Catching up with myself, and thinking about small businesses

This week I found myself doing something a little different from my “norm.”  The commercial work done was for a company that manufactures industrial equipment.  That’s something really different!

What I found really interesting were my conversations with the owners of the place.  Successful business owners branching out into a new field.  The products being produced are products they’ve used in their other business.  And when an opportunity arose to start making the equipment they took it.

In talking with them I heard myself more than once.  The challenges of starting up.  Getting the right equipment, right vendors, and positioning for growth.  The time you feed into doing a new venture, and the hope it all pays off.

Of course, the line of work they’re in is much more capital intensive than my business.  I don’t have to order in large quantities of raw materials.  I don’t have a sizable staff.  Seeing the manufacturing process and all that goes into in (hand tooled components right there on location) I can’t even hazard a guess at what each unit should cost!

My job was to help tell their story, and I hope I achieved it.  I admire what they’re doing, and the staff that makes it happen.  We spent a day photographing the final products on a seamless white screen.  Catalog material.  But then we spent the next day photographing “environmental images.”  The components, some of the machines used for tooling, a guy bending steel, some welding, and some cutting.  Is that enough to give clients the story of “hand made in the USA?”  I hope it is, and I look forward to seeing their final marketing material that comes out of the shoot.

What I took away from the shoot was a little inspiration.  I know I’m not alone in building a business during a weak economy.  Watching what these guys do made me remember that I’m not alone, and in fact people are continually trying to grow on their own as well.