260 – What We Can Learn from the Challenges of Selling CBD Products with Derek Spruill of Cherry Blossom CBD
Derek is the co-owner of Cherry Blossom CBD. They’re a Maryland based wholesaler and distributor of industrial hemp with an exclusive retail line of hemp based products.
His innovative line of nutraceutical supplements are all made from American grown & organically processed hemp and independently lab tested.
These products are naturally helping people find relief of pain, inflammation, anxiety as well as a host of other ailments.
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- Life is all about perspective. Be open to learn from others.
- Acquire and seek out new skills along the way. You never know when they can help you in your chosen path.
- Don’t get stuck in your initial vision because things will change. Be open to adapt to it.
- Educate your consumers so they can make informed decisions.
- Make sure people understand what your product is and how it works.
- Sampling is the way your customers experience how good your product is. Especially with consumable products, they must be able to taste it.
- Engaging with people is the key to success at craft shows.
CONTACT LINKS
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Thank so much! Sue
Transcript
You're listening to gift biz unwrapped.
Speaker:Episode 260 Started playing around and then people started asking me
Speaker:for like,
Speaker:Hey, can I get some more of my,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:my grandmother,
Speaker:my dog,
Speaker:even like couldn't believe it.
Speaker:Yeah. Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one,
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue Always.
Speaker:Thanks for joining me here today.
Speaker:Boy, it's feeling so different right now with this worldwide pandemic.
Speaker:More than ever,
Speaker:we need to be in control of our lives.
Speaker:That's the fabulous thing about owning your own business,
Speaker:whether it's full time or for some extra money on the
Speaker:side. Having a business offers you options and has been the
Speaker:saving grace for Manny.
Speaker:Given that if you don't already know and you're hearing this
Speaker:just for the first time,
Speaker:my business development program,
Speaker:maker's MBA is closing enrollment tomorrow night,
Speaker:that's Tuesday,
Speaker:March 31st so you still have a tiny bit of time
Speaker:to join in.
Speaker:How do you know if this program is right for you?
Speaker:If you've been dreaming of starting your own handmade business but
Speaker:it's felt too time consuming,
Speaker:overwhelming or scary and you're just not sure what steps to
Speaker:take. This is for you if you've started your business but
Speaker:you're frustrated and anxious because it's not bringing in the sales
Speaker:you expected and you're not sure what to do to turn
Speaker:things around.
Speaker:Then this program is also for you.
Speaker:We worked together for four and a half months and in
Speaker:the end you'll have a business that's set up properly.
Speaker:You'll know all the components and actions that go into owning
Speaker:a business that will thrive and you'll have access to refer
Speaker:back to all the information as your business grows and changes.
Speaker:It's the only place I do hot seat coaching,
Speaker:so we work on your specific issues.
Speaker:This is not an old fashioned type lecture class you learn
Speaker:and then apply what's right for you based on where you
Speaker:are in your own business creation and no a prior business
Speaker:degree is not required.
Speaker:If you're a gifter Baker,
Speaker:crafter or maker and you're serious about starting or growing your
Speaker:handmade product business,
Speaker:then go to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash makers MBA for all the details.
Speaker:Oh and I forgot to tell you,
Speaker:I'm only offering at one time this year,
Speaker:so this is your only chance and enrollment ends tomorrow.
Speaker:That link again is gift biz unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash makers MBA and if by chance you miss it,
Speaker:this same link,
Speaker:we'll jump over to a wait list so you can be
Speaker:notified for next year.
Speaker:Moving on,
Speaker:I'm really excited to share with you our show today.
Speaker:I think everyone has a preconceived notion of what CBD oil
Speaker:is and or how it can help you,
Speaker:but there are a lot of misconceptions out there so you
Speaker:get to learn the truth about this product.
Speaker:One that continues to gain in popularity.
Speaker:Plus with the extra challenges that CBD products face,
Speaker:Derek shares what has worked for him in terms of product
Speaker:receptivity and sales.
Speaker:These overall strategies can be tweaked and put to use in
Speaker:your business too.
Speaker:So are you ready to learn all about CBD Today?
Speaker:It is my pleasure to introduce you to Derek Sperl.
Speaker:Derek is the co owner of cherry blossoms,
Speaker:CBD. They're a Maryland based wholesaler and distributor of industrial hemp
Speaker:with an exclusive retail line of hemp based products.
Speaker:His innovative line of nutraceutical supplements are all made from American
Speaker:grown and organically processed hemp and independently lab tested.
Speaker:These products are naturally helping people find relief of pain,
Speaker:inflammation, anxiety,
Speaker:as well as a host of other ailments.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:Derek, we need you so much.
Speaker:Welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you for having me this morning.
Speaker:I'm glad to be here.
Speaker:How are you today?
Speaker:I'm good.
Speaker:We were supposed to get a big snow storm here today
Speaker:and we only got a little measly snow storm.
Speaker:Is that good news or is that bad news?
Speaker:That's bad news.
Speaker:In my box.
Speaker:Okay. The more snow the better for me.
Speaker:Right. We haven't had a snow day,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:two years maybe here.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:Like we really need what you need to be snowed in
Speaker:sometimes and just hang out with the TV and a good
Speaker:pot of soup For sure.
Speaker:But probably the amount of snow we got here would have
Speaker:qualified with you for a snow day.
Speaker:Oh, I'm sure.
Speaker:Yeah. They probably keep schools open for what we can for
Speaker:sure. Derek,
Speaker:seriously enough about me where you are going to talk about
Speaker:you. Now we're going to do it in a little bit
Speaker:of a traditional way that I have on the show here
Speaker:and that is to have you describe yourself by way of
Speaker:a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to create a candle that speaks all
Speaker:you, what color would it be and what would be a
Speaker:quote on the candle?
Speaker:What color would it be?
Speaker:I have a clear candle and the clear candle is for
Speaker:a reason.
Speaker:I'd like to say I've learned some very good lessons in
Speaker:my life and most of the lessons I've learned is by
Speaker:learning from other people.
Speaker:And that clear candle would say life is all about perspective,
Speaker:be open to seeing others.
Speaker:That has been something that even when before all of this
Speaker:happened, I was a chef back in the day and I
Speaker:used to say this a lot too,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:my staff and my line cooks like look,
Speaker:we are all different people from different walks of life with
Speaker:different perspectives and they're all very real.
Speaker:So just try to stand in the other shoes every now
Speaker:and then and you never know what you just might see.
Speaker:Yeah. And be open to other people's experiences and learning.
Speaker:And don't assume that your view of reality is the only
Speaker:view. Exactly.
Speaker:Sometimes that's hard to do.
Speaker:Of course we're all humans,
Speaker:but I think if you at least try,
Speaker:if you get a 50% I think you're right.
Speaker:Yeah. Just being open.
Speaker:You're so right.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Okay. Candle accepted.
Speaker:Check Mark.
Speaker:So you just alluded to being a chef.
Speaker:Take us back and give us a little history of where
Speaker:you've been before.
Speaker:Cherry blossom.
Speaker:Well, I guess when I was a young kid I had
Speaker:somehow some way a cookie and got it to me.
Speaker:I was raised by my mother and my grandmother until I
Speaker:was about five.
Speaker:And then when my mother got married and they,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they're really young and they're early eighties and they were working
Speaker:a lot.
Speaker:So what happens,
Speaker:I just have to come home and latch key kid and
Speaker:I didn't know if they can even do that anymore,
Speaker:but I figured out how to cook for myself.
Speaker:And this all led to me just wanting to learn more
Speaker:and wanting to learn more and wanting to learn more.
