A salesman at heart

Claude has sales in his blood. “There’s no problem with him,” assures his wife Jody. “He buys, he resells, he has incredible confidence, zero financial stress, resourceful as ten.” Initially responsible for customer service and warranties at Argon 18, a high-performance bicycle manufacturing company, Claude fell into the world of cycling like Obelix into the magic potion. He can never get enough.

Opportunities abound, and he grabs them by the scruff of the neck! “I think I went around the show in Las Vegas forty times where they were selling the bikes, just to collect the free stickers! I made ten or fifteen thousand dollars reselling them on eBay .” By 2004, Claude had already captured the power of online resale sites. “I would go into stores and ask them what they wanted to get rid of, end of line items, that kind of thing. I started flooding PAC and Kijiji with all sorts of bike parts and items. Even the stores would call me to complain!”

I also started buying tires. I sold at least twenty thousand dollars' worth of them." His girlfriend remembers... "In the apartment we had just rented, they were everywhere: in the shed, on the terrace, even in the owner's garage. We called it the tire forest !"

A dairy bar, an organic basket farm, an amusement center, mobile homes?

A little earlier, Jody's sister, a professional racer who was sponsored by Argon 18, had crossed paths with Claude. Always a joker in his back pocket, he had handed her (by mistake) his old diving instructor card. A medal of youth. But it turned out that pretty Jody was also a former diving instructor, and single... Things didn't drag on. A month later, Claude announced to her that he saw her as the mother of his children. They quickly got engaged.

Travelers, enthusiasts and lovers, they had only one desire: to live the life , at a hundred miles an hour! They then made an offer to buy a diving center in Key West, and another in Panama. Then a dairy bar. A farm that sells organic baskets. A factory that makes mobile homes. A children's amusement center. An acquisition, please!

When their friend Dany Papineau, founder of WeChalet , offered them the chance to buy a house and rent it on the side , they jumped at the chance. But their apartment quickly became too small: baby number one was on the way. Just a month before the birth, they were moving into the house. They had to find another plan.

Complementary entrepreneurs

In 2015, Claude was officially selling cars for BMW. But his love affair with bikes stuck to his skin, and the thrill of online sales too. He then founded High End Bike Discount (now Lafo Bikes , which they both own). Two months later, he quit his full-time job. “We resell surplus inventory of bikes online, a bit like a Winners of bikes, but really high-end, with rare niche products that I bring in from Italy, New Zealand or Japan. We are the second top dealer for Colnago, which has just won the Tour de France for the second year in a row.” Claude sees himself in the success of his suppliers. His basement is also full of rare gems.

The couple quickly split up their tasks. He takes care of customers, packaging, shipping and social media. “When the post office is closed, I’m on vacation! That doesn’t happen often.” She takes care of management, marketing and finances. The house, and the babies too, there are now two of them. “When Enzo was born, I never went back to work for someone else,” smiles Jody. It must be said that the young mother is as comfortable as a fish in water. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs all self-employed, with a bachelor’s degree in management in her pocket and significant experience in economic development with CAE, then regional manager for Femmessor, she knows the game .

Claude reassures her, he knows his business. He gives her the confidence to get started. She gives him stability and knowledge. "Without each other, we wouldn't be able to run the business."

5 modern and balanced businesses

Pregnant with Jaz, Jody had trained in yoga and had become a teacher. "It's funny, we complement each other but are different. When I met Claude, there was How to be a millionaire and Peak Performance in his library, and Eckart Tolle or Mathieu Ricard in mine!" This year, she has just launched Moi & Jody and created the first edition of the Inspira Festival . "She's a wonder woman ," her boyfriend admits without any difficulty, grateful, his eyes misty with love.

Since 2019, the entrepreneurial couple fly . They bought iGrip Store , which sells screw-in crampons, and Flashlight world , the largest reseller of professional flashlights in Canada, notably used by government institutions, the army and the police, in addition to all outdoor enthusiasts, for whom, moreover, they offer clothing and accessories with their most recent acquisition, Laurentian Trading .

The height of success is that the owners of these five businesses proudly add: “We are the only parents who pick up the children from daycare together at three o’clock.” Everything seems easy. “We manifest what we want.” Jody has managed to instill balance in Claude. “We have created paperless and decentralized businesses. There is a guy who takes care of customer service at home in Terrebonne, another in Vancouver, someone who manages the websites. There are warehouses in Laurier Station and Sainte-Thérèse that take care of pick, pack and ship . We don’t want our businesses to be dependent on us. It works even if we are not there.”

The couple is very proud of their success. Jody talks about adopting a cause that is close to their hearts, such as protecting forests in Canada. Who knows what's next for these entrepreneurs at heart? We wish them much happiness, success in their love life and in their business.