Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables

by Phil Vischer

VeggieTales success itself had become a huge challenge. Whenever you have an unprecedented hit, future planning becomes extraordinarily difficult simply because there are no precedents. There were no comparables for VeggieTales. Our sales had skyrocketed 3,300 percent in four years! Against that backdrop, what could we project for the future? More skyrocketing? Was our growth almost done or just getting started? Look at another example: Between Christmas 2003 and Christmas 2004, sales of Apple’s iPod increased by a staggering 500 percent—a huge success but also a huge challenge. How many iPods do you make for Christmas 2005—500 percent more than 2004? 100 percent more? 10 percent less? Unprecedented success is extremely difficult to manage simply because it is unprecedented. Every year is a big ol’ guess. Guess wrong one way and you’ll choke your success by running out of product or not having enough manpower to support the demand. Guess wrong the other way, and you could crash and burn right in the midst of your success. As wrong as the forecasts my team made in 1999 ended up being, I honestly believe they did the best they could with the information and the experience they had.