Today we’d like to introduce you to Uncle Nick.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Uncle Nick. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
This all started for myself over ten years ago when I met my best friend and business partner Jahn in my hometown of Durango, Colorado where we had come together in the music scene to produce tracks, write and perform songs, etc. and throw monthly events that would showcase the local underground talent from the four corners in a setting that was professional and consistent. And we were doing it all for the love, the grind, and the art and also to be bringing something to the people where we could all come together under a common idea that was focused on community over everything. We had met some pretty exciting and talented people along the way. Some were just starting their passions, others were well into their craft and others were finishing up a great run of sharing their art with the people who love it.
We did all the marketing for every event and project, from coding to graphic design, to making mixtapes that had the artists on them that we liked and had invited many out to our monthly showcases to perform. I had become relatively well-known for my personality even back then and I have always had a thing for being able to speak and be in front of people and not feel awkward about it. I have always liked entertaining people because it makes them feel good and that’s probably why I keep doing it. I don’t really know? All I know is that I am continuing to do it to this day; but in a different capacity I guess? Technology has come a long way in that time and so has myself and my team over at Meristem.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
They had reached out with the idea of starting the Weedly project using those creative services and had asked if I would be interested in doing social media and running the Phoenix project and doing a job that was not for a corporate despot that I had been so uncomfortably used to and I couldn’t have been happier to say yes. I was at the end of my seven year marriage, I had lost my job because I was fighting an opioid addiction that needed to be stopped or I was going to ruin my life more than I seemingly thought I had. So to me, the offer was a life-raft when I was drowning in my own self-inflicted issues and couldn’t have come in a better time. Now, I say “seemingly” because this life is all about learning lessons and not “making mistakes” and so what I had come to label as a mistake was actually a lesson about how strong I could really be if I chose to do it.
It’s that strength that keeps me going each and every day and allows me to be inspired to keep doing what I am doing. Because I am free from affliction of my soul and free to be the person I was always meant to be and I am still learning how to be that, but the future’s looking amazing to me. I’ll be 40 in January and I think with myself, that I just keep getting better with age. It’s having my experiences of dealing with the micro-scene of Durango that allows me to deal with the macro-scene of Phoenix and the people therein. I am always out and about dealing with creators of all kinds; artists, musicians, photographers, videographers, comedians, promoters, managers, producers; you name it. I like to use the expression “I’m well known of, but not well-known” and I think that suits me to a tee. Because while most only scratch the surface of what I am and what I am about, there’s only a few that I actually let in and get to know the “real” me.
Meristem and Weedly Phoenix – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Meristem are the creators of our regional cannabis community enhancement platform called Weedly USA. Right now there are three areas that we’re highlighting under the Weedly USA umbrella and that is, Weedly Maine, Weedly San Diego and of course Weedly Phoenix. If you haven’t checked out any of the Weedly USA projects, I suggest you do, because it’s a community enhancement platform that is designed strictly for the people. That’s because it’s completely complimentary! No buying your way to the top, you have to really be about your business. After reading the Mission and Ethos for Voyage, I was surprised at the similarities of both of our projects. As we are all about the underdogs and those that make up the local community and not the corporate conglomerates that get all the shine anyway. All we ask is that you yourself are about the people. That you have a message/business that should be showcased to the community because it’s what they need and not what the businesses think they need. There needs to be the same vision at the end of the day or it just won’t work if people aren’t speaking the same language and so we feel that it is definitely what every regional cannabis community needs. We highlight events, where I am sometimes the person behind the camera, doing social media for our online pages, I also write most of the content on the website, but mostly I am the face or personality of the platform I would say and even more than that, I am the managing director for our Phoenix location.
Meristem are a group of creatives that have come together four years ago and started with two brothers. Sam and the previously mentioned Jahn, with the idea of doing creative marketing for the cannabis industry that is of the highest quality and is coming from people who can’t help but add that outside the box, creative flair to everything they do, because they do it for the love and the endless pursuit of perfecting their craft.
But, if you really wanted to know the real me, in short; I am just the same five-year-old boy playing in my sandbox making what I imagine into reality and then tearing it all down to build something new. Except this sandbox is digital and I really can make anything I want, and so I do. But I think that’s the whole basis of life isn’t it? To destroy and rebuild, destruction and creation from time immemorial and so I feel at times that I am more a part of this life than I can ever understand and to me, it doesn’t get much better than that!
Is there something we can do as a city to improve the outlook for businesses like yours?
I do feel Phoenix is a good place to have a business like ours. I have a saying that “if you can make it in Phoenix, you can make it anywhere” and I think it’s apt because this place is not like others that I’ve been and that is not a bad thing. It’s showing me lessons that I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else but here.
I would recommend to anyone that is starting a business here to just get started, you’ll meet the people you need to meet as you go and you’ll come to learn the things you need to learn just the same. It’s a hard-knock route to take, but if you sit around asking for permission or acceptance on a lot of your ideas, you’re going to be spending all your time at the drawing board and not having the appropriate action having taken place.
I think one thing that this community can do as a whole to help improve the landscape of the indi-business owner and entrepreneur, creative, artist, musician, etc. Is to accept others and to not focus on the differences, so much as we should the vast similarities that lie in all of our hearts. Or even if you do notice the differences, learn to accept and appreciate those that teach you that variety is all in what you’re comfortable with and there can be no growth without change and where there is no change, there is no growth and therefore, there is death.
I am doing my part to ensure that this community stays alive, well long into the future and I hope that others make it a point to do the same.
Phoenix is beautiful; we all just have to recognize it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.meristemcreative.com/
- Phone: (520) 800-4420
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unclenick.smokes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meristemcreative/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/weedlyphoenix
- Other: https://phoenix.weedly.green/
Image Credit:
Meristem
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