Meet Nathan Smith

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nathan Smith. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nathan below.

Nathan, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Long story short, I can tell you 1,000 ways to fail. If there was a struggle bus headed to the corner of “There aren’t enough hours in the day”, and, “My back hurts”, I would be driving it. Much like dating, you only need one good idea amongst the sea of bad ones to come out on top. I’m typically the type of person who would steer away from listening to a how-to success story, until I realized my path to success wasn’t through selling life insurance policies, or Amazon dropshipping. Once I found cannabis, everything changed. I never had the show-up early, stay-late mentality until I cut my first clone. I never looked forward to work until I saw 20,000 flowering plants. I never thought I’d run a business, until I got in the business of growing giant plants. My self-esteem is rooted in the fact that this is my baby. Cannacages is the first of its kind, and I patented it. Once you’re able to be the wind beneath your wings, the confidence follows. Everyone will call you crazy in the process – until you make it big. Then you’re a genius.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

In my 9 to 5, I am an Analytical Chemist for a cannabis and hemp testing company in Denver, Colorado. I have my eye on a Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigations Masters Degree from the University of Wisconsin and love my job, the culture, and the ability to contribute to the scientific body of taboo literature. I’ve been in the cannabis industry since 2013 through its many ups and downs, and right now I’m working on a sustainability initiative to utilize fiber optics in indoor farming. This could revolutionize how cannabis is grown, cut down on power consumption, and ultimately save you money; be on the lookout for my name 😉 In my spare time, I do digital design and 3D printing. I went from 1 printer to 3 in a year, and it’s been an enriching hobby ever since. Speaking about Cannacages, the company has been going strong, and my business partner, Dante White of Oppuous, and I are figuring this s%^t out every day. The Cannacage Mini has just been redesigned, and we are exploring prospects to offer this product on Amazon! Super exciting stuff, and we are moving mountains in the process.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Be passionate. This is your baby. How you do anything is how you do everything, and people feed off that energy. Be bulletproof; people suck. You will take many hits on the chin, and we define ourselves by how we handle these situations; It’s how you get back up. Be the one to figure it out when the waters are rough. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. There’s power in figuring that out for yourself, but reaching for the stars is infinite.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

I’ll let you in on part of my success recipe – lists and a nicely formatted spreadsheet. It can be, no.. it IS the most overwhelming thing running a start-up. The wind beneath my wings is directionality and breaking down large tasks into bite-size pieces. Utilize time efficiently, ask for help when you need it, and always take time out of the day to not think about work. Executing a well-thought-out plan is a dopamine rush like none other. Don’t chase success, attract it.

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