Welcome, my name is Jim... I am a cancer survivor and the owner of Casual Groove.
I have been working in the graphic design and advertising industry for most of my adult life, with the past 20 years or so dedicated to signs and commercial vehicles. Unfortunately, my recent battle with cancer has made it impossible for me to continue in that line of work. I now use the skills that I've acquired to create unique, custom accessories and decorative accents on a much smaller scale.
I pride myself on creating unique, quality and affordable handcrafted goods, and every item sold on this website is handcrafted, packaged and shipped from my small, home based workshop in North Carolina. No factory, no warehouse, no employees,... just myself, a handful of tools and supplies, and a whole lot of coffee.
This website was originally created in the fall of 2021 to support my new sign and vinyl venture here in North Carolina, however, in December of 2021, I was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer at the base of my tongue and immediately began a vigorous treatment cycle involving weeks of chemotherapy, daily radiation sessions and then surgery to remove tumors and lymph nodes from my neck. My incredible wife worked 10 hours a day just to keep us afloat as I drove myself to daily treatments, barely able to walk at times. My latest scans show that I am now "cancer free", however, the debilitating side effects from the treatment and surgery will be with me forever.
I'm finally able to be somewhat active again and trying to piece my life and business back together. As my recovery progresses, I've decided that I want to do more with my remaining life than just bring home a paycheck. I wanted to find a way to use my skills and this website to not only save myself, but to help others as well.
Many small, online sellers spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in advertising, with most of that ad revenue going to corporate giants like Google, Facebook or Amazon. I wanted to try something different. Here at Casual Groove, we have decided to give a large portion of our would be advertising dollars to charitable organizations, non-profits and other select individuals that may be in need, and in return, these affiliate partners share our unique, handcrafted products with their supporters and their social network of family and friends. When shoppers visit our site from fundraiser referral links, the affiliate partner receives 30% to 35% of the sale. We do very little advertising on our behalf, so nearly every order on this site is generated by a referral that results in revenue for an affiliate fundraiser.
Every sale here not only helps me to survive and keep this site running, but allows you and I to come together to do some good for someone or something else as well. Thanks for reading, and again thanks for visiting us here at Casual Groove.
You can learn more about our affiliate/fundraising program here.