Caden Valdes with Luminescent Treasures Emporium

Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is Fearless Formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: And welcome to a very special edition of Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. We’re doing a Wednesday edition and I’m so excited to have in the studio one of my youngest interviewees, which is great, you know, and I love the energy behind it. This is Caden Valdes. He is the owner and creator of Luminescent Treasures Emporium. And it is so fascinating what he does. And I don’t want to spoil it because I want him to explain it exactly. But what’s cool is that he’s here to he’s like a young entrepreneur. He’s here to kind of explain his business and how he makes it work and balance school and everything else in life. So welcome, Caden.Nice to meet you.

Caden Valdes: Nice to meet you.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. Let’s talk about. Okay, first of all, the name is just fascinating. It’s like so magical Luminescent Treasures Emporium. How did you come up with that name?

Caden Valdes: I just kept thinking about things that would make sense for it to. Oh, sorry. I kept trying to come up with things that would make sense for the business and what I would be selling. So I just wrote down a list of words that I thought matched what I was selling and kind of mixed and matched them. And came up with that.

Sharon Cline: It’s so smart. And so let’s explain to our listeners what your business is.

Caden Valdes: It’s a book crystallization. So. I put books into a chemical solution and leave them to crystallize for a few days and then they turn into art pieces and they’re preserved.

Sharon Cline: They’re preserved forever. Right? So. Okay. How did you come up with the method? The idea of being able to do this. What was the inspiration for that?

Caden Valdes: My mom gave me a lot of the inspiration.

Sharon Cline: I love it.

Caden Valdes: And I just kind of figured out how to do it on my own. I researched how other things are crystallized and just did a couple trial runs on some of my old books. And when I figured it out, I started doing more and selling them more.

Sharon Cline: So you see, clearly there’s a market for it. That’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s not something that you see every day. It’s not even something that ever came into my mind until I saw it, I think. At your mom, Ashley Greer. She’s here as well. She is the owner of the Boredom Box Charcuterie. And she also had used some of the books and some of her displays. And so I had never even seen anything so beautiful before because it’s not just the fact that it’s like an art piece, like, you see art pieces everywhere. But if there’s a special book that you have that you really love or a special way that you would want to be able to use it, not just a book folded open, you can change the shape of it, but you keep it forever. If it’s a special book to you, it’s like now it’s it’s, you know, something you could pass to your kids, which is so fascinating to me because I never even thought about it. So what was the first book that you did that you crystallized? What was that like when you know what it is? Oh, what was it, Ashley? Or you want him to say,

Caden Valdes: I forgot the name of it.

Ashley Greer: Remember? It’s the one that you dyed the crystals blue.

Ashley Greer: Alcholics Anonymous. No.

Sharon Cline: Was it really?

Ashley Greer: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Let’s go ahead and use this as the test run.

Ashley Greer: We thought it was a cool book that we found, and. Yeah, and it’s really beautiful, actually.

Sharon Cline: And you, you may. You can make the crystals different colors as well.

Caden Valdes: I just dropped some food dye into the solution and it turned the whole thing blue.

Sharon Cline: So is it. I don’t want to ask something that would make you not have your process special and proprietary. So I don’t know. Would it be okay to explain the process of how it. How it works or is it too involved?

Caden Valdes: I can explain it. Okay. So first I set water to boil so that I can actually dissolve all of the chemicals into it. And while that’s happening, I usually fold some of the pages how I like them or find a page with a picture or an important phrase, and I’ll just kind of glue it down sometimes or fold it in a way that it stays even during the crystallization. And then when the water is done, I mix everything in and put the book down and I usually leave it sit for 1 or 2 days. And when it’s ready, I have to let it dry for several days. It varies between books. Interesting. Yeah, it takes a while for some books.

Sharon Cline: If it’s like a thick book, is that what matters? Yeah. Okay. Got you.

Caden Valdes: Like, for some of them it’ll be a week, but others it’s only 2 or 3 days. Wow.

Sharon Cline: No way.

Caden Valdes: And then after that I’ll seal them using mod podge. And I have a really nice one that kind of sparkles and I’ll put that one on the really nice books or the ones that need something more. If they don’t have a picture, I’ll usually add it there.

Sharon Cline: Oh wow. You’ll put it, you’ll put a picture on the outside of the book.

Caden Valdes: Oh no, the, the books have pictures.

Sharon Cline: Oh they do. Oh I got you.

Ashley Greer: His favorite ones to do are actually.

Caden Valdes: A Reader’s Digest, reader’s.

Ashley Greer: Old Reader’s Digest books that have like, antique looking pictures in them. Those are his favorite.

Caden Valdes: And the covers are also really nice.

Ashley Greer: The covers are beautiful.

Sharon Cline: What’s interesting is it has to be a hardcover book, right? So what would happen if you were to do a soft cover book? Would it just be too flimsy?

Caden Valdes: Most soft cover books are too flimsy to stick together during crystallization. Even some of the hardcover books will fall off.

