Disruption Now | A Higher Calling with Kern Alexander

Why must you ignore people who have a fear of taking risks?
How to get started in the Cannabis business

Show Notes

Kern Alexander is a veteran turned business mogul. Learn about his unexpected Cannabis journey and how his passion for helping veterans lead to a multi million dollar business. US Military Veteran Kern Alexander discusses how he founded and scaled The Higher Collection, an Oakland-based cannabis distribution and delivery company.

What is Disruption Now?

A podcast to disrupt common narratives and constructs to empower diverse communities. We provide inspirational content from entrepreneurs and leaders who are disrupting the status quo.

In the military

you're taught to do more with less so

within business model.

and within my business model,

I pretty much did the same thing.

And I believe that's

what kind of made me successful

within

My first couple of years

is because

we really did more with less

I'm your host,

the moderator, Rob Richardson,

my special guest here is Kern Alexander,

but before I get to him,

I want to do a

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All right.

So Kern Alexander

is with the higher collection.

He is also he's also served our country.

So he's a businessman.

He's a serviceman

and it's an honor

to have him on the show.

Kern, how are you doing, man?

Awe man I'm doing good.

Thank you so much for having me

today, man.

No problem. No problem

A pleasure to have you.

And you're out of Oakland,

California, right? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yeah. Yeah.

My business is based out of

Oakland, California.

All right.

So how does one go from

serving our country?

And thank you for that to jumping into

owning a dispensary?

And like, how does that?

How does that happen?

How did that happen, though?

Those, you know,

those seem to be very different fields.

How did they get to collide?

Yeah, I'm just curious how we started.

Just jump right in.

How does one do that.

How do you get there.

How this path looked

Well,

what happened was, um,

I was based in California

a lot of my career.

I started my career in 2007,

and my first duty station was in Travis

Air Force Base,

which is in Northern California.

So I kind of had roots there

since about 2007.

Now throughout my time

being in the military.

Of course,

you know,

you get deployed all over the place,

but I've always seem

to come back to California.

It was like always my place

where I would come back to.

So even when I got stationed overseas,

I would come back.

I got stationed elsewhere

and I still came back. So,

you know, I got out

and my path wasn't really paved.

You know,

at first I

I knew that I didn't want to go back

to doing what I was doing before,

which is pretty much overworking myself

for the government.

I knew

I wanted to kind of

take that leap of faith

and get out there on my own.

So one of my buddies, he had a cannabis

dispensary back in the day in 2015.

This was more like the medicinal model.

Back in the day 2015.

That's now back in the day.

But go ahead, right?

Well, I don't.

I'll tell you this so much has changed.

I know, right? Right.

I tell people like we got like

COVID has changed like time.

You know, there used to be AC BC

and now it's like.

And now it's like a

a AC BC after COVID, before COVID.

And like, before Covid Right? I.

And that's real life thing

I feel like two years of my life

has just been missing.

I don't even know what really.

It just went so fast.

You know what I mean?

Doesn't seem like two years

I tell people, the last two years

it felt like 15.

Like it's like

feels like a time warp, bro.

But anyway, I digress. Go ahead.

Yeah, but but yeah.

So essentially back in 2015,

it was more like a

medicinal model in the cannabis space

where you could have like collectives.

So my buddy kind of did his thing

and he started his collectives,

so he kind of hit me up.

He was like, Yo bro, what you doing?

Now that you out.

You know you should hop into the cannabis

hop in the cannabis space.

At first,

I was against it

because my job in the military I was

I worked intelligence.

So for me, you know, we kind of

we I try to do things

the right way, right?

So for me, a lot of times.

So you got a lot of stuff you can't discuss with us

Oh, sure. Yeah.

But but, you know,

getting into the cannabis space,

it was just it was

it was a learning curve.

So at first, I didn't jump right in,

you know, I was a student.

I became a student to my boy,

learned the ways of

how it actually worked.

And then, um, I became a patient.

That's really

what won me over to the space itself.

I went into the VA

as I said, I'm 100% disabled

and I walked out

with a bag full of medicine.

