Veggie Tales Creator Phil Vischer's New Book

Have you heard rumors and/or read stories about the crumbling of the VeggieTale^® empire? Sure talking vegetables was an idea that caught on and the Big Idea umbrella company was a dream that became a reality, but while the characters are still on the shelves, the company no longer belongs to its creator Phil Vischer. So what happened to the company that seemed poised to take over the animation market? Were there ways owner/creator Vischer might have saved the company its ignoble demise? Are there steps other companies on the fast track to success can take to avoid the pitfalls of rapid expansion and blaring media attention?

Told with his whacky sense of humor, Vischer takes us on a candid journey of the rise...and crash of his dream when his faith and his dream as well as his company took hits that dragged both under.

In this non-fiction book, Vischer takes us on the journey of a young boy, a geek, who preferred working with cameras and animation to people, who spent hours in his basement creating simple movement and who idolized Disney and what he accomplished. In fact, Vischer dreamed of becoming the faith-based equivalent of Disney, with the same attention to quality and detail on the cutting edge of technology.

He strove for excellence and learned his craft in working with companies selling all sorts of things, including bras. Hardly out of his teens, Vischer found himself running a business on faith, on ingenuity, on a shoestring budget and with the dedication of a few employees that enjoyed the challenge of the new medium and/or shared his vision for producing family and faith friendly fare. They held on through disappointment after disappointment, until, finally, they had a breakthrough. Suddenly, Larry and Bob hit the big time and VeggieTales^® became the latest craze and not simply in the Christian marketplace.

Knowing he was weak in many areas of business, Vischer began hiring to fill the gaps. Even as media attention focused more and more on him, he felt less and less confident in his ability to run the company. He listened when he should have led, and often led when he should have listened-especially to God.

When a lawsuit that should never have been brought went against the company, when the company expanded beyond the capability to financially sustain the outlay, when the company had to let plans die and employees go, Vischer found out how much the company was built on quicksand. As the company was sold, Vischer began to learn some serious lessons about life, faith and business. The company expanded too quickly and without a solid financial foundation for such expansion. As the company expanded, he relied more and more on others and less on his own vision and instincts. He neglected to make sure everyone, especially key executives, were on the same page as to the core values and vision for the company. And, he got caught up in the media spotlight.

When he lost it all, he learned what C. S. Lewis understood when he said, "He who has God plus many things has nothing more than he who has God alone." Vischer offers not only his story told in an easy-to-assimilate, humorous style, but offers the would-be entrenapuer solid steps for staying the course.

And so Vischer's story begins again.