Let The Pasture Rest: On Regenerative Agriculture, And Operation Turtle With Stephen Smith

Life happens, and not always the way we expect it to. Every single day we face change, stress, and uncertainty. What if you could learn to thrive no matter what life throws your way? Resilience expert Adam Markell and his inspiring guests explore breakthrough strategies to fully embrace change and build the resilience required to become change.

Proof. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Change Proof podcast. I'm your host, Adam Markel, and I am thrilled with the guest that I have today. I was referred to him from somebody that's really close to me and I use the products that his company creates. They're very special. I don't typically do that, but this gentleman, I think is quite inspiring. I'm going to share a little bit about him. His name is Stephen Smith. Growing up in North Carolina in an active family, Stephen spent most of his developmental days outside exploring his, his grandmother's farm. The woods, the streams, the lakes of this biodiversified Southern landscape. Stephen's fascination with hemp goes back over 20 years, when he wrote his high school research paper on the many uses of hemp. Now, working in regenerative agriculture for more than 12 years, it's helped Stephen to build the foundation for Onda and the Onda ethos and, and lead to the creation of the world's first biodynamic and regenerative hemp oil. We cover a lot of things in our conversation today. You're going to absolutely enjoy listening, learning, experiencing this, this amazing young entrepreneur and his thoughts on a lot of important things to you in your work, in your careers and in your personal lives. So sit back, buckle up and enjoy this conversation I have today with Stephen Smith. Stephen, you've done some really amazing things in, in your business life, in your personal life. I'm fascinated by your story. I know our, our listeners are and will be as well. My first question to you is simply, you know, what, what is not part of the, the introduction? Your cv, your resume, you know, the things that people say about you when you get introduced to speak in this way or in conferences or other, other areas. You know, what's something that's not part of your traditional introduction or bio that you would love for people to know about you at, at the start of our conversation.

How transparent do you want me to be? You know, because what, what really came to me was that, you know, I, there are a lot of times where I really struggle to, you know, I have a lot of, a lot of these waves of, of doubt and fear, fear that come up on this entrepreneurial journey and Those challenging days when they come up, those days where you feel alone, you feel absolutely crazy, or any number of other kind of negative emotions or descriptors. That's not on my Instagram, that's not on my cv. But I think we're coming into a time of radical transparency and we're coming into a time where, you know, let's just get more real. And the reality is that's what just came up when you asked that question. I obviously had no preparation for that and I've had anxiety and depression since I was a child and, and there's some really hard, dark days when you're a solo entrepreneur, when you're trying to bring back something that really hasn't existed in the public space for over a hundred years in the case of, of hemp medicine. So, yeah, I'm human, you know, and I have some really dark days that challenge me, but also I think are very relevant to our conversation around regeneration and resilience.

Yeah, I just know it's, it's helpful for me to hear anybody talk about their life in a, in a way that's, that is transparent because there's so much fake, there's some, so many facades out there. It's kind of tough to even discern, I think, what's facade anymore from what is actually real, to use your word. So I appreciate that. I know anybody that's, that's taking this in right now, they're feeling the same way. I, I think they probably go well, well get even more granular for us, then get even more, more detail. Give me the gory details here. I'll just say, I'll say to you in response to that, you know, the mind is a, the mind is, is a man. Right? I think it was John Kehoe who said something like, the mind is a trickster. So I'm just up in the ante on that one. Our minds can give us a really hard time. And to think on some level, anybody, to think on some level that your mind is, is, is unique in that respect. I'm just going to call right out of the gate on that because it's not true. It's just not true. And I don't care what a person looks like, how well equipped they seem, how well dressed, how put together, how much money. I don't, doesn't. I don't give a, you know, flying about any of that. I know through a lot of experience that their mind is, is their, is their greatest challenge. Just like that might be the case for any of you. And so what, what we do with that I think is a big deal. And I'm not, I'm not a big, I'm not a very religious person, not religious really, I suppose at all, but I'm, I'm really dialed into my own, to the spirit within me. And, and the connection that's my spirit is how it's connected to every other living thing. And I, I try to lean into that as, as much from the beginning, from the very first waking thoughts of the day as, as, and, and in that context, I, I think about something that I heard that was in the Bible that's part of the Bible, and I think it's, it's a wonderful statement that, that we, we are transformed by the renewing of our mind. And, and I think that statement that, that we are transformed by the renewing of our mind has fascinated me because it, it, it's that word renewing and, and what renewal actually means. So I want to throw that in, in your lap because you've devoted a good chunk of your adult life to renewal, to regeneration, starting in the, with the soil. I'd love for you to give us a little backstory. I know you, you, you come from North Carolina and you learned a bunch about the land and, and, and what it means to, to, to live in a more conscious way on the land. But, but I really want to just get your thoughts on, on renewal and renewing and, and all that, if you would. Yeah, like what's the orig, what's the origin story? Sure, sure.

