E13: How Cannabis Saved My Life with Roz McCarthy

Jim:What is up, Remote Start Nation! Let's get something started. I'm Jim and I wanna welcome you to another episode of Remote Start, where I bring you stories and strategies on how to start a business, build a brand, and create your desired lifestyle. On this episode, today we have a very special guest, she's the founder and CEO of the non-profit organization minorities for medical marijuana, also known as M4MM, she established this in 2016 with a mission of providing advocacy, outreach, research and training as it relates to the business, social reform, public policy, and health and wellness in the cannabis industry. She's also going to share with us today on how she overcame a tragic accident and it helped her to launch her next venture Black Buddha Cannabis. So, without further ado, I wanted to introduce you today to Roz McCarthy. Roz, welcome to the Remote Start Nation.

Roz: Hey, hello, hello.

Jim: Tell everyone something about you that we wouldn't be able to find on your Linkedin profile or if we just met you.

Roz: Oh, something about me, okay. When I'm stressed and I need to get away, you know, my favorite pastime time is movie, so I go to movie theater and I get the biggest box, the biggest thing of popcorn at least it with butter like it's so buttery, right? But the topping is, after throw a bunch of crunch on top of it, and I just love it, and I sit in the movie, no telephone, no one call, no nothing, not thinking and I watched the movie and I just gore on hot butter popcorn with bunch of crunch it's just you know some days we're not feeling like man I just feel kind of overwhelmed I just need to relax that's my relaxation so it's kind of fatty but it works.

Jim: And we need that, we absolutely need that.

Roz: And you should try it; it takes more.

Jim:I'm absolutely going to. I've got the buy the popcorn down for sure the bunch of crunch, I gotta try that, I am yet to try bunch that.

Roz:The crunch top and just you know and do the salty with the butter and amazing.

Jim:That sounds good, it sounds delicious, you're making me hungry right now. What would be your perfect mealwhen you could go watch?

Roz:Ilove marvel, so anything on the marvel side, I'm a fast and furious so anything that's you know fast furious one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nineteen, ten like, I love all that car chase and stuff. And then the other thing is I like thriller and then I'm like a Jason Born you know equal lives that type of blue in Europe, a little bit of U.S. and kinda of thriller. It's been a while you know with covid, the movie theaters shut down and that was one thing of everything I've missed going to the movies because that was my, you know, I need to get away, you go to the movies, you just shut everything down, you enjoy yourself and so yeah.

Jim:Did you find something during covid that kinda helped you to have that same feeling but wasn't at the movies?

Roz: No. COVID was covid, right? You know, just felt isolated, you felt kind of alone and I'm normally isolated because I work from home sometimes, I work in the office sometimes but covid made it really isolated and I worry about my children you know, I have two college students who are in school so, I was worried about them and their exposure and just you know, you watch things on the news and they made even more paranoid and then you didn't know if you take the vaccine or not to take the vaccine. And so it was a rough time but you know, we got past it and we're now getting back to normal and it feels good.

Jim:Yeah, I'm with you there for sure. So kinda talking about your happy time and how you get away, let's talk about business. What makes you the happiest about being an entrepreneur?

Roz: You knowwhat, the freedom. So working in corporate America for almost thirty years you know, you felt like you were tied to somebody else's dream, right? You don't mind working hard, you don't mind delivering but at the end of the day it was that person's dream, that companies, their projections you were fighting for them.

And now as entrepreneur is my dream, it's you know that saying you live by the store you die by the store, well it's real like, as a entrepreneur you feel like, you know whatever I do, is mine andwhatever I get out of it is gonna be what I put into it but knowing that you can walk away and that this is something that you put your thoughts into, you research, you figured it out, it really makes a difference. And so, I wasn't an entrepreneur by like that was not in my DNA, my ex-husband was entrepreneur and he really introduced me to the world on entrepreneurship and what it meant to be a producer versus a consumer. And start really challenge sales business the folks are listening to your podcast, if you're struggling or trying to figure out you're just trying to get your traction, you just gotta hunker down and even when it feels like quick sum like you can't get your grounding, you don'twhere you need to go, you just really have to just kinda center yourself and really just stay focused and little successes lead to big successes, right? So, a little bit of a time will lead to that big success that you will look back in go man, I really was able to march the ball down the field.

