We recently connected with Jason Axtolis and have shared our conversation below.
Jason, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.
There will always be people eager to tear you down and set your limitations for you. I use it as a source of motivation or entertainment. When I decided to start the business everyone, with exception of my wife, told me it was a terrible idea.
One of my favorite quotes is, the people that say it can’t be done should never stand in the way of the people doing it. I love being told a task is impossible and then getting it done and exceeding expectations.
Once I was having a conversation with a well-established OG vendor, He asked me what I had lined up for the upcoming season. I listed my markets and mentioned we were opening a shop and he laughed in my face. He just needed a cup of coffee and he would have made a great meme. I still use that one as motivation. We just celebrated our 2-year anniversary at our pet friendly CBD store in Mesa, AZ and I seriously wanted to send him a thank you card.
In general, I think resenting somebody’s success or rooting for their failure will result in bad karma. If you’re sitting around thinking about me or talking trash, I’m flattered, but you have too much time on your hands.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My journey into wellness started in the early nineties teaching Chinese internal arts and meditation. I also trained and practiced various bodywork modalities and traditional bone-setting. After completing Traditional Chinese Herbology School, I did a year-long internship at an incredible clinic in the Midwest. The name Celestial Stem is a nod to the eastern arts that I love and have always been a part of my life. After being sidetracked in the corporate sector for over two decades, I decided to get back to my roots and try to serve my community.
The company was born out of my frustration as a CBD consumer. Products were either way overpriced, not effective or consistent, or the milligrams were too low to yield any noticeable results.
We’re a family-owned business and started from the ground up. We aren’t a franchise or an MLM. We set out to offer the highest quality products while bucking the industry trend of insane markups. Our mission has always been, affordable premium grade CBD products that are attainable for all people and pets.
All of our products are painstakingly formulated by us and or curated. My family, including my pets, personally use every product we offer. If we don’t use it, we won’t offer it. We do extensive beta testing with trusted regulars during product development. We will only consider products that get exceptional feedback.
There are a few things that make us different in addition to the affordable pricing. We also wanted to offer higher doses than many companies. This is especially true in our pet offerings. Most CBD Dog Treats on the market are only 2mg and not strong enough for medium to large dogs. We decided to offer CBD dog treats in 2mg, 5mg, 10mg, and even 20mg. They’re vegan and only contain 4 organic ingredients. We just launched a soft salmon CBD Cat Treat, which is rare in the industry. We have very high dose tincture options as well with some alternative carrier oils that are easier on pets stomachs.
We take the same approach with our human products. We make Artisan CBD Gummies that are vegan and never contain any high fructose or artificial flavors or colors. We have full spectrum CBD gummies in 20mg, 40mg and even 100mg per gummy.
We also offer 2:1 ratio specialty products featuring lesser known secondary cannabinoids like CBN and CBG. While most companies are just starting to dip their toes into this territory, Celestial Stem has been offering, perfecting and focusing on our CBN and CBG products for years. We pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve in anticipating the needs of our customers and not just following trends. We have both tincture and gummy options.
We’re known for very strong CBD topicals. We have some very popular extra strength CBD salves that are 500mg per ounce and a new extra strength CBD cream that is 3000mg plus 2% lidocaine. With such strong products, a little goes a long way. Topicals are great, they’re laser focused, fast acting and very efficient.
We even have some edible products that utilize a different extraction process that yields a higher secondary cannabinoid profile for enhanced potency. We have a pet safe organic almond butter and a new grade A raw honey.
We have some new products slated for the beginning of the year like a line of powdered pet supplements. There will be a new hip and joint formula, and improved probiotic, a functional mushroom immunity and allergy blend and a hydration formula. We’re finishing up the formulation on a new Ashwagandha gummy and have some liquid nano human supplements in the works as well.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Work ethic: Running a business is a tremendous amount work, there is always something else that needs to be done or improved. Showing up and being consistent is a huge part of it. While you’re taking the day off, chances are your competitors are open. There have been some local shops that I’ve loved and stopped going to because they were rarely open. Customers appreciate consistency.
Customer service: I love building rapport with customers and their pets. Getting to catch up and chit chat ever few weeks is always enjoyable. Being able to listen to a customer and direct them to the right product at the proper dosage the first time is paramount. Education is very important for us. We work hard to cultivate an informed consumer base to help them avoid the missteps that so many of us have encountered, regardless if they buy from another company or us.
Resilience and flexibility: You have to be resilient. Some days you’ll be on top of the world and other days you’re asking yourself why you even started. There will be ups and downs financially and emotionally, you have to look at things cumulatively. You can’t rest on your laurels or close up shop over a bad week. You also have to be able to see when things aren’t working and have the ability to adapt and pivot. Plus, there is always room for improvement.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
Not being able to advertise is the biggest challenge by far. Since we offer CBD products we aren’t allowed to advertise anywhere, social media, major search engines, you name it….We’re getting out and meeting as many people as possible each week. We do multiple farmers markets per week and we’re adding more large events throughout the year. Our pet friendly CBD Store in Mesa, AZ lacks street visibility so getting out and meeting people and directing them to the store is the main source of foot traffic. Also, spending a good deal of time every day doing SEO work myself makes a huge difference for our online presence. It’s not ideal but it’s our reality. Even with these limitations we’ve still been able to grow each year.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://celestialstem.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celestial_stem/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/celestialstem/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/celestialstem/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/celestialstem/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkA7NUXKhLHoWsLOhV4FrQ
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/Celestialstem/
Image Credits
Jason Axtolis
