Texrocks, San Antonio.
Sandcarved Stones.
Business Plan - February 2005


  There are four phases of our continuing company development. Define, Design, Develop and Deploy.

Define: Texrocks will be a business that will specialize in Texas Shaped Address stones. We will continue to look for new products that can be added to our product line.
Market Currently, we have identified and will investigate the following marketing segments.
  1. Texas Shaped Address Stones: 18 X 25 inch (average) limestones blocks, waterjet cut with Texas Outline, in choice of.
    1. Number $150
    2. Name $175
    3. Combination $200
    These are sold on website and through dealer network.
  2. Awards: 12 inch slate , similar to the Bulverde Chamber of Commerce.
  3. Pet Memorials: 10 X 14 (approximately) limestone blocks , With inscriptions for Pet memorials.
  4. Decals: made from 3 mil vinyl, Investigating marketing Tarleton State University Market
  5. Real Estate Housewarming gift program: Curved Glass photo frames.


There are dozens of other possibilities, which may be investigated at a later date, but we will concentrate on the five markets identified.

Current Equipment:
  • Sandblast cabinet.
  • 60 gallon, 10.3 cfm/90psi Air compressor
  • 100 pound Sandblast pressure pot.
  • Silicon Carbide blast media 80 grit (150 lb.)
  • Dust Collection System - 1 HP
  • Media collection system
  • Computer for artwork
  • Software for creating images and artwork
    • Corel Draw
    • Macromedia Freehand
    • Coffee Cup HTML Editor
    • Paintshop Pro
    • Digital Camera Software
  • Fuji 2.3 Megapixel Digital Camera
  • Epson CX6400 Deskjet Printer/Scanner capable of 600 dpi printing.
  • HP Laserjet 1100 .
  • Roland Camm1 PNC-1000 Vinyl Cutter 24 inch.
  • Letralite photoresist exposure unit.
  • Photo resist in assorted thickness.
  • Photoresist development board and pressure hose.
  • Assorted masks, hoses, acetate, and small bore ceramic tips.
  • 2 air hammers
  • 1 air grinder
  • 1 air sander
  • 1 battery powered Makita 4 inch skill saw.
  • Assorted hand tools, scrapers, chisels, knives, x-acto blades
  • Inventory of Vinyl, Hartco 425S Sandblast resist, and transfer tape.
    • Design Concepts: Our concept is that the state of Texas Outline is a marketable item. For example,the outline of TEXAS, cut into limestone, chiseled, smoothed and sandblasted with a number, name, or both, is considered a unique piece of sculpture. Because it is NOT pre-cast concrete, and each stone is made from a block of limestone, no two stones will ever be identical. Stones are now about 80 to 120 pound in weight after they are finished, and the response from buyers has been very positive. We have also made some awards from black slate, which the customer appreciated. We continue to experiment with glass, and look for unique glass or ceramic objects on which to sandcarve.
    Technicalities: We have developed our own type face for blasting numbers and letters onto limestone We have decided to smooth the face of Texas to give the mask better adhesion Hartco Sandblast resist cuts on the plotter excellently, and adheres to the stone without additional glues. Glass: We must take extra precautions with glass, as one grain can scratch the surface.
    Develop
  • The colors for Texas-Shaped Address stones are White, Cream, Yellow and Rattlesnake.
  • We are about to enter into a marketing agreement with Tarleton State University.
  • Our Dealer program has worked well. Keller Material sold almost 20 stones in 2003. For all of our dealers, we have just increased the retail prices, and have added to the profits for the dealers.
  • We want to identify more dealer stores. We will give them a free sample, retailer's order book, and store display signs.
  • No more dealers in other cities - unless they have a genuine retail location.
  • We want to develop a real estate house-warming gift program, where a repeat customer gets a discount for each item based on cumulative purchases.
  • We plan to create a sales brochure to leave at veterinarian offices to promote the Pet memorials.
  • We will continue to advertise in Homeowner's newsletters.
  • Donations to organizations of a Texrock stone will be based on exposure, etc.
  • We plan to market with the use of TexRocks.com as an online catalog.
  • We will develop the re-order system for retailers. We will list the stores that sell our products.
  • We do not want to attend flea markets, craft shows, etc. We want to supply sellers.


    • Deployment
    Deployed over the last year
  • November 1st,2003 -we sold the first "TexRock address stone".
  • December 25th, 2003- 25 stones
  • March, 2004 Signed Keller Materials to Dealer Program.
  • April 2004 Full time Employment by Government contractor will reduce available time I have.
  • June, 2004 Developed the On-Line Order using PayPal for payments.
  • December, 2004 Created slate awards for Bulverde Chamber of Commerce
  • December 21, 2004 Sold the 100th TexRock Address stone.
    • New marketing ideas:
  • Vinyl Stickers at Tarleton State University
  • Pet Memorial Stones
    • Equipment Wish list: