Latest / Ready To Drink Podcast / Marine Veteran to Hemp Beverage VP of Sales: Brian Hyatt, Oasis

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Marine Veteran to Hemp Beverage VP of Sales: Brian Hyatt, Oasis · Ready To Drink Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Brian Hyatt, Vice President of Sales at Oasis.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: Brian.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, give me a cloud flyover of I was on the website, and I normally don't do a bunch of research, but I did click on your website on this one because I'm at least going to get an idea of the product flow.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't do research.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: I want to kind of let people know and remind the audience because this is an organic conversation.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: You and I have never met.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: So there's two pieces that I want everybody to understand in this in this show is we're talking about adult beverages, but most importantly, we're talking about human connection and trying to meet a stranger.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: So over the course of the next 50 minutes, uh, you and I are going to get to know each other really well.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: We're going to be vulnerable with each other.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_03: And no questions on a stream.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe it's just like you and I are sitting in the bar and just getting to know each other, man.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's okay.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, tell us about herbal OASIS and what it is you guys produce.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: So at OASIS, we're committed to creating a high quality, natural, and low-calorie option that enhances relaxation, mindfulness, social connection without compromising like personal well-being.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's one of those things, you know, that this category, the THC beverage category is talked a lot about an alternative to alcohol, or that's how people are using it as an alternative to drinking, or if it's two nights a week and alcohol the other five.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we're we're kind of meeting those consumers where they're at.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, that's why we as it stands right now, we have a a milligram kind of amount that reflects that, right?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: We have in the RTD side, we have five, 10 milligrams.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: We have a 30 and a 50 milligram.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm based in middle Tennessee, just outside of Nashville.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: So Tennessee's gonna roll into a 30 milligram cap.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that was one that we made specifically for Tennessee.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: But notice that there were a lot of consumers that had sort of graduated from the 20 milligram, but weren't ready to light sort of ride the lightning, so to speak, and go from 20 to 50.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of just bridging the gap with a 30.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then for the consumers who cannot use THC, um, you know, like my wife specifically, she's a optometrist at the uh VA.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we have a mushroom only blend, uh nootropics.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's basically it's like an alpha brain, but you know, in a 12-ounce form.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, we have we literally have that for every person that's out there.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I like that.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then we're uh in the middle of launching uh two 750 milliliter spirit bottles.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um we have one that's completely unflavored and then a citrus flavor, um, which will be nice if you if you just like Coke Zero and you don't want to taste the hemp, you can use the unflavored, and then um also a couple of different shot lines and um you know our parrot company C B DMD.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um so they've been in the space since 2015, um, you know, and obviously edibles teachers and things like that.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: So um it's it's really nice kind of being under the umbrella of a publicly funded company, uh sort of in a startup space, if you will.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, that's a I was talking with um with uh VP of sales for edibles.com, and it was very interesting talking about that similar thing where they're allowing them to assume sounds like oh well as you guys you have to really be an entrepreneur and you get to work within the resources while also kind of being creative and building out a brand from some scratch from that.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 100%.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: When you um what states are you guys in currently with the not e-commerce, but actually on the shelves and retail?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so with Oasis, uh we're gonna be in six markets and it's primarily in the southeast.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_03: Very cool.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: What um for you, uh, how long have you been in the in the hemp and functional beverage space?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I came into hemp in 2023.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've been with Oasis since 2025.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: And how I sort of discovered the category, I uh I quit drinking alcohol back in 2021.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um and for a couple of years, I just sort of lost my social life.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's that's why one of those things that I always want to say I don't want to pigeonhole hemp beverages into the replacement of alcohol because it's alcohol that's ultimately going, they're building the category with us, right?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it so there, I feel like we're just in a day and age where you have to like be very clear on what you're saying because of context.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it's I'm saying for me, um, whenever you took the alcohol out, there was sort of this um, I don't know, you're just kind of you you're not part of the vibe if you're just drinking like a non-alcoholic beer.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's nothing against that.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe there are people who can enjoy that.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh for me, I just I wasn't part of the vibe, right?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I just kind of uh sort of reclused and and did my own thing.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then whenever my wife and I were moving from San Antonio, Texas to back to Tennessee in in 2023 to get closer to home, you know, I had worked was at the time working for an Italian wine supplier.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um I had, you know, taken them from 36 cases a month uh to over, you know, over 2,000 a month and gained 90, and it was 966 points of distribution.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of those were in were in HEB.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it was, we can get into it here in a little bit, but it was a lot of just I did the tastings myself because there wasn't a budget in the beginning.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I would take that real recap from like a tasting that I would do because I knew if I put it on LinkedIn with substance, someone from HEB would eventually be like, is this guy full of shit or not?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: And they would go be like, oh no, they actually put 12 cases through the register on Saturday the 11th.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but so that job I wasn't going to be able to transfer uh from San Antonio to to Nashville.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I I interviewed with probably 15 wine suppliers and had a strong resume, had a background with Republic National, um, and and understood that suppliers are ultimately the ones responsible for building their brands, not distributors.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, wouldn't even get a call back.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it would be like a no-call, no show on the interview.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And uh you're like, man, this is this is great for my confidence, right?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: This will be a good testimony in the end because I just changed the trajectory of this this wine company, and now I can't even get like a first call with the Jackson family.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we need to cut that family out, we can.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but so I was really discouraged.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I I got on LinkedIn and I saw a post from it was Flyers Cocktail Company.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was the first um exposure I had to hemp beverages.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we um in Texas, I was I would go to a little the dispensaries that we had in San Antonio that that had hemp and like Mike Tyson's shorty or like a dog walker or something like that.