Ashley Greer: But recently he just got a custom order because he does custom orders as well. And he just did a custom order for someone and their leather Bible and they had it open to their favorite verse and that one came out really nice. That one’s still in the drying process right now.

Sharon Cline: Even though it’s leather, which is absorb absorbs.

Ashley Greer: Yeah. Sometimes the crystals don’t stick to the cover depending on what material the cover is, but the pages got crystals on them and you can still see he’s done another custom book that was like a memorial piece for someone. It was their grandfather. I’m sorry, it was their father that had passed away. And so they had it crystallized open to his favorite hymnal and in a hymnal book. So they make great gifts not just for book lovers, but for Memorial pieces as well.

Sharon Cline: I’m thinking like, yeah, like heirloom. Things that you could pass down for sure, because I love the idea of something having a personal tie. It’s not just a vase. It’s not just like a like a, I don’t know, a pedestal that you put things on. It’s it’s got a personal tie to you or your family, and everything degrades at some point. So it’s so nice to see that if you have a Bible that’s been written in and some some something special that you would want to keep that handwriting and not watch it fade over time or not have this be lost. You get to preserve it in a special way.

Ashley Greer: Yes. Speaking of vases, do you want to tell her about Because she just said it’s not just a vase. Kaden can turn some of his books into vases.

Sharon Cline: How do you do that?

Caden Valdes: If I fold them in a specific way, I can put vials down in them once they’re done. And you can fill those files with flowers and water.

Sharon Cline: So that could be on your table or any any event that you.

Ashley Greer: That was actually what he did for me. I had him make a it was for a bridal shower. We found out the girls favorite book. And because she was a very big book lover and we found out her favorite book and I had Kaden make them into vases for me. And then we put fresh florals on the table, and that was part of our grazing tables. And it was like the hit, was it?

Sharon Cline: It’s the Court of Thorns and Roses. Correct. It’s my daughter’s favorite book series. Yep.

Ashley Greer: Yep. That one’s a good one. And and then at the end of it, they bought all of the books that were used on the grazing table. So that was really exciting. You must be so proud.

Sharon Cline: Well, how interesting is it that there’s obviously, like I said, a need and it’s not something that you see every day. They’re eye catching. They’re beautiful the way they sparkle. And so you automatically stop and kind of are interested in what this is. So do you mind talking about also what are the chemicals that mix together to make these crystals happen?

Caden Valdes: I can’t be sharing my secrets.

Sharon Cline: Oh, I wasn’t sure. I was worried about asking that I was. Oh, gosh, you’d have to kill me kind of thing. So what has been the most fun for you?

Caden Valdes: Trying out different ways to crystallize them? Mostly just different ways to fold the pages or. Crystallize the books. I can take them out earlier and have smaller crystals, or I can let it sit in for longer and have bigger ones. Being able to. I recently got a hot glue gun and I’ve been messing around with that one and I’ve been able to make some pretty cool folds that I couldn’t make before. So that’s definitely been my favorite part.

Sharon Cline: It sounds like you are you started off kind of in the basic way, but now your creativity has come into play. Do you find that you think about it when you’re not even working on books, you know, where you all of a sudden you’ll be like, Wow, I wonder if I could do this?

Caden Valdes: Yeah, I definitely had a couple ideas that I was able to do more freely once I got the glue, and in the beginning I was just opening the book to a random page and crystallizing it like that. But now I’ve gotten to the point where I’m going through the entire book looking for pictures and deciding which one I think looks best for it and which one will look the best crystallize.

Sharon Cline: So were you surprised at how much time it takes to do this? Definitely, yeah. Because I mean, this is weeks of investment of of one book. And I wonder if people really understand what it takes to make something so beautiful. Like the effort is it’s extensive.

Caden Valdes: I don’t think a lot of people understand how long it takes to get each book done because it’s a several day process for each step.

Sharon Cline: Clearly you can see that not everybody is making these books, right? So it’s like obviously it’s a specialty. Yeah. Um, so have you been. Advert. Well, one of the things that we talk about in Business RadioX is as advertising. And have you had to really promote anywhere? I know that you have because I follow you on Instagram. I know you have some social media. What do you do to get the word out?

Caden Valdes: Just my Instagram. I haven’t really. Oh, and and my mom. My mom will post me whenever I have a book on her tables. She’ll tag me in that. But recently, I haven’t been doing as much. I was away for a month over the summer, so I haven’t had the chance to get back and do all of it, so I haven’t had much content to put out recently.

Sharon Cline: Have you been missing it then? What is the most satisfying part of it? Like what do you think just brings you the most joy.

Caden Valdes: Seeing the finished books.

Sharon Cline: Like the the weeks.

Caden Valdes: Or.

Sharon Cline: Maybe of work.

Caden Valdes: Getting to pull the books out of the solution and seeing what they became over just a few days. Can I.

Ashley Greer: Interject? Yes. I think I see the most joy on his face is when people. Either purchase a book or get excited about what he does. And and it’s like, this is so cool. I think it just solidifies that what he’s doing is really cool and it’s a little boost of confidence for him would be for me, especially because, like I.

