Episode Transcription
Glenn Harper 0:00:00
Hello, everybody. Welcome another edition of Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. This is Glenn Harper, Julie Smith. What’s up, Julie?
Julie Smith 0:00:06
Hey.
Julie Smith 0:00:07
It looks like you survived another tax season.
Glenn Harper 0:00:08
It’s a miracle. Barely, but we did make it. You survived as well?
Julie Smith 0:00:13
Yeah, not no more wrinkles, no gray hair. I think I did good.
Glenn Harper 0:00:17
You seem a little tense this morning. All right.
Julie Smith 0:00:19
Yeah, just still looking for a bulldozer for a couple problems.
Glenn Harper 0:00:21
Everybody other than that, you know, everybody needs a bulldozer. Well, you got your coffee. You should be lined up. Well, we’ve got an exciting guest today. We got Pamela Katz. A fellow entrepreneur is a driving force behind your CBD Haven based in Roswell, Georgia. She’d help many want to be clients turn their pain into comfort. How are you doing, Pam? Welcome to the show.
Pamela Katz 0:00:40
I’m doing great, and thank you guys for having me on. I really appreciate it.
Glenn Harper 0:00:44
Our pleasure. Is the Roswell is that the same place where the UFOs are?
Pamela 0:00:49
No, we’re in Georgia. That’s New Mexico.
Glenn Harper 0:00:55
Just testing now. I also detect a slight Creole accent. Is that from your time at LSU, or did you grow up in Louisiana?
Pamela 0:01:02
I grew up in Louisiana, but you’re the first person who’s ever told me that, that I have that accent.
Glenn Harper 0:01:08
I’m just making it up, really.
Pamela 0:01:10
Okay. I can go into it if you I know.
Glenn Harper 0:01:14
I bet it can come out real quick. Did you grow up in Louisiana then, your whole life?
Pamela 0:01:21
We moved around a lot, but grew up mostly in South Louisiana, New Orleans, and then I went to LSU. And when I graduated literally two weeks later, I moved to Texas and Dallas and lived there for a couple of years, and then I moved to California for nine years and then moved out to Atlanta back in 94. So all these places, I didn’t have a job. I didn’t know one person, but everything worked out great, and that was kind of my I had a lot of goals in my life, and so I was in advertising for many years. Advertising and marketing.
Glenn Harper 0:02:08
It’s funny, when I was talking you online, I couldn’t get a feel. If you had worked, had real jobs, and then went to school, or if you did school, then we had real jobs and if you went back to school. You want to tell us a little bit about that?
Pamela 0:02:20
Yeah, I did go to school, and I majored in journalism, and then, like I said, I moved to Texas. I moved to Dallas and worked for an ad agency, a couple of ad agencies, and then I wanted to move again, and I moved to La. And worked for a couple of agencies there for almost ten years. And then I knew I didn’t want to stay in California for the rest of my life, so I would go to different cities and interview for jobs for my vacation, and I didn’t want to just leave La. And just go someplace else. I wanted to move to a place I really wanted to live. Like I said, I went to different on every vacation, I would set up interviews because I knew that if I wanted to move to a place, I had to not just look at a new place as a vacation destination. I wanted to get a good feel of what the place was like from a business standpoint and so forth. So I explored different cities, and then I came to Atlanta, fell in love with it, and then I moved out here and then got a job at J. Walter Thompson at the time, probably about three months later. But yeah, none of those places I ever know anybody. I mean, people think I’m crazy, but it’s been a journey, it’s been a great adventure. That was my whole goal with my life, was to have a create an interesting life. Not a happy life, but an interesting life. I mean, it’s not that I wanted to be unhappy, but my whole goal was to meet interesting people and do interesting things and be engaged and excited.
Julie Smith 0:04:14
Georgia was the one that you stayed and fell in love with because it sounds like you’ve been there the longest.
