I Invested in a Weed Business and It Changed My Life

I Invested in a Weed Business and It Changed My Life

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Some stories are better told a decade after they happen.
Let me tell you a story about how I got
into the weed business, my friends, let's go. I'm deep
in the valley of California, six hours north of Los Angeles.

(00:23):
I'm staring out at the vast nothingness before me, and
I'm wondering to myself. If this guy over here kills me,
nobody would know. It's like a steine from breaking bad.
The nearest gas station is three point five hours away,
and there isn't a soul for miles, not even a bird,
no cell phone coverage here, my friends, I could feel

(00:46):
the wind picking up. It smells fresh, crisp, really crisp,
but not biting. I look over at my soon to
be business partner. He's rolling a blunt. He's focused with
fresh tobacco leaves, and watch him as he completes his
craft with decades behind his fingers. He's moving like a

(01:06):
symphony orchestra conductor, with such smoothness. He licks the edge
and flicks the lighter and cresses the underside of that
fat dooby until the heat with the heat, until he's finished.
He completes it with the final tap of approval and
smiles at this amazing product. In one full movement, he
magically pulls a switch, palms the end of it and

(01:29):
the end of the stogy, and he cuts it off,
cuts the end off. He smiles again and looks at
me and says, this is it. This is ours, my friend,
Thank you. I was getting into the marijuana business in
twenty fourteen. I first met Noel when I was doing

(01:50):
certified scrum classes and agile courses in hotels and venues
around the world in two thousand and eight to twenty fourteen.
I enjoyed traveling to teach and coach as those younger
years availed me the privilege and the capacity to do so.
He was a manager at one of the hotels I
frequently used, and I held quarterly classes in his city.

(02:10):
In one sentence, he was the best hotel manager I've
ever been served by. Period. In twenty thirteen, I learned
he was planning on selling everything he had to buy
land out in the middle of California and get into
the gold rush of the marijuana business. The land was cheap,
and he had already been in the business for many years.

(02:31):
Already he knew how to grow up great product and Frankly,
I had tested it and it was pretty damn good.
He knew as a trusted team would put in the work.
It's all that they wanted to do. Eat, sleep, play, grow, cook, bake,
share and sell marijuana products. For two amazing years of
hearing quarterly progress as I visited his establishment every three

(02:55):
months or so, it was clear that he was executing
on his dream. I had also achieved my first acquisition
in running my first venture fund by that time, and
I had capital to deploy. Number one, he needed money
to expand Number two. I was the right guy at
the right time. And number three, our relationship over the
years had proved fruitful. You see, relationships and service got

(03:19):
me into the weed business. Long term relationships with men
and women who have dreams and go after them are
the relationships that profit the most. Why because you don't
need to invest in them. They don't need you. You
don't need to motivate them. They don't need you. You
don't need to bother them. They don't need you. That's

(03:41):
the reality. Now, I've made many trips to see the grow,
meet the cooks and the engineers, the operations, and appreciate
their variety of products. These were men who took so
much pride in their operation product that they were willing
to live three and a half hours away from civilization
to do so. Investing in them was a sure bet.

(04:02):
It made absolutely absolute sense. The problem was a simple
no known. The relational complications were greased the county and
the city that they were in where pro live and
let live. Acquiring land and scaling operations was simple money
in and more product out. So I've been in the
cannabis business for over a decade and the truth is

(04:23):
I've never invested in any other cannabis or marijuana product
or service companies. This is the only investment that I've
ever done in this domain, and this investment was a
one off that continues to pay off. I invested because
I believed in my friend, who proved over years that
he could do it. I invested because this gains me
access to industry leading information and connects me with amazing

(04:46):
networks in the weed industry. Number three, I invested because
I deeply care about these men and their families. I've
met them all, broken bread and shared life together with them.
I invested because I'm an introvert, autist, car finatic and
enjoy long winding roads for hours in the best sports
car I can rent, testing the limits of grip on
very precarious, mountainous roads. And finally I invested because without

(05:11):
light pollution, in the middle of nowhere, California, you can
see the entire galaxy in high definition. Frankly, it's simply
spectacular and it's life changing. This is not often that
a transactional relationship turns into an investment, turns into a
lifetime of deep relational value. At the sole level, doing

(05:32):
life with others, frankly, is what it's all about. You know,
we can experience God through other humans and very unique situations.
Imagine this a cool California night in the San Bernardino Valley,
not a soul within hundreds of miles, warm food, effervescent
drink and tasty treats, telling stories and sharing life with

(05:55):
amazing humans, staring up at the glass dome menagerie of
lights whispering back to you the echoes of eternity on
this flat plain, I'll tell you. And moments like that,
in the middle of nowhere, with nobody around you feel home.
All the best