I, I mean, the first thing I think about is when I was exposed about 13 years ago to some regenerative agriculture and permaculture and biodynamic practices. And at the core essence of a lot of those agricultural methods or philosophies are building vitality from within. So a farm is an ecosystem, much like the body is an ecosystem, much like the planet is an ecosystem. And when I was exposed, you know, to these farming practices, you know, my mind and, and, and heart and consciousness kind of opened up to these concepts of, of kind of this closed loop system and building vitality and minimizing kind of external or off farm inputs in the case of, of farming. And you know, these natural living systems are teachers and you know, whether you're humbled by the waves when you're surfing or you're trying to grow food and you're at the mercy of what nature brings you, you know, these cycles, a lot of contemporary culture has gotten quite far away because we're in the habit of Trying to kind of control and build our own realities separate from nature in an effort to increase efficiency or convenience, for example. And you know, the, these farms, there's a certain level of biodiversity, there's a certain level of, kind of, it's dynamic and that resilience comes from it being dynamic and biodiversified. And you know, every season the leaves will shed. Maybe not in California, but, you know, other parts of the world. You know, nature goes through these cycles, right? And I think we do as humans. And there hasn't been a lot of space in our modern culture for renewal and regeneration because generally in my experience that comes when there's rest involved, that comes when there's an ability to recover. And in this kind of contemporary Sisyphusian grind culture, you know, there's not much space for that. So I just, I find these parallels, you know, having started 13 years ago in regenerative agriculture, seeing what we need to do to, to, to pay attention to the long term health of these farms, and there's so many parallels in how we can live our lives in the ways that landscapes can heal and, and evolve and farms can, can regenerate. So I don't know, that was a bit tangential and abstract. But, but the point is, I think that if we can really tune into these natural cycles, we'll see that renewal and regeneration is everywhere around us. If we can just be humble enough to let ourselves fall into those natural cycles.

Yes. So, so back to that other sort of digression of mine. What do you, what do you do to renew your mind? You, you, you opened with, transparently speaking, you've, you have your dark days. You, you, you know, question your, your, probably the, the, the wisdom in continuing on the journey you're on. I, I would think that's part of what you question. You question your worthiness, you question your, your. Probably many of the things that we all question, you know, like are you, are you doing the right thing? Etc. So when those moments happen, when you feel that darkness where the walls closing in or the isolation or the feeling, you know, this sort of the smallness or the weakness or the vulnerability, what do you do to renew your mind?

Well, I'd say a year and a half ago I used to just drink more coffee and double down.

Thank you.