Speaker:So sometime in my twenties I went to culinary school here
Speaker:in the DC area and it was called Academy to cuisine
Speaker:or no clothes,
Speaker:but they were taught like classic French cuisine and I worked
Speaker:a lot in like more like classic French kitchens and some
Speaker:of the old guard of chefs and that was good.
Speaker:Those were good times.
Speaker:And I think what that has prepared me for what is
Speaker:happening in my life right now.
Speaker:In a lot of ways our business,
Speaker:our industry is a chaos and it just by the nature
Speaker:of the restaurant industry,
Speaker:it's sort of chaotic every day.
Speaker:I don't know if by design it's just the way it
Speaker:is, but I kind of learned to work in a little
Speaker:bit of chaos,
Speaker:a little dysfunction and unfortunately the CBD industry right now without
Speaker:tight rules and regulations and things like that,
Speaker:it's kind of a wild,
Speaker:wild West.
Speaker:So that has prepared me in that way.
Speaker:But also as far as like formulating and production and things
Speaker:like that organization,
Speaker:it's all helped team building.
Speaker:We have a small team,
Speaker:but I think we're all very close and we're all on
Speaker:the same page.
Speaker:So that chef foundation,
Speaker:those, the cross,
Speaker:the T's and dotting I's and then the minutia of doing
Speaker:what you have to do to be successful has really helped
Speaker:what we are trying to accomplish today.
Speaker:I'm really glad you bring that up because we have a
Speaker:lot of listeners who are thinking of maybe turning a hobby
Speaker:or a craft into a business and right now they're working
Speaker:somewhere else.
Speaker:Maybe they're in a bank or they're working a retail shop
Speaker:or a multitude of different things,
Speaker:or maybe they're a stay at home mom.
Speaker:Right? And your conversation here about how a totally different industry,
Speaker:you were still picking up skills,
Speaker:ways of managing through things and knowledge that now you can
Speaker:apply on top of what you're doing today.
Speaker:So that's an excellent example and I want all of you
Speaker:listeners to hear that because whatever you're doing today is not
Speaker:wasted time.
Speaker:Observe what you're learning and take in as much as you
Speaker:can. Like I tell everybody,
Speaker:Derek, like volunteer for any committees your business is putting together
Speaker:because you're getting more connections,
Speaker:right? You're meeting more people,
Speaker:you're picking up additional skills,
Speaker:additional resources.
Speaker:I mean you just never know where some of this might
Speaker:play out and be beneficial for you in the future.
Speaker:You want to put yourself in the path of where you're
Speaker:going. But at the same time,
Speaker:sometimes it's like networking,
Speaker:but you always got this,
Speaker:I don't want to go to this networking thing,
Speaker:but you go and that those are the times that you
Speaker:actually meet someone who helps extend your career a little bit
Speaker:where it helps you see things in a different way that
Speaker:ends up you sort of embracing it like,
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Like it never would have happened.
Speaker:This relationship never would have happened and I not just gone
Speaker:to this networking event and sort of working and kind of
Speaker:experiencing things in that way.
Speaker:It's the same way.
Speaker:You just never know what's going to happen.
Speaker:You never know what skills that you're sort of putting in
Speaker:reserve or you may put in the back of your mind
Speaker:that come back to help you in your chosen path.
Speaker:Yup. I agree with you a hundred percent all right,
Speaker:so tell us now about cherry blossom and where the idea
Speaker:came from.
Speaker:So bring us back way to the beginning before you'd even
Speaker:started. How did this become an idea in the first place?
Speaker:Well, it's interesting because kind of a funny conversation and at
Speaker:first I didn't know what to tell people about it,
Speaker:but it's kind of started as I had left the restaurant
Speaker:business and I was trying to figure some things out and
Speaker:I thought it knew that I didn't want to work for
Speaker:anyone else.
Speaker:That has always been my goal to work for myself.
Speaker:So I started playing around that laws change in DC here
Speaker:and I started playing around actually with different concentrates that I
Speaker:could find.
Speaker:But most of them were,
Speaker:were tat based to be perfectly honest.
Speaker:And I started handing them out to my friends,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the here and just playing with different,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:confectionary techniques and things.
Speaker:So my first like you're onto something here,
Speaker:like, you know,
Speaker:I'm giving this to my grandmother,
Speaker:it works for her and her whatever,
Speaker:her knee pain.
Speaker:Okay. Wait.
Speaker:So were you baking,
Speaker:were they food related items or They were food-related?
Speaker:I, I was making confections.
Speaker:I was making candies and cookies and things like that and
Speaker:just hand them out to people.
Speaker:When you were handing them out to people who had some
Speaker:type of ailments and like more detailed place.
Speaker:It's more just like,
Speaker:I just wanted to see if what I was doing was
Speaker:actually working where my techniques working,
Speaker:they were just my Guinea pig and what they were telling
Speaker:us what to telly me were the success stories in a
Speaker:way. So,
Speaker:okay. I might be onto something here.
Speaker:How did you find out?
Speaker:Did you do research or were you exposed to this or
Speaker:how did you get the idea of doing any testing in
Speaker:the first place?
Speaker:Well, we have very funny laws here in the district of
Speaker:Columbia. I like the way you word that.
Speaker:It's funny because it's not quite legal,
Speaker:it's not illegal.
Speaker:It's a very gray space so you can gift or trade
Speaker:cannabis products or anyone you wanted.
Speaker:So I just started playing around and then people started asking
Speaker:me for like,
Speaker:Hey, can I get some more of my,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:my grandmother,
Speaker:my dog,
Speaker:even like dogs eating cats.
Speaker:I couldn't believe it.
Speaker:So talk to a friend of mine.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:great, maybe we could figure something out with this.
Speaker:Maybe we can try to get some sort of license to
Speaker:Maryland's changing.
Speaker:And DC's changing.
Speaker:They weren't really changing fast enough as it turns out.
Speaker:So as we were networking,
Speaker:we met the lady who runs the Maryland cannabis commission and
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:well, you know,
Speaker:when do you know when you're going to edibles?
Speaker:Like we'd like to get,
Speaker:throw our hat in the ring.
Speaker:And our answer to us was,
Speaker:I have no idea.
Speaker:It could be six months,
Speaker:it could be six years.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:well, that's a little discouraging,
Speaker:Right? You can't build a business around that.
Speaker:Yeah. I can't build a business around that.
Speaker:But what I did see that there was opportunities in the
Speaker:CBD market and what changed our mind is that we actually
Speaker:went to the candy show and was it,
Speaker:that was in,
Speaker:uh, Hershey last September.
Speaker:Oh no.
Speaker:Two Septembers ago.
Speaker:Oh. We walked out of there and we realized that because
Speaker:our intent was to go there to start figuring out how
Speaker:to be candy manufacturers.
Speaker:And what I realized is that there were a lot of
Speaker:candy and manufacturers there of course,
Speaker:but there were a lot better than we were that have
Speaker:been doing this a lot longer,
Speaker:a lot more skilled,
Speaker:multigenerational family businesses.
Speaker:And on the way home we just started talking and the
Speaker:light bulb came on and like maybe we shouldn't try to
Speaker:compete with these businesses.
Speaker:Maybe we should try to work with them and find something
Speaker:that can work with them and maybe sell to them.
Speaker:That was kind of the initial thought that we would just
Speaker:kind of like sell like bulk oils and things like that.
Speaker:We went to California,
Speaker:we started meeting with different processors and things and as it
Speaker:turns out like Oh well we have this and we have
Speaker:this and we have this.
Speaker:So we started working with these guys and we came up
Speaker:with a cherry blossom line of products and we're looking for
Speaker:a name.
