An Eye for Winners, An: How I Built One of America's Greatest Direct-Mail Businesses--And So Can You [Paperback]

Lillian Vernon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 1997

In 1951, 24-year-old Lillian Hochberg was looking for a way to stay at home with her family and supplement her household income. With an investment of $2000 in wedding gift money, she decided to start a mail-order business which she named after her town of Mount Vernon, New York. More than 47 years later, Lillian Vernon Corp. ships $240 million worth of goods to 4.6 million customers annually. The company's current database contains 19.4 million names.

In "An Eye for Winners," Vernon explains how her intuitive flair for business, uncanny knack for spotting the right merchandise and dedication to basic entrepreneurial principles helped her build her business slowly and sanely. Throughout the book, she provides simple, good advice such as: "Don't take any money out of the business for a while -- put it back in, and don't get too far in debt." and "I wouldn't sell anything I wouldn't use myself." She talks about how, when the business grew, she continually faced new challenges, making financial decisions, marketing decisions, and managerial decisions even as she raised a family and ran a household. On the more personal side, she tells the story of her family's escape from Nazi Germany and talks about her childhood as an immigrant in the United States, her marriages, her loves and her children.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vernon, one of the nation's best-known merchandisers, here presents an ingenuous self-portrait. Born to wealth in Germany, her family fled Nazi persecution, settling first in Holland, then briefly in Palestine, before arriving in New York City, where they built their fortune anew. After she married, to make extra money for her growing family she began a mail-order business at her home in suburban New York. For many years she ran the entire show, relying on her "golden gut" to select the products, which are primarily aimed at the middle-aged wife who works outside the home. Successes include the "Hurry Door Knocker" for families with only one bathroom and crocheted snowflakes for a Christmas tree; the average order totals around $50. How does Vernon account for her success? A single-minded devotion to business and a lot of hard work. Unfortunately, the book seems to have been written in haste and includes some confounding contradictions: e.g., she claims alternately two primary residences. Yet as the unselfconscious disclosures of a terribly ambitious woman, the book has the power to absorb readers.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Vernon offers a step-by-step, how-to book on creating your own mail-order business wrapped snugly inside a larger autobiography detailing a great American success story. Readers can follow her from Nazi Germany to the United States, through two marriages, to the rapid growth of a mail-order business that started with an ad in Seventeen. At times, Vernon the writer is as entertaining, engaging, and straightforward as her own Lillian Vernon catalog. Writing as clear as this in a book about business is a treasure in itself; a lesser writer could put readers to sleep with details of the monogrammed belts and bags and the quest for precious Christmas ornaments and other baubles. Vernon gives us an attractive mix of the best of sound business advice with a compelling personal story told from the heart and delivered concisely. The reader learns what it feels like to have a passion for business. Recommended for all public libraries.
Randy L. Abbott, Univ. of Evansville Libs., Ind.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (November 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887308791
• ISBN-13: 978-0887308796
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,204,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I highly recommend this book. Great inspiration for me., February 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: An Eye for Winners: How I Built One of America's Greatest Direct-Mail Businesses (Hardcover)

From the beginning, I was hooked. Excellent reading. Inspiring for anyone wishing to start their own business or is a business owner. As a small mail order business owner, I found this book to be a good look at what it takes to be an entreprenuer as well as some of the difficulties that we (as business owners) often face. Becky McAllister, BBB, Lt

3.0 out of 5 stars A quick but informative read, March 19, 2003

By 

Ledazan (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Eye for Winners: How I Built One of America's Greatest Direct-Mail Businesses (Hardcover)

Apparently there is a lot more to home business than meets the eye. Lillian Vernon's story illustrates the challenges and exhilarations she faced juggling her business, personal and family relationships. This book is a good overview of a personal success story, from the point of view of a woman who was only looking to earn a little extra cash and instead amassed an empire.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The article posted was inspiration enough, done very well., June 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: An Eye for Winners, An: How I Built One of America's Greatest Direct-Mail Businesses--And So Can You (Paperback)

The book maybe a fantastic voyage of discovery into not just mail-order, but into discovering fulfilment for all those desirous of doing so. Lilian Vernon has subtly personified what many men & women aspire to be and do. It's commendable what the indomitable spirit of a human being when pushed that bit harder can achieve.