Michigan Matt

Yo, what's going on?

Everybody? Welcome to a new episode of My Canicass. I'm Cannon, Dave, I'm Greevy. On today's episode, we have a special guests, uh what's called you might as well? We got Matt on. How's it going today, Matt good Man? Are you guys doing pretty good?

Doing pretty good?

I appreciate you joining us, looking forward to diving in and getting to know, getting all your back history within cannabis and then uh, talk about where you're working and then the events that you're throwing, because that's that's why we wanted to bring you on, because it's we're at your Halloween one and it was pretty sweet. Looking forward to diving in more into that. But let's let's get the people know a little bit about you. What do you What got you in the cannabis? Good cannabis?

Like, Uh, so I came up with brick weed, you know, back in the day, and so I understand what crap cannabis is or brick weed or whatever you want to say. I found chronic and like this has been like two thousand and three, two thousand and two something like that, and like ever since, like I was always looking for the best weed to smoke. And then it came we got caregiver. We want caregiver with a medical and eight o nine. So at that time I'm like, okay, now

But like deep the first three years.

Maybe of myself growing weed, like from nine to twelve something like that, I would like sell a bag of my weed to buy a bag of somebody else's because it was so terrible. I had no idea. I'd never grown a plant at that point, had never grown anything.

Like I feel I got a lot of it. But people think that they're just gonna get out there and grow some chronics.

Yeah, no, it takes some strikes. Like you don't become good at something by being just good at something. I swear the best people are driven by passion like talents that's cool or whatever, But talent comes from hard work and consistency, you know what I mean. And failure, Oh, lots of failure, lots of that, lots of learning exactly.

So uh, I was directed and taught by like the gross store guy too, you know, like I I had unreliable teachers that was more about the sale than the teaching of how to actually grow good ship and like back then there's like some forums and ship by like there's paranoia everywhere too, right, that was just back in the days where like if you had like five patients under your caregiver, you were like on this special list, right, like bro, like you were like everybody said, there's this

A poker.

So I'm like, I'm like, this is the point in my life where I'm like trying to figure out where I'm going, right, Like what my direction. I'm going to school, Like I was going to be a teacher, but I couldn't pass the state test to be a teacher because I dropped out of high school with freshman year sophomore year and uh I didn't know like the geometry trigonometry questions that were on this test. I'm like, I just.

Like whatever I'm going, we haven't a tea is we need more poker plays? Right, I'm sorry, No, we need more teachers.

I just thought that was fun, but no, that that's super cool story. I mean, because honestly, you're going different ways. You know, you're you sounds like you're being pulled.

Starting when I was starting a family, you know, I had a young daughter. I was about to have a son, and yeah, we were busy, you know, trying to try to and I'm trying to find my way and broke right, got nothing. And actually what I started my first girl with, uh the extra student loan money that you would get from school. You could get like an extra like four.

Or five thousand dollars and like you guys have way too much Kountro Camray, y'all didn't even see it.

I'm just like, this is wild, Dave made Dude, I've heard a super closet because I saw it in high times. I did Hydro and I was like, I want to grow so bad. I was living at my mom still, and I was like, what's the only way I can grow?

To try to get a class and drop a class?

But that I got, I got. I got the debt. I got the debt, But I also got the career, actual career I was looking for out of it. So like, even though it was like a fucking one percent of the total death that I got out of it, but still like I got the true education I was looking for.

Yeah, absolutely, yeah that's true.

So like I mean exactly within the law and you're able to capitalize on it.

Absolutely, So like twenty four I'm seeing this transition. I'm seeing the shit happen. And then I meet a guy because I was also cooking at the time. A guy owned a restaurant in Brighton, and he put me onto a spot he had an ionia. And if you don't know, so I live in Brighton and whatever, you know where I live, I On's ninety miles.

From pretty big city. They're not going to be now I know he lives.

I only is ninety miles from Brighton. So that's where my first like commercial trap caregiver spot was. I turned that into a forty lighter. I was harvesting every other week, and I was like, that was like my step from backyard grower to okay, let's take this shiit seriously, you know. I I started getting hints on like where the law

So so that's a cool way to analyze it, though, like that's a really ingenuitive at the time.

Now you can do everything for my mapp.

No, you knew everything from app, And like if I had internet over there, it'd be a lot easier to I would ad sensors and other shit that I've been able to look in on, or cameras and shit like that.

Right, that makes sense.

But I was trapping too, Like I was carrying like ten to twenty pounds from Ionia then down to Detroit allegedly whatever. Like the backpack days, right, Like you'd walk in and with a backpack full of week and you walk out with a backpack full of cash. And that was like that was life for four years before licensing went.

On, and like many years before that, you know. I mean that's what it was.

I mean that's what cannabis was pushed into because of all the propaganda, you know, So like that's what it was, and like paper's crazy to see how farther it's gone.

So like, and like I didn't trust anyone back then either, so like I didn't really have anybody helping me run a forty lighter, so I did all that shit by myself, Like my wife would come help trim or like pull plants down for a day or something like that. Bro like it, but it hardened me. Like that's the thing that like I'm in this transition of like trying to really figure out this origin story and like the meat

And like that mentally, that grit, though, is what makes you, like I feel like kind not deserve it per se, but what makes you go through that hard time to.

Do the time that mentally broke me at that point. And but that was like almost like a reawakening or like a rebirth or.

Something out of that, right, like, yeah, yeah, that's interesting.

It was like it totally brought me into a completely new stratosphere almost. And that was after I had gotten raided and restarted in the exact same s we can like, that's a whole nother story, another story they related up.

That's wow, man, I'm sorry to go through that as well.

It's all what got me to who I am today though, right, Like So in we uh twenty eighteen, we went more licensing and I made a shift into one company and the grower from that company moved from Colorado to here, and I made a good I had a good relationship with him when he was out in Colorado. Uh, some people know who that probably watched this who he is, but I'm not going to stand your names or do

Uh.

But again that was like one of the things that hardened me in too be a good boss that I am today, Like I know that today and the girl that I run with, the four dudes that we got there, They're not coming in and having a bad day at work, Like it just doesn't happen. Like everybody gets along with each other, and if you didn't get along with each other, I weaved out, like you got to fit within our mold and like everybody has a good time when they

Either exactly That's what I was gonna say.

