Robert Lund Discusses Entrepreneurship & CBD
Through founding Studio TBD, Robert is on the front lines of the cannabis and crypto industries focusing on infused drinks and web3 initiatives. With a background in advertising, branding, creative development and design strategy Robert has been leading creative endeavors and departments at some of the most prominent agencies in the creative industry in both Europe and the US.
Support the showHello chop nation Dustin Steffey here, guess what? Our live event is getting closer and closer we are less than a month away November 18 at 5pm is our live event in the lovely Fort Collins area at Canvas stadium. If you guys haven't done so already, please take a look at the episode description and click on the live event to go to book your tickets today. Again, ticket proceeds will go to Boys and Girls Club and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Again, this event will include food, keynote speakers, silent auctions, and lovely time with Jaden and I. So again, if you haven't done so already, please head on over and book your tickets today.
Jaden Norvell:Welcome back to chopping with fire the number one podcast for entrepreneurship, self development and smart business investments. This podcast has accolades and included nomination for Best Business Podcast but the 2022 People's Choice Awards, over 25,000 downloads and six months of global support network and over $5,000 raised for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation hosted by yours truly Jaden rush Norville, also hosted and created by the man himself Dr. Dustin Steffey Welcome to chop with fire Let's chop it up
Dustin Steffey:Hello, and welcome to an episode of chopping wood fire. You're joined with your hosts today Dustin Steffey and Jaden Norvell getting ready for practice on.
Jaden Norvell:Yeah, I'm getting ready for practice. So we're just getting ready to go here. Gotta buy a week. So last week to kind of relax a little bit, but so a lot of work to do.
Dustin Steffey:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the life of being involved in football. I mean, I did it for I don't know, eight years, and that was life.
Jaden Norvell:Yep, you don't get a lot of not a lot of rest, but it's fun. doesn't really feel like work. So neither is this. Feeling pretty good right now. Well,
Dustin Steffey:I definitely love it when we have guests on in a podcast and we're helping everyone. So I like that. That being said, I'm excited to announce a few housekeeping things. First and foremost, our home charity is Cystic Fibrosis Jaden. Please help. Our listeners understand how important this is.
Jaden Norvell:CFF is a terminal lung disease that affects all ages. It basically makes mucus block up in your lungs and prevents you from breathing. A full breath every time we read. So we've been doing our job and giving back to trying to find a cure for this disease. So far, you guys have raised over $5,000, which is absolutely amazing. If you guys want to keep donating, you can donate at their website cff.org backslash donate, or our homepage on our website chopping with fire ch o p p i n with feiyr.com.
Dustin Steffey:Excellent. Next up on the agenda November 18. Everybody that has a pulse pen and a piece of paper and or iPhone or Android device, please go into your calendar and mark that event. November 18 is going to be our live event in Fort Collins, Colorado. We're excited that we have the date locked down. Our next big announcement is time we're looking at around 5pm and the event will go till when it's over. So again November 18 5pm. Mark your calendars keynote speakers are going to be announced to follow with venue as well. Please head over to any one of our social media platforms and or www dot chopping with feiyr.com that's C H O P P I N with feiyr.com to keep up with updates on our live event. Yes sir. Are you excited for it Jaden, I'm excited to see faces
Jaden Norvell:problem solving and to meet everybody in person that we've interviewed and get to see our fans and get to be around some good people and then again, my mom will be there to present on cystic fibrosis we are going to give someone the proceeds back to charity as well as the Boys and Girls Club so it's gonna be a great night
Dustin Steffey:yes definitely so keep in mind when it comes to the event and money made we donate portion of it to our home charities and then the rest go for paying for the event and making sure Jaden and I can still provide you guys with premium and quality content.
Jaden Norvell:Yes sir. Mr. Food catered it's gonna be it's gonna be great more info on our website
Dustin Steffey:like the stuff said course she would bring up food. Yeah, we got Yes, we will have it catered it'll be fun. Morin voted calm. Definitely for sure. Jaden is working diligently this week to get that locked down.
Jaden Norvell:On mana.
Dustin Steffey:We definitely appreciate Jaden because he is the face of work Collins so of course he is getting everything together for us.
Jaden Norvell:Well appreciate you my boy.
Dustin Steffey:Excellent, buddy. Let's dive into our guest. Today I am excited to introduce our guest. So as of right now we have a first and I'd love to just dive right into it. We have Robert lung on with us. He is in the frontlines of the cannabis industry and crypto industry focusing on edibles, infused drinks and web three initiatives. He has a background in advertising brand in creative development and design strategy. He's been leading creative endeavors and departments of some of the most prominent agencies in the creative industry in both Europe and the US. Robert, welcome to Joplin with fire. How are you?
Robert Lund:Thank you so much. I'm, I'm good. I'm great. Actually. We have a beautiful morning here in New York City. And I'm super excited to meet you guys and talk about, you know, everything that I think is funny in life.