And that led me to, it led me to a burnout. It led me to the, the boat started taking on water with my business. I experienced a bit of an ego death. And I realized, you know what that style of grinding and pushing and fighting and this masculine. Just. Just hustle. It got me there, okay? But either I was going to go down a dark depression and. Or the company was going to fail, or I had to make some quick, objective, but heartfelt changes and I consolidated my business. I let go of some sort of weird entitlement, as though I was just gonna be successful. Not to say that I wasn't working my absolute tail off, but there was this ego that kind of said, oh, you're gonna hit it. You're gonna, you know, you know, it's going to cash flow, it's going to work. But it was coming from a bit of an entitlement place. And that dissolved. And I really started to pay attention to, you know, the land around me, the farms I've worked at, to go back to that. And now if I'm having an off day, I'll message my team, you know, every so often. Thank goodness it doesn't happen too consistently or too frequently. And I. And I say, hey, you know, hit me if there's an emergency, but I'm taking an afternoon off, right? And sometimes I watch Netflix and I watch a documentary and I get my head off of it and say, hey, tomorrow I'll feel better. Sometimes I go run up a mountain. Exercise is huge for me. You know, I'm very tactile and very physical. I'm very athletic. And 99% of the time, if I start lifting rocks or running up a mountain, 99% of the time, I feel myself at the end because I think myself, my real spirit is happy, is loving, is confident, is humble. And it's. It's kind of like the layering of this contemporary experience and the comparison or being alone up on this hill, running the company by myself, more or less. It's those kind of those layers on top that make me feel bad or dark or depressed or anxious. But when I crack that veneer of this contemporary experience off and I get in touch with my. My soul through exercise or community is huge. And that's part of the reason why I'm, you know, excited to travel this winter. I live in a beautiful place, but I'm really alone a lot. Community is important. Exercise. I meditate, but sometimes you just gotta shut the computer and just say, I'm gonna take some hours off, you know, and. And I used to shame myself and feel like that wasn't acceptable and that, you know, the harder I push, the more progress I would make. But it's. It's just not. It's just not right. I mean, if you look at how good land stewards manage land. Sometimes a pasture oftentimes needs to rest.

There you go.

My business needed the last 12 months to slow down, slim out, regroup, and thank God I don't have some VC or private equity, you know, you know, what's pressuring me to grow at some unrealistic, consistent pace. We, we trimmed down, we consolidated, we focused, and now we're coming back with more intention and more rest and juice than ever. So in my opinion, it's been 100% worth it, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Yeah, the idea of slowing down to speed up is an anathema to so many of us because we're. We're just brought up to think that you're supposed to go, go, go, go, and, and even when you, you know, even when you're exhausted, that's the time when you're supposed to go, go, go, go, because that's what separates you from. From other people that will, you know, that might quit along the way. So, yeah, we're going to come back to that. There's just a couple of themes that are emerging here for me that I. First of all, the word humility. How important is humility to you? Because it's a big, big important word in my life for a long time. And, and you used it earlier. How, how important is humility to you? It's huge.

You know, I mean, I. I'm wrong a lot. And I think, yeah, it's a balance between, you know, really having that vision and that passion and being confident and. And, you know, exercising humility and being humble. You know, it's that perfect cocktail that we're kind of seeking for a real healthy endurance. Right. Like you can endure. But I. I don't know. I just don't believe that that style of. Of enduring is as healthy as. As what I feel like I'm exploring in the last 12 months. So I want to learn. I want to be of service to people. I want to ask people questions. I don't know, everything. I'd rather ask a question, wrap my head around something, get an experience quicker than bullshitting and saying I know it and then fumbling around to it. You know, I. I just. I don't know. I think. I think that humility and, and that that humble nature is. It opens doors, it expresses vulnerability. I think it creates trust in other people because, again, they might look at your Instagram or your company and think, you got it figured out and you're sitting in a cabin on top of a hill. And you hitting your head against the wall. So, yeah, I think it's super important to remember that.

