Elevating care: Stephen Stearman of Elevate Holistics
While other businesses struggled over the last two years, some cannabis and adjacent businesses found success. Cannabis was determined to be an essential product in the midst of the pandemic, which lent credibility and validity to an industry and product soaked for decades in stigma. One of those success stories comes from Elevate Holistics, the company grew rapidly in that time, exploding their coverage area and growing their staff by 500%.
At the beginning of 2020, Elevate Holistics was able to certify patients in Oklahoma and Missouri – within 90 days the company will serve patients in 15 states.
Greenway recently spoke to Elevate Holisitics Founder, Stephen Stearman about the journey to success and making an impact in cannabis.
You significantly expanded your coverage areas in 2021 – how did that come about?
In 2021, we started serving Arkansas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, and Illinois. This came about because we effectively work with multi-state operators (MSOs) that help support our initial presence there. It’s easy to justify the expenses that come along with expansion when we have people on the ground helping us cater our product to that state’s needs.
We spent 2021 building our new platform from the ground up and it’s allowing us to expand into new states with serious haste. That platform was launched in November 2021 to help improve our patient, partner, and physician experience.
What obstacles did you face in your expansion?
This is a great question. Because every state has the power to structure their medical cannabis industry as they see fit, we have to build in unique variables for every state we enter. Software is great when you can copy-paste features, but when you have to customize every form, it adds considerable time to “launch.” One of our biggest challenges now is navigating the fluctuating landscape around telemedicine laws for cannabis certifications.
How has the expansion changed the way you operate?
New employee onboarding now has in-depth training equipped with quizzes and a trial period because there are so many points to learn. Imagine being new to cannabis and you have to learn the ins and outs of ten cannabis markets to provide effective patient support. We’ve had to add structure to our people operation’s department much faster than anticipated. Additionally, in order to lead a bootstrapped organization with limited resources effectively, we have to balance competing priorities between departments. Growth is expensive, and we only have a few developers pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Has your staff grown as well?
Yes, we started 2021 with 4 full-time employees and now have 20. Growth is hard on a company, and keeping culture tight is challenging. Change management is a big topic for me right now as we add layers of management into the organization.
What propelled Elevate Holistics forward while so many other businesses have suffered or slowed down over the last two years?
I attribute Elevate’s growth to a few different factors: our timing and placement in the market; our team, which is composed of passionate, A-players, who have bought into the mission of helping people live better lives; and the fact that our technology is unique in our space.
Every telemedicine business in cannabis has grown over the last two years. Covid was a huge factor in this and it has to be recognized. We’ve focused on providing value for dispensaries from the day we started in June of 2019. Our unique integrations do exactly that and it’s why we work with such a large percentage of the Missouri dispensary market.
One example of our product innovation is a new feature that we recently released to make the process of getting 8-ounce allotments almost as easy as the standard allotment (if you qualify). The patient books two appointments upfront and then we assist with the paperwork to DHSS to ensure it’s done properly.
What are the company goals for 2022?
Our goal for 2022 is to serve 50,000 patients and incorporate products into the platform. That starts with vitamins, minerals, and herbs, and then expands to include at-home testing for allergies and fertility.
What do you think the medical marijuana industry can do to improve the patient experience?
Education. The market needs to be educated on cannabis as a medicine so it’s more than just the question of, “What’s the highest THC cannabis I can get?” Proper Cannabis’s line of THC:CBD cartridges are a great example of how this is changing. I’m very excited for what’s to come over the next 5 years.
Where do you see gaps in education for patients and potential patients?
One of the glaring gaps is the lack of research from trusted institutions. Since this isn’t something we can solve in the immediate future, wellness coordinators at dispensaries need to pick up the torch and guide their patients to a more medically minded experience.
This starts with dispensary leadership making high-quality training a priority. The Cannabis Care Team headed by co-founder April Hatch is leading the way in this regard. However, turnover in dispensaries makes this difficult to maintain.
What advice would you give to companies who are trying to connect with their community or encourage patient growth?
Telling people just how easy it is to get a card is a great start. We see that a decent percentage of the population just don’t know the process.
We also get feedback that sometimes veterans to the cannabis industry can be judgemental about the lack of knowledge first-time users have around specificities of products: ie. flower vs. concentrates. Treating people with empathy and compassion is usually the key to changing minds.
Stearman concluded our conversation talking about what’s ahead, and opportunities to continue being involved, “I want the community to know that we’re always looking for new products, services, and partners to connect to the brand. Please reach out for events or potential collaboration.”
You can learn more about Elevate Holistics and its services by visiting elevate-holistics.com