Speaker:My mother came up with a name so I wanted something
Speaker:more like DC but didn't say DC.
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:well how about cherry blossom?
Speaker:I said okay that works.
Speaker:Yeah. Cause it relates,
Speaker:but it's still open enough But still open it up.
Speaker:Exactly. Sometimes when you're labeling your business and you say,
Speaker:well we're Highland park auto,
Speaker:it's hard for you to expand out of that because now
Speaker:the world knows us as this.
Speaker:Right. Like you're not going to be in Detroit and be
Speaker:called Highland park auto.
Speaker:Exactly. Right.
Speaker:So thinking ahead about that.
Speaker:And then the lesson I thought with my business partner Larry,
Speaker:and he came up with this logo and he kind of
Speaker:ducked himself out for a couple of days and restart for
Speaker:us and all of a sudden like this thing is,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:wow, like this is beautiful.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:and the guy,
Speaker:I mean it was like,
Speaker:don't know if I can go around representing this pink logo,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:Sure you can.
Speaker:It's almost a door opener in a way because people look
Speaker:over and they see these two middle-aged guys or not exactly
Speaker:chisel, you know what I mean?
Speaker:So, and they see this big old pink thing behind us
Speaker:and they can't quite figure it out.
Speaker:It makes people want to come up and talk to us
Speaker:just to see what the heck is going on.
Speaker:That's not the only reason they want to come talk to
Speaker:you. Your booth is lively and fun.
Speaker:You're very energetic and it's just a happy place to be
Speaker:and the logo is happy too.
Speaker:So it all comes together.
Speaker:Can I do a fact check here real quick?
Speaker:So you were initially testing multiple ingredients and seeing results and
Speaker:then you narrowed in and settled on CBD because you saw
Speaker:potential to be able to build a business on it based
Speaker:on all of the laws that are around The laws.
Speaker:And also I looked at usage and where usage is right
Speaker:now with CBD there's a lot of miseducation,
Speaker:a lot of question marks in people's minds,
Speaker:but I knew that on the long term,
Speaker:even though people say that cannabis is going to be a
Speaker:bigger business,
Speaker:I believe that more people can and will use hemp based
Speaker:products because not everybody wants to the psychoactive effect.
Speaker:I think more people appreciate not having a psychoactive effect and
Speaker:to have any psychoactive effect.
Speaker:Okay. So talk with us about all of this.
Speaker:What is CBD?
Speaker:What are the effects?
Speaker:Share with us as someone who may not know.
Speaker:So you can get CBD for from basically two sources.
Speaker:You can get it from cannabis plants that happen to hit
Speaker:certain strings that happen to be high in CBD.
Speaker:Or you could get it from hemp plants,
Speaker:which are naturally high in CBD and low in THC.
Speaker:So I'll say that different way.
Speaker:Cannabis plants tend to be more THC.
Speaker:Abundant plants tend to be more CBD opponent.
Speaker:So it is a better source or at least a better
Speaker:resource to get CBD from hemp plants because it's abundant in
Speaker:it. So most people don't know this,
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:I think most people think they're sort of one in the
Speaker:same. And the way I explain it to people is that
Speaker:if we were all taking a walk through the grocery store
Speaker:on a mission to get citrus,
Speaker:we're going to make a citrus pie.
Speaker:That's how many types of citrus are we going to get?
Speaker:How many types of citrus are available to us today?
Speaker:Where there's lemons,
Speaker:there's lines,
Speaker:there's great fruit,
Speaker:there's oranges,
Speaker:and we all understand that these things are in the same
Speaker:family. They're all in the citrus family,
Speaker:but they're different colors or different tastes.
Speaker:Sometimes they're even different textures.
Speaker:We utilize it differently.
Speaker:In our home kitchens,
Speaker:we may not even utilize it,
Speaker:but in the kitchen they use it for something else totally.
Speaker:All together.
Speaker:Maybe for fragrances or what have you,
Speaker:but we kind of can wrap our heads around that.
Speaker:All these different fruits are citrus fruits and they come from
Speaker:the same family,
Speaker:but they may do different things.
Speaker:That's how we have to look at these two plants here.
Speaker:They're sort of like kissing cousins.
Speaker:They're in the same family.
Speaker:Yes. They're almost named the same thing with the exception of
Speaker:they've been L like I think it's hemp is like cannabis,
Speaker:sativa L so they are very much related,
Speaker:but they do different things and we're looking to the hemp
Speaker:plant because it's an ancient botanical that's been helping people for
Speaker:millennia, millions of years.
Speaker:People who've been in graces earth long before you and are
Speaker:ever even thought of would have been using this medicinally to
Speaker:heal themselves naturally to alleviate pain,
Speaker:to alleviate anxiety,
Speaker:mood related disorders,
Speaker:inflammation in particular where a lot of times it's tied to
Speaker:pain, which is a very interesting conversation in 2020 and what
Speaker:we've seen in the last 20 years and the options that
Speaker:people have been given to tandem their pain.
Speaker:Right, because I think like as you're telling the story,
Speaker:I'm thinking,
Speaker:okay, yes,
Speaker:this has been around for a long time,
Speaker:but in the recent,
Speaker:I'm going to call it century,
Speaker:everyone's gone to manmade chemicals.
Speaker:I guess it is for relief in many cases and now
Speaker:there's become more of popularity or whatever.
Speaker:The switch back to all the natural remedies.
Speaker:I think sometimes trashy has to happen for people to change
Speaker:perspective. Oh,
Speaker:so the century is a tragedy.
Speaker:I'm not calling it a tragedy,
Speaker:but what we're looking at right now,
Speaker:I think if every one of us can probably say that
Speaker:we know someone who has been negatively impacted by opioids in
Speaker:our family or in our community,
Speaker:and the fact that everyone in the United States could probably
Speaker:say that is pretty tragic to me.
Speaker:Yeah. When something has been available to us this entire time
Speaker:that can help and heal and not have any negative impact
Speaker:on you.
Speaker:Right. Unless you're taking sort of blood thinners.
Speaker:I mean it does kind of sometimes increase the heart rate
Speaker:some, so people who take blood thinners,
Speaker:they may want to,
Speaker:anybody want,
Speaker:they want to consult your doctor before you choose any,
Speaker:any supplements or products,
Speaker:but especially those on blood thinners.
Speaker:So you tested out the product with samples and you saw
Speaker:that indeed this was producing relief or healing results,
Speaker:whatever it was.
Speaker:Then you went to the show and you saw that,
Speaker:well, maybe I don't want to be making candy.
Speaker:I want to be providing a product for all these generations
Speaker:or established businesses to be able to use our product in
Speaker:their business.
Speaker:Is that right?
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:I think you said you were at the Philly candy show
Speaker:for the first time?
Speaker:Two Septembers ago,
Speaker:so September of 2018 and that's where you made this discovery
Speaker:and change.
Speaker:We changed there and by that November we had already,
Speaker:we met out to California a couple of times and met
Speaker:with some different producers and manufacturers and we needed people who
Speaker:sort of understood our vision and for lack of better word,
Speaker:our standards.
Speaker:We were looking for certain things.
Speaker:We were looking for small spectrum products.
Speaker:We believe in the totality of cannabinoids and terpenes and flavonoids,
Speaker:which are all the components that truly helping people inside this
Speaker:plant and we wanted them all present.
Speaker:I myself have been using these pimp based products for quite
Speaker:some time because I've had knee problems and back problems and
Speaker:things like that and I was always too afraid to go
Speaker:the pharmaceutical route.
Speaker:I like natural products.
