We were lucky to catch up with Stuart McClean recently and have shared our conversation below.
Stuart, appreciate you joining us today. When you’ve been a professional in an industry for long enough, you’ll experience moments when the entire field takes a U-Turn, an instance where the consensus completely flips upside down or where the “best practices” completely change. If you’ve experienced such a U-Turn over the course of your professional career, we’d love to hear about it.
The cannabis industry is a constantly evolving and growing landscape. The discoveries of new types of cannabis compounds, laws and regulation changes, and swings in market pricing make it a difficult market to navigate. During covid, market prices crashed, and we pivoted into a new business sector. We now primarily focus on wholesale product manufacturing and brand development for other cannabis businesses. This strategy has helped us find stability while the market corrects itself and the economy recovers. We created a turn-key white-label service that builds brands while the customer focuses on securing an audience and clientele. We handle branding concepts, supply chain, website development, business filings, and drop shipping. To schedule a consultation with us, visit https://inertiasroot.com/
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
I am Stuart McClean, a Dallas, Texas native who moved to Nashville to pursue a degree in Psychology and play Football for Tennessee State University. After receiving my Master’s in School Psychology, I began working in corporate America but quickly realized that my true calling was entrepreneurship. I started a successful sneaker business in college that I ran throughout my professional career. Still, I decided to focus on helping people and worked as a treatment consultant for a substance abuse treatment provider until the end of my career. As a result of football-related injuries, I began using cannabis for pain management but noticed that it helped with my anxiety. I vowed to share the healing gift cannabis provided me with the world, and I began Inertia’s Root with that vision in mind. Inertia’s Root offers premium cannabis wellness products for urban professionals looking to add cannabis to their holistic health regime. We’ve formulated and developed several products, including topicals, tinctures, and high CBD cannabis flower. Our commitment to our craft and end-user experience sets us apart from other brands. We spare no expense and create organic products for our customers. We are proud of our resilience and ability to adapt as the market changes so often. As one of Tennessee’s first licensed growers/processors, we have stood the test of time. Cannabis is a space severely lacking inclusion as only two percent of the multi-billion dollar industry is minority owned. Our mission is to help other minorities enter and succeed in cannabis through our turn-key white-label program and consulting services.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start?
Funding is the most challenging part of running a successful cannabis business. You can’t go to a traditional bank for funding because cannabis is still illegal federally. We also thought we could turn to family and friends in a position to invest, but it’s challenging to help people believe enough to support you with their wallets. We had to get very creative with finding funding. I started the business with savings from working a corporate job with decent compensation and bonuses. I also used the extra funds I made from selling sneakers for my initial start-up cost. When we wanted to scale our business, we turned to grants and private investors. The challenging part of seeking investors for a cannabis business is that federal regulations make it difficult for significant investors to trust, investing large sums of money with such uncertainty regarding rules and regulations. We are constantly fundraising and coming up with creative ways to get what we need to continue to grow the business. Funding is one of the biggest challenges in this industry, especially for start-ups.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
There are several books I would suggest anyone read, and some that cover certain aspects of the cannabis industry. The first book I would highly recommend would be ” Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon hill. That book is the cornerstone of my life today. Regarding industry-related books, ” The emperor wears no clothes” by Jack Herer, ” The Secret Life of Plants” by Peter Tompkins, and Marijuana Horticulture by Jorge Cervantes.
Contact Info:
- Website: inertiasroot.com
- Instagram: Inertias_Root
- Facebook: Inertia’s Root
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-mcclean-77136166
- Twitter: InertiasRoot
- Yelp: Inertia’s Root
Image Credits
@saulgoodglobal @d_garay