Pamela 0:04:19
Yes, well, I came here, moved here at the end of 94. One of my goals was I wanted to buy a house, and so I knew that was never going to happen in La. Or I felt that, and I knew I just didn’t really want to stay there for the rest of my life. Had a great time living there in Texas and so forth, but came here a year later. I bought a house. Then, of course, literally the day I moved in, I met my husband. Yeah, sorry, that was a blind date. So of course after that, then I got married a couple of years later, and then now this is at home, been home for I can’t believe it’s. Been home since the end of 94. And I’ve changed courses in my life as far as careers. When I moved here, I stayed in the advertising business, and then I went back to school back in early 2000 or maybe 2003, 2004. I was burnt out. And I don’t know if you know anything about the advertising industry, but it can burn you out a lot of long hours and so forth. But I kind of went a sabbatical. I’m a big reader.
Pamela 0:05:42
I believe the importance in reading and kids learning to enjoy reading and so forth. So I thought about maybe I wanted to be a librarian, so I went back to school and got my Master’s in Library and Information Sciences, so I did that. But then I realized I don’t want to be a librarian. So I ended up going back into advertising after a couple of years of that, of going back to school. And then I went on the client side within marketing worked. My last gig, so to speak, is I worked for a medical device company for about ten years, 910 years. And specifically, I worked in pain management, which means that our company developed equipment and also a procedure for physicians to use to help with patients who had or suffering from chronic pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain, like osteoarthritis and so forth, in the knee and hips and shoulders and so forth. So I became very familiar with the issue of chronic pain. Over 100 million Americans in this country suffer from chronic pain. And then, of course, part of that, I became very familiar with the opioid crisis. That’s kind of my background in terms of what kind of led me to what I’m doing today.
Glenn Harper 0:07:26
I was looked on the Google Maps, and Alfreda, Georgia is very near the famous Chad Hoochie River. Did you get Alan Jackson on that river at all? Do you know?
Pamela 0:07:36
No.
Glenn Harper 0:07:37
Somebody famous? I thought maybe a chance, but.
Pamela 0:07:42
No, I don’t even follow country.
Glenn Harper 0:07:45
Oh, my goodness. I don’t know how that’s possible in Georgia. But that’s okay. You got to have your thing. Well, you know what’s funny is it sounds like you had this being an entrepreneurs, that you decided that’s enough with corporate America, and you want to be an entrepreneur and own your own shop. It sounds like just hearing a little bit of your story, you had those tendencies. You didn’t even know it.
Pamela 0:08:06
I didn’t even know it. Right.
Glenn Harper 0:08:09
Normal people do not schedule a vacation and go interview and go explore. That would be an abnormal thing that an entrepreneur would do to try to figure things out. So you didn’t even know it, but you were already testing for that way back in the day.
Pamela 0:08:24
Yeah, and I didn’t really fit into the corporate world in terms of I would look at the and this is not a slam on the corporate world at all, because I’ve learned a lot, and I gained a lot over all those years. But what I did learn that didn’t fit with me, fits with others, is that if you’re a maverick, you don’t fit in. And I had some great bosses and managers and leaders over the years, but they don’t all encourage that, which always confused me, because I’m like, wow, we’re trying to achieve this goal, and here’s some new ideas. Let’s try them. Well, no, that doesn’t fit anyway. That was probably the biggest frustrating thing over my whole career, is that I never felt that I fit. And then you got to realize there’s some things that we can all do to fit in if it’s important to us, but there were certain things that I felt like I just never could, and it wasn’t important to me, so it wasn’t that important that I didn’t fit in. Even though my career grew and I grew and climbed the ladder and so forth, it was not as fulfilling as I kind of envisioned my whole life growing up that I wanted to work for a big ad agency and blah blah blah and I did and I climbed that ladder like I said. But I don’t know, I felt like why is this not as satisfying as I kind of envisioned it to be? I worked 80 hours a week. I knew that I had lots of dues to pay and all that sort of thing, but it would get to the point where I’d work so hard and hey, here’s some great ideas and let’s see it through and so forth. And then there would be so many obstacles that I had zero control over. And I think that’s one of the things I learned about myself is that I’m kind of a control freak in the sense that I like to be responsible and accountable for what I do even if that includes failing. But that doesn’t always work in the corporate world. But I didn’t seek out starting my own business because I thought one day oh, I want to have my own business.
