Tweet

A Mounting Success: How Vernon Reached The Top

Article Overview: “It’s a quality you’re born with, being an entrepreneur,” says Vernon.

A Mounting Success: How Vernon Reached The Top

“It’s a quality you’re born with, being an entrepreneur,” says Vernon.

From her kitchen table in the 1950s, Lillian Vernon was able to build a hugely successful direct mail catalog business that continues to thrive more than fifty years later. Her family had lost everything during WWII and was forced to rebuild as immigrants in the U.S. What were the factors that allowed Vernon to become the successful model of entrepreneurship that she is today?

She Preserved an Entrepreneurial Environment: “It’s hard for an entrepreneur to be a great manager…A great entrepreneur and a great manager are usually not the same person,” says Vernon. “The skills are very different. I don't know if I'm a great manager. I think I'm a good manager.” By combining her own skills and risk-taking abilities with those of her tamer manager counterparts, Vernon was able to maintain that entrepreneurial attitude within her company no matter how big it grew.

She Left Her Personal Stamp: From her face lining the covers of her catalogs to personalizing her products, Vernon strove to maintain a personal connection with her company and her customers. By becoming the face behind the brand, people could feel a personal relationship with Vernon, which helped distinguish her from her competitors and create customer loyalty.

She Never Gave Up: From the get go, Vernon had a number of points against her. She was an immigrant and she was a woman – two things that made it extremely difficult for her to break into the business world. But, Vernon believed in herself and she believed in her product. “Toughness is a good thing, yet it is considered good only in men,” she says. “When a woman is tough, men can't stand it. I like being tough. Tough and smart.”

She Prioritized Her Customers: Whether she had 50 customers of 20 million, Vernon made the effort to treat each one like a valued individual. Through excellent customer service, money-back guarantees and product personalization, Vernon ensured that everyone who shopped at her company would come out of the experience a happier person. Because she appreciated them, they kept coming back for more.

She Built Up Gradually: “To start a successful business, you must have a unique product or service that the competition doesn't offer,” advises Vernon. “You should also have enough capital reserved to sustain you through the first few years in business when your emphasis is on building your brand and a customer base.” It was in large part Vernon’s ability to think practically and for the long-term that allowed her to succeed. She was patient and took her time in order to ensure a long life in the industry.

Despite creating one of the most successful companies in U.S. history, Vernon views her biggest success as well as her biggest challenge as the balance she has striven to maintain between her home life and her business life. “I’m on the right course,” she says.

Related Articles
  Lesson #2: Take It Personally
  Lesson #1: Keep The Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive
  Lesson #3: Believe In Yourself
  Lesson #4: Make Your Customers Happy
  Lesson #5: Keep It Simple To Start

Article Tags: 1950s, business world, catalog business, counterparts, customer loyalty, direct mail, entrepreneurial attitude, entrepreneurial environment, excellent customer service, immigrant, kitchen table, lillian vernon, mail catalog, more than fifty years, personal connection, personal relationship, personal stamp, service money, toughness, wwii



Related Forum Posts
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action). Success - H3 Robert
Re: Success - I study success intently, and would like to share: Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters. FIRST FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Clear, Definite Purpose 3. Committed Decision 4. Take Action In Faith (Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently) I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it. Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula. SECOND FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith) 3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly) This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret). Hope that helps!
Success Strategies - How to get the results you want now? Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are: The Power of Choice Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this. The Power of Focus The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives. The Power of Commitment This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community. My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is: S pecific & self-directed U nlimited opportunities & possibilities C reate powerful outcomes C onsistent measureable results E xperience pwoerful transformation S olution and action-oriented S uccessful habits and outcomes Break Through to Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices Moira
Re: Books for the Entrepreneur - Here's one of my most recent books The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success By Brian Tracy
Re: What is your age? - Kevin, Success is the best revenge. they are telling the world that been raised by sinlge parent will not determine their success in life


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Sales Courage and Resilience

How to Write Your Articles for Better SEO

Multilevel Marketing: 4 Tips To MLM Success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.