Yes. And, and curiosity, it's this, this idea of sort of like, do you find yourself being curious? I remember in reading just a story about a pretty, you know, like a celebrity CEO who resigned, very senior person, didn't, didn't really, you know, wasn't doing it anymore for, for money or anything like that, or notoriety. But he, he resigned. And part what he said was that I just found myself not listening. I just have all these smart people around me, probably people smarter than me. If, you know, again, we, we understand that what humility looks like it does. It's the opposite of wanting to be the smartest in the room. You really just want to be surrounded by people that you could ask questions and you respect their answers and stuff. But when he, he said he just stopped listening to these smart people, he knew it was time for him to hang it up. At least, at least for the time being anyway. That was important. When I heard that, I did something else you said too is the idea that part of regeneration is really just getting back to yourself. We have everything that we need. We're equipped with everything it takes to create, to be, to do, to have all that. And to the extent that we're out of alignment with those things, we're not accomplishing or fulfilling or our lives don't feel the way we want. I think a lot of that has to do with just not being ourselves more of the time than not. And getting back to yourself is a major goal to me of what regeneration is about. I think of resilience. For us, resilience is not about grit. I don't again, object to some of the philosophy around that. Books have been written and TED talks have been given and all that makes sense to some degree. I think it's old paradigm these days. I think the day that grit, you know, wins the day, I think that day is over. I'm a gritty person. I'm a persevering person and tenacious and all that. I don't quit easily. But I understand that you cannot win the day through blind perseverance. You cannot run a marathon that has no end and think that eventually you're going to succeed. Even what seems like success to a lot of people turns out to tragically be failure when their lives are cut short, or when their relationships suck, or any of the other things that life ultimately is really about turn out to be the things that they sacrificed in the blind pursuit of something else. So really appreciate your thoughts on that. And it makes me think we think about the soil, we think about the land, ecosystems, et cetera. I often go back to history and the lessons of history and the Dust Bowl. The Dust bowl was an interesting period of history because it's the 1930s and for those that up on their history, cool. And if you've never heard about this, it's pretty interesting. I think it's the Great depression in the U.S. i mean a Great Depression breadlines and more people out of work than were in work. I mean it's a devastating time. And in the prairie states, mostly in middle America, it isn't raining and I mean it's not raining for like eight years. But to that point those prairie states were producing tremendous amounts of grain and other things that were saleable and they were doing quite well mono cropping and tilling soil. And a lot of people came from the east coast out there for that opportunity. And then ultimately when it stopped raining, the soil and the plants, everything just sort of shriveled, shriveled up, dried out and blew away. They called the Dust bowl because there was these giant black clouds of dust that blew as far as like New York, just you know, laying waste and, and family farmers, they lost their farms, many foreclosed upon, ended up moving to the Pacific Northwest. And you know, like the Grapes of Wrath situation, the book by Steinbeck, the movie that was made and you know, it was a devastating time and yet out of that devastation we learned something about the land. And now I think part of what you're doing in the world has to do with the lessons that were learned from that devastating time. If I got, tell me how close to accurate what I'm laying out is and, and I'd love to know what the lessons that you've gleaned or have been taught from that period have been.

Yeah, I mean it makes me think of, you know, humans coming in and having this kind of self entitled perspective that we can control nature and that we are, you know, nature and resource are there for us instead of we are of nature. And when I think about people creating wellness products and they slice it and dice it and isolate it and pull out these pieces and then they reconstitute it into this formula. I think that's a, that's a parallel example. I think that monocropping, exhausting the soil with no rest is, is a parallel to running yourself into the ground and trying to build a business without consciousness of, you know, how you're nested in other holes Community, family, a market or an ecosystem. So I think again, there's many parallels historically to your point about how we have integrated or, or interacted is. Is the word interacted with, with nature. And it's, you know, come back to kind of bite us in the ass or, or we, we're taught these really hard lessons not to say that everyone learns from them. And you know, it's kind of like the choices we either, you know, build our artillery to, to combat nature right through Monsanto spraying herbicides, pesticides, more equipment and monocropping, or we take another route, which is to try to learn from these natural systems again. And whether it's Onda trying to harness the dynamic array of nutrients from this super plant, right, hemp and steward that to the people, that's our choice and that's our viewpoint. Other competitors might extract different compounds, like I said, but you know, it's a belief system, it's a philosophy, it's a choice as humans, how we want to live in harmony, you know, with nature, of nature, part of nature, or constantly trying to extract, overpower and outsmart nature. But I think most of us see where that's headed or where that's gotten us. And I think, you know, during COVID and, and food supply shortages and a really hot summer and you know, water is, is a huge issue in the American West. I think it would be silly for folks not to at least open up a conversation to. Maybe we do need to think about some significant changes that, that will, I don't know, give the next generations a chance. I mean it, not to get too dark, but I think there's a lot of lessons here that we can, we can glean from and start to try to, you know, change the direction of this ocean liner. It won't be easy, but I think it's worth trying.

