Living The Red Life - Xvertuz Co-Founders: Turning Vape Bans into Business Breakthroughs

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

Debbie and Denna are the co-founders of Xvertuz, an innovative smoke shop chain aimed at creating a vibrant and welcoming customer experience. Despite the challenges presented by Utah's vape ban, they navigated their business through creativity and persistence, transforming it into a vibrant hub for diverse clientele. This episode explores their journey, entrepreneurial spirit, and the innovative approaches they've taken to redefine the smoke shop experience.Debbie and Denna discuss the culture and challenges associated with running a smoke shop, specifically within the restrictive legislative environment of Utah. They emphasize the importance of building a welcoming atmosphere that defies the typical perceptions of such establishments. The co-founders share strategies for engaging customers and maintaining product quality, highlighting their focus on trends, customer feedback, and social media presence despite the challenges of being shadow-banned. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, the transformation of conventional businesses, and the tactical adaptability needed to thrive under regulatory constraints.Key Takeaways:Debbie and Denna successfully transitioned their business from a vape-oriented shop to a broader smoke shop concept due to legislative changes in Utah.Xvertuz aims to break away from the stereotypical smoke shop image by offering an inviting and lively atmosphere.Customer feedback and staying current with industry trends are crucial in maintaining a competitive edge.Social media challenges, such as being shadow-banned, are navigated creatively through engaging customer interactions.Despite industry obstacles, adaptability and innovative thinking drive the successful expansion of their smoke shop business.Notable Quotes:"Every time something happened, it was pushing us to where we had to go.""If they're asking for it, they're the people that keep us in business, so we should make the effort to find it.""Our goal is to make it more welcoming and less like the typical sketchy place on the corner.""Adults like candy flavor, and adults like pretty things.""Stick to it, and things just start happening for you; being positive all the time."Connect with Debbie and Denna:WebsiteInstagramFacebookConnect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

We thought we had a cool story with our business. I don't know if we knew what we was doing or if we got lucky. So it's a smoke shop. Ours started as a vape shop mostly, but then Utah banned vapes. We had to branch out into other things. A lot of the smoke shops don't have any personal touch. It's very barren. Well, ours isn't a normal smoke shop.

It's actually a very vibrant, fun place to actually just go. We've struggled through it and spread out and kind of so far we're still going and growing. Why do you think smoke shops are kind of like, kind of looked upon like, not usually like a positive, like it's not an essential. It's more about kind of like a luxury lifestyle. We did go through a lot of challenges,

but every time something happened, it was pushing us to where we had to go. But how do you solve those challenges? You just gotta think. My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life. your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. Welcome back to another amazing

episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast. For Inside Success, I'm Raku Jiharan. Joining us today are co-founders of quite an amazing project. Joining me is Debbie and Dina. How are you folks? Good. Do you all folks podcast often? Never. Amazing. Have you ever been to Miami before? No. Have you ever seen this much red before? No. Fantastic. Welcome to the red life. So what brings you to town? Why are you all here? We thought we had a cool story with our business, and I don't know if we knew what we was doing or if we got lucky, but we thought it would be fun to share.

Okay. Well, tell us about your business. So it's a smoke shop, so that in itself makes it kind of hard, especially in our state. which is Utah and the most of it's banned, but we've struggled through it and spread out and kind of so far we're still going and growing. Okay. So running smoke shops, tell me about the culture of what it's like and what kind of smoke shop. What happens in an establishment like this? Because a lot of folks are probably sitting in traffic listening to this podcast and they're probably looking at a smoke shop and they've never walked into one. So what happens in these shops of smoke? Well, ours isn't a normal smoke shop.

It's actually a very vibrant, fun place to actually just go. So ours started as a vape shop mostly, but then Utah banned vapes. We had to, like, branch out into other things. So it does have a typical smoke shop things. But we also added, like, there's an oxygen bar. There's coffee. We got a coffee bar. So talk about the journey of launching a smoke shop.