Dustin Steffey:We like we like cracking jokes and talking about fun and funny.
Robert Lund:Yeah, there's a difference. There's a difference between fun and funny that someone like me who grew up in Sweden, then you know, don't have English as my native language. sometimes struggle with a little bit.
Dustin Steffey:I think you're doing good from our pre interview. I think it's fun. So we got this.
Robert Lund:Sounds good, man. Sounds good. Yeah, well, I'm super excited to be here.
Dustin Steffey:Awesome. We're excited to Swedish Fish mate.
Robert Lund:Yeah, I mean, so this is a little bit of a, of a of a ringer. The Swedish fish that are sold in America, under the brand name Swedish Fish is like an American knockoff, from real Swedish Fish. Like they're not too far away from the original, but they're not as good as the original.
Dustin Steffey:So what you're saying, Robert, is you're gonna send Jaden and I the real stuff, and it's going to be great.
Robert Lund:Yeah, I can do that. I I'll try to do that. I'll need to I need to call some of my boys back in the old country to have them send it to me first. Because he basically can't get it here. But yeah, let's let's get let's get that into the notebook. Make sure happens.
Dustin Steffey:I just want Jaden to taste the finer things in life. I'm I've traveled the world and it is fun to try different things.
Jaden Norvell:Yeah, and we'll be a line outside my door for Halloween.
Robert Lund:Yeah, you're gonna be like, you're gonna taste it and you're like, Dude, it's the same. And I'll be like, no, no, there's a clear difference. And then then we'll have a full episode about that.
Dustin Steffey:Wait for that. That can be our Halloween edition.
Robert Lund:Yeah, for gay Swedish Fish versus real Swedish.
Dustin Steffey:But Robert, let's dive into a little bit about you. I'd love to get to know you a little bit. And for our listeners too, as well. So whatever information you want to divulge I am game for it.
Robert Lund:Cool. Yeah. Interesting. So let's see. Where do I start? Yeah, you already know I'm from Sweden. I moved to the United States a little more than 10 years ago, moved to New York. That point I had pretty decent career behind me in the European art advertising scene, basically. And what happens when you get somewhat successful? I believe we're sort of lucky enough to do some stuff that caught the attention of the very curious world of advertising and recruiters so got recruited over here and And naively, you know, flew over and thought that I'll just be me, and it's gonna be fine. And then I got thrown into the corp American corporate machine, which has its moments. And you know, it's a pretty impressive thing. But is wildly different from what Europe especially in the creative industry, the creative industries, but it's, it's a bit weird. It's filled with people who don't fit in anywhere else. In Europe, often you don't go to college, to, to become like an advertising creative, as it's called, some of the architects obviously do designers sometimes do, but it's more like school a little bit than college. So the, I think that has a pretty big impact on the difference. So the industries where it's like here in America, all the credits have been to college for years. And, you know, usually, and it's like a very, very rigid system. That makes way more money than the European system does. And I think that the biggest the biggest problem for me, and this is, this is something that that really changed me is that in Northern Europe, specifically, I think, all over Europe, if you're in a creative industry and a client comes to you, then they usually come to you with a problem. And then it's your job to solve that. And sometimes the solution is an advertising campaign. But sometimes it's something else, like, Hey, your problem is actually customer service, your problem, it's the product or your problem is a combination of these seven things. Whereas like here in the US, if you work at an advertising agency, then you are expected to deliver advertising. It's a little bit like American football, like your long snapper. That's what you do. And, and that sort of that didn't really fit for me. And then the other thing is, as well, when you sort of get a little bit older, and you become a little more senior, you are not a creative anymore, you're basically some sort of politician. So you sit in meetings, either selling other people's ideas that you might have had a finger in or not. You might even many times you're selling ideas that you you think personally are wrong for that client. And the whole politics of it. And I'm not talking about the internal politics, I'm talking about the actual role of being a politician. It was just not for me, man. Like I, I felt pretty strongly, pretty quickly that this is not something I want to do. And figuring that out, like in your 30s when you when you actually have a really good foundation, a platform to stand on. And you have a journey that looks impressive from the outside. It's like, you're like, Dude, I don't want to do this. Like that's, that's, that's not nothing. So what happened was that I basically left and started my own consultancy, and then also started my first brand, which is a cannabis infused skincare brand. It's still around. But it's a tiny little niche thing. I basically did it because I needed to learn how to become an entrepreneur, because I didn't understand what it was. And so when usually when people talk to me, and they figure out what I do to Oh, you're an entrepreneur, it's so trendy to be an entrepreneur, it's super cool, blah, blah, blah. That's why you do it. And I'm like, not really, man. It's just, I don't want to be an entrepreneur unnecessarily. It's really hard, you know, should hope to have a support system, there is not, there's not a number to call when you have an issue. Like it's up to you solve it. And and, and even though that is extremely rewarding, and you learn a lot, it's not the most comfortable position to be in. So I usually say that I'm like, No, I'm, I'm an entrepreneur, because I have to be it's by design, but I'm forced to be an entrepreneur because being creative is what I do. That's the only thing I'm really good at. So So yeah, that's sort of a little bit of background and sort of a little bit on the journey. And right now since a year and a half ago, I'm working together with my my business partner, Victor who is an ex hedge fund trader who also decided that he didn't want to do what he was really successful in doing. So now we together try to build something as then this way more rewarding, but also way harder.
