This transcript is auto-generated and may contain spelling and grammatical errors.
Tyler Jorgenson (00:01.735)
Welcome out to Biz Ninja Entrepreneur Radio. I’m your host, Tyler Jorgensen. And today we’re sitting down with somebody who is pioneering some really cool things in a challenging space. James Stephenson is here representing Ojo. You can check them out at weareoho.com. And they’re a brand that’s doing really cool things focusing on the medicinal benefits of wellness and plants, but bringing it into really cool products like
beverages and chocolate and I’m so excited to hear why and And how it’s going. So welcome out to the show James
James Stephenson (00:38.542)
Thanks Tyler, great to be here.
Tyler Jorgenson (00:40.597)
We’re gonna go deep into Ojo, but I wanna go further back. When was that moment of your life that you realized, man, I’m not like other people. Maybe I’m an entrepreneur.
James Stephenson (00:49.166)
Wow, okay. Probably when I was at school, I was terrible at school. I didn’t even go to college. I left school when I was 16, effectively. I sort of carried on at sixth form college, but it was a bit futile by then. I wasn’t actually doing anything. Other than sort of hanging out, I grew up right at the start of the rave scene. I don’t know if you know anything about that, in the UK, at start of house music coming into popular culture.
Tyler Jorgenson (01:13.461)
Mm-hmm.
James Stephenson (01:16.622)
Fantastic time to grow up. yeah, I kind of realized quite quickly and quite early on I was DJing quite early on. was like probably 16 when I started to learn how to DJ. I was putting parties on with my friends at 17 and that kind of carried on right through to when I was continuing to DJ in London.
Tyler Jorgenson (01:34.837)
How many times did you play the Daba Dee Daba and Die I’m Blue song? Yeah. I’m blue Daba Dee Daba and Die. I feel like that was played all the time back then. Attaboy. All right, quality. We have a quality DJ in the house.
James Stephenson (01:40.332)
Which one’s that? which one? Gypsy? I can tell you for sure, never. I didn’t go that low. So quite early on, I was, suppose, a sense, being quite entrepreneurial because I was promoting parties and getting out there and having to hustle a little bit. And I was working full time as well.
Tyler Jorgenson (02:02.389)
Mm-hmm.
James Stephenson (02:08.686)
but not particularly enjoying it, working for corporate companies, albeit in music. But I much preferred going out there and working for myself.
Tyler Jorgenson (02:17.429)
You know, it’s interesting. You’re not the first person that I’ve interviewed that started in promotion, right? And I think that music and entrepreneurship have a really interesting crossover because it is an act of creation. and it’s an act of take creating something out of nothing. And think it’s so beautiful. What, how did you, what was your first time where you kind of moved from music into entrepreneurship and business?
James Stephenson (02:30.253)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (02:34.807)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (02:40.73)
My first was actually was kind of connected to business because I was working for a big festival promoter at the time and I saw a gap in the market with food at music festivals. At that time the food at music festivals was quite frankly abysmal. The standards gone up significantly since then. So I set up a business, I went and bought an old Airstream trailer and took it around the festival circuit in the UK for about four or five years.
Tyler Jorgenson (02:53.099)
Hmm.
James Stephenson (03:08.364)
and I would do Glastonbury, Reading, all the big festivals. And I had, because of the contact with the festival, I had access to get into those events. So me and a merry band of people went out for a whole summer and basically lived in tents. And we sold pie and mash. Pie in the UK is a kind of national staple.
It’s more associated with kind of sweet stuff here, but it was like a savory meat pie with mashed potato. And we would turn up with five or six thousand portions a weekend and serve it to hungry festival-goers.
Tyler Jorgenson (03:35.708)
yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (03:43.135)
That’s, mean, there’s a lot of logistics that go into that to make it work. this is what I, one of the things I love about entrepreneurs is that they don’t let the fact that there’s going to be challenges stop them from still doing it. What was one of the, in your like early career and progress, what was the first, one of the first major challenges that you faced and how’d you overcome it?
James Stephenson (03:47.075)
Hello.
James Stephenson (03:56.426)
It was very
James Stephenson (04:02.926)
in that particular business, having no catering background whatsoever, which might have been useful in much respect, was figuring out how to make that much food and being able to serve. When we first started, we just ended up with an enormous queue of people waiting for their food.
