We had the good fortune of connecting with Arend Richard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Arend, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
There wasn’t much of a thought process because my business was started out of necessity to fight cannabis censorship online. We did what needed to be done. When YouTube purged hundreds of cannabis channels without warning in February 2018 (including my own channel with nearly 200k subscribers), I was lucky enough to be friends with many of those content creators, and it was through those friendships we were able to come together and start Weedtube.com. We raised over $15k in 48 hours from our followers to start our own video platform. It feels like now, over three years in, we’re finally able to start building a vision for the future of the platform, instead of catching up on what needed to be done to fight the online censorship of cannabis.

What should our readers know about your business?
What sets WeedTube apart is that our main goal in running the business is not to make money. Which may sound like a detriment, but I believe the world needs more businesses that don’t care about dollars but are looking to provide a service to the world. Yes, we have to make money to survive, but the primary goal of WeedTube as a whole is to provide a community for cannabis advocates and creators, financial gain is secondary to that.

I’m excited to provide the world with a different type of social media in the near future. A platform that wasn’t developed with the sole purpose to keep your attention for as long as possible and to sell your information, but one created with integrity in such a way that the users enjoy their experience without being violated.

Getting to where I am today was not easy at all, because we’re doing something that no one has ever done before. While it seems like everyone has a streaming service nowadays, to have a user-generated, long-form video content platform is unheard of outside of YouTube. And we didn’t take the easy way out by using an OTP service (Open telecom platform) and just white labeling our website. We built out the entire framework of our social media network so that we too could be a standalone platform.

Lessons I’ve learned along the way is that as a cannabis content creator turned business operator, I’ve learned to trust my own instincts in business. I’ve learned to be a better leader by enabling and encouraging my team rather than criticizing them. When you’re doing something worth doing, people will have bad things to say about you. But if you’re moving forward with integrity, you don’t have to worry about what people say.

One of the trickier things about being the leader of the WeedTube as a business has been finding my outlet of continued creativity through video content creation. Before, I was just a video content creator like many others, and I still have passion for video content creation. I hope people who find me find the time to watch my content and get to know me a little bit better.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I had a life-altering taco experience at a food truck called Tacos Y Birria La Unica in Downtown. Tears welled up in my eyes as I took a bite of these tacos, no joke, it was that good.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So much of everything that has happened with WeedTube is thanks to my team, who are not as publicly facing as I am. My dear friend Spike has been there for everything: we worked together for 2 years prior to WeedTube managing cannabis content creators and brands. She transitioned to working on Weedtube in early 2018 and has worked every day since launch. We call her the Siri of WeedTube because she knows everything about it. She also has been an amazing support to me because with being the public facing leader there comes scrutiny, and she has been a person to lean on when I’m struggling with the pressure that comes with that. She deserves credit where it’s due!

Website: https://theweedtube.com/

Instagram: @arendrichard

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arend-richard-b4a997bb/

Twitter: @theWeedTubeApp

Youtube: https://theweedtube.com/user/ArendRichard

Other: https://beingfoundbook.com/

Image Credits
Robert Hayman- floral pictrues

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