Hidden Gems: Meet Drew of Botanical Bliss

Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew

Hi Drew, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The story of Botanical Bliss is one of passion. You always hear from entrepreneurs/career coaches, that in order to be truly successful and/or fulfilled with your business, career, or life in general, you have to love what you do. This has never been more true for me then after this crazy and exciting past year of business.

Let me rewind back the clock, to provide some background on myself. I am as close to a middle TN “native” as they come in this melting pot of a community. My family moved to Franklin, TN from St. Louis, MO in 1988 when I was only 2 years old. To put that into perspective for those non-natives who might not be aware of the exponential growth this region has seen since the early ‘90s, this was before the land between Nashville and Franklin was developed into what we now refer to as, Cool Springs. There was nothing but farm land and small residential neighborhoods along the I-65 corridor.

I attended K-12 school in Franklin, graduating from Centennial High School in 2004. I went to Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, TN on an academic scholarship to pursue a degree in Engineering. I wasn’t quite prepared to put forth the effort needed to be successful in college at 18, so I was back and forth from college in Cookeville and community college in Franklin throughout my first 3 years. I eventually dropped out of school and took a 4 year break trying to figure out life and what I wanted from it.

During this time off, I worked multiple jobs usually doing 2-3 jobs at a time to make ends meet. I worked for a moving company, furniture rental company, delivered pizzas (where I got robbed at gunpoint), did landscaping, and also did some contract work for the US Census and delivering the Yellow Pages (this is a physical book of phone numbers for any younger readers) in my spare time. The struggles and experiences of this time off led me to re-enroll at Tennessee Tech at age 24 and move back to Cookeville for one final shot of obtaining my degree. I also switched my major to Accounting which came naturally to me. I finally graduated with a degree in Accounting in 2014 while in the meantime meeting and falling in love with my wife-to-be.

It was during this pivotal time in my life that I became extremely interested in the beloved plant, cannabis, and the newly formed legal markets popping up across the country. When I started college, the only legal market for cannabis was the medicinal market in California. This was followed by a wave of decriminalization, and finally the first state operated recreational markets in CO and WA in 2012. I took every opportunity I could to travel to these newly legalized states to learn and experience them as a consumer. I had friends in the industry in CA, NV, and CO, so I was able to get a firsthand look behind the counters of dispensaries and into the cultivation itself. I learned about the pros/cons of different growing environments, how to differentiate between them, and the factors to look for in determining quality and potency. This knowledge would eventually be critical to my success down the road, but at the time, cannabis was still highly illegal in my home state of TN and I wasn’t ready to uproot my life to move to another state. I chose to put it all on the back-burner and enter the corporate workforce as an accountant. When my wife-to-be graduated 2 years later in 2016, we moved back to Nashville to kick-off our careers. My path led me into Indirect Tax (State & Local Taxes) where I spent 8+ years climbing the corporate ladder ending as an Indirect Tax Manager at a large Global Fortune 500 company becoming intimately familiar with reading/interpreting state and local laws/regulations and the related court cases opposing/defending the company’s tax positions.

That leads us to the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill which legalized Industrial Hemp by setting a clear definition of what hemp is and separating it from the Federally illegal cannabis. At the time, it didn’t mean much to me, as I was focused on my growing career in tax. I still followed all the trends of the industry closely and had friends who had ventured out and started businesses in the hemp industry. I followed their journeys closely but wasn’t fully convinced the market was stable enough or the demand high enough quite yet. I eventually started my first side-hustle business as a Tax Preparer doing Federal Income taxes, but it was a short-lived venture lasting one tax season. The passion was NOT there. If I was going to invest my time off of work, it was NOT going to be doing more taxes. That was a relatively inexpensive lesson learned given the minimal overhead as a service provider.

The next big event on the timeline was the COVID pandemic. This led to working from home for those lucky, travel shutdowns, and most importantly the introduction of the low THC consumable hemp flower, and the imminent explosion of the online marketplaces starting to market and sell it. At the time right before the COVID lockdown, I was preparing for Bonnaroo and decided that would be a perfect time to sample some new legal products to take with me without risking any negative consequences that come from living in a “prohibition” state. In order to lower my cost and obtain access to wholesale menus/pricing, I decided to start a business. I wasn’t fully decided on continuing the business, but just in case, I wanted to make a name that was clever enough to use in the future. This is the true origin story of the name, Botanical Bliss.

Over the next couple of years after registering the business, I began my tedious journey of sourcing and sampling various products from vendors all over the country. My sourcing network grew, and the quality of the product increased to the point it became viable for me to enter the hemp industry and offer my products to the public. I started selling to my close network of friends and coworkers around August of 2023, which led to me visiting the vape shop at end of my street and landing my first and longest standing B2B customer around October. The manager there also managed 7 other locations around Middle TN, so it provided a healthy stream of revenue and profit to allow me to build-up capital and slowly add new products to my lineup. I also brought on my close friend, Chris, that I’ve known since high school as my first sales representative. He got our first branded retail-ready products into the two Smoke Token locations in Nashville and Murfreesboro, and has been a continued asset to the company. He has experience as a cultivator in the hemp industry up in Oregon, and brings his expertise to offer his valuable feedback and knowledge of the industry to improve my sourcing while helping get my products on store shelves.

