Under the Leaf with Jon Braveman, Founder of NoGoo Nonstick Products

Jon Braveman, known in the industry as JonnyB, always had a love for the cannabis industry. He first realized his passion for cannabis as a young adult growing up in New England. Botany classes and smoke shops fueled his interest in the industry, an industry he never thought he would be professionally apart of. However, when the opportunity to join an industry he loved presented itself, Jon wasted no time jumping at the chance. One of his products, NoGoo, is revolutionizing containers in the cannabis industry. NoGoo, a platinum cured nonstick silicone container, is the best nonstick container on the market. It allows the consumer to use 100% of the jars content, without discarding the sticky residues that constantly get thrown out. NoGoo is just one of many products Braveman has developed in order to fulfill a need in the industry, something that he takes great pride in doing. We recently caught up with Jon on the front porch of his Maui residence; where he spent some time filling us in on how he has manages to stick to the cannabis industry.

Give us a brief spiel about what you do. What is NoGoo Nonstick all about? What is at its core?

At its core, NoGoo is a solution for a common problem. More specifically, I noticed “The ICKY in STICKY” roughly 5 years ago when Marijuana Concentrate products really started to hit the market. Those concentrates are very sticky and tacky, and often times consumers were throwing tons of product away because it was getting stuck on plastic or glass containers. To make a comparison, think of all the peanut butter you throw away because you don’t want to dig it out of the jar. Well these concentrates are much more expensive than peanut butter.

“Taking the ICKY OUT OF STICKY”

After searching for a solution to this problem, I found that silicone was a great non-stick option that we could make our product out of, thus NoGoo was born. Our first jar had a threaded top so that it wouldn’t open in your pocket. While that was our first product, we have developed countless other non-stick products, all of which provide concentrate users the ability to consume the entire product that they purchase. “Taking the ICKY OUT OF STICKY” is our tag line.

How do you start your day? What is the first thing you do?

First thing I do is grab my phone and run through my emails. After that, I jump on the phone with my warehouse in Indiana. I spend my year living in Maui and Arizona, so I’m constantly on the phone with them, making sure orders are coming in and being shipped out on time. Then I’ll jump in the shower and pop on my laptop. While I spend a lot of time working remotely, I’m always dealing with multiple times zones. With my production facilities being overseas and my warehouse being in Indiana, I’m usually working 16-hour days so that I can communicate with everyone I have to. It’s a nutty schedule.

The commute from my kitchen to my balcony is the best commute I have ever had.

What does a normal day look like to you?

I spend a ‘normal’ day working with my US and Canadian contacts. Then in the evening I work on new product design and coordinate production with my overseas factory. My operations are spread around the globe so I have to navigate plenty of time changes everyday. The last thing I do before I end my day is email my warehouse in Indiana because, while it is late for me, they are just getting into the office. While they get their days started, I’ll grab a couple hours of sleep and then jump right back on the horse.

What is the one thing we will never find you without?

One of my NoGoo jars loaded to the brim and my medical cannabis card.

What does your workspace look like?

Heavenly. 6 months out of the year my office is my balcony or patio here in Maui. I have my laptop, phone and desk set up overlooking the beach that is just across the street. I plop down and spend my day working right there. The commute from my kitchen to my balcony is the best commute I have ever had.

What do you love about what you are doing with your business?

The thing I love most about NoGoo is that there are no constraints. I have a million different product ideas in my head at any given time combined with the ability to make any one of them reality. I love to identify a need, or problem, and then find a solution. The process allows me to be creative, design a product and then literally manufacture a solution.

I love it all. From the creative process to the sales aspects, I am incredibly lucky to be in this business. For me, NoGoo isn’t just a job. It’s a crazy lifestyle and I love it. The travel can be demanding, but I’m always going to a fun event or trade show.  I’m living my dream.

I love to identify a need, or problem, and then find a solution.

How do you choose the people you work with? What do you look for?

I look for other entrepreneurs who have been in the industry for a while and have a solid brand name/reputation that I would like to associate NoGoo with. I am starting to work with a lot of quality product owners to create custom NoGoo products. That will allow us to cross-brand and cross-market. Both brands will elevate from the partnership.