And of course I quickly realized that I just needed much more hot holding space to hold food. So I would start at like six in the morning and then we’d open at 10 in the morning. But by that time we had enough inventory as such to kind of, you know, to see it through. Things breaking down constantly, like ovens breaking down. Like it wasn’t like you could find somebody to come and fix it because you were in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere. We got very good at fixing things on the fly.
Tyler Jorgenson (04:31.68)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (04:41.78)
Right.
James Stephenson (04:46.478)
Yeah. So those are the challenges, just not having that usual support system around you. So you have to figure it out. People trying to steal your money. That was obviously an ongoing thing as well. There would be people who trying to rob you, which was fine. remember Oasis concert. mean, it’s funny. They’re actually touring again this year, but we did Oasis in Heaton Park in Manchester. That was one of the scariest events of my life. It was, it was terrifying. Yeah. People getting beaten up and it was, it was absolutely mayhem.
Tyler Jorgenson (04:51.296)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (05:07.699)
wow.
Tyler Jorgenson (05:13.631)
I don’t know if I would have expected that Oasis was the brought the scary crowds, but, you know, some it’s always the things you don’t expect. so obviously the natural next step of, running, selling meat pies at concerts and things in, the UK, the natural next step is to move to New York and start a, cannabis infused line of products. Natural.
James Stephenson (05:22.368)
It was pretty edgy. So yeah, back.
James Stephenson (05:31.074)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (05:35.694)
Of Yeah, exactly. That’s what happened. Not quite.
Tyler Jorgenson (05:40.354)
Take us through that. How did you get to, what made you decide to lean into this space and start OHO?
James Stephenson (05:45.742)
So we moved, my wife and co-founder, Nick, had a communications agency which is based in the UK and the US. And in 2014, we decided to move to the US to help scale the US side of the business, which it did very quickly. Around the same time, that was around the same time as Colorado was going legal. And I could see what was happening.
and we in fact invested in a Friends brand very early on in California and actually did quite well surprisingly. Yeah, it was quite, I mean we put in a tiny amount of money but what it did was it gave us a lot of access to banking, insurance, card, all the, you know, the guys very kindly put us in touch with everything that we needed to do to start the business and what I also realized was in terms of, you know, in my naivety I also wanted then to set up a
Tyler Jorgenson (06:21.34)
nice.
James Stephenson (06:40.662)
marijuana business in California, which I’m very glad I didn’t in retrospect. I started using CBD and also then because of the 2018 Farm Bill, we realized that we could market and sell that product nationally. So we started looking into that space and at that time there wasn’t an awful lot good, to be honest. So we spent about a year trying to…
Tyler Jorgenson (06:43.657)
Right, right.
James Stephenson (07:02.946)
developed some sort of initial products. And we decided very early on that we wanted to do like a full spectrum product, which meant there was going to be an element of THC in it, because that is super important. So in February 2020, just before the pandemic, perfect timing, we launched Doho with our kind of first two hero products, which were just two tinctures basically, and slowly just started to build up.
Tyler Jorgenson (07:27.022)
wow.
James Stephenson (07:31.63)
We were basically sending out products from our kitchen table initially because we’d been turfed out of our office in the city because of the pandemic. And little by little we started to add skews. We did a topical, then we started doing gummies and sort of grew quite slowly and organically, which I think served us very well because then we could, we didn’t burn that much money and you know, we could start to build a base and figure out what we wanted to do.
Tyler Jorgenson (07:51.157)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (07:59.145)
Yeah. And I feel like a lot of the, a lot of the companies that were getting into the space of that sign at that time, it seemed like they had real similar, product lines, right? It’s like, okay, everyone’s going to have the tincture and then maybe everyone will have, then they’ll put the cream. and then, so as the market started to become, well, I, know, or even just somewhat mature, right? People accepting it, right. and, and being more acceptable and more, accessible.
James Stephenson (08:09.763)
there.
James Stephenson (08:13.336)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (08:18.562)
saturated.
James Stephenson (08:24.44)
Yep.
James Stephenson (08:28.494)
Yep.
Tyler Jorgenson (08:28.735)
How did you decide which products to really, how are you gonna differentiate in that time?
