EPISODE 094
Pt. 1: The Experiential Entrepreneur
With David Charles
David Charles grew up in his father’s chocolate factory. Now, he makes a different kind of candy – infused with cannabis for the medicinal and energetic benefits of his consumers.
David is a growth marketer, storyteller, and serial entrepreneur. Currently, he serves as the Co-Founder, CEO, and COO of MOOD, a surging e-commerce dispensary that produces legal, high-quality THC products tailored to set your mood. The team at Mood hand-selects cannabis strains for their degrees of varying cannabinoids and terpene profiles, enhancing naturally occurring profiles by adding additional cannabinoids and terpenes to further promote a given mood. The result is a cannabinoid that still provides mood altering properties without giving its user a feeling of being overwhelmed. And while it’s cannabis and technically not marijuana – it enhances the life and mood of the user, naturally.
Mood has been in business for just over a year. Since then, they have experienced massive growth and they have already upgraded their 5,000 square foot warehouse to a 30,000 square foot warehouse to accommodate their production needs.
Before David helped found Mood, he tried a lot of other business ventures. He was born with an entrepreneurial spirit, and never let setbacks, failures or mistakes discourage him from growing as an individual and leader.
Today’s episode centers around David’s story before he founded Mood, and it’s a fascinating one. As business owners, we can learn so much from how David sees entrepreneurship: as a masterclass, an experience, a series of lessons, and ultimately a grand adventure.
One size does not fit all
David Charles is a smart and successful entrepreneur. But he did not enjoy school, or prescriptive learning.
Unlike students who simply did what they were told and memorized facts for tests, David struggled to engage. But when he found something interesting, he became obsessed to the point of losing sleep and staying up all night to read and learn. Like some rare students out there, David just was not an average student or an average person – he was an exceptional learner, despite his struggles to get good grades.
This theme carried through into adulthood. Whereas many of his peers would get traditional jobs or follow traditional paths, David refused. Instead, he began setting out to make money in his favorite place: the internet.
Throughout his life, David loved the internet. He loved that he could learn practically whatever he wanted, and whenever he found a gap in knowledge, he set out to find the answers. From his business researching pheromones to his consulting company, David forged his way through every lesson he could learn until he found what he was looking for.
Lessons were hard won
David started a business with a Co-founder, his friend Jake. While they admired and respected one another, they were young and inexperienced. Now, he laughs. After all, they had no background in launching and scaling companies – and they were on the road to some hard earned lessons.
When their venture collapsed, David reflected on his mistakes as he got a job and picked up the pieces. He realized that he and Jake both avoided conflict to the point of sabotage, never discussing essential topics because they were too afraid to seem negative or difficult. It was a vital moment in both of their lives, and they parted amicably.
The right business at the right time
David and Jake had not seen one another for years when David was living out his dreams of joining a telehealth company. He was on the brink of becoming part of their full-time marketing staff when Jake called him up.
After a long time, he was calling him to tell him that he saw an opportunity, and he wanted to give their business relationship another shot. He told David about the edible cannabis industry, and David jumped on it. It was a serendipitous time to make the leap, and the rest is history.
Tune in next week for Part II of The Experiential Entrepreneur with David Charles…
Quotes
“I was a horrible student in high school. I just didn’t enjoy prescriptive learning. If a teacher assigned a book, I would either not read it at all, or I’d read a few pages, find it interesting, and stay up all night reading it. I didn’t do much of what I was supposed to do, but I was a voracious learner.”
“I went through a real dark night of the soul. I sold the nice trappings I had accumulated, just to pay my rent.”
“I wanted to do something real. I had to humble myself. I had to say okay, I have been involved in these businesses that have turned over many millions of dollars. I’m a smart and experienced guy. But I don’t have a next step. Right now, I have to get a job.”
“The people who were starting telehealth companies were not marketers. They were tech people or medical people. But they didn’t know how to market. I could win on marketing alone.”
Links mentioned in this episode:
Podcast Resources
Visit the website for Mood at https://hellomood.co/
Connect with David on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-charles-b105911a5/
Read an interview with David on imensch at https://ideamensch.com/david-charles/#:~:text=David%20Charles%20is%20a%20growth,tailored%20to%20set%20your%20mood
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