I get pitched new ideas and new opportunities all the time, so for me it is important to pick new projects carefully. Opportunities have to be worth the time and money spent on research and development because that is where the most money goes, into creating new products.

How do you keep yourself motivated throughout the day?

For me, motivation comes from what I see everyday in this industry and the future legalization of cannabis. As for NoGoo, I don’t need much inspiration because I am so nuts about this job. Everyday there are new opportunities in the industry. I have millions of thoughts and ideas going through my head. I just wish I could work on more projects!

As for NoGoo, I don’t need much inspiration because I am so nuts about this job.

How do you end your day? What’s the last thing you do?

The last thing I do is finish up emails to my warehouse in Indiana. By the time I call it a night they are usually just getting into work. After that I sit back, unwind and enjoy the cannabis experience before I grab a couple hours sleep and get right back to action.

How do you start your day? How do you set yourself up for success before you leave work? Join the conversation and comment below!

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A Closer Look into Med-X Inc.

Combine a state of the art research and development facility that houses beautifully cultivated gardens with the hustle and bustle of an office teaming with driven professionals and you have Med-X, Inc. Led by COO Matthew Mills, Med-X, Inc. has built itself from the ground up and is committed and dedicated to improving the Cannabis community. One of their products, Nature-Cide, is one of the only all-natural pesticides designed specifically to help the cultivation industry. But where others might stop right there, Med-X is committed to researching and developing ways to not only prove their claims, but to also enhance current and future products wherever possible. Matthew loves to be hands on with his company. Luckily for us he took his hands off for just a couple minutes to spend some time with us.

What is Med-X Inc. all about? What is at its core?

Overall, Med-X actually serves a pretty wide variety of functions. First off, we are a research and development company with a cultivation facility for testing and developing new products. We do a ton of R&D on our products, like Nature-Cide for instance. This R&D allows us to truly verify our claims in relation to how it can help the cultivation process.

Med-X is also growing its own media company with marijuanatimes.org. This is going to allow us to share the information throughout the industry, creating a better Cannabis community as a whole. Lastly, we have a Business Development and capital-raising divisions; both of which are aimed towards making sure Med-X is around for the long haul.

How do you start your day? What is the first thing you do?

As a father, the first thing I do is help my teenage daughters start their day. Being that its summer, both of my daughters work for our companies while taking extra credit summer courses. Then I get to work. We built a 600 square foot test facility at my home, so I could develop products and conduct R&D as much as possible. I head straight over and check on our cultivation; recording results from the previous days while continuing our research and development, as well as staying focused on our test patterns that we have planned. I love that this is the first part of my day because the cultivation garden is so lush and beautiful. It really charges my batteries.

I’m a very hands-on guy and I love what I do.

What does a normal day look like to you?

As I mentioned, I spend the first part of my day in the lab, doing cultivation and testing. Then I travel 10 minutes over to the Med-X office. We have a lot going on right now. For instance, we are going through an SEC audit because we are planning on moving the company into the public market. Med-X is also made up of a bunch of different divisions, so I find myself going back and forth between all of them constantly. The first thing I do normally is check on the overall operations of the company as well as the capital raising and PR divisions. We are doing a good deal of PR right now.

After that I spend a good deal of time going back and forth with potential investors as we have been generating interest daily. Then I’ll check on our R&D division, recording results and helping with further testing. Lastly, we just hired a group of staff writers to report on the industry as a whole as well as some the break through in product development we are involved in. I like to be a part of the process to be sure they are getting everything they needed to be successful. As you can tell, we have numerous departments here and I like to participate in every one of them. I’m a very hands-on guy and I love what I do.

What is the one thing we will never find you without?

My smartphone or tablet. I can basically run all of my businesses through them. I return emails, make calls and send documents or photos with these devices constantly. Being part of 5 different ventures I’ve been forced to become very well adapted with technology. The only time I don’t have one of these devices on me is when I am sleeping.

I love the people that I get to work with. I have an incredible staff of true professionals and they make my day-to-day operations so much easier.

What does your workspace look like?

