By Sarah Max
New York Times, June 11, 2014
In 2002, Sherry Stewart Deutschmann quit her six-figure sales job at a Nashville company, cashed in her 401(k) and started a competing business. ... Ms. Deutschmann believed she could build a better company by building a better company culture. If employees had more reason to care, she believed, it would translate to better performance.
Her business, LetterLogic, specializes in printing and mailing statements, invoices and letters, including personal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or Hipaa, information. Today it has $30 million in annual revenue and no debt. Its 53 employees have access to monthly financial statements, share 10 percent of all profits and enjoy benefits typically reserved for larger companies, including tuition reimbursement, down payments on homes and financing for their own ventures.
In a recent interview that has been condensed and edited, Ms. Deutschmann, 54, explained how she did it. ...