Pamela 0:11:07
What happened was that I was going on fine with my job and so forth but one day I fell off a treadmill and my foot this is back in April 2019 and my foot ballooned. Of course I was at the gym in front of everybody but anyway place to do it. Yeah, of course my husband says you’ve got the biggest comfort zone of anyone I ever met, you have no problem humiliating yourself anyway. But my ankle blew up immediately and at this point, and this is a long story that I’m not going to go into, but my husband happened to have a sample of some CBD pain cream he was actually looking into investing into the industry. The 2018 Farm Bill had just passed and so forth. I knew nothing about CBD, I mean nothing at all. But he happened to have some pain cream from a trade show he went to just to see if it was a viable industry to invest in. And when I fell off the treadmill I had had the same issue with that same ankle twice before. So I always knew I had to be in that walking boot and so forth for twelve to 14 weeks because I sprained it and he had the cream. He said well why don’t you try this on and see if it helps? And I was like yes, sure, snake oil. But I started putting it on every day and yes, I was in that walking booth that the orthopedist insisted that I use. And long story short, I was back on the treadmill running in two weeks and since I had something to compare it to, I was blown away because it really healed it quickly. I had no pain, the swelling went down, I didn’t have to wear that boot anymore and so I went back to the gym. I thought well maybe I could kind of walk on the treadmill.
Pamela 0:13:05
Well, before long I was running on it and I was like, wow, this really works. And at the same time, my company, I work for a big company, we had been sold, spun off and sold twice in four years. And so there was a huge cultural shift, huge culture change, management change, lot of stress at work. I mean, my department went from 20 people to three people. And so I’d heard that CBD helps with stress and anxiety and I’m kind of a high strung person. So I started taking it because of stress at work. And it was amazing the difference that it made. Now, it didn’t make me in a fog or anything like that, or it didn’t make the world lollipops and rainbows, but what it did is it helped me react to the stressors and the triggers that would make me anxious with what was going on at work and so forth. So I thought, well, how does this work? So I started going to trade shows myself. I wanted to find out how it worked, the biology behind it. And so I started taking courses. I went to some trade shows to learn, how does this thing work, how does it work for pain and for stress and anxiety. And so the more I learned about it, the more it made sense and the more I was like, literally. I was on the trade show for this is in Miami, I think, and this is in August of 2019.
Pamela 0:14:41
So this was within a period of about four or five months from when I initially hurt my ankle and I was on the trade show floor. And I was like, People need to know about this because I’m thinking of the opioid prices. I’m thinking about the people in pain and how this isn’t really getting out there. And so my husband turned to me and said, well, why don’t you open a store and start educating people? And I was like, really? Yeah, you’re right.
Glenn Harper 0:15:11
Why don’t I was that your AHA moment or what?
Pamela 0:15:14
That was in August of 2019, and I knew nothing about retail, except I did work at JC Penney’s when I was a freshman in college. But other than that, I knew nothing about retail, where to start, and of course I still had my job. But that was August of 2019. And I opened a store in January of 2020 pretty fast, six months later. But that was incredible because I was still working and I couldn’t tell anybody that I was, hey, I’m going to quit and I’m going to start my own business. But did that and of course I was taking CBD this whole time, which helped. But yeah, yeah, opened in January 2020 and, you know, nothing happened after that. So much.
Glenn Harper 0:16:03
No stress anywhere.
Pamela 0:16:04
It felt like we had a pandemic or anything. Pardon me.
Glenn Harper 0:16:06
There was no stress at all in the world. It was easy.
