Say It Display It® ‘a heart grown business designed to inspire’
Say It Display It® ‘a heart grown business designed to inspire’
Interview with Linda Mastromonaco
Linda Mastromonaco is a gyspy soul with an entrepreneur heart. She has built a successful business in the scrapbooking industry for 23 years and has been sober and single for 28 years! Linda is the author of her autobiography published in 2000 called Rising from the Ruins; A Single Mom Takes Flight. Serving others is her passion and selling is her forte. One of her long-term missions is to be able to provide hope to homeless women in domestic abuse situations with her empowerment cards. When you meet Linda you instantly know she is a giver. She shares God’s love and is extremely grateful for how He has blessed her. She is also the mother of two wonderful adult children and a very proud Grandmother of 3 “Sweetpea” grandchildren.
DYM: Where are you from?
Linda: I was born and raised 30 miles east of Pittsburgh in small town Irwin, Pennsylvania.
DYM: Why did you move here…Texas and Pennsylvania are very different? (Smiling)
Linda: I lived in Texas in the mid 80’s and my son was born in San Antonio, so Texas has always held a special place in my heart. The gypsy in me enjoys moving and new surroundings. In 2006, I left my roots where I raised my kids as a single mom and headed to southern California. It was the day after I sold my home and right after my daughter graduated high school. I was fulfilling my teenage dream. In 2012, I left California and went back to a vacation spot from childhood; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for a season of renewal. After a year and a half, it was time to pack it up again and head to Scottsdale, Arizona where Say It Display It® was born. It was there that I fried my last creative brain cell with the Arizona sun and moved back to California to continue sharing the Say It Display It® way. Today I tell people God has brought me full circle as I return back to my first love…Texas.
DYM: For how long?
Linda: Only God knows. (Laughing)
DYM: Have you always been intrigued by quotes or inspirational sayings?
Linda: I consider myself a self-proclaimed saying’s junkie; gravitating to self-help books and sayings like a magnet. Around the age of 12, I started collecting sayings in a floral, metal recipe box. It was way before the Internet so when I found sayings in books, I wrote them down on index cards with brightly colored markers; color coding and filing them by topic. I made index tabs with color paper and titled them with the topics of the sayings such as relationships, love, life, faith etc. Who knew that 45 years later this childhood passion would become a thriving business.
DYM: That is so incredible you were drawn to the inspirational quotes at such a young age! When did you decide this could be a business?
Linda: I sat in my favorite overstuffed chair with my feet propped up on the huge ottoman on a gorgeous Sunday evening; January 2015 in Scottsdale, Arizona and God spoke to me. Not audibly, though I heard Him speak to me in the depths of my heart and soul. He said “I want you to stop all of the crafty stuff you have been doing. I want you to design a product that would be retail worthy and I want you to go big.” Since I have always been a big picture thinker this message resonated me with excitement and determination.
Up to this point my ‘crafty’ business had been printing 100’s of sayings and quotes that I found on Facebook and Pinterest, matting them with card stock and adhering magnets to them. They were selling like crazy but very handmade looking. Furthermore, the art was not mine which had the potential to infringe on others’ copyrights and I could potentially find myself in some real trouble had I continued this business. Little did I know that the stage was already set for a retail business.
I pulled out an empty black binder, put some notebook paper inside along with dividers to organize my thoughts and started out doing a brain dump; writing down every random new business thought that was swirling around inside my head. The To-Do list grew. Lawyers, researching patents, trademarks, copyrights, packaging and logo design, branding, saying topics, photographers, social media and more.
Jumping in with both feet was how I wanted to fulfill God’s command to me to “go big”. We launched the company at the California gift show in July 2015. A couple Hallmark stores were some of our first accounts! The following year we jumped head on into the National Stationery Show in NYC. It was a financial bust, but we kept on persevering and learning as we went. In 2017, we did a complete overhaul of the packaging and branding. They say Failure is part of Success!
DYM: Do you create the sayings?
Linda: The sayings are from anonymous, unknown or people who passed on at least 100 years ago. This is the law for using sayings to profit in a commercial way. The backgrounds of all 30 daily inspiration card themed collections are my original art which includes watercolors, acrylics and taking photos with my I phone from the east to the west coast. Our kid theme backgrounds are my grandkids art paintings. We are truly a heart grown business.
DYM: What else makes your product special?
Linda: We have a themed collection of daily inspiration cards for everyone. YOU choose your deck theme based on what you want to focus on whether it be a simple Daily Dose theme, Empowerment, Faith, Success, God, Jesus, Growth, ‘I’ affirmations, Recovery to name a few. Embrace the simple yet significant concept and make it yours! We want you to OWN your inspiration. In your mind, heart, and soul. Each deck comes with 30 different messages and a display stand packaged in a lovely gift box for an all in one inclusive gift.
DYM: Is there a certain way you suggest using the deck?
Linda: Simply play the game ‘Pick One’ each day. Read your message of the day aloud, meditate on it for a minute, and set it on the stand in the front of the deck. Voila! Say It Display It® will fuel your day. It will fuel your month…one day at a time. We are literally bringing cyber space to in-your-face.
Coaches, teachers, consultants, employees are using our simple concept as ice breakers, conversation starters, displaying on vision boards and motivation for team members. We are cheap therapy!
In addition; if someone would like to be a collector of our Say It Display It® themed collections you can own your own keepsake inspiration box to store and display your messages on the display stand that comes with the box. Each box will house 7 decks or 210 unique sayings. Our themes come in 2 sizes- 4 X 6 or a Mini (business card) size. Coming this Fall we will be introducing our brand new MINI keepsake box to hold and display your mini sayings cards also.
DYM: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Linda: Yes! My all time favorite self-help and sayings guru is Zig Ziglar from Dallas, Texas! Here are a few of my favorites that he is famous for saying:
- “People often say motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.”
- “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”
- “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”
- “Your future, your success, equals the size of your hope. You must have more.”
DYM: Thank you for your time and sharing with us about your inspiring passion. Tell everyone where they can find you.
Social Media: Facebook, Sayings Junkie’ Facebook Group, Instagram, Pinterest,
Linked In, Google+, Twitter
Amazon, Etsy
Local events:
Grapevine Farmer’s Market every Saturday from 10am to 4pm Liberty Square at Main Street
Holistic Fair at Billy Bob’s & Oklahoma City- An Affair of the Heart in October.
