"A lot of time people have this great idea and don’t do any common sense competitive research before they launch" with Lindsey Holthaus
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Photo Credit: Jordan Bull
Lindsey Holthaus is from Baltimore, Maryland and in 2018 she started a CBD Brand, Plain Jane with 2 friends from MIT that she met while traveling. She has a degree in finance and a Master's Degree in public policy. She sold the brand last year but still manages Plain Jane.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
My original undergraduate major was math because I loved solving problems, but I needed to make money quickly after graduation so I switched to finance instead. In 2012 I left my job to work as an organizer on Obama’s reelection campaign and that’s when I became interested in policy. How laws were made and resources allocated is what interested me most. I grew up seeing stark inequality first hand and I thought the best way to solve it was through policy.
What inspired you to start your business?
My business was solving a personal problem for me. After working in policy and seeing how slow the process actually is (and how most things are run by politics anyway), I decided to quit my job and reduce my stress levels. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at the time and having to be somewhere for 8 hours a day (when there wasn’t always work to do) wasn’t the lifestyle that was going to help my symptoms. I had to listen to my body more and rest/sleep whenever needed it. After that, I couldn’t exactly afford the dispensary CBD/THC I was buying at a crazy price. I needed it for my symptoms (I also take pharmaceuticals) but I thought there had to be a better way to get CBD, especially since it wasn’t regulated at the time like THC. That’s when I convinced a few of my friends to start the business.
Where is your business based?
Our production facility is in Southern Oregon but I’ve been working mostly remotely the past year.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
My first step was convincing my 2 guy friends to start it. I actually didn’t join them until a few months later. I was waiting tables in LA trying to save money because we couldn’t pay ourselves for a while. The first thing was coming up with a product. I personally would have rather had oil because I’m not big on smoking but that market was pretty monopolized by some big names already. Flower, the hemp cigarette, in particular, was something that we hadn’t see that much of, and that’s the product we used to build the brand. We started a low odor hemp cigarette since we didn’t want people to get looks when they smoked it in public and that’s how we came up with the name Plain Jane.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Free samples and influencers. Since we are banned from many traditional marketing platforms because we are a “cannabis” company, we had to get creative in our marketing efforts. Instead of paying big celebrities to market our products (we could never afford to) we’ve used hundreds of micro-influencers which are much cheaper and more effective.
We are very active on our social media (Instagram) where I often post how I feel about social issues. I feel like if you have a platform you should always use it to raise awareness. I think commenting on social issues has resonated with customers and given us a form of authenticity that not every company has, even If not everyone agrees with our views.
Our products also sell themselves, so giving out free samples has always been a profitable way to raise awareness.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
On a personal level, managing and delegating has been my biggest challenge. I’m a perfectionist and controlling. I have a hard time letting other people do things because I feel like I could do them faster or better myself (a false notion I have). I also have a hard time actively managing people, which requires consistent attention and check-ins. It isn’t realistic at a certain point to do everything yourself so I’ve really had to just let go and delegate and spend more time on the managing end.
On a business level, legality has been the biggest struggle. Trying to keep up with state-by-state laws, conflicting information, and the ever-evolving compliance is nearly impossible at times.
How do you stay focused?
I started out of the gate working 12 -16 hour days. I don’t think that is sustainable in the long term. By year 2 when we were looking for investors and buyers, I could feel myself getting burned out. For me, money is important but it’s not my biggest motivator. I’ve turned down things that I disagreed with morally that could have made more money. My drive is to work on something I view as meaningful and helping people. Having employees depend on the company succeeding keeps me going every day. To make sure I don’t fail them, I know I have to take care of myself. I work when I feel most productive, oftentimes weekends or holidays when there are no interruptions. I break when I’m not feeling creative any longer and I don’t let myself feel guilty for however long it takes me to start again.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Being female-led in this industry has been really helpful for us. My own affinity for shopping and brand loyalty has directly influenced the brand. I’m not a designer by trade but I know what stands out as far as both packaging (makeup and self-care products) and marketing (clothing store flows). I’ll buy the product with packaging that stands out to me and doesn’t have a crazy price tag. I want something affordable that looks nice but also works and that’s what I’ve tried to build with this brand.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business? We’ve worked really hard on our SEO. We got lucky because we started a few years ago before a bunch of other brands popped up so we have organic traffic too that helps up to be number 1 for a lot of keywords.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Would people actually want to buy your service or product? How saturated is the market that you are in? If you think it’s a novel idea, google to see if someone is already doing it. A lot of time people have this great idea and don’t do any common sense competitive research before they launch. That’s not to say you can’t compete in a crowded field but sometimes that requires a lot of money they may not have. I think in general, women are more careful with this. We need to be 120% sure of ourselves before we do anything. So for women I would say, believe in yourself and just start it already.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
I love Twitter. The people I’m following all have these dark witty senses of humor when talking about an issue and sometimes I really need that comedy in my life. Some of my favorite authors are Sister Souljah, Octavia Butler, and Baltimore Author D. Watkins. One book I always come back to is "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by journalist Katherine Boo. I'm all about free will but the thing all of these authors/books have in common is circumstances and human behavior.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
On the data side I have quite a few. I use similarweb for website analytics, Semrush and ahrefs for SEO. I love klaviyo for flows and email marketing and before we switched our backend I really enjoyed Shopify. I never sleep on excel either. It always gets the job done efficiently without the bells and whistles.
For social media, Instagram has to be the best tool for our business and brand awareness.
Who is your business role model? Why?
I don’t have an anyone role model for business. I love companies like Airbnb, Uber/Lyft, and door dash that gave people more freedom and flexibility to make money. I’d say I have the most admiration for anyone in the private sector that is trying to solve public problems whether it’s a product that helps provide clean drinking water or electricity in certain areas of the world or products that provide more affordable healthcare in the US.
How do you balance work and life?
The short answer is, I haven’t. Before we sold the business last year, everything was about growing the business. I was available for people 24/7 and my free time was spent using my creative energy to build on the brand. I viewed it like I viewed college, just get through these few years. Now that I don’t own it (I still work there), I’m trying to develop my personality again outside of Plain Jane. Spending more time with friends and family and traveling and starting new hobbies again.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I recharge in solitude. Sometimes I don’t know how people have children because you get 0 solitude to decompress and that would be a real challenge for me. I could spend days alone, reading, meditating, doing yoga, and not talking to a single soul. I crave and need time with my friends and family but if I don’t recharge for the first, I can’t be present in my relationships.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
My goal is to find a little more balance finally this year. Next month I’ll be spending a month working from South Africa (I travel/live in different countries a few times a year). During the summer I’ll spend a few months at home (Baltimore) to work on my rental properties so my goal is to focus on learning Spanish and the piano while I’m home. For the brand, we’re working on evolving with the industry and creating whatever our customers are asking for next.
How can our readers connect with you?
Our insta is @tryplainjane, anyone can message us for free samples at any time =)
