DALLAS — Overwhelmed and out of options, one woman’s crisis spurred her and her best friend to start a business centered around health. Now they’re on a mission to take care of others like they would their own family.
"The people that finally find us we’re like their last option, they’ve tried everything else," said Stacie Czech.
Czech and Kristi Kelly co-own Thryv Organics, a premium CBD shop. CBD stands for cannabidiol and is derived from hemp plants.
CBD, Czech said, changed her life.
Czech’s mom was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis decades ago and the disease crippled her with chronic pain. As a caretaker, Czech was desperate to find her mom relief.
"It’s a very lonely process, you feel like it’s a bunch of starts and stops. You feel very lonely," said Czech.
She said she discovered CBD, did some research, and thought, "Why the heck not?"
Now, Czech said her mom is off all her pain meds. CBD, she noted, is not a pain killer, but Czech said it can impact your immune system, mood and nervous system.
Kristi was already giving her dog CBD, so the besties took the leap to turn their passion into a purpose and a thriving business.
"The franchise wouldn’t approve our location. We fought and fought with them to try to get them to approve it, but it ended up being the best thing that could happen to us because we had to pivot and create our own brand," said Kelly.
But location turned out to be the easy part.
"Even when we first started researching different companies and different things, we were overwhelmed by all the options," said Kelly.
CBD isn’t a new product so the concept of their store had to stand out. Czech's suggestion was to use their personal experience as a business platform.
"We were confused, and we knew that our customers would be super confused as well," said Kelly.
So, they offer personal consultations. A deeper connection can keep customers for life.
"You kind of run into these roadblocks and you just have to figure out how to get over those hurdles," said Czech.
The most obvious hurdle: the pandemic. It forced these entrepreneurs to shift to e-commerce, which meant a website.
"We literally she and I split up our product, the inventory that we had. We immediately started offering free shipping nationwide from purchases on our website and free same day local delivery. So, she and I were literally taking packages to people’s doorsteps and dropping them off all day every day," said Czech.
You must be willing to do it all!
"We’ve really evolved into a woman-centric business. Everything we do is female formatted, and we have a lot of female entrepreneur friends and people that we’ve gotten to know through friends that we highlight," said Kelly.
Reinforcing their mission to help others so, everyone is thriving.
Czech and Kelly use their platform to promote other female businesses with “Women Who Thryv” every month.
They also said they focus on finding the safest products – grown with organic farming practices and lab reports to back it all up.
They launched their USDA certified organic line last month and offer CBD for pets.