Dustin Steffey:I think a few things came out of that that I want to highlight for our listeners. First and foremost, entrepreneurship. While it might sound amazing, and it might sound like it is easy. It's not. And like we've brought up many times you are alone on your own island, and you either sink or swim. And that's kind of it Right. They're like entrepreneurship is what you make of it. Can you be super successful and make lots of money doing it? Absolutely. But the grind is very real. And if you're not grinding, then you're not going to make it.
Jaden Norvell:I liked your story. It's a lot of similarities between what me and Dustin kind of go through. And, and I wish there was a number like one 800 numbers. But I just, that's, that's amazing. And I'm happy that it's working out for you. Yeah, like this. So there's no easy way to do this, guys. It's not gonna be easy. And you basically have to have your own bag. And if you can't do that, then like, there's other routes you can go, but
Robert Lund:that's awesome. Yeah, I mean, it's almost, it's almost biblical. You know, either either you're you, you're well fed inside the tyranny, sort of, like, metaphorically speaking, or you, you starve in freedom in the desert. And and like, and that's, that's annoyingly close to the truth, man. And like, Would you would you said this is like, it's it's real, the struggle is real. When people hear that it's usually like, oh, the struggle is real, which means it's a real struggle. It's like, yes, it does mean that. But it also means that the struggle is real. Like you don't sit in meetings, and are forced to like, barf out half truth, semi lies politically correct. And I mean, that in the sense of the specific meeting, and the specific thing that you're trying to sell or a specific client or trying to keep pleased or whatever, like, you don't, you don't as much have to walk through a bunch of BS, to be honest, it's real. But it's hard. Sort of.
Dustin Steffey:Yeah, absolutely. We, we try to pride ourselves on here to give the very real, the very real outlook on what being an entrepreneurship and chasing your own dreams is about. And one of those caveats there is the fact that we also have to paint the picture that it's never easy. And there's always going to be a form of struggle. And everybody's struggle and pains are different in the journey. But there are a lot of similarities to
Robert Lund:100%. I mean, I feel like when people think about what an entrepreneur is, they immediately think of someone like Elon Musk, you know, they immediately think about someone that sits on the Joe Rogan podcast in front of hundreds of millions of people and, and tell their story, and everybody wants a piece of them. Like, that's what happens. If you're successful. And at that point, you're not an entrepreneur anymore. That's done. You are now a republic public figure.
Dustin Steffey:Yes. Yes.
Robert Lund:It's a different thing. So that's what came into the void. With nobody listening. That's what being an entrepreneur. Yes,
Dustin Steffey:yes. So you're you're absolutely right. There are stages, right. And so I think, when you go through your journey, and you finally burn the boat, and you go down the path of entrepreneurship, you're, you're in that void alone on an island, amongst islands. Yeah, so you're on an island amongst islands with others, but the others can't see, you hear you hear the screaming out. All right. And your success is hinged on how hard your hustle is, and how hard you can put all your efforts in to making yourself successful once you hit that successful point. So I II, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Tim Cook all these people, right? You start to transcend from entrepreneur to the face of whatever your brand is, ie public figure.
Robert Lund:Yeah. 100% 100% So, so people who haven't people who don't know entrepreneurs personally, or haven't gone through the process of trying to become one, have a very weird, vague and probably also very twisted idea of what entrepreneurship is. And that that might sound like complaining, but it's definitely not. It's, it's like I said, it's the best metaphors is the most story in the Bible. Like it's the best metaphor. It's like, yeah, we're not going to do this, this, we're not going to be in the system anymore. Which means there's going to be worse for all of us. Like, like, that's the idea. That's the basic idea. That's the truth. And and and then you build your own system out in the desert or try to and I feel Like, I mean, yes, it's hard. But it's, it's also, it's really rewarding. Because in moments of darkness, it's still like, it's up to you. You don't have to wait around for someone to notice you or someone to give you an opportunity, or, you know, promote you into a role where you think you might Excel, where it's like in the corporate system is like, well, if I behave like this, I might make it to point C, and if I'm at point C, then I can become myself. And that sort of that dream is like, you chase that dream in the corporate hierarchy. And it never, it never ever comes into fruition. Like it gets better. Usually, for me, it didn't for me, it got worse, the money got bigger, the travel got more luxurious. But the work just got worse and worse and worse and worse, to the point where I was just, I didn't know who I was, I was just like, why am I saying these things? I don't even believe what's coming out of my mouth. Right now. I'm saying, I'm the I'm the megaphone for a committee of people who have decided that this is the route to go. And I don't agree with it at all. But I have to pretend that I do. This, like, that cannot be something that will be rewarding. In the end, I just couldn't see it.