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Basically just a little loose rolled joint, and that was how I used cannabis, right?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And um so I I started looking at their the position that they had, it was from Middle Tennessee, and that's how I just kind of found the category to bend to begin with, just personally and professionally.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: When um so we had it, we had very similar tracks as far as how that is.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: It was a bridge for me for for I tried numerous times to get sober, and um, it wasn't until hemp beverages kind of got to a place where they were drinkable, you know, because it was there before before recently they weren't.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: It's solid.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: And then on the flip side, it was the same with uh it's like um with the non-alcoholic beers, too.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like they were undrinkable for the long like the first couple of times, I was like, man, I can't get sober on a duels, you know what I mean?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like in that Clink and Zero came out and Athletic and Brew Dog and all those guys.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um so when you got into the Hemp Space, were did you quickly realize how similar everything was from the alcohol with universal skills and stuff?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: They so definitely from from a skill set perspective, but there were I also noticed like there were a lot of people um in that space who didn't come from a three-tier background.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And some of them, you know, admitted that, right?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, we we probably need to hire somebody from that field.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, others, you know, they you know it's not saying that if you didn't come from like an alcohol beverage background, that you you'll just never be able to make it as a cannabis brand.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: But it's just one of those things that you saw like a lot of I guess just like untraditional approaches and things like that.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it was clearly a person who had never dealt with a buyer at these liquor stores, and like, you know, some of these places you're you're appointment only, or it's you've you know, you you've you've waited a while for that appointment.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And if I'm standing there, you know, talking to that buyer and you come in without any etiquette and like start just trying to pitch in front of me.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um like there were there were like THC suppliers that I would be like, you know, you know, one second, and I would like take them to the side and be like, hey, I've had this appointment for like a month.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really not trying to be an asshole, but like if you ever come in, it seems like you're new to this, if you ever come in and see something like that going on, you know, introduce yourself or whatever, but please don't ever like come in and start trying to pitch your product in the middle of this because it it's probably not gonna end well for you.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's there's a lack of courtesy in it, but there's also like the buyer hates stuff like that.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: I uh I started in the alcohol business in in Philadelphia and it was rough.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: That was rough because when I started out, I was I I was worked there when I was 19, but I wasn't allowed to sell or have a sales route until I was 21.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I worked in the warehouse.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: I was driver helper breaking.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_03: And it was it was still licking envelopes to put mailings out and stuff like that, too.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: So we weren't doing email PDFs at that time.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: But I remember the first couple times that I had a designer in pull me aside and interrupted him during the sales coach, and I was like, they scared the shit out of me.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_03: And the one guy told me the best thing there.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: He was like, Listen, he's like, Don't ever fucking interrupt me again.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, okay, no problem, buddy.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: And he goes, Listen, let me give you a tip.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: He goes, introduce yourself just like you just said.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: And he's like, just walk the aisle and look at everything.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: And he's like, There's two things you'll learn.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_03: Most of the time you don't have time to do that, so you probably haven't done that yet.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, You'll get to learn what else is out there and what you're competing against before you talk to the guy.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: And he's like, second, and he's like, get ready.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: He told me what what I'll never forget.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, get ready to take 30 phone calls to have what I just did.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: And he's like, You don't, and but there's an exception, like you can still walk in and catch buyers.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I just spent two days this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, dropping in cold to independent uh places because I found that Saturdays and Sundays are a good way to jolt them.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: So, like, they're they don't expect uh sales reps to come in.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: So when you walk in on a Saturday afternoon and just drop some samples, I don't do any sales pitch, I just do the cold and cold and warm, let's say, where I'm like, hey, I just want to drop some samples off.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'll just give you a call next week.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then that's the simple.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like to hear what they say, and then I'll get a text from them later.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: They're like, hey, I was really busy, but I appreciate the efficiency.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, no problem, man.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's it.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's a Saturday, Sunday.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: All I wanted to do was shake your hand, look you in the eye, and deliver value to you.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: And then I'm gonna walk away and let it simmer for a few days because I'm not thirsty, I'm not hungry.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I I am hungry, let me rephrase that, but I'm not desperate.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I think that's the biggest thing for the buyers to see as well, is for any new person, and I I'll use that.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: We can use this as an advice to the audience, any new person in this industry, because there's a lot of new sales reps in the hemp and and and functional beverage space, patience will make you more money than Russia.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 100%.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's with anything in life, right?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like anything worth having is gonna take time, hard work, failure, lots and lots of failure.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, if you're going off the blitz scale model, you're you're gonna break things, you know, before they're broken.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna build the plane while it's still in the sky.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's yeah, and it's just like you just gotta stack the you gotta stack the days, good or bad.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there and there's uh there's a thousand gurus out there on YouTube that that spill this gospel every day, but uh you know, there there doesn't have to be a two-hour ritual to to start sending emails or following up or coming up with a plan for the week, the day, the month, whatever it is, you know, depending on your level.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're new to it, uh the best thing that I would say is uh if you if you've never worked for a distributor, or even if you have, uh the success of this brand uh relies on you and your company.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: And and here's where the context is coming from.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I go to work for um it's called United Spirits Incorporated.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: We sold Bellissima, which is the brand I was talking about with the pods earlier.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And um I had all of these relationships.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: I I left Republic National, um, South Texas on good terms.