Maybe maybe two bags full of medicine.

A lot of it was Motrin,

but a lot of it was upper and downer,

kind of like psychotics, you know,

or psychoactive.

So I didn't really want to put myself

through that

after having to put myself

through taking pills

throughout my whole career already.

So I actually sat down

with a cannabis doctor

and they gave me alternatives

for PTSD, alternatives for anxiety,

lack of sleep.

I wasn't sleeping

my sleep schedules, all jacked up.

So so that that's really

what won me over.

I decided to just become an advocate

for it in a positive manner,

you know, because in 2015 it was,

you know,

everybody was looking at it like a.

My God, you're you know,

you're a drug dealer.

but for real

Yeah, I know it's how.

They were looking at it, I remember.

Yeah, yeah.

But you know, for me, I had to like,

put a positive spin on it

and actually show

that this drug can actually help me,

and it can actually wean people

off of the things that

people were stuck on.

So spoke with

that cannabis doctor changed my life.

Pretty much.

I'm of the belief.

You know, so sorry to interrupt you.

I'm of the belief

that as controversial opinion.

But I believe it.

Like,

I think most drugs should be legalized

and regulated because it's

when it goes underground.

That's when we create a new

criminal element.

It helps that thrive.

I mean, there

obviously be some debates

about other types of drugs.

Certainly, marijuana has been

has put more black

and brown people in jail unnecessarily

unnecessarily than any other substance,

and it's been used as a reason.

Exactly.

And so what I like about you

being involved

is at least now

some of us are participating

in the opportunity

to make a return

because unfortunately,

you are the exception to the rule.

Most of the time,

we're not

we're not involved in the process.

We don't have an opportunity

to be involved in the process

unless we're

in jail with

some of us are still in jail for crimes

related to marijuana,

while mostly

everyone else is benefiting from it.

So I do applaud you for doing that.

And then you

know what we

do too, is we try to help with education,

you know,

because what I learned being within

a space is

you don't know what you don't know.

You know, like,

you don't know those opportunities

when those licenses open up.

You don't know when

those cities become legal.

Or like how much the actual cost is.

If people know the actual cost of things,

sometimes they probably wouldn't.

They probably wouldn't run away from it,

you know, cost.

In the beginning, it cost me about 2500.

But now, you know,

the cost has like

almost tripled quadrupled

in certain places

to get within the space.

So we try to push the education of

getting in the medical space

while we have the opportunity.

While we have the opportunity exactly,

because the medical space for me

was the lowest point of entry

and the easiest point of entry

to get in when it became recreational.

It was overpriced

and then

the barrier of entry became super high.

Yeah, no doubt.

I'll tell you, it's really

when we talk about

educating our community

and entering at the point of

where the opportunity is.

Like you said, it's

really, really important

for a lot of things

because that's where the

that's where wealth

opportunities are created.

And if we're ever going to really address

the racial wealth gap,

we have to move on these opportunities

as they present themselves.

So that that's an example

that you mentioned.

I'm big in the space of Web3,

I don't know if you know much about Web3.

But yeah, yeah.

And that's

yeah, yeah, I've been checking on it.

Yeah, yeah.

So we had the first black owned

and NFT marketplace on the globe

is built on flow

blockchain called Disrupt Art.

But I say that to say like,

I'm working to onboard people

because I don't want them to

be excluded from this opportunity

right now is a great time to get in.

And just the opportunity

is just ample, right?

But it won't necessarily be

that way in three to five years,

you know, had you been an.

No the barriers of entry are going to be

Way too high like this show

And then that

and then even

if not the barrier entry,

the misconceptions to entry

will be so rampant.

Well, that's it.

That's a really good point.

The biggest misconception to entry,

and I want to get back

to your point of view very quickly here.

But you know, the problem

that people are stopping people

a lot is two things

is this block in their mind.

It's either

it's a I'm not a technical person,

so I can't do that, which is not

you don't have to be a technical person.

I mean, you know how email works,

you're not technical person.

All you need to understand

is how to think basic work one or two,

everybody saying iIt's a fraud.

Well I said all right?

