Carol: I never knew that. Very interesting. I guess I can see where you shared that your hobbies become businesses. This does indeed sound a lot like your daily business.
Ari: Ha, yes, it does. I am lucky in that I love my work and consider it as much fun as a hobby would be.
Carol: With all the success you have had and continue to experience, what are your main business interests?
Ari: My main business interest is in marketing cannabis and terpenes. My “love affair” began with cannabis when I was 18. Cannabis relaxed me and made me more creative and productive. More than that, it made me truly enjoy being alone with myself and made me a happier person. As l learned more and more about cannabis, I came to know and understand that cannabinoids were critical to health.
One of our partners is a current well known Olympic Coach and trainer. As an ex-Olympic and world class sprinter and hurdler, he was taught that the most important fuels he could consume were protein, carbohydrates and fats. He was also taught that the supreme high you get from running (what everyone calls “runners high”) was a result of the presence of natural opioids in the brain. I believed these same things from what I read in textbooks while growing up and from what I myself experienced while on the cross-country running team at my school.
When I began learning about cannabis, my brain was blown. First, runners high had nothing to do with natural opiates, but rather it was from the presence of natural anandamide our brains make, which is the endocannabinoid form of THC – one of the main active cannabinoids in cannabis. Also, it made me realize why I love dark chocolate so much, due to the high presence of anandamide.
Carol: Oh, is that why I am a dark chocolate lover (laughing). I couldn’t resist Ari, please continue.
Ari: No problem. I’m certain you saw my smile.
Second, all health is based on homeostasis or balance, which we learned in school, but no one ever taught us that what that meant was the thing keeping you in balance was simply your endocannabinoid system. Despite learning about the muscular system, nervous system, cardiovascular system and many others, I had never learned about the endocannabinoid system. Now I know that to keep myself in homeostasis, I have to take care of my endocannabinoid system and have the proper amounts of cannabinoids operating within my body.
Carol: You are enlightening me. I didn’t know much of this myself. Please continue.
Ari: The body makes endocannabinoids naturally. Examples of endocannabinoids are anandamide which is natural THC and 2-AG which is natural CBD. All phyto-cannabinoids from plants have natural endocannabinoid counterparts in all of our bodies, but the cool thing is that the cannabis plant’s cannabinoids are more powerful than the ones we produce internally, as they stay longer on the cell receptor sites.
One important biological target in our cell physiology is a receptor. There are many different receptors scattered throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems. Receptors in the Endocannabinoid System, the main regulator of balance in the body, attach to either endocannabinoids or phytocannabinoids circulating in the body, improving the activity of the receptor. More active receptors create more healthy viable cells. All the better cells together form more healthy functioning organs. Improved organs create a much healthier body. Healthier bodies create stronger families, which in turn make better neighborhoods and better communities. It’s quite a miracle plant!
Carol: How wonderful! Now, that is a vision! Thank you so much for sharing all that valuable and enlightening information, certainly vital for many in understanding a necessary different side of cannabis.
Ari: It’s sad that cannabis has been lied about and so many people have negative perceptions of it. Parents, religions, governments, have all bought into the incorrect cannabis stereotype. That is why I wake up and go to work. I want to correct the injustices to this critical plant partner of ours and those who have been harmed in society because of it.
Carol: So true.
You are such an intelligent, passionate person. Ari, please share what you feel would be some key business principles for your success?
Ari: First, listen to your gut instincts: Do not allow yourself to be derailed by the opinions of others regarding you, others or your work. Be realistic and evaluate your situation carefully, quickly and with your own mind. My intuition has never led me astray, only not listening to myself has.
Second, I believe in a principle called SODOTO: I believe that you cannot be an expert in anything without passing through the entire SODOTO process. See One. Do One. Teach One. It’s a far better metric for expertise than the mythical 10,000 hours of practice or work.
Third, Immersion: There is only one way to succeed and that is to immerse yourself. While a happy balance of work, family, social and community is a great recipe for life, it is not a good precursor to beginning a successful business. Success requires extra effort and that effort must come at the expense of other activities. There is no other way – immerse or risk failure.