Well, I think that's part of the, you know, the lesson for me anyway is that that was a dark time as well. And, and we did apply lessons, maybe not every lesson that was to be applied and maybe we've broken rules again and forgotten history and, and that's, that's pretty human as an experience. But use the word extract. And I think that's really key too. The, the idea that in business, what we see in organizations, that, that I get to be sort of a. Both a teacher as well as a student of. In my interactions in those scenarios and in those situations, I see the extraction model is alive and well, that people who are themselves bought into that extract at all cost, profit at all Cost try to, or they, they really infect others with that same philosophy and they believe that that's a, a winning philosophy to extract everything that you can. And, and they'll extract everything they can from employees and, and from every system, every process in order to produce something that that is, they think is more desirable. So I, I want to, I want to talk about Onda, I want to talk about your business. And I think it's a good leg into that or lead into that to just ask what the philosophy of the business is. You know, what is, what does your business actually value? And what, what is the philosophy of Onda?

Well, it's funny, the word extraction is, is really relevant in, in our space because we don't extract nutrients, we infuse them. And so literally and also as kind of another parallel or model, you know, in how we make our product, we don't extract from the plant, we marry. So there's a lot of concepts that kind of transcend we're doing. But Onda is a regenerative wellness company and we focus on using regenerative and biodynamic hemp that comes from food farms. So the hemp is grown in rotation with food, herbs, vegetables. That soil is built through polycultures of animal impact, which is really paramount in any regenerative ecosystem. And we make products for the consumer that address anxiety, sleep, immunity, also the whole hemp products just to help relax. But really what we're focusing on is the, on the oil super ingredient which is, you know, relevant to this. It's, it's regenerate and restore. You know, this is a great ingredient that goes into really high end skin care products like Flamingo Estate, Summer Solace Gara, Public Goods. And so, you know, at the core of Onda is this regenerative super ingredient that's, you know, this isn't a formal tagline, but it's just kind of takes the edge off and helps you be your best again, getting you back to center, which is what cannabinoids do in the endocannabinoid system. They help regulate you back to center line. But you know, more, more functionally, our mission statement is to heal people, empower our farmers and support the regeneration of the earth. So we're looking again at the body, the farm and the earth as ecosystems seeking balance and vitality. And this is plant support that is meant to support those, each of those kind of nested holes.

So it's meant to bring us back to homeostasis or to equilibrium. Is that those words make sense in that context.

Yeah, in a nutshell. And I can get a little bit too in the weeds, pun intended. But really, you wanna. It's about getting us back to centerline. Right.

So back to yourself, back to that, that true self that as we were saying earlier, you know, is capable. More than capable, more than confident, more than. More than able. Enough. Yes. It's home.

Right. It's home for our spirit. And that's us in a, in a, in a, in a nutshell. It's helping us, it's plant support to help us be ourselves.

Right. I know I can tell you, like, darkness for me is not sleeping. If I don't sleep well at night, if I get too little sleep for too long, whether it's days or, you know, whatever it might be, I am, I am a darker version of myself.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And sometimes I think I created this company for myself. But as it turns out, it. There's, there's enough other folks out there that are benefiting from, from really what is ancient medicine. Because humans have co. Evolved with cannabis for thousands of years. Right. So if we think about this contextually, which I love because it gets me through the challenging times. We've been growing hemp, using hemp and cannabis thousands of years, a hundred years it was illegal. And in prohibition, because it was such a threat to the fiber, medicine and paper industries that they created propaganda and subsequent legislation to bury it. And it's just possible it was a.

Threat to the cotton industry, among others. Right?

Yeah, totally. And the Hirsch family, they, it was a threat to their, their paper, you know, their whole infrastructure. Right. This extractive model was threatened by hemp back, back then. And it's, it's the same thing now with pharmaceuticals. And you know, it's not, it's really, it's not an easy space to be in. We're, we're shadow banned and deal with payment processor issues and all sorts of really, really kind of big brother dark stuff. But I believe deep down, and my senior high school thesis paper in 99 was about hemp, funny enough, I believe that it's our right as humans to be able to work with and have support from plants. And so our job, and this is kind of coming from my time in natural wine, is, you know, farm on the highest level and then don't screw it up on the way to the bottle. So minimal processing, embracing the whole orchestra of those plant nutrients and then kind of stewarding those to the, to the people. And that's, that's really at the core of our philosophy. So we don't use extracts, we don't use isolates. We don't slice and dice. We're trying to just get the highest quality flower, hemp flower, and then infuse it, press it and then put it into the products.