Sharon Cline: Said, you don’t see it everywhere. It’s not like you’re competing against a bunch of different people. And the fact that that people are stunned by it, that would be like, Look how hard I worked on this book. You know, I could just imagine like that sense of pride.

Ashley Greer: I’m excited for him because he has been accepted as a vendor at Riverfest, which is a juried panel. So there’s a lot of people that put in to be a vendor at Riverfest, but not everyone gets chosen. So he actually got chosen by a panel to be a vendor at Riverfest. So that’s next weekend.

Sharon Cline: Not this weekend, but next weekend. So you have ten days to get some books together. Is that pressure? Yeah.

Ashley Greer: Plus you have school.

Sharon Cline: Plus you’re starting a job tomorrow for the first time.

Ashley Greer: And it’s fall.

Sharon Cline: Break and it’s. Oh, I didn’t even think about that. Fall break is next week. Is that right?

Ashley Greer: Yeah, but we’re leaving on Saturday and coming back Wednesday and then Riverfest is Saturday.

Sharon Cline: How are you making this work?

Caden Valdes: I won’t be able to do any books after today. I’m putting in my last batch of books today.

Sharon Cline: How many can you do at once?

Caden Valdes: Usually four. It depends on the size, though.

Sharon Cline: So we your mom and I had spoken a little bit about price point because it does seem like if you’re talking about buying earrings at Riverfest or a craft that someone makes on the side, you’re not really spending a tremendous amount generally, but your books have a different energy behind them and a different purpose, I think. So what How did you come up with your price point of how you wanted, how much you wanted to charge?

Caden Valdes: I just found a value that I thought that they were worth and charged that and people are buying them.

Sharon Cline: It’s working. Yeah.

Ashley Greer: I told him I think that he should go up on his pricing a little bit for Riverfest because we started pretty low for what they are and now I think he’s done them enough and he’s sold enough that he can raise his price and he’s buying more expensive books.

Sharon Cline: There, like not just side books, they’re investment of.

Ashley Greer: Books, some books and then the like. The sealer that he got is a specialty sealer, so it’s more expensive product and things like that. So, um.

Caden Valdes: I wanted to start low when I was just getting used to it and doing the trial and error because I didn’t want to sell books that it weren’t my best work. So I sold those lower and then I raised my prices once I felt more confident in what I was selling. And recently I’ve had people tell me that I need to raise my prices again.

Sharon Cline: That’s the best news ever.

Caden Valdes: Cutting myself.

Sharon Cline: Interesting. Well, like we were saying, it’s forever, right? So you’re making something that will last forever. So it’s an investment that people are willing to make when they know that they’re getting something like that. It’s not consumable and you’ll have to buy another one. Um, I’m also thinking like the different parts of the markets that you could target. Like do you think about things like that? Like. Baby books and different segments. I’ve thought.

Caden Valdes: About that. I’ve already started doing a trilogy. I’ve finished Just finished The Hunger Games. Oh, yeah, I love that series. So I’m going to sell them as a group set and I only need one more book to complete the Twilight series, so I’ll be doing that one afterwards.

Sharon Cline: Which book do you need? I might have.

Ashley Greer: I don’t know about any of them. So he has no idea.

Sharon Cline: There are four I think.

Caden Valdes: I don’t read many of the books that I’m buying, but my mom says that they’re popular book.

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

Ashley Greer: So yeah, I help him scour for books.

Caden Valdes: Because I only know the books that I’ve read.

Sharon Cline: Right. And things that are important to you.

Ashley Greer: He’s got a Harry Potter one right now for sale. That looks super cool because the the.

Caden Valdes: Cover bled and made all of the pages turn purple. I didn’t even dye it.

Ashley Greer: Yeah. Like part of the Yeah. Like the insert the inside of the cover.

Sharon Cline: Yeah the color that’s like red.

Ashley Greer: So it bled onto the page.

Caden Valdes: The actual cover was blue and so it mixed wild.

Sharon Cline: You can’t predict that kind of stuff. So are you finding that there are so many different types of paper that people use to make books?

Ashley Greer: Yes, some of the older books, when he pulls them out, they will almost turn brown. Brown. But it looks really cool because it antiques them automatically. He’s got one that’s drying right now that has like gold leafing on the page. Oh, it’s so pretty.

Caden Valdes: But then there are also new books like new picture books I can’t even crystallize because of the texture of the pages. A little.

Ashley Greer: More waxy.

Caden Valdes: I can’t crystallize them.

Sharon Cline: So I wonder how why that, you know, why are they making books that are more waxy? Do you know what I mean?

Ashley Greer: Uh, the kids books tend to be a little more waxy.

Caden Valdes: Usually the kids books are like informational books, like encyclopedias. I can’t really do those. But I was surprised even to see that the Bible crystalized because it has a different texture.

Sharon Cline: Paper wise. It’s like a thinner paper.

Caden Valdes: Yeah, it’s much thinner than normal paper.

Sharon Cline: Nervous?

