> 2. Getting a hit product isn't easy. Mostly it seems to be luck.

One weekend I had a surge traffic to my website. Then the orders started coming in. Finally I emailed one of the new subscribers to my email list to ask why scores of people had suddenly started searching for that term. She said a radio show host had told his listeners to go to google and search for that term.

Agree with your points about working locally. Arizona Archery's main business is injection molding; they take care of most of the my machining. Maybe I'll come see you some time.