A Chat With March's Profile, Jason Blake, founder/president, The Pond Guy, Inc.

We're installing a new bottling line so we can make pond dye. I'm still able to be hands-on and buy equipment and use equipment and have this manufacturing side of our business, which is really neat. So I think if I wasn't in retail, I'd definitely be in a manufacturing type business.

CS: What's the toughest challenge you've faced as a business owner, and how did you overcome that challenge?
JB: The big challenge was with our growth spurt. I didn't really understand the catalog business and I was getting to that point where my circulation was getting so big. Before, I could print my catalogs, throw them in the trash and still be in business. I always had that luxury. It was kind of like, ‘If it made money, it made money. I didn't have to live on it.’ That period between when I started printing so many catalogs and mailing them that if each drop wasn't successful, we could be out of business. That time in my life was a challenge.