Speaker:I'd rather take my chances with what nature has given me
Speaker:than what the pharmaceutical companies have given me.
Speaker:So it was just a natural plugin for me because it
Speaker:was part of our belief system.
Speaker:You get it to other people to believe that sometimes it's
Speaker:a little bit more challenging,
Speaker:but because of the different stigmas and things,
Speaker:but it's happening.
Speaker:I think people are seeing that this nature made the supplements
Speaker:can really heal us.
Speaker:And I think that we've been fooled for a long time
Speaker:into the believing that this is the gateway and these things
Speaker:are taking people off into the Primrose path.
Speaker:But because of all the things that have been tied to
Speaker:marijuana, I think that people don't notice.
Speaker:The hemp was grown pretty probably here in the United States,
Speaker:colonial times.
Speaker:I've probably up until about the 18 hundreds for multitude of
Speaker:reasons, not just for the cannabinoids and terpenes,
Speaker:but for all sorts of industrial reasons.
Speaker:So let's stick with product development for a minute here.
Speaker:So you never,
Speaker:if I'm understanding correctly,
Speaker:we're producing it just locally and Sally,
Speaker:you went to factories to produce it right away.
Speaker:We want to focus on selling.
Speaker:Okay. So how did you find Anne,
Speaker:and I'm just thinking of someone who's not looking at a
Speaker:product like yours,
Speaker:but has an idea,
Speaker:wants to go direct to factories.
Speaker:How does one do this?
Speaker:How do you search out factories and then go and analyze
Speaker:which one you're actually going to do business with?
Speaker:Take us through a little bit of that.
Speaker:Some of was actually pure luck.
Speaker:It was one or two relationships that that led us to
Speaker:some hedge fund guy that I probably never would have met.
Speaker:And he took me out to lunch and it was the
Speaker:way I thought about it,
Speaker:it was almost like a qualifier.
Speaker:Like, you know,
Speaker:is this guy qualified to work with this kind of deal?
Speaker:Okay, so Qualifier on their end or your end.
Speaker:Yeah, like on their end they're making sure that,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:like are you worthy kind of deal.
Speaker:They never said that,
Speaker:but that's the,
Speaker:that's the impression I walked away with.
Speaker:They need to know too,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:And next thing you know,
Speaker:if someone was calling me from this company and you're like,
Speaker:Hey, let's meet,
Speaker:and we went out and we met,
Speaker:we sampled their products,
Speaker:we met their scientists and we've actually gotten very close since
Speaker:then and of doing a few more things together.
Speaker:They're helping us formulate and they're actually encouraging us to do
Speaker:something similar here on the East coast.
Speaker:So sooner or later we'd like to get a processing facility
Speaker:of ourselves going on East coast so we can offer East
Speaker:coast businesses some of the benefits of the West coast business
Speaker:hat, you know,
Speaker:as far as pricing and things like that.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Yeah, you have a lot going on there.
Speaker:You said it's happened kind of by accident,
Speaker:but I would suggest not because we were talking just a
Speaker:little earlier about networking and connections and how one thing leads
Speaker:to another and it's still the unknown.
Speaker:When you start talking with someone,
Speaker:you just don't know where that can lead and sometimes the
Speaker:least obvious are the most beneficial based on what you're doing.
Speaker:I mean I believe in law of attraction and I kind
Speaker:of feel like that happens all the time.
Speaker:I don't know an answer and then I meet someone who
Speaker:provides me an answer.
Speaker:It's funny because it's another one of those skills that I
Speaker:picked up in the restaurant business.
Speaker:I had not just took to it.
Speaker:I had done other things.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we've done catering,
Speaker:I've done waiting tables,
Speaker:bartending and things like that.
Speaker:And some of the sayings that we have is like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you always,
Speaker:especially when you're in the front of the house,
Speaker:you don't know who those people are coming through that door.
Speaker:You don't know how important they are,
Speaker:what their position is in the community.
Speaker:I mean they could be the minister of the biggest church
Speaker:in the community that they know that's,
Speaker:that's providing all kinds of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever. You just don't know.
Speaker:Just cause they're in shorts and a tee shirt doesn't mean
Speaker:anything. Yes.
Speaker:Cause they're in shorts and a tee shirt and they're there
Speaker:to eat.
Speaker:They're on a different mission or not.
Speaker:They're professionally,
Speaker:but you always have to be ready to put your best
Speaker:foot forward.
Speaker:Whether that be when you're communicating with people,
Speaker:the work that you're doing,
Speaker:you know when you're standing behind that booth because you just
Speaker:don't know.
Speaker:You just don't know.
Speaker:Right. Okay,
Speaker:so now you have your factory and you're working with scientists
Speaker:and all of that.
Speaker:How long did it take you would you say to you
Speaker:landed on the product specifically?
Speaker:I think we knew when we met them.
Speaker:This is the company that we're working with.
Speaker:The longest part of it is really has been the design
Speaker:label design.
Speaker:Even the legal stuff didn't take as long.
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:maybe label design isn't as important to some,
Speaker:but it seems like if anyone has designed labels before,
Speaker:and speaking from my own,
Speaker:it took us about eight,
Speaker:nine months to get this right.
Speaker:We're actually redoing them now because we weren't satisfied with those.
Speaker:I had totally underestimated how much time and energy it takes,
Speaker:but if you think about like that is your first introduction
Speaker:to people,
Speaker:that's your first impression to your customers.
Speaker:It does make sense to take that much time to do
Speaker:it. So I know your bottles,
Speaker:you've got the Brown bottles with a very beautiful label and
Speaker:give biz listeners.
Speaker:You'll be able to go over to their website and see
Speaker:the logo anytime you want,
Speaker:but it's beautiful.
Speaker:It's what you would expect.
Speaker:Cherry blossoms,
Speaker:you know the pink cherry blossoms with some green.
Speaker:Beautiful. Beautiful.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:How is it that you've decided that you need to do
Speaker:a change?
Speaker:Is it just an intuitive feel or you're seeing some responses
Speaker:or some confusion from people who are coming and interacting with
Speaker:you at a show or what's led you to this?
Speaker:Your business tells you things.
Speaker:It tells you what moves to make.
Speaker:If you're listening,
Speaker:it will tell you which way to go and which way
Speaker:not to go.
Speaker:So what were you told?
Speaker:We're going to hear more of Derrick's product development story,
Speaker:right after a quick word from our sponsor.
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Speaker:The business was telling me that we made some mistakes early
Speaker:on that we made some mistakes in the sense that we
Speaker:underestimated how important having non THC products were in a TC
Speaker:market full of government employees,
Speaker:but we have less than the federal amount,
Speaker:but we do have trace amounts of TAC and our products
Speaker:and for a group of people who are getting tested on
Speaker:a regular basis or have the potential to,
Speaker:they're not as interested in buying those products.
Speaker:They want stuff that is more broad spectrum or have no
Speaker:THC in it.
Speaker:So that was one lesson.
Speaker:It's not that we're not selling them,
Speaker:but I think that we'd have more success if we had
Speaker:things that had zero to year.
Speaker:I'd say So there's going to be an extension to the
Speaker:line or a revamp of the line.
Speaker:That's kind of what we're thinking about right now.
Speaker:I do believe in what we're doing and sometimes I think
Speaker:is kind of like the crux of what we deal with
Speaker:as a business owner.
Speaker:Like what I believe or what my initial vision was to
Speaker:what my business is telling me.
Speaker:Interesting. Well,
Speaker:and you have to be open to it too because someone
Speaker:could be so bullheaded.
Speaker:I say that in a loving way.
