← Living The Red Life
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- [00:00]
A
I have ADHD combined and I wasn't diagnosed till I was 38. The first time I took cannabis, it just felt completely right for me. What it does for me, it really helps to slow my brain down and focus and it is something that returns me to self. Sure. Returns me to who I'm meant to be. The stigma around cannabis, it is one of my whys. I want to make cannabis approachable. It's for everybody. I'm going to say it right now to everybody who's listening. It's a medicine. It's a healing plant. It's something that is there for everybody.
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B
Tara Maybach is a resilient, purpose driven
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A
and passionate cannabis entrepreneur and the co
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B
founder of Violet Wild Cannabis Co alongside Sonja Riddle, where she advocates for mental health, healing and cannabis education. Some folks stay away from marijuana because they feel like it's a catalyst to something much worse. How do you create those safety nets for clients?
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A
It's about, you know, building a trust over time. You're not gonna go right into every single thing. At first. We're not there to rack up a bill. We really want to provide what it is you need. And I find. My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week.
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B
If you're ready to start living the red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill. Join me in wonderland and change your. Welcome back to another episode of Living the Red Life. I'm your host with Inside Success, Ray Gutierrez. Joining me today is Tara Maybach. She is the co founder of Violet Wild in British Columbia. And I don't want to spoil it, but I'll let you spoil it. I'll spoil it. It's a cannabis company and I'm all about cannabis. I'm all about the culture. So let's take it away. Who are you and why are you here?
- [01:48]
A
My name is Tara Maybach and I have been working with my sister Sonja for the last six and a half years on our business called Violet Wild. I, I have to first acknowledge that she's not here and how difficult it is for women and mothers in business. You know, you have to be in the room a lot of the times to make a difference and you have to be in the room to get the opportunity. So unfortunately, she can't be here. She has other roles at home. Two babies and. Yeah, I just want to really acknowledge women and how difficult it really is for mothers.
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B
Let's talk about being in the room. We actually filmed your episode for Legacy Makers and she was very much in the room. I even mispronounced her name. Sonya. Am I still doing it wrong?
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A
No.
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B
So she's here with us in spirit. Quite the energy. You both were very magnetic. Let's talk about your why. Your messaging. Folks hear cannabis and they think, oh, that's gross. Marijuana, the wild mambo or the devil's juice, whatever they call it, to me it's a medicine, it's a remedy, it's a way of life, it is a way of feeling somewhat acceptable in this reality or dimension. Talk about the people you are healing with. The Wild mambo or the devil's juice.
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A
Well, you know, you've hit the nail on the head, Ray. The stigma around cannabis, it is one of my whys. I want to make cannabis approachable. It's for everybody. Our store services people from 19 to 90, maybe even older.
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B
Sure.
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A
And my other why is really the way it makes people feel, the way that it allows us to show up as who we are meant to be and to calm down the mind and the body. I also think that a big why for me is to give opportunities to other people and also for them to find cannabis and then be able to give opportunities to themselves. Absolutely. Because finding relief, it is a medicine. I'm going to say it right now to everybody who's listening. It's a medicine. It's a healing plant. It's something that is there for everybody.
- [03:51]
B
You know, I work in a high, high intense environment, running four studios, dealing with CEOs, I wouldn't say dealing, working with CEOs, working with entrepreneurs. It's a lot of energies, a lot of frequencies. Positive, negative, it doesn't matter. It's all energy. But I have to medicate. I have to be at a certain zone to stay level headed. You know, I, I suffer from having a temper, I suffer from anxiety. Running at that level constantly, it's very exhausting. When I'm medicating, which I'm currently right now med, the anxiety is gone and the happiness sinks in and you're just kind of like on the Mario Kart Rainbow Road racetrack. And it doesn't mean I'm high, it just means that I'm fully functional, I'm operating and I'm not letting the dread of life slow me down from opportunity and from joy and happiness.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Talk about your struggles.