Ashley Greer: Yeah.

Caden Valdes: Because it was given to us as a test to see if I could do another one. Yeah. So I wasn’t too worried about it. I was like.

Sharon Cline: For some reason.

Ashley Greer: Ordered. She wanted her grandmother’s Bible done. But then they went back and forth and he was like, I’ve never done a leather one. So she sent him in the mail, a different Bible that she had as a tester before she gave him her grandmother.

Sharon Cline: Because I had like anxiety for a second. You know, there is like a pressure that way. So you are taking special orders, obviously. But is that become more often now that people can reach you and say, I would like you to do my special?

Caden Valdes: It’s an option, but I haven’t had many people take that option.

Ashley Greer: I think as it gets closer to Christmas, that’ll probably comes.

Caden Valdes: I’ve had people show interest in it, but I just don’t think it’s the right time for them to buy it.

Ashley Greer: I think Riverfest is going to really surprise you because he can take custom orders at Riverfest and then he also has some to say. I was going.

Sharon Cline: To ask you.

Caden Valdes: Some following for me.

Sharon Cline: What is what are your goals for next weekend? Would you love to sell all of your books? What would be like Give yourself like a high five? At the end of the day, I.

Caden Valdes: Would like to sell all of the books that I have there and gain some followers on Instagram or at least spread my business.

Sharon Cline: You know what I love is that you don’t really have to advertise too hard what your product is. Does the advertise. Like if they walk by your mom’s, any of the things that she’s been using with with board and box charcuterie, It’s such a perfect blend too. It’s like the energy behind that kind of a book and the way that you make your boards look so beautiful. It probably all is just so visually gorgeous.

Caden Valdes: Yeah, she’s done a great job implementing my books into her boards.

Sharon Cline: It’s interesting because it’s not like you decided, I’m going to make this as a business. It was kind of an experiment, right? Are you surprised?

Caden Valdes: Yeah, I’m pretty surprised. I didn’t expect it to go this far. I thought it would be like a two week, month long thing where I just went to a couple events selling the books that I’ve made. But now it’s been almost half a year that I’ve been doing this and I’ve made a lot of books and sold a lot of books.

Sharon Cline: Do you talk? Oh, sorry. Oh, I was.

Ashley Greer: Just going to tell you kind of how it started because you didn’t mention this, but Caden is only 15.

Sharon Cline: That’s so true. I should have said you’re right.

Ashley Greer: He’s only 15. So he was having a hard time finding a job and he wanted to save money for a car. And I said, sometimes you have to make your own job. And so that’s kind of how it started with him. He wanted to make some money and couldn’t get a job at other places, and he worked for me for a little bit at the boredom box. But that was, you know, I try to encourage my kids. I’ve got three kids. He’s got two brothers to be entrepreneurs. And, you know, you can make as much as you want when you put in the work.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, you don’t have to follow a traditional path, which is like what makes the world move in a different way.

Caden Valdes: Yeah, I love being on my own schedule and being able to choose when I’m doing the books and not have to have many requirements.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, well, who would want someone to tell? Well, I mean, at some point, you’re going to balance it out, right? Because you’re going to be still doing books, but then you’re also going to be starting your job. Is it okay to say that you’ll be at Chick fil A on town lake, which is very exciting. Yeah, because I go through there too, and my kid starts tomorrow. Big day. But think about that. Like you actually will have two jobs going as a 15 year old and that’s a big accomplishment. And school and other social things that you probably do. So how do you balance it?

Caden Valdes: It’s pretty difficult to balance it. I’ve been so busy the last few weeks, I’ve barely gotten to do anything on my own. I also have driving lessons that I have to go to for to be able to get my license. And I also have guitar lessons that I’m going to. So he’s like a teenager.

Sharon Cline: I know, right? Do you make time for social time or. You know what I’m saying? Like friends.

Caden Valdes: And that’s usually on the weekends when I don’t have anything going on. I’ll try to meet with my friends like this. Last weekend, I went to my friend’s birthday party. Great. It was really fun.

Sharon Cline: I have found that when I’m out of balance, everything suffers. But when I do balance myself out, everything is so much happier. Like it doesn’t. Sometimes it. It feels like I could do a million things I have to do because I always have something I have to do. But when I take time to do something, I just want to do. It just makes the have to do so much better when I turn around. But that’s something that a lot of people, even as adults, it’s very difficult to manage. But it’s nice that you’re kind of understanding that as you’re getting started to keep that habit going. Do you talk about money a lot to like the amount of money that you have to invest in books and the chemicals that you won’t tell me about? Just thought I’d say and the amount of time that you’re investing, you know, what is that like for you in terms of having profit? Like, does it match for you?

Caden Valdes: So I haven’t I’ve tried not to spend much money on myself because I don’t have a separate account for the book. Money Got you. It’s just all in my personal account. So I don’t know exactly how much I have to spend on everything, but I’ve tried to spend my biggest spenders have been getting books and getting the chemicals, and I’ve spent probably $400 on books and chemicals.

