Alain Guillot

Life, Leadership, and Money Matters

169 How to Build a Business that Scales with Your Lifestyle, Lee LeFever

Most business books are written with the assumption that entrepreneurs want to build a business and grow it as big as possible, but our guest, Lee LeFever, founder of a business called “Common Craft,” will show us how to build a business and grow it to the extent that it meets your lifestyle and values. His book is called “Big Enough.”

I’m fortunate that doing something I love has become my career. In 2003, I founded Common Craft and it has employed me as a media maker ever since.

Lee LeFever portrait

More than anything, I am a writer. Sometimes my words become scripts for Common Craft videos, chapters in a book, or issues of a newsletter. Other times, they’re used for mediocre attempts at humor in text messages. I wield my words with great care and benefit from having my wife, Sachi, as my editor.

Most people consider me personable and easy-going. I smile a lot, maybe too much. My natural setting is optimistic and generally happy, with a side of anxiety. If we met in person, I would ask you a lot of questions.

I try to live my life with great intention and a focus on quality. To me, this means remaining in control of my time and being willing to take risks and accept trade-offs in order to craft the life I want.

I have a deep and abiding connection to the pacific northwest of the US.  I moved from Charleston, South Carolina to Seattle in 1998 and never looked back. In 2019, we moved even further northwest to an island off the coast of Washington State called Orcas Island. A wooded, mountainous place, surrounded by the waters of the Salish Sea, is where we’ve chosen to be.

Big Enough: Building a Business that Scales with Your Lifestyle

In this illuminating book, entrepreneur Lee LeFever gives an inside view of building a scalable, product-focused business, while never compromising on quality of life.

Lee and his wife, Sachi, responded to the promise of the internet by building a home-based business, Common Craft, that was profitable yet small enough to pivot and innovate.

Lee takes you through the multiple business models they pursued: marketplace, digital product licensing, subscription services, distribution partnerships, and more, and offers his best tips for how you, can build a lightweight business that supports a life you love.

Big Enough is a must-read for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, business strategy, and e-commerce, Big Enough arms you with insights into how technology and innovation are changing the face of business―and how the science of happiness and the pursuit of values can help redefine what it means to be successful.

Big Enough by Lee LeFever

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Comments

One response to “169 How to Build a Business that Scales with Your Lifestyle, Lee LeFever”

  1. […] Alain is a very genuine and thoughtful interviewer. He read BIG ENOUGH, which always makes a big difference. I enjoyed talking to him and I think you will enjoy the interview. […]