CBD Business Strategy: Relationships, Compliance, and Retention

Hey, this is Loral. Welcome to Loral's Real Money talks a podcast about money. How do you make it? How do you keep it? How do you invest it? How do you use a team? And I bring interviews from all walks of life all over the world to talk about how people make money. I mean, from

the hardest ones that say, you know, artists can never be a millionaire. I'm going to be a starving artist to musicians to restauranteers. And today we're going to talk about the CBD space, the hemp space, very, very crowded space. So JBird is with me. I just met him last week at mj bizcon. We had our

big marijuana national international conference in Vegas. It was fabulous. Met him like, I think, by day two, and we hung out almost, I think the rest of the conference. So has a great product line, and it was fun when I started touring the dispensaries. And here he is again. So well done. On Being in

Vegas wellness. So you are a husband, father, two, two daughters, driven entrepreneur, and you've done lots of different business, so I'm not going to read all the accolades. I just want you to talk. Who are you? How did you even get in this space and still surviving in this space? It is such a

crowded space.

Yeah, man. First off Loral, thanks for having me. It was great having dinner and me hiring the choir to sing his Christmas Carol. So that was that was lovely. But now you know, we take me back with say I started in the industry about 10 years ago, actually, when I lost my father to an accidental

overdose of pain pills. He was in a car accident here in Vegas, here in 2015, 17, broken ribs, fractured shoulder, punctured lung, and when he got in his car accident right away, they basically said he's not going to make it, you know? And so it hit me sideways, really, just being 27 years old and just thinking

that your father's going to pass away right away. Well, unfortunately, six months later, he did, he had a heart attack in his sleep, and just didn't wake up. And, you know, it, it that instilled something in me that I don't think, that I don't feel like anybody should have to go through at that age. You know

what? I mean, it's just because you have a lot of life to live. But it gave me the realization that, you know, life comes at you fast, and you could do one or two things about it. You can be a victim to it, or you can actually overcome and and make something out of it. And that's really what I wanted to do. I

wanted to be the difference in the world that people saw, and give them an opportunity to have something that they could use, that was holistic to help them overcome and not go through what my father went through. So I basically just kind of wanted to go on a journey of just helping as many people with this plant

as possible. And here I am, 10 years later, surviving in it and just constantly networking and constantly evolving and understanding, just like every day, things have to change and evolve. And I feel like just with building and growing solid relationships throughout the last 10 years has kept me alive

in this industry.

What specifically about your product line? JBird has kept you alive again in a very saturated market of you know, I first got into the CBD hemp space. We actually did. We did a CBD certification, and Doc Trine, who does a lot of work in the CBD and marijuana space out of USC UCLA, does a

lot of brain work reducing the plaque, and he was doing studies. So we had the like, very medically oriented. I mean, boy, that would have been in probably 1920 maybe even 1820, 18. But the products consist that the under the product consistently kept putting more, like olive oil instead of, like,

you know, products that have a lot more efficacy. So to me, the space is very contaminated by really, you know, bad players and the few that actually survive. So just talk about your product line, because it's, what's I would assume, is probably kept you alive.

Yes, ma'am, no, for sure. And so individually, one thing that I got to learn first. So we opened up August 2020, right in the heart of covid. Call me crazy or or whatever you want to call me. You know what I mean? Back against the wall, against all odds, starting a business right in the middle of

covid, but the one thing that I had was proof that the product worked. So before I even started doing my research, or before I started developing my my SKU and my product line, I was doing a lot of research of why? You know, the biggest question that people want to get answered is why? And one of these Ivy League

schools did a study on a little lab rat and a lab rats, maybe one, a little bitty dudes, maybe, let's just say a pound, for just round numbers, right? Maybe even going to be a pound, but let's just say he's a nutty professor, fat lab rat. All right, and we feed them real good. They pumped 400 milligrams

of CBD in a lab rat, and they said that they saw significant decrease in anxiety in this little fella. Well, you know, I was thinking, and then I started wanting to apply that to humans. So I was a bud tender first and foremost. So I started out in the industry, you know, working with hundreds and hundreds, if

not 1000s and 1000s of patients coming back and giving me real life feedback. And it was my job to try to get the best results for these people, pain, sleep, anxiety, inflammation, all the whole nine. So what I started doing was I started recommending real humans, higher dosing. And I wanted to get the feedback

from the higher dosing. Well, once I had people like Loral yourself tell me that they came back and slept like a baby last night, I knew that. I knew that I was on to something. And so every time that I went to go give somebody their very first dose, I wanted it to be higher than what everybody else was

recommending. So that's how I developed my product line. I saw the most used products, which we only started out with four. We have six now. We only started out with two tinctures. We started out with a topical, and then we started out with the capsule, and then the market asked for gummies, and then the

market also asked for pet tinctures, because we all love our pets, so we have six total skews, but realizing that CBD doesn't work the same as THC, and people needed actually more milligrams initially, that's kind of one thing that did set us apart, that I realized early on working with you, like, for

lack of better words, human guinea pigs, you know. And so I had proof of concept that they needed more with scientific backing, like these Ivy League schools showed that it was okay to give somebody that was 150 pounds, 400 milligrams of CBD, you know, but

doesn't yours, doesn't the the one tincture go all the way up to 2500 milligrams, like on one, correct?

