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Introducing our newest pocket token! Carry your own personal Guardian Angel in your pocket.
Coin measures 7/8″ diameter and says Protect Me on the back. A great reminder that you have someone looking out for you.
Tokens are $1.95/each with quantity discounts. Buy 100 and the price drops to $1.55/each. See them here on our site:
Guardian Angel Token – Protect Me
One of our great challenges around here is connecting with our customers on a personal level. Although we sell very personal things, our business format is very impersonal. A few clicks and keystrokes and a package shows up at your door, right?! Bam! Sometimes I wonder if customers think there are just a large bunch of robots sitting in a warehouse somewhere…pulling merchandise and somehow magically transporting it your front door. Well, check that. I don’t wonder…I know. When we get email messages that say things like “please place behind screen on side door” or when someone places an order at 10PM and wants it in hand by noon the next day we are often left shaking our heads thinking “um, you do realize that’s physically impossible, right?!”
To be clear, there’s a lot of this we love. We want our customers to be able to push a few buttons and have what they need delivered to their front door with very little effort. We want them to say “Wow, that was easy! Let’s do that again!” But sometimes it’s also fun to reveal ‘The (wo)Man Behind the Curtain.’ After all, we don’t have anything to hide…we’re quite proud of our little world over here.
I am lucky to have a lot of talented friends that I consult with on random things that make my business better. One of these friends is a phenomenal photographer (take a peek at her website www.ThreeContinentsPhotography.com, you won’t be disappointed.) We were chatting one day and came up with the idea that a ‘A Day in the Life’ photo shoot would be fun…a way for our customers to get a glimpse behind the scenes, see us in action, and get to know us a little better. We discussed what things would be good to shoot, then set a date. Exciting!
Oh, wait a minute. Someone’s gonna take pictures of us! At work! In the warehouse, that looks like a warehouse! Gah!
Luckily we scheduled the shoot a few weeks out, which gave us time to scrub down the warehouse, dust off our desks, and discuss our outfits. One thing I did forget to do was get my dog Louie groomed. But he’s so dang cute, you’ll forgive me I’m sure.
But as I was cleaning and straightening and preparing, I had some concerns. How much do I really want folks to see? I occasionally bring my toddler son to the office with me. Do I want customers to see his toys mingled with our stones? Do I want people to see his toilet paper roll artwork – albeit the most adorable toilet paper roll artwork ever – on my desk? And what about the fact that we are only three people? In the world of companies like Amazon, maybe bigger is better and we’ll lose respect because of our size. And then, what about having my photo published for all the world to see? Am I who people think I am? Do I have a face that makes you like me, my company, my products? Do I look honest and funny and happy?
But then I realized, all these concerns **were** the point. The point to having a ‘Behind the Scenes’ photo shoot is to divulge ourselves. Our customers share their private, personal, painful, sad, happy stories with us all. the. time. It is without a doubt a huge privilege to be a part of these strangers lives. So, it’s about time we share our ‘stuff’, too. And so we’ll start with our faces, desks, dogs and maybe a few glimpses of some brightly colored toys.
The full series will be coming soon. In the meantime, the above is a sneak peek at my non-groomed dog named Louie. He’s a mutt my husband and I found at our local SPCA. He is named after a now closed restaurant that my husband and I used to enjoy in Healdsburg, CA called Felix and Louie’s. He and my son are best buds. (Side note, we someday hope to have a dog (or cat) named Felix in our life, too.)
~Brenda
Who doesn’t like this time of year? Seriously, is there anyone? Explain yourself! We’ve had a long winter in this part of the world – mid-atlantic – and we are chomping at the bit for some new buds, warmer temperatures and a fresh perspective on the world.
Coincidently it’s springtime in our warehouse, too. We’ve spent the second half of the winter cleaning out our inventory, sweeping up the warehouse and tracking down new merchandise. We are very, very excited to be bringing in some fresh, new pocket tokens and putting some oldies but goodies in the clearance bin!
We are super excited about our new line of mini-keys. These small keys are perfect to thread on a keychain or necklace. Take that ‘Key to Happiness’ with you wherever you go! Need to know the ‘Key to Love’? No problem! $1.95 gets you the answer! 😉
We also added a few adorable tokens to our Inspiration Coin line. A favorite of mine? An anchor that says ‘Refuse to Sink’. Who can’t use a reminder to never give up?
Also new is the pewter Pocket Cross. Simple, elegant and streamlined. Slip it in your pocket for a daily reminder.
When you get a chance, come visit us. Check out our sale items and browse our new tokens. I can almost guarantee you’ll find something you like!
Happy Spring! May the birds be chirpin’, buds be poppin’ and inspiration be flowin’ in your neck of the woods!
~Brenda
Did you know we’re on Etsy?! Check out our store! Some of the same products as on our website, but with a little twist.
