EPISODE 093
Pt. 2: The Experiential Entrepreneur
With David Charles
When asked about the greatest challenges of scaling his business, David Charles echoes what we frequently hear from successful entrepreneurs: The biggest lesson is their own personal growth.
In Part II of this conversation with David, we get to hear about how he launched his brand and what it took to get started. 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. Mood only sources their plants from small family-owned cannabis farms. Their product is a cannabinoid that still provides mood altering properties without giving its user a feeling of being overwhelmed. It’s cannabis and technically not marijuana. And customers are raving.
Today’s episode centers around David’s journey since he founded Mood, and we have so much to learn from him.
The biggest journey of entrepreneurship is a personal one
It’s no secret that Mood is a massive success. In their 1+ year in business, they have already upgraded their 5,000 square foot warehouse to a 30,000 square foot warehouse to accommodate their needs.
Mood hit a million dollars in just their second year in business, shocking David and Jake and exciting them about their prospects for the future.
But the biggest growth journey of all? It’s personal. David admits that while he had launched many businesses, none have been as successful as Mood – leaving him feeling green and excited to learn as a leader. He grows each day into the role of CEO, COO, and Co-founder, with an understanding that entrepreneurship is never perfect. For David, it’s about evolution.
Divide and conquer
One of the most major pieces of advice David dispenses to other entrepreneurs is: divide and conquer.
While people question him for dividing labor in his company, David stands by it. He hired a warehouse specialist and speaks highly of her work helping them scale the business. He also hired a client relationship specialist to interact with farmers across the United States who is experienced in the industry. Even the Co-founders enjoy a division of labor that makes sense for their respective skills. When others question his hands-off approach to leadership, David laughs. He’s here to encourage, foster growth, and give his staff the tools they need – not to control their every move. Much of their success can be attributed to this divide and conquer strategy of growth.
Next steps: scale and sell
For some people, success means doing the same thing for their entire career. But not for David Charles. As an experiential entrepreneur, he knows that he doesn’t want to stay in one place for too long. He takes the lessons he learns and avoids stagnation by trying something new.
Now, he dreams of scaling the company even further and selling it to a worthy successor. He strives to set goals that will ensure the company’s success – long after his nomadic lifestyle takes him in a new, exciting direction.
Enjoy Part II of this conversation with the unstoppable David Charles…
Quotes
“Financially, I was in no place to fund an inventory-focused business with a warehouse and tons of equipment. His approach was, you do most of the work. He told me to do the marketing and he would be an investor. But then Jake went from being an investor to being in the trenches as voraciously as any Co-founder I’ve ever seen.”
“The industry is dominated by con artists and low quality operators. The industry as a whole is just not very professional. But it was really important to us that this time, we were going to deliver the best quality product for our customers.”
“We did a million our second month. Who wouldn’t get psyched about that?”
“We work with 30 to 35 small organic farms across the USA.”
“There are a lot of people who are aware of the immense benefits of THC, and they just don’t know where to get it. But now they can access this product legally and safely.”
“We’re shooting a documentary about each and every one of the farms we work with. We want to tell that seed to shelf story!”
“There are ways to be compliant and lawful, while giving people the kind of experience they desire.”
“We’d like to fundamentally quadruple the size of the company. We’ve nailed it, now it’s time to scale. It. Then we’d like to exit the company when we’ve taken it as far as we can take it.”
“I’d like to get involved with charity. I’ll be able to make a difference in any way we want. I’d love to help animals, and I’d love to get a goat farm.”
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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