And so we can, you know, we for, for purposes I don't see that. You know, your body can only handle so much, can only digest and intake so much CBD at one time. So we do have a 2500 milligram tincture for those people that do need an excess or just a higher strength. So learning your

therapeutic dose has been our our biggest thing that we try to teach people is it doesn't matter if you're eating a cheeseburger, a piece of pizza, a piece some ice cream. It doesn't matter the intake method. You have to know the milligram that you're in taking in order to get from A to B.

And so what had you designed these six cues? I mean, obviously I know the pet one, so on the other five. I mean, I find like the gummy you put into more of a sleep process. So just to find how you brought the products to market. I think so many people have failed, like the the grid iron

line we had, it had endless I don't remember how many dozens of SKUs, too many SKUs, too much confusion is what I saw. Too many SKUs create. But then within the SKUs, how did you decide that line and those say five for humans, what makes them different?

I love that question. So I, I wanted to do the in and out model, like, when, if you shout out, in and out for keeping it simple, when I go to a restaurant and it's kind of like a menu, like, what's the what's

double, single or animal style?

Yes, yeah, in and out. It's simple. At the at the Cheesecake Factory, you have 27 pages and three chapter books before you're getting to the back of the menu, right? So I kept it really simple and based off of just humans. So human want humans want options, but they don't want too many

options. So some people didn't like the taste of the tincture, so I gave them a capsule option. It does the same thing, it's just a different intake method. Some people didn't like taking pills. I have a my brother can't take pills. He's 19, and he just cannot swallow a pill to save his life. So for people like

that, I also created a gummy. But then for the people that don't want to take anything orally, I also created a pain cream, that way you can do for individual spots. So more importantly, I had the people coming in telling me what products worked over and over again. I took the formulations

to ensure that one single dose was enough and higher than every other milligram on the market, and then I also made it easy enough to provide where they didn't have to pick and choose 10 different tinctures, 10 different flavors of gummies, 10 different capsule options. Because they just had to

navigate how many or how much do they take of that one said product, and that was going to be the hardest part. I went a step further, and then we also added a QR code to the packaging to come away with a an extra layer of education. So I do send out all the these cards right here for all of the products,

and each one of these QR codes is going to be on the product. And when you scan that QR code, it will take you to an educational video of how to find your therapeutic dose. I kind of wanted to go a step further, because life happens. Kids happen? Groceries happen. You already know how it is. You

know, we both get kids so But

J, you talk a little bit about the I love that you put you mix your blue collar grit with CEO level strategy. I could use that too, because I work with so many blue collar folks. But talk about the the management and the marketing of it. You know, banking has some restriction, restricted issues.

And did I just hear? Did the farm bill just change hemp, CBD stuff just recently,

for THC, it has to just maintain under point 3% THC of all products? Yes. So it did. We've been abiding by the laws and rules from day one. So I've never been worried here in Vegas. You know, to answer your question earlier, we're very they're very compliant here. They're very strict on us for

our lab testing. We have a cannabis compliance board that gets on your butt that just quarantined a ton of product here in the market for not following the rules. So that's one thing that we've, you know, really, really prided ourselves on, is just sticking by the rules and, you know, just being

fully transparent with our product from day one to answer your question about the baking and everything like that. Early on, I built relationships first and foremost, before the brand was even existed. And so one thing that I did do was I leveraged my relationships to then winning a an award. I won

cannabis activist of the year, 2020, and 2021, back to back years at the Cannabis awards here in Las Vegas, and I used that, I would say, clout, to leverage the brand of me, basically knowing what I'm talking about. And I partnered. I do have a silent I have two silent partners. I'm the owner

operator, so they're just minimal partners, but they believed in the plant and the passion that I had, and they gave me an opportunity from the very get go, and was able to pay them back very quickly, and then I've been debt free, probably for the first six months of being in business. So learning