Dustin Steffey:Yeah, I agree. So you go from the Caribbean dangled, to chasing your own tail is the best metaphor that I can use, you go from trying to achieve something in a structured hierarchy where it's either unachievable, or you've achieved it for quadruple the work. Or you can be an entrepreneurship chase your own dream, not someone else's dream, but know that it's going to be hard work, and they're going to be days where you're running around, not knowing what is going on, because you're screaming into that void.
Robert Lund:i That's, that's, that's it. And, and, you know, there are people that really fit in the corporate, the corporate world, and there are also corporations that are doing really, really profound and meaningful things. It's just that as a creative, you end up in the creative industry. And there's, at least nowadays, what I see. And what I saw are very few creative companies that are doing anything purposeful and meaningful. They're just trying to please their clients. And it's, it's, it's weird, like, it's, it's easy to criticize, but there is an upside, as well, because people are inherently creative. Because it's something that you you have inside you, you know, it's not just like, I'm gonna be a great like, it's like being good at basketball or being good at football, whatever. It's like, it's just something that happens, and then you practice it, and you become even better at it. Like, if you're creative, you can really feel that you're doing something meaningful if you don't do creative things, and in the history of humanity, people that are creative have not succeeded. Because it's really, really hard to succeed as a creative, it's because creative ideas are almost always wrong. Almost always, it's very rare that you're right, and correct. And even if they are people probably don't see it until after way after you're dead, if it's profound, like Feingold, or whatever, you know, so that what the creative industry also did is that it saved a lot of people. And even if it's not perfect, and even if, you know, it is a bunch of politics, and it is a bunch of, you know, non purposeful, non profound things that you have to do, at least you get to be paid to be creative. So it's not all darkness. I want to be clear on that point. But but for me, when I when I sort of reached a certain level, I realized that well, my job is not creative anymore. My job is to be a politician. And I'm a terrible, terrible politician. I'm not good at it. So I didn't have a choice.
Dustin Steffey:Yeah, the biggest thing that I dislike in the normal industry, that is non entrepreneurship is the politics behind it. I am not good at politicking at all, if I wanted to be a politician. I would have went to school for criminal justice and became a senator and then maybe a president but that's not me.
Robert Lund:Yeah, and yeah, people are good at that. They're they're really good at and if you're not just gonna run circles around you. It doesn't even matter how smart you are, how intuitive you are, how profound you are, how brilliant you are. If none of that matters, you're not playing the sport that they're playing. You're playing soccer and they're playing football and The rules are very, very different.
Dustin Steffey:I would have to say I agree with that. One thing that we brought up was kind of the journey within entrepreneurship. So going from an entrepreneur, to finding your success, and eventually, maybe becoming a public figure, that's kind of where Jaden and I are heading. So we created this podcast not only to give back to normal everyday people that want to be within the entrepreneurship field, or develop themselves or find some form of meaning in their life. But Jaden, and I also want to bring that message to a bunch of different places, right? So public, figure wise, we want to be able to speak at universities, we want to be able to speak at like a TED talk, we want to be able to speak in I don't know Madison Square Garden, for example, and pack that out and just talk about our journey and stuff like that. That's kind of the dream we see coming to fruition. Is that similar to Joe Rogan? Absolutely, because he does something similar. I'd like to think we put a little bit of a twist on it. So we wouldn't be like Joe Rogan, we would be like Dustin and JD right?
Robert Lund:Yeah, I mean, it sounds like sounds like a fun, a fun goal to have. And the fun dream to chase, that's for sure. I think I don't see myself going down the same road, I think becoming a public figures, probably not in my dreams. I'll let someone else do that. I like to create, I like to build things, I'm, I'd rather be the kingmaker than the king if you're going to use one of those, like, really old cliches. And that's also what I'm good at. I'm happy, I love talking about ideas. And I love talking about random ideas, and you know, our company, what we're doing, I love to talk about it. But that's not the same thing as being a public figure. Because if you're a public figure you, you know, if you listen, if you really listen to what Elon Musk Musk is saying, he has shortened and dumbed down his speech a lot to be able to sort of come through, even if it's a long form podcast, like he doesn't talk about, you know, the struggle, the technical struggles of actually building a part of the car, that is not sexy, you know, he doesn't talk about that. But when when, and that's like the difference between, you know, just talking about ideas, even if they're your ideas, and being a public figure, your public figures sort of, you have to have a role, you have to have a persona, you have to like, speak about the things that the audience is interested in. And, and I think, like, I like to talk about the things that the audience should be interesting, interested in, and the hosts are very rarely the same thing.