The lab at my home is a beautiful workspace with plush green gardens. It feels like I’m on vacation when I wake up and walk out to it. Great start to my day. The headquarters is a 25,000 square foot facility in Southern California. For me, the office is just as beautiful because we have countless people hustling and bustling throughout the facility at all times. From raising capital to fulfilling orders, my team works extremely hard and there always seems to be a buzz in the building.

What do you love about what you are doing with your business?

The people. I love the people that I get to work with. I have an incredible staff of true professionals and they make my day-to-day operations so much easier. My days go by in the blink of an eye and without these ultra-productive people surrounding me we wouldn’t be as successful. In terms of the business itself, I really enjoy generating capital and dealing with investors. Med-X has been generating a good deal of interest from the investment side and I get a thrill when someone believes in our journey so much they want to work and invest in us. And while I enjoy the research and development side as well, it tends to be much slower so there really isn’t as much instant gratification.

How do you choose the people you work with? What do you look for?

Work ethic, personality and job experience are important to me. Hiring can be very hard so I tend to look for someone who has long-term job history, meaning they have stayed with the same company for a good while. For me lasting experience speaks to a potential employees work ethic and personality. I’m big on personality. Med-X is a team and whomever we hire has to be able to show up and interact with everyone. We tend to stay away from lone wolf types.

From raising capital to fulfilling orders, my team works extremely hard and there always seems to be a buzz in the building.

Overall, work ethic will get you the furthest in my book. Everyone we have brought on has had to earn his or her position in our company. Our CEO, CFO and board members have all worked their way into those positions through other interactions I have had with them. Promoting this way has allowed us to put the right people in charge. Peers often ask me ‘How do you do all you do? You have so many hands in so many different projects’. I tell them it is all about my team. I am truly blessed because they get things done. They truly make my job look easy.

How do you keep yourself motivated throughout the day?

I love every part of my business. Med-X is growing so fast that I’m constantly fueled by what we are achieving. For instance, we just filed for a new patent on a new Nature-Cide product. Every day I am happy to get up in the morning and look at cultivation, talk to investors and just converse with our team. Med-X has done a great job putting together an outstanding group of professionals and I couldn’t be happier about the whole process.

I love every part of my business.

How do you end your day? What’s the last thing you do?

The last thing I do everyday is check in on our cultivations. The systems are automated but I always feel more comfortable walking through them myself to make sure everything is perfect. I normally do this between 8pm and 9pm, going over tests, graphs and charts that need to be completed that day. Then I check the irrigation and the lighting. If I am out of town I have my team double-check it, but I love the piece of mind I get from seeing it myself.

What do you think about how Med-X does business? What do you think of their work environment? Comment below!

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Under the Leaf: Wayne Zallen of Grow Condos (OTC: GRWC)

Wayne Zallen, CEO of Grow Condos, spent over 40 years of his life as a self-employed entrepreneur and businessman before starting Grow Condos, his first publicly traded company. Grow Condos specializes in the development of warehouse condominiums for Cannabis related business ventures. Whether you are a grower, extractor, baker or anything along those lines, Grow Condos can find you a property and tailor it to your needs. However, they don’t stop there. They offer one of the only ‘lease to buy’ options in the industry, providing a more affordable way for businesses to own their entire operation. Wayne has loved the Cannabis industry for years and is fueled by his interactions with other professionals in the space. He recently took time out of his hectic schedule to share his passion for the industry and what makes his entrepreneurial mind tick.

What is Grow Condos all about? What is at its core?

At its core, Grow Condos supplies Cannabis entrepreneurs the realistic and affordable chance to build out and own the property where they do business. We are real estate developers specializing in industrial warehouse condominiums for the Cannabis industry. After we acquire land we build it to the exact specifications the industry requires; accounting for water, sewer, ventilation and power needs. Once we finish the shell the entrepreneur can come in and finish building out the space.

What makes us even more excited about what we do is the unmatched opportunity we provide the Cannabis entrepreneur. For example, an aspiring business can come in with $200K and build out the space exactly how they envision it, allowing them to maximize productivity and generate cash flow more quickly. The best part for us is that we provide the entrepreneur the chance to actually BUY the space after three years, giving the business the chance to develop further independence. Not only can they become more self reliant with this method, but they also save money by not having to build out a new location. Under normal circumstances, a business might rent their space and be forced to relocate when their lease expires. We give you the chance to OWN your business entirely.

