We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bryan Buckley . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bryan below.

Bryan , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

I would say our country’s attitude towards cannabis is an unexpected problem. The US federal government is ignoring it even though we know cannabis is a viable medicine and could be used to help PTS. However, because it’s a schedule 1 drug, it’s so difficult to move the needle to get research done properly. Doctors are blown away that we have an IRB (Institutional Review Board) and are researching cannabis to see how it can help. Politicians say they love the idea of changing the laws around the plant, but then they don’t back it up with actions.

MDMA is a schedule 1 drug and it is rumored to be approved next year, so why are we not approving cannabis for use as well? It brings a tear to my eye to think about disabled veterans using half of their disabilities checks to buy their medicine each month when there is this viable alternative in cannabis that has the potential to be less expensive and produce similar results as some medications.

Bryan , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Helmand Valley Growers Company came about when I came back from my service in the United States Special Operations (Marine Raiders). I became interested in cannabis and thought that there had to be a better alternative to the opioids that veterans were being prescribed. It took several years to finally bring everything together, but now we’re so close to the research beginning.

Since its inception, HVGC has been in discussions with some of the cannabis industry’s top researchers and has developed a veteran based protocol to effectively prove the benefits of medical cannabis. We’re researching medical cannabis-based solutions to address symptoms of PTS, the opioid addiction and the suicide epidemic that plague U.S. veterans and society as a whole. All of our profits go to The Battle Brothers Foundation, which is a 501c3 charitable organization that empowers veterans through community-based personal development, economic upward mobility, and progressive medical treatments to better their lives and the lives of their families.

In coordination with the Battle Brothers Foundation, 100% of HVGC’s profits goes toward medical cannabis research.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Really the concept of what we were trying to accomplish came up in 2016. For a few years I was out getting licenses and putting pitch decks together for investors, but nothing serious came of it. Finally, we had a fellow veteran and self-made millionaire who fell in love with my ideas. He told me to give him a few weeks because he was going on vacation and had some medical concerns. It was radio silent for a few weeks. I heard nothing from him. What happened is the doctors said they did not like his blood count. So, with the disease he has, the doctors told him he could continue at the pace he was going, but he would only have a few more months to live and it would be a painful end. Or he could retire, take it easy and live a long life. Obviously he decided to retire, but he did not want to invest money without being active in the process, so our business relationship fell through there. However, he is still a big fan of ours and supports us.

After that, I got a call from George and Cody Sadler of Gelato, who were operating a different company that has since been sold, to see if they could donate to our cause through their non-profit. The problem they were facing was no one wanted to deal with a cannabis brand, even for donations. I went down and met with a few of the owner’s colleagues. I threw out the idea of creating our own brand and donating 100% of the profit from the cannabis business to a non-profit; everything would be done through us. They loved the idea and told it to Cody and George. I was driving to the office on the following Monday, when I got a call saying that Cody and George would like to meet with me that Wednesday. I drove back to the office and they were quite hesitant because they really were not looking to bring on any more brands.

But I had to try, so I went through the plans and about how we wanted to get an IRB to research cannabis and how it can help veterans, get real American doctors to help research, and they kind of looked at each other and just smiled. They loved it. They said they were going to back me with everything they had, and they didn’t even want profit or stocks. Whatever it took to just break even, profit over that was mine, but everything went back to the Battle Brothers Foundation. We would pay back the cost of operation, but everything after that would go to the non-profit.

HVGC is one of the only cannabis brands that could get a product on shelves for $0. Cody and George are always supporting us and we would not be here without them.

Any advice for managing a team?

In terms of reputation, that’s not something you can go out and tell people to trust you and they automatically will. Actions are louder than words, so when we were going out and telling people we were going to take 100% of the profits from HVGC and do the IRB and research, people were like, “Yeah, okay we’ve heard that before.” They dismissed us at first.

But then eventually we got the IRB and everything we said we were going to do, began to happen and people took notice of that. They realized we were committed to our mission and we were here to fulfill it. I haven’t taken a salary because I want all the profits to go to the Battle Brothers Foundation. That is where our reputation has come from: action. I served our country and I was happy to have that opportunity like I have here to help other disabled veterans. We are proving our words through actions.

When it comes to boosting morale in the workplace, I make sure I am bringing in the team and communicating with them, so they know the mission and what is happening. I hold people accountable and give them the facts even if it is tough. The most important part is the mission, and if something isn’t working, I need to bring it up so we can fail fast and then do better. It is all for the overarching good of the company.

Also, never ask people to do something you are not willing to do. I was in a bad spot recently because I was burning myself out, but we were promoting people and seeing mobility in the company. For those people, that comes with more work, so now they are coming to me and asking how to get this done the best way. I don’t tell them to go figure it out themselves. I show them how to work it out and what I did. Same goes for when I was in Afghanistan. When people were filling sandbags for the coming fire. I was out there helping them. I won’t ask anyone to do something that I won’t do myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hvgcompany.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hvgcompany/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hvgcompany
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/helmand-valley-growers-company/

Image Credits
Courtesy of HVGC