Bravo Diane Lewis! Her Reflections of an Ex-Manufacturer piece in the January newsletter was excellent. I agree with everything she said and I wish that her piece could get more exposure in our community. The country needs more manufacturers -- people who create wealth -- not just move it around. If you are not making, mining or growing, you are not creating wealth. I hope that Diane's article gives at least a few entrepreneurs the mental push they need to begin producing their product. It isn't easy but the rewards and contributions to our society can be great.

Among the rewards of producing a quality product is some of the feedback that one gets from customers. Four days after the recent Los Angeles earthquake, I took a call from a gentleman whose home was 3 miles from the epicenter. His Sunchime had fallen during the quake and the top had chipped. He was very upset that his favorite Christmas present was damaged. Turns out that it was the least damaged thing in his home, but he really wanted to make it like new again! The largest part of success is customer satisfaction.

Other rewards come from seeing raw material turned into shippable product which usually turns into customers' checks which then goes to pay wages which then go into the local economy as well as paying suppliers who pay their wages and, of course, paying taxes, some of which go to help the country be the kind of place where people like us are free to do what we do. As Diane said, the money circulates, and I find it interesting and extremely gratifying to be part of the process.

Unfortunately emotional rewards do not pay the bills. They just provide support and encouragement to keep you going until the enterprise can provide some financial rewards. There are no guarantees that this will ever happen. If you plan on bootstrapping your manufacturing business, plan on getting paid last. Growth situations require capital for expansion. This capital comes from the gross margins generated by sales of your product. If your margins are such that you can grow at your desired (or forced) rate as well as pay yourself, more power to you. If not, then you will need to support yourself from some other source or draw on some of the money that was earmarked for expansion.

Mentally it can be pretty tough to work long, hard hours with no guarantee of success. The satisfaction of providing jobs, paying sales commissions, creating wealth, etc. has another side to it and that is the frustration of delayed compensation and the feeling sometimes that everybody is making money off your product except you. And that certainly is true when you plow the profits back into the enterprise. You must believe in yourself and stay on course. Self-discipline and mental toughness are two of an entrepreneur's best assets.

If bootstrapping is so tough why do it? Why not find investors who will fund the enterprise and pay your salary while the company grows? For many it is a question of ownership. If you bust your butt to create a profitable company, it would be nice to own the whole thing. For others, their idea may not interest investors. They may be the only ones who believe strongly enough in their idea to try to make it work. I have several friends who are a few years into startups and I hear repeatedly that they wish they had found a way to avoid selling equity up front.

I suppose it comes down to what you want out of your efforts. What are your dreams and expectations and what are you willing to do to get to where you want to be. Everyone must answer that question before starting out and answer it again many times along the way.