Sharon Cline: That is not.

Caden Valdes: Terrible. Yeah, it’s not.

Sharon Cline: For some reason I was.

Caden Valdes: Thinking not too expensive, but it’s definitely a lot for me to be spending as a 15 year old with no job up until. Yeah, that.

Sharon Cline: Sounds like it does.

Ashley Greer: Sound like a lot. And the boredom box is sponsoring him for Riverfest. Yeah, that’s awesome. Sponsored Booth. Yeah.

Caden Valdes: I wasn’t able to buy my own booth at Riverfest when I was and we bought the booth when I was first starting out, so I hadn’t made much back then, but that’s definitely a risky investment, but I’m hoping it pays off.

Sharon Cline: But listen, you’ve got support and that is so huge when you’re starting a business, even as an adult and on your own, not as just a 15 year old, but having people around you. We talk about that on the show all the time, about surrounding yourself with people who are supportive, not just monetarily, but like emotionally. And giving you encouragement is is a really big deal. It’s easy to get discouraged in a business world when you’re your own boss. So I imagine it must be so nice to know that you’ve got some backup there.

Caden Valdes: Yeah, I’m so grateful for all the support I’ve gotten.

Ashley Greer: Oh, that’s so exciting.

Sharon Cline: If you were my son, I’d be like, yes. I don’t know. It’s good to hear.

Ashley Greer: He’s also hoping that with some of the money at Riverfest, when we walked in, we were telling you he’s going on a big trip coming up and he’s trying to save for a car. And so he’s going to be going to Japan with his school. So this is he’s hoping to put some money back for Japan for Riverfest sales.

Sharon Cline: You’ve got some good goals. Yeah. So do you ship your books anywhere yet or are they all local?

Caden Valdes: I haven’t had to face that problem yet.

Sharon Cline: You face that problem. It’s a good problem.

Ashley Greer: But really nerve wracking because they’re very fragile, so.

Sharon Cline: They will break.

Caden Valdes: We’ve been saving some bubble wrap from our personally delivered packages.

Sharon Cline: Oh yeah, I could see why. Because it sounds like that might be coming into your life. I would imagine.

Caden Valdes: I have a stack of boxes in my room for even if someone wants to take them home. I can’t just give them a plastic bag. It’s going to tear through the bag. I have to put them in boxes when I sell them.

Sharon Cline: It’s nice because you’ve got the boxes and you haven’t sold them yet. It’s like if you build it, they will come kind of thinking, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like you got to get it all ready for when it happens like that. Positive. Well, what do you think people don’t know about what it’s like to be a 15 year old entrepreneur?

Caden Valdes: It’s definitely a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be, and it’s not as difficult as I thought. It takes a while to get it moving and get more people to recognize what you’re doing and show interest, but it was not something that I really struggled with.

Ashley Greer: But sometimes I think that he got discouraged because we did do a couple of things. What was it called? Maker’s Mash. He did. He didn’t do well at Makers Mash because what is makers?

Sharon Cline: Mash.

Ashley Greer: So Makers Mash is the one that they do on River, not River. All right. Reformation. They kind of pop up on random Sundays, like once a month. Got you. But I was trying to explain to him it’s yeah, the sales didn’t come from makers very much. He had a few, but. That’s it’s getting your name, it’s getting the brand out there. It’s getting awareness. But also people aren’t coming to like drop money. It was on those days. What were they.

Sharon Cline: Want? What do they do? They’re just browsing.

Ashley Greer: I mean, it’s people walking their dogs. It’s people coming out to reformation where river fed. Yeah, but river Fest, you pay to get into River Fest and people come to spend money on Christmas gifts and to spend money on artists and things like that. So I think it’s going to really. Surprise him. The difference in the in the two is this the second.

Sharon Cline: One then, that you will have done where you have a booth.

Ashley Greer: Um, this is the.

Caden Valdes: I did for makers mash weekends. And then I did.

Ashley Greer: Garden in the Park and Canton. Yeah. How was.

Sharon Cline: That?

Caden Valdes: It was not great for him. I stayed there for about eight hours, and the only book I sold was Kentucky Derby that I didn’t crystallize.

Ashley Greer: It wasn’t a great experience for him, but I kept trying to encourage him. I’m like, This is part of it. Like when you’re starting, it’s more brand awareness and I and his price point is higher. And so when you’re at those things like people are not necessarily they’re just coming to browse, they’re not coming to specifically buy for by right that minute. But Riverfest is a different beast and I think it’s very similar. Have you ever been to Rubber Fest? Yes, I.

Sharon Cline: Have. It’s it’s huge.

Ashley Greer: And yes, people are coming intentionally to find crafts and arts and things like that, to spend money. It’s not just taking a walk with your dog in Woodstock. So I think that he’s going to be happy with the difference there. It’ll be.

Sharon Cline: Interesting. It is like an experiment, isn’t it, to see what where your time is best spent. It’s like requires a strategy, I suppose, when you think about it.