Yeah, definitely, definitely. I definitely had to take a step back after that one for a minute. But then I also at that after that, uh, Minton Cannico started up. He and I kind of like he had the building and the structure, but he didn't have like the that, if you lack of a better term, SOPs to kind of implement to kind of like get a go. So that's where I kind of came in. Uh that relationship

So that was the long the orige of the story.

I like it, man, that was a good that's a good story. I appreciate that well. And then honestly, years take us through the years.

It's when you think about it's like, that's literally how it was.

And I want to ask you both something since this is like I guess you guys are kind of molded from the same cloth in.

The sense, but for going through the raid looking back.

Like because because I look back, the only thing I can really too traumatic, Like I had my own DUI, Right, that like kind of woke me up. But did do you feel like that kind of like just repivot kind of your whole strategy in this game?

I mean I quit for a while, so yeah, so I mean I kind of bounced out of it, but then I came back in kind of you became.

A canadave, though right before that you weren't Canna dave. You were growing with people and stuff, right, I almost feel like you guys grew from this even though it was Yeah.

For sure, I would say so for sure, it was probably beneficial that it happened, I guess, right, and looking back.

Is always easier, right. I know there's a lot of trauma to it and all that.

So for me, it was so easy for me to jump into the license game. I know there was like so much hate that event that came out, especially in the beginning with like licensed cultivations, well cultivations versus caregivers and like it like fucking respect the ship out of the caregiver. I was a caregiver. I'll always defend the caregiver. Million these organizations or groups, so they got together that tried to squash it, like yeah, like it was a

And I and one hundred percent he went the same route, but he went super legit with the caregiver doesn't break a single thing, like very legit. I was curious because, like and also to shed some light on some people who are still trying to paint this wall between caregivers of metric. But at the end of the day, it's a lot of them came from the same ship you did.

That's why I wanted for it to go legal so bad in eighteen and my dreams eventually give my flower and market getting in a grow or something that be dope.

I just, I just I wonder if that was stem from that. I was curious, and I think I think, thank you for your sharing.

You shouldn't have you shouldn't have to go to jail for we No, no, you know, it's like the worst.

And like I said, I'll play the game if you want me to play the game, but I'm going to do it like efficiently, effectively, and I'm going to fucking kill it. Like that's just kind of who I am, and like that's what's driven me to the be able to build the relationships that I do, to be able to do things like this event or like, uh, we just kind of talked about I'm now a uh I'm part of the Advanced Cultivation or Advanced Commercial team, the

The new line.

So it's the eighth gen, right this and this is like kind of what was talked about at biscon.

Geat you go into a little bit, I'm curious.

So it's like, uh so let's back up a little bit. So uh let's how I we can talk about Mike grow and my cultivation. Right, So, like I have been grown with Cana for six to eight years now, and I grew with advance for from like twenty twelve, like when my weed started shifting to get better weed till like twenty sixteen something like that, when I switched to Coco and I just want to try a couple of

Have all the bottles, Yeah, like a lot.

Yeah, there's like I don't know how big of your segment of listeners are growers, but we got growers, so yes, I understand then, So like you know, there's a there's a big marketing employee behind like the cartoon look and the Instagram model, if you will, like for other companies, Like I'm not saying that's like the advanced thing, but it was like this marketing employee, like the cartoon in the Big Bud, and like it's just something that like I kind of wised up to and kind of moved on.

But that's really cool.

No, I was just saying that you're actually being a part of the process of like this eighth generation like launch, and that's really cool to be a part of it. And like especially with a brand like them, They've been around for a while and like you said, they have their own things. So I mean, trying to be innovative is what keeps you alive as a company.

So I respect that.

So part of my mission in this industry is to uh take this industry to a little bit more of a professional level, and to do so through culture change. And so when we look at Advanced in their past and the way that they've and I'm calling this out is I don't I don't pull any punches like I have nothing to lose at this point, like it does.

But I mean, like we're smoking buds, so like that's not there, Like yeah, you already you know what I.

Mean, broken rules. They're not gonna be like, oh you're cool now.

No, I mean again, I'm just joking, but no, I mean, but I mean this kind of transitions to your event, right, like when you're trying to you said, you're trying to have that professionalism, right, So I let's tie that in a little bit because I do think that like there are events now are trying to like this sort of bridging that they still tap into culture, but there's still professional networking rate.

They're kind of this.

Middle ground where because like because I think you see, like there are culture events where it's just like you know, old school of people trap in and like you know, I mean culture and then you got people you know, then you just got straight events where it's all network where it's not I can't let loose and smoke a little bit where these ones in the middle are kind of that like beautiful synergy.

So my events are to be a cooperation in a collaboration and not a competition. That was like my biggest drive in things. And I've been to some of these other parties and they respect those people that put those parties on because I know fucking how hard it is, I know what it takes to do it. I have tons of respect for all those people and their little niches that they've grown. My niche that I'm trying to grow with my events is like I said, collaboration, not

Well yeah, I mean I I see, I see them almost just different lights where I mean, when you're at a competition, like the star of the show is that the the hot strains new flavors, right, this is more focus on genetics. But like for events like yours or like you know me Connect Puffed like you, it's more about that networking, getting to know people like you can actually have time to talk.

Sometimes when it's like a competition, there's loud music, it's kind of like a party. It's more culture.

So I think it's kind of like a you know, it's kind of like a say, I don't even know like a scale and you know, like.

I still consider myself, but far different than the me connect. Like what he's doing over there is a very business to business networking, like yeah, brand promotion, and what I'm doing is uh and he does he showcases as well. That's it would be a showcase too, but I'm also kind of showcasing certain brands like with the Dad Bars and the.

Don Up Bars, very unique, right, the pre rolls yeah.

Like and we so with my events. But one thing I like, h I'm like super like history and like the nineteen twenties fascinate me. In thirties and the Great Depression all that fascinating.

We're in the twenties again, I thought about that sixty years ago. This is the twenties.