Why did you start Grow Condos, Inc.?  Do you have a personal interest in the cannabis industry or did you just see it as a great business opportunity?

I would say it was a combination of personal interest and business opportunity. Awhile back my partner and I were in the Internet business, importing products from China. We purchased a 12,000Sq/ft warehouse and used it to operate our inventory. We only took up part of the space so we leased it out to other businesses as well. We eventually sold our Internet venture and around the same time a number of the contractors leasing from us folded. This left us with an empty space and a mortgage payment. So we put the warehouse up for rent.

What we figured out was exciting. Not only were Cannabis cultivators looking for a space to lease, but they would also pay higher rent than the average business. We started leasing to the Cannabis industry and realized it was a much more stable industry and we could worry less about our tenants. Soon I found another building just down the road. I built it out and had it fully leased within 4 weeks of completion. All with NO advertising. Right then we saw a niche in the market where we could create a great business that directly helped the Cannabis industry. We dove in headfirst.

Grow Condos is located in Eagle Point Oregon, now that Oregon has voted to legalize marijuana how has that impacted Oregon’s real estate market and Grow Condos?

I would say that legalization has certainly had a positive impact on the real estate market. Southern Oregon is part of the emerald triangle, which makes it a great spot for outdoor gardens. Rural properties, in places where land and water access is abundant, are getting sold almost as soon as they hit the market. Commercially speaking, the demand for industrial warehouses cultivators can use for indoor operations far outreaches the supply. That is perfect for Grow Condos because, not only do we want to supply that demand, we also want to set businesses up for long term success but creating a warehouse that fits their exact needs and one they can eventually buy.

Wayne, from your perspective, what is most important to running a successful public company?

I think it’s important to keep your investors happy. At Grow Condos we constantly focus on getting cash flow positive on our new real estate properties. Once we acquire a property, we plan it, build it and list it. The demand for type of service in the Cannabis market is so high, especially when you talk about warehouses custom built for the industry. It simply affords entrepreneurs the chance to get the most out of their money. That’s why we love this business. We can make our consumers happy while providing investors the return they had hoped for. That’s been our key to success.

From a personal standpoint, what is the most rewarding aspect about being CEO of Grow Condos?

The two things I find most rewarding are satisfying the people of the industry and the shareholders of our company. I love working with the businesses that occupy our buildings because there are some great people in the Cannabis industry. It also makes me very proud that I can provide investors with a great opportunity and then deliver them results. I take that mission personally and I invest a lot of myself towards that goal.

Where do you want to see Grow Condos in the next 12 months?

Grow Condos has a number of projects in the works and we’re hopeful to be generating much more cash flow over the next year. We have a 45,000Sq/ft project in Eugene that should be completed, as well as developing projects in Nevada and Portland. Overall our goal is to get as many projects finished as possible, allowing us to fulfill as much of the current demand as possible and purchase more real estate to develop.

What do you personally see will be the tipping point for the Federal Government to change marijuana from its current Schedule 1 status?

I think California is the key. California is the most populated state in America by over 10 million people, so whenever they make the move to recreational legalization I think the federal government will have no choice but to take notice. Personally this whole movement amazes me. I’m in my 60’s now and I never thought any sort of legalization would happen in my lifetime. However, now I live in Oregon, a state where it is both medically and recreationally legal. These are very exciting times. The cow has left the barn and it’s never going back in.

Tell us about a normal day for you. What does it look like?

I would say it is hard to use the word normal. Everyday presents its own unique challenges. In general though, I spend a good amount of time coordinating with all of our vendors(realtors, builders, engineers) to keep our projects moving along at high speeds. I will also spend time creating plans and projections for our properties or talking with investors to raise capital for future or current projects. Basically my normal day consists of me doing all I can to constantly be moving Grow Condos forward at all times.

While at your office, what is the one thing we will never find you without?

Unfortunately it would have to be my cell phone. Real estate is such a social business I find myself living on my phone more often than I would like to admit.

How do you end your day? What is the last thing you do before you leave to set yourself up for future success?