how to strategically work with just different partners, learning how to get payment plans and learning how to, you know, people in this industry are very lenient, because we all go through the same issues together, right? So it's a lot more understanding than saying, Hey, I know that you have money

in your pocket, pay me right away. So, you know, just shout out to all of our strategic partners and and business partners that we've worked with. Probably the hardest part that we had to do was getting our credit card processor in the beginning. That was, I mean, it took us about three months just

we had to go back and forth with American Express Visa, MasterCard. They would highlight sentences in our site and make us take off sentences and say, this doesn't go within our guidelines. So it was, it was very out the gates. It was a lot harder. But as you know, the times gone by, it's it's gotten

a lot easier just because of restrictions, loosening up and things like that lately

well, and because you're non THC and hemp CBD driven, why is the banking and the merchant processing so critical on that? I mean, the farm bill allows us to be federally legal.

It does, but we're till we're still technically federally illegal, so we're still considered a high risk, just as like a firearm site or anything like that would be, and being that, it is a consumable and just the just because there's not enough research and studies behind it, that's why

it's so highly regulated. And so that's one of my reasons why I feel like it is but, you know, I've recently just reached out to my credit card processor, and I said, Hey, look, I've been with you guys for five years. I can count on two hands how many chargebacks I've had. I said, Can we do anything about, you

know, can we, can you work with me about my rates, or anything like that? And. That they dropped some of my rates by, you know, almost a half a percent, you know. So those little, small things like that have just over time. You know, it's strategizing with relationships, relationships, relationships, I

feel like is, you know, what gets you over the over the top, and how you cut cost long term, that loyalty,

yep, so I want to go to customer loyalty. So customer retention is a big part of your success. Talk about the marketing, because in that, and you just mentioned it with the credit card processor, but even websites, and the way that you market, and your languaging, your copy, you know, into your

sales copy. How do you navigate that with the restrictions and still keep the level of customer attention you have

no it started with the quality of product first, because just like anybody like you're not going to buy the same product twice if it sucked the first time, you know, let's just be real, you know. And that's one thing that I did pride myself on, first and foremost. And the product works so well

that I've actually had a group of people that have become raving fans of the product, you know, like, it's so encouraging to read the reviews that I have. I have over 100 reviews on over 105 star reviews on on two different platforms. Right now, it's really awesome, but just hearing the feedback from other

people, I ask for people's reviews. I asked for people for video testimonials. You know, Miss Loral. I asked you for, for I didn't need a Yeah. I didn't need a Yes, man, I needed you to tell me the truth. You know, like I'm we're tired of Yes man, we want, we want actual truth from real people. And so, you

know, just being able to go on there and just talk to people and get their real feedback has actually helped my growth and sustainability and just providing a good product, honestly, that was, that was what the that's what the brand was built on, was it was building a good quality product,

because nobody's going to come back and buy something that's subpar.

Well, to that point, lot of the brands, you know, they did race to the bottom with cheap, you know, lower doses. So why did you go in the opposite direction? You actually have a premium therapeutic dose line, and how's it impact? Impacted your margins and doing your pricing.

So once bulk is made, that's the best part about it, is it's all a math problem, you know, at the end of the day. And we just wanted to structure everything around better quality products, because we saw that the market wasn't asking for low quality stuff. And so we were trying to get rid of the gas

station stigma, of what CBD is, of what that snake oil is, and we wanted to provide that premium product for people. So, you know, we've gotten to work with with athletes. We've gotten to work with, you know, people. One of my athletes is climbing Everest next year, you know, so, like, I don't think that he's

going to find his product in a gas station. So we wanted to provide something that was more quality and premium for people that we could give them at an affordable cost and still, you know, maintain the brand, I guess, loyalty or an integrity.

So given again, that you're an industry that can't run ads legally and say what you really want to say, how have you map, you know, really navigated the lack of ability to run ads.

So word, you know, just, I'm trusting that like, you know, the more networking I do, the more people in relationships I'm running in people like yourself that are, you know, big advocates of, you know, holistic medicine and just being well overall, will continue to just say, Hey, this

is what's worked for me, and maybe it could work for you, you know. And so just kind of continuously, just being a pioneer and an advocate for my product, I feel convicted that you should know about my product if you have these symptoms, you know. So there's not a time that I won't ever interject a

conversation if I totally, fully feel that you should have this product. And so that's why I started the business. That's why I'm here. That's why I feel like I've survived in a very, very difficult state to be in and fought against some of the biggest hitters in the game. So other than that, you know, and

then obviously, being on podcasts like this, you know that that have a bigger reach than not than I'm used to being able to do just individually, on my own. So thank you very much for, oh, absolutely. Can't even express the gratitude I have for you right now. So thank you, and

those of. You that have been listening and listening from all over the world. If you have any questions or want to make a request, go to ask Loral, a s, k, l, O, R, A L, ask a question, make a request. We'll be right back with you, and that's in any topic that you want to ask a question in. And

if you want this in your your your country, or your you know, area you know, stay in touch with us. Stay in touch with JBird, for sure. So you've gotten into dispensaries. Talk about in retail stores and different shops, but talk about your strategy. I mean, you have a very specific strategy of

securing shelf space, not just being that extra little consignment brand that sits off to the corner. I mean, you're prominent when you walk in.

