What Becomes The Way

  • By Jeremy Amos

Published: Friday, Nov 20, 2025

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."
— Marcus Aurelius

 

We're facing an impediment right now.

 

Something that stands in the way of what we were building. Something that requires us to stop, reassess, and find a different path forward.

This isn't comfortable. Impediments rarely are.

 

But here's what the Stoics understood—what anyone who's built something lasting understands: The obstacle isn't just something to overcome. It becomes the path itself.

 

The difficulty shapes us. The resistance strengthens us. The thing that seems to block our way actually shows us where to go next. This isn't philosophy for philosophy's sake. This is how businesses survive. How industries evolve. How people who are committed to something meaningful keep moving forward when the easy path disappears.

Title

We've Seen This Pattern Before

The hemp industry has faced impediments from the beginning.

 

When the 2018 Farm Bill passed, we thought we finally had clarity. Then the FDA stayed silent for years while states created conflicting regulations. Banking was nearly impossible. Payment processors wouldn't touch us. Retailers were scared. Insurance was astronomical.

Every step forward came with new obstacles.

 

And at every obstacle, the narrative was the same: "This is the thing that ends it. This is too hard. This industry can't survive this level of uncertainty."

 

But here's what actually happened: The impediments shaped us into something stronger.

 

The banking restrictions forced us to build resilient business models. The lack of clear regulations made us create our own standards—often higher than what would eventually be required. The skepticism from retailers made us obsessive about quality and documentation.

 

We didn't overcome those obstacles by ignoring them. We overcame them by letting them show us what we needed to become.

 

The way forward emerged from the difficulty itself.

Title

What This Moment Is Teaching Us

So what is this current impediment showing us?

The impediment is clarifying. It's stripping away what was always unsustainable and revealing what actually lasts.

 

That's not comfortable. But it's not destructive either. It's directing.

Title

The Pattern That Repeats

Here's what we know from every previous hard season:

  • The companies that panic don't make it. The ones that adapt do.
  • The ones chasing shortcuts struggle. The ones committed to quality find their footing.
  • The ones who saw this as just a market opportunity exit. The ones who believe in hemp's actual value keep building.

Every impediment reveals who was building something real and who was building something fragile. And right now? That revelation is happening again.

 

This isn't the end of the hemp industry. It's the maturation of it. The obstacle is doing what obstacles always do—forcing us to become what we need to be to survive.

Title

What Survives

  • Hemp survives. Because the plant's value is real.
  • Quality manufacturers survive. Because standards don't disappear when regulations shift.
  • Brands built on helping people survive. Because that mission outlasts any single product or regulation.
  • Partnerships built on trust survive. Because relationships forged through difficulty are stronger than relationships built in easy times.
  • The fundamentals survive. Always have. Always will.

What doesn't survive? The shortcuts. The corner-cutting. The opportunism without commitment. The claims without substance.

 

The impediment is clearing that out. Making room for what actually matters.

 

That's not a tragedy. That's how industries grow up.

Title

What We're Building Toward

 

Three years from now, when we look back at this moment, here's what I believe we'll see:

  • An industry that's more professional. More trusted. More focused on evidence and efficacy than hype and loopholes.
  • Brands that survived because they were built on something real.
  • Manufacturers who stayed committed to quality through the uncertainty.
  • Partnerships that got stronger because they weathered hard times together.
  • Products that actually help people, backed by real standards and real science.

That's worth building toward. Even when—especially when—the path isn't clear.

 

The impediment isn't stopping us. It's showing us the way.

Title

We Keep Building

 

So here's what we're going to do. The same thing we've done since day one. Put our heads down. Get to work. Innovate. And continue to produce the highest quality ingredients we can.

 

We're going to keep doing things the right way, no matter the cost. Because that's never been about regulations or market conditions. It's been about who we are.

 

Change never comes about easily. If it were easy, it wouldn't actually change anything. It would just be rearranging what already exists.

 

Change is always hard. But so is growth. And most of the time, growth and change are one in the same.

 

You don't grow by staying comfortable. You grow by facing something difficult and becoming what you need to become to meet it.

This moment? This is growth. For us, for you, for this entire industry.

 

It doesn't feel like growth right now. It feels like disruption. But that's what growth feels like when you're in the middle of it.

Title

The Way Forward

 

Marcus Aurelius was right. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in our way is becoming the way. Not because we're pretending it's not difficult. But because we're letting the difficulty shape us into something stronger, something better, something more aligned with what we should have been building all along.

 

Hemp is here to stay. The value is real. The need is real. The mission is real.

 

And we're here to stay. Making the same cGMP-certified, third-party tested, quality-obsessed ingredients we've always made. Serving brands who share our commitment. Building partnerships that last.

 

The regulations will keep changing. The market will keep shifting. The obstacles will keep coming. And we'll keep building. Because that's what you do when you believe in something that matters.

 

One day at a time. One batch at a time. One partnership at a time.

 

The impediment becomes the way. And we're walking it together.