My Letter To You

My name is Steve, and some of you may know me. My journey in this industry started like many of yours: with a small wholesale business I ran with a few friends and a brand I poured everything into. I sold my home, I spent countless days driving my little Subaru to stores across multiple states, learning that growing a business isn't a 9-to-5 job; it’s a seven-day-a-week effort.

I was drawn to this industry for two reasons. First, I lost my grandmother to cancer; she was an avid smoker, and I saw the potential for a better alternative. Second, I believed in the hemp industry as an alternative to painkillers for friends I’ve seen deal with physical and mental pain, from serving our country to battling social anxiety.

Like all of you, I faced the normal struggles. I attended CHAMPs and hemp expos, constantly grappling with the uncertainty of our industry and the future of my own business. I took it upon myself to get educated on every aspect of the vaping and hemp industries, not just so I could run my business, but so I could better inform everyone about the products we believe in. I started learning about legislative efforts and began directing other business owners to their local associations, helping in any way I could.

Even as my own business was failing due to the industry slowing down, I kept going. I’d drive for hours, visit stores, talk with owners, and even help behind the counter to speak with customers. In doing so, I started piecing together the universal problems we all face. When you’re working in your business every day, you don’t always see the systemic issues until they’re presented to you over and over again in different places.

I saw my own struggles mirrored everywhere: the lack of streamlined marketing, the challenge of connecting with customers, the need for association transparency, and the burnout that comes from a constant, numbing call to action while your business is slipping away.

Eventually, my business closed down. I was left with nothing but a collection of problems I had witnessed and ideas on how to solve them. I had to decide if my life could continue in this industry. So, I went to work putting everything together.

This platform is the result of those thoughts and travels. It is my contribution—our contribution—to solving the problems we’ve all lived.