James Stephenson (08:34.176)
It’s funny, know, still have that. That’s still a big part of our business. We still sell a lot of tinctures. We still sell a lot of CBD gummies and a lot of topicals as well. I think if something’s good, people will buy it. know, for me, the most important thing is the product. It all begins with the product. People will buy it once.
But that’s it. So if you make a great product, believe that people are buying in. So it’s actually turned into quite a nice little part of our business and a good core.
Tyler Jorgenson (09:03.563)
Great. Yeah. And that’s a really, really strong and important thing is that, most people can sell a product one time. Most businesses come out and they might get moved through their initial inventory, but if people don’t naturally come back and purchase, right. Without too much co-currency, obviously you need to do marketing and email and follow up. But, how, how did you focus on acquiring your first customers?
James Stephenson (09:18.112)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (09:22.542)
little reminder
James Stephenson (09:29.902)
Good question. had to pivot quite quickly because we obviously, well not obviously, but prior to the pandemic we had big plans for wholesale and then we had to pivot quite quickly and move to DTC and online and Econ which as you probably know is not an easy thing to get right or to win in. So it took time. It took time to build the base. What we also did quite early on is we opened our first store in our local town.
Tyler Jorgenson (09:58.465)
Mm.
James Stephenson (09:59.79)
And that was sort of almost accidental. We’d basically seen this shop down this side street in our very small village nearby and decided we wanted to open it just as our office and to do fulfillment from. And then Nick said, well, there’s a retail space at the front. Why don’t we open a store? So that was just a phenomenal way of talking to the customer directly.
Also understanding what people wanted, what people’s opinion was on the product, because they would come in and go, it’s fairly conservative here, we live in Westchester in New York, and they were quite skeptical, dubious about the product, no, I’m never going to use that, and some of those people are our biggest customers. Yeah, especially with everything.
Tyler Jorgenson (10:40.055)
yeah. yes. I definitely have watched that over the last decade, the people be like, I can’t believe that. never would. These are the kids that grew up on wearing their D.A.R.E. drug abuse resistant education shirts. So they’re like, I never am I going to try that. Yeah.
James Stephenson (10:49.539)
Never.
James Stephenson (10:56.65)
Exactly, Nancy Reagan ringing in their ears. Yeah, exactly. But then they realize, once they’ve tried it, that if it’s a good product, it can really help them and be beneficial to their lives.
Tyler Jorgenson (11:07.489)
And that’s where I see, you know, in, when I look at your website, more talking about medicinal and therapeutic and benefits. and so obviously in this space, there’s unique complexities, regulations and challenges. what were some of the challenges you didn’t expect? know you had worked with somebody a little bit, as an investor. you were aware of the space, but what were some challenges you didn’t expect and how’d you guys deal with that?
James Stephenson (11:14.872)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (11:28.812)
Yeah.
I think the biggest challenge early on was the supply chain, trying to find the right partners to work with. There were a lot of people that kind of sprung up very early on and probably didn’t know a great deal about co-packing and manufacturing. And that was quite frustrating. And I’m sure I was very frustrated as well, to be honest, as a customer. So that took a little bit of time to find the right co-packers and partners to work with. And we now have an incredible sort of team that we work with across the country.
of people.
Tyler Jorgenson (12:01.213)
I don’t know if you realized what you said there where you’re like, and I was probably frustrating too as a customer. But the awareness is such a unique thing. There’s so many people who are like, my, the 3PL screwed up and they did this. I’m like, well, you mean on your inventory that you didn’t track properly? Like that sounds like a you thing. So really nice that you have that humility to at least recognize there’s multiple people involved.
James Stephenson (12:07.502)
100 % I still am.
James Stephenson (12:21.911)
Yeah, we’re all learning.
James Stephenson (12:29.496)
fully aware. I’m trying to be at least.
Tyler Jorgenson (12:32.553)
That’s good. So you mentioned that you had a partner early on and you also are working with your spouse. mean, you’re like, hey, let me bring in every bit of complexity possible. Any advice to people who are thinking of working with a friend or family member?
James Stephenson (12:37.249)
Yes.
Yes.
James Stephenson (12:44.002)
Yes.