Yeah, but like I think about those parties, the cigarette girls, right, they're all walking around, they're like and so I wanted I took that and like put that into my events with like these girls like and so the if you see like pre role contributors on my page, those are the brands that are giving me one to two hundred pre rolls before the show and for my girls to go out there and like have samples of the handout to everybody, you know. So like I just want to

Celebrate the growers And that's what I was trying to say. It's like, what are you celebrating at that moment? And that's different because I love culture events too, but you're just celebrating the plant. That's why sometimes those are my favorite.

Because River's just getting stone having a fun time, talk about favor.

Yeah.

I love all the.

Events, right, And I think when you go from culture events, funds, getting high DJ's music all the way to like Biscon, where it's like we're just talking business.

Let's all needed, let's complete, let's dive into.

That's what I've been going to. Business has since twenty fifth.

I met you, you guys met Prior, Oh Jesus Christ and serious like over but no, y'all met Prior, right, was just online?

Okay, well we might have the event before the first one, the second one, the second one Halloween, the other.

Magic massive, magic massa same. It was like copy and paste, just add Halloween theme.

Which is funny. I like this.

Well, the first one went so well and I had such good feedback and which I had no idea I was going to get, Like what Another thing that I like, really like focus on is not being a corporate event, like making this a family thing. So it's me, my wife, my brother, my niece, Like we're the main people that put this on and like so it's family, like we

So yeah, especially like three joints, four joints.

But like the first event, like nobody ate anything like a way over Spence on it and like nobody took it, like many of the pre roles, so we had like five hundred of them left over, like people just weren't taking them, and like well like left over by I left me at the end of the night.

We were like take like everyone these are free.

Yeah, like.

But like.

The yeah, you were talking about learning from each event.

Yeah, yeah, to watch the evolution now in the second event, like we were like food was being consumed a little bit more, people were more comfortable taking product. Like to see people's comfortability levels that kind of rise throughout the past couple events is kind of exciting too.

But the machine was good and number two, Yeah.

I think we're gonna do that again.

You know, It's funny because I do a v for other events too in my life, and I've seen them other places. I'm like, man, you guys are everywhere. You guys crush there they do like a pistachie.

It's good. And like for being kind of cold that night,

And like that's why I was saying, there's a sliding scale and like the I mean, you're yeah, definitely, you're You're in events are different than like everyone else.

That's what I love about events.

But I feel like it is just always kind of that sliding scale, and I feel like you're kind of hitting right there in that middle point.

I like that.

And like it's not about the money. It's not at all for me, Like I the money will come, I don't care. I came from nothing. I have a little bit now like cool, Like it's about making these relationships.

For me the mission.

That's that's exactly I was.

I kept saying, like rand, but it is a mission. It's a mission. I look at branding some when I'm as what your mission is because of where you're going for.

And like so shout out to Advancing New Trains because they sent me to this leadership training with Chris Collins in California and it was the most amazing, eye opening experience that I've ever had. And like I'm the type of guy that would walk into something like that with

The first much has it grown? The first one that I want to grow since we went eighteen nineteen.

Yeah, this was like the third one, the third one that they had put on at this point, second or third one. And it was in the basement of a hotel in Chicago and they filmed like part of Home there or something like that, well or something like it was some change a lot, dude, And like this was suits. Like I'm telling every single person I wore a buttnap

Okay, well that makes sense, that's I mean, I mean that's when I was getting more in industry, and I think we can I've heard of it back then, Like I didn't even know when it went back to sixteen.

Maybe it was twenty sixteen, eighteen somewhere on there.

Oh, that's still crazy.

There's a lot of I remember there's a lot of states that had went legal or medical ad during that election eighteen it was eighteen, yeah, because we went a check and like I remember seeing this thing go. It just explode. After that they went to the convention center and it got huge, Right, But what happened this year? Do you guys notice, like if you've been going for six years now, like, did you notice how it's shrunk?

Said, I don't know if I said two three years ago. I mean maybe I guess was this our fifth? I don't know, this might have been our fifth or no. I think it's definitely more than three. So that's what I'm trying to say. We might only be coming since twenty twenty, twenty nineteen.

So what I was saying is that I feel like the first year to the second year was like wow, it kept growing, but then ever since like that like it's just been going down.

It did seem smaller this year, it did see super smaller, and the next year more.

Of it's dealt outside of the conference center. Right Like Biskon brings people town and there's like feels like there's hundreds of events that are going on everywhere, but just I feel like they're starting to move to that like week around Biscon, but like not at Biscon. And that's what I think is interesting because I think it's becoming you know, I was saying, Biscon is all the way where the business is just talking.

I think it.

They're trying to bring it to that culture feeling. So that's why everyone has these after parties.

Possibly then that could be something on their own, but the after party is its own scene and its own thing, and you probably end up going to Vegas and you get more value not going to bis Gun and just going to the after parties.

Yeah, so like balance there for sure.

And don't get me wrong, certain companies do really well there. Like I'm not saying Advance had a very good day, very good God, I was there.

But it's like the the It's not dead conference by no no pack. It's just like the vendors have have gone.

Me me as an attendees who like when I used to go, I used to it. When I go to him, I'm like, I get social anxiety. I don't want to talk to anyone. I'm I'm on a mission. I don't want to like I want to go up and down all the aisles, but I don't want to be said hello to every single time. Like it's like I have a social battery too that it gets drained in these types of things. Yeah, And when I was talking to my brother about all this too, we're like so what

I mean, and like, I hate value your event. When we were there, we got to interview. We're signing up, yeah, because cannabis is just.

Let's just be real here, Cannabis is all about this, like this very deep trust we've built by smoking with people and getting to know people. So without that being able to smoke, sometimes it's super hard to be that true, true to that culture. So I think that's why I like events like yours is that it's that it still feels culture, but like business gets done.

Sometimes business got done back in.

The gun because even us we tried to throw just an Advocate event for our first where it was just no smoking, just like speech speeches and it was hard getting one there unless they were truly about the advocacy.

So like really like it's just because this this there's.