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I saw in 2021, I saw the writing on the wall, you know, they're and it's I mean, now we're we're gonna part where what Reyes is acquiring them.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it it at that time it was the Roman Empire, and now it's kind of the Byzantine about to be conquered by the Ottomans, right?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's yes, that's that's what it feels like.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: You've you've got like that last pillar of Constantinople and and Austin, Texas, trying to fight off the hordes, and here we are.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um we've been seeing it not even just to pick on them, like we've been seeing you and I.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: If you when we look at it, we've been seeing it in all kinds of regions, like we just saw with uh I think it was Reyes and Colombia up in the Northwest.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, Colombia is a is a staple in that world, and to see those types of things and then see what's going on on the eastern side, and then you see like uh Anheuser Bush in the past 12 months has done a massive amount of generational legacy consolidation of like straight up just like telling people you're done and you're consolidated and you're selling to this guy.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: They didn't even give the like I heard this, I'm not gonna give names, but directly from multiple owners of generational, third, fourth generation distributors that got the phone call from Anheuser Bush in the past 12 months and they were just like, you're done.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: And and and and that is a world, that's a scary world to live in now.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's not the world we we you know years ago.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's a new, it's a whole new world that has no predictability anymore.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that was so that was a lesson for me.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, whenever I left RNDC, I'm I'm thinking like this, it's not an established brand.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like I'm gonna go work for Tito's or something like that, right?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Or constellations back when they were doing a lot of wine.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was you know, here's a startup.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And um my my mentor who who worked at RNDC over 20 years, and uh he's now over at Johnson Brothers in Texas, his guy named Anthony Santiano.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like, shout out Anthony.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Anthony was my area of sales manager um whenever I was at Republic National, and then he was my division manager once he got promoted.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but after I left, he was the first person, you know, I was just like, how like what what would you do?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: And he he was like, here's exactly what I would do.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: He was like, it's what you you know, you need to go like get in front of you've got authorization in a chain, you have no distribution in it, you just have the right to sell at a store level.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: You already know where the stores are because you were a district sales manager at RNDC, you know which HEVs are the top ones.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Go use those existing relationships.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, instead of relying on an unknown tasting agency that you don't have a budget for, uh go do it yourself.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like go just go do the tastings yourself.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that was the lesson for me is like, even no matter how connected you are, if it if it's a startup brand or even if it's you know got a little bit of momentum, you as the supplier, let me say that one more time, you as the supplier, you're responsible for building the brand.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: And what will happen is when you get enough momentum and all of a sudden you you know you start having the attention of the distributor, like that's when the layups, so to speak, will come.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: If they know they have a supplier that has the logistics and the dependability to have distribution in any sort of chain, guess whose product they're more likely to recommend when said chain presentations come up.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of the day, you do the work, but they get to take the credit.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it was kind of like a teamwork thing.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: So exactly, exactly.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's I say that just kind of you know, having fun because there are there are great distributor partners out there and things like that.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: But just if you're new, it's on you.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh I love that phrase because there's a there's an old phrase from very he was an old guy when I was younger.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't even know if he's still alive, but he used to be like, We're distributors, we distribute.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_03: And and like when he because uh we in the craft beer world, I would I had like 32 brands, and we were like, we did way more than other distributors when I was running it.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: And that's one of the reasons my time, my tenure there was short, was because they wanted to get it back into the distribution business and get out of the marketing, localized, platforming, and all that stuff.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it was a rude awakening, and that was 2017, and that was when craft beer started hitting its wall, and then everybody was really looking at the numbers and being like, okay, the fad's over.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like, uh, you know, the you know, you got to really work for these brands now.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_03: And that's when it was like, all right, let's focus and streamline on distribution.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I left and then I worked on behalf of brands to help them navigate that world because I knew there was a void in people that actually understood on the brand side what it took to navigate wholesale effectively.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: So that's where my business has been since error for the past nine years now, as far as that goes, is is advocating and and and certain strategy and market development for the brands.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: So when they go through, what do you think like when you go through and you're looking at everything, what is kind of the number one thing for a market when you guys are looking at it for your brand and how your brand matches with the market?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: Because one thing I think, and this is not to speak ill of new brands, but a lot of times everybody's really focused on how many states they have.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't think a lot of people, when you really pull the onion back, it's a mile wide and inch deep.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_03: So do you guys strategically look at like right product, right account, right territory, or is it really let's get these numbers going in the southeast?
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_03: And it's okay if it is.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: I just wanted to kind of know, yeah.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: My my biggest thing is deep, not wide.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: You and you want, look, you want the$50,000 purchase order from a state that's 700 miles away from you.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: But do you have the resources to put together a a person that's in the market, tasting support, some sort of QD where you know you're I mean, that's one thing that not every distributor is going to split any deals with you 50-50, or maybe it's 75, 25.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: It may just be all you.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: So you gotta look and you really need to see, like, okay, I I know I just said it's on the supplier to build the brand.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, who's the right distribution partner that I I I can know that they're the orders are gonna get heat in at least, right?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's a big thing.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's a big thing.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Huge because you can you can send a a recap email all you want, but you it's also on you to start looking at that.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you're in sales anyways, you should be looking at your data.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing I do at 4 30 when I wake up every morning is I go look at the data.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: And some, I mean, some of it like VIP won't update till seven a lot of the times, but you know, some of the other like encompass platforms that's the same day with distributors, that's what I look at, and you know, that's when you can follow up.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so I would say that I would say just and pick what's what's near you in a car or you know, where you have someone.