We all had that special journal when we were in school. The one that held our secrets, dreams, and fears. And you still probably have that journal somewhere today! Now, maybe you use one for meeting notes or to make lists. Or, you could be like me and hoard your journals only to never write in them because they’re too pretty and nice to mess up.
Apparently, that’s not as uncommon as I thought.
When I sat down with Jamie and Josh from JournalBooks (the VP of Sales & Operations, and the Creative Services Manager), that was something that was brought up. As a writer, I love feeling my pen under beautifully crafted paper. There’s something so wonderful about it in such a digital world, and Jamie laughed when I pointed out that I tend to hoard particularly nice journals.
“And that’s the thing about journals!” she said. “They’re a keepsake; people will often keep them on their shelves to use later because you never really know when you need some paper to jot something down. Maybe you really like a handwritten grocery note or daily to-do list, too. I still have the diaries my great-grandmother wrote in on a daily basis.”
JournalBooks was started in the early 90s as a division of Timeplanner Calendars, Inc. which was founded in 1971 by Jerry O’Boyle to sell branded calendars. Jerry’s six sons eventually took the reins of the business and were determined to grow. Timeplanner has earned a reputation for quality and customization. In the 90s, a customer approached them, asking if they could make a journal. They had the paper and the wire spiral – so why not? Their journals took off, and now they do customizable journals in every shape, size, and color!
And that’s what’s really cool about JournalBooks – the covers of their journals are your canvas. You can imprint your logo or artwork on them, die cut almost any shape, emboss, foil stamp, and more, all in their facility in North Carolina. Plus, the quality control is out of this world! They empower every single one of their employees to speak up if they’re uncomfortable with something during the process or if they don’t think something is working so they can go back to the drawing board to give you and your customers the best product possible.
Their sales team is also made up of trained graphic designers – meaning as soon as you make an order, you’ll be connected with one of your designers to make the journal of your dreams!
As always, I like to ask what they do to give back to the community – and oh boy, JournalBooks does a lot! Oftentimes, they’ll have off cuts from die cuts. Josh brought out a small, shoebox-sized tub full of the offcuts. They donate them to local schools & organizations for crafts, to help kids learn counting, and more. For many years Journalbooks has been supporting organizations such as Classroom Central, Samaritan’s Purse & Operation Christmas Child, Circle Camps, Second Harvest food bank just to name a few.
Beyond all the amazing things that they do, they’re genuinely some of the nicest people I have met in my time interviewing supplier companies. They’re so welcoming and even invited me out to see their facilities soon! If you haven’t worked with JournalBooks already (SAGE #50031), be sure to check them out here! To get a look at other supplier spotlights, you can see more here.
