We were lucky to catch up with Christine Harrell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Christine, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
Overall I am happier as a business owner vs. as a W-2 employee working at a regular job. As a business owner I am in control and make final decisions, so am fully accountable to myself and my clients and customers. I prefer to be in control as I can manage my own expectations and align my activities with what I truly believe will improve the outcomes of the business. Sometimes, however, when unexpected challenges arise or I’ve worked a particularly long week, my mind wonders to the “wouldn’t it be easier to just hang it up and go work for someone else?” The answer is yes, it may be easier in the short-term, but harder in the long-term as the work I would be doing would be at the direction of others, and the outcomes would be less controllable.
The last W-2 job I had before starting my own business was the catalyst for leaving a salary and benefits behind and betting on myself. I was brought on to manage a division within a technology company. I was barely out of training when the company had a large reduction-in-force, crushing morale and creating animosity between the people I was managing and the leadership to whom I reported. For months I felt helpless, forced to implement policies and strategies that I was not aligned with and could not defend or justify. The daily anxiety of trying to support and meet the needs of my revenue-generating direct reports and managing the expectations of leadership was overwhelming and, in retrospect, extremely toxic and counterproductive. I am thankful for the experience I had there, because it reminds me why I’m in business for myself. At the end of the day, everything falls on me but I am able to manage and control the chaos. I am able to be agile and flexible, I set my own schedule and support my kids’ activities, and I prioritize work that produces the most valuable outcomes for my clients and customers.
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 background and context?
I’ve worked in multiple industries, starting in politics and moving on to a D.C.-based non-profit. I pivoted from planning to go to law school to earning my MBA in 2018, and worked in legal-tech before joining cannabis-tech and then landing in the Mississippi medical cannabis industry in late 2022 where I am today. I wanted to join the cannabis industry because I believe in “doing great by doing good,” and the “doing good” part to me is helping reduce the stigma around plant medicines and helping people improve their quality of life through alternative therapies. I’ve built a network of small operators that I represent on one menu. The business model is to provide top quality Go-To-Market services for smaller brands while offering a convenient option for dispensaries to stock their shelves with the variety often seen from a larger operation but made up of products from multiple small companies. Receiving deliveries is a time-consuming event for dispensaries, so if they can place one larger order that is one delivery, one manfiest, one invoice and one point of contact, they save time but receive a variety of brands to stock their shelves. The convenience factor of this model is unmatched. My business is different because it’s based on building the community from the ground up through championing the smaller players and giving them an opportunity to compete with bigger brands, I am most proud of supporting the small-batch and craft cannabis community in Mississippi, and also curating a menu so dispensaries can easily support the smaller folks as well.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I built my reputation by doing the hard work from day 1. I put over 70,000 miles on my vehicle in 2023, driving around Mississippi, even delivering product after outfitting my Explorer to be a compliant transport vehicle. I always answered phone calls, communicated with my customers, quickly fixed any issues, and remained transparent and fair. If you treat your vendors like your customers and your customers like you’d want to be treated, people will choose to work with you and relationships deepen. All of my current clients were referred to me by people in the industry. I’ve had referrals from transport companies, from dispensary owners, and from brands that I already represented. I will continue to work hard to prove to my customers that I am here to work with them for mutual benefit and for the betterment of the industry as a whole.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I do not like managing people, nor do I like the term management. Based on my experiences prior to starting my own company, I felt uncomfortable in management positions. I love working with and collaborating with people. I’m a big believer in the idea that you can’t change people, that true transformation can only come from within. So I would never bring someone on who was not set up for success. I have an group of independent sales reps, and my main goal is to provide a solid foundation of technology and data to enable successful selling, and then encourage them to go out and sell. At the end of the day, the numbers speak for themselves and as long as we are hitting goals and our clients are happy, I have no reason to interfere with their styles or schedules. I always make myself available for any questions or problem solving. Obviously, if numbers aren’t hitting we need to reevaluate and dig in as to why, but I try to provide clear expectations and be as supportive as possible. Morale goes hand and hand with feeling heard, respected and valued. I try my best to listen to, respect and appreciate my people every day.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: chrissycanna
