We were lucky to catch up with Laura Barrett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

I am an integrative medicine nurse entrepreneur focused on plant medicine. Just over ten years ago a friend with whom I volunteered on community health and wellness events for a non-profit asked if I would be interested in using my medical background to help with getting a cannabis grow license. At the time, I was in a thriving career at Johns Hopkins and had a huge personal stigma against drugs (which is where weed sat in my ethos). If it weren’t for two primary people: my now ex-husband, and a good friend who is a pharmacist, encouraging me, I would have passed on this life-changing opportunity.

After a year of helping with compliance, training, and set-up, while keeping my full-time job, I took the leap and went all in. In three years I worked every job in an indoor cannabis grow, observed and assisted with setting up processing, and worked every position while opening multiple dispensaries. My learning curve was extreme as I went from almost zero – if you don’t count my stepdad teaching me how to roll his joints for him when I was eleven – to writing standard operating procedures and training grow facility staff in a very short time. Thankfully my career in nursing taught me how to receive training and then teach others quickly. Being at the forefront of medical cannabis operations in Maryland had many challenges. One of the most valuable lessons I learned was to find gray areas in a world where I loved very black and white. As a nurse, critical thinking, judging, and decision-making saved lives, but in the world of cannabis, I had to find room and create opportunity.

The funniest story comes from the early wholesale sales days with our company. I was tasked with going to pre-opening dispensary owners to set up pre-sale contracts for cannabis that we had not fully grown yet. One dispensary license owner was curious but asked me to smoke with him to assist in his trust in our product. As someone who had never smoked, yes, never smoked, this was off the table for me. Thinking fast, I called in the big dogs and arranged another meeting where consumption would occur. In the written word, this may not seem as funny, but I promise you, it was a blast. Some deals happen on the golf course, but in cannabis, communion, and consumption play a healthy role.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Interestingly, I was laid off from the vertically integrated business I helped open without much financial gain. If I told you my time there was priceless I would still be undervaluing the personal and cannabis business growth I gained from the opportunity. Within two weeks of moving on, I opened Ask Nurse Laura a consulting and nurse coaching business that just celebrated five years running. We help individuals, businesses, healthcare facilities, and states find space for plant medicine (including psychedelics) with integration into personal healthcare, business operations, and traditional spaces where stigmas have prevailed.
We are available for 1:1 or group coaching, group educational presentations, testimony, and large speaking events.

Details at www.asknurselaura.com, @asknurselaura on social media platforms

Additionally, www.nationalclinicaldirector.org and www.connorsheffieldfoundation.com

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Building my reputation was critical to gaining my initial contracts as an entrepreneur. In my early days going out to write wholesale cannabis contracts, I was transparent (to the best of my ability), did what I said I would do, and developed relationships where I demonstrated an honest interest in the success of the business owners I was selling to. People knew me and knew they could count on me to deliver or to have a good, advanced notice on why I was unable in a given circumstance. I learned the lesson, “Do what you say you are going to do, or share as soon as you know you cannot an updated plan” during my time as a mentee under the Chief Information Officer for Johns Hopkins Medicine. This simple piece of advice guides my personal and professional life to this day. It is humbling at times to admit that I procrastinated or I am running late, yet I have found that my vulnerability has opened more doors and built even stronger relationships.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I am an avid reader and have learned a great deal from books, podcasts, and in my MBA program. I believe curiosity and learning new things are the only way to truly feel alive. If we are not seeking new knowledge, we must be dead. I am grateful to many of my cannabis healthcare mentors/peers for their books and papers. I am grateful to thought leaders in business and personal growth for writing books and sharing podcasts and interviews to help us grow. The most impactful book I read recently is a book by Richard Rohr called Eager to Love. It summed up my philosophy and spirituality which is to love everyone because I see God in everyone. It’s just that simple.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.asknurselaura.com www.nationalclinicaldirector.org
• Instagram: @asknurselaura
• Facebook: @asknurselaura
• Linkedin: Laura Barrett MBA BSN RN
• Twitter: @asknurselaura
• Youtube: @asknurselaura
• Yelp: Ask Nurse Laura
• Other: Also www.connorsheffieldfoundation.comTikTok @asknurselaura

Image Credits

@chrismarcinekphotography