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

Trey , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

How did an award winning physician and retired SWAT team leader leave their traditional professions to end up leading the cannabis market in Dallas-Fort Worth?

Dr. Lisa Gardner is a board-certified & surgically trained physician who has been in practice for nearly 20 years. She worked in corporate health care for nearly a decade, and she grew extremely dissatisfied with the increased one size fits all approach to health care and the over-emphasis on prescription drugs. She made the decision over a decade ago to walk away from corporate health care and open Fusion Medical Aesthetics, the area’s leading hormone optimization and anti-aging practice. She vowed to have a different and individualized approach to wellness medicine and anti-aging.

Before retiring after 20 years of service, Trey served at the highest levels of the Fort Worth Police Department’s Tactical Operations Division, including as a Team Leader in SWAT, where he engaged in over a thousand tactical operations, including high-risk search warrants, hostage situations, and armed barricaded criminals.

How in the world did people with these backgrounds wind up leading the cannabis industry in Dallas-Fort Worth? Sometimes we still ask ourselves the same question! In 2017, Dr. Lisa Gardner began looking for alternatives to pharmaceuticals for her patients dealing with chronic pain, sleep issues, anxiety, pet issues, and much more. What she found as a solution was truly remarkable- cannabis. She found tens of thousands of medical journals, articles, data, studies, and more. “I honestly felt betrayed by my profession in that there were decades of peer reviewed research on the benefits of cannabis and CBD, but not once in my career had I ever been taught about it.” That started their journey to learn about this amazing plant and all the therapeutic benefits it can offer to people.

Trey and I founded Thrive Apothecary in 2018, where every product goes through a rigorous vetting, testing and selection process in order to be qualified as Doctor Approved CBD and be offered to our customers. They have seen thousands of people pouring in their doors. They have found themselves thrust into the spotlight as they became the leading cannabis advocates in the City, region, and the State of Texas. Thrive Apothecary has been voted the top store for three years running.

They continue to dominate the North Texas market with the launch of Thrive Medical Cannabis, as Dr. Gardner is now licensed by the State to prescribe medical marijuana to Texans who qualify. Prospective patients from anywhere in Texas can book a FREE online eligibility consultation to qualify for a medical marijuana prescription.

Thrive offers an experience truly unique from anything else in Texas: a full-service cannabis solution that is doctor owned and offers customers every level of cannabis legally available; from traditional CBD products, to emerging hemp-derived THC edibles and smokables, and now medical cannabis.

The size and scope of their product offering is unmatched and, when combined with their vetting process, makes them the only cannabis retailer you can truly trust.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

As a SWAT Team Leader for the Fort Worth Police Department, I had the honor and privilege to work with, and lead, some of the finest, most dedicated, and unselfish people that this City has to offer. What I have always known and practiced, not only in SWAT, but now as we run three different businesses, is that leaders must lead from the front. You can never run a business with the attitude of, “do as I say but not as I do.” You must set the example for your employees. Employees can see your level of dedication to the mission and to them. I work alongside them, office with them, eat with them, and more. They will rise to your level of passion and commitment if you will show them how.

The other important trait a leader must have is extreme ownership. I didn’t create this term, but I believe in it 100%. On any team, in any organization, all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader. Extreme Ownership means that as a leader you take 100% ownership for every aspect of your’s teams performance. To drive people to accomplish something truly complex or difficult, or even dangerous—you can’t make people do those things. You have to lead them.

Whether a team succeeds or fails is all up to the leader. The leader’s attitude sets the tone for the entire team.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We’ve built our reputation on bringing class, customer service, and education to a market that has operated somewhat in the shadows for decades or centuries. To do that, you have to be transparent. We believe in doing the right thing, even when no-one is watching. We believe in putting the patient first. We believe in doing what is best for the community over profit. We believe in being transparent and telling the truth, both to our employees and the customer, even if the news is bad. It goes back to extreme ownership- always give praise to others when you win and always take accountability when you fail.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thrivetx.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thriveapothecary
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thriveapothecary
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/fortworthcbd
• Other: https://www.thrivemedicalcannabis.com