Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucas Lamadrid.
Hi Lucas, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
After a career in higher education, I decided to try my hand at real estate in California. One of my clients is an entrepreneur with several businesses. He had a hemp farm in Colorado and had some crude oil from hemp that he needed to sell. This crude oil needs refinement, which would then become CBD distillate. CBD is a cannabinoid that is extracted from the hemp plant. It is not psychotropic–i.e., it doesn’t get you high–but many studies show it is beneficial for relieving pain, improving digestion, and reducing inflammation and anxiety. In one week, I found a buyer in Chicago, but he wanted to ensure that the oil was free of pesticides. The hemp farm in Colorado does not use pesticides, so I was confident. But the tests came back indicating traces of pesticide. So I told my friend that this would happen unless we could control the process from growth through extraction. We had used another extraction company, and they were not trustworthy. It’s like when you shoot your deer and take it to a processor–how do you know that the meat you get is from your particular deer?
So we got a talented team together and raised the monies to buy the best quality extraction machines available. We use Supercritical CO2 extraction, which is the most efficient way of extracting CBD from hemp and is the best for the environment. That is how East Mesa Extraction came to be. My wife then had the opportunity to be the assistant director at Fusion Academy in Edina, and since I grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, I was ready to return to the Midwest. As it turns out, the Midwest is converting many of its old farms to hemp farms, and the timing is perfect for our business. East Mesa does it all:
- We sell CBD wholesale.
- We develop CBD-infused products for businesses that want to expand their products with a CBD line.
- We conduct market research and offer consulting services for clients who want to enter the hemp/CBD space.
- We extract hemp for farmers.
All of our business is conducted with transparency and integrity. That makes all the difference to our clients and business partners. The CBD market is calculated to grow to a 25 billion dollar business in the next three years, and East Mesa intends to be a leader in that market.
Alright, 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?
Elon Musk said that starting a business is like eating glass. That’s a little dramatic, but there are difficult moments. When you start a manufacturing business, you must contend with city codes and inspections, which is great because you want to do things right. But dealing with government municipalities can sometimes be a slow and exasperating process. So you need patience. Secondly, a start-up business is a lesson in delayed gratification. You cannot expect quick cash flow. It is a marathon and not a dash. If you want to do things the correct way, it takes a little longer to establish the right processes that will bring long-term success. After the Farm Bill of 2018, which made hemp legal many rushed into the space to make a quick buck, but they did not have the business skills or respect for business processes they should have had. We wanted to make sure to do things right.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about East Mesa Extraction, LLC?
Well, I covered this already, but I’ll be more specific.
1) East Mesa feels transparency is critical for developing client trust. That is why at East Mesa, we have a Declaration of Inter-dependence. We depend on our clients, but they rely on us. We invest in their success; in turn, they invest in ours. In turn, those clients become long-term partners who want you to succeed as you want them to succeed. Our goal is to turn a client into a lifetime partner.
2) When you have East Mesa process an order for you, you can see on a program what extraction stage your hemp is in, when the order will be processed and ready, and even where the raw material came from. That transparency is an assurance that you are getting the highest quality CBD.
3) East Mesa has a chromatography machine that allows us to remove almost all of the THC from the hemp plant. Now hemp has .3% or less of THC–tetrahydrocannabinol, which gets you high in Marijuana. Now .3% THC is not enough to get you high. But some customers, like athletes or moms who want to use CBD for their kids, do not want any THC. We can remove almost all THC and retain all good cannabinoids from the plant. We want to make the best THC-free CBD distillate in the world. And we do. This is what we want to be known for.
We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
In the final analysis, making other people’s lives better is the end goal of any legitimate business and, in turn, defines the success you will have. Don’t cut corners; find that niche and be the best in the world at it. Create partners from clients. If you build the proper foundation for your business, the rest will come–sales, cash flow, and a lasting impression on an industry.
Pricing:
- Our pricing depends on the services provided. We build custom pricing for each partner because each partner has different particular needs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eastmesa.farm
- Instagram: @eastmesafarm
- Facebook: eastmesafarm
- Email: LucasL@eastmesa.farm