Dustin Steffey:So if we do this as a Game of Thrones metaphor, you're pretty much the hand of the of the king, which your ideas are, what drives the results, pretty much. So you, maybe not being a public figure, are still and do play a very critical role to everything. And in in a sense, you are part of that public figure realm, at that point, because of the ideas and the creativity that you have. So don't ever sell yourself too short. Because while you won't, or don't desire being one, you are technically on the block as one just in the background.
Robert Lund:I mean, yeah, of course. I mean, I, it's not like, it's not I don't want us to be super successful. Of course, like that's, that's, that's an interesting thing, especially when we, we believe that we have something actually really good to provide to the world. Not like the old left, make world a better place I'm not talking about I'm talking about like, here's actually a product or a set of product that is very helpful for people who are interested in this kind of product. So So I want us to be super successful. I feel Yes. Like, the goal for me is not to be the public figure. The goal is probably if and when success sort of happens. I have like, I have a little I have a stack of ideas that I then want to focus on. And then it's probably like starting over but maybe instead of a of a deserted island with two coconuts screaming in the void. Maybe I'll have a little team. Maybe there's some more people around and maybe we actually can can you know, can approach these the development and production of these ideas in a way that doesn't come with like an insane under pressure to move forward every day.
Dustin Steffey:So what you're saying is, is once you have some people on the islands that have to coconuts, people are going to hear your screams a little bit perfect. That's what I need to.
Robert Lund:Yeah, I'll exactly I'll build a very strong megaphone and then a whisper into it instead.
Dustin Steffey:Yeah, exactly. Which transitioning in, we already kind of brought up that your creative, we already brought up that you have something that benefits people, let's dive into it. So what sort of create creative juices flow from you? And what did you create my friend?
Robert Lund:So basically, it's a like all good ideas. It's a it's a very, very joint effort together with other people. So I'll try to make this pretty short. But basically, the truth is this criminalization of cannabis has had, as everybody knows, a lot of terrible effects on people's lives. And, you know, it's sort of the foundation of the war, the stupid, stupid, idiotic war of drugs, and all the horrible things that happen with that and still happens to this day. There is one aspect about cannabis and the criminalization that isn't much talked about at all that I think is one of the most important things and is that during the time of prohibition, it changed the plant. So, so think about it like this. The two major cannabinoids in the cannabis plant is THC and CBD. And those two things have sort of become famous on their own accord. So there's like, if you smoke weed, you get high from THC. And if you drink CBD drinks or tinctures, or gummies, or whatever, those are really good medicinally for you, but they don't necessarily make you feel any different. They're what's called the non psychoactive active even though there are people who can actually feel it. But you know, let's let's leave that aside for now. What is not known is that these two compounds are cannabinoids, they, they work best when they're together. So basically, what happens is that the THC in boosts the medicinal properties of the CBD, and the CBD, controls the THC and shaves off both the short term side effects of anxiety and drowsiness and long term side effects that you can get from from consuming a lot of cannabis over time. So like anything from anger issues to even psychosis, or which is very rare, by the way and, but anger issues and also like it pacifies people and all these sort of cliche things people say about cannabis that are actually true. So what happened was that the weed that was smoked in, let's say, the Summer of Love in 1969, where were cannabis became a phenomena in pop culture all over the world that was like, really may help to break through together a lot of a lot of things. The weed that was smoked in Woodstock, was probably around five to 7% THC, and five to 7%. CBD, then the war on drugs started. And it was actually the Mexicans, because almost all weed that was that was consumed in the US in the 70s 80s were grown in Mexico, and then California did our thing, etc, etc. But in Mexico, they needed to smuggle the weed across the border. So what they decided to do is like weed, let's try to manipulate the plant to make the weed stronger, because because we just like it's kind of it's have a lot of volume to it. So if they could decrease the volume by 50% Make the same, the same amount of money, that would be a huge, huge upside for the smugglers and growers obviously, and actually for the dealers and the customers as well. So what they started doing in in fairly crude ways that then became gene manipulation later, is that they started to provoke the plan to try to make it more potent in THC. Because that's what, that's what you feel. So and what happens when you do that is that the levels of CBD automatically goes down. So you can't lose both of them. So you have to choose. And so the way that was smoked in 1969, there was five to 7% of both the heads now long story short turned into what you buy in the dispensary, or from your from your premium drug dealer. Now today is somewhere around let's say 26 to 40% THC and 0% CBD. And that's an insane difference just over the last 10 years. I think on average, the potency of THC in marijuana has more than doubled So there's an exponential