I always establish my plan for the following day before I leave the office. That prevents me from spending too much time in the morning deciding which direction to go. I can show up and hit the ground running. It is a tactic I learned over the years that has certainly contributed to my success.

How do you set yourself up for daily success? What’s the one thing you always have to have in your office? Join the conversation by commenting below!

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Under The Leaf: AJ Gentile of Speed Weed

They’re moving so fast, you can barely pin them down. If you’ve heard the phrase, “If things aren’t chaotic, you’re not moving fast enough” take a look at how Speed Weed is living it – They’re moving a million miles a minute and there is certainly no end in sight! What makes a company like Speed Weed tick? What makes them thrive? What are their core values? AJ Gentile, CEO, is taking a spare moment to slow down for a hot second and take us on a tour of the atmosphere that’s inspiring their success.

Give us a brief spiel about what you do. What is Speed Weed all about?

Speed Weed is the largest medical marijuana delivery service in California and soon to be the largest nationwide. The core of our business is people. There are many reasons for our success: dynamic use of technology, strategic partnerships, brand recognition, excellent products, and superior service. Behind all of that is people! Our employees and managers are the best in the industry. They are well trained, well compensated, and treated like family. This respect and affection reflects directly onto our clients. When you are a member of Speed Weed – client or staff– you feel like you are part of something special and that’s because you are. Speed Weed is not a marijuana delivery service. Speed Weed is a clique, a secret club, a culture, a community. We don’t focus on market share, margins, or milestones. We focus on people. When you take this good-karma, non-greedy approach to running your business, financial success is a natural result. I’m surprised more companies haven’t discovered this.

When you take this good-karma, non-greedy approach to running your business, financial success is a natural result. I’m surprised more companies haven’t discovered this.

How do you start your day? What is the first thing you do?

During the week, I get up at 5:45am and make myself a Bulletproof Coffee (thanks Dave Asprey!). I check the market, scan the headlines, and read any marijuana-related articles that came out overnight.

What does a normal day look like to you?

I get up early and day-trade for a couple of hours while I setup my day; this meaning that I scan the headlines, read any new articles about marijuana and check the latest news, and gossip on the publicly traded cannabis companies. Once I feel up to speed with the industry, I clear out a few emails, and head to the gym. After a workout and a shower, I’m in the office until about 8 or 9pm. A typical day is usually email, phone calls, and meetings. Although some days I could be at an abandoned prison discussing a large grow operation or in Las Vegas pitching investors. My days are always different.

What is the one thing we will never find you without?

The ability to conjure a sarcastic remark.

What does your workspace look like?

My office is designed to look like a lounge in the Lower East Side of New York. The walls are metal and stone. There’s a large red leather couch, an old set of subway lockers, a red Fender electric guitar, and some photos of the New York Yankee Stadium. Our LA Times front-page article is also framed front and center. Oh, and of course, there’s my bar which is built out of an old roadie tour case. My office looks like it was designed by the love child of Don Draper and Sid Vicious.

What do you love about what you are doing with your business?

I love how excited other people are about our business. Sometimes you get so deep into the day-to-day operations and tasks that you forget to look up and see that your business is growing, people are falling in love with the brand, and everyone is talking about you. We didn’t specifically try to create a culture around our brand; It just happened as reflection of who we are: people who enjoy
creating relationships.

How do you choose the people you work with? What do you look for?

Loyalty, integrity, ambition without greed, blunt, and a good sense of humor. I am attracted to people with those qualities. Surprisingly, these are rare traits in people. I have an excellent reputation in this industry and that is because I care about how I am viewed by my peers. I actually work really hard to connect with people to forge relationships that create opportunities for everyone. By working only with people who possess those traits, and avoid those who don’t, creating relationships is easy.

How do you keep yourself motivated throughout the day?

Real entrepreneurs don’t need to keep themselves motivated. We love the chase, we love the chaos! True business builders are always a hundred tasks behind, always catching up, always taking on more. We are addicted to the quickening pace and loathe boredom.

Real entrepreneurs don’t need to keep themselves motivated.

How do you end your day? What’s the last thing you do?

