We were lucky to catch up with William Alexander recently and have shared our conversation below.
William, appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Do you have something in mind that you could do to leave the oh’ so repetitive life you currently have, but you or others around you may have thoughts that it’s too risky, unsafe or too big of a goal to achieve? What I have learned in life is that the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. Of course theres is certainly a flip side to that coin & most risks I take are calculated & thought out. I spent a good portion of my adult years working jobs that I hated. I had bosses that would never really recognize my talent & I felt as if I was a just a number. I knew I had more to offer in this life for others and for myself.
I got in to a lot of trouble as a kid trying to be something that I wasn’t; I was lost. This created several barriers in life for me & at the time, I felt my future would eventually come but it wasn’t something I had any intention on working towards because I felt many of my goals were far from my reach. To sum up the next portion of my childhood, I had consequences to my problematic youth & found myself reading self help books inside of a 8×12 foot concrete enclosure with a toilet, two racks that held 1/2inch thick mattresses with 2 men on the racks and one on the floor. While they were busy playing cards, basketball or entertaining other negative activity, I found myself trying to learn as much as I could to never be here again. Although this had been a cycle that I’d gone through multiple times before this clicked, this was what it took for me to wake up, realize that it is never too late to be what you might have been & opportunities don’t happen, YOU create them. 2 years In the above setting & at this point in my life, I was beat up, beat down, lost and left to find my way… The Reality: I was the one who beat myself up. I was the reason I got beat down & I had to be the one to pick myself back up!
Everything I am and everything I’ve become was done out of a time of darkness. That darkness is what allowed me to see that there could be light. My family was with me through it all and whether or not they agreed with my aspirations or goals, they loved me 100% through it all while giving me the love & encouragement needed. It’s important that you find the winners, stick with the winners and always have a positive outlook on where your going & keep positive people around you. It’s a tough road ahead. Go ahead and stay aware of that. For me today, it is still tough. The difference is that I find good or positive in everything I’m doing to ensure a positive mindset to keep the strength needed to push through.
Growing up, I always had a passion for cannabis & saw what kind of positive effect it had not only on my life but other individuals struggling with medical, mental health & even addiction issues. From being a troubled juvenile that liked to consume cannabis & make mistakes that most kids do in their youth years, a juvenile judge issued a court ordered requirement to see a youth psychiatrist. At the age 16, this court ordered psychiatrist prescribed me narcotic anxiety medication as well as other narcotic medications that no 16year old should be ordered to take daily in conjunction to each other unless there is some terminal illness requiring them to do so.
Down the road, taking this medication, which proved to cause even more addictive & problematic encounters, I always saw cannabis as the safer alternative and began to study deeper into the science behind it. 2015 is when I discovered cannabis is far more than just THC, which is the psychoactive compound found within that’s responsible for the ‘high’ associated with the plant. There were many other cannabinoids in this plant providing benefits from slowing the growth of cancerous cells, to in some individuals suppressing anxious feeling & emotion without any of the ‘high’ feeling being associated. This was the lightbulb in my head that provoked me to continue with the self study on this plant & its benefits in the endocannabinoid system found in every humans brain modulatory network.
In the above time of most darkness in my life, I knew that cannabis was what I wanted to do with my life & I knew how much of a struggle it was going to be given the nature of how my life had unfolded. Getting the approval through whoever was supervising my every move would be a challenge. This was a risk that I took & a challenge I faced with 100% confidence that what I would do would benefit so many lives in a positive way and there was no way I would let anything get in the way of making a it a successful turnout. It has been incredibly tough, and it still is tough, but theres been a measurable amount of success in forming the Cannabis Company by the name of: A1 Hemp Supply Co.
( A1HEMPS.COM )
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As mentioned previously, I have always had a passion for the cannabis plant & the remarkable benefits it provides to a diverse range of people.
At A1 Hemp Supply Co. (a1hemps.com), we offer high-quality, research focused products that range from topical lotions & tinctures all the way to gummies & vape devices. Our focus is providing top-shelf quality products, and sustaining good health. We strive to educate our customers on how these products work & and give them any helpful insight to make them aware of how these products will effect them. We mostly operate with wholesale businesses, distributing these products to retail stores & dispensaries that sell this product. We have over 60 retail locations located right here in Tennessee, many stores throughout the US & have directly served & educated over 2,000 direct customers through our online store or in person events. The progress & friction with consumer feedback from the retail store owners is nothing but positive, and we couldn’t be more grateful for it. Speaking for myself, as a consumer of these products, I want the highest quality, most transparent product from reputable companies who care about what’s going into ones body. Our customer base entails just that: Stores that understand quality & want that for their customer.
From manufacturing the product, all the way down to packaging and even delivering the product, we take quality control standards very seriously. Keeping things clean, triple checking for quality issues and ensuring our staff knows the facts behind our products is a MUST. With our quality focus being the best, we have to provide the best of the best for our customer.
Almost daily, we are getting reviews from consumers that have positive benefits from our product improving their quality of life by using A1 Hemp Supply Co. products. Here are a couple reviews for example:
(” I usually get up at the Military calls “Zero-Dark-Thirty”. That means it is about 3:30-4a.m. (0330-0400hrs). With PTSD often times comes insomnia, making sleep time difficult. I am happy to say that I can now sleep until 6:30 a.m. Having an “Iffy” sleep cycle is not good for physical and mental well being, so getting in a solid 6-8 hours of quality snooze time is beneficial for clearer thinking during the day … I would not use them if they did not work! I rate them at 1000 Sleepy Time stars!” )
(“This is the only thing that has managed to help my cramps, aches, and pains! “)
You can shop directly with us at ( A1HEMPS.COM ) and we will ship any of our products directly to you! (discretely of course)
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Without a doubt, 100% , I will list the top 3, in order of importance.
1. The Four Agreements – Don M. Ruiz
2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey
3. Outliers – Malcom Gladwell
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
With A1 Hemp Supply Co. , as previously mentioned – I have always had the desire to provide superior, high-quality products that were priced comparatively and competitively to the market. When I first started this company, there weren’t many companies providing good, truly high-quality products. A majority of products were made on an industrial level, so there was much more issues with trying to control quality in that method of production.
That is where I saw opportunity for what the market was missing and what I knew I had the knowledge and experience to be able to bring to it. I was in a job I hated, and knew it would be a challenge making it happen. It was a big risk but with more knowledge than finances to make it happen, I had a burning drive to be successful doing it and that’s where I didn’t give up in doing so.
Fast forward to today, there are several other companies putting good products into this market, and A1 does supports & works side by side with the companies we have chances to. It has never been about the money for me getting into this industry. Its always been about doing what I have a passion for, progressing the awareness of the benefits the cannabis plant does for this world and giving the consumer a transparently high quality product paired with the much needed education to end the stigma that’s associated here.
To answer the question more directly, I think being honest, transparent and having a top-shelf, luxury & unique product has helped build a reputation in this industry so our customers know: A1 is in this for the long run.
We will keep innovating, acting to improve from the feedback we get, continue to improve the quality standards of this industry & work to end the stigma in it! This is a team effort and without my amazing team & associates, none of it is possible, so working together is another big part of this movement.
( A1HEMPS.COM )
Contact Info:
- Website: a1hemps.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a1hempsupply__/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/A1Hemps
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-alexander-06044220b/