curve as well. So you get stronger and stronger, faster and faster. And, and you've probably heard this like from from people Oh, I used to smoke a lot of weed in college 10 years ago, but then I smoked like half the joint, like a few weeks ago, and it just just drove me crazy. And I so I can't smoke weed and the more I have changed, that's not true. The plant has changed. So, so I knew that and what I did over the last, you know, 10 years or so is I sourced CBD, weed, which was actually really hard to find in New York, like eight years ago. And then I mixed it, like, took a lot of it and then put a nugget of the, what I call now the Frankenstein lead to super strong PAC lead. And I wrote my joints like that. And those joints actually became quite popular among my friends, as well. There are loads that are Robert joints at parties. I'm like, Yeah, hello, can I have a puff? And, and then, so after COVID, and, you know, 2020 was a nightmare year when that was over. In 2021. I'm like, alright, what should I do now? I need to do something new. And then my now business partner, Victor, we got introduced, he called me and he started selling me on this long winded story about how there's no CBD weed anymore. And I'm like, Yeah, dude, I know. And so I told him about how I roll my joints. And he's like, Well, that's the product that I have. So basically, I'm like, Oh, really. So then we started talking about it. And we just talked for hours and hours and hours. And proper bromance, you know. And at the end of it, we're like, oh, we have to do this. So cut to now. What we have is we have a cannabis infused green tea lemonade, that's for sale in, in, in Los Angeles regulated dispensary. That has, we have two different strengths. We have one that we call the mellow, which is four milligrams of THC, and 25 milligrams of CBD. And then we have the other one that says 10 milligrams of THC and 20 milligrams of CBD. So instead of us going back to 5050, we push the CBD even higher. And we've market tested this for years now. And that's, that's what people want. And that's also what I want. So I love our 425 I don't even do the stronger one. I did it for 25. And and what happened like a year ago, because the cannabis industry is kind of it's complicated. You have to everybody needs a license. There's this convoluted things like you're in the hands of dispensaries. Basically what the budtender tells the clients to buy customers by day by. So it's not it's not the playing field, I wouldn't say that it's unfair, I just would say that it's a bit wonky. It's a bit weird. And it's fine. Like, you know, we have a different product and we're happy with it. And it's it's doing really well and people seem to really, really love it. But we also started to look into this thing called hemp derived. So what we also have aside from drinks is that we have basically strawberry candy or strawberry edibles that have the same compound is for 25 and 1020. And they are hemp derived, which means that they are federally legal, which means that we can sell them to basically anyone in the United States. So we have an online store where you can actually go and buy these. And we shipped to 34 states. And we are also because the business is based in New York, we have also started selling it in in, you know, CBD and smoke stores. The likes are new in New York City. So right now I think we're at 45 between 45 and 50 stores just in a few months. And it's going really well. And what we're seeing is that a lot of people who thought that they did not like cannabis now loves our product, because we have a different experience in our products. It's basically anti anxiety and anti drowsiness. You don't get that like social awkward feeling. When during your high you can you can actually function it's actually super relaxing is pretty nice. So So yeah, that's that was a long answer to a very short question.
Dustin Steffey:Very short, but irrelevant. So that is the journey that you decided to take on your own island right there.
Robert Lund:Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So yeah, strawberry candy and green tea lemonade that gets you high in a relaxing way. That's that seems like something you want.
Dustin Steffey:I mean, it seems like something when you're alone on the island at least calms your nerves.
Robert Lund:That's pretty sure it does. Yeah. No, it's been super fun. And what's also really cool is like, you know, it's a very new industry. The industry is filled with entrepreneurs filled with enthusiasts, it's filled with all kinds of interesting people. Everybody has their own take on what's going to happen. And you know, it's it's that part of it has been, you know, very surprisingly rewarding. Met a lot of interesting people. Have, we met a lot of cool, cool people that we would have never met otherwise? So So yeah, I think that's also a really a really a thing that's really overlooked. When you when you sort of embark in this journey, I mean, you know this you meet new people all the time because your your business is to meet new people, which is pretty cool. And you know, the weirdos and the amazing people that you meet on this journey, you will never, ever come close to meeting them and just normal job.
Dustin Steffey:It's a it's an interesting thing for Jaden and I we get to meet a lot of cool people. And it helps us to see what's out there too. Because even in America, not on an island, right? We're still not privy to everything. And so there were some things I was oblivious to. And now, I feel like opened up because there's a whole world out there. And that's the whole point of the podcast to I mean, is to really give visibility to the different ideas, the different successes, the different entrepreneurial journeys, the different everything to, you know, show that there's more than one way to find success.