James Stephenson (12:50.75)
makes the relationship quite tricky because you sometimes got to make decisions for the business and not necessarily for your friends, however painful that is. So I would.
I would probably warn people to really think about making that decision. I’m lucky with Nick. We’ve worked together for a long time before. We know each other very well. We know where our strengths lie. We know how to navigate each other for the most part. It’s not always perfect. But yes, it’s not easy. Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (13:29.205)
Yeah. And so I think recognizing that it’s not always going to be perfect is a big part of, do you have the emotional maturity to be a partner and work with, work with somebody close to you, right? Because it’s not going to be. So do you have conflict resolution skills? Do you have the ability to restore communication after a hard conversation? what about, so do you, do you and your, yeah. Yeah. Do you, and so do you and your wife still work in the business real close? Yeah.
James Stephenson (13:39.799)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (13:45.111)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, And the answer to that is probably no. Not always, you know.
James Stephenson (13:57.186)
We do very closely at Nix. Everything sells and marketing and I do everything kind of operationally. Yes. Exactly. mean, look, in a startup environment, you’re always kind of sidestepping either way. You know, it’s natural. Yeah, we try to kind of delineate, you know, as much as we can.
Tyler Jorgenson (14:02.655)
Okay, so you kind of have just kind of each created a very clear role. It’s not like everyone steps on each other’s toes.
Tyler Jorgenson (14:13.558)
Right.
Tyler Jorgenson (14:19.649)
I noticed on your website you have some really cool collaborations. How have you approached working with other brands and other businesses as a way to help grow your brand?
James Stephenson (14:29.902)
I think it’s super important to work with other brands as much as possible. It gives you another angle. It obviously introduces you to another customer base.
And it helps you to collaborate and come up with, from my perspective, phenomenal products. I haven’t always got the answers, so it’s good to also work with other people in the, not necessarily in the cannabis industry, if they’re coming from a topical or cosmetic or we’ve worked with on food as well. I think it brings a whole different kind of dynamic. So I think it’s super important.
Tyler Jorgenson (14:48.342)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (15:07.221)
Yeah. So you guys entered the space of, so you started topicals, tinctures, things like that, but then you, have now RTD ready to drink beverages. have chocolates. How have you decided when is the right time to expand? Cause every, every new product line you add is a whole amount of complexity, right?
James Stephenson (15:14.157)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (15:18.37)
Yes. Yep.
James Stephenson (15:26.666)
It really is, yeah. And then it comes to kind of whole question around what do you back? Which is always ongoing question in our organization. It’s like.
At what point do we then back into one thing? And that’s a question I get asked a lot and people go, you know, you, you’re too diverse and you know, you’re doing retail. also have a flagship store now in a very small village, which is an old fire station, which is doing very, very well, which is fantastic. And we also have like food and beverage there as well. so yeah, we are very diverse, which I kind of like.
Tyler Jorgenson (15:53.916)
So cool.
James Stephenson (16:00.666)
especially in something that’s as uncertain as cannabis, you know, it’s good to have your eight, not have your eight in one basket.
Tyler Jorgenson (16:03.36)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (16:06.795)
Well, and for someone who’s artistic and creative and like the variety, I love variety. I crave it. I want new, I love the starting more than the running and the day to day operating. Right. And so, that feeds probably you and your business that if, that sort of thing, but how has that complete, has that complexity ever backfired on you guys?
James Stephenson (16:19.169)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (16:25.239)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (16:29.49)
I don’t think it’s necessarily backfired. think it gets challenging, certainly from just how much time you’ve got to concentrate on stuff.
Definitely on a cashflow perspective, we are very bootstrapped at the moment. We try to raise as little money as possible, which is unusual. A lot of people raise a lot of money. We’re trying to do on small amount of investment as possible. And as we move into beverage, that’s becoming very challenging because that’s a very different business.
Tyler Jorgenson (16:41.632)
Mm-hmm.
Tyler Jorgenson (16:58.089)
Hmm. Yeah.
James Stephenson (17:01.07)
our production next month will be for best part of 20,000 cases, know, so that’s going to be just next month is going to be $300,000 plus in cost. So it is a challenge.
Tyler Jorgenson (17:05.184)
Wow.
Tyler Jorgenson (17:13.865)
Yeah, and then I mean, has, is that all committed or are you like, we’re going to make it and then we have to go sell it, right? That’s good.