Yeah, I mean I'm a believer only because I'm a, I'm a, I'm a client, so to speak. You know, like I've used the sleep product on to sleep has helped me enormously and it's again, I, I do because I speak to so many audiences of people that are, are just in the throes of this, of this cycle and, and epidemic of exhaustion and you know, of exhaustion, of anxiety and, and even a burnout. Frankly. The, the, the essence of recovery for me is sleep. But there's also food and there's, there's, there's how it is that how we are setting ourselves up to be more resistant to, to disease and, and infections and things of that sort. So I, I've also used a product from Onda in that respect to kind of give myself immunity a bit of a boost on the immunity side. And, and I've also used something I actually have on my desk which is the whole hemp product. And, and I love that as well because sort of takes a little the edge off and I can find myself, you know, not, not so much, you know, wound up, but just finding myself not breathing deeply enough where I, I don't know that I'm, I'm creating enough space. Space is creative. So we have to have space in order to create, solve, you know, challenging problems or think critically. And, and I think people who are type A personality or people are in that get it done or, you know, they're, they're really being valued and paid for their ability to get, get stuff done, you know, in that environment. They're not, there's not a lot of space. And I think that's why certain things that we could solve and ways that we could creatively transcend challenges are slower to evolve. Innovation is slower to evolve because we're actually perpetuating a paradigm that no longer really is optimal. I don't know that it was ever optimal, but it was the one that I know my generation grew up in and a lot of people have grown up in, which is again what you said earlier. You know, it's like that beyond be on the rat wheel or the treadmill or whatever, you're not hedonic treadmill and just run faster than the next guy and, and adapt along the way. But that leads to a lot of illness, and it leads to a lot of mistakes. And, and among those mistakes, you know, we all know what it looks like because it's, it's unhappiness at a core level. It's divorce or relationships that, that are, you know, untenable and, And a whole host of other things that just. That just are the. The reflection of misery from the inside out. And I'm not talking about money. You know, there are a lot of, you know, money thing could be fine, but there's plenty of money sabotage in the mix of that as well. So how do we handle that? How do we get back to ourselves? And, and that's why I wanted to have you be on the show, because you are in the throes of an entrepreneurial pursuit. You are a business owner and operator. You're dealing with all the. All the stuff. And I think that the. The ethos of the company is. Is really empowering to me personally. And I wanted. I wanted our audience to. To hear from its founder. So there have been many pivots along the way. Maybe as we wind things down here, I, I'd love to just hear from you what, what's been the most significant, meaningful, fulfilling or. Or advantageous pivot in your, you know, business life. But it could be personal as well. I'm going to leave it to you to decide.

