A LITTLE MORE ABOUT
BARB'S PEOPLE BUILDERS

Owners: Kosta and Barbara Radisavljevic, Templeton, CA

History: Barb's People Builders was founded in January of 1992, a few months after our son Jason*, whom we had taught at home from grades 5-8, died in a jet ski accident at Pyramid Lake in Los Angeles County, California. This left a big hole in our lives, since no other children were left at home. Most of our close friends were home schoolers and they had provided much of our spiritual support after Jason's death. We couldn't envision ourselves leaving the home school community. At first I (Barb) offered my support to those who sought me out with questions about how to teach English, since they knew I had taught English and writing in both public and private schools. I constantly found myself recommending my favorite resources . Gradually it dawned on me that I didn't need to keep referring my friends to other suppliers for these books. I could sell them myself. And that's how it started.

After that it just grew. We began going to home school conferences later in 1992. Our first was in Fresno, California. Then we began to go farther -- to the state conventions in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Colorado -- even Ohio, Pennsylvania, and last of all, Virginia. Traveling was interesting, but exhausting. We enjoyed meeting and interacting with home schoolers and other vendors, and we still miss that very much. But we have pretty much stopped the home school convention circuit because my husband developed rheumatoid arthritis and he could no longer help much in loading and unloading and setting up and tearing down our large booth.

We live in a small town with many home school families, but not enough to support a business such as ours. We couldn't afford to print a catalog that would do justice to all the titles we carry, and we are constantly getting new things. Because few people we haven't met at conferences have heard of us, we had to find new ways to display and sell our books. So we started supplying Christian school book fairs. We enjoyed doing this until Kosta could not even drive the truck anymore.

Then I discovered the Internet. It became possible to meet people from all over the world, put my catalog before people without great expense, and change it easily whenever I add or subtract something. and that's where we are today. We have added used books in all subject areas -- not just textbooks -- to our catalog. We hope that will make it easier for you to get inexpensive or out of print books. After we joined tomfolio.com, a cooperative of used booksellers with high standards, in 2000, but started listing even more of our used books there than you will find here.  We began to write articles as we traveled less, and now I have started writing articles on several other online sites on a variety of personal and educational topics, as well as anything else that interests me. You can find me at Squidoo, HubPages, Qondio, Gather, Facebook, Twitter, MyLot, and Best Review. My favorite places to create are Squidoo, where I can make a bit of money with my writing, and Zazzle, where I can create cards and gifts from my photos to sell on line. It's one way to relax and do something I really enjoy after the day's work is done, and it does bring in a bit of extra income.  You can easily do it, too, if you'd like to make a bit of extra money to support your photography habit or even just promote the products you like made by others. Just click the Zazzle link above to get started as an affiliate or to see my own Zazzle store.

In 2001-2002, Kosta had both hips replaced, one at a time. His recovery was , but he's been swimming to build up strength, and I'm happy to report that he no longer needs the cane you see in the picture. He can't walk as fast or as far as I can yet, but he's making more and more progress.  Since we have stopped our traveling I have started to write more on the sites mentioned above, and I love it.

Besides those sites, I have started three blogs. The first started as a gardening blog when I was doing more gardening. After the ground squirrels ate everything I planted but the herbs last year, I changed the focus of this blog a bit. It used focus on the spiritual lessons to me in gardening, as well as the gardening activities themselves. Those posts are still there. However, as I spent more time walking the backroads of my community, I began to see God's activity everywhere in nature and in the activities of men. So now that blog is called God's Work in the Natural World and will concentrate on the lessons I see for myself as I observe nature. The second blog, Of Cabbages and Kings: The Random Thoughts of an Internet Bookseller, deals more with education and books than the other two, but mostly whatever is on my mind. My newest blog started after I got really interested in everything going on in North San Luis Obispo County, and features local artists, events, and places of interest. It's called Tidbits from Templeton: Keeping Busy in Wine County.

Since 2006 I have been on the Board of Directors for the Internet Bookseller's Co-Op, tomfolio.com, which hosts my e-commerce site. You can find out more about it herel

If you have any questions you'd like answered about our company, please feel free to ask.

