Customer Reviews

More Than a Hobby: How a $600 Startup Became America's Home and Craft Superstore

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David Green is a smart man, there is no doubt. "More Than A Hobby" profiles Green's background from his childhood through the present. He writes of the strong influence his parents had on his work ethic and the values that drive him to make a difference in the way his business is run.

He outlines how he found a void in the retail store in which he was employed and set out with some business partners to create the product and bring it to market. He describes the lean times he and his wife encountered and the faith that kept them going.

As we know, he built a successful business. What I wanted to hear was how he runs his inventory system and how they can possibly survive without a Point of Sale system. I was amazed how he specifically addressed my question and found his answer to be quite logical. (I hate to spoil the book for anyone reading this review...I tend write simply an overview of the book.)

I liked the book - it was an easy read and informative. I admire his business acumen and kudos to his wonderful successes. This is the kind of employer which should comprise our marketplace - that is, his logic, morals, faith and humanity toward employees are great characteristics. Unfortunately he and his business have fallen prey to the import of CHinese goods however can any US businesses survive today without importing from the Far East? His business dealings there are only logical with the bottom line always in mind - as well as his customers.

Read the book - it is interesting. It should be required reading for anyone studying business, marketing, retail management.

My wife "discovered" Hobby Lobby while I was training for my job in Oklahoma City several years ago. We were newly weds at the time, and my wife was far from home with no friends, and was very homesick. She enjoyed going in and looking around the store as an escape, and eventually took some classes there.

After a couple of weeks, we went to a local church to visit, and the most pleasant woman came up to us and greeted us. She was kind and charming, and was one of the very few that morning that truly made us feel welcome. She was Barbara Green.

At the time, we did not know that the Green's were the owners of Hobby Lobby. We learned later what you get a great sense of in this book. David and Barbara Green are genuine, good folks. Everything that Mr. Green espouses in his book is true, and he actually does live what he believes.

It is refreshing to read a book that goes against the grain of the cut-throat retail business and the politically correct landscape of America today. I enjoyed reading "Not Just a Hobby" very much, and did so in an afternoon. The book is very engaging and well written, in my opinion, and is just like sitting across the table from Mr. Green as he reminisces about his past and the lessons that he learned along the way. As a bonus, you get some sage advice for living, that you would do well to consider!

This book is good for anyone who likes to read a book where the good guy wins! I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone with a teenager who will soon enter the job market. If everyone would set their goals as high as Mr. Green did, and as he expects his employees to do, it would be a greater pleasure to go shopping.

Thanks, David, for writing this book, it is an inspiration. God bless you also for being a father and grandfather of principle, and for building God's kingdom in ways no one will ever know about but Him.

I thought the book would be the success story of Hobby Lobby but it is much more. The author's principles of retailing are solid practices that all retailers should adopt. That is the reason the store is a delight to shop.

I can't add much more to what the other reviewers have already said. I think anyone planning on being an entrepreneur would do themselves a great service by reading this book. Simple but powerful advice. The Lord has blessed Mr Green and his family by and through this business(es) and, they in turn, have blessed many others.

One thing I will say to Mr Green...your mother kept on asking 'How are you serving the Lord?' Well..you answered it, You see...all Christians are called into "full-time" Christian service - no matter what their vocations. We all can't be pastors, evangelists, etc - how else can those in these calling get paid if there are none of God's people earning money???????...but we all can serve Him (God) where we are "at". And the Greens have done and have shown that. For God is Lord over all. His mother would be proud (she went on to be with her Lord before Hobby Lobby even took off).

As I said above David Green has very good advice and anyone wanting to be successful in business can certainly learn a thing or two from him and his business operations. Truly it was, is and will be more than just a hobby.

If you are looking for a detailed book about retail that will teach you everything an MBA should know about it, this isn't it. However, it is so much more. Reading this book is very much like sitting down for a chat with a friend who just happens to be the founder of a very successful business. The book is written in a very down-to-earth, straight-forward format. David is a real person.

David Green talks about the history of Hobby Lobby. He also talks about the different decisions he has made and why. David Green and my father were very much alike. We had a small store and we always tried to make what we could rather than buy it. David explains how this is being a good steward of what God provides us.

In this book David Green speaks of his decision to start closing on Sunday and all the grief he got over that decision. It seems that, end the end, it was the right decision. He even spoke of his realization that he was going about the Sunday closings with the wrong attitude. Very few CEOs would be that honest. That is what this is, an honest book.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is fun and easy to read. It is simple and straightforward and well worth every cent I spent on it and every minute I spent reading it.

