I will say right out that I am prejudiced in favor of my community. And the typical way that Americans do things and think about things really doesn’t seem to work. Yeah, you got that right; I should have used the word “wrong”. We have lost our souls, even our humanity. But it is in our power to get it back – at least for some of us.
I have spent most of my life in Southern Humboldt, California, the pot center of the world. And the community surrounding me has led me to where I am now. I want to be in a this place of compassion and kindness; a place where people matter. Not money or control. And if you think that makes me weak, well, fuck you. I have been schooled in the world of hard knocks and I will rip your heart right out if you mess with me and mine and my community.
I wouldn’t say I am such a brave guy but I try to be; I want to be. And this is where I want to talk about the kinds of companies/corporations that I want to foster. That I have created with my son.
Win-win
Die trying
Hold your hand out to help others
These are some of the aphorisms that I live by.
I am a country boy now and I think that most of the laws set up to make us behave “better” are a poor excuse for not doing what is right. That’s because it comes from your heart when you are an owner, a boss, a person who has others under you. If you don’t have it in your heart, then it doesn’t matter what OSHA says. And, you know, well, look….
A bit ago, I was talking with the money guy of a fellow who had developed a real interesting way to process cannabis. He was asking our thought about it; we told him it would be a tough go since the resulting product just wasn’t attractive. Anyway, things remained cordial. At a moment, I had stepped aside and the money guy came up to me (now, my business sounded like an association) and asked how he could join. Well, I told him he was already in and, you know, he took a step back. Then he asked what the rules were; I told him that there weren’t any rules. And he stepped back again (maybe with a little alarm). I motioned to him to come closer with my finger (and I was smiling) and I said that we did have one rule. And he nodded his head and asked. I met his gaze and told him that if you were an asshole you would get booted and he stepped back again. Then he laughed and asked what keeps the asshole away and I said the community.
So, you have to have an attitude, a passion; you got to be able to talk to someone’s heart – check out the Tao; every order given is a lost opportunity. Every “partner” and every “employee” is secretly a friend. And I will tell you this, the guy who is tooling up his business is the unfortunate sucker who has to tell someone that they like that they are fired or that they are an asshole.
Hire wise; fight to keep em. You know I am going on and on about this because, well, because without employees you don’t have a business.
OK; at the other end of the scale, you have folks you do business with and finally the customer. If you want to build trust, you have to be trustworthy. But that doesn’t mean you are an easy mark. When the customer finds your product consistently superior, they will come back over and over. I will expand on this over time. Sorry for running on.
Listen to Steve as he hosts The Cannabis Show on KMUD Community Radio. The show airs every Monday from 5 to 6 PM Pacific, and it is archived at kmud.org.
Photo Credit: Steve Dodge
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