We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Renee Benn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Renee below.

Alright, Renee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?

My product was designed to help people that have generalized anxiety, like me. It gives their hands something to do and it’s a completable task ; both of which help calm your brain. When I invented Pick N Peel Stones, I had no idea there was an entire community of people that chronically pick their skin and that my product could help them!

Once I started getting reviews and hearing from customers, I was overwhelmed how much Pick N Peel Stone helped them transfer their picking to the stone and not themselves.

Then I received a call from 2 therapists at the Tamir Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel that completely changed my perspective. They had used my stones with a patient that was a chronic skin picker and were amazed that he was able to transfer his picking to the stone and not to his skin. Conversations with other therapists began to show me that there is a percentage of the population that has a “primal” need to pick, it is a compulsion that is hard to control. Being able to empty that need to pick on one of our Pick N Peel Stones has dramatically improved their lives!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I spent many years in stressful jobs. But one job in particular was very stressful. I wasn’t sleeping at night, I was constantly on edge and it was beginning to affect my daily life. My daughter showed me something on YOUTUBE called “Satisfying Videos”. These are videos of pressure washing a dirty car or cleaning ear wax out of a patients ear or the best of the best Dr, Pimple Popper, herself. I was hooked. Watching those videos calmed me down and I was able to fall asleep.

I didn’t understand how it worked but I knew I wanted to have a product in my hand that could give me the same feeling. S I went shopping to find such an item. I looked on ETSY, Ebay, Amazon, EVERWHERE but no such product existed. So I decided to make something for myself. It took about 6 weeks of research and development but eventually I had a product I could hold in my hand, pick filler from and leaves a clean stone behind. It was glorious. I was instantly addicted.

I showed a good friend what I had come up with and she and her daughters loved it too. Now I knew I was on to something!

Fast forward to October 2020 and we were given a TIKTOK review by the sweetest influencer and we went viral. We couldn’t keep the product on the shelves! We very quickly learned that we would need to scale up our production. Enter local non-profit organizations Wesley Family Services and Beaver County Rehabilitation Center ( BCRC).

Most people told me I would have to outsource to a foreign country to get my product made in mass, but I was determined to have Pick N Peel Stones help in every way possible as local as possible and these organizations made that dream come true.

The clients at Wesley and BCRC learn how to have a job, make amazing friends, receive daily therapy and get a paycheck. They are an amazing workforce and I am so proud to work with them.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

We have had great success on ETSY and our own Shopify platform website. I did not have a great experience with Amazon.

Second to my manufacturing partners, I have only one other employee and she is my marketing director. To do well on Amazon is extremely difficult for small businesses. All platforms charge a fee but Amazon is through the roof. There are so many hidden costs to succeed and they will not help you protect your intellectual property from foreign knockoffs.

Etsy has been wonderful as has our own website. Looking back, I see that I thought that being on Amazon would be a game changer for me but it turned out to be a nightmare.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We have had many people try to copy our product with little success. We are the best-selling fidget stone in the world for a reason, we use the best ingredients and have the best workforce. The filler that I had once made in my kitchen , is now made on a larger scale at a company in Akron Ohio. It took 2 years to get the formula to my standards because I expect the best from all parts of my company.

Customers know that we are Made in America and use the highest quality ingredients to ensure every purchased stone is amazing and ready to pick when they receive it. Outlasting the imitators has been the hardest and most fulfilling part of this journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.picknpeelstones.com www.lakonastones.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/picknpeelstones/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/picknpeelstones
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-benn-4b53ba139/
• Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@picknpeelstones?lang=en