Well, I was sitting right here about maybe 15 months ago or 14 months ago, and I had my head between my hands, and I just felt like it was. It was all over the business, and I felt like it was all over, period. And what I mean by that is that at that stage of my life and my professional life, I had not figured out how to create that space between the business and my spirit and my soul. My me, who, what, however you want to talk about it. I was in that mindset that I was wearing it, it was me, I was carrying it, I was grinding. I was going to run harder, faster, longer than anyone else. And some things happened that were kind of outside, you know, they weren't really due to any mistakes we made as a small organization, but I had some real. Some real issues with, with some of the employees, had some family emergencies. Just. It was a perfect storm where we started getting water in the boat. And I. I realized that was the beginning of. Of a really significant pivot that I ended up calling Operation Turtle. And I was trying to be playful once. I, you know, in those moments of brightness. And what I learned was if my business dies, I don't have to And I know it sounds silly, but I didn't think like that before that, that chunk of time. I thought, well, I, I can't, you know, I, I, I don't know if I, I just, I was so wrapped up in it. I felt that if my business was failing, then, then my whole life was failing. And, and so I, I leaned on some really committed friends, family, advisors, and I, I got just enough of that darkness and emotion out of the way to make some very clear, calculated, and my advisor calls herculean moves. And that was to get rid of a, a winter rental somewhere. I felt spread in my personal life, in my community. So I consolidated here in my home in Oregon. I went and got some of my equipment from a partner facility. I brought it here, and I got my hands on making the oil. I just consolidated and I focused and I trimmed down my expenses and I got really heavy back into meditation and exercise. And that was when I had that kind of ego death. That's when I realized, you know, just because it's hard and it seems like it's over, it doesn't mean it is. You know, there's, I think we all know whether it's a, a relationship, marriage, business, we know when it's over. I think I want to believe, like, you really know, it's like we've really tried to work out this marriage or whatever it is, or a relationship. You're like, no, I think we've, we've really exhausted. And in my heart, I really tried to listen to my, like, my intuition and my gut and my heart. I was like, it's not over. So what do I need to do to change myself, to be the individual separate from Onda and to be the leader in Onda, to try to carry us back on track? And, you know, these analogies are, helped me get through life. And my, my advisor, Dan and I, he was saying, listen, he's like, buckle down. He's like, it's okay. You don't have anyone pressuring you to hit certain numbers. Just keep it alive. And when the rain comes back to the desert, you're going to bloom. And I think it's happening now. And, and, and so that pivot was consolidation, focus, space between myself, my soul, and the business so that I can look at the business when it's getting, you know, pummeled or, you know, traumas or crossroads or speed bumps or any number of challenges which we all face as entre. I can look at it and think, oh, damn, that's, that's nasty. But I Don't feel it in my body the same way. And I needed that separation so that I could be healthy and have the energy and clarity to not be reactionary or panic or do anything like that. I could look at it and say, okay, wow, that's, that's up. But here's what I think we should do to address it as opposed to, oh God, you know, this is just too much, which is what it used to be like. So that pivot was humbling and clarifying and so empowering for us to regroup. Let the pasture rest. Find out the real opportunity. Because it's been seven years. We've launched world's first biodynamic, world's first verified regenerative hemp oil. We've done D2C, we've done retail, and I do this bulk oil. And now I have the privilege to say this is it. And divine focus is our, our phrase.

Yes. Wow, man, I totally could feel that. And I so appreciate you going there and tying, you know, closing a loop on the, on that, that piece you said earlier about the pasture and the pasture needs, needs to rest. You know, if I was going to put a little phrase under my shirt that says resilience, I, that would be the one.

Let's do it.

The pasture needs to rest, man. Let the pastor rest.

What's the same with you, you know, if you, if you don't sleep, any of us. I'm the same way. I need my sleep. I burn a lot of fat. I got a busy brain. I'm sure we both do. I need to rest. It's so apparent. And yet we don't let ourselves do it in other aspects of our life or business life, culturally. So, yeah, it's super important indeed.

Well, Stephen, I, I couldn't have enjoyed this conversation anymore. Honestly. I. My own body as, as much as I'm, I'm feeling the ding from, from just the, again the, the kid, the kid cooties that came back from like, from two year old school. I just got so amped in, in this conversation. I feel, I'm. My mind feels renewed in this moment and my body and my, my heart and my soul as well. I thank you for that. I know people are gonna, I imagine, share this conversation with others that they know may need this information, may, may feel that, that we've, we've trekked into a spot where, you know, we're just, just so real, to use the word that you, you started our conversation with. So I appreciate that. I will, to our community say once again, we we so humbly appreciate and, and even continue to request your help in getting the message of this podcast out. So people that you know, that would benefit colleagues, friends, whoever it might be, please share it. You know, when you rate it, when you go on whatever platform, whether it's Spotify or itunes or wherever it is that you're consuming this and you rate it, you give it a five star rating or whatever rating that helps the algorithm. I don't understand the algorithm, I don't think any of us do. But we know that when you do that, more people get access to it. So we appreciate very much your help in doing it. And as always, if you've got comments, questions for Stephen or myself, all you need to go is go to AdamMarkel.com podcast, leave that comment or that question there, and I promise you it will not be a chatbot, it will be one of us that responds to it. But we appreciate you very much. Hope everybody, wherever you are at this moment, that you are taking the moment to regenerate, taking some time to let the pasture rest, as Stephen said, and, and enjoying this moment for all it is worth. Again, Stephen, thank you so much for your time today. Appreciate you, buddy.

