As we celebrate our 20th year in business, my mind wanders back to some of the early years. What kind of start does it take to survive 20 years in business? Our start was frugal, fun, persistent and filled with a passion for what we did.

In the early years, we had a mail-order business of artifact and fossil reproductions. In order to offer our clients unique pieces, we had to be creative in financing the business start up. We bartered, we negotiated and we sold wherever we could. We once traded a very cool buffalo skull for our supplies. I miss that skull. I actually skinned the buffalo myself. It was meaningful. We negotiated royalties with other fossil collectors in order to add their pieces to our catalog.

We went to tradeshows, flea markets, reenactments or anywhere we thought people might buy our wares. For one particular show, we filled the back of the little Sonoma pick up truck with our reproductions, sleeping bags and our dog and drove to Ohio for an event. We slept in the back of the truck. A friend’s parent lived nearby and brought us sandwiches.

All in all we sold our reproductions all over the world. Part of our income was the $2.00 people sent us for the catalog. During this time we were also attempting to establish more opportunities with our museum clients. We got a job here and there, but the mail-order business supplemented our start up. The reproductions showed the museum world the quality of our work. It got our name out there. We loved teaching others about history, too.

I have a notepad with these six steps of goal setting written in it. I think it is a combination of Stephen Covey and Napoleon Hill. **

1. Have a burning desire.

2. Decide what to invest in and what to give up.

3. Set a date.

4. Develop a plan.

5. Write it down.

6. Read it twice a day.**

I did not follow these to a T. Yet, I still practice many of them today. I see a bunch of these steps in the early years. It works and life can be grand when you achieve your goals. Never give up.