Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Josh Smith, CSO and Lab Director of ABKO Labs, located in Warren, MI, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My business performs safety and quality control testing for the hemp & and legal cannabis industry.
Tell us about yourself
My graduate degree is in clinical microbiology, and at the time, I was working in pharmaceutical R&D. I had developed a diagnostic test for bacterial infections that I was trying to raise money for when I was asked to look over some lab test results for a hemp grower in upstate Vermont. When I reviewed everything, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. There were things in those approved and released test results that would never fly in any other industry (food, pharma, etc.). In particular, I was appalled by the "microbial testing." Both low-THC and high-THC industries talk about medical use and how their products help people with ailments. To me, if you're going to play that angle to sell your products, then your products should be sufficiently tested to prove that there's nothing extra in them, and the dosing is what you say it is. Play the medical game, and then you need to have the same standards for testing. Particularly when you have vaporizers that use flower, those vaporizers do not get hot enough to kill off all fungal spores, so you have immunocompromised people smoking cannabis (hemp & marijuana, its the same plant) that could be introducing fungal spores directly into their lungs. When most immunocompromised patients die of secondary infections, particularly fungal infections, that is simply unacceptable to me.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
All of it, really. It's an amazing feeling to know that you built one laboratory from nothing through ISO 17025 accreditation, and after the purchase of a second failing lab, rebuilding it from the ground up, just doing that once is a huge accomplishment.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The biggest thing that has kept me up at night over the last five years has been making sure that my employees are paid. When things were bad, it ate at me, making sure that I didn't let the people down that took a bet to come work for me. I've given up my salary numerous times in order to make sure that happened. It adds to the complications and stress when you don't have a family safety net or a large personal bank account to fall back on.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- If you're fundraising with investors, ask for what you need, and don't start your project until you're fully funded. It's not worth rushing ahead.
- Hire well, and pay people what they're worth. If your employees are compensated well and treated with respect, they will bend over backward to help when things get tough.
- Pay an HR firm to take care of everything. HR is a minefield, particularly if you have employees in different states. Keeping up to date on every state's employment laws and tax filings is a nightmare that you don't have time for (not to mention putting together a functional employee handbook).
- You don't scale. The faster that you remove yourself from day-to-day operations, the faster you make money. This was a bit of advice that I received from a serial entrepreneur friend of mine that has always stuck with me. Yes, you can probably do that thing, but are you an expert at it? How long will it take you to learn about the thing enough to be able to do it and get half-decent results? If you're the owner, your hourly rate is $100+/hour. Can you get it done better and faster by someone cheaper? This also means that you aren't micromanaging every aspect of the business and letting the employees do the jobs that you hired them for.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.abkolabs.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshsmithms/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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