Jim: I hope you listen to that Remote Start Nation, that is great advice for us, I appreciate that. And you've done that and not only once but multiple times I mean this M4MM, was that your first business that you started?

Roz: No, you know, prior to starting in M4MM you know, I was a consultant for the African-American chamber of commerce in Orlando, Iwas on the board order of the California Black Chamber of commerce, I was a grant writer, I was a consultant for a nonprofit, so I was like a federal government contractor, I did some contract work for the federal government. I had some experience as being an entrepreneur but when I realized I want to go into the cannabis industry, I wasn't informed enough to understand what area that I want to be in it, so, I didn't know if I want be operated dispense called they ancillary, I didn't know any of that stuff. I just knew that I wanted to create an entity that would be a bridge between cannabis and my community. What really drove, you know, my passion was the fact that individuals that come for my community we're disproportionately impacted by their risk and incarceration for this plan. And so to be able to square up now this plant would be utilized for medicine when before or the history shows that there were so many arrests that were coming from our community and just a negative stigma behind it. I just felt like there needed to be a trusted source that people could look to, could trust that I mean I have this like spirit of service and I get it from my father of being able to grow a business, drive business but be of service for the little person, supporting someone in need.

And so for me, it was just like you know, I figured out like, I know Iwanna be entrepreneur, I don't wanna go work for someone, the industry was just really starting to take off and then I had all this experience working with nonprofit, the chamber has a model of as a business membership as well as you know outreach. So, I took all this experience and I just kinda just weave into my minorities for medical marijuana. I named it minority, it was very intentional where I picked the name I've thought about it. In five years what are you gonna be doing? Are you gonna need grants? Okay,well you can't name it something that people don't know exactly what you are. And so if you see us, if you see my website you know pretty much that okay, this is communities of color, people of minority descent who have a interest in the medical marijuana industry and that's what we are.

Jim: And it seems like looking at your site, looking at your social you've really done a good job of taking that mission and your visionwhat you wanted to start and it looks like you're doing an awesome job with it.

Roz: It's a lot of hard work, we have an awesome team. So, remember I told you we're in twenty seven states and so we have these state directors, they don't get paid, is volunteer but they are so committed to themselves, their own personal business, their family and their community. So when you messed that together, I tell entrepreneurs you can't just drive your business and not have something that is gonna support your business outside of just business one on one. There has to be something that you wanna do a give back or something and it doesn't to be you know starting a non-profit but if you can tie in some type of philanthropy, some type of you know donating your time,sharing a resource, it makes the road in entrepreneurship so much easier when you feel like you're doing something that doesn't cost you a thing to make a difference than somebody else's life. And so that's the good thing about you know where we are right now with M4MM, we've done over ten thousand hours of video content, webinars, you know conferences is before there was even like zoom and everybody was jumping on for covid that was; we were using zoom as our way tocommunicate our message outside of just Florida where we started. So, this is fantastic the work that we've done over the last six years.

Jim:So, what would you say if someone's listening to this right now, part someone in the Remote Nation listen to this episode, they wanna get involved with M4MM, they want find out more about your mission. Where should they go check you out on social, on YouTube, on your website what would you recommend to go check out?

Roz: Yeah.What the good thing about is we have content on all those different platforms of course go to our website www.m4mmunited.orgWe have nine programs that we run on a yearly basis and even some pictures like, we have graphics you can see us at the capital lobby and you can see us you know at an event, talking about social justice reform. So, you'll be able to see pictures, we have resources that you can download, we have education basically it's a very holistic landing place for you to get information. And then of course we're on Instagram, we're on Twitter, we're on Facebook, if you type in m4mm united on any of those different platforms you'll find us.

Jim:Excellent. Looking at it, like I said you've done a great job with it. And you know to back to your point of what you've told entrepreneurs it's you've done a good job of creating something bigger than yourself, right? Something that others can buy into and understand that there's so much value that you're creating and you're not doing it for the money, you're doing it to give back and to teach and to again just create something bigger than yourself and you've done a great job with that. And you know, to your next entrepreneurial journey where you're still obviously with both but let's talk about black cannabis?