Thank you so much for putting your energy into this and, and spreading this opportunity.

Cheers. Well, I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Stephen today and I'm sure that you did as well. I, I got to tell you, I, I really did something and found myself doing something that violated my, my thoughts, my research, my teaching on the topic of resilience because I have been dealing with the common cold. And you know, they, they say there's no cure for the common cold. I, I've tried everything. I, I continue to flush my system, drink plenty of water. I've got vitamins and minerals and adaptogens and everything, you know, known, known I suppose to, to me anyway, and plenty of sleep and all that good stuff. But the common cold is still just knocking the crap out of me. And yet I gritted my way through this conversation. I was enjoying it so much that, that it wasn't, it wasn't torturous at all by any means for me to do that. But my voice was given out, as you could probably hear or you will hear. And it was just one of those things where I found myself doing exactly the opposite of what I typically teach, which is not have just taken a break, not have just rescheduled or created more recovery for myself. Whatever it meant in the moment, it felt like, well, I'll just get through it. I'll just grind my way or grip my way through it. You know, I'm, I'm tough and, and I'm resilient, of course. And so therefore I, I can violate the rules. And we, we know that that's just right, that's just nonsense. So the rules apply to all of us. That's the way. That's why, you know, principle in terms of natural, the natural order of things, the, the, the, the rules of nature, if you will, apply to all of us. You know, it doesn't matter what, how great a person you are, gravity applies to you equally as to somebody who, who maybe is a bit different. So I violated the rules and I'm just owning it. And, and that's what I wanted to say as well as to take a couple of seconds here to say, man, what we were able to cover even in the midst of that was pretty, pretty astounding. I just, I love listening to Stephen talk about humility, talk about his, his own journey as an entrepreneur and, and the places, the dark places that he's found himself in. Feeling insecure, feeling uncertain, living with that uncertainty as well as moving toward action even in the midst of, of these great unknowns that we're all living through. So I think what, what Stephen shared with us, I think is truly inspiring. In any role that we have in business, whether we're working in some, a new area, maybe we've reinvented our career path, or maybe we're more a senior level leader or we're starting something on the side or have already begun that entrepreneurial journey. He shared with us some really important lessons on both the regenerative side of farming and in particular his work as the CEO and founder of Onda. The work they're doing in the world and the value of hemp oil and what, what is different about the way they, they produce it? Not extracting things, but rather infusing things and, and blending things together that create something exponentially better. And we use that as a, as a, a parallel, a way to, to look at business in general and how in many models of business the extraction model is the model, you know, grab and take and, and, and suck as much out of, of the resources, human resources included, as you can in the interest of profit and putting profit in many ways before other things, including people. I loved how we talked about giving the pastures rest and the pastures need to rest. And so I'm going to do that right now. I'm going to get back to myself, going to give myself rest. I wanted to close the loop on this and just share a few thoughts about our conversation as well as own the fact that I didn't follow my own advice. So I wish you a wonderful rest of your day. I hope that you will. If you're feeling tired, exhausted, as though you need a break, I'm going to do the same thing right now that I'm going to recommend that you do, which is to take that break. If there's somebody that you think would really benefit from hearing this conversation that we've had today, please share it with a friend. Please provide your kindest recommendation when it comes to the platform that you're consuming this podcast on, you know, subscribing and then also giving us a five star rating is super helpful. And of course, if you want to check out and see exactly how resilient you are right now, you can go to resiliencerank.com resiliencerank.com and in three minutes or less even you could find out what your resilience score is. Mentally, emotionally, physically and even spiritually speaking. It's a snapshot. It's a wonderful opportunity to just check in with yourself. For now, I will say ciao and thank you so much for putting up with my froggy voice today. And again, thank you for being a part of our community.

Thanks for listening. We hope you now have even more tools and greater insights to build resilience and become change Proof. Remember to leave a review on Apple Podcasts and you may be featured in an upcoming episode. For more resilience tips and strategies, including support for building Change proof teams, visit AdamMarkel.com to get your own free resilience assessment, go to rankmyresilience.com.