Speaker:Maybe like where they're just not going to have their eyes
Speaker:open to all the signs around them and this what you're
Speaker:talking about is a great example of watching what everyone's telling
Speaker:you. You stick to your guns to a degree,
Speaker:but you cannot necessarily get stuck to your initial vision because
Speaker:things change.
Speaker:The environment changes like what you're doing now can't be exactly
Speaker:what you were doing in 2007 it things were changed.
Speaker:We've all had to make minor changes since then.
Speaker:Even if it's something as small as the way we communicate,
Speaker:we might've been more decibel people then,
Speaker:but now we're cell phone people,
Speaker:so things change and you have to adapt and what the
Speaker:changes were telling me is that we are in a crowded
Speaker:field. Even in this market.
Speaker:There's a lot of CBD brands out there.
Speaker:There's a lot of confusion and people just want a sec
Speaker:video. At the,
Speaker:at the grocery store,
Speaker:I've seen it a doctor's office.
Speaker:I've seen that the gas station or at the convenience store,
Speaker:it's all the same and I think people need to know
Speaker:that it's not all the same,
Speaker:that there are different levels to it.
Speaker:There are different levels of extraction,
Speaker:there are different levels of carrier oil.
Speaker:So all of these things kind of go in place to
Speaker:represent a standards of quality and price point.
Speaker:Well we saw it,
Speaker:it didn't really matter because there was so much out there.
Speaker:There's confusing people and we needed to figure out how to
Speaker:differentiate ourselves.
Speaker:So what we started doing is put ourselves more in a
Speaker:wholesale or distributor position as opposed to just being another retail
Speaker:line. It separates us and what we're trying to do now,
Speaker:what we have been doing is talking to businesses about helping
Speaker:them use their branding and their existing marketing with our products
Speaker:too. They can create their own brand of CBD and I
Speaker:think that's more powerful for people.
Speaker:What I'm seeing people are more interested in today's agent branding
Speaker:themselves than necessarily,
Speaker:I just want to carry your line of products.
Speaker:Sure. So when you're talking wholesale,
Speaker:then I think you're still talking two different things.
Speaker:You're talking wholesale to businesses who then want to private label
Speaker:their product and sell CBD through their channels,
Speaker:and then you're still also looking at providing CBD for the
Speaker:consumable field.
Speaker:Sure. Producers,
Speaker:Yeah, so both,
Speaker:but all virtually wholesale.
Speaker:Oh, wholesale bulk isolates.
Speaker:So you can get bulk oils being good bunk gummies.
Speaker:If you want an end to container,
Speaker:unlabeled, you can have them that way.
Speaker:If you want them with our label on them and you
Speaker:want to sell our products,
Speaker:we can do that for you too if you need bulk
Speaker:isolates. So we're looking at bigger businesses and understand that people
Speaker:aren't just wanting to put things on their shelves,
Speaker:but they're are what it takes some of these derivatives and
Speaker:add it to what they're already doing,
Speaker:which is the original reason why sort of we went back
Speaker:to the candy show,
Speaker:Hey, this is what we're doing now.
Speaker:We're having products that we're offering products that you can put
Speaker:into what you're doing and create a whole different line of
Speaker:income for yourselves and extend your brand as well in your
Speaker:particular market.
Speaker:And it feels better.
Speaker:It's sitting well with you,
Speaker:it sounds like.
Speaker:Yeah, it's sitting very well with me.
Speaker:Okay. And so I'm thinking that there's a big educational element
Speaker:to all of this.
Speaker:Yes. So how are you managing through that?
Speaker:Well, we're given informational popups of,
Speaker:we had one scheduled this weekend actually.
Speaker:We've been calling places different senior centers and such,
Speaker:and sometimes they're a little resistant.
Speaker:So you're educating to the consumer,
Speaker:not to your potential wholesale purchaser.
Speaker:We educated,
Speaker:we go to B2B events and,
Speaker:but a lot of it is definitely like as we started,
Speaker:we started business to consumer and we're still educating consumers.
Speaker:At the end of the day,
Speaker:they're the ones who are going to be buying the products.
Speaker:They need to know what's going on,
Speaker:like they're spending their hard earned dollars on CBD products.
Speaker:And sometimes it's kind of,
Speaker:let's call it heartbreaking,
Speaker:but it's definitely discouraging when I hear people say,
Speaker:why went out?
Speaker:I had this Elma and I bought some CBD from God
Speaker:knows where and it didn't work.
Speaker:That's like wow,
Speaker:that's a negative to everyone in this business cause he's going
Speaker:to tell 10 people that CBD doesn't work Well and I
Speaker:don't think you're the first business that's had that issue.
Speaker:But I think there's more stigma and question around the product
Speaker:to start with an unknowns maybe would be a better word.
Speaker:Right. What we're trying to do is de stigmatize it sort
Speaker:of separated in people's minds from cannabis at least as far
Speaker:as it can be separated,
Speaker:but also we don't want to turn people off before they
Speaker:have an opportunity to see that it actually works.
Speaker:And I think for,
Speaker:if I have advice for people who are of age considering
Speaker:or even working with CBD products right now are using them.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:if you feel like there's something that's not working for you,
Speaker:don't make this be your last stop.
Speaker:Like try something else.
Speaker:Even if you're not buying cherry blossom products,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we want people purchasing CBD and using it as opposed to
Speaker:some of the alternatives.
Speaker:I think it's a great,
Speaker:great, great product and a great way to naturally heal some
Speaker:of the things that we're dealing with right now,
Speaker:particularly pain,
Speaker:anxiety and inflammation.
Speaker:Although they're all hot button topics we were talking about,
Speaker:So this education that we're talking about,
Speaker:is it helping you become more credible with the wholesalers you're
Speaker:looking at attracting because you're kind of doing part of their
Speaker:job. Then if they're going to include it in their products
Speaker:and you're educating people,
Speaker:then they're more going to be more likely to buy their
Speaker:products. Exactly,
Speaker:and I think that especially in an area like ours where
Speaker:people don't always understand what we are doing or what our
Speaker:products are doing,
Speaker:they want to feel like they have an ally in this
Speaker:industry that they can trust and there is someone who's willing
Speaker:to ask some questions and not just,
Speaker:I just want to sell you something to take your money.
Speaker:I think say what else has helped us is that we're
Speaker:calling other companies.
Speaker:I call other companies all the time and I just started
Speaker:talking about their products and see what they have.
Speaker:You never know,
Speaker:but they may have something that you know,
Speaker:one of my clients is looking for and I now have
Speaker:another resource for that.
Speaker:But also just our business is a funny way,
Speaker:very open to sharing information with one another.
Speaker:I think we're all at a stage where we're pretty darn
Speaker:excited about what's and where this business is going and we're
Speaker:just like talking and we're sharing knowledge and Hey,
Speaker:if I can,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:be a resource to you.
Speaker:It's unusual because I don't feel like I've had that as
Speaker:much in other businesses.
Speaker:Well I think greater acceptance of the product overall is going
Speaker:to lift everybody up.
Speaker:Yes. So it makes sense and I'm glad to hear that
Speaker:that's the case.
Speaker:I want to relate this back to people who are listening
Speaker:and with you,
Speaker:Derek, it's kind of an obvious thing that education has to
Speaker:happen because there are so many fallacies and misconceptions about CBD
Speaker:overall. But I want to talk like you guys who are
Speaker:listening right now.
Speaker:Sometimes we forget because we're so close to our product that
Speaker:there are things that our potential customers don't know.
Speaker:I'm going to go to something as basic as if you
Speaker:are a knitter and you're making scarves,
Speaker:like what are all the uses for the shapes of the
Speaker:scarves that you make to demonstrate or have a video that
Speaker:shows all the different uses or how to care for your
Speaker:scarves or you know,
Speaker:whatever it is.