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, like if you're in New Jersey and you're trying to activate Kansas, I mean, if you don't have the money to put someone in Kansas and if you don't have in riding um with the distributor that you're gonna hit a certain amount of volume, maybe put that state on pause.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm saying Kansas because it, you know, it's one of those, like if you lived in Kansas, you wouldn't do the same for you know Delaware or Connecticut or whatever.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just one of those, like geographically, it makes sense.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: And another thing to think about from you know, like if you're a startup and you don't have all the funding in the world, it's like, you know, if some of these states, like if one thing happens in six states, you're financially responsible.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like let's just say Florida decides they want to go from two servings to one.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if if you have a like a digital print can, I'm sorry, you're gonna have to have to redo those.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but if you're if you have stickers, you're gonna have to expedite the stickers, expedite the shipping, pay the distributor to put the stickers on there, or you know, whatever it is.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that's another thing to consider too.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's like awesome because you want to show people like, look at all this growth we're doing, but then you lift up the hood and you're like, oh Jesus.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that would be just go deep in a few states, the right partners, and you know, don't be afraid to say no to a deal.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: So hemp was well established in Tennessee whenever I when I moved here back in 2023.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, they've been a great state as far as putting in legislation on on the beverage side.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: I know that there's things going on with flower that that it's going away July one, but as we all know, it could it could change five times before that.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean anything is possible.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Or there could be nine proposals that happen between now and then.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that that's just another thing to consider as well, is just like, you know, you have to have the funding to be ready to to cover, you know, if there is a change, because that's the worst thing that can happen to you with your image with a distributor, is if you're not able to get the labels changed out right away and they're just sitting on product for two months.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like so that's that's just one of the other things to consider.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I I um I think that right now there's there's a lack of people that you you nailed it on the head though.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's like it's not necessarily alcohol experience as much as it is chain flow experience or not chain flow, uh supply chain flow and distribution.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_03: Because the other thing is a lot of times it's like you know, the cycles of distribution where if you're in a mood if you got in and you overextended yourself and you absolutely Need the depletion out of that warehouse in order to get that reorder because you need that money we just talked about, that 70,000 or whatever it is you got.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: That understanding depletions because selling it to a distributor isn't selling it.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: I used to have to describe this to breweries all the time.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: We're like, but I sold you all this and you didn't move it.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, yeah, if it's in my warehouse, it's just an antique ball.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like until you get it to that shelf, that's another tier of sales.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_03: You sold it to me.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: Now you need to sell it to them.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: And then the next part is you have to build your brand awareness in the consumer base to then get it off that shelf so we can then circle back and do this the whole game again.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_03: And then the other thing is advice to everybody as well is something that since we're talking about distribution, we haven't, I haven't mentioned this to a lot of people, is to remember that, you know, your job is to get that product off the shelf too.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I think we do a lot of celebrating right now where it's like, we got into all these stores.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_03: And like you just said, if you're not, I still, I'm 17 years of owning this business, I'm still doing tastings.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I do those tastings, not to I'm at the point now where I'm not proving myself.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: I actually want to experience that conversation with those consumers when they're trying that product, because that is such vital information to kick back up the chain for tweaking strategy and tweaking perception of the brand and stuff like that.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: So while people might think like, ah, that two-hour tasting on a Friday from four to six, that's a pain in the ass because you worked all week and you might have been up since six working.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: But that information, if you utilize those tastings the right way and ask the right questions, it is invaluable information.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then from there, you you you can find the right tasting agency too.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's there's a lot of great partners um, you know, that that are out there.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, that's one of those things that's another piece of follow-up that you need to stay in top of two is your tastings.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because someone there could have been like a no-call no show.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: And if like you're not going and checking some sort of platform to to see that, you know, this person was there and they tasted this many people, um, or you know, like, or you're you're getting a call from the buyer that's like nobody came, or the person was on their phone the whole time.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, like where I had to basically build and scale my own tasting agency, and that was in the form of I just hired like independent contractors on the wine side.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: And what I would do is so at the time I was living in Bernie, Texas, so like where Tim Duncan and George Strait live, just north San Antonio.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so at the time I was living there, but I would drive to like when the first HEB like opened up in Frisco, Texas.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: I drove up there and I like and I had booked this like a month in advance.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: I did three six-hour tastings in a row.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: So Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: And each day I had an ambassador in there with me.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: And the first day they just they listened to me, like they observed me.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: And uh by the end of that three hour period, that individual they knew they knew what to say, they knew how to handle any sort of objections they may get, and they also know you're not gonna win every battle.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: So some people just maybe they don't like the taste.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe like an effervescent wine from Italy's not their jam, and that's cool too.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's uh that's a how you do and keep it moving type of thing.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I think if you if you are gonna invest in tasting agencies, like it's the thing that helps um uh it's just like I filmed the video and it was literally I in like in my office set up like a mock tasting table, and I literally told them like the the like the pitch that I wanted every time, like say this to to like this interest gaining statement just to get to the person at the table and pour the products in this one because that way the ambassador kind of has the control of the situation.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: If I have like, you know, there's a lot of THC sodas out there, like if there are three sitting there and you're like, what do you like to drink?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're greatly increasing the length of that conversation, and most of it won't be conducive to selling the product that's there.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna be like, I was at a party in 1978 and got really drunk.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was a red wine.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what it was?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, What how the hell did we get here?
