A Chat with June’s Profile, Justus Bauschinger, president/owner of Lilliput Motor Co. & Deutsche Optik

CS: What are the factors that have made your companies successful?
JB: Well, it was great good luck. It was the right thing at the right time … coupled with good luck.

CS: Was it your unique product line, your customer service, etc.?
JB: The thing is in both cases the product is unique. Now a lot of people have said that they liked our catalogs a lot. They liked the copywriting — we were very detailed with a sense of humor and it always was in a conversational tone as if I was talking to a customer on the phone or in person. But I think it’s all product. We always say here, “Where else are you going to get it?” Which on the one hand is good, but on the other hand doesn’t lend itself to mass merchandising. We’ve never had any bank debt; never used a bank for anything other than to deposit money and to write checks. Never had a loan. And there were lean years starting out, obviously.