Book Description

A tale of love, hardships, triumph, and success... It is the true story of Stephen Schutz and Susan Polis Schutz and their most unusual and often challenging ventures: Blue Mountain Arts greeting card company and bluemountain.com. Filled with practical business lessons... This story is a riveting account of the mistakes Susan and Stephen made, the solutions they designed, the successes they reached, and the personal and professional lessons they learned. This book gives you an excellent opportunity to learn from the Schutzes' experiences and insights. For anyone who has ever had a dream... In the late 1960's, Susan and Stephen were two idealistic, recent college graduates -- he, an artist with a Princeton Ph.D. in theoretical physics, and she, a teacher and a writer. One day, they decided to silk-screen posters that combined their art and poetry. They traveled around the country selling their posters while living out of a bright-yellow, pickup-truck camper. Thus, Blue Mountain Arts was born. About standing up and fighting for what you believe in... In the 1980's, Susan and Stephen designed the number-one-selling card line in the United States and found themselves battling one of America's largest corporations. Rather than watching their cards and company get destroyed, the Schutzes boldly went to court. The precedent-setting legal battle was dubbed by the media as the trial of David v. Goliath. An insider's look into the dot-com craze... In the late 1990's, Susan and Stephen, together with their eldest son, Jared, developed bluemountain.com -- a free Internet greeting card service that quickly grew into one of the world's most popular websites. A tender portrayal of love and life in an earlier, perhaps more innocent time... In a separate section, Susan shares her personal memories of growing up during the conservative 1950's in a small, country town. She speaks candidly about her college years, teaching, planning a commune, falling in love, and living amidst the political and philosophical turmoil of the 1960's. In heartfelt words, Susan describes her romantic relationship with Stephen and the births of their children. A business book with a soul... In sharp contrast to today's headlines of scandal and greed, this is the refreshing story of how the Schutzes followed their intuition, stayed true to their values and ideals, and created a flourishing company that has managed to stay ethical and successful at the same time. Better than fiction or fairy tale... You will laugh and cry and experience every emotion in between as you read the amazing story of Stephen and Susan Polis Schutz and Blue Mountain Arts. Book jacket.