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

CS: During the course of your career, have you had any mentors for guidance or been a mentor for anyone?
JB: Well, I’ve helped a lot of people with ideas and stuff, including my ex-partner, who’s also still in the catalog business. I just find that most people rely too much on “experts” that have never gotten their fingernails dirty. And I think it’s like anything: If you take a watch apart there’s so many little screws and cogs and springs. And when they’re in a pile they don’t mean anything. You have to know how to assemble them to make it work. It’s like any business. Obviously you need somebody that wants what you have, but given that, the rest of it’s really mechanical. That’s how I see it — pure logic. I don’t go to any of the DMA things; I went once a long time ago to New York and I listened to all of these people … and like half of them are broke. The latest of which was Sharper Image. And I kept saying, “Who the hell is going to buy that stuff?” I mean, I wouldn’t buy it.
I don’t have a personal jet. What the hell do I need it for? I mean, I’ve had an airplane in my past, I know how to fly. And what a pain. Besides that, it’s too expensive. I don’t ego trip in that way. All it really amounts to is a lot of hard work. And if you’re willing to do it, rewards come your way. I’m not evangelical about it. I don’t know when I had my last vacation. But then again, I guess my job’s my hobby.