Why a smoke shop? Why not a flower shop? Why not a record shop? store. How did you all meet? Just give us the whole, the whole... Because I used to be a smoker and I was able to quit smoking by vaping. And we decided it was hard to find. So we started our own shop. Yeah, a lot of the smoke shops don't have any personal touch. It's very barren, very, very, very, not even medicinal. It's just very like, hey, like some guy in the back walks out. And it kind of tries to sell you a bong or like essence. And

it's just very like not intimate it's just very dry it almost feels like the shop the person that's running the shop is going to mug you yeah so what's it like i'm assuming that's not how you operate and why not and what does it look like and what does it feel like when we walk into your shop it's more um i've like we wanted to be more welcoming and kind of we have a thing going on that's like space or aliens and our shop's really big so like we have custom painted floors that's like space themed. Cool. And there's lots of non-smoke shop things.

So like if you don't do necessarily smoke shop stuff, there's other stuff in there that people come for. Cool. We're trying to get as many people as we can to come in. Right on. What's your common folks that come in? What eccentric customers come in and visit your smoke shop? Middle-aged people. It's all ages.

Because we have. Yeah, we have older people that come in. there's younger people nobody under 21 okay okay so what medicinal products are you selling at a smoke shop are you are you full on selling um stuff that i use that's medicated are you just smoking tobacco is it just vapes like what what is being sold here what's the culture like so there's vapes there's like the traditional rolling tobacco we try to stay away from everything that's big tobacco then there's like the herbal stuff not so much in utah but like the cvd and hemp is really regulated but But there's a little bit of that in there.

And CREIDM, which is also regulated pretty heavily. But we just get what the state allows. Okay. So when you see a lot of older folks come in, is it medicinal qualities? Are they looking for some sort of pain relief? Yes, some pain relief. Talk about some of the pain relief. Is it back pain?

Is it mental health? Like, give us the full gamut of the color spectrum here. Just the aches and pains of getting older, that's typically what I see. They don't want to be pharmaceuticals. Sure. Or happen to go to the doctor every month to read. new prescription for opiates like that kind of stuff why do you think why do you think smoke shops are kind of like kind of looked upon like not usually like a positive i don't know like it's

hard to explain it's you look at a smoke shop you don't think of a cvs so you just think of just stuff that isn't really required like it's not it's not an essential it's more of a kind of like a luxury lifestyle what do you all doing to kind of cultivate that lifestyle make people feel people feel like they're welcome there i don't i noticed that like going into other people's smoke shops it's scary like what you said so you feel like you're not supposed to be there or They're going to ID you, like, right as you walk in. There's always, like, the giant rattlesnake thing looking at you. So, yeah, that was my goal, is to make it more welcoming and less, like, the typical

sketchy place on the corner. Sure. Are you all situated, it's a brick and mortar, but are you all situated, like, in the shopping plaza? Like, what are the restrictions for folks that are listening there? Want to open up a brick and mortar smoke shop. Every state is different. Utah, we have to be basically an industrial.

I see. It's out of town, but we have shops in other states, and they're more in the shopping area of town. How do you carry your inventory? Is it our folks walking up to your door and kind of pitching you their products, or is it as a franchise? How do you put stuff on your shelves? And how does it get there? I like to look at, like, on social media, just see what's trending and what looks cool. And I try to get those kind of things. And then we go to the trade shows for the smoke shop stuff and just so when you say it looks cool is it like the tech is it the size of the vape is the way you smoke the vape is it the technology like what is cool to you now like what's groundbreaking in the vape shops i don't really vape but i like i know what the customers like

because i'm working with them all day but they like the ones that have like high puff counts or cool lights or um mostly reliability like not the super cheap stuff that's going to break right on And how do you keep quality controlled? Like, how do you know, like, this is a good brand, is a good quality? We listen to customers. In fact, that's how we grew so, so big is because people would tell us what they want. Sure. How are you communicating to customers that you exist?

Do you have a social media presence? Are you educating on YouTube? So we have social media, but, like, the algorithms, because we're a smoke shop, they pretty much have to be friends with us and go look for us. like art will never pop up on the feed. Yeah, you're shadow band. Yeah, you're ghosted. You're ghosted.

Yeah, yeah, trust me. I run a brand with a very eccentric first name. It's like, it's going to be very difficult to advertise this brand. But how do you solve those challenges? Are you just kind of spending money on ads? I'm banned from doing ads. I love it. Oh, man.