Such a culture here, it's like so social and like Michigan is strong and like this is like where I want. I want to see Michigan shift as a whole. Is like at least I have this conception of Michigan that we still keep looking out west, like they have this conception of Michigan where we would keep still looking out west for inspiration and for hype, right, Like that's what

Who deserve the light out there on the forefront. And you know, that's all we can do because at the end of the day, like there are some good bud here, and there's some good here, and there's a good culture here, great culture, great crowd. This is what I'm trying to say, Like Michigan's got a phenomenal market, absolutely, and then we're just trying to shed light on it because I think you're right.

I think California became that leader because they just had that.

For me, it's there's that California stigma that just lives in my head because I'm a Michigan guy.

Like well, plus I think we all got pounds back in the day from Calias that were fires.

When it bounce was four hundred, but.

That ship was, Yes, everything was going from out there. Yeah, but yeah, it was great to see that. Going back to your point on the sales, because Calli's just such huge march. I've always thought Michigan had some of the best stuff.

So like and like I was saying, like, you guys are leaders and what you're doing here I try to be a leader in my areas between events and growing the top shelf cannabis, like trying to draw. Like we talked about runs earlier that I didn't say anything, but I started to a little bit. But I'm like, I'm kind of not that run sky like I have. Okay, so I've grown Cadillac rainbows and I grow Candak cranbos And that's like the most run strain that I have.

Like I don't like I want to.

Shit.

That's you know what, I got a classic. That's the key word here. Whatever someone says GMO, I'm in that.

No.

No, I love GMO, like because that garlic turp was just so fascinating.

So going back to the origin story and like back to like when I found chronic weed. Like the first chronic weed I found was blueberry. And this was like twenty two thousand and four ish, and like it had to a bendi j short blueberry back then, like being from where it was in, Like this ship had like a hint of blue in it and it smelled like blueberries.

And like kill skunk.

Yeah, this is like this is like a nineties like like grateful dead strain like and it's like supposedly some people know where it is, but other people have said that it is like gone. Even the breeder has said that, like he's looked for it. People that said that they have it don't have it. Like I've heard him on there's the podcast with the dude in Australia. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Man?

I forgot what it one's called it, but he always has like legacy breeders and like then they it's a two and a half hour podcast. The name has escaped me.

It's funny right here, shout out the wizard around like.

Yeah, sure, uh.

Have you ever tried to pivot?

Nope? Oh yeah, I haven't tried it, but I've seen it, Like we had one had a giveaway for the last event.

Actually you know that.

Our flower I think did uh did the giveaway for that one and it was like what it was one of the costume contests. Yeah, it's because you know Halloween. But like so I'm always on this quest for like finding that like super fucking dank, like old school fucking just hitching the nose turps and like the Runs just

Just shows your ears experience grows. It's isn't it ripped?

Though?

And I love that GMO. It's like that one of my favorites here, you haven't taken them yet. I won't be selfish.

I almost did five fifty, but sometimes I think like rips, like it's a little different.

It's good, that's tasty. So just that that there's that certain line that I believe triggers a certain term being that that kind of homogenized a lot of that turpine and that runs kind of you know, and like it

But like Prince here is insane. It is like what I saw it was when I was like when we were getting in you know to this podcast.

That's the average in the average is a reflection of the thousand lighters and to each their own. There's some good ones out there, but a majority of them aren't. And because of that, there's still the quality market that survives and exists, and people are still getting to tell a dollar for that. And I can, I can, I can sign up and keep off, but I I can stand here and sit here and say, like I'm still getting over a grand like a ball wholesale. Like so like in a shout out to my dude that can

It's like getting to that professional but never forgetting your roots.

Oh absolutely, And like that's I think.

But I love that because, well that's why I brought up what you guys been through, because well, he had a similar thing. He's always talked about going to legal market just because of what he went through. You know, he's never gonna go back to that old life because

It's not even just the plant though, it's just who we are as people, being Michigan people or Midwestern people. Like it's fucking cold outside, man, like that hardens you, like like we're like, it just is what it is. You go to like different cities sometimes you'll still get it, like big cities and they say you're from Detroit or Detroiter whatever you say. Everybody says Detroit. But yeah, I was like, yeah, like you say Detroit and then you

L A.

L A has, Like it's just it's not it's.

A different, dude. It's just different. It's weird and now after like growing up, like wh're pre super Bowl was here, and like Detroit was not a place he went even downtown, like you go to like Red Wings games and then in piss Red Wings games. That was it Tuger's games that yeah, you get the fuck.

Out like perception on Detroit's chain.

Little Caesars Arena was a dirt parking lot where I tailgated for vine tire openers.

Like that was like nothing years ago.

So that all that ships like kind of hardened us to who we are as people, like we are a different breed. Like I don't care, like I've s sure, I've met a lot of people out of state that are hard workers and like guess you're done. But like I've met some bums to man like in like in like the highest sense of the word.

They don't get what it's like. It sucks to go freaking fill my gas up sometimes when it's so cold, though. I just love that weather stuff. I love that you're like I'm telling you right.

Now, it's the difference, you.

Dude.

You go to some of these states with like warm weather people and they're your songs.

You go to Florida, Go to Florida, it's like sixty degrees. They're wearing like fucking hoodies and why yeah, that is true. That is so funny. You're right when you're in a warm state, like, oh my god, it's freezing. You're like, are you serious right now, it's like eight degrees outside? Cold? Man?

My bones hurt?

Yeah, you twins. I just love that, Like I've never heard that be the reason.

Yeah, I love It's the blue collar thing or whatever, you know, like industry like put it whatever it is. But like a upgroing upbringings of our parents in the way that they were up wrong, Like it's all like inherited right, like it's uh yeah, like like for I'm not going to that part there anyways.

That's hilarious.

No, no, anyways, No, I appreciate you digging in the event, and like we dug into like a lot of things.

What anything else you want to talk on? Anything you want to shout out while we're here. So you think you can continue doing these events going throughout the year.

Yeah, so you know I can? Yeah, So, uh May eighth, August twenty first, and maybe it's twentieth this.

Is like, these are super close my birthday.

These are Thursdays, so you were super close my birthday.

And I was like, whoa.

He's like, I think you have a Saturday birthday then, because I think the twentieth is the Thursday. I can't remember. Well it's that week anyways. And then we'll be doing the metric mash again like the week before Halloween. So I got the four events planned. Anything else could possibly pop up in that period in time.