Business was slow yet steady for most of the first 6 months in 2024. Around March of 2024, I started the first Instagram page for the business to show off pictures of my products and network with other local businesses in the industry. This strategy led to a good number of new local small businesses who have continued working with me until this day. One of those new customers, was another Nashville native, Riley, who owns a company called Lifted & Gifted. What started as a customer/vendor relationship, quickly turned into a very successful business partnership combining my strengths of sourcing, vendor relationship building, accounting, and familiarity with state and local business compliance with his past experience as a cultivator, extraction lab manager, and his vast network of consumers and companies he has worked with over the years. Since we first connected in the beginning of July of this year, the business has grown exponentially. Working together with RIley helped me reach and surpass my first $100k monthly sales revenue in the same month we first connected! This is also around the time I quit my corporate Indirect Tax Manager position to focus on the business full-time. This was a HUGE decision with real-life consequences if it didn’t work out. Fortunately for me and my wife, it has been a fulfilling and successful decision ever since.

Our most recent and biggest success came from the regional hemp competition event called the Southern Champions Cup which was held at New Heights Brewery on Saturday December 6th. It is an annual event held in Nashville where regional companies and cultivators submit their best products across a variety of categories to be judged by a panel of volunteer judges, which the winners are announced at a big event where the same vendors setup booths to show off and sell their products. The competition was tough with big vendors with nationally known brands and talented local cultivators. We partnered with Lifted & Gifted to run a vendor booth and launch our official collaboration line of products, called Lifted & Blissful. We also shared a booth with my friend and sales rep, Chris, who submitted his own hemp flower he grew himself under his brand’s name, Antheia Farms. The Lifted & Blissful collab took home 1st place in the infused pre-roll category with our hand-rolled live rosin infused pre-roll. We also took home 2nd place in the Vapes category with our live rosin vape. Antheia Farms took home the biggest win of the night with 1st place in the Indoor Flower category and 1st place in the Pre-roll categories with his Grape Gas strain he cultivated locally. It was such an amazing experience to be apart of especially in the state of Tennessee. Our booth was packed with consumers, enthusiasts, and other vendors the whole night.

Since the event we have been busier than ever, taking inquiries from new customers from across the state and the surrounding states including North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, as well. I am now closing out the year with over $1 million in sales revenue for 2024. The growth of the company and the support we have received from existing and new customers/clients is beyond anything I could have imagined possible.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been anything but smooth along my journey. I believe I speak for the whole industry with this statement. There have been a number of challenges we have faced along the way, but there are two that stand out the most. The first challenge is regarding losses in the supply chain for businesses sourcing product out of state. This usually consists of lost or stolen packages by employees of the USPS or other 3rd Party Logistics companies such as UPS. There is a well-known problem in the industry where packages shipping from hubs located in regions known for production/shipping of hemp products such as Northern and Southern California. To add to this struggle, these 3rd Party Logistics companies are notorious for denying valid insurance claims for these thefts/losses that occur while using their services. This disrupts the supply chain, as well as adds huge losses to the bottom line for whomever is liable for the products, be it the supplier or company purchasing the products. We have experienced losses of over $70,000 this year alone. Luckily our supplier has covered most of them, but they also informed us that going forward we will have to split the losses with the supplier in order for them to continue to operate without drastically increasing the cost of the products. We now are working on alternative solutions to insure products arrive as expected.

The biggest looming struggle has to do with the new regulations regarding testing that was proposed by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the resulting lawsuits filed against the TDA. The regulation they first released in the form of an Emergency Rules would effectively kill the entire hemp industry for all retailers operating in the state of Tennessee as of the effective date of December 26, 2024. They attempted to redefine the Federal definition of Industrial Hemp to include the non-pyschoactive cannabinoid, THCa into the determination of the allowable limits of THC in any hemp products sold by companies operating in the state. The frustrating aspect of this regulation is that it does not make it illegal to possess or purchase Federally legal smokable hemp products in the state, it only prevents TN businesses from selling it inside the state and collecting the much needed tax revenue. Out-of-state companies can and will continue to sell and ship directly to the consumers in TN. As a result of these regulations, there have been 2 lawsuits filed this month by the Tennessee Grower’s Coalition and a handful of other plaintifs.

My career in state and local tax has put me in the position to better understand the complexities of the state laws and regulations, so I will attempt to break it down for you. I am not intimately familiar with the details of the arguments, but here is my interpretation of what I feel they will/should use in the industry’s defense. The 1st and most important lawsuit is regarding the inclusion of THCa into the calculation of allowable THC limits for products sold in TN. The Federal definition of hemp was clearly stated in the 2018 Farm Bill to include:
“the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.”
The state is attempting to redefine the Federal definition of hemp which contradicts the precedent set by the U.S. Supremacy Clause and the Interstate Commerce Clause. These Federal clauses are in place for valid reasons in order to prevent state laws from superseding Federal laws, or impeding commerce across state lines.