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just like I was, you know, with flyers, when I worked for flyers, like we we had a you know, we we wanted to pour, let's say, like the old-fashioned the margarita, the spritz or whatever it was, or with us go from like the the berry to the mango to like the tropic, it's one of those things like you're just you're like, hey, I've got three of these things here.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pour this one for you first, and then we're gonna go down the line here and at the end tell me which one's your favorite.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and you always had the price at the table, right?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because it it made it simple for them.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that converted a lot of customers that way.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: So if you can just do like a six to eight minute video and don't get into the weeds, because that can be a thing too.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, yes, if you're ready for compliance questions and things like that, and uh and the the somehow like the uh the urban legends around that delta stuff, because all of it, if you're getting high off of it, our friend is in there, yes.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, am I wrong there?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: So but it's one of those you don't want to be like combative, but you do want to like you know, Bill that's there trying to, you know, use some THC, and he's he's like, I don't do the CB stuff.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, okay, what are you talking about?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_03: So I love that.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: I I love that we're talking about tastings.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: I haven't talked about tasting events with anybody on this show, so this is valuable information for the audience.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I'll I'll leave one, I'll give one little tip too before I transition is is um what I what I started doing recently was realizing that it's over spumaged for everything in adult beverages.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: And you got to remember that that when you that consumer has locked into your product at your table, if it's far, like where it is on the shelf, and it's not something that you can point to and have them walk directly to it.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_03: I always ask the buyer or the manager, whoever's there, if I can just temporarily take a couple, uh, take a four pack of each off the shelf and have it on the table so that I can give it to them in the spot if they want to go get it.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I can point out where it is and tell them where it is, but I don't trust, and it's not against the consumer, but it's the it's the amount of distractions that exist in the aisle that like you if you're if you're letting them depart and they had a great experience, make it so easy that they can grab the four-pack on the table.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like don't taste it.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like it's that's always kept like I and the the retailer loves when you put things through their if you tell them your intention, they'll let you have it on the table.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so and that that would be what I would do when I would walk into a tasting like that is I would be like, where's the backstock at?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm gonna sell that out and I want to be able to keep the shelf full.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, that's a to your point about consumers being distracted, they're gonna be but yeah, it's over on aisle 17.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they just passed like a Jamison in cap, and then I th I think they saw Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart have a one.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so we're just here.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know they've been around for a while, but that's there's so many shiny objects between point A and point B that it's it's more like a human thing, right?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're gonna we're we're gonna see something else and grab it.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's that's what I mean.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like no bash on consumers.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm the same way.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm autistic, AWHD, the whole thing diagnosed, and and uh I can admit that you send me from aisle one to aisle 17, I'm probably gonna have$200 worth of stuff in my cart I didn't need from from between on the way there, and I may have forgotten about you because I had a list in my hand as well that I was trying to activate and my kid was calling me from home, or you know, a million things can go wrong.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, we'll we'll uh hop off the tasting, but it's one of those things that for everybody, if you own a brand in the in the in the space today and you have not stood at a folding table for a couple of hours and interacted directly with consumers, you are missing an opportunity of the most expensive time that you would pay for a consultant with just talking to consumers.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: And also, I think the number one thing is actually heading up the negative part.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what I think a lot of times people don't want to go because they don't want to deal with that negative part where it is Jim, and he's 76 years old, and he's making some loud comment and it makes it uncomfortable for everybody else in line.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_03: But that's part of what it is we're trying to do.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_03: That's part of our job is to educate, situationally manage that, and either help them understand and bring them into the industry or help them just understand the industry so they don't repeat whatever myth they just set out and and and and and perpetuated, you know?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of Facebook doctors out there.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's oh my God, the keys key keyboard crusaders are uh in full force all the time.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_03: So what um when when you uh when what got you into into the alcohol industry period?
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like when did you jump into the wine and what were you doing prior to the wine?
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I um I I I worked so many jobs, and this will we'll take a detour, but we'll get to where we want to.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay, go as deep as you want.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um for context, I so I went to I went to East Tennessee State University in 2006.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was a pre-nursing major at the time.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Got a job at the Johnson City Medical Center, and you know, just for some uh, you know, some realistic expectations of what it would look like.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I quickly decided I'm so grateful for the people that have this profession.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's something that I can do for the rest of my life.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um, that was prompted by like a a schoolmate of mine, like having having her family identify her after a car accident.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I was just kind of that that for me at like 20, I was just like, I can't do this.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like I already know it.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I dropped out of college.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the very next year I actually enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: I served in the infantry from 2009 to 2015, um, which we are 40 minutes into the conversation, and I'm contractually obligated to say I'm a Marine, just like a vegan or a CrossFitter, right?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: You need to bring it up in a conversation.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, yeah.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I um I as far as like the primary like lesson that you take from military service, especially as a grunt, uh, is is really uh you you can just sort of adapt to any situation that you're presented with.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe things that may have been a a mountain before or sort of a molehill now, you're like, it's just it's Monday, you know what?
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's what that is.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Let's keep going.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I did that.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: And um I, you know, I worked a marketing job for a telecommunications company called CenturyLink.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: I did their in-house marketing, and then um I interviewed with Republic National in like February of 2015 and did the realistic job preview.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Everything's a go.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I heard nothing for six months.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: And actually the questions they asked me six months later, whenever I met them again for an interview, were the same ones from and so I said, You're gonna start, you're gonna put in notice, like just three questions, you know.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, like they're like RNDC's like method on like how they would ask things.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Well, these are the same questions you guys asked me back in February.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Is this my first or second interview?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: And they were like, Um we thought this was your first.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it was just and like the the wires gonna cross, right?
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: So but I I found RNDC um through a guy I was so I was working my wife was in optometry school uh 2013 to 2017, uh and I was working um a full-time job and coaching at a CrossFit gym called CrossFit Metal.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so basically working seven days a week, uh, team no days off, not much has changed, right?
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's still but uh yeah, I I I got introduced, got the interview that way, and sort of went from there.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: So got in with Republic National in uh in September of 2015.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: And um, for those of you that have worked there, they had what's called the sales assistant, and you were a workhorse, you don't have a route, you're covering vacation coverage.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: If somebody calls out, you're doing that.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: If they're when I was 21, that's what I was doing.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you're keeping the roads hot.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're called it the yeah, it's just every down back.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: But the um that's I did that for a few months, and then um everything that I did with them was on the retail wine side.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I had um you know three different sales routes with them, and then I became the uh what's called a specialist, and that was for Constellation's wine portfolio.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it was one of those like I was uh out selling the products and you know supporting the sales team.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: And uh from there I was a district sales manager for the HEB team.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: And um, if you've never heard of HEV, look them up.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh HEV is a magical grocery store in Texas, and I think maybe a few locations in Mexico, but they they have it's just it's just beautiful.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: So if you've never heard of HEV, if you're ever in Texas, like just walk into one, you'll get it.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I I you know I had that, I had a team of eight, and it was actually during the pandemic.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we've you've never seen retail spikes like you've seen 2020 to 2021.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and back then the the rules hadn't been written from a HR perspective at RNDC.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: You could just say a chew and you were off for 10 days, no questions asked.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I to circle back on the school thing, I went back to school um in 2020 um with transferring 12 credit hours, so nothing, right?