Roz:Yeah. The good thing about M4MM, just to piggyback on what you're saying is that it will live in perpetuity this is I started, the organization, I’m the founder right now, it was CEO right now but I didn't create it for it to like after I wanna retire or die off or whatever the case might be for it to end, is the gift that keeps giving. This is our industry that will keep going and growing for years and years and years to come and so it’s a happy place in my heart knowing that I created a framework of information and resource that will keep going and being able to support people.

My business, again remember I said when I first started this, I knew that I want to be in business from the profit side of four profit side, I just didn't know what. And in last year in 2021, June, I was in a car accident and I suffered a traumatic brain injury and during that time I literally was nausea, disoriented, had a swing head, couldn't walk, I mean it had problems concentrating, couldn't focus, I passed out about four times after the accident and you know within a two week period of time and literally I had to have a caregiver come live with me. And during that time we hired a therapist to help me with my center of my brain, I had to do a lot of breathing exercises to combat the fight or flight that would happen like, when you are suffering concussion syndrome your brain has its fight or flight and when it's struggling to kind balance all in all the difference and that teeth are firing off in your brain, your brain triggers your heart, it triggers everything in your body, right? And I'm just freaking, I just passed out and I'm like oh, my gosh and so, I had to learn how to literally talk to my brain and recondition that feeling of my response to that feeling. So, what brought me through was cannabis and meditation breathing exercises and mantra, that's what brought me through. I'm on the other side of feeling like, I was about to die because of that and during my darkest hours I've thought about this that you know, I have this beautiful nonprofit but I don't have a business a legacy outside of that deletes to my children. And it just came to me you know being a strong black woman and also knowing the power of cannabis and being able to tap into different practices that in the Buddhism religion like mantra like, breathing techniques andmeditation, I came up with the concept of black cannabis.

So black cannabis is an environmentally conscious, social impact driven wellness brand that's producing products state by state that are for women by women. I'm not apologizing, I want us to feel better, I want us to do better, I want us to be our best and we don't have to be like high offer ads, we don't have to be like, so sued it, doesn't have to be the party drug and I just know this plant saved my life, it really brought me back to life. We have so many people that are suffering, remember that cannabis is medicine and this plant can do so much and so if I can create not only a brand that embraces it but really high quality products that you can depend on, that can help you to feel better that's my medicine. And so, we are focused on five states so the first date coming on board is Ohio and then Massachusetts, Michigan, California and Nevada. And so we intentionally form partnerships with social equity operators who can partner with us as well as other different operators that are coming from the cannabis industry who will breathe life and help us to bring black buddha to the shelf.

So, our first products are gonna be edible, we have vape, we have flour, and then we have this really unique product is called a pre pack and the pre pack is a pre packed glass that has point three five grams of flour in it, I called a one liter quit, it's so cool, it's so uniqueis easy discreet, convenient you just take it out of the due tube, you fired it up, it's in a glass chilling, so the experience is different than with a pre roll and then you might take a couple of pulls from it put it back into your due tube put the cap back on put it back in there and take off it's great for concerts, it's great for outdoors, you don't have to roll anything, you have to do anything but just consume and be happy

Jim: That's awesome. When do you plan on launching in Ohio?

Roz: So,Ohio our gummy’s is the first project that's gonna be on shelf and that will be at the end of May.We're excited because production is starting, packaging is has already been available, we've gotten approved by the state of Ohio. And let me just tell you guys, I'm a canvas brand that I am bootstrap my own brand one, I'm not a celebrity, I'm not an athlete,I have a story that resonates like you have to know your story. If you're starting your brand, if you have a company you have to be true to you and my brain is true to me. I'm a woman, I believe in women having options, I believe we wanna feel better,I believe that we struggle sometimes,right?

Our gummy’s, we have three different options.

