Lisa Dyck and Heidie Janzen are reluctant recipients sharing the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Morden Chamber of Commerce.
The founders of Shear Bliss have guided the business’s growth for nearly a quarter century, but they very much want to share the honour with everyone who has or still is working with them.
“It’s very interesting to be recognized as an entrepreneur when you’re in a partnership because it is different from being an individual entrepreneur,” said Dyck.
“I also feel like it’s interesting because I feel like we’ve got such a team at Shear Bliss … it’s a little uncomfortable to be sort of singled out … it does feel like more a team award for us.”
“Honestly, this is not just for Lisa and I. This is for our entire team, and this is for all of those who have been a part of Shear Bliss for the last 23 and a half years. We are who we are today and the success we’ve had is because of all of us. Through the years, we have built it up.”
“It’s taken every person who has been a part of the Shear Bliss history and the Shear Bliss family to create what we have today.”
Dyck and Janzen recalled starting the business in the back of what was then Java Junktion across from Dairy Queen with four people in just 600 square feet of space.
“After a short time, we knew that space was not going to work,” Dyck said. “It was just just too small for us. We had outgrown it.”
After above five years, they then moved to their current location on Fifth Street in 2007, and 2018 then brought about a remodel and addition to that space.
They have continued to expand to offer a wide range of services, with one major change being the addition of day spa services in 2019. Nurse practitioner Cindy Fehr of Natural Beauty also came on board to use space at the salon for her services focusing on women’s health and medical aesthetics.
“It seems to be a continually growing thing,” said Dyck, who again emphasized everyone is in it together.
“It is very much a team effort her,” she said. “Without a great team of stylists and support team, without the clients, there is no business like this.
“We are service-based, so we completely rely on the people who can provide the service and the people who need the service.”
Janzen called the honour very humbling, and she said it is interesting to pause and think about how far the business has come.
“If someone had said to Lisa and I this is where you will be 23 years from now, I would be like how … I don’t think I ever really thought that this is where we would be.
“We created Shear Bliss really out of a need to create a space where we could give our customers the customer service that they deserved,” Janzen said, noting they wanted to provide the kinds of services people then were only finding in Winnipeg. “And in the midst of us having babies … at that time, we were in our young 20s … that’s what we decided we needed to do.”
Janzen said they don’t go looking for recognition, but it is nice when it comes your way.
“It’s very nice to be recognized by your peers, and I think that’s why the chamber award means so much.”
Check out next week’s Voice for our spotlight on the remaining winners.