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was starting from scratch.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I ran a team of eight through the pandemic, and you would have to you would have to run run somebody's route if they were sick or whatever it was.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: And basically my team of eight was bound to like two.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was like Christmas Eve of 2020.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: So there's like a LinkedIn photo from six years ago where I tagged all these people, like all these people showed up, and I felt like so loved and supported because it was just like managers from other teams, specialists, and like on-premise folks like came to um HEB over in Alamo Heights and like helped me throw this massive order because HEB will order 700 cases of wine on you know the week of Christmas Eve in some spot.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_03: So um they don't honor blackout dates at all.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, they they don't.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it was it was that, you know, that was kind of my my time at R and D C in for context like South Texas, that's where ownership lived.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so when I first started, it was very militaristic.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: You had to show up to the office with a tie on, like even if you were grabbing a will call or dropping off an invoice, it felt like it low-key felt like some of the Marine Corps, like where somebody would walk on and like they'll walk up and try to lock you on and be like, you know, tuck your shirt out.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like they they weren't as uh aggressive, of course, but it it was like that.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: But the training there, because you had a lot of the lot of the Gallo trained people that had kind of hung around from before.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_01: And if you've ever seen Gallo's training manual, it's you know, I had an old copy and like it it starts off like quoting some some Greek philosopher in the beginning, and I was like, all right, this is gonna be good.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but they they took training and development like really serious.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: The mentor that I spoke about earlier, like that was his thing.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever he's like when you're doing this with your people, you know, you need to coach and develop them because your job, you're wanting to go different places and you want them to follow you, and you want to know that it's in a better spot than it was before.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because what can happen and what did happen at larger distributors is you have people that were fast tracked for whatever reason, um, for an agenda or a corporate program or nepotism, you can say it.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay, nepotism.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: But here's what I'll say about it.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter if you're the largest distributor in the country or the the smallest.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: Does it make sense to like teach to have someone instructing how to climb a mountain if they never touch the rock face?
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like if they took a helicopter to the top of this motherfucker, do they need to be telling someone how to like you know, put the carabiner in and go up a vertical, you know, you and they can't, that's the answer.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens when they can't instruct the people beneath them?
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: They cocoon.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: So you can't find them with a search warrant because they're so insecure about their abilities to coach and develop people because they were at a short stay at a certain position, they were there until the limit that HR said they could go on to their next role or whatever it was.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: So think about that when you know, if you're if you're a startup cannabis company or if you're about to acquire a cannabis company, whatever it is, really vet the person that you're talking to.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because just because they came from a large distributor doesn't mean they know what the hell they're talking about.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's a good possibility that they showed up when 98% of the work was completed and put their name on top of it for the LinkedIn post.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: So just make sure you know what you're getting.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that that's why I love Oasis, honestly, is because um you have people from the cannabis background, you've got people from alcohol, and then there's some some of the other folks that came from tobacco.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got three heavily regulated industries.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: You've got all that insight coming in, that's where we can kind of share that knowledge together and as we're planning our our months and our years out.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's really cool.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_03: You like that you guys have all the that's actually really cool.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_03: You guys have that diverse perspective on that.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's exciting to see in this industry.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's I think a lot more people, the humility is starting to come out now.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I think we're seeing that.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like uh, like I just saw today on marijuana movement that wine and spirits of America, and I was on the uh uh on a call with uh one of the National Trade Associations and finally like seeing Wine and Spirits of America like on these calls.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, thank God, because I've been on these calls, like trying to speak in my mind and it's not going anywhere.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody's like, business as usual.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, there's no fucking business as usual.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_03: You got a band coming in a couple months, like it is and and get people to know what's going on, and re and like I'm there preaching from the choir on an island by myself, and everybody else is just like business as usual.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_03: And it wasn't until the wine and spirits of America came in and they're like, fuck that business as usual.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_03: You guys gotta fight for your life right now, and we got to dig in for the next 90 to 120 days.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that's and then you're seeing now that they're doing that.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_03: They just that was the article this morning was they're calling Congress, Wine and Spirits of America on behalf of the hemp industry is is pressuring Congress as we speak to get to and and ostracizing them publicly for delaying this the or delaying the extension of the band andor making a decision.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and that's the thing that they they needed to hear too, because those guys have the money, they have the resources, and they have the leverage to get people to pay attention.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that that's the thing too.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you're a newer, it doesn't matter how old you are, if you are new to cannabis or using cannabis, if you want to take like a trip down memory lane in 2008, if you wanted to get high, you had to go to someone's house or meet someone in a parking lot, or have a stranger come sit in your house and use the product that you purchased from them and stay three hours too long, watch horrible movies and listen to the dumbest stories ever.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: It would be like having DoorDash come like eat your food with you and you have to tip them.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: So you know what's funny is when you do you brought that up, and I don't I haven't thought about this in a long time, but didn't you ever like?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm I'm openly like I was a cannabis user back then too.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: Didn't you feel bad for that guy?