Pamela 0:16:09
Yeah, it was so easy. But it’s been a little over three years, and it has been an unbelievable, wonderful journey. And I’m not saying that everything’s been peachy keen the whole time, but it has been more extraordinary than I ever thought. Because my whole goal was, we need to help people learn about this. And maybe I could help some people with their stress and their pain. Really, I was thinking pain, more pain than anything else. And there’s been a lot of challenges. The industry is challenging because even just to get a bank, no banks, nobody would want it to be our banker. Because CBD, it was impossible almost to find merchant services. I can’t advertise none of the digital platforms like Facebook or Google or anything except CBD advertising. So I have to rely 100% on social media free. I mean, posting on social media, they don’t accept advertising from CBD companies. And then, really, one of the biggest challenges is educating people, mainly people my age, who have these perceptions that, oh, it’s marijuana and blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, no, it’s not. And is it even illegal?
Pamela 0:17:35
No. Yes, of course. I wouldn’t be running a store if it was illegal. So my whole thing is educating people. It’s not a one stop magic pill or anything like that. So there’s a lot of education, but there’s a lot of partnerships and alliances, and it’s been a game changer for so many of my customers that come in. We’re more of a consultative sale. I’m not a vape shop or smoke shop and all that. So it’s all about helping people, really. And I talk about turning pain into comfort. It means pain, emotional pain. Most of the customers I get in are dealing with stress, anxiety, PTSD, depression, in addition to chronic and acute pain, and also insomnia. But I also have customers who have Parkinson’s or going through chemo cancer treatments or other major issues. And so we sit down, we talk about it. And I have all kinds of customers people would have never met in my previous life, and people addicts and so forth that need help with dealing with the things that trigger them to drug use or alcohol.
Pamela 0:18:57
So people are like, oh, my God, you’ve changed my life. And I’m like, no, I haven’t. When you walked in that front door, you changed your life. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been brought to tears by the success stories of my customers.
Glenn Harper 0:19:13
It’s kind of weird, the entrepreneurs story. It doesn’t really matter what the product or service that you provide, because there’s obviously a need for whatever product or service you have. But to be able to the impact is what’s important, right? And that’s where you’re getting where. I don’t know if you are working 100 hours a week now, or 10 hours a week. I don’t know if you’re making millions of dollars or breaking even those things really don’t matter. What matters is if you’re getting joy from your journey and where you’re at right now. And it just so happens you decided to pick a very almost impossible industry to get into, and yet you still are doing it. And so there is a tribute to the entrepreneurial spirit.
Pamela 0:19:55
Well, I think it’s funny because the people come up to me all the time and they’re less interested in CBD, but they’re more interested in how did you quit your job and to start your own thing. What is that like? I’d like to do that, too, but I’m scared, you know, or I you know, and it’s usually people my age I’m a baby boomer or Gen Xer or what have you. My mission, besides helping people, teaching people about CBD, but really, it’s also about helping older folks realize that it’s not time to wrap it up just because you think that society tells you that, oh, you’re 55 or 60 or whatever, you can still reach those dreams. If you dreamt about helping people or starting your own business or whatever it is, you can still do it. And I call this my second act, this whole journey. And if I can help inspire or help people realize that themselves, that’s just as gratifying as helping somebody get sleep that they haven’t slept for three nights or deal with the stress and anxiety that they’ve been dealing with. Because that’s become even a bigger issue that I didn’t realize at the time when I started my business, that there are so many people out there that are wanting to start their own business but are too scared or too intimidated or think that or they think they’re too old. And I’m, like, old. For what? You’re not dead yet.
Glenn Harper 0:21:48
80 is the new 40 anyway, so we all know that.
Julie Smith 0:21:51
Well, that’s what he tells himself.
Glenn Harper 0:21:52
I don’t know, 40. So there’s never too late. Never ever. Because again, what’s the worst that can happen? And that’s what you kind of figured out. You were burnt out. You’re like, this is horrible. I’ll do the hardest thing possible. So either your termination and grit is off the charts or the CBD is a miracle drug for you that pushed you over the limit. Either way, I’m going to say it’s probably mostly you, but whatever helped you get there, it’s all good, right?
