Going from buying CBD Creams to creating my own CBD line — The Journey
By: Isaac Cohen
Tags: Health, Arthritis, Pain Management, Cbd, Pain

Hey guys, my name is Isaac Cohen the creator of Du Chanvre. An all natural product line that helps ease the effects of pain and inflammation. This is my backstory on why I wanted to create this company and what it means to me.

Growing up I remember my mom always having pain around her joints in her hands. I was too young at the time to realize that she had a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis.

I just remember that whenever I would hold her hand just a bit too tight, she would be in pain. I would see her try to toughen it up, but she couldn’t always.

One time, we were walking down the street, I must have been 5 or 6 years old and I was holding her hand.

I think I tripped over something because I remember lurching forward a bit and accidentally squeezing her hand tightly to balance myself. I just remember her freaking out and having to stop for several minutes because of the pain. She was holding back tears clutching her hand trying to soothe the pain by rubbing some cream on it. Sometimes the pain was so bad she had to take a bunch of different medications to help with the pain.

Fast forward a bunch of years.

I’m 19, and I’m in the Israeli Army. I get injured in a battle training exercise and start getting intense bursts of pain in both knees. I go to all sorts of doctors, get all different types of x-rays and scans. And now just like my mom, I start to always have to take some sort of medication or use some sort of cream to help ease the pain.

A few months prior to joining the army my mom passed away. I moved to Israel as a way to reunite with my mom. When I was about 7 years old my parents got divorced and I lived with my dad for most of my life. So after finishing school I moved back to Israel to rebuild my relationship with my mom. After her passing I was trying to find someway to connect with her. In some odd way, taking the medications and using the creams, made me feel a bit connected to her. It just reminded me so much of my mom.

But I didn’t want to constantly be taking all these different types of medications. I didn’t want to get addicted. So I started to transition to using a lot more creams. But, I also had to be careful of the creams, as I didn’t want to have a reaction.

After getting out of the army, I started working with a high-end skin care company, specializing in all natural skin care. It was something, I never thought I would be doing. But WOW am I glad I did! I learned from some of the top specialist in the industry. I learned all about the body, the skin, I learned all about skin care, and all different types of natural ingredients. It was one of the best learning experiences of my life.

Then one day at work, it hit me. I knew how I can connect to my mom.

I was brought back to a memory after my mom died; My siblings and I had to go to close her various accounts. Everyplace that we went to — literally everyplace — the workers would always be in shock, and ask, “that was your mom?” “She was the nicest person ever. She would always be helping somebody out with something. She would always ask me how I’m doing …”

It was crazy how my mom who was broke, had touched the lives of so many, and helped so many people.

And that’s when it hit me…

Why not create my own natural product, to not only help ease my pain, but to also help ease the pain of so many others, who like my mom, suffer from intense daily pain.

My plan was to create a skin care product that helped ease pain in a natural way. I needed a chemist that worked specifically with natural ingredients to help create all natural, powerful, and stable products that penetrated the skin and worked from the inside out. I needed a manufacturer that would be able to manufacture these special products. And I needed a website. I figured the best and fastest way to reach and help as many people as I can, would be online.

I started putting my plan into action.

I was constantly on the computer researching or on my phone talking to various chemists and manufacturers.

During this research stage, I came across many different medical studies and lab reports showing the potential health benefits of CBD to help ease pain and inflammation, in addition to many other potential benefits. After much research, and after trying out numerous different CBD products on my own almost constant knee pain. I was sold on the health benefits of CBD. I saw an immense difference in my life, and I knew that my products would be based off CBD.

But I was having a tough time, securing manufacturers and credit card processors that would work with CBD. One of the problems I kept running into was that most manufacturers needed me to put in a large order with hundreds if not thousands of units. I wasn’t able to afford that.

On top of that one of the toughest hurdles in creating the website, was getting a credit card processor. Many credit card processors that work with CBD require you to already be making over $100K a month in sales (which as a brand new company with no credit card processor was impossible).

Finally!

After a ton of phone calls and research. I stumbled across an incredible chemist in Oregon that has worked alongside her father for the last 20 years and has developed this proprietary formula, using CBD and all natural ingredients, that helps ease pain and inflammation. And since they are a family owned business, that locally source their ingredients, there was no minimum order. We started working together to create the most effective product to ease pain and inflammation.

But I was still struggling on getting a credit card processor. I applied to close to 10 different processors, and kept getting denied. I reached out to different friends that owned businesses, I reached out to different consultants in the industry. One day, I got a call from a friend who knew the problem I was going through. He put me in touch with a former CFO of one of the top 3 companies selling various vaporizers (some containing CBD). The call must have lasted not more than a few minutes; yet it was possibly the best few minutes I have ever spent.

He told me his story and told me what credit card processor to work with to get my idea off the ground. I am in the final approval stages for the credit card processor. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

Though this journey has been intense. Some of the most incredible moments came from reading, talking, and listening to the stories of others that suffer from pain and inflammation. It made me realize just how much my mom had to put up with. Everyday it makes me happy knowing that I can help others ease their pain. It’s that knowledge and that belief that powers me through the days where everything seems stacked up against me. It’s the power of helping others that gives me strength and its that power that allows me to connect with my mom.

-Isaac Cohen