About Special Ideas Inc
Special Ideas has been serving the Baha’i Community with low-cost teaching materials and unique identity items since 1981. Most of our products are designed by us or other Bahais artists, and produced by us. Many are created in response to ideas that are sent to us by Bahai just like you. So if you need a product for teaching, proclamation or just to make the world a better place, share your thoughts with us. Think of our service as your personal Bahai resource.
Special Ideas distributes the worlds largest, most diverse line of teaching, proclamation and community development materials to Bahai organizations. We also believe that to succeed in improving the world, we must learn to work with like-minded organizations. This is why we provide so many interfaith items for use by hospitals, hospice organizations, schools and other groups working to make a positive difference in people’s lives.
Special Ideas Inc, started in 1981 by Justice St Rain, expanded dramatically when he married Karen, and finally incorporated in 2001. Karen is the CEO and oversees the web site and database, plus just about every other detail of running the business. She also answers the phone in the morning. Justice writes books, develops new products, screens submissions, produces the paper catalogs, writes our e-mail newsletters, and takes orders and answers random questions in the afternoon – while also packing your orders.
YOU are also a part of Special Ideas. Our 8,000+ customers support and inspire us with your loyalty and goodwill. Many of you also send us great product ideas and allow us a chance to distribution your best productions.
After moving Special Ideas all over the country, we settled in Southern Indiana on a farm site in the thriving downtown metropolis of Heltonville, IN, population 350. We are about 45 minutes from Bloomington, IN. We operate Special Ideas from a 4000 square foot barn that we built ourselves. From here, we answer phones during office hours and lovingly pack every single order by hand. Don’t be surprised if you find a few “freebies” tossed in your order.  We always try to give you more than you expect.
In addition to searching the world for the most effective and inspiring products to make available to you, we also write, design and/or produce about half of the things we sell. That is one of the reasons we can keep our prices so low and our product diversity so wide. We are also happy to take suggestions or look at new product ideas you may have developed yourself. But please be patient. If they come in at a busy time it may take a long time to get back to you.
For many years, most of our sales have been generated by our paper catalog, but as times change, more and more of you are logging on right here to see what is new and place your orders. Even if you don’t place an order, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (to the right) so we can keep you informed of our latest products and specials. As mailing costs increase, our paper catalogs will become less and less frequent. We also are now on Facebook and Instagram. Follow or Friend us to hear of new products before anyone else. That is also where we ask your opinion when decisions are made about new products.
If you really like what you see here and would like to see more of it in person, we are available to provide bookstores at major conferences and summer schools. Justice is also available as a speaker on topics related to his many books and pamphlets. You are also welcome to visit us in southern Indiana if you come our way.
We also serve the Interfaith Community with our sister site at Interfaith Resources and the Character Education and parenting community through our new CharacterBuilding101 site. Please recommend the appropriate site to your non-Bahai friends.
We are happy to take orders by phone 812 834-5691, between 10am and 5pm EST. And while phone calls give us a chance to get to know you and your needs, you might find it more convenient to place your order online – 24 hours a day. After you place your order, it will probably be on its way to you the next day. Emails are answered as quickly as we can.
Please note: We have a $11.85 minimum order
Information before placing International OrdersÂ
Justice and Karen