Speaker:Education, I think brings so much additional value around your product
Speaker:and makes your product more and more attractive to your potential
Speaker:buyer. Now with Derek and CBD,
Speaker:it's a way,
Speaker:obvious example,
Speaker:but I want to swing it back to you also for
Speaker:thinking about your product and what might not be so obvious.
Speaker:Maybe you make a necklace that could also really be worn
Speaker:as a belt,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:I mean just other ideas for you to use your product
Speaker:in a different way opens you up to additional sales.
Speaker:And it's funny you say that because it kind of goes
Speaker:with, we were talking about,
Speaker:it's like not necessarily being tied to your initial idea.
Speaker:Sometimes those new ideas or something you're already doing.
Speaker:Like you say,
Speaker:Oh, I can just make this little bit longer.
Speaker:I make an adult.
Speaker:It's just bend in your mind a little bit.
Speaker:Kind of listen to your customers and they'll tell you,
Speaker:they tell you what they want.
Speaker:They're telling you what they're looking for.
Speaker:Educating your customers at the same time,
Speaker:educating your customers as well.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:So I'm quite sure you have a number of things you
Speaker:could talk about if I were to ask you about challenges,
Speaker:but I want you to pick one that you think for
Speaker:our audience would be really helpful.
Speaker:Like where have been the stumbling blocks along the way here?
Speaker:Grab the best one.
Speaker:Uh, well,
Speaker:okay. The big one is been the vaping crisis of last
Speaker:year in 2019 was full of challenges for CBD and cannabis
Speaker:industries, but the vaping crisis,
Speaker:and it's not that we even sell baby products,
Speaker:it's just a good,
Speaker:the associations,
Speaker:It kind of sits in the same part of your mind
Speaker:I guess.
Speaker:And then like every week for a while it was something
Speaker:different. Well it's these,
Speaker:now it's the CBD once and it's this and it got
Speaker:to a point where it felt like everything was being tainted
Speaker:by like every time something came out in the news,
Speaker:like our business was in the art industry was being a
Speaker:slightly tainted,
Speaker:slightly tainted.
Speaker:Were you seeing it in numbers And we're seeing the numbers,
Speaker:we're seeing it in people as we were out doing farmer's
Speaker:markets and things and they were just like,
Speaker:nah, at this stuff was killing people or this stuff was
Speaker:killing children.
Speaker:Like no,
Speaker:It's confusion.
Speaker:It's still confusion about the product because it's still so new.
Speaker:And then this is why like when people get bad products
Speaker:and now they're turned off and now they're not CBD advocates,
Speaker:it's like they're the anti advocate and it's complicates the education
Speaker:issue. So what do you do?
Speaker:You have to keep talking to people and you just have
Speaker:to keep educating them.
Speaker:You gotta keep looking for different ways to sort of different
Speaker:that one bit of nugget that's gonna read someone.
Speaker:I'll tell you what happened at the candy show this year
Speaker:where we were next to a young lady and her husband,
Speaker:bright people.
Speaker:You can stop right there because they are also going to
Speaker:be on the show.
Speaker:Yeah, we're talking about skips,
Speaker:candies, everybody.
Speaker:So I think hers is going to be an episode.
Speaker:I don't remember if it's before or after you,
Speaker:but yeah,
Speaker:we've already done the interview.
Speaker:Such an interesting product as well.
Speaker:She is incredible.
Speaker:So this is who Derrick's referencing.
Speaker:Everybody skips her husband's a police officer.
Speaker:And so I understood that there was probably a certain viewpoint,
Speaker:a certain perspective.
Speaker:Right. That brings you back to that Kendall.
Speaker:So my fault.
Speaker:So we're talking in the three days that we're there and
Speaker:she said,
Speaker:okay, let me try some of this lotion.
Speaker:She does some mixed martial arts,
Speaker:her shoulder and neck was like really giving us some problems
Speaker:and I give her the lotion and she's like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:am I going to be hot?
Speaker:It's funny because people will be trying to stop.
Speaker:It will be asking me sometimes,
Speaker:am I going to be highly,
Speaker:no you're not.
Speaker:I asked,
Speaker:you have one,
Speaker:I tried to sample there cause I hit my wrist issue.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:I remember that.
Speaker:Yes. It's kind of like as the back of my mind
Speaker:I'm like maybe they really want to be hot.
Speaker:Well I'm not answering,
Speaker:but I did say I do have a whole day of
Speaker:trade show to go through.
Speaker:Should I take it an hour later?
Speaker:Well I put this lotion on her and she comes back
Speaker:like 20 minutes later like Hey,
Speaker:like this is working.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:yeah, I know.
Speaker:And I think by the end of the weekend and if
Speaker:we had to have enough conversation and I think once I
Speaker:hit the magic note that when as I started this conversation
Speaker:that these things come from different plants and that sometimes yes
Speaker:you can get CBD derived from marijuana but most oftentimes a
Speaker:try from him.
Speaker:Ours is derived from hemp and how effective it is and
Speaker:it will not get you high once.
Speaker:Like you say,
Speaker:the certain things to certain people.
Speaker:I think certain people want to hear certain things and sometimes
Speaker:you've got to keep it kind of like,
Speaker:I'll take it this way and if I'm not quite reaching
Speaker:within our project from this angle,
Speaker:I'll, maybe I'll approach it from this angle,
Speaker:but I guess my point,
Speaker:I want you to get it,
Speaker:whether you use or not at least wants you to understand
Speaker:what's going on here.
Speaker:And it took her to use the lotion and I think
Speaker:she got it.
Speaker:I dare to say she may even be a convert.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:You have to say she hasn't ordered yet.
Speaker:Yeah, But she might.
Speaker:She just might.
Speaker:It may take a little bit.
Speaker:It's not as easy as getting people to buy a cupcakes.
Speaker:No, it is not.
Speaker:And sometimes it would be a lot easier if the FDA
Speaker:were allow us to put these derivatives in food and just
Speaker:kind of open that gate up because I think that would
Speaker:be a great door opener for people.
Speaker:Like most people are willing,
Speaker:even though they act like they're not,
Speaker:most people are willing to try new things and put them
Speaker:in their mouth.
Speaker:They're willing to try new foods.
Speaker:They understand the pleasure of eating things and consuming things in
Speaker:that way.
Speaker:And I think once we can get there with that,
Speaker:I think we're going to have a lot of temp oil
Speaker:Congress. So back to the vaping just for a second.
Speaker:So really the strategy has to be carry on,
Speaker:continue talking,
Speaker:continue educating,
Speaker:Continue educating.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:That just keep talking,
Speaker:keep having repeat conversations with people.
Speaker:Especially I try to go a little bit extra when I
Speaker:feel like I think I'm challenging someone else's way of paying
Speaker:relief. I'll just leave it at that.
Speaker:But if I think that they're doing something other than this
Speaker:and it's,
Speaker:I'm not a doctor,
Speaker:but I've seen what those things can do to people and
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Hey, at least give it a shot.
Speaker:At least give it a try and people have come back
Speaker:to us.
Speaker:What's success stories like my relative is using less of these
Speaker:because of this or having more mobility without having the debilitating
Speaker:feeling that these these pills get me because I'm this,
Speaker:I keep coming back to that example because it's such a
Speaker:hot button issue right now and if this conversation helps one
Speaker:person get off of those pills.
Speaker:We've done a good job here today.
Speaker:So you've mentioned a couple of times here that you have
Speaker:exhibited both at more business to business shows,
Speaker:which is when we're talking about the Philly show,
Speaker:that's what we're men we're talking about.
