Exploring Life & Business with Star Ruiz of Garden of Eden Holistics

Today we’d like to introduce you to Star Ruiz. 

Hi Star, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2018, I was introduced to something called CBD as a remedy to consider for my chronic pain. I had been seeing a pain management doctor for 10 years and was taking pain medication and endured hundreds of injections. My diagnosed was neuropathy and Ankylosis Spondylitis. I did lots of research on CBD and talked to my doctor about trying it to help relieve my chronic pain and inflammation. Together we started this journey of trying a plant-based medicine. After about 4 months and almost giving up, we tried doubling my dose of CBD and that was the trick. I started getting pain relief and began weaning of all pharmaceutical medications. My doctor said I was cured and no longer needed to see her. This is where my mission to help others began. I studied CBD and told everyone about this miracle plant and how it changed my life. I found a local company and offered to work for free in his store in exchange for sharing his knowledge about the benefits of CBD. I was introducing several of my friends to this plant-based medicine. One day, my friend suggested that I start my own business. I had no idea where to start. I consulted with my adult sons and in 2019, we opened our CBD store. At the time, CBD was very new and not much was known about so we spent much of our time educating people on its safety and benefits. There was a lot of bad products on the market and we wanted to create an honest and safe product with superior quality and potency at a reasonable price. I was incredibly lucky to be introduced to the CEO of Bodee Organics who had the same mission and they helped mentor me and my business. Together we have created some unique CBD products. Our top seller is a banana-flavored CBD tincture. CBD tinctures usually taste earthy or plant-like. With the help of Bodee Organics, we created a great-tasting CBD which has helped our customers to continue their journey in relieving pain, stress, anxiety, and a long list of symptoms. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The first struggle was getting licensed to sell CBD. There was such a stigma about the plant as it was thought to be marijuana. We had to convince people that CBD was from hemp. It looked and smelled like marijuana but had no psychoactive effects. The next struggle was selling CBD. It was a cash-only business because no banking would process credit card purchases. We applied for services and was turned down each time. In a stroke of luck, we were approached by Square to be included in a beta test for credit card processing and it was successful. The next struggle was learning how to run a business as I had never owned a business. I had so much support from friends and acquaintances who helped guide me through it all. I still have a full-time job and so do my sons. We committed to each of us would work in the store 2 days each. Basically, our days off from our jobs are the days we manage our store. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Garden of Eden Holistics LLC?
We are a Hispanic, family-owned business. We set ourselves apart by selling only CBD products we trust for use by our family. We have worked on making our products better than other businesses by adding other natural ingredients that boost the CBD’s benefits. We work closely with our manufacturing companies to make sure the products are safe for all ages. We strive to build a relationship with our customers so that they can trust our products. We have created some delicious tinctures and great smelling topicals. We know most people don’t want to smell like a medicine cabinet so we created a cucumber melon and a peppermint Juniper topical spray for pain and skincare. Our CBD tinctures and edible gummies are fruit-flavored and don’t taste like medicine. We offer educational materials and we always take our time to understand the customers’ needs and recommend the best delivery system of products for that need. 

What are your plans for the future?
I plan to retire from my full-time job in 2023 and devote 100% of my time to my CBD business. I have already taken my products on the road and participated in several pop-up shopping events where I can reach more people and explain how CBD can change their lives, just as it has changed my life. 

Pricing:

• 1000mg Tincture is $49-$59
• 500mg topical pain sprays $39-$49
• 750mg CBD/CBG combo gummy’s $35

Contact Info:

• Email: gardenofedenholistics@gnail.com
• Website: Gardenofedenholistics.com
• Instagram: gardenofedenholistics
• Facebook: gardenofedenholisticscbd
• Yelp: Gardenofedenholistics