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_03: Because you were like, This is the only social, like the reason he locks you in or she locks you into watching that movie and sitting there for three hours because like that's their happy hour.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I was like, I used to feel so bad for those guys and girls like doing that stuff.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, those people I did.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: If there was like an AK-47 next to the front door when I walked in, I was like, I think there's more going on here than plants.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_04: I've been in a couple of those before.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_04: I need to leave.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_04: If you take me back to a double line and put super troopers on, I'll hold my wallet the whole time.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that's I guess if there's a message out there for people who are shaping this legislation, the toothpaste is out of the tooth.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_01: People more people now, I would argue.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I submit to you.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would say more people now have a taste for cannabis than they did 20 years ago because it has become more normalized.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: You have, I mean, like, think about veterans or anybody else that that uses it for pain management, not from a crutch perspective, but from a quality of life perspective.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like it's the cannabis users aren't what you you thought they were.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like so and you that you're gonna give that market back up to people, like people who you don't want to have it, who aren't collecting taxes or paying them, quite frankly.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: So the the ball is in your court, and you know, that's make it make sense, right?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, don't doing like a 0.4 milligram cap on a drink is still going to push people to the black market if that's all that's available.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or if you're in Nashville, you're going to drive to Metropolis or whatever it is in southern Illinois, and you're gonna just smokey in the bandit like Sally Fields style, like just pack the truck and bring it back to Tennessee because you enjoy using the stuff, not because you're trying to run a business on this.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, we're we're we're if you want, we can go back to running moonshine.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't know, my family did that in mid-Atlantic all along the Maryland line, and we can do it again.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like, no big deal.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_03: The um I I want to uh kind of in in wrapping up this one, I want to kind of uh I want to let you know I want to have you back for for a topical thing, but I actually want to have you back for a veterans conversation.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_03: So I have another gentleman um that has a company called Crafted, and um, so they do um in the spirits world, and then they have a nonprofit they partner with called uh Whiskey Valor Foundation, and they do uh fundraising for basically no DUIs and veterans.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's a program where if a veteran's there, you know, blah, blah, blah, he can hit, he can use that uh to get a Zuber and things like that.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_03: But I want to specifically talk when we do come back in the in another round table about the veterans and the hemp industry.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think it's extremely important for people to realize, and I'm I'm not a veteran, um, but I I have a lot of veterans in my family and and uh and things like that.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: That and one of the things is I do spend a lot of time in bars and VFWs and moose lodges.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_03: So I've I've actually sat with them and drank with them and listened to the testimony.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the things I think that people don't realize is you know, I can I have the same life experience in the sense of trying to get out of prescription drugs.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_03: My addiction was alcohol.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then later on in life, I had a doctor that was very pill happy, and that spiraled me into a combo of pills and that I don't take any of that stuff anymore.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I do it was because my my therapist introduced me to hemp beverages and a different way to look at hemp, not to look at hemp like when I was in my 20s, ripping bongs and things like that, but actually look at him as a medicine and looking at what it can do.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I think there's a couple things too that, you know, the amount of veterans that I've met that are drinking hemp beverages and have kicked the prescription drugs and kicked the other things, it's it's crucial.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it's a there's a it's a section of the of the industry we don't talk about enough because we talk about the soccer moms and things like that.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, great, that's awesome.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_03: They'll drive the business.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_03: But there are, you know, I'm I also like I said, I uh during COVID, uh I found out, for example, like the VA in my in my state of Pennsylvania didn't have access to M95 masks.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_03: So I went around calling every manufacturer in the country and ended up doing deals with multiple states because the VAs were underserved with M95s.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like that's that's what I care about uh when it comes down to that.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that there's so much that we don't pay attention to that also lawmakers don't understand.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_03: And when I sat in DC and told these stories about veterans that have given me these stories to test to give us testimony, they were taken back because I think that they still think of this as a stoner industry.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_03: They don't think of this as a marine that just wants to get through his day, and this is gonna help him put go to sleep at night.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_03: And this is and and what, or it's gonna help him get through that two to three p.m.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_03: where that's where, you know, that's where the anxiety hits, you know, when he's really tired.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_03: And this is something that could give a little sativa step up and catch him through that tired time where he would risk he would slide back into his memories and in his and and then ruminate on things.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that this product is opposed to alcohol, and I'm not speaking ill of alcohol, but I do this is a reality that alcohol is sort of an escape, and the hemp beverages are sort of a presence.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_03: And the more that we can help people to be present and work, that's when you really work through and heal.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_03: You're not masking anything, you're not wearing a mask, you're not numbing yourself, you're being present in your feelings and you're being present in your emotions.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that it's just I want people to understand how this thing is more than just having fun on a soccer field watching your kids game and stuff.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's also important.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't hear the conversation as much.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I can be cynical when it comes to LinkedIn um because there's great information on there.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know like uh I think it's is it Diane or Diana Everline?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: She put great living in like I I have a lot of other people outside of Diana Michelle um muted because I I want to I want to kind of wade through the bullshit, and not to say if you're out there posting it's bullshit, but I I just don't want the two of them thinking that they have a stalker that's like Brian, I viewed your profile nine times last month.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: But it's like I need to see what the fuck's going on.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I think I think it's definitely you and I, I see you on LinkedIn as well, liking stuff.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like we you you and I are both on there and we walk that line where it's like I want to show them support, but I don't want to be a stalker.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well so I I think to like if somebody is saying this already to thank you, I know this kind of this all rolls up into the conversation towards November.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but make no mistake about it.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the things that we're talking about with prescription drugs with alcohol, um I I'll say prescription drugs is like with Adderall Vivands, with painkillers, with food, with fucking fitness, uh anything that can be uh abused and overused.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I I just want uh in I I like people just need to know that you know, like it's uh start low and work your way into it.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: So if you are a veteran who's curious about it and you're not in a position where you have to do a urinalysis at work because it will show up on its test, like uh start start low and go from there.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: Know that uh most of the edibles are gonna last a few hours, right?
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: And the beverages most of them nowadays are like formulated like uh to be processed like your body would process alcohol.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's if you had the beer or the 10 milligram or 20 milligram drink, it's sort of in and out in an hour and a half, right?
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like unless you continue drinking, and that there's also beverages specifically, uh, there's a lot, atmosphere plays a lot in it, you know.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I went to I won a trip with Winebow to Spain, actually just before the shutdown of 2020.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_01: So got to go on this badass wine trip all over Spain.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like we got to see Messi scoregol in person.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: But it was like you drink that wine when there's a thousand-year-old like olive tree and there's mountains and you're at the top and like you're just looking down on everything, the wine will never taste the same as it did right there.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_01: But it will also it will always just incite the feeling that you had, and you'll always have that memory, right?
