By: Brandon Beal, CameraShine
Starting a business wasn’t new to me. I’ve owned service and installation companies, spent years in the security industry, and climbed the corporate ladder. I knew what it took to build something from the ground up but launching CameraShine was a whole different game. In a service business, success comes from skill, relationship building, and efficiency. If you show up, do good work, and build a solid reputation, you grow.
Manufacturing? That’s a different beast.
This past year has been filled with lessons, challenges, and unexpected realities I never faced in my previous businesses. Some days were incredible. Others were humbling. Through it all, I learned that building a product company is a marathon, not a sprint.
Here are five of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my first year running a manufacturing business:
1️. Your Product Won’t Sell Itself
I’ve built businesses before, but selling a physical product has unique challenges. With a service-based business, customers see the value immediately. If they have a problem, you fix it, and they’re happy. But when you’re selling a product, especially one that introduces a new solution, you have to be on the front end of educating your customers. They need to recognize the problem before they even consider the solution.
I’ve been ghosted. I’ve had people say, “I’ll think about it” and never follow up. I’ve watched potential customers hesitate—not because they didn’t like the product, but because changing their process takes effort. Then, just when frustration sets in, a sale comes through—the one that reminds you why you’re doing this.
The hard truth? Sales is a grind. No matter how great your product is, if you’re not actively selling, you’re not growing.
2️. The Work Never Stops
I expected running a business to be demanding, but manufacturing is a never-ending puzzle. With my previous service businesses, I focused on selling, scheduling, and delivering. If I had good technicians and solid customers, things ran smoothly. With manufacturing, every step is a potential bottleneck:
- Do I have enough inventory?
- Will my supplier meet their deadline?
- How can I improve production efficiency?
- Are shipping costs cutting into profits?
And that’s just the operations side.
Then you have to sell, market, educate customers, build distributor relationships, and support existing clients—all while keeping production moving. It’s overwhelming. But here’s the trade-off: I own this. I get to build something real, and that makes the long hours all worth it.
3️. It Was a Bit Lonely
I’ll admit, this one caught me off guard. When you’re in the trenches, it’s easy to drift away from everything else. You miss social events. Your mind is always on the next challenge. You start feeling like no one understands what you’re going through. I’ve had moments where I felt completely disconnected—from friends, family, even myself. I’ve thought, does anyone actually care about the struggles of running a business?
And the truth? Most people don’t.
That’s not their fault—it’s just the reality of entrepreneurship. When you’re building something from nothing, you’re often on your own. I need to be more intentional about staying connected with the people who matter. I need to build a stronger network of entrepreneurs—because the only people who truly get it are the ones going through it, too.
4️. Manufacturing is Hard—Way Harder Than I Expected
Service businesses come with predictable challenges, whether be hiring, scheduling, pricing, and/or customer service. Manufacturing? Nothing is predictable.
Here’s what I’ve learned about making and selling a physical product:
- You’re at the mercy of suppliers. One delay can throw off your entire inventory plan.
- Up-front costs are brutal. Unlike a service business where you get paid as you work, manufacturing requires big investments before you ever see a dollar back.
- Margins shrink fast. Between raw materials, packaging, warehousing, and shipping, small mistakes turn into big losses.
- Scaling isn’t just about selling more. You have to scale production, inventory, and logistics at the same time.
I thought I understood business. Then I got into manufacturing, and it humbled me in a snap. But here’s the thing—I love the challenge. The process of solving these problems, making things better, faster, and more efficient, is what keeps me going.
5️. Gratitude Changes Everything
There were days this past year where I questioned if it was all worth it. But the thing that always kept me moving forward? Gratitude. Gratitude for the customers who believed in CameraShine. Gratitude for the distributors who gave me a chance. Gratitude for the hard lessons because every challenge has made me a better entrepreneur.
I won’t say this journey has been easy. It hasn’t. But I will say this: I wouldn’t trade it for anything. No matter how much work it takes, I get to wake up every day and build something real. That’s something I’ll never take for granted.
Looking ahead, year one of CameraShine is behind me and year two is just beginning. I know 2025 will bring new challenges, new mistakes, and new lessons. I know I’ll still struggle with balance. I know I’ll have days where I question everything, but I also know one thing for sure—I’m not stopping. At the end of the day, all you need is belief in what you’re building and that’s what makes it all worth it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brandon Beal is the CEO of CameraShine, a manufacturer of camera cleaning products and other video surveillance maintenance services. A 2024 recipient of industry innovation awards from ESX and Security Business Magazine, he brings nearly 20 years of sales management experience in his time with Honeywell, Stanley Black & Decker, and Securitas. When not busy developing the next great line of products, Brandon enjoys adventuring in the great outdoors and time with his family.