I pretty much try to post a few times a week. My goal is every day, but it's mostly a few times. week and then just tell them customers make sure you're following us because we're going to be doing this like we sometimes we'll like hide 20 dollars and just like video it and like come find $20 that's awesome just to get people to keep checking in what a let's literally click that's literally click baiting it's good for you I think well it kind of takes a lot of like out of box thinking to run an out of box operation like what are some of like we fortunately and unfortunate kind of profile our clients here. We already know

from a while away, like their expectations, their fears, their qualms. What do you do with your customer service base? Especially folks that are walking and they're looking for someone specific. How do you maintain a relationship? How do you ascend them and keep them within your culture? We don't have. They'll come in and they'll ask and like our employees are really good about

it, just writing it down. And then I just go and look for it. It's like if it's something cool, I'll order a lot of it. If it's something I think is specific to that person, I'll just get maybe a few of it just so we have it. But if they're asking for it, they're the people that keep us in business, so we should, like, make the effort to find it. And usually if one person asks you, there's actually a whole lot of people that really want the same thing.

For sure, for sure. What is something that's popular? Like, I always go to a smoke shop and I look at the designs of labels. Is the goofy kind of childish designs working? I almost feel like that's almost prohibited because it's advertising to children. Like, what is working on shelves that you see people responding to? Well, that is, like, a big controversial thing. Like, that's attracting kids is because it's candy flavored.

But adults like candy flavor and adults like pretty things. I almost feel like less is more, more to the mystery. I feel like that, like, if it's pretty, if it looks good, that helps. But also, like, the quality and quantity, like, if they want higher puff counts, more, like, better price. So it's not all just about what it looks like. You mentioned Utah on restrictions on Delta 8, I'm sure. What's the customer base there with Delta 8, Delta O, and all these other different herpes? So the only one in Utah that we are allowed to sell is hemp drive delta 9.

I see. And it has to be with CBD. And I think right now it's a 10 to 1 ratio. Okay. So for every one milligram of THC, there has to be 10 CBD. Sure, sure. Sometimes, like, the synthetic stuff has a greater effect as opposed to remove the anxiety, removing all the negative stuff. And it just kind of lasers in and focus on the positive.

So there's an interesting conversation we had there where it's like, the reason why it's called Delta 8 or Delta 9 is the government's kind of tracking down and giving it these spooky legal names where it's like, no, they're just doing their system now because it's a thing. Because they like ban the whole thing. So they break it apart. And like, well, this part's not illegal. Yes. So the government's kind of causing that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got into the Delta A business during COVID because there was nothing it was better to do. And we were hit with the restrictions right away in Texas. But it was very

even flow. Unlike every other six weeks, something passed in some court that now you're able to sell this thing. It was very fun. It was a fun COVID project, if you will. What are we going to learn about your legacy makers episode, correct? Yeah. Cool, right on. I'm like, I looked at your script, like, oh, you're all legacy makers. So what are we going to learn about your legacy makers episode? Kind of how we got started. it was rocky and terrifying. Awesome.

And then, like, it'll be going good. And then we just get hit with things. And so kind of just, like, tell people don't give up, like, you're going to be kicked down. But you just got to think outside the box and keep going. Or don't. What will we learn about you, my love? No, it was a fun experience, though. We did go through a lot of challenges.

and we've had to but every time something happened it was pushing us to where we had to go and so we're thankful that it happened that way just so stick to it

and things just start happening for you and it's being positive all the time right on or you won't end up a giant pair of red lips in the middle of Miami doing a podcast well I'm I'm thrilled to jump in into that studio and conduct this interview.

I'm sure it's going to go really well. Anything we can, how can folks find you? What's a dot com? What's the social media? How can folks learn more about you? Our website is just getting started, but I hope to have it better each month, but XVirtis.com. Cool.

And then I think we're on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and it's all XVirtis or Exvertis of Apes. Cool. Right on. Any closing comments? Any quotes you'd like to wrap us up with? Actually, no. All good. I love it. Well,

our co-founders of Exverters, I really appreciate your time energy. Is my mic magnatized your watch? That's a good omen, I love. The microphone gave your Apple Watch a kiss. That's a good omen. Oh, but I was going to tell you where the name Exvertis come from. Yes. Where does it come from?

Vertis. It's the Latin word vertis. And then Debbie and I got creative with that word and put an X in front for extra and the Z just because. Just because. I love it. Such a 90s way of doing things. Well, I'm going to go play Tony Hawk Pro Skater on my PlayStation 2. Debbie and Dina, you guys were amazing. I really hope you enjoyed your podcast experience.

And that concludes yet another amazing episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast, Red Life Edition For Insight Success, I am Ray Gutierrez.