But this is super cool being at the crow Foot. I mean just to shout out the crow Foot because it's great, but my first DJ. But he's like, I I as Man, I just blazing.

Yeah, cms cap. He's a he's actually a grower in the Rhode Island. He's got his own brand, his own thing that he's doing. He's on the advanced team and uh he's like, hey, you want me to He's like, I'll perform. I'm like, then I listened to some of hisself. He's kind of like rap it but like uh like about weed kind of rap. You know, Like he's a conservator at hearts.

So separate genre that really is man but there it's it's bigger and bigger every day.

Yeah, Like you can check out some of his stuff. I've heard a couple few. Like I'm not into rap, like I have a fucking psych I have him, but like likes into like D twelve and Ship back in the day, right like like way back there, like you know what I mean, Like I like but like I don't. I'm a rock guy, like I like rock music and that's just kind of who I am. The first event, I tried to put Sponge in the event, like I

I'd be interesting, you really would, you know.

I never actually, you know, because we always talk about how much the tie of music and weed, Like when have you not been at concert it smelled weed?

Usually for me, if you like go to a concert, like there's gonna be weed there, Like if you don't sell alcohol, I guarantee, like it becomes the weed and people will bring their drinks in. But let's like consume at a concert and like it's okay to do it, and then you know, I talked to some bands and they were like, that's a cool idea, Like we've never done anything like that before. Like I'd be into doing something like that. So now it's like logistically trying to

But different genres and that you can tap into with that type of stuff, you know.

I think we goes with every fucking except maybe're Christian or something.

I don't know.

I don't know skip that one.

You do l eds or hbs, so l yeah, yeah, we didn't go into the girl like I'm happy to Uh it's l ed and VEG and HPS and flower and like.

That's that's different because although sometimes we've heard like every other like people do some just l eds.

I'm just I like that you like one.

So uh, that's the technical like I have the technology and the science speaks for itself, like l eds are far more efficient and can produce just as good as flower or honestly better probably tasting and looking flower. You can get more true expressions out of the flower, and it can do so. And so there's the micro moles per jewel and micromole's jewel if you don't know, is like how much light is being given to the plant

It just makes sense, though, because how you're gonna switch your method and be able to promise someone you can produce the same.

Right exactly and like and when I put it pen papers, you call.

SOPs procedures, how you do ship, how you get it done, whatever you want to call it, it's just it does matter especially with something with growing.

When I get when I get it to paper and like literally write on paper, Like my percentages are based off of like plants per light equals certain amount of way, which equals this, which he goes that, right, and like in order to get those percentages to play out, you know, like everything looks good on paper, right, and then you put it in practice and it doesn't always work, Like, but I did this one when I this was like

Really good man, We're only in this market.

It's a forty eight light room harvesting once a month, so like we're not sitting on thousands of pounds, you know, but like we're putting are high quality product out. We're putting the weights out that allow us to stay that's key, just stay in business. Yeah, right, right, right, right, So what strains do you guys have at GMO? Yeah, GMO, so we have like twenty one different strains that were running at any time.

I'm curious to try it.

I'll get it to you.

I'm just saying, even it's just a joint, bro.

But like I'm telling like GMO is, So we have seven tables in a room, and each table has its

Are you in n any shops in the metro Detroit area? Do you know working on people out?

We can find us like kob typically has us, but they have like one strain. So here's the thing, all right, So I've got a message on Instagram the other day about this, our marketing has been shit, and like I'm

Well unfortunately, like not unfortunately, excuse me.

I was gonna say, unfortunately, I learned the hard way, but it is you learn that I should be thankful I learned right, But I learned the value of marketing over time, because brand is putting yourself in front of people. Sometimes people think, oh I have a great product, people are gonna know who I am. Okay, it's a very saturated world with the Internet and fake ads, Like you have to really put yourself.

In front of people.

And if you don't, I mean, this guy taught me like if I have to, you got to put yourself in front of people.

Yeah, no, no, And I'm like here to do that, and like I'm ready to do that. That's just like a whole other frustration that I have and on a level of like, frustrations are still real and I still struggle with shit every fucking.

Man like business.

Yeah, absolutely, trying.

To make everyone understand everything is tough sometimes when it's like you.

Know, different people, yeah, differently like both never mind, so not the best money he's putting in market. So I got a message the other day the guy went to one of the shops looking for our products and he's like, I couldn't find it. So I asked him for the strain, and then they just showed me the strain and it was that because it's cherry ploma, and I don't know

Perbs Man was my ship.

Yeahs ever smoked good though he got like what you say, I said, that was pretty stuff to pull that up for sure, but that's all right.

But even saying but just like he said, you just put the lid over, I was about pulling off. This guy blocks it.

Yeah. Yeah, So you know, our marketing hasn't been the best. So what I tell people at the end of the day is when you go to these dispensaries looking for my flower, you just ask for the strain and like typically if it's like house Bud, that's probably mine. Or if it's like in a weird off brand label that somebody would like white label and put their own ship out there, then it might.

Be that a lot of your stuff gets white labeled because we hear a lot like it's moved like that these days, because a lot of people we hear like some of these brands we've heard of.

I think there's one dispensary in the state that honors that we are faded, and that's Green Tree. And I think he's got to shop and Ready and in cold Water. I think he's the only one. Yeah, absolutely, sorry.

Wait where is it? Where's that writing and cold?

Yeah?

But sorry, I think they're the only ones that actually have like because the guys like watched me for my caregiver days to where I am today, Like he's always been kind of following me, and like he's the I think the only one that actually say honors faded everybody

Then I struggle with imposter syndrome all the time.

But like you just said, as a beautiful way to put this is sometimes when you're told things a million times, like all right, sometimes it's not your place to judge you, you know what I mean, So just like accept it.

It trusts me. It took me a long time to get here. I'm like it can't be like like you know, and I've always been humble, like that's my upbringing, myself a humble but this whole like leadership change and shift of me too is kind of like humble is just a creature of yourself. So like everything is and you got to be able to internal control everything. Like everything is about control and being able to control your own life,

I understand that man's game being subber man. I feel that well. I feel like unless you get.

Much younger man back, you gotta fail. Like they like if we give you one piece.

