Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Big Vision, Small Business about, in a nutshell?
There’s more to a rewarding life — and a successful business — than simply focusing on an ever-spiraling number of business units, employees, locations or revenues. Big Vision, Small Business is a celebration of and a primer for creating big-vision, high integrity, small businesses that are independently owned and locally accountable. Rather than being anti-big-business, Big Vision is ardently pro-small-enterprise, speaking directly to those for-profit or social-entrepreneurs who desire a rich, positive lifestyle, and who wish to create a business or enterprise of integrity, meaning and contribution that is not beholden to "absentee investors" or the whims of Wall Street analysts. Big Vision is based on Walters’ near-decade of experience as a small-business owner, as well as more than 70 interviews — and countless informal conversations — with small-business owners and advocates from throughout the United States. Big Vision includes real-people anecdotes and tips for creating a big-vision, life-enhancing organization in the real world.
2. What sets big-vision small-business owners apart from their peers?
These for-profit and social entrepreneurs distinguish themselves by their intention to create something different from the norm: a "human-scale" enterprise that fulfills the vision and lifestyle requirements of its founder while creating a positive work environment for its employees, and pleasant, productive experiences for its customers and vendors; and makes a direct, positive contribution to its community or beyond.
Primary differences between the big-vision small-business owner and their small- and large-company colleagues include:
• Their commitment to two true bottom lines (in practice as well as rhetoric): one rooted in idealism, the other firmly planted in more practical ground. Many organizations are solely stockmarket-driven and have as their highest priority maximizing profits for investors who rarely live in the community or have any accountability to the company's customers or neighbors.
• Their preference for capping quantitative growth in order to ensure their ability to provide highly-personalized products or services, and highly refined and tailored levels of customer service or expertise.
• Their desire to keep their enterprises small and limber enough, and their priorities ordered enough, that they can evolve as needed to face the inevitable challenges common to business ownership while seeding and nurturing the vision they’re endeavoring to bring about.
Big-vision, small business are the quintessential examples of independently owned, locally accountable small organizations lauded for helping to make their communities more livable and adding to the local quality of life.
3. What is a Lifestyle Entrepreneur?
A different breed of small-enterprise owner, lifestyle entrepreneurs view their small organizations as vehicles for learning, service and way of life. Big-vision small-enterprise owners view their experience as more of a journey through which to make a contribution to someone or something in addition to themselves, while allowing a livelihood, lifestyle and financial reality that fits with their particular vision of what work and life should be. Lifestyle enterpreneurship may also be a purposeful synthesis of one's spiritual path with one's work, with business-ownership being part of one's "faith in action," and one's faith practices maintained specifically to provide balance, sustenance, wisdom and guidance for application in one's business practices.
Lifestyle entrepreneurs may also be part of the demographic now being called "Cultural Creatives" due to their commitment to helping to improve and sustain a good quality of life in their local community.
4. What are the four keys to success and satisfaction as a big-vision, small-business owner?
Key #1 — To Live Large, You Have to Vision Big
Key #2 — There’s More Than One Way to Define Growth
Key #3 — While Who You Know is Important, It’s How You Treat Them That Counts
Key #4 — To Live From the Source, You Can’t Let the Well Run Dry
The "Four Keys" highlight several of the highest priorities for those individuals who seek lifestyle-entrepreneurship or who want to create and sustain a business of integrity, meaning and positive local contribution.
5. Who will find value in reading this book?
Current or prospective small-business owners, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, lifestyle entrepreneurs, organizational leaders, or family members or friends of the aforementioned. While focused specifically toward small-business owners and lifestyle entrepreneurs, reviewers have noted that Big Vision, Small Business contains anecdotes and tips that are applicable to corporate leaders and employees. Big Vision, Small Business is written for those who find conventional business books overly quantitative and devoid of meaning, and typical self-help or social-responsibility books too flaky or narrow in focus.
6. Where can I find out more information about the publisher Ivy Sea, Inc. and author Jamie Walters?
Visit "About Ivy Sea" at Ivy Sea Online. You'll also find the author's bio in the "People & Partners" section or via the BVSB Main Information Page.
7. What are early reviewers saying about Big Vision, Small Business?
Early reviews herald Big Vision as "the best book of the year," and "a must-read for all who believe that business can and should be fun, life-serving and human-scale." An endorser says, "Walters is a prophet of an emerging new economy of intelligent, caring, cutting-edge entrepreneurs who seek to make a living — not a killing." You can find full endorsements and reviews at BVSB Buzz.
8. When and where is the book available?
Big Vision, Small Business: The Four Keys to Finding Success & Satisfaction as a Lifestyle Entrepreneur is available to booksellers and libraries from Baker & Taylor and Ivy Sea Publishing; and is available to the general public on Amazon.com and BookSense.com,and through local booksellers. You'll find direct links to purchase the book on the BVSB Main Information Page.
9. Whom can I call for more information?
Call any of us at Ivy Sea at (415) 778-3910, or toll free 1-866-248-9732, for information about the book. You can also send your inquiry via email to info@ivysea.com.
