Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Galloway.
Jay, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
When I think back, I have to say that my entrepreneurial journey started early. My first real go at starting a business was with my photography. I remember as a child, I would go through my grandmother’s boxes of photos she collected and took over time. I was fascinated at how she was able to freeze time with the images and I knew that I wanted to do the something one day. My mother was also an entrepreneur running her own bakery and I saw an opportunity for me to try and ask one of her wedding clients if I could photograph their wedding for a small fee. I was shocked that they gave a 15 years old a chance and that lead to a 15 years career as a professional photographer. Along the way, I developed great communication and sales skills and wanted to start a new path with selling different products versus just my service. I have always been into health and wellness so when an opportunity arose to be a part of the new legal cannabis industry, I wanted to be one of the first to bring cannabis into my hometown. I saw how in 2018 that Hemp became federally legal and felt this was a great new way to break into such a large health and wellness niche. I knew it would be challenging opening a cannabis store in a conservative southern city but as a man of color, I felt it was important to have representation in our field. We opened our doors to The Hemp Source in Winton Salem, NC in 2019 and have been providing quality industrial hemp products ever since. Using my background in photography and design has helped tremendously with our adverting and has kept us on top of our game with sharing information about our products and how they can help.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I can’t say that it was a smooth road however I am one who believes that if it’s too easy then it wouldn’t be fun. I have to thank my wife for the days a rubbing my back trying to figure things out. In the early days, things like simply finding a location that would allow us to even have a cannabis store was difficult. I could have chosen a location that was less desirable but who wants that? Finding a payment processor that would accept our money was a challenge as well since we were in the cannabis space. The big challenge was educating people on the difference between marijuana and hemp. We had to get outside of our store to bring people into our store. We did this by doing expos and hosting many different types of events with our addition private space like infused yoga classes, poetry nights, puff and paints, and our popular event called The CannaDish. Showing different ways to incorporate hemp into our daily lives helped in a big way especially when we decided to bring in a professional chef and provide a 5 course-infused meal experience. No path to success is easy but as long as you are consistent and provide something that actually helps people, you can’t loose and things will eventually get rolling.
We’ve been impressed with The Hemp Source, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Today I am a part few more businesses but The Hemp Source is what I deal with the most. We are all about education and making sure individuals are fully aware of what they are taking and ways it can benefit them. I handle most of our marketing material and online operations. We try to make using cannabis a regular thing and show that you don’t always have to smoke it to get your relief. We offer teas, topicals, edibles, and more. What I’m proud of most is that we actually have great quality products that have provided relief in many different ways for our customers. Quality is always our top priority and the great thing is that you don’t have to just come into our store as we do ship our products all across the country. Our in-store shoppers love the comfortable environment where we really try to get to know the customer so we can make the best offer to help them with their situation. Customers have shared that it’s like an episode of cheers walking into our location.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Walking outside of your home is taking a risk. You never know what will happen after you step outside so you may as well shoot for the moon. The only way to ever get what you want is take a risk and go after it. I believe that it’s essential when starting a business. Opening a cannabis store was a major risk as there were mixed opinions in the beginning and so much misinformation. I do believe that it’s better to actually try what you want and take the risk then not try at all and leave yourself with the thought of what if. Even if you fail, you will learn so much through the process.
Contact Info:
- Website: thehempsourcews.com
- Instagram: @thehempsourcews
- Facebook: facebook.com/thehempsourcews
Image Credits
Jay Galloway
