The Big Enough Company: Creating a Business That Works for You

Adelaide Lancaster and Amy Abrams

Portfolio Hardcover,  September 2011

A guide to building a business you enjoy running without caving under the pressure to grow.

After initially launching their company, small-business owners are bombarded with a flurry of "advice" on how to grow fast, be more profitable, and imitate other successful start-ups. While these tips may work for some people, they fail to consider the astounding variety of needs, motivations, and goals that each entrepreneur has for starting her business.

Entrepreneurs Abrams and Lancaster explore how to grow an enterprise that is not only successful but also sustains the owner's personal goals and needs-in terms of size, culture, and level of involvement. Drawing on their experience as well as on interviews with more than one hundred successful women business owners, Abrams and Lancaster guide readers through the principles that matter most when you work for yourself.

More a supportive guide than a list of dos and don'ts, this book empowers entrepreneurs to ignore popular "wisdom" and peer pressure and take charge of their businesses in a way that will help them succeed on their own terms.

Hardcover | ISBN: 9781591844211 | Publication Date: September 2011

Reviews:
"Great work is an important element for a happy life, and The Big Enough Company gives smart, accessible guidance about how entrepreneurs can shape their work lives to build a sense of control, success, purpose- and happiness."
-- Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

"The Big Enough Company is loaded with invaluable tips, sound advice, hard-earned lessons, inspiring stories, and cautionary tales for women seeking to build a business they will love-and for men who want to know what's missing from traditional approaches to entrepreneurship. In the land of business books, it's a breath of fresh air."
-- Bo Burlingham, editor-at-large of Inc. magazine and author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big

"I wish I had this book when I first became an 'auntrepreneur!' What a bevy of inspiration this book is. It goes straight to the top of my list of recommendations for any woman ready to live her dream by starting her own business-of any size."
-- Melanie Notkin, Founder, Savvy Auntie and author of Savvy Auntie: The Ultimate Guide for Cool Aunts, Great-Aunts, Godmothers and All Women Who Love Kids

"In a day and age where too many so-called experts tout hyper-inflated 'success' tips and 'guaranteed' growth strategies ad nausea, this book serves as both a reality check and a breath of fresh air."
-- Scott Gerber, Author of Never Get a "Real" Job, Founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council

"Today more and more women are choosing entrepreneurship as a path to express their creativity and make money, but also as a way to manage their unique work+life "fit." The Big Enough Company lays out a clear roadmap for success as you define it, personally and professionally. Whether starting of your business, or taking it to the next level, this book will give you answers. I've been running my consulting business for more than 12 years, and it helped me!"
-- Cali Williams Yost, CEO of the Flex+Strategy Group/Work+Life Fit Inc. and author of Work+Life: Finding the Fit That's Right for You

"Reading this book is like spending the day with 100 inspirational women in one room. The Big Enough Company is an invaluable resource that will have entrepreneurs at any level shouting 'Yes I can!'"
-- Ellen Diamant, co-founder, Skip Hop, Inc.