Of old by any means, but I just mean, like if you're I've taken a lot of risk and I fucked.

Up line I've learned maybe exactly said.

You got to mess up, you got to learn, you got to get through it, because it's that's the only one we out is.

Through, right.

I heard that saying, and that was back like you're gonna take a step back but embrace that step. Like the best thing we can do is be prepared for it when it happens, so we know how to handle it from moving forward, you know, Like that's the important to be, like to be a handle failure and handle struggle, is to be able to be prepared for it and then once we do it, when it does happen, it might not hit immediately, but eventually you're gonna be like that.

Like now you're leading events and you now, yeah, life evolves, and I try to tell him, and I struggle with im positive or my own thing.

And I think sometimes when you actually worked hard to get somewhere, sometimes it's hard to beleeve that you might be with those players, you know, just you know, I mean, that's what it is. You know a lot of people out here selling garbage as like the best, and don't.

Think like I haven't, Like I haven't made mistakes in the piece to Pass either, because that's part of it too, Like that's just as much failure as everything. Everything else is mistakes that we make and how we learn.

From Your event looks like it's really about to pop off.

I appreciate that, but I mean.

Like you said, and they compare to the last one.

I mean, it's about I mean, and then I'm sure the first one, right, it's probably exponential to.

You it is. It's amazing the amount of support that I get from it, and like the amount of feedback of people that hit me up for tickets, and like a lot of them. So I screen everybody, Like I ask anybody who's randomly asked me for a ticket, I asked them how they're involved in the industry, because that's the tickets are meant for. They're not meant for the

Like there's how we've heard tons of brands like that have to like throw as strains that they love because percentages it's just not strong enough. And it's like that's crazy.

So it's crazy.

And again I'll be transparent about this. It really doesn't

Yeah, I mean, but again, and that's what I feel one hundred percent, and I think you know, you know, and unfortunately when you say play the game, it's like such a thing. That's like that's why we do need a standard so everyone could just be I wish there was.

A standard, but it's just not going to happen. They're the infighting and the politics and the bureaucracy that goes into all that behind the scenes.

Like, dude, the community doesn't know how much politics is in this game because they're not even I.

Mean in fighting, the infighting, the fighting between people between companies. That's wasn't the fucking problem with a lot of this ship.

Oh damn you just that one batch.

That one batch failed. So they sent that failure to the state. The state obviously analyzed it, put everything on hold immediately. It was on hold for probably twelve weeks. So now you're probably starting to degrade and sent on the shelves that dispensaries can't move it, they have to sit on it. They can't send it back to you, they transport, can't touch it. It's on hold. You can't do anything.

It was just a batch.

Yeah, no, No, it's the entire batch of the entire package source tag that would would have drived that product. So it drives all the way back to the original tag that's made for that off of the harvest.

Right.

So and this is all part of the monitoring system. So then the state sends their individual labs, like they go in contract labs to go take a sample and test it on themselves or tested themselves. So we had a lab come in, independent lab came in, took the sample, went so get to their lab and it passed. So the system's broken, right, there's there's super there's tons of inconsistencies.

That's why we always talk about you know, cannabinoid's not trudgeffect and appreciating in different ways, not just to you, Like what is you value that smoke for?

Like you know, I have different terms for different reasons.

I have different smokes for different reasons, Right, I like to eat edibles at certain times, Like that's the beauty of this plant.

People forget. There's so many parts.

I like to smoke it joining in the morning with the coffee and a certain time, like correctly, exactly, it's about like that. As growers, we see the different ways of the plants grow like that in itself expressed expression, Right, Yeah, there's.

So many different levels of what cannabis can do for you, and I think it's just learning how to appreciate every way. And I think you're you're very right that competition creates this need for something that can make it better because because unfortunately, sometimes when you just say you gotta smoke.

It, people don't want that. They want their used to like this one's.

Better because it's because of this, And like you know, I wonder efects brings a lot of gray area for people.

I wonder to myself sometimes how niche that we are as like uh kind of sewer or like like people that care this much? Like like are we like what segment of the population are we actually are we like a very small percentage and we just don't even realize it. We're just like stuck in our little nische And.

Like I think it's expanding, but I think it is a smaller percentage. Now I think I might be exaggerating, but it's only one percent. It might be like ten percent. But when you talk twenty percent when you talk about the general market, I always like that eighty twenty rule, right, So we're probably unfortunately the twenty less.

I think we're less. I think we're like five.

My point is not the majority here, because unfortunately the majority is like exactly. But that's what I'm trying to say is because they're used to be able to go, like, you know, I hate to compare it to everything else because I'm really getting sick of comparing it to like alcohol other things. Right, But people need some type of measurement. That's all they really want. Are you all compare it to food?

Right? It just they want that measurement was that first one there? So it's just.

And so again it's unfortunately re educate with some stuff here that's twenty four percent that like gets me rips and GMO comes thirty plus and that gets me ripped to but in a different way. Yeah you know what I mean, Like, yeah, I'm not saying that like it's a stronger percentage, so it's getting me stronger high. No, it's it's like, and I get this is even a

Are just like ripped right right, the just there they eat Yeah, yeah, that's a level.

Yeah.

Absolutely. There's people in my family that like can't smoke. Like they see me smoke like I do and they're like, how do you do that?

I'm like, do what dude in the.

Morning like and my cousins be like what like when they see them, Like, I don't know, man, Relax, I'm fine.

I get like I get worse without it, Like you'll see me get all up tight and like shit anxious.

You ever have someone like just vent to you on how we makes them like, oh my god, I couldn't do that. I'd be so lazy. All right, Cool, I'm not.

No. So I get like dads like because I got my kids are getting a little older, but I get dads that like want to smoke weed with me and like, dude, like it's.

It's not good.

It's never never as well, they're like they're like, seem to me to smoke a whole joint. They try to take three hits and then by the end of it their pale and like, yeah, this.

Is a different game these days when you try to but you got to keep up. This is a vault. Yeah, you know, isn't like Reggie, I.

Have to be like you have to understand this isn't the stuff that you get at the dispensary, Like, this isn't the ninety or the eighty sixty dollars ounce like, this is different.

I got.