So we have a gummy for energy that's a wake bait, we have a gummy for rest and pain relief that's a nighttime like you know trying to get the sleep and then we have one that's called balance and balances for that middle of the day when you have an a mommy-mom, you gotta pick up the kids, you gotta go off, you gotta you're working from home, you feel like you're just about to explode and you need something that's not gonna make you high of the kite, that's not gonna put you to sleep and that's our balance. And so imagine when you go into a dispenser you can tell people how you feel and I go a misery and I get confused, like, I just need something for money, right? I just need something to help me give me a little burst in the morning and that's when you'll be able to buy our energy gummys and then be able to partake and go off to work and feel good or do whatever you have to go to the gym and just be able to be one hundred percent open and available to your family, your coworkers or what have you.

Jim:I love it and your values behind the brand and your voice and your mission and everything I love how it aligns with you and that's something that you hit on that Iwanna go back to. And Remote Start Nation take that to heart what Roz just the value she just gave you is priceless. When you create something and you have a brand and you're standing behind, it can't be made up, it can't be something that you're doing it to try to get … people are gonna see through it, right? Like it has to be something that you truly believe in and in your case it was something you created this brand because it helps you to get through your life after a tragic accident and you know that by empowering women and providing this product in this brand that they can feel one with like, again you're doing something that's greater than yourself, you're giving them the same freedom that you had to get over this injury and I absolutely love every part of what you're saying. I think it's incredible. So,Remote StartNation, I just really want you to take that to heart because is so important and so many brands. And Roz tell me if you're seen the same thing they come out, they get started and they do it for the wrong reasons, they do it for money or they do it becausethey see an opportunity in the market and unfortunately that's not enough like you have to be real.

Roz:Yeah, as kitchen is out of the quirky, likeI mean not to say that stuff doesn't work but I just chose to be just true to myself to who I am, to my experience and I believe more women will resonate to that, I believe that men will resonate to that buyers consumers will say I like that; that represents me and so it was just being and honest. I'm rolling a dice on this, I could be totally wrong but the research has done just my experience even the feedback from the cannabis community with no product in the shelf has been so positive like, being able to say you know you walking in your truth and I really wanna tell your entrepreneurs to walk in your truth. You know, you gotta stay focused, there's gonna be times where you wanna quit, don't quit, don't stop, it feels like you do you feel like this is for the birds, don't. When you believe in something and that fire your belly is there, hear it, listen to it, recent to beer, go smoke over the cannabis if you need to but then start again because my prayers is always let me help people let me remain humble and when I have a tough day you know, I wake up and I say in this too shall pass and a new date with no mistakes in it and so you had to take each day for itself even when you like when my darkest hours when I was still healing, I didn't know when get my brain back. And for me had it not been for that trauma, I wouldn't have black buddha so whenever you go through something, there's something good on the other side, it's just trying to get to the other side and once you get over you'll find that good and my good as black buddha and now I'm able to do something I love, I'm passionate about it, it's my story and if I could make some money it's a win, win, win, win, win, right?

Jim:And you will. I feel it.You will. So, a lot of listeners that in Remote Start that might be going through starting a business and you obviously have experience now and you would hit a little bit on taking that piece by piece, by piece.Do you remember that first moment where you were working for somebody else, you're doing maybe some contract work but you were you realized this is my time, this is I need to jump out and do this now?

Roz:Yeah. I think, when I was working at with African-American chamber of commerce, I was doing a lot of work and I would do the behind the scenes where and it was fulfilling. But I realized that Iwas doing so much work for them that my business was being cannibal becauseI would be so tired after doing working with that one client but I wouldn't put the work in the needed effort to grow my business and to gain more clients. And whenit felt good over there but it felt like, I was an employee versus being a contractor in a consultant, right?So, I had to really talk to myself and go, Roz, sometimes you have to pull the plug and people get attracted to you they want you around all the time but you have to make decisions, they're gonna be beneficial to your business and to your company and if that means people that you hire, people that you have around you, clients that you have, if they're not allowing you to grow and expand and build capacity without suffering you then you need to move on and you need to move on with the thought that;I may lose money but the loss of money will free a time for you to open up your lungs and your capacity to bring more clients and to really do what you're supposed to be doing which will bring the money that you're looking for. And that was the best decision I made when I just kinda you know, I think they could ties with me and I cut ties with them and it just kinda happened and I was pissed off, I was like man, I did all this stuff but it was the best thing that ever happened for me because it opens me up to be able to look at my nori for medical marijuana, now to create this entity but to breathe life into it. And it can't tell you now the friends who gave me the like, oh, my gosh what are you doing six years ago? They're calling me now like hey, Roz and so I mean listen, you have to follow your heart, follow your head and just go for it.