James Stephenson (17:19.722)
It’s largely committed. mean, yeah, we’ve got some really good flow. We’ve had some very large POs over the last six weeks, which has been very encouraging. You’ll know that it’s one thing obviously to get into distributors and get into retailers is how you get velocity now. It’s that how are you going to support that and get customers buying your product?
But we feel pretty comfortable about it. You’ve always got to have a certain amount of inventory. So if you do get a run on it, you don’t run out, which is also the other, you know, big no-no, you don’t want to do that. it’s such a balance. But back to your original question, I really saw the opportunity in beverage quite early on, but also recognized that probably a regulated environment wasn’t where it was going to scale. So when you’re…
Tyler Jorgenson (17:47.201)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (17:53.857)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (18:08.782)
went wreck about two years ago. We were one of the first brands that went into the space with pre-rolls and gummies and chocolates, all the stuff that we do in HEM.
Tyler Jorgenson (18:14.721)
Mm-hmm.
James Stephenson (18:18.54)
And then I kind of developed these SOPs for the drinks to go into that market and then realized there’s just no scale there. This product, Beverage RTD, has to be distributed in a traditional way to get any sort of scale. And of course, that’s the incredible place we find ourselves now with hemp derived. So very, very exciting.
Tyler Jorgenson (18:41.001)
Really important question. I want you to imagine you’re sitting there with your wife, you guys have a couple of your beverages out. What vinyl do you put on?
James Stephenson (18:47.351)
Mm-hmm.
Good question, very diverse. it could be anything from Fleetwood Mac to…
and you know, chase and stay, it could be anything. However I’m feeling, we had, our kids were back home, we have two, a 17 and 18 year old, two boys, and they were home last weekend, and yeah, we had the, I obviously have turntables downstairs, so we were playing some music, it was a lot of fun, we had a bunch of people here. So it could be anything from something quite chill to full on, yeah, full on house.
Tyler Jorgenson (19:20.147)
Yeah, depends if you’re relaxing or celebrating or connecting, right?
James Stephenson (19:24.468)
exactly, but there was definitely a couple of O-Hos flowing.
Tyler Jorgenson (19:28.117)
Man, I feel like you need O-Ho Playlists, know, curated by DJ James. very cool.
James Stephenson (19:32.364)
We do. We do. We actually do. We have Spotify. I’ve also just set up a SoundCloud as well. I’ve only got one mix on there because I’ve been too busy to actually put them together because it takes too long to kind of lay them out. But that is very much on our roadmap. And we’re looking to do some music activations this summer as well, which is going to be a lot of fun.
Tyler Jorgenson (19:47.915)
Very cool.
Tyler Jorgenson (19:52.711)
I think that’s fantastic. think what a cool way to honor like your path and your talents. That’s really cool.
James Stephenson (19:57.326)
I think that’s super important. think you’ve touched on something there. think you have to have something that very much comes from you.
Tyler Jorgenson (20:05.525)
Yeah, I feel like that’s what that to me is what really allows true connection. And I think this generation of consumers is craving connection. They’re craving community. They’re craving personality in the brand. Right. And you can see that by which brands are taking off their brands that either people see themselves in either their past or their aspirational future. They see some piece of them in the in the brand that they want to be a part of. And so what would a cool way to connect that.
James Stephenson (20:16.771)
Yep.
James Stephenson (20:21.453)
Yes.
James Stephenson (20:30.413)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (20:33.633)
Are your boys involved in the business at all?
James Stephenson (20:37.634)
They’re not, I mean, obviously they’re not strictly allowed to consume any of the products either. They never consume them, obviously. It’s funny, I think because we’ve been in the business so long and they’ve grown up around the industry, they’re very relaxed about it. I think a lot of their friends probably think it’s quite cool and they’re like every time.
Tyler Jorgenson (20:41.375)
That’s true. Yes, we’ll make sure that’s on record very clearly.
Yes.
Tyler Jorgenson (20:57.217)
Yeah.
James Stephenson (21:01.75)
we see that, you know, they whenever they’re on a phone with one of their friends and they’re like, you can overhear one of their friends saying, Mr. Stephenson, let’s get some sweet weed, huh? So yeah, they’re definitely, I know.