End of the day is dinner with the wife then cable news for an hour or two. Then it’s time to switch off. For me, that will be splash of scotch and two puffs of an Ed Rosenthal Indica cone. Then, Jen and I watch whatever our current escapism is. Right now, we are binge-watching The Blacklist with James Spader and impatiently waiting for the next seasons of Game of Thrones and House of Cards.

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Under The Leaf: Darryl Cotton of Inda-Gro

Teeming with lush green on-site gardens, desks billowing with plans that push the limits of their already exemplary products, and a team that works so hard they don’t seem to notice the hours go by; This is what we saw at Inda-Gro, the #1 manufacturer of induction grow lights in the world. The amount of talent, innovation, and passion that we felt while there was incredible. We were somehow able to catch Darryl Cotton, founder and CEO of Inda-Gro, for a spare moment and really dive into how he runs his business. Getting the chance to have a conversation with a gentleman who is as transparent about his products as he is about the core of his success, is what makes this the golden nugget that you need to join the industry.

Give us a brief spiel about what you do. What is Inda-Gro all about? What is at its core?

Well, Inda-Gro came from our original company that started back in 1987. We were involved with anything at all that had to do with power generation, back-up power systems for buildings, off-grid, on-grid, and so-on. As engineers and contractors, we worked with Kohler as well as other power-generation companies to reduce the loads in buildings so that we’d have adequate emergency circuits by these generators. I’m from the Midwest, I’m a gardener at heart; I’ve been gardening cannabis in the Midwest since the ’70s. But if you’re from the region, you’ll know that the weather conditions during the winter months force you to have to grow indoors. We would use fluorescent lights that put out what we thought were acceptable wavelengths to make the crops produce, but we didn’t know then what we know today.

I’m a gardener at heart; I’ve been gardening cannabis in the Midwest since the 70s.

In coupling my experience as a power-generation professional and knowing ways to lower loads, we started looking for reasons to stop using the higher intensity lights to grow our crops. In doing that, we looked at all the technologies. Inda-Gro was founded on its core mission to lower wattage-usage in grow rooms while still succeeding in a healthy crop response. We didn’t want to make any sacrifices; we needed our lights to yield high-quality crop for medical cannabis patients, yet remain as energy-efficient as possible. In my research, I found that there really wasn’t a technology available that could replace HID (high intensity discharge) that was both energy-efficient and maintained a great crop response in terms of yield and quality. This was until we stumbled upon the Tesla core. Nikola Tesla, back in 1891, developed a fluorescent that would excite the gases in these tubes to create light spectrums that would benefit the growth of the plant. We started experimenting with this technology back in 2005 and collaborated with chemists to find phosphori that were more responsive to the cannabis crop. Once we found these, we immediately integrated them into our lamps. And that was just the beginning.

How do you start your day? What is the first thing you do?

I really don’t consider what I do as ‘work’, I consider it labor. We have our own gardens at our facility here in San Diego and this is so that we can test and trial any and all of our products. We grow the plants here so that we can study what they do in real-world applications. So, my day really always starts out in our gardens! We are very committed to engaging people in what we do; we offer tours through our gardens and we also have a live-stream on our website of all our plants growing in real-time. We have plants that grow both indoors and outdoors; some require our lights exclusively and some, just during the long night hours. We give our plants the light they need, as they need it. Our gardens are proof that our products are successful, so I make it a point to start my day out there to see how our plants are doing and how well our products are performing. It’s honestly a labor of love.

What does a normal day look like to you?

After I spend some time in our gardens, I begin working with our engineers and our plant-science specialists to both fill our orders and continue doing research and development for our products. We are always trying to bring more value to our gardens, it’s a constant push to better ourselves. We are the #1 Manufacturer of induction grow-lights in the world and we are based here in the United States, you won’t find us in China. Everything I do in a day is to coordinate our talents to put the best products on the market that we can!

What are the three items you have on you at all times?

1. My Blackberry: I need to stay in touch with our various growers all over the world so that if they have questions, we are accessible. We pride ourselves on that; we want to know that they’re using our products in the way they’re meant to be used and that they’re getting returns that exceed their expectations.
2. My Dogs: I always have them on me. They are both rescues and are still puppies and come into work with me every day. They are a part of our family; everyone who works here is family and my dogs are no different. They do a great job in keeping you collected in stressful situations and are all-in-all great to have around!
3. Dog Treats: To keep my puppies entertained.

