Make Me a Match Need a manufacturer that understands you and your business? Research is key.

You've got a great product idea. Now, how do you find a manufacturer? For leads, first go to your industry's manufacturing association, says Joe Rodriguez, senior managing partner of Global Innovation Leadership Inc., a manufacturing consulting company. "Those associations usually have good lists of who does contract manufacturing," he says. "That's a good [way] to find out who's who in a particular industry."

For Pamela Barsky, manufacturing has mostly been a learn-as-she-goes proposition. When she started out, the Los Angeles entrepreneur made her eponymous line of funky luggage tags, journals, buttons and stationery from home. Today she does business with manufacturers--both domestic and in Asia--to create her bevy of products.