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A
Well, for me, I have ADHD combined and I wasn't diagnosed till I was 38 the first time I took cannabis. As I said on the episode, I had an out of body experience. I was in grade seven, so I was about 12 years old by 18. I mean, I had dabbled with it with friends and that, but something kind of changed around 18. It just hit me. It felt like it was a light in a socket, plug in a socket. And it just felt completely right for me. What it does for me, it really helps to slow my brain down and focus. And also it calms my body because my ADHD doesn't just affect my mind, it affects my body as well. I tend to move a lot and I find when I have cannabis, it's like a deep breath of fresh air.
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B
Yes. And then just a nice cloud of smoke comes out.
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A
It's very blissful. And it is something that I find returns me to self, returns me to who I'm meant to be. I mean, you can see in the first episode I was not medicated, so.
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B
Right on. Well, it's funny you mentioned that because, like, again, going back to this self discovery, I'm a late bloomer. I grew up in Miami. Everything's dangerous here. I didn't drink or do any drugs until I moved to the west coast in California and discovered these sort of medications, including lsd, including microdosing, and these festivals, these, these camping festivals where it's tribal and you have courses during the day, doing yoga, listening to speakers. And then by night it's just different stages. And each stage, each stage represents a color. And you're on this journey of discovery and you end up somewhere and you're like, wow. And then you start returning to reality, like none of that was real. Then you realize it is very much real, but it's the way you really perceive reality and the frequencies that are in the room. Speaking of being in the room, talk about some of the clients you've transformed and how it's actually led them to be very successful, not just in life, but as, as, as wealthy folks that are entrepreneurs.
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A
I think that there's definitely a whole lot of those people and you know, that I'm so proud to serve them.
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B
Sure.
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A
What I feel is so, so needed is the people that are needing it for their medicinal benefits. So I kind of want to focus on that. I mean, I know there's a lot of business people out there that use it to calm down. And it's very much the same reasons that I do, you know, to, to focus, to calm down, to feel good. But what I feel most proud about when I. Where I really think of changing people's lives is through Their health benefits. I'm there to create an experience. It's not just about, you know, health, it is also recreational and it's fun. Absolutely. But what I feel the most proud of is that I'm able to help people to live the best life that they're meant to live. So that brings success, that brings money and all those things, but maybe that brings relationship maybe. I also have clients that have left off drinking, you know, using cannabis and to me that that's giving them a new lease on life. It's not about me. I'm just the liaison between the plant and the client. It's not about me personally, but I feel so, so proud to be able to help people medicinally, recreationally and also just to be the best person and be the most well rounded person that they could be. Through stay wild and through showing up as our true selves.
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B
Right on. I feel like it's still very binary. It's either very taboo and folks aren't educated and then it's very medicinal and gray and boring. I have my medical card and I replaced the daily glass of wine with the daily joint or maybe two or three, but. But there was still a ritual that I replaced and I replaced an alcohol. The negative, what I believe is a positive and I can feel it. Talk about the folks that you said you want to help folks now talk about. How are you educating folks about how it's accessible, that it's not evil, that it's not medicinal, that it is a fun drug. How do you educate folks? Is it Instagram posts, is it YouTube videos? What are you doing to educate?
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A
I'm so very blessed to live in an area where people are very much. They know about cannabis. It's also been accepted on Vancouver island for many, many, many years.
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B
Right on.
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A
I live in a place that's been culturally open to cannabis and a place where people have literally come to grow cannabis and to get away from other places that are less open. So for me it's just really cultural.
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B
Actually, I was going to ask, do you see the cultural difference when there's countries or states or municipalities that have legalized it versus places that are still illegal? Do you sense a sort of folks are a little behind, a little, a little too traditional? Where you see modern cities that have accepted it, that are a little more far, a little more advanced?
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A
Yeah, you read my mind. Because you brought me back to the question.
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B
I got you. I sensed you. You were drowning. I'm like, girl, I got you.
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A
Thank you, Ray.
