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 Richie Jaynes, the co-founder of Hemp Lyfe (www.hemplyfe.net).  He received an athletic football scholarship at Texas AM Commerce University where he got his Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Sports Studies. His first job was as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Southern Methodist University but decided to get into fitness business, owning Dallas’ top training center “The Gym.” At the age of 27, Janyes became a hugely successful owner at AdvoCare International, a nutrition company that pioneered the world of supplements. Using his experience and connections, he then co-found the national supplement company 360RX. Additionally, Jaynes contributing along with Richard Bronson the best-selling book, Performance 360 Special Edition Success. Together with his wife Cindy (a record holding long distance runner), daughters Kiley (19), who is a competitive volley ball player and Whitney (26), a world class professional soccer player with a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and her boyfriend, former NFL player M.J. McFarland, they work as a team work on Hemp Lyfe.

Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?
We have always been an entrepreneurial spirited family. Last summer, while my family and I were sitting around the living room, we came up with the idea of starting a CBD company. Because of my wife’s experience and research into the entire cannabis space, because she was wanting to try and find a way to help her mother live a quality life and stop the suffering she was experiencing from dealing with cancer. We were already familiar with the benefits and had already experienced the positive outcomes form using CBD.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
I believe when you have something great and exciting and very profitable, like the CBD space, people will come out of the woodwork to want to be a part of what you are doing. That happened to me. I was not looking for partners. I was not looking outside my own family for help. This guy I had known for several years shows up and the next thing you know he is trying to be a part of what we are doing. The moral of the story is be guarded and careful as there are people out there that want to steal what you have. Guard yourself and your business.

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?
My wife is probably going to kill me but we have an ED product with CBD in it. As most good business owners do, you want to test out your product first before offering it up to the public. I have a saying, ‘be a product of your own product.’ So, I decided to test out the Hemp Lyfe ED product without my wife knowing. Let’s say the product works extremely well and my wife was a little annoyed with me!

Are you working on any exciting projects now?
Absolutely. One of the things at Hemp Lyfe is that we pride ourselves on is we are a company that wants to always be bringing to market products that have not been seen or perfected before. Right now, we have in the pipeline some pretty cool products that are dealing in the oral care space and body care space. I do not want to reveal just yet what they are but, just know, they will be products that people will get incredible benefit from and we will be first to market with them. Stay tuned.

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?
That is an incredible easy answer- my family. They are the ones I trust the most. They are the closet to me. My wife is my best friend. She and I might not always see eye to eye but at the end of the day she has my best interest at heart. My two girls are my two best allies. They step up every time. My family holds me accountable. Trust is a big thing with me. They are my backbone. No way am I able to achieve what I do without their support. If you do not have your family support and if you cannot win over the ones closest to you. There is no way you will win anywhere else.
Growing a Cannabis Business - CBD Hemp - Richie Jaynes, Hemp Lyfe
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?
Yes. I am real and authentic. I believe in today’s social media world we have lost that authentic touch. I am also transparent. We want you to know who you are dealing with and we do not hide behind anything. I believe if we all get back to being authentic and transparent, quit hiding behind all this fake social media stuff, you will win over a lot more people and be a company more will trust. People only like to do business with people they trust.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Cannabis industry? Can you share 3 things that most concern you?
Things that Excite Me:
1.The benefits the product offer;
2. The future and what these products are going to do for people and the new science that is coming out every day;
3. The stories I hear from people and how their lives have changed for the better since starting on CBD. This is the thing that excites me the most is hearing people’s awesome stories
Things that Concern Me:
1. The bad products that companies are putting out there;
2. The government wanting to take over and control the industry more than they should;
3. Big Pharma. They are no good for anyone.

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. All the product benefits. I had no idea that there are so many more benefits than we could have ever imagined;
2. The rules and regulations. There are so many more rules and regulations than anyone could ever imagine. We are finding this out every day;
3. Pick a good manufacture. This is key as the manufacture can make or break you, based on their ability to produce and scale with you;
4. How hard the banking and merchant account services are and how hard it is going to get;
5. I wish someone had told me, even though it is legal, how hard it is to do business and market the product because there are still so many restraints in who you can and cannot do business.

What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
Make it all about the people, your customers. That is truly what this is all about. You help enough and other people get what they want and in turn you will get what you want.

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. 🙂
One word very simply describes that. Love. Bring more love to the world.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
They can find us on Facebook and Instagram @hemplyfetribe and our website www.hemplyfe.net
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!