Robert Lund:Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, that's, that's what America that's, that's the American dream. That's literally the American dream. And the American dream is real. And, and, you know, it's up to you if you want it to be a nightmare, if you want to turn it into a dream. So yeah, I think that's awesome. I mean, credit to and Jaden, I think you're doing a great thing. And I also feel like this is talking about cannabis and talking about crypto and web three, like this avenue of podcasts like Twitter, like these weird, new ish, I mean, they're not new, it's just a different delivery system. But the the that kind of media long form where you write long threads, that leads to a long article that points to a scientific study. And like you have these like, 45 to one and a half hour conversations in radio format, let's say like, that's an incredible way to spread ideas and to find ideas. Because you can you get a lot as being in the audience, you get a lot of time and opportunity to evaluate what you're listening to, like, Is this someone who knows what they're talking about? Is this someone that that I would trust, let's say, whereas like, the short seven minutes on CNN, or late night TV, or whatever it used to be, that's just, it's just a persona. It's just a short performance, and then you're out and then like, oh, do I like this, or I don't like this. And advertising works the same way. So we're, I love this intellectual, dark web, as people call it, I love it. Because that's where you find really profound things. And there's a lot of BS out there too. And I don't think that they BS can stand up, you know, for 45 minutes talking about yourself, it doesn't work. So So yeah, I think what you're doing is awesome. And that's also why we love to put our company, you know, TBD. Inside both web three, the podcast world, the Twitter world, like, because that's where it's real. There's a lot of things that are weird, and maybe not great, but at least it's real. And you see this all the time on Twitter, like these, especially these like NFT influencers, they're super popular, and then all of a sudden, all these things come out about them. And you're like, oh, wow, that's crazy. And then they disappear. So like, I think, the longer the format is, the more truth will prevail, so to speak.
Dustin Steffey:Yep, I agree with you. And speaking of certain things, you did bring up a term that's been loosely thrown around a little bit that we should probably address, which is web three.
Robert Lund:Yeah, I mean, sometimes I get the question like, What is web three? And the honest answer is, I don't know. And someone someone telling you that they know, their they're either lying to you or they're lying to themselves. Nobody knows. Nobody knows what this is gonna be. Some people say, well, crypto and web three is like, we're like in 99 when like when the internet was in 1996. I don't think so. Like, from where I stand. I'm like we're in where the PC like the personal computer world was in 1986. Like, it might go way faster than 2015 20 years before really, really grips the world. But it's super crude man. It's experiments that are being made. It's it's a lot of interesting creativity that happens. But to say that this is even close to being something mature, it's just not correct. I can't see that being great. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so. And so what web three is like what the term web three image changes all the time, but as far as I'm concerned, it's the collective name for everything that you can build. And this being built on top of blockchain. And, and also it's sort of it's sort of is loose around the edges, right, because we're a cannabis company. CBD is a cannabis company. But we have one foot in web three and one foot in cannabis. And we think that's a really great thing. Because we think that web three will be the platform to start new, specifically consumer companies, but all kinds of companies in the future. So well, we the because it's so complex. And it's so new that last year when we were developing our products and designs and all that, you know, in that in that phase, you actually have a lot of time, because you're waiting for a lot of stuff to happen. So what we did is like we studied crypto, as it was called back then and Metaverse and went through really thoroughly. And we formulated the thesis and for ourselves, and we we felt like okay, if this, if we're onto something here, then we should probably write it down. So we started writing it down and ended with a scientific white paper that we released in December 21. That's called Launchpad 2.0. And it's a 25 page kind of thing that that also the first third of it, we went through the history of blockchain and crypto in a very, let's say, not shallow way, but in a simplistic way so that people who don't understand this can actually embrace it. And then the, the the end, two thirds of it is our own thesis in which the what this will become and we think that NFT and douse will be the launchpad for for that's how you're going to fund your startups that heart is how you're going to get your idea across and create something for your audience to actually hold on to which we believe there will be nfts that you hold on to that as your audience, you give a small sum, it's like Kickstarter, but more profound. So instead of like, oh, I paid this Kickstarter, and then again, send me a product maybe in the future is like, I funded this with a small amount of money, and I got this NFT. And if this blows up, the NFT will have a ton of value. And it might the value might be just for you. Like for example, our NF T's that we are selling right now, they're just a membership. And if T's they don't have like, original fun character on it, it's a it's a membership token, that entitles you to 50% off in our online store where you can buy our edibles forever. So if you're a member is only going to be 10,000 of them. If you're a member, you will get 50% off in all our stores for all our products who ever gonna make forever. And that's like our token of appreciation. But then also we are working on an entertainment brand around those themes. So those and if these will turn into a character series, we currently we call it the Chateau project, because it's super secret, obviously. And you will be able to trade in your NFT for a character and then that character gives you the 50% forever. So that's our like, pretty simplistic way of closing in on this. What's going to be a global phenomenon. There's, there's no question about that, like, crypto is definitely in the future. And exactly in what iteration and how it will be used. Nobody really knows yet. But there's some things that that seems clear. So we laid out that thesis in our in our white paper for but that's from our point of view, like we're entrepreneurs, and we have a startup. So what will it do for entrepreneurs and startup you can that's not on universal truth and what will what it will become, but it is our thesis the way we see the world if you're a doctor or or an architect or something else, then you can probably write your white paper and say like, well, here's what blockchain is gonna do for our industry. But we approached it from a from a startup and entrepreneurial perspective, and that's where we ended up so I can recommend that you can find that on our website, which is Studio dash tbd.io.
