people when they search to our site.
Last, speaking at conferences. I love getting on stage and speaking and telling stories, because people tend to really resonate with what I say and then really understand how we can help them. That’s another strategy – maximizing PR, and speaking.
What was your greatest business challenge, and what were the steps you took to overcome it?
COVID for everybody was a setback. But you can imagine, overnight stores were closed. They didn’t need product, and charities didn’t know how they were going to even operate, and my social enterprise, KITS FOR A CAUSE, was shut down immediately. I turned it into an opportunity when we w were known for our reputation of distribution, and we got a call from the government and asked us if we could distribute PPE supplies for them. We were very fortunate. We turned into technically selling five items overnight. And as COVID started to become the norm, we started to recognize and rebound from the other businesses, and we rekindled kits for cause to be able to have a hybrid or a virtual element to it, because so many people were then working from home, and companies wanted them to feel connected. That, by far, was the most significant setback. Also, in the last 12 months, another big setback has been the exodus of people from the not for profit and charitable sector, just leaving and burning out and not having kind of a handover to the next person, or persons to say, here’s who’s our partner in basic needed supplies for homeless shelters. Imagine, these new people are coming into jobs, not knowing where to go, where to look, and, quite frankly, just blowing a lot of money and shopping retail. That’s a big setback that we’re having to kind of re meet all these people all over again. But we’re, we’re aware of it, and we’re, we’re reconnecting as we speak,
What’s the most important advice you’d give to women just starting their entrepreneurial journey?
You can double down and say, you know, if you’re not good at it, you don’t love it. Yeah, so I’d say key piece of advice that’s perfect because…having your own business is a huge, huge commitment. It it’s very exciting and can be very rewarding, but it’s a hell of a lot of work. If you aren’t absolutely in love with everything that you’re going to be doing, and you’re that kind of person that you sit down to start doing it, and all of a sudden you look beside your clock and 20 hours has gone by. If that’s not what you’re doing, then find something else. Because in order for people to be successful, I truly believe in these days, they have to be beyond passionate about what they’re doing; that it becomes part of their ethos. I see too many people starting businesses because they think there’s a financial opportunity, but they’re not really passionate about it. In the end, they lose interest, they lose focus, and that idea then just gets put onto a shelf. Couldyou do it seven, seven days a week, 24 hours a day? Could you think you’re going to wake up every morning and be really excited about doing it every day? If the answers are yes, then absolutely you’re in the right place. But if the answers are no, then find something else, because it will not, it will not last, in my opinion,
And the other thing is, recognize that there’s sacrifices. If you’re going to start your own business, in most cases, there’s you’re going to have to sacrifice. The biggest sacrifice is time. So just recognize that that is normal, and not everybody understands that. So understand you’re going to have to not go for dinner one night because you’ve got a huge project that you’ve got to get done. That’s just the way it is. But if you love what you do and you’re passionate about it, it will all work out.