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B
No worries.
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A
Any. Yeah, that's what I wanted to touch on actually is that our culture is completely different. We don't have as much stigma. Where I live, you can easily go walking with a joint, there's no problem. People aren't even really going to look at you strangely. So I think the shift has already taken hold very strongly in Canada. I don't think it's a certain segment and I don't think it's just the medicinal people either. I'm finding a huge crossover between the general, let's say the mainstream human beings into cannabis and now that's becoming their daily driver. I don't necessarily think it replaces alcohol because I don't believe cannabis is a drug. So I think that if somebody is using alcohol, I think cannabis could help them medicinally. And so I don't look at it as the same as drinking. It's a medicinal plant and it also, you don't have any hangover, you feel great, you're happy and you know, it's just a different thing. For me, I don't class it as drugs as a drug. So for me I think being that from such an open minded place, cannabis, the people are wanting to push the limits, they're feeling more comfortable. My store is created specifically for an experience in itself. Two murals, bright colors. And how we're educating also goes back to the original question is that we're educating in store. So we are teaching people about the minor cannabinoids, we're teaching people about terpenes so that they can layer and have a more well rounded experience so that we can super, super dial into what they're needing either medicinally or just how they want to feel the experience that they're gonna have. And why, why are they picking up cannabis? What are they looking for? For sure. And we also educating a lot in the store with new clients and old, we're always happy to tell you what's new, what's exciting, what's coming down the pipeline. And then we're also very connected with local growers.
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B
Right on. I was gonna say word of mouth is key in your vertical.
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A
Absolutely. Yeah. Because I mean our clientele is older and they're not on social media.
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B
How do you come up with recipe? I guess I would say not recipes. It would be basically prescriptions or essentially a toolkit for folks to walk out and go, oh, in the morning I take this, in the afternoon I should take that. And right before I want to have a good time, I should take this. How do you create those plans for your clients?
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A
What we do is we start by asking questions and we ask them about their tolerance. That's probably your number one most important question that you need to ask is do you have a tolerance? Have you used THC before? Do not underestimate her because I love it.
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B
It's very true.
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A
Don't be disrespectful.
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B
Absolutely.
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A
And it's our job to respect the plant as the liaison. So for that and we are going to talk about your tolerance, what the experience is. You may let us know about some maybe things that are going on for you in your body or mind. Correct. And we do not give medical advice but we can give you an idea of maybe something that's working for someone else or something that somebody has used that has maybe something similar. How do we come to that? We want to know what the experience you're looking for, the day, the time, what sort of you're wanting cannabis for. And then we'll start to pair up uplifting with CBG or something with minor cannabinoids.
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B
Got it.
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A
Cbg, cbn, cbc. These are other cannabinoids aside from THC and cbd. That one new layer can give you a more well rounded and more direct feeling. I want to sleep. Okay, you're going to take Indica with cbn Gummy and maybe smoke some sort of kush.
- [13:42]
B
Gosh. How are you? How are you? What are you doing to spread this message? Like the education I've got, my provider is a legit location. It's on, on fifth Street. I believe we spoke about this but I don't get the sense that I walk in and I'm ready for a workshop. Like I remember, I remember when the Apple stores just first opened up they would host workshops of how to check your email or how to do this. And they made it like a thing. Yeah, like you're part of something. I don't get that from, from other places here maybe in the bay where I first started my, my journey. How are you spreading this message? How are you educate, educating? How are you starting a franchise?
- [14:15]
A
I think what's most important is the relationships that you build with the clients. So if you're a regular at our store, know you right on. And that's I think a different feeling because I'm, I'm thinking that you've been to your store, your medicinal card store many times.
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B
Yeah, but I'm just a, I'm just a number.
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A
But it's a different feeling for sure. It's about again asking questions. It's about being curious and what I say to the staff is caring. Yes, you can ask how you are, but you need to care. You need to take it that step further. If it's open, you need to also read your client. If they're not wanting to go that extra deeper step. Do not. We need to be able to adapt.
