"I never gave much credence to conventional wisdom or common prejudices. My family needed a little more money. I had an idea about how to make some."

In 1951, Lillian was a young homemaker, pregnant with her first child. Like most other couples of that time, she and her husband were struggling to make ends meet. But Lillian had something that most other young women did not-she had an idea for earning money at home and she had the determination to bring that idea to fruition. Armed with nothing more than her intuition, optimism and $2,000, she launched a two-product mail-order business. By 1996, her business had sales of $238 million. Lillian Vernon Corporation-named after the town where she started her business, Mount Vernon, New York-remains a leader in the mail-order industry, and Lillian stands out as an entrepreneur of extraordinary acumen.

An Eye for Winners: How I Built America`s Greatest Direct-Mail Business is a "dual biography," interweaving the account of her corporation`s unprecedented growth with Lillian`s own personal story; both are filled with ups and downs, triumphs and trials. Told in Lillian`s own voice, the book takes readers behind the scenes and introduces the people-her family, employees, and most of all, her customers-who helped shaped the way she does business. It reveals the secrets-from her innate ability to choose what her customers want, to her steadfast dedication to creating catalogs that bear her own spirit and taste that have won her the loyal patronage of 18 million customers. Supplementing the narrative, Lillian provides a primer for other entrepreneurs that covers all the basics of starting and running a business, including calculating start-up costs, working at home, structuring a business, developing a customer base, keeping track of budgets, and weighing the advantages and disadvantages of rapid growth. There are even tips on how to find the product or service that will prove irresistible to potential customers.

Lillian brought to her personal life the same indomitable spirit that helped her ride out economic cycles and survive the many surprises involved in buying, warehousing, and shipping a vast inventory. In poignant detail, she describes the difficulties she and her parents faced as immigrants from Nazi Germany and writes movingly of her lifelong attempts to win her mother`s approval and love. She candidly discusses the toll her ambition and her business took on her personal life, including two marriages, and the difficulties of working with family. She discusses the problems she faced as a woman in a field dominated by men and of her feelings of annoyance and outrage at the condescension she received at trade shows and from manufacturers. But, she also shares the joys-the encouragement her father unceasingly gave her, the business contacts who helped her through the hard times and became dear friends, the loyal employees who have become like family, the loving man who has recently come into her life, and the satisfactions she now enjoys through her involvement in a variety of charitable and cultural activities.

Lillian Vernon is a pioneer in the mail-order business and in her simply told story readers will discover a vast amount of information about an industry that now commands more than $70 billion dollars a year in sales. They will discover, too, an extraordinary woman who managed to balance the myriad responsibilities of a multi-million dollar business with the demands of a family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lillian Vernon is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Lillian Vernon Corporation. She serves on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, City Meals on Wheels, and the White House National Business Women`s Council. The winner of several humanitarian and business awards, she lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.