If you would like to know more about me, please check out my Squidoo lensmaster page. A Squidoo lens is a unique perspective on a topic. Squidoo gives me an opportunity to express myself on subjects that are more personal that I do here. For example, I wrote two lenses about my daughter, who died in May, 2009.
        Sarah: The Suicide of a Child  Sarah was 36 when she died, and we hadn't seen her in 14 years. I tell her story in this lens.
        Adoption Song was written for and to Sarah when she turned 18. It was an attempt to win her back.
        A Dollhouse Full of Memories was written about my fourth Christmas in 1947, when I was given a special dollhouse. I have a picture of me beside it.
        Our Fight Against Termites: Not a Commercial discusses when our lives were turned upside down in April, 2009, by a termite attack. It describes how we eradicated the termites and repaired the damage with only the help of our handyman. It is illustrated with the photos I took of the different stages of work.
        Templeton, California is where I take you on a tour of my hometown. It includes a trip to our local Farmers Market and introduces you to some of our vendors.
        The Paso Robles Earthquake, December 22, 2003 shows you how much damage an earthquake can do to a home without really destroying it.
        Why does the suicide of a loved one take us by surprise? This is another sad lens that introduces our friend Rich. He was a special gift to us, and we enjoyed his company for ten years. At the end of those ten years, he became ill and convinced he was losing his mind (as far as we can piece it together) he took his life.
        My Tomatoes Were Hit by a late Frost in April shows the part of me that likes to garden.
       My Squidoo Lensmaster Page lists all the lenses I have written and adds all the new ones that I will write week by week. It also lists the links to my blogs that aren't hosted here.
       Just for fun, check out this Quiz: How Well Do You Know Barb R?

Just posted: My Life in Greeting Cards tells what I did before I started my own book business.

    If you like to write and would like the encouragement and support of others who also like to write, think about joining Squidoo. It's social network of people who like to write about almost anything -- as long as it's G-rated. It's free, and some people even earn some money on it through affiliate programs, but I don' t put the effort in to do that. I joined because I like to write. You will also meet some interesting people, many of whom are educators in homes or schools. May of them share their lesson plans and unit study ideas. If you want to join, just click this link to join Squidoo. All you need to start is an idea. If you do visit my lenses, please interact with the site by taking polls and leaving comments in various modules that encourage participation by readers.

Thanks for dropping by to get acquainted.

*Jason panning for gold in American River about a year before his death.

This is Sarah modeling my wedding dress when she was about 14 .

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We receive a small commission from some links to third party sites with whom we have an affiliate relationship.

We're in the Pacific Time Zone
Our normal office hours when we answer the phone are 10: 30 AM - 4 PM Monday - Friday.
We answer email and ship at other times, but normally take Sundays off.
 You can fax your purchase orders to 805-237-8639, but it's good to follow up with a phone call in a couple of days to make sure we got it, if you did not receive a delivery confirmation email. Please include an email address with your purchase order in case we have questions and so we can send your delivery confirmation number to you.  You can also attach a signed purchase order to an email.

 We prefer you ask your questions about products and availability by e-mail (barbsbooks@sbcglobal.net), since that gives us more time to prepare a thoughtful answer and keeps us from playing phone tag. Please remember to put our email address in your address book if you have a spam filter or you won't ever get your answer unless you also leave a phone number. We cannot usually tell you immediately over the phone if a book is here. We have to walk two blocks to check the warehouse, so I usually have to call you back or email you anyway.  We do check our e-mail frequently throughout the day when we are at home. If we should be out, and you leave a message on our answering machine, we sometimes cannot hear the phone number clearly to return your call. Those are some reasons why we recommend you email us first. If you want us to call you, please leave your phone number and time zone.
When you do email us, please do not leave the subject blank or just say "Hi" or "Hello" as the subject. We delete those before opening because a lot of spam messages look like that. 
We have supplied a subject line in the link provided above that will guarantee your mail will be opened fast.
Or call (800)925-8587 (not before 10 AM or after 10 PM Pacific Time)

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