Julie Smith 0:22:19
Yeah.
Julie Smith 0:22:19
Talking about you talk about how people are scared to kind of make that leap from corporate America to being an entrepreneurs, and I think we hear that a lot on the show. What do you think were some pivotal points? You kind of talked about one, someone who didn’t really you had leaders and managers who didn’t really exhibit wanting to know what you could do, right? You kind of had to fall in line with all the soldiers. But what are some of the things that you think corporate America taught you that you’ve been able to run a business, successful business that maybe you wouldn’t have had you not had those experiences.
Pamela 0:22:52
Well, one thing, marketing. I mean, you got to market yourself no matter what you do. And of course my background was advertising and so forth and branding and marketing. That is your number one thing. I don’t care what business you guys know that your CPAs did you ever think that you would have your own podcast? You’ve got to brand and market yourself. And so I am fortunate enough that I learned a lot about that. Of course it was my career. And then also dealing and working with all kinds of people and managing all different situations that are challenging, realizing and this is realizing that nobody is going to care about your business as much as you do. And even though I didn’t have my own business at the time, I was working in business and realized that nobody was going to care about my projects that I worked on as much as I did. And so those are valuable lessons. And also, of course there’s finance and the world of business and so forth, but I think developing relationships with people and working well with them, even if you don’t maybe like them personally or what have you, but learning how to navigate through all that and the political structure at different companies. I work for different companies. And you also have to learn how to be flexible, time management, all those things that if I had started my business at 22 or 23 or whatever, of course I wouldn’t have had the insights and so forth, but it would have been a bigger struggle emotionally and mentally at this point in my life. You said it earlier.
Pamela 0:24:52
And I’ve always kind of had this mantra, what’s the worst that could happen? And also another one of my mantras is short term pain for long term gain. And so was this as a hassle, if you can see the long term benefits or the long term the long game, then so what about the little inconveniences or the hassle or the extra hours or whatever? In the short term? I think you have to have that mindset that it’s the big game and really what do you have to lose?
Glenn Harper 0:25:28
Yeah, we’d say like the and again, this is not a dig. It’s just the corporate gauntlet is a really intense thing and if you can make it through that, you can probably make it through anything. So it’s a great training ground. They used to say high school, maybe junior high was the hardest. Then it was high school, then it was college, then it was the corporate gauntlet. Then it’s open up your shop. It just keeps getting harder and harder and harder and harder. But that’s how you grow. It’s got to be hard.
Julie Smith 0:25:52
And you talked about during in your corporate days about that team and it seems like you were always on a team and surrounded by people. As you’ve built a business, have you been able to build a team and create kind of the culture and kind of what you want out of it, maybe what you had saw but you couldn’t get your hands on previously?
Pamela 0:26:12
Yes. And one of the frustrating things about in the corporate world, again, I’m not slamming all because I’ve had some wonderful managers and leaders, but I have always had the attitude that I work for my people, not the other way around. And it wasn’t like that in the corporate world. In fact, if I praised someone, a colleague or something, I always copied their boss, let their boss know, and I would get deemed in my reviews like, you shouldn’t be doing that because I’m like, why not? Because you just don’t praise other people and copy their boss, but that makes that person look good. And they are. And it was sincere. And I always felt like if you treat other people well, and I know this is a cliche when it comes down to if they are going to do something for you or they have to choose between you and somebody else, who do you think they’re going to bend over backwards for? And then also building your network wherever you work, you want to build those good relationships, not just with the uppers, but really for the people below you or that report to you or your colleagues, because you never know where they’re going to be in their careers. And you too, where my team now? It’s all about them. And you hear corporations talk about their biggest assets being their employees, but they don’t always act that way. But I feel that way because if my employees aren’t happy or my suppliers aren’t, or if I don’t treat them well, if I don’t treat them well, then they’re not going to treat my customers well. But it’s so important, I think, when you build a team, that you let them know that they’re important to you and that you’re just as dependent upon them as the other way around, or.