Ashley Greer: It does, yeah. Because his price point, I think most of his books at Riverfest are going to be $100 a book, which I think is really fair because we have seen some competitors and their pricing is like $300 a book. No way. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: So you’ve seen other people that do a similar thing.

Caden Valdes: Yeah, I follow another account on Instagram and their prices are pretty high. Really high for what their.

Sharon Cline: Do you feel like they are justified? I’m like, how different can you make them?

Caden Valdes: Some of them are justified, but others are just the same thing I’m doing.

Sharon Cline: Exactly. I’m thinking there’s only so many ways you can crystallize a book.

Ashley Greer: I mean, they they do. And cadence starting to add different things to it. Like he’s got some that we’ve added moss to it or or you know there’s flowers added to it or things like that. So it’s more than just crystallizing now and I think he’ll probably start toying. Oh you you crystallize a record.

Caden Valdes: Oh yeah. I’ve crystallized like an album. Records.

Ashley Greer: Yeah, like a record.

Sharon Cline: Record record.

Ashley Greer: It’s really cool.

Caden Valdes: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: People would love that.

Caden Valdes: I’ve crystallized Aerosmith, Elvis and one of I can’t remember it. I did it a couple months ago.

Sharon Cline: That’s amazing. And it’s interesting because I never thought anything besides books.

Caden Valdes: Yeah, I didn’t either.

Sharon Cline: Is there a limit to what you can crystallize? Waxy things. Waxy things, Waxy things.

Caden Valdes: Plastic will not crystallize.

Sharon Cline: Well, but vinyl will crystallize. Like a record. Yeah. That’s amazing. Maybe the grooves on it give it something. That’s what I was thinking.

Caden Valdes: But I’ve tried crystallizing something plastic and it did crystallize, but it always fell off every time something bumped into it, everything would fall off. Got.

Sharon Cline: You know, we don’t want this.

Ashley Greer: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Do you have a plan to do more items beyond books and records?

Caden Valdes: Not really.

Sharon Cline: Not yet, anyway.

Caden Valdes: Not yet. I just don’t think anything else would be fitting for what I’ve been doing. I think you’d go.

Ashley Greer: Where the money is. Yeah. Heck, yeah.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, yeah, for sure. It’s a business, right? Yeah.

Caden Valdes: I’ve been doing well with just the books, and I can add things to the books, but I don’t think I should really. Take up more space than necessary. If I’m trying something new, I’ll try it once. But if it’s taking up more than the space of a book, I’m not going to replace a book for it.

Sharon Cline: So what is the best way that people can get in touch with you? You have business cards, by the way. Okay. So when you’re at Riverfest and people say, I want to know, can you do this special.

Ashley Greer: Order more or.

Sharon Cline: More? Oh, yay. My job is done today. So happy to help. But thinking about that, that’s because I can imagine if you don’t want if I were an average consumer walking around and I see that you have this business and I had a special book, well, I would want to contact you later and say, here’s my special book. Like, you’re doing this Bible and, and, and and really making it so personalized for people which that emotional tie people will spend money for that, that’s for sure. So, yeah, you have business cards and you have your Instagram. And do your friends at school know that this is what you do?

Caden Valdes: Yeah, I’ve sent them pictures of the process before and they thought it was really cool and they kept giving me ideas for ones that they would want and what they think would look cool.

Sharon Cline: Do you like what the suggestions are? I mean, that’s really cool. It’s like takes.

Caden Valdes: A village them except the books that they’re recommending are really expensive and I can’t find them secondhand.

Sharon Cline: Usually what books are they? Brand new books. Like Stephen King books or something?

Caden Valdes: Uh, no. They’re talking like old comic books and stuff like that. Oh, interesting. Even if I’m buying second hand, I can’t really get them for the price that I’m wanting to sell them for.

Ashley Greer: Here’s a really cool one right now too. It’s The Count of Monte Cristo and it has like this. Succulent beaded plant that’s coming out of it. And that whole thing crystallized, too. It’s really cool.

Sharon Cline: You know, in thinking about like Stephen King and for some reason that just brings up spooky things. And then I’m thinking it’s Halloween time. I know.

Ashley Greer: I want him to do a skull.

Sharon Cline: You could you.

Ashley Greer: Could. You could go.

Sharon Cline: Theme. Do you know what I mean? You really could.

Caden Valdes: I’ve been considering it, like doing some pumpkin, like, toy pumpkin things.

Sharon Cline: Skulls would be amazing. Can you imagine the crystallized skulls?

Caden Valdes: I’ll just have to get the right material for it.

Sharon Cline: I know we have plans for you.

Ashley Greer: I could use those on my grazing table.

Sharon Cline: She could use them in her grazing tables.

Caden Valdes: Not for free.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. You’re a business.

Ashley Greer: Man. You always have to pay him, which I’m happy to do. But I like when I want him to make a book for me. I pay him for it just like I would pay any other vendor.

Sharon Cline: But that’s super smart.

