Your Name: Jodi Goodfellow

Business Name: Fashion Forward, a website to buy and sell fashion accessories

Type of Business: Clothing & Accessories, E-Commerce

Business Location: Toronto, Canada

Website www.fashion-forward.ca
Twitter @IFASHIONFORWARD
Facebook www.facebook.com/IFASHIONFORWARD

Reason for starting
Two reasons. 1 – My co-worker had asked me to sell a wedding dress for her on Ebay and once I started looking into it I realized that the shipping fees outweighed the profitability. I then looked into consignment and realized that there would be 50-60% commission. I then began to wonder – what do women do with their wedding dress that they spend thousands of dollars on and wear once. There was a missing link here. 2 – I live in a Toronto condo and I like to shop every season. Space is a major issue. Despite donating much of my fashion, I tend to hold onto items that I no longer wear simply because of the value. Consignment stores aren’t very profitable – and shipping clothing to random people isn’t ideal (without being able to try stuff on). Again, there was a missing link. So I came up with Fashion Forward – a FREE Local Classified website for Fashion!

How do you define success?
Success is finding a solution to a problem. Success is being able to help others. Success is being committed to a passion.

Biggest Success
Making it happen. Fashion Forward started as an idea in 2010 and is now a fully functioning online business. It is amazing to me that this has all happened. It makes me happy every time I see new items posted on the website – because I realize that my idea is being utilized to help others Forward their Fashion and BE Fashion Forward!

What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it?
The top challenge has been finding ways to inform people about this website without breaking the bank on advertising/marketing. We have been using social media, have attended many networking events and have also hosted events of our own. This has been working well so far!

Who is your most important role model?
My parents. They are the most supportive, selfless people I know.