Glenn Harper 0:28:13
If not more, that gets lost in translation a lot. Because again, I think the whole point of being a lead is to try to develop people right and try to get the best out of them and help get them the tools they need and help them achieve their goals. And somewhere in there, if you can line up with what you’re trying to do and what they’re trying to do, you can make some pretty cool magic together. But it’s hard. It’s definitely hard because again, most people are not trusting. And as an entrepreneur world, you got to trust people because if you don’t, you’ll never let go. And again, those are those control issues we talked about earlier. You have to let a lot of that go. And if you don’t, you’re going to be stuck in the bottom. Again, yes.
Pamela 0:28:53
And that is probably one of my biggest challenges, is that it’s my baby, letting it go, and maybe not caring so much about some of the details, because I’m a perfectionist when you delegate. And that was always my biggest challenge too, in the corporate world. Delegating and then people not doing what I thought they should be, how I would do it. And that’s another thing you learn. You learn how to kind of let go in the corporate world because you had asked that question earlier. And so all those things kind of have come together, though, now that I have my own business, I’ve learned from great leaders of what to do, and I’ve learned from the not so great ones of what not to do. And so all that’s important, all that is important, and so it’s all come together. I’m still growing and learning. And one of the things I tell people who ask me about, oh, what’s it like to have your own business? And I’m scared. I like to do it. I’m like, you have to stay relevant. You have to keep learning. You can’t say, oh, I’m too old for social media, or that’s not the way we did it back in my day, and so forth. If you don’t want to be viewed as irrelevant, then you’ve got to stay up to date and stay relevant.
Pamela 0:30:23
And I don’t know how to stress that anymore. You’ve got to do and some of those are going to be things that you don’t really enjoy doing or that you don’t relate to anymore or don’t relate to, but you have to do it. Before I started my business, even though I was in marketing and so forth, I wasn’t crazy about social media. I think I had Facebook and that was it. But when I started this business, I had to step it up as far as a lot of social media and Instagram. I mean, all those things that in technology. I was joking earlier about technology and how I’m not great at it, but that you can’t use those as excuses to not grow.
Glenn Harper 0:31:09
It’s funny, when I looked at your website, I was intrigued two ways. I’m going to make a little joke, and sometimes the listeners don’t get my jokes, and Julie rolls her eyes at me. But I noticed that you’re trying to market to the people that want to use these products that might help them in your business. But then I saw, well, you got to market to animals because there’s a section in there for animals. And I was like, I didn’t even know a dog could use a mouse to go log in and do stuff. But here we are. You have to now get into somebody’s head, a customer to get into their dog’s head, to get the dog’s head back to the customer to say that they need this for that. That’s even harder than just marketing to a person. You got to market to something that they care about, that’s a whole different game, right? So again, you’re choosing the hardest thing possible. Well done.
Julie Smith 0:31:59
Well, it may be hard, but it’s also fun.
Julie Smith 0:32:04
No pain, no gain, right?
Pamela 0:32:06
No pain, no gain it is, but at the same time it works. And I’m not going to push it here and all that. And so most of my customers are a little skeptical. They all walk in not knowing anything about it. So that’s why education is so important and they have low expectations, like I did when I tried it three years ago. So we go through a lot. And then the thing about people think, oh, maybe it’s just snake oil or a placebo I’m like. It can’t be with animals, so it works with their pets, dogs and cats and all animals, because we all have all mammals and I can go into the science here, but I don’t want to bore you, but a lot of people, their dogs especially, have separation anxiety or they get arthritis like people do. Allergies they freak out at thunderstorms and fireworks and so forth. And so CBD helps a lot with that. And like I said, people will say, well, is it really a placebo I’m like? Again, if you give it to your dog or cat and they have an issue and you see the difference, it cannot be a placebo for them. They don’t know about psychology. That’s been extraordinary too, because again, I’ve had people come in with pets that have major issues and of course I’m not a veterinarian or a doctor, but it’s helped them and they’re like, oh my gosh, it’s changed his life. That’s what I mean.