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think so.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's just one of those things like THC.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_01: If you're doing it as a nightcap, like it could act like that glass of bourbon that you were having.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but if you're uh watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of the greatest franchises in the NFL, um, you uh you're gonna have like a there's a social vibe to it, right?
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're kind of into it.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's so look at that piece of like alcohol, but also know like alcohol and like everything else, there's such a thing as too much.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's uh that's the thing is like come November, I'm sure we'll see legislation.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: But come five November from now, I'm sure we'll see amendments.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_01: So like V1 isn't always the V that's around forever, right?
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it'll be really cool to see like um uh look at it like right now of all the startups.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: Look at this as Norba D beach.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: You just you basically assaulted the front, you pushed the other armored back, and now Gallo Family and Perno are actually gonna walk on top of your of your effort because they just they have the money and the research and it's done, and they're just gonna walk right to the front of the line and know that's who you're gonna be competing against, right?
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's the cool thing about I'm excited, like, you know, what what doesn't what nothing keeps me up at night?
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_01: I sleep well.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like where's the industry gonna be in six months?
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_01: I stop looking at my phone and screams at eight and I'm asleep every night at nine because we're up at 4 30.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not looking at November and saying, shit, like what am I gonna do in five months?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've got to go get another job or go back into alcohol.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I already know like sensible legislation's happening.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: And what I'm really looking forward to, which is the fun part, at least it was in wine, is like when the great houses of war or we go to war with each other, right?
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's uh right now we are pushing towards a common goal.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: And if you heard, if you were on the HBA call, I was working the field in St.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: Pete in Tampa last week, but um, I told like I was told like the VP of compliance or something like that from Total Wine was talking about how valuable the 750 formats have been, specifically 10 milligrams per serving, and how that they would work to hit that.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's that's what I'm talking about.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're all working towards that right now.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_01: But in a year, it's gonna be all out war and it's gonna be fun, right?
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like Facebook, they'll the we'll be able to like market and advertise against each other like Coke and Pepsi would.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it'll it'll we'll all hate each other in six years, but we'll know where we came from.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: I uh somebody somebody the other uh one of the episodes said exactly that is like I think it was Chris Fonte who said, like, I look forward to a year from now when we can start competing.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like he was just like, I'm the I can't wait.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: Unleash the dogs of war.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm the same way, like I'm rough around the edges and I'm all about this kumbaya right now.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_03: But it's like I look forward because everybody wins when there's competition.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_03: And when it's done right, the consumer wins, the retailer wins, and the brands win because it causes us to constantly not be like right now, we're stunned in a paralysis in certain ways.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: Because there's hours sometimes in the week where I get like that, where I'm like, oh my God, what am I doing?
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like, should I keep doing this?
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what if this does fail?
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, did I just waste the last three years, four or five, six years of my life?
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_03: But then at the end of the day, though, I go with reality and I stay grounded.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, we dealt with this with craft beer, and and we we we dealt with this and we know what to do.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I will wrap up this uh let's let uh anybody as far as like how to reach you and how to like check out your brands, give out your social tags, your website, and everything like that.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we're uh try.oasis on Instagram.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's the best way to find us.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and also we you know, we do B2B air goods.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're on Air Goods already, you can look us up if we're not in a state that carries carries us already.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's just herbaloasis.com.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: We uh we call ourselves Oasis because so many people um were just doing it naturally.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like obviously, that's an amazing band, and we will be your wonderwall.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: But of course people by default have been calling us Oasis, but yeah, it's herbaloasis.com or trad out oasis.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_03: Said maybe.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_03: I was just uh I have another show called The Leaders Arena, and I brought on I I occasionally bring old friends that I haven't talked to in a long time on that show.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I actually brought a person who was a professional singer, and I she brought we brought up the story of in high school and we sang Wonderwell on a talent show together.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_03: So the fact that was like three weeks ago, and I haven't thought about Oasis since then.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I really appreciate you putting back in my head there for the rest of the day.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's appropriate for the category because where were you when we were getting high?
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: Nice to do, nice boo.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_03: Brian, this was so much fun.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_03: I really appreciate you taking the time.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_03: And I really I want to also like publicly, I want to say thank you for having the balls to come on with no script and no agenda.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_03: There is no screen in front of me with questions.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_03: This is an organic conversation, and I want everybody to understand Brian and I never shaking hands, we've never shared a drink together, we've never had a cup of coffee.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_03: It is one of these things that I want people to understand that it's not scary to meet new people.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_03: And this world is a beautifully destructive place.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_03: And when you're out there walking in the street, look people in the eye, put your phone away, and actually give a shit about what they say.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure I went sideways there for a second here, so I'll come back over.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I use my phone, and every once in a while I get a call and it throws me sideways.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I'll re-end there is is uh when you're at the gas station filling up your coffee, look to the person next to you and actually give a shit and ask them how they're doing and really listen.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think a lot of times, and especially with you, and we're talking about the veteran community, people are lonely.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_03: And we think that we're all, you know, if we have a good home life, we just assume everybody does.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_03: And two minutes, three minutes of just actually being engaged in a stranger's life could change their life or at least their day or their week.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_03: So it's these little moments like we talked about earlier with stacking, stack those wings, stack those little moments and put some positivity out there.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_03: And Brian, thank you for taking the step and hopping on here today and starting that off.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's my pleasure.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: And you've been listening to this now for 62 minutes.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: Please get off your fucking phone.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_01: The algorithms trapped you, leave.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: Go outside.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: The sun's shining here.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: Have a great day.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: Get out there and touch some damn grass.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_03: Hey Brian, you enjoy the rest of your day, man.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_03: I'll be in touch with some other off the off the off the line stuff for you.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds good.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: Have a good day.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: See you, buddy.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_01: See ya.