Dustin Steffey:I'm gonna have that in the episode link. So studio
Unknown:studio.td.io. And our cannabis gummies, you can buy them T V the products.com.
Dustin Steffey:I always like to ask this question. So this will be a fun one for you. If there's one E, gold nugget that you want to leave our listeners with, what would that be?
Robert Lund:It's harder than you think. But it's hurts less than you think. And I think that's going back to what we talked about the difference between the, let's call it the corporate world order, you know, being well fed inside the hierarchy. I think that is the opposite. And they're like, it's easier than you think. But it hurts more. Whereas like being an entrepreneur, like it's, it's way harder than it seems. But it hurts less. Because when you fail, and you will fail, like, without a shadow of a doubt, when you fail, you will learn so much from that failure. And I know this is a cliche, right? I know that. But looking back, you can't understate how much you learned. And it's correct from a psychological perspective. Because when you fail, it's every time you fail in life, you sort of crash through the ice, the Thin Ice of order that you're standing on, you crash into the underworld. And while you're in the underworld, the only thing that's in there in the underworld is chaos and information. So when you emerge up again, and you build yourself a new sheet of ice that you're standing on, you are way more informed. And probably in ways that you that you didn't understand, like, what I learned about business from, from my skincare company, that that sort of it was on his way to become something and it was kind of fun. But at the same that when COVID came and sort of us knocked, knocked it over, you know, what I learned about business and risk in business and, and how you can think, to alleviate that risk, it's, it's insane, it would take me like five hours to unpack that book, basically. And so that's what I mean like that. When I say that it hurts less. The disappointment is the same. But when you come out of it, you're actually you have, you've grown so much as not just a business person, but as a person that, that it's so worth the pain. You know, in retrospect, it's worth the pain. Whereas like, if I look at my professional career in the credit, creative industry, like the successes came weirdly easy when they came, but not much of that I didn't learn that much from it. And looking back at it, I'm like, whilst that great success, I don't know. And the failures that came like it was just painful. It was just painful, with very little upside. Very, I didn't learn that much. I learned a lot about people, I learned that people can be nasty, you know, but it's not it wasn't any positive learning is really and you know, this is only my journey. But but that's that's sort of how I feel like entrepreneurship is way, way, way harder than you think. But it hurts us.
Dustin Steffey:I think that's some sound advice right there. That being said, if people wanted to reach out and get a hold of you, what's the best way to get a hold of you, my friend?
Robert Lund:Well, the best way is to go to our website, any of our websites, we have two we have like the studio TBD website that I talked about that describes the company, what we're doing the web three initiatives, the cannabis products, you can reach out there, there's some there's info, email there, we're on Twitter, we are on Instagram, you can reach out in any of those places on the same time it goes to our strawberry candy store online, t v dash products.com You can reach out through we have a little form that you can reach out. And those things go directly to me. So in my partner, so yeah, we'll we're super happy with all that there's been some interesting people that have reached out that we actually now have an ongoing relationship with So yeah, if you're interested if you just like yeah, reach out and say hi, and we'll, we'll take it from there.
Dustin Steffey:Absolutely, my friend. I wanted to thank you for coming on. Thank you for the conversation, the hard conversation right and The real conversation on ownership.
Robert Lund:Now I want to thank you. It's awesome. It's awesome that you're doing this. I'm super, super grateful that you took the time to have me and our low company on. I hope to see you again in the future. And I wish you all the success. Well, you
Dustin Steffey:always have November 18, you can come to our live event and we can have a party.
Robert Lund:Absolutely. It was in Colorado. Yeah, that'll
Dustin Steffey:be in Colorado in Fort Collins. I mean, Fort Collins is like the hub for your stuff. So I think you could actually stand to benefit.
Robert Lund:Yeah, maybe we should. Maybe we should put together a little sponsor deal or be super happy to to have some of our products as giveaway somewhere, you know, works.
Dustin Steffey:Absolutely that. We will chat on those details. Again. Thank you for coming on my friend. I appreciate you and I look forward to seeing your success.
Robert Lund:Likewise, sir, it's been a it's been my pleasure. Thank you.
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Robert Lund
Co-Founder and CCO
Robert is the co-founder and Chief Creative at Studio TBD, a creative collective focusing on cannabis infused drinks and edibles and web3 initiatives.
With a background in advertising, branding, creative development and design strategy, Robert has been leading creative endeavors and departments at some of the most prominent agencies in the creative industry in both Europe and the US.
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