The period 1971 to 1973 was a period of chaos in the history of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the Canadian Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies (CCES). Both were joined at the hip, and both were needed to pay my salary. But both made history. At the time, however, it was a matter of accommodating change and meeting new challenges. Our offices were our first challenge.
The CFIB was first located on Mt. Pleasant Road, and we shared the space with Leslie Rebanks, an architect, who was later to design our building at 4141 Yonge St. Then as I ran out of space on Mt. Pleasant, I rented a house about a block away on Eglinton Avenue. Our best office facilities were those of the Centre at the Ryerson University with space to spare. I moved back and forth between my CFIB and CCES facilities.
By the spring of 1973, my instincts told me that CFIB was going to start growing at some point during the year. We had a functioning division in Ontario and the other two divisions in the Prairies and BC were starting to build membership. Every time we hired a new District Manager anywhere, I went out to speak to a Rotary Club in his area to help him build memberships. It was like putting $1,000 in his pocket.
Yes, in those days, only “hims” applied to work for us. Hiring DMS who could make a living was my simple strategy. I was working night and day and seven days a week. But, everything was coming together.
We bought a building on Coldwater Rd., near Leslie and York Mills, and again my father came to the rescue and offered to put a $90K second mortgage on the building to help us finance it. But during the four-month period between signing the offer to purchase and the closing, the CFIB bank account jumped by the amount of the second mortgage. I couldn’t believe what was happening at the time.
The rapid growth soon became a media frenzy. And suddenly CFIB was the story and not John Bulloch.
Success with a new venture is not really a planning process although you do a lot of planning. The challenges come at you in unending waves. During the first three years of the CFIB start-up process, I seemed to be changing the business plan as often as I changed my underwear. Success is really about innovation and perseverance. Friendly parents are also helpful.