Listen,

it's not a fraud,

but it's 17 billion dollar

has been created this year,

so the best performing asset

right now

across the entire country, so right,

if it's a fraud.

You at least need to see what's going on

where. People are going.

Wow, right? Right. Like why?

And it's not a fraud.

But like getting people.

I think that's also a trap we have in our minds

Yeah that fear

You know, we. It's fear

We mentally block ourselves

from opportunities

before we even try them.

You know, like a lot of times I like,

I used to be in these clubhouse rooms

and I would hear

people like this discouraging people

so much on entry into the cannabis space.

And I'm like, Yes,

people are like,

Oh, you won't ever be able to get into

the New York

space is going to be too expensive.

There's not even any rules.

There's no rules to this space.

What do you mean

it's going to be too expensive?

You know what I mean?

Like,

there are no legislation

saying what that price tag is,

but it's all a mental psyche out

It's all a mental cycle.

I think it's a lot of trauma

passed down to so from.

Oh, sure.

Yeah, yeah, like

so like this fear has been ingrained.

Someone told me, OK,

you've got to think even with my,

my parents, you know, like.

And like

even on the successful with them,

I feel there's still like

like you, sure

you want to deal with that,

you know what I mean?

Like, it's like a mental block,

and I'm like, if they come for me,

then they got to come.

Everybody that's doing the same thing.

That's a lot of people.

I heard Gary B say this.

Like he said, our parents have been great

and they teach you a lot of great things

and I'll take your values.

But I'll apply my work

approach and ethics

like because we need to evolve, right?

Like we got to.

We take a lot of the values

about being a good person

about working hard.

Yes, but we also can't take their mindset

with us.

We'll take our.

Mindset, we'll take that.

We'll have our value,

we'll take their values

and apply our mindset.

And work mindset.

Right. Right.

Because their mindset is.

Based upon a world that they know

that it probably was an accurate mindset

to have when they were growing up.

It makes sense, right?

Just the government

said the same thing about the government.

I don't understand

why our government is

ran by 80 year olds.

They don't even understand

the technology era.

Like what?

Well, it's because we allow it.

The quick answer to that is that

when people can become more involved,

we'll see a change.

But the answer to that

is that 80 year

old and 60 year olds

vote and participate all the time, and.

We participate.

Sometimes and sometimes we get a power.

Sometimes we don't I mean that's the answer

I mean it's like we have.

But you know, back to the

point of that mindset,

I do think that's very,

very important

for us to challenge

the mindsets of some things

that were passed.

Again,

values have been great

in terms

of working hard, taking

care of your family, right?

But the mindset,

I'll give one example

that I've said before.

one of the mindsets that

black community is passed down

again and again and again

is to work twice as hard.

You've heard it to get what half as much?

I'm like, No, half as much.

No I;m like I work twice as hard

and I expect twice as much.

I mean, I won't be like this.

I mean, llet me talk to white guys.

They work twice as hard to expect

ten times as much. That's what I want

And then out,

man, I got in the Air Force.

Air Force taught me a whole new mantra.

They said, Work harder,

work smarter, not harder.

So essentially,

if you can make your mind, do it

and put it together,

there's no reason why

you should be physically

in the space doing it yourself, you know.

Amen

Yeah.

Using that mind work

smarter, not harder as well.

Yeah, I'm

definitely not going back to that.

Old mindset you know

You got everybody.

Out here and running up the check.

I can't do it.

So tell me about transitioning

from serving

in the military to being an entrepreneur.

It sounds like you did

learn some good lessons about

your mindset, but I imagine

it had to be a little bit of a challenge,

especially moving from

a military schedule where you

have essentially things mapped out

in a very structured way.

Then having to go out and you didn't,

you didn't.

You didn't just go get a job.

You went to be an entrepreneur,

which is really the

diametrically opposite

to having a structure.

It's like you, you figure out.

What you're structure is

trying to create that structure.

What was the challenge with that?

Or was it or was it

not a challenge

because you had that structure

kind of talk to you

in the military, right?

And that's exactly

what I was going to say.

So for me,

I feel like the challenge came