Speaker:But you've also done more local shows.
Speaker:What do you see,
Speaker:and there might be one that's more prevalent with one type
Speaker:of show than another,
Speaker:but what do you see as the best action do you
Speaker:take to get the best results?
Speaker:When we're talking face to face shows now Sampling is it
Speaker:that I don't think a lot of people are getting a
Speaker:chance to sample as they go out.
Speaker:So sampling has really helped us tremendously.
Speaker:They see it,
Speaker:they see it on signs and I see it in the
Speaker:store behind the case.
Speaker:But when they get to come up and like either taste
Speaker:the gummies or taste the tincture for the oils or we
Speaker:made actually chocolate sauce at the candy show to show some
Speaker:of the producers how easily this blends into chocolate without impacting
Speaker:taste and it tastes these days and they're seeing it.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:It's a whole different thing.
Speaker:So you could see the the dots time coming together,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Planing by demonstrating in st Paul.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay,
Speaker:perfect. You know,
Speaker:it always kills me when I go to a show that
Speaker:is an,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:consumable show of some sort.
Speaker:Right. And someone has cookies but no samples or they have
Speaker:chocolate, like no samples and it's like such an obvious thing,
Speaker:but people don't do it.
Speaker:It's crazy.
Speaker:So I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker:Now, some of our listeners don't have samples.
Speaker:They're not going to give away free earrings or things like
Speaker:that. You know what you're getting when you buy and hearing
Speaker:or you know what you're getting when you buy a necklace
Speaker:or a piece of art,
Speaker:but you don't always know what you're getting when you buy
Speaker:consumables. Most of the times you what you're getting when you
Speaker:buy a sugar cookie.
Speaker:Yes. But nonetheless,
Speaker:it doesn't hurt to,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:to sample it.
Speaker:I think for someone who's actually,
Speaker:you're right,
Speaker:it's actually making food.
Speaker:You definitely want people to taste just how good your work
Speaker:is. It'll encourage them to buy it.
Speaker:Hmm. Okay.
Speaker:So what else though,
Speaker:for those who don't have a consumable product,
Speaker:what other tip could you give us over and above sampling
Speaker:Over and above sampling?
Speaker:I think the most important thing I see when I'm walking
Speaker:around that,
Speaker:cause you know,
Speaker:you got to your shows,
Speaker:you've got to walk around and see what other people are
Speaker:doing. Well,
Speaker:people are sitting back at the booth and they're not engaging
Speaker:customers. I understand that half the people who walk by are
Speaker:never going to want to talk to you or they may
Speaker:not be there for your mission,
Speaker:but you still have to be up and alert and engaged.
Speaker:When I see people sitting back on their phone and sometimes
Speaker:you got to use your phone,
Speaker:but when you see 10 people walk past your booth and
Speaker:all that,
Speaker:the person behind the booth is looking at his or her
Speaker:phone. What are you saying?
Speaker:Like what message are you really communicating to the people at
Speaker:the show?
Speaker:I agree with you.
Speaker:It feels very closed off too.
Speaker:It feels closed off or like you're disinterested,
Speaker:Like you feel like you're going to be interrupting them with
Speaker:their phone if you go in their booth.
Speaker:Exactly. People want to believe that you're interested.
Speaker:Just like you'll buy something from someone if you feel their
Speaker:excitement about their product but them on their phone.
Speaker:It shows no excitement about their product.
Speaker:Yeah, and I think these face to face events to allow
Speaker:you to show your personality and show who's behind the product.
Speaker:Like, honestly,
Speaker:Derek, I mean I love the logo,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:If I hadn't been able to interact with you guys at
Speaker:your booth,
Speaker:I wouldn't have known what fun you are and how open
Speaker:you are and we wouldn't have gotten into conversations and you
Speaker:wouldn't have had the opportunity to start educating me if you
Speaker:were that closed off.
Speaker:So the opportunity of being face to face allows your personality
Speaker:to come through too.
Speaker:And when people like you and have been talking to you,
Speaker:they feel more bonded and are that much closer to buying.
Speaker:I gotta admit,
Speaker:even if I'm not in that booth,
Speaker:I got a good team.
Speaker:You do,
Speaker:they get it are energetic.
Speaker:They want to engage with people,
Speaker:they want it to share the gospel of cherry blossom and
Speaker:what we're doing and what we're trying to accomplish.
Speaker:So I think we've definitely kind of all agreed that we're
Speaker:out there,
Speaker:we're out there on a mission,
Speaker:we want to achieve something and what the heck is the
Speaker:point of paying all this money to go out there and
Speaker:present yourself if you're not trying to get engage people and
Speaker:get new customers.
Speaker:Let's move to another topic as we're starting to get near
Speaker:the end here,
Speaker:but something that I definitely wanted to bring up with you
Speaker:is pricing because it's still a new product.
Speaker:You've already talked about the fact that there are different levels
Speaker:of quality,
Speaker:so when you talk about people who are saying,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:I've tried it,
Speaker:it hasn't worked.
Speaker:They might've also tried it at a price point that equated
Speaker:to the result that they got.
Speaker:I'm not sure,
Speaker:I'm making an assumption here,
Speaker:but how did you decide where you were going to price
Speaker:product that would be receptive to the market?
Speaker:I come to internet and I was looking for similar container
Speaker:sizes, bottle sizes,
Speaker:CBD content like in milligrams,
Speaker:so you have different container count like in gummies,
Speaker:you know it was a 30 count was a 15 count.
Speaker:What are we looking at here and making sure that I
Speaker:was comparing apples to apples on the market.
Speaker:I think one of the big points of confusion come in
Speaker:is when people don't understand the different oils,
Speaker:the different additives and things like that,
Speaker:that may make some of these products less expensive or more
Speaker:expensive than others.
Speaker:Sometimes it is the process or the type of processing that
Speaker:they have has gone through.
Speaker:It's just a more expensive process to get to the finished
Speaker:product. Sometimes that process creates a higher quality product and we
Speaker:all understand this when we go to restaurants.
Speaker:If you're choosing the restaurant to go to and say on
Speaker:a Saturday night,
Speaker:you're probably not going to go to taco bell with your
Speaker:family. You'd want to go to someplace nice and sit down
Speaker:because you already understand that you can get a higher quality
Speaker:product when you go there.
Speaker:I don't think the market truly understands that right now,
Speaker:but where the higher quality products are and what makes them
Speaker:higher quality.
Speaker:Sometimes I could say it's a carrier oil sometimes and it's
Speaker:whether it's a difference between an MCT or a hemp seed
Speaker:oil or hemp oil,
Speaker:what have you.
Speaker:It could be,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:the difference in process,
Speaker:it could be the concentration and that's a lot of conversation
Speaker:to try to have with someone in a short period of
Speaker:time. So how do you get someone to understand all that
Speaker:without the research and themselves kind of hard to,
Speaker:unless you're given a seminar,
Speaker:Well, they're not going to research themselves probably.
Speaker:They're just going to walk away.
Speaker:They're just going to walk away.
Speaker:So it is that that is a challenge.
Speaker:I try to convert people because sometimes because of the things
Speaker:they've heard or the stories or Oh,
Speaker:I didn't work or I got their minds made up,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:or maybe I'm a Christian and I think you're out here
Speaker:doing the devil's work.
Speaker:So on this marijuana,
Speaker:I mean we've been told that too.
Speaker:All these are just different perspectives.
Speaker:And you just have to,
Speaker:and now I think we know what's coming at us and
Speaker:we're just better prepare to sort of challenge those and try
Speaker:to overcome those objections.
