Recently we had a little fun around the office and asked everyone what word or phrase they would put on a stone if they could. Once we eliminated the unprintable (just use your imagination…) here’s what we came up with!
Life Rules:
Hold Hands
Say Please
Flush
Brush
Use Soap
Play Nice
Behave
Use Your Manners
Hug It Out
Heard Round the Office
Need Coffee
Just Google It
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Super Duper!
I’m Just Sayin’…
Chill Out Woman!
Take a Chill Pill!
Seriously?
We Got a Live One!
Almost Cursing (not nearly as fun as real cursing, but we’re mindful of our audience…)
Dang It!
Holy Crap!
Crazy Freak!
Oh, the stupidity!
Ya Big Flirt
How you doin’?
Mine!
No/Yes
Well Hello There!
We’re not sure we’ll actually get these made…haven’t quite figured out the market for them yet. 🙂 Can you think of any we missed?
Whenever I tell my husband that I need help moving something heavy at the office he gets a panicked look in his eye.
“You don’t need me to move the black stones, do you?” he always confirms, before volunteering.
You see, the infamous black stones are heavy. Really heavy. They are a line of stones I carried a while back that were just slightly larger then the style we carry now, but for some reason, they are about 10 times heavier. My husband helped move 5,000 of them when we changed locations a couple years back and to this day, when the air’s a bit damp and chilly, he swears he still feels the kink in his back.
I’ve moved my business 5 times in the last 4 1/2 years. We’ve been in a total of 6 places in 9 years. That’s a lot of moving. That’s a lot of moving heavy stuff. That’s a lot of moving heavy stuff with no movers. Just me, my husband, my kind and generous employees and a couple of mini vans.
Now, lest you think I’m a glutton for punishment, or don’t pay my rent, or am a terrible tenant, there have always been great and reasonable explanations for the moves…and none of them have involved the police, a warrant or any arrests. I swear!
Our current spot is our best yet and so far fits our needs to a tee. We’ve been here for a record amount of time…a whole year and a half…and we’re going for at least 5. My employees are ecstatic, not to mention my husband.
It definitely has taken us a few tries to get our location right. Each spot has had it’s benefits and drawbacks, but the one that we always talk about, the one that makes even me scratch my head in bewilderment, is The Move To The Pod.
A pod is one of those storage units that you often see on construction sites. They are basically empty tractor trailers that they plop down on your property. They are bare bones in design. No heat. No air. Did I mention no heat?
The Move To The Pod seemed to make sense at the time. I had been sharing office and warehouse space with another online business and it was working very smoothly. The owner and I got along great and our business needs complimented each other perfectly. About a year after we met, she bought a large piece of property, just 2 miles from my house, with the intention of building a warehouse type structure to house her business. She offered to rent space to me as well, and I thought I had hit the jackpot! A friend for a landlord, plenty of space, and just 2 miles from my house…perfect!
Cozy, huh?!
Our current lease was ending, but the new structure was not built yet, so we decided that the pods would be the solution. We would run the businesses from the basement of her home and pack and ship the product from the pods. This sounded great – the pod rental was very cheap and she would charge me a nominal fee to work from her basement. Sweet! Think of all the money I would save!
Oh yeah. Did I mention this all happened in January of 2007 – which happened to be the coldest winter on record in 20 years in our area.
So we moved. All 5,000 black stones along with the rest of our inventory. And filled up 4 pods.
Needless to say, it was a miserable existence that winter. Let me tell you, when it’s 15 degrees out, unheated pods are the coldest place on earth. Since there was no way that I could ask my employees to endure those conditions, each day I would bundle myself up in 5 layers and brave the packing and shipping. My husband one morning attempted to tease me about all the clothes I was putting on, as he headed off to work in his chinos and polo…ready to sit at his desk in a balmy 78 degree office. I was not amused…and I pride myself on having a fairly good sense of humor.
We got through that winter, but unfortunately the original plan of the large warehouse structure never materialized and 6 months later my husband found himself moving the black stones yet again. I tried to point out that ‘it’s a great workout!’ but he didn’t laugh. (Payback for above ‘just how many layers of clothes are you going to put on?’ comment.)
It took 2 more moves ’til we found our current space and each time the amount of black stones has dwindled as we’ve stopped carrying that particular line in favor of other stones. But now instead of 5,000 black stones, we’ve got 150,000 various styles of rocks and tokens. My husband is always pleased to see the black stones disappearing, but that triumph is short lived when he sees what else needs to be re-located.
I have promised myself that for our 6th move (you know what they say…the 6th time’s the charm…) I will hire professionals. Although I chuckle to envision what they will be thinking when they move our merchandise. “What is this, a rock quarry?”
And, in my next life, if I decide to open a retail business, I’m definitely checking out the feather boa profit margins.
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…
My little daily devotions...
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.
CourageInStone 