A fax machine and a dream

By Carolyn Sloan

The Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

If the definition of an entrepreneur is someone who creates something from nothing, then Lawrencetown’s Patti and Barrie Watson’s picture should be somewhere nearby.

When the couple first started MFI Publishing 11 years ago, they began with a fax machine, a kitchen table, two chairs and a phone. In that first year, they travelled 80,000 kilometres, covering every inch of the province to establish their business. At that time, their company had 12 suppliers. It now has 1800.

And yet, when they announced that they would be moving from Edmonton, Alberta to rural Nova Scotia, it didn’t go over too well.

“When we were leaving, everybody said, ‘You’re crazy!,” Barrie explains. “’Nobody goes from Alberta to Nova Scotia!’”

But for the Watsons, moving from west to east couldn’t have been a saner choice. As both had grown-up with parents in the service, they wanted their own children to have a real home base in an area with strong family values and a safe environment.

Patti had been raised in the Maritimes, and felt an affection for the Valley in particular. After a visit to Nova Scotia in February of 1997, Barrie agreed that it was a place to call home. It wasn’t long before the extended family followed their lead. In fact, Barrie’s mother, who had been living in England, moved to Nova Scotia sight unseen.

“We like having family here,” says Barrie.

“We wanted to establish a family base because we didn’t have that growing up,” adds Patti.

At first, the Watsons looked for employment in the area, but when nothing came up, they decided to go to work for themselves, creating a promotional products business that combined their professional experience in the field of advertising and marketing.

“It was something we both knew,” Barrie explains. “It was something that was able to be started from scratch.

“We went anywhere and everywhere to try and create business... [We’d even go down the dirt roads], and mine were the only tracks in the snow at times.”

From those early days of MFI, the two have expanded the business to include things like work wear lines and uniforms, and can supply just about any customized promotional product within the realm of imagination. The bigger the challenge, the more fun they have. The Watsons will also create logo designs for the clients, as well as do some of the graphic design themselves, though they also employ designers on a freelance basis.

“We do love what we do,” says Patti. “Our stuff is cool. There’s nothing we can’t get.

“In our industry, because we sell everything under the sun, you have to have a great deal of product knowledge.”

“It’s not just sticking your logo on everything,” Barrie explains. “It’s really about finding the right product for what they want to achieve.”

Now selling to clients all over Canada, many of whom have been loyal buyers for years, the Watsons credit much of their success to their unwaivering commitment to customer satisfaction, including their willingness to work within any budget.

“We always stand behind what we do,” says Barrie. “If the client’s not happy, it gets sorted.”