I got a quality over quantity. Man, absolutely, well, so you can still do it and get your quantity. I still get quantity like.

Like no, I just mean like it. I mean like sometimes the value of it. Oh yeah, getting the best deal.

Yeah yeah yeah. It's not like I'm not correlating directly to girl.

I'm like, no, I don't, girl. He's the perspective you can like in the girl sorry and the girl.

I'm going back to the girls. I'm a girler at heart, Like should I do with the events? I do the advanced thing? Like I'm like, like, I'm super lucky to do the advance thing because what I get to do now is go into other people's growths. And like I just had a meeting with a guy in Kalamazoo Grass Harper Farms, and I walked into that room and I was like, guys like, man, like, I'm here represented advanced nutrients. But this is my story. This is why I'm actually here.

I mean, I do music and stuff, so I think whenever I'm talking to someone who does music right, there's always a unique perspective you can learn, whether it's actually something you're going to take to the bank or just like, oh that's an interesting you know, like I think there's.

Somebody just helping, Like somebody has a problem me. I'm like, dude, like if you try this, or if you try that, or like like I said, I'm very like touching my senses. I remember one guy he was having an issue you could not figure it out for the life of him, and he like had me come to his grow and I went and I checked it out. I checked the spot out, like like it didn't take much for me.

But no experience, yeah, literally where you get to know something you're just kind of in tune, yeah, and then being able when you meet with all these other growers going with advance, you're to your stuff that you might take a little bit, but you're probably teaching them more and then they're probably.

Even doing like yeah, it's like pick my brain, like sure, like some of these guys, I'm not saying this is this with far most, but some of these guys that are more beginner into this and need help, and like especially the younger generally, Like there's a younger generation too that we guys are like realizing that they're gonna start growing too. Like I'm about to be forty, but I feel like I'm in my twenties, but I realized that the dudes in their twenties are like almost twenty years

I it and like this is another kind of yeah, why do you say it like that? So this is another kind of thing I think so much deeper.

Man, It's another thing that's really been Like a similarity I keep seeing often is like, at least on the cultivation side, most growers are not older than fifty years old. Like I would say, like a good percentage of like license cultivations, like head growers, guys that are running are not past fifty years old, and like it's just a young man's game and a young man's industry, Like we are the stepping stone that are gonna be almost money.

I kind of agree, but I do feel like there's a lot of you know, old cats growing, but only it might just be for obvious, it might be more for like I'm talking about licensed producers.

I'm talking about like like like Metric or like guys in the different states that are the license right. I would say a majority of the ages between the ages of probably thirty maybe I don't say twenty eight, thirty two to forty six.

You're right, that's it.

That makes sense because that's a lot of that master girw age because just where cannabis was and how it's populated.

Like I said, it's a young man's game.

It is well, and I consider myself young. That's why I'm putting myself in a young man's game democratic because there's now the sixties, seventies, eighties year old that are out here. Sure they are, but they're like they're never doing it on the commercial scale.

I was saying, I've seen more old school guys just be like.

It's an old school guy exactly. And they are the they are the legacy, like they are the ones that got us going and got us to where we are today, right, they deserve all their due respect. Like that's what I was, what I have, what I started, but I ain't clarified enough. Like what I mean is like totally like on the license stage the average bringing up.

Though, because you are you mean, you're seeing some of these master growers, like you said, their forty year old dudes, thirty year old, forty two.

I don't love the term master grower, but but you know what I'm saying, Like, no.

You know, I'm saying I call them that because I mean like they're growing in a higher level, like a higher scam.

That's what the people call them in the industry, Like, you know, is that still the terms? I feel like that's what that's what people I.

Don't know, I don't I don't like being called master saying the head grower, headgrower, grow I don't know.

There's always someone like, hey, this is our lead grow this is our head grower, this is our master grower.

It's always something I'm.

Like, I'm the chief cultivation officer. I'm not the one that or the director of cultivation. That's the good one, the directors of cultivation, that's the one I should have used in the beginning, directing.

Cultures got this lower the Hopefully I'll just keep pulling up different lower thirds.

But like that, that's important. It's fun to know because like we are the ones that are going to train the future, like we are the ones the ones that are because there's nobody else that's kind of doing it for us except that sure these legacy guys like I said, and I could respect to everybody and the people that have been in it for a very long time, but I know growers that are in their early forties that have been doing this since like the early two thousands too,

Genetics, I mean, that's kind of like we're still in that. People forget how new this.

I mean we talk about it like because we've been around in the industry so much, but relatively it's still.

I would say, I don't know if I've been in one cultivation that's been like a dude that's like over fifty years old, that's like running the show. Yeah, owners, owners, owners, money behind.

After dads or like, I just never really thought about it like that. But it's kind of a interesting fact you bring up because you're.

It's a young man's game, so we have the opportunity to drive this industry and the direction we wanted to take it, and like if we are starting to understand that these younger guys, uh, they're going to be the people replacing us, Like we have to be good trainers and teachers with them too, Like it can't just be uh stuck in your way, stuck in your shell, Like

Yeah, because this is what's funny though, every generation, like it's just easier for them.

It's just easier. But I mean not like there's more.

There's more.

There's more information available for them than there was for me when I was there's.

More opportunities possible if you have access to the information, because you said things could be self taught.

Now I think that's kind of what you're pointing. It is that there's the ability to just write, there's abaility to.

Like get ahead, like you know where I mean, it just took a lot more to nasty, No doubt.

I heard you, Like nope, but I get you. It's kind of funny.

Then it's just like it's it's just kind of it's strange to think about that, uh, that we are like in a situation that we are in an industry that that we are so and we're lucky to be doing what we're doing and not going to jail for it. That's that's the again.

Then everyone thing there, You know, we got to ask you one question. I don't know if we got there. It's usually one of our last questions.

Is there anything you want to say or anything like towards we get towards the end here, because I want to make sure you shout out anyone else? Do you want to shout out any like fam out there and homies.

Like any of.

My crew, like if I don't doubt any of them will hear this. But there's still fucking killers, like I appreciate them more than anybody's. Without them, I wouldn't be able to do the things that I do, and they're able to put my plan in place and and uh uh so yeah, there's them. There's my family that helps

You just give me a quick shout out because like sometimes you never know who we'll hear it. And like, honestly, just like that energy out there is just like I love to just shout out the homies.

