I was at an inventor’s meeting recently. I ran into one of the success stories—the guys who “made it”—have a product widely available on the market and appear to be profitable. Always excited to learn from those further down the road from me, I asked his advice on whether to mass produce. That’s the step we have in front of us. I appreciate honesty but even this may have been more honesty than I was prepared for…

“It (the business) will eat you up. You’ll be on the phone at 1:00 AM working, and then for the rest of the day. And you’ll be trying to make pay-roll every single week. And all I wanted to do was make things. And the large stores will order 20,000 and then change their mind. And then an order will be stuck at the harbor when there’s a Longshoreman Strike. And you’ll miss the main selling season. And you’ll be expected to pay for orders that a big store sends back to you. And you’ll wish you licensed your product. Why would you start a business?!”

Or as my wise nephew said, “those who succeed at start-ups, eat nails for breakfast.” I feel like I’m eating my nails for breakfast. And it’s OK. It’s what I signed up for. I’m in the right place. Let’s keep moving forward. Like our motto, slow, steady, forward.