Julie Smith 0:33:47
It’s so extraordinarily fulfilling.
Glenn Harper 0:33:49
It’s funny, I watch a lot of that Dog whisperer show and just in real life and dealing with animals, it is amazing how the trainer never trains the animal. They train the human and it’s the craziest thing. So in your particular case, if you can get the owner calm and then you can get the pet to then fall in the step, I think everybody’s going to have a good time. So that’s kind of cool. But again, a lot of those things has to start. The owner just doesn’t know how to communicate with their animal, and if they’re too high strong, well, they’re not going to communicate either way. So it’s kind of neat that that works that way. Who knew, right? Who knew, right?
Pamela 0:34:28
And people come into the store, they’re like, oh, you have CBD for pets too. I’m like, yeah, they’ve got the same issue, they’ve got issues like we have. And the problem is they can’t communicate it as well. And so but it’s but it’s, you know, it’s but like I said, it’s it’s hard, but at the same time it’s so rewarding that the rewarding overcomes the hard.
Glenn Harper 0:34:52
But I think that’s what you’re talking about, the teaching and letting people know. And it’s just again, it’s a whole nother line of business for you, right? And as an entrepreneurs, you start off thinking, I’m going to sell ABC and next thing you know you’re selling def and it’s just a natural fit and that’s how you pivot and capitalize on some opportunities. And again for a newbie out there starting when you were in your early 40s. Kidding, of course, right there’s never too late and you were able to recognize that.
Pamela 0:35:20
So we talk a lot about support and having people around you who support you. And I think in the beginning you talked about how your husband said, well, why don’t you open a store?
Julie Smith 0:35:32
Yeah.
Julie Smith 0:35:33
And do you think without his support and his push that you would have been able to rip that band Aid off and do it and maybe even do it as quickly as you did? Or was that a really significant part of your entrepreneurial journey?
Pamela 0:35:46
That was a significant part because, well, not only did he kind of say, well, don’t whine about it, why don’t you do something about it? Right? Because I was like, why don’t people, more people know about this? And blah, blah, blah. He’s like, well, why don’t you do something about it? Why don’t you open up a store? And the good thing is I did get very lucky. He grew up with a retail background. His parents had three women’s stores, ladies clothing stores. So he grew up with a retail bent and interest and they sold their stores back in the 90s when the retail industry collapsed. So he didn’t go into it. Didn’t get to go into it. And he’s an entrepreneurs and my dad was and my brother. So I did grow up with an entrepreneurs mindset and surroundings. So he really helped me a lot with because I was like, I don’t even know where to start.
Pamela 0:36:45
I mean, I have to find space. Oh yeah. And he’s like, well then you got to figure out an inventory system. And the merchants, I’m like, what? So he helped a lot with the setting up stage, looking for space and even getting a business license. I mean, I’ve written all this. I’ve documented all this in my journey. I did videos and so forth. But there’s so many minutiae details that I had no idea. But there’s also other resources. And I tell people, okay, so maybe you don’t have a husband that can help you with that or inspire you with that. But there’s so many other resources out there that I’ve even collected to help people. Like for example, your local Chamber of Commerce. I’m lucky that our Chamber of Commerce in our area is extraordinary extraordinarily, supportive extraordinarily. They provide incredible resources for small business owners.
Pamela 0:37:50
And also there’s schools. University of Georgia has a huge small business association that you can join and they provide tons of resources and help and guidance and counseling. And so forth. Sorry about that. And then, of course, as you talk to other entrepreneurs, we all share because I’ve gotten to meet a lot of other people that are business owners and we all share other tips. Hey, did you know that fiverr, that’s a great source to crowdsource creative work and logos building that network. I’m dealing with different people than I dealt with in the corporate world because I’m dealing with other small business owners and we share a lot of information and also vent. And then you don’t feel quite so alone because it is a lonely business, because people who don’t have their own business don’t understand how much time it takes and passion, how much passion time. And it’s like, well, why can’t we get together on Saturday? Why can’t you come to this? Well, I got to work again. I’m not denigrating that. But nobody cares about your business as much as you do. And I’ve said that. But that is so true.
