We recently had the chance to connect with Theresa Peek and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Theresa, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What is a normal day like for you right now?
I am not sure if we have “normal” days. Our days fall into two categories: Home and Travel. Within Travel, there are two types: Show Days and Non-Show Days. The most typical days are Show Days. Show Days start with waking up, getting ready, preparing our cooler and snack bag, and driving to the venue. If it is set-up day, once we arrive, we locate our booth, then unload and set-up. Unloading and setting up usually takes 4-5 hours. Once done, we cover everything, return to our motorhome, and collapse. Of course, there are showers and dinner. On actual show days, once we arrive at the show, we uncover our booth and get ready for customers. Since most gem and mineral shows last two days, Show Days are often busy, leaving little time even for a restroom break. After the show closes, we cover our booth for the next day, head to dinner, or head back to the motorhome for dinner. We shower, relax, and plan to do it again tomorrow. If it’s Sunday, when the show closes, we need to pack-up and load. Packing up the booth and loading usually takes 2-3 hours. Non-Show Days are either driving days (driving to the next show or heading home) or relaxing days (catching up on emails, invoicing Facebook group sales, etc.) Tired yet?.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Seaside Stones is a husband-and-wife team that sells rocks online and at gem and mineral shows. We actually say we rehome stones…like a rock adoption service…LOL Seriously, Chris is a lifelong rockhound, and I am a rockhound by marriage. He was bitten by the rockhounding bug when he was five, thanks to his grandfather. I was bitten around our fifth date, when he took me out to collect petrified wood near his alma mater, Texas A&M. Seaside Stones specializes in cabochons (polished rocks that are used by jewelry makers), jewelry they make with our cabochons, and “cool” rocks, such as animal carvings, spheres, petrified wood, etc. The business is really a hobby that grew out of control – we collect frog, lizard, and turtle carvings, plus spheres and petrified wood, among other things. It started out as a fun side business when we lived in Texas – we could spend time together doing something we enjoyed – and it morphed into our full-time business. Now based in Maine, we are dealers at 15-20 gem and mineral shows on the East Coast, and we sell online – via our website, our Facebook groups, our live shows, etc.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
Chris and I both faced health challenges that caused us to rethink priorities. I traveled a lot for work, and in 2009, I had a serious DVT (deep vein thrombosis) that required hospitalization. For me, there was a switch from “live to work” to “work to live”. Although I loved what I did, I knew there was something else…the first iteration of our business started in 2010. In 2014, Chris was diagnosed with colon cancer. He went a little crazy and, in 2015, he bought our retirement house, even though he had no plans to retire in the immediate future. That year, our business changed again – it became something that would lead to true self-employment. Fast forward to 2017, and things were falling into place: Chris found out he could retire at the end of the 2017-2018 school year, my job was being eliminated in the latter part of 2017, and there was a commercial building for sale in the next town over from where our “retirement” house was located. We’ve both made it through our health scares and landed in a better place. We love Maine, and we love working together (although 24/7 with Chris can be a challenge). We miss things from pre-self-employment days, but we love where we landed.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
Most people fear the unknown. I was the most apprehensive about going into self-employment. Leaving the corporate world with its steady paycheck is frightening. Not knowing if you will be successful in running a business is scary. And, in my case, moving to Maine alone was terrifying. I moved to our “retirement” home six months ahead of Chris. Chris’s paycheck, along with my severance, would keep us afloat while I opened the brick-and-mortar part of our business in a small tourist town on the coast of Maine…on Black Friday. …Opening a business in winter in Maine makes sense…lol…especially in a small coastal community near the Canadian border. On top of that, I would be flying back and forth to Texas for our gem and mineral shows there, and to pack up and sell our Houston-area house. In hindsight, we could have done it earlier, but our years of teaching (Chris) and in the corporate world (me) gave us a great foundation and a safety net.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
We are rockhounds – we are into the geology side of rocks, not the metaphysical side. To us, rocks are like religion and politics, people have different thoughts and beliefs. Is the crystal community a fad or a foundational shift? Does the answer to that question really matter? To us, it doesn’t. If a rock/crystal makes you happy, then it should be in your collection. Whether you are a geology nerd looking for a specific specimen for your collection or you are looking for a crystal for a certain purpose, we all have one thing in common – we are on the hunt for that special rock, mineral, or fossil.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If you retired tomorrow, what would your customers miss most?
With our business, we have a focus on education and entertainment, that’s probably because we both come from education-related careers, we really love rocks, and we love what we do. On our Facebook and Instagram live shows, there is always banter, laughter, and education. At gem and mineral shows, there may not be time for as much banter and laughter, but we are always happy to tell you about geology, provide jewelry-making advice, etc. Whether online or in person, we will also point you in the right direction if we can’t help you, even if that means pointing you in the direction of another dealer. Our customers would miss our personalities – I think they would say we are genuine, knowledgeable, helpful, funny, and just a little crazy. We definitely beat to our own drummer.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.seasidestones.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seaside_stones/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeasideStones
- Other: https://linktr.ee/seasidestones