Tyler Jorgenson (21:10.77)
Yeah, that’s funny.
What are some things coming up for O-Ho that you’re most excited about?
James Stephenson (21:19.95)
We’ve got some very exciting new products coming out. We’ve got a new flavor that’s about to drop in next couple of weeks for the summer. We’ve got a couple of new formats in terms of just how we’re presenting the product, which we’re really excited about. We’ve got a lot of deals that we’ve just done with distributors, which we’re very, very pleased about, and then all the activations that we’re going to do around that. So there’s going to be a lot of stuff going on in those kind of territories where we’ve…
where we’ve landed those distribution deals and retail deals.
Tyler Jorgenson (21:50.741)
I think activations are something that growing up in like the 90s were really common. And I feel like there was a season where they weren’t done as much. Explain to us a little bit about what activations are and some of the cool things you guys are doing.
James Stephenson (22:04.398)
I think it’s just doing the previous business we had was a communications agency. So part of that was experiential. So we used to do a lot of very large events for brands like Tiffany and Nokia. So yeah, we’re going to do a whole bunch of sort of activations, experiences where people can come and experience the brand sort of in person. it, know, in sport, we’re doing some bits and pieces in sport, which is going to be great. And then obviously music is going to be a part of that as well.
Tyler Jorgenson (22:12.438)
Hmm.
Tyler Jorgenson (22:16.781)
wow.
James Stephenson (22:34.474)
It’s always a balance when you’re starting off to sort of decide what you’re doing that’s going to make a most, ultimately what’s going to make the most amount of impact in sales. So it’s like, do we kind of put that money into doing a big rep, doing a big party? What’s that going to achieve versus if we just go and do sampling, which is also super important, you know. So it’s just.
Tyler Jorgenson (22:54.941)
Yeah. Well, and the challenge is, you know, two things might, one might be slightly better from a business perspective, but you still want to pick the thing you like to, right? So like, how do you balance that? Which profits versus passion.
James Stephenson (23:02.894)
It’s be a lot more fun.
Exactly.
James Stephenson (23:09.646)
It’s, yeah, when you’re running a startup, it’s a difficult decision because you can, as you know, can burn money very quickly and fun as it may for a few days or a weekend or being at a festival, running a bar or a sound system. You’re like, you know, what impacts is that going to have early on?
as budgets start to grow, then we can maybe think about it in different way. But we’re just trying to be really smart and trying to do stuff with friends and people that we know that we can try and shoehorn in at something fun,
Tyler Jorgenson (23:39.403)
Yeah. So you’ve done a lot with, like we talked about with collaborators and other, and things like that. Do you have a, like a dream ambassador that you would love that say if this person said, Hey, I’m, I want to be, you know, connected.
James Stephenson (23:53.966)
That’s a good question. I’m a big fan of Tom Hardy, he’s an actor in the UK. Whether or not he’s relevant to Oho, don’t know. He’s super cool, I like him.
Tyler Jorgenson (24:06.657)
You know, I like that answer. It’s like, it’d just be cool for me.
James Stephenson (24:10.356)
I him. He’s cool. He’s probably, yeah, why not? Yeah, I think he’d be great.
Tyler Jorgenson (24:16.351)
And you’ve never mailed him a gift basket?
James Stephenson (24:19.232)
I haven’t yet. I think he’s based in the UK. So strictly speaking, not strictly speaking, our products are totally legal there. So yeah, but yeah, we definitely need to get him some at some point.
Tyler Jorgenson (24:29.899)
Cool, and then what about in the US, are there still challenges and what states are still really challenging for you guys to work with?
James Stephenson (24:39.086)
At the moment the regulations are so unclear. There are some states, as you know, that starting to put the regulations down, which we obviously welcome. It’s super important.
There are some states that have banned it. For example, it got banned in Arizona last week. I think that’s just a temporary measure from what I can read in the regs. They’re trying to sort of create a framework for beverage. I think beverage ultimately will kind of, that’ll kind of work itself out. I think the kind of, the momentum’s there now. I think the things like DA and THCA and very high-potency gummies that are gas stations,
which really shouldn’t be there to be honest. All that will probably fall away at some point. Whether or not the DTC, the Econ part of the business will be allowed to continue is questionable as well. I think where you find out seltzers and beer, that’s where it’s probably gonna land. And initially it’s gonna be in liquor stores. there’s a tiny bit of grocery which is adopting it at the moment. And then you’ve got convenience as well.