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B
How do you not. I'm sorry to interrupt. How do you not upsell to your point? How do you know when the client shouldn't be on your regimen or it's too much, or they're on a track to opioids and something worse? Some folks stay away from marijuana because they feel like it's a catalyst to something much worse. How do you create those safety nets for clients?
- [15:15]
A
I think, once again, it's about asking questions, it's about listening. It's about, you know, building a trust over time. You're not gonna go right into every single thing. At first we will about cannabis, but if they open up, we open up. We're going to read the client. And then if we feel like we've built a bit of a replacement with somebody, you know, we may ask, like, how are you really doing? And, you know, can I, can I suggest something? It's not hard to upsell, but that's not our goal. We are really looking to find you the regimen that works for you. So that might be two, three, four products. It's not an upsell in terms of upselling. I mean, yeah, we will talk about new products. We'll talk about. But it's, it's, you know, you mention a drink, well, I'll tell you the top three drinks. It's a light. It's. It's a light. More of a soft sale. We're not there to rack up a bill. We really want to provide what it is you need. And I find when it's wreck, it's like, okay, you need some gummies. But when it becomes more medicinal, it tends to be more products. And then we're always trying to find ways to save you money. So now you're taking ten gummies a day. Maybe let's look at oils and caps.
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B
Sure.
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A
Because that'll save you money. So, yeah, we're always looking to educate somebody on what we think would work best for them. And also suggesting new products and listening when they say, oh, what about those drinks? Well, you know, my top three are, you know, the dabble and the slurm and the. And the smile, you know, and then, oh, let me look. And, you know, it's natural. Right. It's about being authentic in Our store. And that's how we create safety. Another thing is because you touched on that, it's like asking for id. That is something that's really important because I want my other clients to know that they're safe, you know, to the best of our ability, following policy. Don't worry about this following policy because I want the clients to feel safe, that what we're doing is above board, that we can be trusted. You know, I don't want anyone to feel like we're not doing as much as we should and can be.
- [17:28]
B
Right on. I was going to say, the siren's going off. They're going to knock down our door any minute now. The one thing I have, and I want to grab your brand here, but something that turns me off about the community is the branding. It still feels so juvenile, like squiggly letters and bright colors. I'm like, when is there just gonna be a clean, like, sophisticated whiskey bottle where it's like, no, like, these are our products. Respect the packaging, respect. It doesn't have to be these. There's nothing wrong with those either. But to me it's like, when is it gonna grow up? Do you feel like, are we growing up? Are we still kind of stuck here in this? Like, we're never gonna break free from like, yes, it's medicine, yes, it's this. But you can only find it at a smoke shop and you're gonna walk through this weird looking hookah thing and you're gonna pass make. When is that gonna stop? And it's just like an Apple product.
- [18:16]
A
Well, I think it's. It's kind of two things. I think it's gonna stop when you have a federal hellegisation for sure. That's first. I mean, here you go into a shop and you gotta ask some questions and it's just not comfy.
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B
Nope.
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A
And it really is the old head shop style, which I like, I got no problem with. But it's not curated or stylized. Got it. I went to an amazing tattoo piercing shop last night, Iris, and it was completely stylized. It was very feminine, beautiful, expensive, but nice North Miami. And so, yeah, I think it's being that it's still hidden, that it's still kind of in the shadows, still stigmatized. What we have in Canada is an issue because we're not allowed branding. So, you know, I'm down here, I've got my, you know, princess peach and it, it looks like candy. It was cannabis flower, but it looks like candy. It looks like a toy that is more appealing to Children, I must say, there's a happy medium. I don't think we've grown up that much. I'm sorry, Ray. I think if we could, we would love to see more stuff like that, but as you know, my sister and I discussed. Is this. Is this responsible? It really, really, really looks like something so fun for kids. It's not only, like fun colors and stuff, but it's like, it's got that. That rainbow sheen to it, you know, you want to open it. Really. No safeguard for children there at all. Even in the bag packaging. So, anyway, in Canada, where we've got more boring packaging. Sure. We're now allowed to have a label or have a clear opening where you can see into the bag and you can see the cannabis. We have. No, nothing like what you see here.
