Shane Doull: U.S. Weed Channel
He has the kind of demeanor that doesn’t cater to sugar-coating tendencies. His passion lies in dishing the facts exactly how they are so that society can finally see an unbiased view of the truth behind the cannabis plant. Unfortunately, many are still in the dark about the benefits of the leaf and are still blinded by the stigma that surrounds the industry, but Shane Doull of U.S. Weed Channel is seeking to change that. Because once the truth is exposed, there’s no going back!
What was the deciding factor for you to join this particular industry?
I knew I could make a great deal of money in it, that is one reason. But what actually became the deciding factor for me to get involved was me being angry at the court system and my passion to make marijuana decriminalized.
What skills from your previous experiences helped you in what you are doing now?
That is a great question! My first job was actually slanging weed to my friends in high school and I got a job at Wendy’s to cover for the fact that I had money in my pocket. Ever since then I have done virtually every kind of work you could think of. Over the last 20 years, I’ve been a commercial insurance broker helping every kind of business you could possibly imagine find insurance coverage for things along the way. In working with so many businesses, I’ve had the opportunity to listen to all the business owners and hear their stories of failure as well as their stories of triumph. So, I ended up having this vast amount of knowledge of pitfalls and what was and was not attainable in business. Although, now I feel like anything is possible in business. If you mix that knowledge with cannabis industry, well, this is perfect!
My first job was actually slanging weed to my friends in high school and I got a job at Wendy’s to cover for the fact that I had money in my pocket.
Why fight the tide? Implement what you can learn from other business owners and apply that to your own business endeavor.
Tell me about the point in the time you realized the coming of the ‘green rush’?
It was around 2009 after I got a divorce and I lived in a house that had some acreage on it. I drove around and I looked to see what business in town had the biggest line and that ended up being the pot store. So, I thought OK… I can be a supplier for them and so I started growing. Unfortunately, the people who were managing our local collective weren’t doing a very good job and that’s when I decided that I could do a better job and started the Grand Daddy Phoenix, the first mobile weed store.
What are you doing to impact the industry?
Well, we have created the world’s first cannabis-based TV network for broadcast services. This essentially means that we can be on the same broadcast outlet as ABC, NBC, and FOX. While we started as a streaming network, we are keeping the adult side of the industry in mind without being biased in any one direction. We are a supplier of information and when you supply information, people can make independent choices of their own and we believe that when people start watching the U.S. Weed Channel, they will make the choice to see the truth behind cannabis.
Describe your work ethic to me in one word.
Relentless. Nothing daunts me! Everything gets done! And we have, through all our combined work ethic, been the first to do everything just like we wanted to! We have already made a big splash with over 80,000 viewers after launching only 6 short months ago.
What does a typical work day look like for you in your business?
Long and varied. I mean, I can start my day talking with a possible investor followed by a call with someone who wants to put a show on U.S. Weed Channel and take a call after that with someone who we might be working to partner with. When you’re in a start-up, there are a million and one things to do and so we usually just work until we are either exhausted or our brains stop functioning. In this industry, there is no blueprint for us to follow, we just have to trailblaze through it and figure things out on our own.
How do you find inspiration in this industry? What have you found that has inspired you?
My background, again, is in commercial insurance and I find particular inspiration in seeing small businesses succeed. It can go from being a mom-and-pop business in a garage to being able to hire on a couple employees to moving to an even larger scale and moving to a warehouse with lots of employees. Whatever their progress may be, it makes me extremely proud to see them achieve their goals. So, for me, that is great to see because a lot of people out there haven’t been able to start their cannabis business until now with all the current push for legalization. It has opened the opportunity for a lot of innovative, capable, and intelligent entrepreneurs and business managers to enter the world of business through this industry. Some of them will succeed greatly and we are going to do all we can to help a lot of them!
Tell me about an esteemed achievement of yours.
Well, I’m the only guy in the nation that has received 12 not-guilty verdicts for running a weed store and doing so in such a way that we were all found not-guilty of all charges. As far as I can tell, every other trial out there has led to a mixed combination of verdicts that allows the case to re-tried. Every single case except mine that is.
How would you advise someone who wants to join the industry?
I would say, do it! Have some fun with it and be open to experimenting. I’d say do your damnest to stay as absolutely legal as you can. It’s time. It’s an entirely new industry and there is no where to go but up!
What’s your newest knowledge about the marijuana industry?
Well, I don’t know if it’s the newest knowledge, but I know for a fact that we have helped somebody lose the cancer cells in their body. I can’t say that we cured them of their cancer or beat their cancer for them, but our channel was able to network this particular patient with a company who manufactures cannabis oil and after having prostate cancer for four years, he switched to cannabis oil as treatment and he was told he no longer had cancer; it wasn’t in his bones or in his blood. And that is knowledge that everyone needs to know.
I know for a fact that we have helped somebody lose the cancer cells in their body.
If we are sitting across from each other a year from now, how will our conversation about the ‘green rush’ be going?
You mean jet ski to jet ski? As we are traveling between our yachts? Is that what you’re talking about? [Laughing] I believe we will still be astonished. We will still be astonished by the decisions that certain factions of our government make and the stereotypes that many will still adhere to no matter what. But I do think that we will have a general happiness that we are gaining momentum for the legalization of marijuana. At the U.S. Weed Channel, we are all about acceptance and legalization through education and entertainment. That’s our mission statement!