So we have, we have guaranteed margins that will allow these dispensaries to hit. A lot of people want to Keystone their their product. And do you know, 2x or 2.25 and that's something that we're able to to allow this the companies in retail it. So one thing that we do is we don't compete against

our own selves with with Shell space. Either. When I sell to my retail partners, I let them sell the product cheaper in their store than I do online, just because there is no competition. You know, it's a win win for everybody. I truly feel like this is medicinal based off of how many people that I've

helped. So being able to go into these places have very low risk for them, having buy back options and making it very simple. You know, we were talking pre show, and the accessibility, to me is, is what's really easy to work with, and that, I think being able to just answer my phone when people

need me, or being able to solve problems, that's one thing that's been that sets me apart from a lot of other people, which is strange to say, you know that just it

I give every one of my clients gets my cell phone. And it's shocking to most of my peers. They say, Why would you give everybody that becomes a client of yours your cell phone? It's like, because they hired this organization that I started to get the help they need, and if I'm not willing to

help them, what am I doing? So I'm here

exactly, you know, and I think that's kind of, believe it or not, what sets me apart is like right now, still, I answered the phone for calls, you know, and it's people are really tripped out that they talk to a CEO sometimes, so, but, you know, I think that, you know, just very simple, just

being accessible, you know, and, and, but To answer your question is, is giving the retailers a given, the retailers no risk at all, you know, just and having the confidence and showing them the velocity that every single dispensary that we've been in has reorders, the proof of consistency that I have with my

online orders. So there's multiple factors that we can show these people and give them, you know, a an overall great experience that doesn't put the risk on them, but ultimately, just how confident I am in my products that they'll move and sell.

You mentioned earlier, certain symptoms. What are the top symptoms that your product solves for? And then talk about an offer. I know you have a really great offer for our listening audience, yeah.

So you know, guys, everybody listening, the biggest thing that you would use our products for is pain, for sleep, for anxiety or inflammatory related issues. So anybody that's listening right now, we get a 30% discount and free shipping for anybody that goes to cross country wellness.com

and uses discount code RMT 30 basically stands for real money, talks 30, but RMT 30 will get you 30% off your entire order. This is for anybody that is listening that would benefit from pain, for sleep, anxiety, ask Lord Loral. Be honest with him. Tell him you tried our products. Be real with them.

I did. I took the gummy and then a tincture, and then in the middle of the night, I took another half a gummy, and I could have slept another eight hours. I did not take I didn't need to take the other half, and when I got up because that's been my problem, not going to sleep. It's staying

asleep. So I thought I just got back in bed, and I thought I'm going to try another half because I want to go like, I want to go down. I don't want my brain to turn on, and then I'll be up for the rest of the night like normal, I was gone. Don't even remember, like, it just went. So you

said you're like, can you give me something tonight that just shuts my brain off, and that's made not make me think about XYZ. And I said, Girl, I said, you ran into the right persons.

It was really great. Yeah. So we appreciate that. And you that are in our big table in our client base, you will be hearing from him, uh, he doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to invite you live April 2021, we. A huge event here in Reno, people from all over the world will come in for

this big table, hundreds of them, and you are going to have a big booth and sell lots of stuff. So we keep the group awake and alert and paying attention, and they can take some gummies to go to sleep, awake

and alert you there and support you, Loral and whatever venture you have. And thank you so much for having me, and just let me share my story with your audience, because it's it's really cool to to be with like minded people like yourself that are going places well.

And I think for many of you that are entrepreneurs out there and you have a dream and you have something that you want to do, I mean, manufacturing is not cheap, and JBird has conquered it with really good branding, great short shelf space referrals. So you got you got

the package. So well done. Thank you very much. I really appreciate you. Thanks for being on today. We will have him back, as well as have him into the 2026, season of our events. So stay tuned for more and again, if you have any questions, go to ask loral.com A, S, K, L, O, R, a, l, make sure you subscribe to

our channel. Click that notification button. Be here. Every Friday we come out with a new podcast with the new, amazing entrepreneur Talk soon you.