Ashley Greer: I have an Alice in Wonderland themed class coming up and I found an Alice in Wonderland theme. I mean, I found an Alice in Wonderland book today, and I was like, I’m going to need you to do this for me.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. And I will pay you this amount to do it. Yep. So you have built in right now. It’s such a great setup, right? Because you’ve got built in like perfect displays to show what you can do. It’s sometimes hard to visualize unless you have the environment where they go in.

Caden Valdes: Yeah, she’s helped me a lot with the display. I’m not great displaying anything. Not yet.

Sharon Cline: Not yet. We say, Well, what time do you have to really go through and research everything and try to make it the most perfect? Yeah. She’s 15 year old.

Caden Valdes: More like a magical looking thing on display and like, kind of like a cave exploring or a magical forest.

Ashley Greer: Magical forest is the vibe that we go for with. Oh, and he has. He has a fish aquarium that he bought a long time ago that ended up not getting any fish in it because he was trying to get an Axolotl. But he saved up his money for an aquarium, a big one. And so now we’re actually going to take that to Riverfest and use that as a display case and put a series in there and put some moss in there and make it like a whole magical book. Forest Oh, my goodness.

Sharon Cline: That’s a great idea.

Ashley Greer: Mom’s got lots.

Sharon Cline: Of yeah, she.

Ashley Greer: Does creative decorating ideas.

Sharon Cline: But how fun is it? Because really when you’re creating something, it’s like in my life, whenever I’m doing something creative, like voice over work or pretending to be an actor or any of those things, doing a book where I get to create a character in my head, there’s an energy that’s behind it that’s so much more fun than just having to do well. I have to do this and I have to do that. When you’re creating, it’s like, this didn’t exist before and now it does and it’s like fun. I don’t know how how important is that? When I think about it now, if I had to choose, I’d always want to do fun things. But how important is fun in what you’re doing? Does it have to be?

Caden Valdes: There’s only one part of the process that I don’t enjoy, and it’s sitting around once I’ve folded all the pages that I want, waiting for the water to boil. It takes a while. That’s really the only part.

Sharon Cline: That’s the unfun is waiting for water to boil. I get that.

Ashley Greer: But he also, like he uses gloves and he puts his hands down in the hot water. And so that it’s a whole it’s a whole process.

Caden Valdes: Wow. Yeah. The water is near boiling when I’m putting the books in. But if I wait too long, then the chemical will not take to the book as well. So the gloves insulate a little, but it still hurts sometimes.

Sharon Cline: Let’s talk about the science aspect of what you’re doing. Isn’t this cool? Like, think about it.

Caden Valdes: It’s really interesting. I think I know how it works, but I’m not too sure about it.

Sharon Cline: You just don’t.

Caden Valdes: Know that it.

Sharon Cline: Works. Have you talked to anybody at your school that’s like in science that could kind of explain it? Because how cool is this? You really are? You are putting together you’re making an alchemy of things that didn’t exist before to change, to make change. Right. Isn’t science like the. I don’t know what changes. Okay. I sound super intelligent, teacher. I should just stay on my side of the booth over here and just let me just ask you a couple questions.

Caden Valdes: I think my chemistry teacher could explain it better than I could, but I. Figured out. Everything for myself, pretty much. And I was able to. With the help of Google. Yeah, with the help of Google.

Sharon Cline: Listen, everybody just getting the supplies. Yeah. I think it’s wonderful. It’s right there trying to.

Caden Valdes: Figure out the amount of each chemical. And I just recently messed up. I didn’t put enough in one of them. So the crystals came out really small and clear, but I think it’ll look cool once it’s dried. So I’m hopeful because I’m planning to sell it. I can’t afford to lose a book right before.

Sharon Cline: Oh my gosh, you sound like a real business owner.

Ashley Greer: He’s grown like his mindset has grown a lot because the first time a book came out that it wasn’t how it was planned out in his head, he really struggled with it. It’s like, that’s not how I wanted it. And I said, But Kaden, people think all different things are beautiful. So. So you may not like the crystals on this one, but somebody else might think that’s really beautiful. So actually, one of the ones that he really didn’t like is my favorite way of it because he flips the book during the middle. So like halfway through he’ll flip the book. So then either the bottom half or the top, it’s usually the bottom half. The bottom half grows really fat crystals and then the top half grows really delicate, dainty crystals. And so it’s two different types of crystals on it. And the first time he flipped it, he was like, Oh, they didn’t crystallize the same. And I was like, Oh, I love that. Can you do that again? That’s really cool. So people’s perception of what is beautiful, everybody has different. And so while he may not be happy with these crystals, somebody else might look at it and be like, Those crystals are amazing.

Sharon Cline: I love them or something.

Caden Valdes: Yeah, the placement of the books is surprisingly important. Putting it in halfway will do what she said and have bigger crystals on one side and smaller on the other. But laying them face down and open will have more of the pages kind of sticking out in a circle shape. And then if you lay them open facing up, it’ll crystallize them, facing up, and the pages will kind of stick up and look like mountain peaks.

Sharon Cline: And who would have ever thought?

