Mike Sill and Beau Schmitt are no strangers to hard work. As restaurant owners of a busy neighborhood sports bar in San Diego, they admit that their jobs can be overwhelmingly stressful at times. Their venture into the world of cannabis was inspired by their desire to share a product that they both loved and knew worked to relieve anxiety and stress.
Enter Sunday Scaries — safe, natural, CBD-infused gummy bears. In other words, a remedy that makes anxiety not so scary. We caught up with the two busy founders to learn more about the product, their growing team, and how they’re navigating the unchartered waters of the cannabis industry.
ForceBrands: Tell us about your backgrounds and what led you to create this product in particular.
Mike Sill: Beau and I own Project Bar & Grill, a brick and mortar business in San Diego, and we were looking to expand and open up a separate location in La Jolla. We were creating the business plan, running the numbers, vetting contractors, and attempting to raise capital while simultaneously operating Project Bar & Grill, and frankly, it was overwhelmingly stressful.
We held ourselves to such high expectations that if we weren’t working, we felt like we were failing. Luckily, our good friend Garrett introduced us to CBD to ease our worries and take away this manifestation of guilt. We immediately fell in love with the cool, calm results, and absolutely zero side effects. We felt focused, happy, stress-free, and able to concentrate on what really mattered. Simultaneously, we were exploring alternatives to the brick and mortar business and wanted to enter the e-commerce space. When we were trying to purchase CBD products online there was an astounding lack of information on pricing, proper dosage, product information, and supplement facts. Then, aha!, we saw an opportunity to sell something we loved and that we actually knew worked, in a brand new and rapidly expanding arena.
FB: Why CBD? Were there any alternative ingredients you were considering using when creating a product for anxiety relief?
MS: CBD is a miracle compound and because there is nothing like it on the market, we never considered an alternative option. We receive tons of heartwarming testimonials from customers who really struggled with daily anxiety before using our product, and even from customers who said it was helping them manage serious conditions like lupus, cancer, autism, epilepsy, and chronic pain. The list goes on. Many of our customers are waning off of their prescription medications and choosing our product as a healthy and non-habit forming alternative. It’s amazing to continue learning about the power of CBD and its positive effects on our health.
FB: What’s in a name: Why Sunday Scaries?
MS: The term “Sunday Scaries” perfectly describes that experience of when you peek at your work email on a Sunday and are immediately filled with anxiety or even dread about the work week ahead. Beau and I were always feeling anxious about all the work that was stacking up over the weekend when we were just trying to have fun with friends. We wanted to eliminate our anxiety and uneasiness and take our Sundays back, so we started doing research and developing a product. From there, Sunday Scaries was born.
FB: Let’s chat cannabis for a moment. What’s the most exciting part about being involved in this budding industry? What trends do you foresee taking shape in the near future?
MS: “Budding”!!! I love your choice of words. Right now we are fully concentrated on the CBD industry which has a market value of $2 billion and is growing rapidly. We are huge advocates of sticking to what we know and what we believe in, so our main focus is this specific cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD). One of the trends we are looking to capitalize on is the parallel growth of the animal medicine market, which is set to be valued at $44 billion by 2020. We like to analyze other markets and see how we can mesh them with our growing market. Stay tuned for our first foray into the pet category with our dog product, FOMO Bones.
FB: What does the Sunday Scaries team look like and how have you approached hiring for it?
MS: The Sunday Scaries team is your run-of-the-mill startup. Beau and I grind and work countless hours every day to ensure the success of this brand. We make sure to bring quality talent on board to help up accomplish this. For example, we have two of our investors (Jason and Johnny), who truly believe in the vision, help us with day-to-day operations like fulfillment and shipping. Johnny has also taken on an elevated role by spearheading customer service and email marketing. These guys are genuine, trustworthy and hard-working hustlers who know how to make things happen.
FB: How do you describe the culture at Sunday Scaries?
MS: Hard working, fun, and passionate.
We stand behind the motto ‘work hard, play hard,’ and firmly believe that a healthy work-life balance is imperative to prevent our creative energies from burning out. While our job surpasses the typical 9-5 business hours, we love what we do and always put our best foot forward with every task and decision we make.
FB: What’s ahead for Sunday Scaries? Where do you hope to see the brand in five years?
MS: We want to continue helping people by further establishing Sunday Scaries as the go-to natural alternative for those who struggle with anxiety. In our day and age, we’ve become so reliant on our smartphones — constantly receiving and checking notifications from social media, emails, and text messages — we’ve created a culture plagued with excessive amounts of stress and anxiety. We want our customers to have an edge over the daily anxieties that can intrude on their lives and we hope they find relief by using our products. As a company, we will continue innovating within the CBD space and consistently launch new products to meet all of our consumers’ needs.
Interested in working at an innovative brand like Sunday Scaries and growing a career in cannabis? Search our job board or speak to one of our Executive Recruiters.