The 2nd lawsuit is in place incase the 1st fails to convince the state to ammend the new regulation. The 2nd argument is that raw hemp flower does not meet the definition of a Hemp Derived Cannabinoid which is the precursor to all the regulations proposed including the testing regulations. Removing the raw hemp flower from these new regulations would mean it would remain legal but un-regulated, which is not ideal for either party. Our company and the rest of the hemp industry in TN is very much in support of lawful fair regulations set in place to prevent unsafe products from being sold to our consumers.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Botanical Bliss is a licensed Hemp Supplier and Retailer located in Nashville, TN. We specialize in the wholesale of top quality compliant hemp and hemp-derived products. We can meet and exceed the needs of any size business, from large multi-state wholesale operations to small mom & pop retail shops. We carry a huge selection and variety of products sourced from the best farms/distributors/processors across the country.

What sets us apart from the competition is our dedication to bringing the best and largest selection of hemp products to Nashville at affordable prices without sacrificing on quality or compliance. We are a small business with big plans, and work directly with customers to find exactly what they need to succeed in this very competitive market. We operate with a wholesale mindset for any size company. We have been successful by striving for repeat business from happy customers, not by squeezing every penny out of our customers until they find a cheaper price. We understand the struggles it takes to run a retail business, and take the time wasted sourcing and risks associated with using out-of-state vendors out of the equation. These risks include losses of time, losses due to shipping, and bait-and-switch schemes from shady vendors. I have spent 1000s of hours sourcing products from vendors across the country, so that my customers can do what they do best, run their business.

Our current product lineup now consists of a HUGE selection of the following compliant products: THCa flower (all grades from small batch indoor to excellent quality greenhouse), pre-rolls, hand-rolled rosin infused pre-rolls, live rosin, crumble, sugar, shatter, live rosin vapes, live resin vapes, and more!

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The quickest and easiest way for anyone to support us and see what we are working on is to follow us on instagram using the link at the end of this article. You should also follow my partner, @lftdngftd_2.0 and my friend/sales rep, @antheiafarms.

If you are have a business in the hemp industry or know someone who does, including retailers. delivery services, wholesalers, etc. you should go to my website and fill-out a Contact Request form and I will personally reach out to connect.

Depending on the outcome of the pending lawsuits, we are working on a potential retail presence in the Nashville area. We are considering the following options: a brick & mortar, retail pop-ups (at our retail partners locations/special events), and online shop (same day pickup at our retail partners locations). If you are an existing retail partner or are interested in becoming one, please fill-out a contact form on the website!

If you are a consumer and want to support us, you can go to the following stores/locations that carry our branded and bulk products:

Smoke Token
Locations: 409 Harding Pl Nashville, TN 37211; 1312 Memorial Blvd STE D Murfreesboro, TN 37129
Products: Pre-packaged THCa flower, pre-rolls, live rosin infused pre-roll (1st place at ‘24 SCC), live rosin, live rosin vapes (2nd place at ‘24 SCC)

Smoke Mountain
Locations: 1006 Jefferson St Nashville, TN 37208; 2609 Gallatin Pike Nashville, TN 37216; 115 Gallatin Pike S Madison, TN 37115; 5+ other locations across Middle TN
Products: Bulk THCa flower, pre-rolls

Marley’s Gallery
Locations: 3065 Mallory Ln #105 Franklin, TN 37067
Products: Bulk THCa flower, pre-rolls, live rosin infused pre-roll (1st place at ‘24 SCC), live rosin, live rosin vapes (2nd place at ‘24 SCC), Badder/crumble wax

Perfect Plant
Locations: 300 White Bridge Rd STE B Nashville, TN 37209; 904 Main St STE B Nashville, TN 37206
Products: Bulk THCa flower, live rosin, live rosin vapes, live resin vapes

NowiCann
Locations: online orders only at nowicann.com (offers same day delivery in the Middle TN area and ships to all legal states)
Products: Bulk THCa flower (they also grow their own amazing in-house flower), live rosin, live rosin vapes, live resin vapes, crumble/badder, sugar wax

Roots & Releaf
Locations: 1326 N Broadway Knoxville, TN 37917 (they also ship to all legal states www.rootsandreleaf.square.site)
Products: Bulk THCa flower, live rosin, live rosin vapes, live resin vapes, sugar wax

Consider It Flowers
Locations: online orders only at consideritflowers.com (offers same day delivery in the Middle TN area and ships to all legal states)
Products: Bulk THCa flower, live rosin, live rosin vapes

731 Hemp
Locations: 581 Old Hickory Blvd STE G Jackson, TN 38305
Products: Bulk THCa flower

Smoke Station
Locations: 1228 N Washington Ave Cookeville, TN 38501
Products: Bulk THCa flower

Pricing:

• Our pricing can vary depending on several factors including location and order quantity and frequency. The best way to get pricing is to go to the website and fill-out a Contact Request form completely explaining your needs and I will reach out directly with the available menu and pricing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.botanicalblisstn.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/botanicalbliss_tn/
• Other: https://bio.site/botanicalblissTN