- [20:07]
B
Yeah. Which is insane.
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A
Nothing, Nothing.
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B
As a matter of fact, we had another legacy maker that her herself has a cannabis company. They shut her down, down the street because a lot of her product.
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A
Right.
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B
Look like toys. Like, you can't sell this. It's kind of look sterile. It's like everything. Yeah, yeah.
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A
Fun.
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B
Yeah, for sure. Like, even cigarette boxes out in Europe, they have. This will kill you. They'll cover the damn logo. Like, I can't get American spirits without a logo saying, you're going to die when you smoke this.
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A
So all of that's gone now, all the branding and, like, slowly it's coming back. You're starting to see colored packaging. Right. It's very hard to differentiate yourself when you can't rebrand it.
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B
Sure.
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A
So, no, you don't see anything like that in Canada. Nothing. Except for on the black market, I guess. And what you see is people just absolutely prying to be able to, like,
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B
show their brand, make it attractive, make
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A
it show their brand. Also show their brand in public spaces. It's also not allowed.
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B
Right on.
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A
So that's not regular for other businesses.
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B
So what's your vision to have a breakthrough in the United States. What's your next step? What happens the moment you walk out this podcast set?
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A
Well, you know what? I'm open to whatever. I would absolutely be open to branching out into the United States. I love it here. And I mean, I think our brand hits strong, I think for sure. Love it. I think, people.
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B
Let's talk about it. I love. I love the colors of the logo. I want you to hold it up, walk us through, like, the design.
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A
And so, you know, this purple and yellow. In my old career, I was known as the purple girl.
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B
Right on.
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A
So it's Kind of an extension of that. You know, Violet Wild is also kind of a play on me.
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B
Yep.
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A
And so it's. It's just fun. It's like purple and yellow. It's fun. It reminds me of the 90s when we. When we used to have purple with red and yellow and orange.
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B
Everything was fish eyed and.
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A
Yes. And everything was crazy. And then. And this is like a splash. I mean, our original is watercolor. It's very hard, very difficult to recreate.
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B
Sure.
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A
Our brand is about being yourself, number one, whoever you are. We don't care. Just be that, you know, and own it more and more. I'm able to own who I am.
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B
I'm still working on it, but, you
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A
know, the more that I do it, the more it becomes easier. And I also think that it's just. I feel better.
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B
For sure.
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A
I feel better. I feel like I'm accepted. Even if it's just by myself.
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B
I accept you.
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A
We accept you. Even if it's just ourselves. I think it really starts there. I mean, business is all about believing in ourselves and having confidence to the best of our abilities or faking it till we make it, whatever. But I think it's, it's. That's been very important to me.
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B
What was your experience like filming your Legacy Makers episode? What can we learn from your experience? What can we learn from your episode? Give us a small preview.
- [22:55]
A
Absolutely. For me, like, filming the Legacy Makers was just an amazing experience. And doing that with my sister and like having her here, I can tell you this trip has not been the same. I definitely miss her. And shout out Sonya. Yeah. It's just our episode is real and raw. It's about our lives, it's about what we went through as children and it's about what we've done to get here. You know, we've clawed our way to be here. We've worked hard and we've worked together. So a lot of it is about our business and what we're doing, what's working, and how we can spread that to other people so they can believe in their selves.
- [23:36]
B
Well, we gotta wrap it up. I really appreciate your time and energy. I look forward to learning more about Violet Wild Yellow and purple. Great combo, great energy. Thank you so much for your time. Enjoy the rest of Miami.
- [23:48]
A
Thank you. Thank you.
- [23:49]
B
And yeah, for another episode of Living the Red Life and for Inside Success, I am Ray Gutierrez.