Pamela 0:39:26
No matter how much my employees care about it, I know you have to have expectations that nobody is going to care about your business as much as you do. So I think having that expectation from others is important too.
Glenn Harper 0:39:39
I think the final takeaway on that piece is, you know, big set of what to decide that you’re going to go and do this thing. And it is a very terrifying first step, but it’s almost like when you cross into that dimension, you don’t realize that how many people are there to help before you step over. You don’t think anybody’s there. And sometimes you have to be standing there looking at it and somebody’s got to give you the push like your husband did. He just kind of shoved you over there and then I guess you’re there. And sometimes you got to accidentally step and taste a nectar, whatever that might be. But as soon as you get over there, entrepreneurs don’t be scared because there’s tremendous resources today. Like 20 years ago, those resources were not there. It was really hard back then, but today they’re there, right?
Pamela 0:40:30
They’re there. But you do have to seek it out. It’s just like I was saying earlier, you have to stay relevant. You have to seek it out, but it’s all there. And the more you find this and you find that, and then it becomes the first six months, it was terrifying and scary and felt like I was on that treadmill and felt like I wasn’t going to get anywhere. And then now it’s just a different set of challenges now. But I look back on that and I’m like, wow, that was a lot. Because I knew zero and I still know zero, still learning constantly, but it’s much more enjoyable now.
Julie Smith 0:41:12
So I have one last question for you that we like to ask, and that is, what is your superpower?
Pamela 0:41:18
My superpower is building relationships with people I like. And I know this sounds corny and trite and cliche, but I really like people’s stories. I like to meet people. I like to help them. I like to get to know what makes them tick. There’s always something I like about everybody, pretty much. And so my thing was I wanted to create a store that people walked into and were not intimidated. And that’s why I called it your CBD Haven. That’s a haven for people. And I feel like I’ve been successful in building that, because that’s what people say when they come in. They’re like, no, I could order online, I could call you. I offer free delivery within 5 miles. But I like just coming in here because this is a place I feel comfortable, and these are repeat customers. I have, like, a 70% repeat customer. And so that’s, you know, I I never really knew what my superpower was.
Pamela 0:42:28
I always thought it was just that I worked a lot of hours, but I love it, and that’s what’s so gratifying, and then everything spills from there.
Glenn Harper 0:42:39
That’s awesome. Well, that’s an inspiring story. We appreciate you coming on board here, and if you want to give it a little plug, we’ll make sure that the listeners, if they need to get a hold of you, they can do so, if you don’t mind.
Pamela 0:42:52
Okay, great. Absolutely. Well, I do free CBD consultations, and you can reach us on my website or you can email me at pamela@yourcbdhaven.com. It’s. Y-O-U-R-C-B dhaven haven.com. And then also we have our website@yourcbdhaven.com. But, yeah, I don’t push products. I teach people about it and I ask a lot of questions, and then we can go from there and see if it could possibly help.
Glenn Harper 0:43:29
Great. Well, pram appreciate your time coming on the show. I wish you can continued success. And this is Glenn Harper signing off.
Julie Smith 0:43:37
Julie Smith.
Glenn Harper 0:43:37
Take care, everybody.
Episode Show Notes
We get an inspiring glimpse into the world of entrepreneurship with Pamela Katz, the founder of Your CBD Haven.
Katz shares her journey of starting her own business and educating people about the benefits of CBD. With her passion for helping people and her background in advertising and marketing, she has managed to create a comfortable haven for her customers while inspiring older folks to pursue their dreams and start their own businesses. She emphasizes the importance of branding, marketing, and building relationships with people to succeed in any business.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to start their own business or seeking inspiration to pursue their passions.