Speaker:Well and some people flat out just aren't going to be
Speaker:your customer,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they're just going to decide that that is not for them
Speaker:and that's fine.
Speaker:And we have to accept that too as business owners,
Speaker:not everybody is going to be our customer and that is
Speaker:okay and that is okay as we continue talking,
Speaker:I'm getting all of these like realizations because just by the
Speaker:nature of your product,
Speaker:you're showing examples that are so extreme,
Speaker:right? Like really having to educate the customers that there is
Speaker:definitely going to be people who aren't going to be interested.
Speaker:Yeah. And there's a lot of variables in the senior market,
Speaker:which probably are the senior markets probably buy more CBD and
Speaker:hemp than Mark is very growing.
Speaker:It's very much growing.
Speaker:But those are the very people who remember the Nancy Reagan
Speaker:commercials and things like that are just like,
Speaker:nah, like this is all marijuana.
Speaker:Like this is agree with my ideology.
Speaker:And the younger people,
Speaker:they'll flat out tell me,
Speaker:I'm not old enough to do CBD yet.
Speaker:Take that for what you want,
Speaker:but that's what they're telling me.
Speaker:We're doing this now.
Speaker:When I get to the point where I can't do this
Speaker:and I'll do this in this particular market in the Washington
Speaker:DC market,
Speaker:I would love to take your products.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:They're beautiful.
Speaker:I think they're probably effective,
Speaker:but I got to go to work and probably get tested.
Speaker:So 80 trace amounts of THC may end up with me
Speaker:being fired,
Speaker:which is a whole nother issue that we're trying to overcome
Speaker:because you can walk into work after drinking all night and
Speaker:it's totally acceptable,
Speaker:but if you have trace amounts of THC from taking the
Speaker:supplement that you did two weeks ago,
Speaker:then all of a sudden you're subject to losing your job.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you've definitely got your challenges within the industry,
Speaker:but I think that the receptivity,
Speaker:the understanding,
Speaker:and it's just going to continue to get better and better.
Speaker:Yes, I think so.
Speaker:I think it's getting out there.
Speaker:We need more and more specials and things like one hour
Speaker:or two hour specials on,
Speaker:on the news outlets about it and different things coming out
Speaker:in different magazines and publications.
Speaker:So people are reading and I think people are understanding.
Speaker:So I think that's going to keep increasing and I think
Speaker:business is just going to get better and better for this
Speaker:industry and the next five to 10 years for sure.
Speaker:Yeah. So are you doing anything on the print side,
Speaker:like blog articles also to help support the cause We say
Speaker:that we're going to,
Speaker:but it just hasn't happened yet.
Speaker:Okay. I think we need to get a little bit better
Speaker:about organizing our time.
Speaker:Well, you've got a lot going on.
Speaker:Hey, thank goodness for Larry.
Speaker:Really, really.
Speaker:I don't know what I do without that guy.
Speaker:He really helps hold it together.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Yes, for sure.
Speaker:So where can our listeners go to learn more about you
Speaker:see what you have going on?
Speaker:Well, we're on Twitter.
Speaker:We're on Facebook,
Speaker:we're on Instagram.
Speaker:We're actually editing videos right now for our YouTube page.
Speaker:So they're not quite there yet.
Speaker:We've gone through a couple of editors.
Speaker:I haven't quite found the right one,
Speaker:so we're going to get some videos up soon and we're
Speaker:in my,
Speaker:one of my,
Speaker:what I call drunk monkeys is I,
Speaker:I have to get over not doing videos.
Speaker:I somehow,
Speaker:I feel like I'm that teenager standing in the parking lot,
Speaker:taking pictures of myself and I have to get past that.
Speaker:The more you do,
Speaker:the better you'll be,
Speaker:The more I do it.
Speaker:Yeah, the better I'll be.
Speaker:I think that I have a lot to say as far
Speaker:as educating people on him and I want to get people
Speaker:out there at least if not buying it,
Speaker:at least starting to educate themselves so they can make informed
Speaker:buying decisions.
Speaker:Okay. And I think we've already talked about the future.
Speaker:I think you're in an industry to keep an eye on
Speaker:and you guys specifically,
Speaker:I have used her product.
Speaker:I love your product.
Speaker:I only see it getting better and better as you adjust,
Speaker:twist, add,
Speaker:change. I'm super curious about the packaging.
Speaker:Am I going to see you in September?
Speaker:You'll see us in September and as far as the packaging
Speaker:goes, it's just I think one of the big things that
Speaker:we did not like about the existing labels is that the
Speaker:writing, especially the supplemental facts on the back were too small.
Speaker:Even for someone with like childlike vision,
Speaker:it was still too small.
Speaker:So we understand that most of our customers are going to
Speaker:be probably 45 to 75 I'm already starting to have vision
Speaker:problems so I can only imagine 20 years from now with
Speaker:some of our other customers may be with maybe 20 years
Speaker:or so ahead of us.
Speaker:So we had to do something about that.
Speaker:It was imperative that we got that writing bigger so they
Speaker:could see exactly what they're consuming.
Speaker:Well and as you said,
Speaker:education is everything and there are going to be times when
Speaker:people are handling a bottle and you're not around to talk
Speaker:to them.
Speaker:Exactly. But if you've got questions you can email us directly
Speaker:at info cherry blossom,
Speaker:cbd.com or you can do a website submission.
Speaker:We're all over it.
Speaker:I think it comes with like one or two,
Speaker:at least two of us.
Speaker:So one of us is going to respond to you relatively
Speaker:quickly. Perfect.
Speaker:And give biz listeners,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:on the show notes page,
Speaker:I will have links to all the social media sites,
Speaker:the website,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So if you're out walking the dog,
Speaker:folding your laundry,
Speaker:doing whatever you're doing at work,
Speaker:behind the scenes,
Speaker:like listening,
Speaker:no problems.
Speaker:I've got you covered over in the show notes.
Speaker:Derek, super interesting conversation today.
Speaker:I understand the whole CBD concept way better than I did
Speaker:in the beginning.
Speaker:So it's been such a help and really,
Speaker:really good business insights as I referenced earlier,
Speaker:to kind of augmented things that we all should recognize that
Speaker:we can encounter but augmented for your industry.
Speaker:So I really appreciate your sharing with us today.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:I found this chat with Derek to be so valuable.
Speaker:First. We all now have the real facts about CBD,
Speaker:but by nature of Derek's product,
Speaker:he faces challenges that we all have as business owners except
Speaker:his are magnified tenfold given the restrictions and the uneducated opinions
Speaker:about CBD.
Speaker:I'm so happy that he was willing to share how he's
Speaker:working through all this to gain customer acceptance.
Speaker:Most of our products never encounter these obstacles,
Speaker:but his solutions can definitely be applied for each and every
Speaker:one of us up next week.
Speaker:I have the perfect business to share with you just in
Speaker:time for Easter.
Speaker:Make sure to tune in to learn more about how this
Speaker:business continues to grow without any social media.
Speaker:You heard me right?
Speaker:Zero social media to date.
Speaker:I bet that sparked your curiosity.
Speaker:A great way to ensure that you don't miss this is
Speaker:to subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker:When you do,
Speaker:every episode will be ready and waiting for you each and
Speaker:every week.
Speaker:Now, as one final reminder,
Speaker:I want to just make mention one more time,
Speaker:that classroom doors close to maker's MBA tomorrow night,
Speaker:go to gift biz on rapt.com
Speaker:forward slash makers MBA for all the details.
Speaker:There is really no more time to wait,
Speaker:so do it now.