It all started with “Grace”. I love that word. When I started working here almost 2 years ago I knew I needed a “Grace” stone in my life. It was my mother’s middle name and is now my daughter’s middle name and the word always just makes me smile. One day a green glass “Grace” stone came along that was oblong like a jellybean instead of round like it should have been. I knew we couldn’t sell it to our customers and there was no way I was throwing it away so it found it’s way to my desk. And so my collection began…
Having known myself for almost 37 years I can safely say that I am a sentimental person. I see the “deeper” meaning in almost anything, song lyrics, greeting cards, random billboards, they are all speaking to me. Even if the message isn’t aimed right at me I will figure out who it is for and make sure they too feel the power of the universe at work.
When I come across imperfect products I just can’t cast them aside like something from the “Land of Misfit Toys”. Instead, I save them and add them to the ceramic, sand-filled tray on my desk. There is the “Imagine” stone which didn’t get painted with any black ink so it has a hazy whitewash look to it which makes me think of clouds and daydreaming. I have a “Passion” rock which is printed with pink ink and reminds me of my aunt who is battling breast cancer. There are the “Teach” glass stones that melted together during processing to form a figure 8 shape, that tell me you need both a teacher and a student to make the circle complete.
Oh don’t get me wrong there are the stones that just make me laugh too. The double sided rock with “real” on one side and “fabulous” on the other (no, they weren’t misprinted this was an actual custom order) I like the “fabulous” side facing me as a daily affirmation to my greatness (insert laughter here). “You Rock!” is also a pick-me-up on a not so great day. There is the “Hoop” stone which should have been “Hope” but just had a bad day. The two-sided “Yes” or “No” token that I always keep on “Yes” unless the boss asks me to do some cleaning around the office and I am quick to flip it to the “No”. The “No Regrets” custom stone reminds me that I have made the right choices in my life and am right where I should be, even when I do have to clean up around here because the “No” token didn’t work…
Many pieces of my collection just have strong meaning to me, “Harmony”, “Thankful”, “Live”, “Purpose”, “Love”, “Soar”, & “Soul” each give me pause on a daily basis to remember why I’m here and what I’m working towards. I have a few hearts in the group, one with a broken off bottom tip but when you set it in the sand it looks whole once again. There is the Good Dog Blessing Coin that I put on too large of a jump ring and my puppy was able to chew while it hung around his neck, he is such a good dog.
Finally, I have to tell you about the Star. It was from a custom order and it is a blue glass stone with a large white star engraved on it. A man ordered 150 of them for his friend’s memorial service. Two weeks after receiving them the customer called back and ordered 200 more thanking me for my help with his original order and saying “everyone at the service loved them and they were the perfect tribute to my friend.” Knowing our tokens and stones are helping create moments like that are why I love my collection so much.
So I ask you to take a moment and ask yourself, what should be on your desk?
When I tell people what I do for a living, their reaction typically involves a puzzled look coupled with a tilt of the head.
“You pack and ship rocks?”
I follow-up that question with a pantomime of a small rock using my thumb and forefinger. “Yeah, you know, little word stones about ye big that people use for motivation or gifts.”
To which they inevitably respond “Oh, gotcha, I think my (fill in the blank) got me one of those that said (hope, courage, love, joy…) for my birthday once…those things are so cool!”
Damn straight they’re cool. That’s why I sell them.
I did not start out selling rocks. I started out finding old beat up furniture at yard sales, slapping a coat of white paint on, sanding the edges and calling it shabby chic. I had a lot of fun doing it and got the bright idea to open a shop. So I started a store in downtown Annapolis in August of 2001.
As is common, however, turning a hobby into an actual viable business model proved to be very difficult. Finding the ugly furniture and turning it into something attractive and usable – lots of fun. The 14 hour days with zero pay – not so fun. I loved the idea of having my own business, and found I was good at many aspects of retail, but I just needed to find a product that made sense for what my goals were, both in life and in business.
I have always been a huge fan of motivational quotes. I have a collection of quote books and have often been known to spout out random uplifting passages. So when I went to a gift show in 2002 and found some small engraved word stones (made of resin – yikes!), I was immediately hooked.
As the online boom hit, the brick and mortar store quickly gave way to a website and in 2006 I closed the storefront to concentrate solely on the online business. To my delight and surprise, the rest of the world already knew about the word stones and demand grew and grew. We now carry hundreds of styles of word stones – none of them resin thank goodness – along with a delightful collection of pewter pocket tokens.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of my job is that everyone has a story about why they need our items. We have heard heart breaking stories of our products being used at memorial services and funerals; funny, sweet stories of grandmothers buying gifts for grandchildren; and tender, touching stories of our products being sent to troops overseas. It is gratifying that we, in a small way, can be a part of these important events.
So yes, I sell stones. My job rocks!
CourageInStone 