Jordyn Pollack of Ziggys Naturals: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
The thing that excites me the most about the CBD industry is how much CBD appears to be helping so many people. While we are not allowed to make “claims” as to exactly what CBD will do for you, we are constantly hearing from our clients how much our products are helping them in so many different ways. That was my goal, to help people and we are!!!
As part of my series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business” I had the pleasure of interviewing Jordyn Pollack Co-Founder of Ziggy’s Naturals.
At Ziggy’s Naturals, products are made using unique formulations specifically created to meet the needs of consumers, while adhering to the highest standards in efficacy, purity, quality and consistency.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I’ve always wanted to own my own business. My father has been in his own business for as long as I can remember. Several years ago, during the holidays, my dad sat me down with my brother and told us he wanted 10 ideas from each of us for a business we could start together. He was all about the saying “if I only knew then what I know now”. He wanted to take his knowledge from years in business and give it to us. At the same time, he wanted to learn from our knowledge about the millennial generation, what we like and the type of consumers we were.
Our first goal was to venture into something where we could really help people. I had already been working in the cannabis industry, first on the payroll side of the business and then in medical cannabis. Both my brother and I believed that with all the growth ongoing in that business sector, that it was definitely the area we should pursue. I was always into the plant and how it can help people in so many different ways. At first, we investigated creating a line of edibles, but we kept running into roadblocks and the red tape for entry into actual cannabis products was not easy to overcome.
We then started considering what else we could do in the industry where we could really help people. After an extensive amount of legwork and research, we decided that producing a line of CBD products was the way to go. We partnered up with one of the best hemp farmers in the country, worked on our branding and Ziggy’s Naturals was born!!! At first it was just my father and I running the business, but a short time later my brother joined the business as well.
I am really excited about the direction our company is heading. We are continuing to establish new relationships to help grow our social media marketing. We are adding new products to provide a wider array of choices. We have also made a very strong push into the LGBTQ+ community. Being a transgender male, this is a huge area of excitement for me. We are selling our products throughout the country and look forward to continuing to grow our market share in this very competitive business. We strive every day to provide the best customer service possible and do our best to make every client feel like they are our most important customer!!!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I think the most interesting that happened to me was learning that someone who works at the state Capitol building here in Texas was using our product on a regular basis. A friend of mine happened to be in their office one day, and a Ziggy’s Naturals product was on their desk. He told my friend that he got the product from another person that worked at the Capitol. Pretty cool!!! The lesson I learned; everyone is a potential client!!!!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
This is embarrassing, but I will share it. About a year ago, I accidentally erased our entire Dropbox folder that contained EVERYTHING. While that does not seem too funny, we all actually laughed our way through rebuilding our files by searching through emails, both sent and received, and we were able to get everything back. It was like a walk down memory lane reading all of the emails going back to when we first started the business. The major lesson I learned was to slow down and not rush through computer work….and definitely do not click on any buttons unless I 100% know what the result will be. Even though we got through it, my dad and brother constantly roast me about that mistake.
Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
As part of our push towards marketing to the LGBTQ+ community, we are working on new partnerships with people that identify as LGBTQ+. We have recently partnered with Rob Kearney, a gay man that is a World’s Strongest Man competitor who has been a world record holder and is a trailblazer in the LGBTQ+ community. We are also working with Alex Tilinca, a trans man whose goal it is to be the 1st trans man to win a Mr. Olympia competition. A long-standing partner is Aydian Dowling. Aydian was the first trans man to appear on the cover of Men’s Health Magazine and was also a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
By aligning with these individuals, we believe we are raising awareness in the LGBTQ+ community and inspiring people to be who they truly are and to aspire to achieve all of the goals and dreams they have for themselves.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I am extremely grateful for my father. First of all, he has supported me unconditionally throughout my journey and my transition. Neither one of my parents even flinched when I told them I wanted to transition. With my dad, it was particularly important for me knowing that he always looked at me as “Daddy’s little girl”. Starting this company together and having my father by my side as my partner is amazing. The experience is truly more than I could have ever dreamed of. He has taught me so many things about life growing up, and now he is showing me the path of being successful as an entrepreneur. He pushes both my brother and me to be the best people we can be every day, in all aspects of our lives. He is definitely helping us to learn about and reach our true potential in life.
