The JJ Hanley Story: Show Notes
Click here for full interview on YouTube.
JJ Hanley is a Williams College alumnus, proud father of two, and the Co-Founder of Filigreen, a third-party cannabis distributor based in San Francisco. Filigreen aims to be the conduit that outputs a safe, secure product — shouldering the load of compliance so that cultivators can focus on refining their craft, and retailers can keep their shelves stocked with California’s best brands. A self proclaimed “risk averse” businessman, Hanley put it all on the line (including his house!) to get Filigreen off the ground. With a keen understanding of the disparate cannabis culture, Hanley has also been determined, from day one, to establish diversity and inclusion practices within his office. During our interview we discuss the modern day equivalent to selling picks and shovels during the Gold Rush Era, how challenging it is to grow a business that is not federally legal, and why he chose the cannabis business.
Topics discussed in this episode:
[00:00] Introductions
[03:10] Naming anything is hard
[05:19] Damn, that’s brilliant
[07:55] Why cannabis?
[09:09] There’s a lot of risk involved
[12:00] From day one we’ve invested in technology
[13:34] It felt like I had reached a ceiling
[16:12] Sold my house, sold my stock
[18:00] So, what happened?
[20:15] The challenges of financing
[25:28] Spending money counting money
[33:37] Selling picks and shovels during the Gold Rush
[37:16] We didn’t talk about college
[44:34] A medicinal standpoint
[47:40] Uncle Damien came by today
[49:54] Rapid Fire Round
Book Recommendations:
Secrets of Question Based Selling
“How to Start a Podcast During a Pandemic”
About The Host:
Stevon Cook is a small business owner, policy maker and media personality. He is the founder of The Luther Harris Holding Company, a strategic advising company that focuses on creating partnerships, diversity recruitment and helping companies drive impact in the communities where they do business.
As the host of The Cook on Monday Morning podcast, he interviews high capacity leaders in a variety of industries. The goal of the podcast is to build a community of people creating lives that make them excited about Monday morning. At Cook on Monday Morning we believe that if we can own Monday morning, we can own the week, if we can own the week then we can own the year and if we change your year, we can change your life.
Cook is the former President of the San Francisco Board of Education. He was elected in 2016 with over 150,000 votes. He also served as CEO of Mission Bit, an education nonprofit focused on ending generational poverty through coding education for high school students.
Stay in Touch:
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Book Recommendations: https://www.stevoncook.com/bookshelf