I ordered this book because of my familiarity with Hobby Lobby craft stores. I have found them to be a cut above other similar businesses, and was curious as to how Mr. Green got started and the way he runs them, especially in view of his practice of being closed on Sundays, closing the doors at 8:00pm instead of 9:00 or later, and his inspirational Christmas Day advertising in the newspapers.

The book did not disappoint me. In addition to satisfying my curiosity, it provided insight into the probable reasons for this chain's success, as well as guidelines I can implement in my own business. A great read for anyone interested in a no-nonsense approach to running a sucessful enterprise.

Mr. Green's book carries so much insight about how to live with integrity. First, I am impressed by the care with which he runs his organization. I really hope others have a chance to read this as well. His company's ethics seem to go against the grain of corporate America as we know it and this is all a reflection of his personal ideas. =) Second, I appreciate these reflections as well as the practical ideas he shares on how to run a business. Third, the book is easy to read.

I read "More Than a Hobby" last year because I wanted to know more about the background and motivation of the Green family. I greatly appreciated David's transparent, humble, faith-based message of simple (but "hard") obedience to the Lord. I have since recommended this book to others to read, whether they wok in the business field or not. Some special quotes to me are:
"Retailing, at least in my personal view, has four keys. And the sequence is important. They are:
1. Run your business with God's laws. This will keep you on an ethical footing. Seek to please God in everything you do.
2. Focus on people more than money...
3. Be a merchant...
4. Install the proper systems to support the first three keys." (pp. 11-12)

"I want to be the very best competitor I can be...At the same time, we ask that all employees see themselves as servants. Our stores serve the customers...Similarly, at the corporate office, we ask that our people be servants to the stores. We exist to help the stores succeed. The warehouse and the corporate office are supposed to make things convenient for the stores, not the other way around...If everything is working as it should, the staff will feel honored and fulfilled, and customers will be pleased." (p. 13)

J.C. Penney once made a curious statement: 'I am unselfish for selfish reasons.' What he meant was that he would do everything he could to bring the customer the very best product at the best price...so that eventually he would make a profit." (p. 64)

"A good plan in action is better than a perfect plan on paper. You can analyze until you paralyze." (p. 111)

"Abraham Lincoln once gave a lecture to fellow lawyers in which he said, 'Resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave [scoundrel]." (p. 127)

""We want to give our employees every kind of assistance we can in becoming whole people. It's all part of building an organization of excellence and integrity." (p. 130)

"I am who I am, a merchant who believes and respects Jesus Christ. To say that I should walk out of church on Sunday at noon and then stuff everything I've heard and practiced into a dark closet for the next six days is not realistic, or even desirable. In fact, customers had better hope that I treat them according to the moral teachings of my faith!" (p. 164)

Ch. 13 Taking Risks (on facing seeming insurmountable financial obstacles): "The only thing I knew to do was pray, 'God, what do you want me to learn from this?'... Barbara tried to comfort me those days by saying 'David, it's God's business.If He takes it away, we'l do something else...Then came the dramatic family meeting in April 1986...when...Mart, our oldest son, made his epic statement about 'our faith is not in you, Dad; it's in God.'...Through it all, I had learned that I had to become small so that God could be big. He was preparing me for the rest of my life." (p. 183)

"Crisis prayer is okay, but daily prayer is even better." (p. 197)

"Pleasing customers is important, but pleasing God through the way I run the business is even more important." (p. 198)

"The truth is, whether you and I are in education or retailing, in government or private industry, a public figure or a full-time homemaker, the 'So what?' question of life is vitally important. Some things will matter forever, while others will fade in less than a week. Figuring out which is which - and then doing something bout it - is a task not to be overlooked. The measure of my life, and yours, is not how much money we accumulate or how many trophies we collect. It is rather the way in which we align ourselves with God's purposes, and thereby impact eternity.In other words, all this daily activity that so consumes us - it's meant to be more than a hobby..." (p. 201)

I got this book to read about the company that I work for part time. David Green is so down to earth. this is a great read.

I am in a family business very similiar to Hobby Lobby, and this book shed light on many areas i had in question. I highly recommend this book, as it goes much further into detail about the inner workings of these stores than i would have ever imagined!

Once i started this book, i couldnt put it down! For those of you aspiring to become someone in the crazy world of retail, this book should help you get an edge on the competition. Maybe one day i will be writing my own! =-)