This industry is young dynamic and creative. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?
I think our social media marketing strategies are the key to our success and the way to sell products now and will continue to be for years to come. There are so many people that are glued to their phones and are constantly interacting on social media. By partnering with the right influencers that have a solid amount of followers with strong engagement, we can reach consumers with our message quickly and effectively. TV commercials and radio ads are old school. Most people are streaming both TV and music now and pay a bit extra to get rid of ads. Why waste money trying to get to the consumer on the big screen….the little one in their hand is the true target.
For us, our message is very clear. We want everyone to know that we are an inclusive brand for all. We try to make that our motto. Even though we are selling CBD, we want to make sure our clients feel loved by our brand and that they are not just a customer, but part of our family. Using social media in the right way allows us to get that message across.
Large legacy companies should utilize their marketing budgets to partner with influencers that have massive social media followings. With the amount of money available to them, they could simply scale up the same strategy we use and I believe they would see incredible results.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Cannabis industry? Can you share 3 things that most concern you?
I will address the CBD industry, rather than the cannabis industry, as they are definitely different.
- The thing that excites me the most about the CBD industry is how much CBD appears to be helping so many people. While we are not allowed to make “claims” as to exactly what CBD will do for you, we are constantly hearing from our clients how much our products are helping them in so many different ways. That was my goal, to help people and we are!!!!
- I am definitely excited to see how widely accepted CBD products are becoming. Since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed Industrial Hemp for the Schedule 1 Drug List, the CBD industry has exploded. The industry is projected to continue to grow at exponential levels for many years to come.
- Finally, I am excited about the future of testing and trials to learn about more ways that CBD will be able to be used to help people. We are still at the infancy stage in this industry, the best is yet to come.
Concerns:
- A lot of people have ventured into this business and not everyone is producing good products that contain what they are advertised to contain. We independently lab test every product and have a QR Code on all our packaging that will lead the client directly to the lab report for exactly what quantity of CBD is contained in that product.
- Another concern is that different states have different sets of rules regarding the sale of CBD products. This can complicate things. We try to be as transparent as possible about our products and to stay on top of all of the changing rules and regulations around the country.
- Finally, there are still some people that have a misconception about CBD in comparison to marijuana. This is a concern in that it may prevent those people from ever exploring the potential ways that CBD can help them. More education is the key, which is an area that we will continue to expand upon.
Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business”? Please share a story or example for each.
- I wish that someone would have told me about how difficult it would be to advertise in the CBD business. For whatever reason, even though CBD is legal, and you see it everywhere, there are still tremendous restrictions on advertising. What is frustrating is that companies that are marketing “Hemp Oil” are given much more freedom in advertising, even though they are essentially selling the same product. There have even been several companies lately that have changed their labels from “CBD” to “Hemp” and now their ads are popping up everywhere. This is something we have considered doing, but with how quickly things are changing in this industry, we believe that soon the use of CBD will be allowed without issue.
- I wish that someone would have told me how many people would get into the business. Even though the industry is super competitive, we believe that we have a special niche in the LGBTQ+ community and that our products are far superior to so many others in the industry. We know that many people will not survive as competitors, and that we will continue to rise to the top.
- I wish that someone would have told me at the outset that getting credit card processing was going to be difficult. While this is no longer the case for us, early in the business we had a tough time getting a merchant account that would enable us to take credit cards. We had many companies offer their services, with assurances that they could approve us for processing, but only one came through, and that took several months to accomplish. We lost a lot of business at that time.
None of these things would have deterred us from starting our business, but awareness of them would have helped in our planning and business development strategies.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
What I would have to say, particularly as a former employee, is to make sure that your employees are kept happy. Always listen to and try to understand their position. Empower them to achieve the goals that you set for them and that they set for themselves. Encourage open communication with your employees so they know they can come to you with any questions or problems. Create a fun and exciting working environment. Lead your employees and empower them to lead their teams.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I just want all people to accept all people. People don’t need to try to understand why someone else feels a certain way or wants to be or look or dress a certain way. THAT IS WHO THEY ARE. We need to just let everyone be themselves. Without the questions, without the stares, without the laughs. Just let them be and love them like you would anyone else.
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
@jojopollack
@ziggysnaturals
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Jordyn Pollack of Ziggys Naturals: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.