Winter 2011
The Power of Positivity By Sue Marquette Poremba

During rough times, everyone needs a pick-me-up. And that’s precisely why inspirational products continue on their sizzling hot growth curve.

Dan Zadra says you never know when you’ll be making a memory.

The founder and editorial director of Seattle-based Compendium, an inspirational-themed publishing company, points out that the simplest things in life often turn out to be the most treasured.

“We all need to celebrate the important occasions in our lives, but we also need to celebrate the every day things, too,” Zadra says.

Inspirational gifts help people recognize those small moments and cherish the memories. In these rough economic times, Zadra adds, people are holding on to things that hold real value, rather than focusing on material things.

“People don’t stop buying gifts during hard times,” Zadra explains, “but they look to buy different kinds of gifts, things that have more meaning attached to them.”

The challenge of hard times are why inspirational gift products are essential in today’s market, says Lynn Switanowski-Barrett, founder of Boston-based Creative Business Consulting Group.

“Buying inspirational products offers a chance for people to feel better for a little bit of money,” she says. “The gifts provide both the giver and the receiver with some inspiration and hope for brighter days.”

Evolving market

In the 25 years he has been in business, Zadra has seen a shift in the way consumers view the inspirational market. In the early years, inspiration was equated with religious, but these days “inspirational” has a more motivational tone. It is about affirming the positive aspects of life—rejoicing in good times, while finding hope to get through the hard times.

This opportunity to help people celebrate the good times and find hope in the bad, is one of the things that led Leslie Nielson to sell Compendium’s products in her store, Inspired Living.

Nielson’s store in Boyne City, MI, had been in business for ten years, and for most of that time, her focus was on importing goods from Bali to sell to residents and to the tourists visiting a nearby resort. For a number of reasons, she decided to change the focus of the store to inspirational gifts.

Nielson believes that the products she sells serve as a reminder that there is always a reason to be grateful. “I found that when people are feeling down, coming to my store is a haven.” Not only does she sell inspirational gift items, but space throughout the store is covered with inspirational quotes.

Inspiration’s wide embrace

The types of inspirational gifts can be as varied as the messages as they convey. They come in the form of jewelry, wall plaques, frames, stones, and clothing.

Kim Holliday, sales and marketing assistant at P. Graham Dunn, says that the company sells a wide range of products—from key chains, pens, knives, clocks and wall art—all with an inspirational theme. “In times of hardship, we tend to draw close that which is most important to us, and the difficult nature of our lives makes gifts of inspiration a source of strength,” Holliday says. The Dalton, OH company’s most popular offerings are mounted prints. “These [could be] anything from landscape images to animals to patriotic images,” says Holliday. “We add a verse or inspirational message to it and mount it to a painted board.”

Healing Baskets, an online gift shop, carries a wide variety of inspirational items. “We sell the items alone or they can be grouped together in a unique basket,” explains proprietor Caroline Cheshire. “We have also designed our own inspirational themes to encompass our own selections.” The baskets have general themes, but can be tailored to a disease or healing process. Cheshire also has baskets for those suffering a particular loss.

For those who would like a physical manifestation of their wishes coming true, Flying Wish Paper offers a kit where customers can write down their wish on special paper. The paper can then be set alight and customers can watch their wish be “transported to the heavens.” It is “a tool for letting go, for thinking positively, to wish for all the possibilities life has to offer,” says owner Julia Lambie.

Angels too continue their steady popularity. Julie Kay Berry, owner of Rivendell Gifts in LaPorte, IN, decided to give guardian angels “life” through her newly launched Angel Wing Wishes collection. This is a series of ten angels cast in steel and dipped in a wash to create an antique patina. Each angel is packaged with a “Moment of Meditation” kit: a corked tube that contains special paper, a pencil and a symbolic white feather, as well as instructions to download a song.

Accentuate the positive

Vitaminds is another company that focuses on a very specific inspirational item. According to company owner Lynn Killips, Vitaminds are like vitamins for the mind. The key tags each have an inspirational saying or thought on them and are sold in tins containing either seven or 30—a saying for each day of the week or month. The tags don’t have specific themes and, Killips points out, are inspirational but not religious.

Killips says the Sausalito, CA-based company has a broad demographic. Vitaminds are sold in gift shops and salons, but are also sold through major distributors, like the Discovery Channel. Her demographic tends to be women 25 years old and up, but Killips has found that the product is also a popular gift to give to clients.

She thinks that what makes her product and other inspirational items popular, is the need for hope. “Every day life is filled with challenges,” she says. “People need to be reminded of the good things. What makes people feel better is a shift in thinking, and I think people want to gravitate toward positive thoughts.”

The power of positivity is strong. Switanowski-Barrett points out that customers don’t mind spending money when the trade-off is an item that inspires hope or good feelings.

Another company that is built around the power of positivity? T+ (think positive) offers items that range from T-shirts to coffee mugs to the T+ Re-Mind-eR bracelet. Todd Cecil, owner of the Nashville-based company, has been wheelchair bound since his childhood (T+ is a certified disabled-owned company). He says he changed his life “by changing my thoughts with the use of constant positive affirmations.”

He thinks inspirational products have continued popularity due partly to a desire to better ourselves, to improve things around us and uplift ourselves. “Having inspirational things around oneself is the reminder that we have the ability to make things better through our actions and through our thoughts. A simple change in one’s attitude can greatly affect the life of that person and others around them. We all have great abilities inside ourselves and inspirational products can help us to remember this,” Cecil says.

The role of religion

Clothing is the vehicle of choice for Michele Conti to demonstrate the power of inspirational gift products. Conti is the creator and director of Inspiretees, a company based in New Castle, PA. Inspiretees creates luxury women’s T-shirts with both religious and inspirational designs and sayings. And in a confirmation of the fact that religion still plays a strong part in the category, many of Inspiretees’ shirts sport verses from the Bible.

Conti admits that her T-shirts, particularly the overtly religious ones, sell to a niche market. Her customers tend to be conservative women. “Even during hard times we still need clothes, so why not wear something with an inspiring message?” Conti points out.

She believes that the way the shirts sell is also a barometer of the times we live in. Her most popular scripture-based shirts are Love and Believe, words and ideas that virtually everyone strives for in life. Contrary to what one might expect, Conti finds that the shirts sell well in all areas of the country.

Whether the item hangs on the wall, is displayed on a T-shirt, or is written on a card, thanks to the wide variety of inspirational items, consumers can find a message of hope and promise in any manner that will bring them joy.

As Cheshire points out: “With so many people being touched by life’s challenges, I believe they have become more empathetic to supporting friends and loved ones on the same journey.”

And inspirational products let them do just that.

Mouse over images below to view.

Sue Marquette Poremba

Sue Marquette Poremba is a freelance writer based in State College, PA. She specializes in technology, engineering, energy, and IT security topics. She has also published over a dozen essays and is the author of a book about the Philadelphia Phillies.




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