Tyler Jorgenson (25:22.465)
you
Tyler Jorgenson (25:47.318)
Mm-hmm.
James Stephenson (25:50.102)
It’s going to take a while. You know, eventually, you know, you may see Walmart and Target starting to trial it as well, which is when it really starts to change mentally.
Tyler Jorgenson (25:51.531)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (25:56.031)
Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. It’s been fascinating watching it kind of move from the back of, some of the grocery stores towards the front, right? It’s like, okay, we’re going to put you on an end cap on the back row facing the, the staff room. And then now it’s like, as you walk in, there’s welcome, you know, it’s on, it’s on the welcome display. I’m like, okay, look, it’s changing, right? It’s evolving.
James Stephenson (26:04.792)
It’s.
James Stephenson (26:08.878)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, there is a, it is, we were talking to a large national liquor store chain and their display has gone in a year from six foot to 30 foot basically. So it’s really exciting.
Tyler Jorgenson (26:25.397)
Wow. Yeah. Fascinating. When, as you look at like the business and life, right? And I can tell that you do a really good job of, of work life blend, right? You build, your life is in your business and your business is in your life. And I see that as a positive. What are, but to me, business is about creating the lifestyle you want, right? You’ve got 17, eight year olds, your kids are growing up. What is one item on your personal, not your business, but your personal bucket list that you’re going to accomplish in the next 12
James Stephenson (26:40.543)
Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
James Stephenson (26:56.27)
Probably spending a more time with them to be honest before they don’t want to spend any more time with me. You know, I think that would be a real
Tyler Jorgenson (27:02.196)
If that hasn’t happened already, you’re already winning.
James Stephenson (27:05.165)
Yeah, no, actually surprising. my sons and I are really into mountain biking. So we are actually going to Whistler in July, which I haven’t been to before, which I’m really looking forward to, but I had to actually council last year because we were about to open our new store. So yeah, we basically rescheduled it for this July. So I’m really looking forward to that. So I think it’s just about trying to spend time with the family. That at the moment is a real luxury for us.
Tyler Jorgenson (27:12.694)
Very cool.
Tyler Jorgenson (27:33.301)
I totally get it. My kids are similar ages. It’s like terrifying that when, you know, I’m like, they’re right on that edge of, I feel like disappearing into the real world. And I’m like, no, just stay a little longer.
James Stephenson (27:46.798)
It just goes so quick and everyone will say that to you, you’ll blink, you know, and they’ll be 17, 18. And that’s happened.
Tyler Jorgenson (27:53.055)
Yeah, they say you don’t believe them because in the moment that they’re telling you you’re exhausted or you’re worn out from having little kids, but yeah, but yeah, no, it’s true. It’s blinked by. And it’s, but my, oldest is really actually all my kids got really into music. And so I think it’s really neat how you blend those two things. Anything else that you feel people really need to know about what you guys are doing with.
James Stephenson (27:58.668)
No, I didn’t sleep, yeah.
James Stephenson (28:16.654)
let me think. Not really. Other than go and try it. And I hope you, I hope you enjoy the products. That’s super important. I think we win on a number of things, but flavor in particular, which I find is super important. mean, a lot of these products will ultimately do the same thing, much the same as alcohol, but it, you know, it’s all about flavor. And I think we really do win on that, on that point. so yeah, try and yourself.
Tyler Jorgenson (28:21.824)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (28:38.569)
Yeah. Flavor and yeah, story and connection. think so people can go to we are Oho.com. There’s a store locator or you can buy directly on there. really amazing, amazing line of products and, yeah, flavors, all kinds of really cool stuff. Great branding. You guys have done an amazing job. Really neat to see the brand and hope it continues to thrive.
James Stephenson (28:46.584)
Yep.
Yup.
James Stephenson (28:57.186)
Thank you.
Thank you so much. Thanks, Tyler.
Tyler Jorgenson (29:02.131)
Awesome, to all my business, wherever you’re listening, watching or tuning in, it’s your turn to go out and do something.
