Today’s shrinking Army and competitive defense market mean that it might not be easy being green – or, rather, camouflage – as a business.However, for small businesses, the defense market and the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition itself can be especially challenging to break into.For this reason, we sat down with representatives from a handful of companies in AUSA 2014’s Small Business Pavilion to get their takes on diving head-first into AUSA and to gauge the shrinking Army’s impact on their livelihoods.BeaverFitBeaverFit co-founder Mike Taylor said the shrinking Army might actually be helping his company’s case."We actually try to present ourselves as a cost-savings initiative," he explained, saying that BeaverFit’s containers can provide the components of brick-and-mortar gyms at a much lower cost."Our company is basically a fitness company, but we manufacture and modify containers to create containerized gym solutions that the military can use as a annex to their current facility or package up and take on deployment with them," said the Navy reservist of his company, which is actually the child company of United Kingdom-based bridge company Beaver Bridges.A first-time AUSA exhibitor, Taylor praised the amount of traffic and direct access to key military leaders, and said he expected the challenge to be post-show follow-ups and building relationships with potential customers and the AUSA organization itself.He said he’d recommend exhibiting here, but advised small businesses not to take foot traffic for granted. He suggested contacting customers before the conference and making appointments during it to make the most of their time at AUSA.Nado ProductsMiguel Maldonado, co-owner (along with his wife Betty) and inventor behind Nado Products, came to AUSA to market a knee-pad holder for soldiers.His product was initially designed for use by the public, but he soon realized that troops were having similar difficulties with keeping their kneepads in place, with the pads sometimes falling down to soldiers’ ankles.By securing these pads, he says, his product helps protect soldiers’ knees.Maldonado, who previously attended AUSA, but who was a first-time exhibitor in 2014, called the event a good experience.Praising its professionalism and cleanliness, as well as the politeness of the crowd, he called it the "greatest show on earth."His advice for would-be small-business exhibitors?"If you believe in it, go for it," he said. "Do what you got to do to be here. That’s what we did; we put everything into it."Maldonado said he didn’t think the shrinking Army is affecting his company at all, and that, right now, he’s more concerned with breaking into the market – a feat he hopes AUSA can help him with."We’re a very small business – we’re actually considered a microbusiness, but, hopefully, after the show, things will start growing," he said.Molecular Products Inc.David Bostic, Sales Manager of Boulder, Colorado-based Molecular Products Inc., described his company as "a leading manufacturer of chemical technologies for the purification of air."He cited the company’s desire to grow its "government business, especially with the military" as a primary motivation for coming to AUSA 2014."We have some new products that are really geared towards what we perceive as requirements by the military, especially by the Army, so we’re here to display those products and connect with central customers," Bostic said.While he acknowledged the niche-ness of his firm and the automatic limitations that put on booth traffic, he said the company still made solid connections, some even unexpected.Bostic said that despite the Army’s shrinking side, threats involving biological, nuclear or chemical materials still exist, and, so, his company is "trying to fit into those categories where business is still possible."He said that "there’s a place" in AUSA for small businesses, but noted that the fee per square foot of exhibit space was the same for small firms and large ones."It would be nice if there was a tiered structure, you know, really for us to be able to participate at a lower level, but still participate," he said, explaining that conference and membership fees could create a cost barrier for small business budgets.National Defense CorporationMichael Moore of the National Defense Corporation, described the business as "a holding company that has five small businesses underneath, and all dedicated to the military and to the warfighter."He said it primarily works with things such as fusing, munitions, and Load, Assemble and Pack (LAP).While Moore says he’s been an avid AUSA visitor, having attended 30 years in a row, he said 2014 marked National Defense Corporation’s debut appearance as an exhibitor.He said it’s important to do a cost-benefit analysis of exhibiting at AUSA versus just attending, and said that "displaying makes a lot of sense" once a company becomes large enough.He also echoed Taylor’s belief in the power of preparation.In terms of the shrinking Army, he called the branch’s dwindling numbers "a challenge for everyone" at the moment, since funds are few and Army decision making is tougher.