Jim:That's so cool, thank you for sharing that story. Did you have like, you said it kinda was taking you away from your business so you had already kind of started and laid the groundwork?

Roz: Yeah. So, I was working for the chamber as a consultant, right? But I was spending so much of my time doing work with them that I was losing the sight of going after other new financing and working on other new opportunities for myself and then we kinda mutually parted ways and when we did that's when the heavens and the earth and everything open up and all these new two came but more importantly I was able to absorb and create them M4MM.Like, my capacity be creative and to be open was gas lighted it by the fact that I pushed away something that was consuming so much of my time but I didn't leave myself room to expand, right? And so, now the expansion happened after we mutually went our separate ways and so, that's what I’m just saying like if it feels good and it's working for you and your business keep doing it but if it's something that you realize like, I spend so much time doing this, it doesn't allow me to expand to open up or gain new relationships or new business opportunities then you just have to go back and just doa self-check, a self-awareness like, where's my revenue coming? Where am I going in the future? How big do I wanna build my business? Like, Iwrote down all my goals of everything I want to do with them M4MM, I  wrote it down.And so, now I'm starting to see the fruition of everything that I wrote down.

Jim: I refer that it's like your reason, right? Like what is your reason why you're doing, what you're doing? And then if you have if that's in line with your business as you grow with it; it should always stay I mean you might change some things but that's something that if you always hold true to that this is why I'm doing this, this is who I'm here to serve andthis is what makes me happy, the money will come and in your case you know it's going to come more with a second business that was created from your first business, generate your first business, right?

Roz:The firstbusiness a nonprofit is a business, I didn't know it just I just felt compelled then I had to out how to make money within run a nonprofit and I did figure it out, I didn't know it first. And so, sometimes you will start a business and not know what your game plan is but I just say that you really have to trust yourself in your instincts and sometimes you just have to go, okay, I'll figure it out like, I'll figure out, this feels really good like,Iwanna travel with my business or whatever you wanna do it, that's what you wanna do and you're trying to figure out but how do I make money? You can do it, I mean you just have to kinda again look at things and where you are in life and figure out what's important and then once you figure out what's important to you the making and money part it'll come. I promise you, it comes.

Jim: It's more about getting started, right? Like stop making excuses, stop letting other people hold you back.

Roz:No more procrastination. And let me take guys, as we wrap up one of the things, I had a good friend of mine that told me this and it was so like, I hear him in my voice, I hear him in my mind right now.

And he would say, Rozie, don't stop and I'm like okay, okay, Jarvis he like, don't stop and I call him and I would just be moaning and I'm like oh, kid, I can't do this and just struggling he was like don't stop, don't stop, so, do something. So, my advice to everyone else listening to me you can do it every day, do something. If you're not ready to leave your full turn job but you got an idea it's okay, just do something that's going to feed your entrepreneur spirit and your desire to have your own business and when it's time to disconnect from that full time job and that full time job you may lose revenue, it may be rough for a little bit but once you disconnect and open yourself up to your dream of owning your business and driving your business you will see your lungs will feel with capacity, your brain will open up. I mean the feeling of working for yourself is like, no other is the toughest, it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life but it's the most rewarding and gratifying thing that I've ever done in my life and I'm grateful for it. So, it works, just got hard work but don't give up.

Jim:Roz, that is absolutely great value, great advice, thank you so much and as we're coming to an end,Iwanna just thank you for sharing so much with us today. Remote Start Nation, I hope you took so much of that and took it to heart and you can use some of the value that Roz gave you and go start your own business and if you're in business look at what Roz has done with her brands her; her multiple brands and what she's done to the community and the brand she's built around us.

So,with that, until next time.

Go start something.

Start today.

Go build the lifestyle that you desire by taking action.

Remote Start Nation.

I'll see you soon.

And until next time.