Caden Valdes: Yeah, it’s really I’ve been trying to vary the way that I put them in, but it’s difficult to get them to stay like that since they’ll float over the water.

Sharon Cline: I’m trying to picture the process in my head. So in your describing it, I kind of have a better idea of how you do it, because it’s. It’s science. So there’s one part of your brain. What is that left side of your brain? Right side of your brain is the creative side. So you get to use both, which is kind of cool. So like visually, I’m trying to imagine you in like your kitchen or wherever you’re doing it, and I can imagine that you’re putting the books in in a specific way, but I wouldn’t know exactly what it looks like or what you’re expecting, you know? So I’m glad that you described it because now I can kind of get an idea where can people see it? Is it on Instagram? If someone was interested in.

Caden Valdes: I have the process on my Instagram.

Sharon Cline: Oh, I should probably look at that.

Ashley Greer: I try to take behind the scenes footage for him. Yeah.

Caden Valdes: I can’t really take the video on my own. Both my hands are taken up.

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

Ashley Greer: And then sometimes depending on the book, especially if he has to problem solve and figure out how to get the book to not float. So sometimes he’ll have to weigh it down with things or other, you know, other solutions.

Caden Valdes: Also keeping them separate. I keep two books in each tub and sometimes they’ll float together and I don’t want them to crystallize together, right? So I have a metal barrier that doesn’t crystallize and I put it between them and it keeps them separate without crystallizing to them.

Sharon Cline: That’s amazing.

Ashley Greer: Just things that you have to learn out.

Sharon Cline: As you go. If someone would be interested in doing something similar, what would you recommend for them? Like what would you have wished you knew in the beginning that you know now if someone had told you something and you’d be like, That’s a great tip.

Ashley Greer: How to keep them down in the water. Yeah, probably because yeah.

Sharon Cline: You wouldn’t have thought, Yeah, because they float. Well, I’m excited to see where you go because this is just the beginning, you know? I know what I was doing 15 years ago. It’s crazy to think now. Look, as a 15 year old, you have your own business. You have goals. You have people asking you for special orders, things that they trust you with, their heirloom things. It’s exciting.

Caden Valdes: Very exciting.

Ashley Greer: I think that if he stays on the path, it could be something. Really? Really lucrative and profitable and enjoyable. And I think that there’s a lot of potential there for it to be a real legitimate, hard working business. Even though you’re 15, it doesn’t matter how old you are. If you put your heart into it and put the effort in, then you make it what it is.

Sharon Cline: And who knows what it’ll mean for your future. This may be where you stay and you just continue to grow or whatever you’re learning right now, you take to the next level of what you want. You know, it’s all like positive, you know, and it’s fun. And you know what else? You’re really affecting people’s lives, which is so cool because you’re giving people like the the woman that had the the wedding with the books that she specifically loved. She’ll always associate you with that for the rest of her life. You’re part of now her her story.

Ashley Greer: She’s one of the ones that said I’ve seen these online and you need to go up on your pricing.

Sharon Cline: No way. I trust that.

Ashley Greer: Then. Yeah, because she got it at the the lower pricing because they were $75 a book and she’s like you need to go up on your pricing. This is this is way too cheap for what you what you do And so I thought that was a boost of confidence, too. It’s like, all right, now you’re ready to raise your prices. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: How exciting. Well, I would love to see next weekend. I’m out of town. I will. I would love to see them in person more because I’ve.

Ashley Greer: Seen just like I have them in my.

Sharon Cline: Store. So I’ll come by the store and take a look because I think just being able to appreciate in 3D as opposed to looking at it online, I think there’s an impact there. It’s just different. Yeah, to be able to see it in person.

Caden Valdes: I did notice that they don’t look as good online. You can’t really see that sparkle in them in pictures or even videos. Sometimes they’re a lot more in detail and nice to look at in person.

Sharon Cline: Well, all of our listeners who are listening, please go to Riverfest this weekend and follow the sparkle is what I say. You go find Kaden and see the the books that he’s pouring his heart into. It could be something that really has like a lot of meaning for you as well. And if not, I think he’d probably be willing to take some orders next weekend for something special.

Caden Valdes: Definitely.

Ashley Greer: Yeah. And then beyond Riverfest, you can reach him via email, Instagram or I will have books on display in my store all the time so you can come in and check those out in person so that you can see them as well.

Sharon Cline: Okay. Thank you so much for coming in. I feel like it was really special for me to be part of this little journey of yours just to even witness and ask you some questions. And I can say, because it’s all about me, I can say I knew you when, and maybe I’ll find some inspiration for my own gifts to give people because it is special, very special and something you can keep forever.

Caden Valdes: Thank you so much for inviting me.

Sharon Cline: Of course. Kaiden Valdes. I’m sorry. It’s Luminescent Treasures Emporium and also Ashley Greer of Boredom Box Charcuterie. Thank you for taking the time to come and meet me on a random Wednesday. It’s been so nice to chat with you. Yeah, and thank you all for listening to Business RadioX fearless formula. And this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.