Kelsey Eyers of Sweat CBD: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Nothing is going to go as planned but in the best way. In the beginning, I had dreams of being in every major big-box retailer, only to find my passion was working with the customer directly and hearing the impact my products made. We shifted focus many times and ended up right where we should have. Be confident in where you are going but detached from how you will get there.
As part of my series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business” I had the pleasure of interviewing Kelsey Eyers, CEO and Founder of Sweat CBD and BOSSBOXX.
Kelsey Eyers is the CEO & Founder of Sweat CBD and her newest business vertical, BOSSBOXX. She is also a business mentor specializing in e-commerce and affiliate marketing and the host of a popular podcast for entrepreneurs, “Figuring It Out with Kelsey Eyers”. Kelsey grew and scaled Sweat CBD to a multiple 6 figure business in under a year and has since helped other e-commerce businesses scale to multiple 6 and 7 figures. BOSSBOXX is Kelsey’s newest venture in her business portfolio and brings aspiring entrepreneurs and current online business owners an expedited, done for you, online business, helping them to avoid wasting valuable time and money and fastrack their way to creating revenue with their online business. In the summer of 2021, Kelsey will launch a self-guided course called “Degree In CPG”, showing new consumer packaged goods (CPG) business owners the ins and outs of creating a CPG company.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember. I was prescribed anxiety medication but I hated the way it made me feel. I remember feeling so out of place because all of my peers knew what they wanted to do with their lives and I felt like I was just trying to get through the day. After moving to California and working every dead-end job you can imagine, I knew I needed a change. I admired the life of an entrepreneur but nothing had ever excited me enough to want to make it into my livelihood. The day I was introduced to CBD I remember thinking I had not only found the natural solution to every prescription medication I was taking, but I had also found something I could truly stand behind enough to sell and ultimately build a business around.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
As I am sure many can relate, early on in my business every opportunity seemed like the only opportunity. I remember sending 50–100 emails a day just hoping for that unicorn moment that would take my products into every big-box retailer in the country. About six months into my business I was approached by a company who offered me shelf space in 100+ nutrition store franchises, and you can only imagine my level of excitement. I remember meeting with the CEO of the company and being nervous beyond belief. A few minutes into the meeting I already had a notepad full of new products this franchise was asking me to create for them. Not only did they want me to create 17 new products, but they also wanted extremely unrealistic margins on my products. In my mind, there was absolutely no way that I could say no. I called my manufacturer and started the process of creating 17 new products with 17 unique labels. I invested every dollar the business had made up to that point and thousands of dollars of my own money, leaving me with little to nothing. Long story short, the products never sold and were even returned. I had to go to farmer’s markets at least five days a week to sell the products and recoup the loss. What I learned is that not every opportunity is YOUR opportunity, just as not every customer is YOUR customer. There is something very special and empowering about saying “no” and walking away from dollar signs if it could compromise your growth and happiness.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I remember driving home from the manufacturing facility with my first run of CBD tinctures. I was doing the math on how much money I could make if I sold them all. I thought I had just figured it all out and would be living the luxury life in no time. Little did I know that it takes more to build a business than to simply have a product. After (very slowly) selling the first round, I had $100 in my bank account and was confused and disappointed, but I had learned the cost of building a business. The larger lesson I learned was that you have to spend money to make money and as long as your money is invested back into the business it is doing more than sitting in your bank account.
Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Since I have learned how to build a brand from scratch, I have taken that knowledge and been able to start two very exciting projects. First, I have started a business development agency with a specialty in cannabis products called BOSSBOXX. We help aspiring entrepreneurs by bringing branding and web design, PR and marketing, social media management, business strategy, and affiliate marketing all together under one roof to give our clients a turnkey solution. Second, for the entrepreneur that would like to educate themselves on how to start and scale a consumer packaged goods business, my business partner and I have created a course called Degree In CPG, giving entrepreneurs a road map into the world of product-based business.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I am extremely grateful for my (now) husband. Before I even knew what I was capable of, he saw it in me and gave me the inspiration and confidence needed to take the leap into entrepreneurship and go all-in on myself. I remember coming home from work multiple times in the most terrible mood because I was completely unaligned with what I was doing and did not feel like I had any purpose. I had very little money to give myself a cushion but he still convinced me to quit my job. I remember him saying, “If you force yourself to figure it out, you will”, and he was right. It took me about a year to figure it out but eventually, I did. Even to this day, he is my biggest fan and the first person to motivate me on hard days. When I forget, he reminds me of who I am and snaps me back into my groove. Thankful is an understatement.
This industry is young dynamic and creative. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?
Due to the restrictions in digital advertising, I was forced to get creative with marketing. In the spring of 2020 when COVID hit I dedicated my life to building and scaling an affiliate marketing program. I did not have the funds to invest in a large affiliate marketing platform so I was forced to figure it out myself. I learned the ins and outs of affiliate marketing and was able to grow a 70+ person affiliate team and an extremely tight-knit affiliate community where affiliates not only connect about our brand but are able to network with other like-minded individuals. As a result of our affiliates becoming part of a movement, we were able to triple e-commerce revenue in the first 30 days after the program launched. I have since taken the skill of building affiliate marketing programs to help many more e-commerce brands scale their businesses.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Cannabis industry? Can you share 3 things that most concern you?
Three things that excite me:
- The community it is creating
- The jobs and opportunities it is creating
- The people that it is helping and healing
Three things that concern me:
- The wrong people are trying to get involved for a quick dollar
- The large brands are monopolizing the small brands
- The value of high-quality products is dropping, making it hard to cover costs
Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business”? Please share a story or example for each.
1. People buy from people. When I started Sweat CBD I was sure that no one would respect a 26-year-old female trying to make it in this industry. I even went to the lengths of signing my emails from someone else to make sure I received respect. Little did I know that my story was the brand. When I started to use video content to share why I started this business, everything changed.
2. Nothing is going to go as planned but in the best way. In the beginning, I had dreams of being in every major big-box retailer, only to find my passion was working with the customer directly and hearing the impact my products made. We shifted focus many times and ended up right where we should have. Be confident in where you are going but detached from how you will get there.
3. There are going to be a lot of people who try to take advantage of you. I trusted a lot of the wrong people and as a result, I wasted valuable time, money, and energy. Being a small-town Midwest girl combined with a first-time business owner attracted the kind of people who wanted to use me as a step ladder. Learning to stand up for myself was a hard lesson, but it was one of the best Iessons I have ever learned.
4. Affiliate marketing is your best friend. I created an affiliate marketing program with our loyal customers who helped to increase brand awareness through word-of-mouth and social media, build a sense of community within the brand, and as a result increase revenue.
5. Keeping up with changes in rules and regulations can be a job in itself. We are in the prohibition of cannabis which means the rules are going to continually change and we are going to have to continually adapt. Working with people that you trust is the only way to weather this storm.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
I think it is extremely important to have your employees feel like you are on their side. I worked with managers and bosses who never had my back, respect for me, or my skillset and integrity. As a result, I produced poor quality work and was completely uninvested in the business or brand. When I started building my team I made it a priority to connect with each member and make them feel respected and ensure they knew I was invested in their personal and professional success. As a result, I have a dream team that produces high-quality work and enjoys doing it.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I have a dream of helping young individuals go on a journey of personal growth through creating a business. Personally, creating a business was the catalyst to my self-development. It gave me confidence, purpose, and passion. I wish to inspire others to take the leap and invest in themselves. I want to create a platform in which they can do so, and allow them to go on and inspire many more to do the same.
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
@kelsey.eyers @the.bossboxx @degreeincpg
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