What does your work space look like?

I keep my personal workspace very orderly, but everything around me is organized chaos. And I say that in a good way. We are constantly working on developing our products and that is definitely something that requires an open-mind and an open-approach to getting to that next solution. Once we develop an idea and optimize how we’re going to build them, we put them into rigorous trial phases. If they perform how we designed and envisioned them to, it moves onward to production. We don’t settle for something that simply works, we strive for the best and are always raising the standard for Inda-Gro’s products.

What do you love about what you are doing with your business?

I take pride in the fact that we are very environmentally conscious. We are giving the everyday consumer the opportunity to grow their own food and their own medical cannabis and do that with all the organic processes that are currently available to them. Everything I do now is with aquaponics and that includes medical. We use the fish to create an environment where their waste creates ammonia which breaks down into a nitrite which is then converted into a nitrate. The plants love this; they need this. When you take that fish waste and let the plants absorb it in their root structures, they are receiving the most organic and quality nutrients that they can get. You no longer need to go out and buy bottled nutrients, soil, hydro-systems, or aeroponics. We’ve worked with those systems before, but that’s no longer what we are interested in now. We don’t want to introduce those heavy metals back into our wastewater systems. We care about saving water and being energy-efficient. That’s the core foundation of Inda-Gro and I am passionate about constantly optimizing this mission and finding new ways to save more and waste less. We are empowering people to grow their own plants, whether it be food or cannabis. That’s a message to be proud about.

How do you choose the people you work with? What do you look for?

I choose people who are independent thinkers and who have talents that I don’t have. The truth is, that you can’t possibly do everything yourself. Everyone has things that they are good at and things that they aren’t so good at, so I try to make a team of people that have an array of talents. I also look for people who share our core belief at Inda-Grow. It makes for a much stronger environment to be in. Those people who are looking for a 9-5 don’t last here very long. I remember watching a movie a while back about Steve Jobs and all his programmers wore shirts that said, “Working 80 hours a week and lovin’ it!”. When you love what you do and are passionate it, time just flies. Sometimes I look up from what I’m doing and I can’t even believe it’s already the end of the week! So, I choose to surround myself with people who are as passionate about what Inda-Gro is doing as I am.

Many people are getting into this industry because of the money and I urge everyone to take a step back. Think about what happened in the ’30s with the Dust Bowl. The price of the wheat crop went up by 200% in value and so everyone began tearing up their native crops to grow wheat. Then the price of wheat went down because everyone was growing it. What happened? Farmers went broke and we were left with a mass amount of empty fields that weren’t being farmed, which then allowed the dust to whip up in the storm. Don’t get caught up by the dollar signs; think before you grow. Our products help you grow responsibly and lead you into the industry the right way so that you can be profitable AND be environmentally-conscious.

Don’t get caught up by the dollar signs; think before you grow.

Do you have a motto or a phrase that keeps you going throughout the day?

I always think to myself that we need to keep the garden a better place. That’s our ideology, our magnetic north, our compass. “Make the garden a better place.” Our goal is not to get rich but, like Tesla did, we hand off the technology. Who knows! Maybe they can improve upon it. Either way, everybody wins. We are making the world a better place and having a great time doing it.

We even founded the International Artificial Grow Association (IAGA), so that we could bring all the light manufacturers together and disband this nonsense about whose light is the best light and so-on. We have since generated a great following and in January, the grower that was elected by the group is going to trial all these products together under the same denominator of conditions, nutrients, and care. The humorous thing about it all is that these manufacturers who were so adamant about claiming the superiority of their products, refuse to participate in the comparison trial. What does that tell you? I think that to make the garden a better place, you have to be transparent; you need to know what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and how you are affecting the environment around you. That’s what keeps me going throughout the day.

How do you end your day? What’s the last thing you do?

Well, all of our lights are on automatic timers, so there is nothing that I have to do there. So, the last thing I do is give our fish their last little bit of food and then it’s sayonara!

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