You got a lot of great brands. Good right man. I love seeing all those names out there.

Yeah it's again, I.

Uh.

You build these these relationships through professionals them and like being authentic, being yourself, always being on treating everybody the same and everybody's equals. Like nobody is a blower above me. And that's like, and there's no top of the bank, there's no top of the mountain. You're always climbing, and the day that you can think you reach the top is the day they get knock great off. So just keep climbing.

That's true, do your thing. But we got to ask the fun question. Yeah yeah, So we asked every guest to this, every guest that's been on. Uh so obviously you love your flower.

So imagine you're breaking up some of your bud knock it out, and the genie pops out and you get one wish. He grants you one wish to change anything in the cannabis industry.

Change anything in the cannabis industry. Oh man, I wish I would have watched the previous episodes, so I would have been like, oh, this is.

This.

It's always it's funny though no one has just like remembers are like a couple of people maybe, so this.

Is actually pretty easy for me. It's it's too it's my mission. It is to change the professionalism throughout the industry, just to raise everybody to another level, to uh not have this bullshit that goes on money withheld, you know, the drama, like just to truth to raise this And it's probably all industries that are like this. We just I just see it in my industry because I'm not in automotive or whatever else.

But like I do feel like they're because of this gray area. People are not paying their bills as they should because there is this gray area.

But likes.

We go on for days, that's what.

But this industry I'm saying, like because usually you would just see it, but you can sometimes there's gray so you.

Can see somebody, but it doesn't mean you can actually get cost how much money? So sometimes you can't ford to do skip tracing at one point in my life and I'm like chasing debt down and I'm like, you consume is time and that's what is at the end of the day, the most valuable thing, Like time is like we all have the same amount of hours in

And really, I guess I'm totally off. I guess I should have said cola because it's really this like, hey, i'll pay for it later thing because a lot of times when you eat a product, you just pay for it. That's what I should have led with because I wasn't gonna say that thereafter, Yeah, because because like what industry does that, and I guess I don't know.

And it's hard on everybody. It's not just hard on one person, Like it's not just hard on you, it's hard on everybody. It's hard on every sector right now. It's not just like just one way street of oh my god, Like we all need to be in it to help each other, and like if we were able to raise that professionalism up a little bit more, then maybe we'd be like not having the stigmas.

That we do.

And like, I don't know if it happens as much anymore as it used to, But I came up in a time where like you didn't tell people what you did, Like I didn't tell people what I did until I got license, and I like started to be like I don't fucking care anymore. I'm not going to jail for this anymore, you.

Know, Like it's legal, legal, we can run it.

So I think that would be it, you know, or like a bunch of weed whenever I want it, and I don't have to go fucking do all that hard ass work anymore, right, Like my guys are fucking great, Don't get me wrong, my guys are great at this work is not below me whatsoever. But I've been picking leaves, I've been cutting clones, I've been topping plants, I've been watering, I've been fucking blocking steaks. Make sure there's certain plants.

Have the blud right there. You don't go through the whole process, just your quality perfectly.

Yeah, let's go. This is not a slight smit dudes or anything like that. Like we could grow good weed and like it's just all the work that goes into it. Let me even fucking back that up a little bit more. How about like I could have my own grow in my own town, Like that would be sick, Like I have a grow where I live where I got to drive five minutes to work, so like, yeah, we need

It's hilarious because honestly, I bet you every grower can relate to I think so too.

Yeah, there's like driving fifty miles there back talking about.

Some of the things that harden you driving all that.

Cold too, it didn't matter, like the power out. You're fucking going to work.

Dude, Like that's where I was off. I can't I remember Thanksgiving that I looked at my cameras, my plans were drew because my irrigation didn't go off, and I was like, motherfucker is Thanksgiving and I had to drive all the way to fucking I on you.

I'm like, oh damn man, Like that was fucking.

Like it's the grind road. But again, they hardened me, got me to where I am today, and like I wouldn't be as good of a cultivator I am as I am today without those fucking hard times.

No, absolutely, those built you man. We could be talking all day, man. I appreciate it. We we we definitely. We did a ninety minute episode. Yeah, we definitely. Well, we'll bring you back on later in the year. This is a good check.

I know he was faded, like, you're very knowledgeable to feel very nogealle growing up, very fun. I'm excited for your upcoming advent in January. So thank you Michigan uh Presents or it's.

Michigan man Man's Mission Man Present the.

Crowd smoke because that's crazy. Yeah, I always been there for drinks.

Yeah yeah, it's fun. Yeah, it'sna be really fun. So I appreciate you guys.

Thanks to them out Instagram. Where can they find you?

Michigan mat too, because you know Instagram is the fucking Devil and Ticks ship. But I appreciate all the followers. I appreciate everybody that gives all the support on Instagram. That's like it's still a driving force of the industry, and that's another one of those necessary evils.

Oh yeah, and that's that's why those those restrictions got a lifetime because it's silly, because it's such a driving industry and safe banking. We talk about these things all the time because they don't make sense. You're making it so hard for these businesses just to survive, so you forced. I think it almost adds to that cutthroating earlier.

But like it is.

Sorry, I know we're rving up with two things. I just talked to my daughter and today about banking and like why we have to go to New Hudson from Brighton to go to the bank. She's like, why can't you just go to Chase Here we go, So this is why. So do you understand the difference between federal law and state I really have this conversation today.

It's such a and this is on the things people don't understand, like oh, it's legal, Like okay, it is.

Ish, Like there's still a lot going on and there's still a lot of things that we just need to figure out. And I think that's why I said I like events like it was because they keep the future and the evolution going.

Absolutely got to keep the innovation going. Yeah, it's good, not working man, no doubt. Appreciate you, Oh yeah, so, oh yeah, I appreciate you. Thank you, Michigan man. Groove of music everywhere.

If you're in the electronic music, saxophone stuff, canadave you're in just a cool grower, awesome shit over there, Mechanic cast everywhere. Shout out to all the partners Lost Coast Plant Therapy check them out.

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Appreciate you and as always we're here to advocate, educate and inspired. It's nice time now