Conversations with Billy B

Today we’d like to introduce you to Billy B

Hi Billy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny”. – C.S. Lewis
My name is Billy, and my wife, Kayla and I run Tree Street Packaging. We specialize in cannabis packaging, UV and foil embellishments and brand design. We offer a wide range of items, such as stickers, labels, pouches, and boxes. We’ve also added some fun trade show essentials like tents and banners to our capabilities. Our mission is simple: to provide top-notch printing and packaging to the cannabis community and to ensure our clients’ brands look their best.
In 2015, Kayla and I embarked on this journey together, and it’s been quite the adventure. My past experiences shaped the way we approached our business, influencing every decision and design. Those lessons learned along the way have been invaluable, guiding us as we built Tree Street Packaging from the ground up. Each step we’ve taken has been a reflection of where we came from and a testament to our passion for what we do.
My defining moment came at 15 when a group of kids attacked me on my way home from school. Their attack changed me physically and mentally. Afterward, I struggled with the trauma, suffering from seizures while doctors misdiagnosed me with schizophrenia. In reality, I had PTSD. Relief came when I started smoking weed with a friend, which surprisingly helped my seizures. It marked a turning point, everything started making sense.
Soon after I started smoking I started selling it. After a couple years of selling I started growing my own. I was 17, still just a kid, fully aware it was illegal, but I was willing to take the risk for my well-being. My seizures were a constant barrier, and this was the only solution I could find. Looking back, I realize how desperate I was to reclaim my life.
I never finished highschool due to all the trauma I suffered. Instead, I spent my days selling, growing, and playing music. Woodstock ’99 really changed my perspective on cannabis. I discovered a variety of strains that were far superior to what I was growing. It opened up a whole new world for me, and I realized I wanted to cultivate some high-quality buds myself. I grew some really good cannabis after years of testing and learning.
In the early 2000s, during my years of experimenting with cannabis, I also got involved in other projects that ultimately led me to printing and packaging. I began as a tattoo apprentice for a friend, and while I loved designing full-color tattoos, I quickly realized that tattooing wasn’t for me. The stress of making a permanent mistake was too much to handle. Instead I shifted my focus to music while still embracing my passion for design by creating the art for band posters, flyers, shirts, stickers etc.
At the same time, I was asked to design a logo for a car detailing business. That project opened my eyes to the fact that people were willing to pay me for my work.
By 2015, I was a caregiver with a small grow, I was helping people realize the power of the cannabis plant and proving to people that it can help them, just like it had been helping me for so many years. In October of that year, my grow was raided. My passion, my job, my hard work were all taken from me at once, but that was just the beginning. I sat in jail facing felony charges. I then had to deal with meetings with lawyers, court appearances, drug testing, and probation meetings. They took away the only thing that made me feel human.
That’s when I decided to take a leap of faith and start a business that merged my passion for cannabis with my creative skills to help emerging cannabis brands. I saw a need for quality graphics in the cannabis community as well as top-notch printing. It was a market full of potential. So I committed to proving within a year that we could make this business profitable. I was relieved and proud after that first year to see that I had achieved significant success.
Ever since then, we’ve been building strong relationships with our clients, refining our techniques and investing in innovative equipment to provide top-notch specialized printing, packaging, branding, and customer service.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While Billy has been an entrepreneur for most of his life, and both of us having experience in many different industries and trades, our first challenge was starting a business that neither one of us was familiar with. It was an exciting challenge and we were ready to hit the ground running. However, being completely self-funded, every move had to be strategic. So we started with one step at a time. What is the first piece of equipment we need? How much does it cost? How much is the cost to run? How do we run it? Just a few questions of many and many of which could not be answered until we closed our eyes and dove in.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Tree Street Packaging is a custom packaging company specializing in product packaging and embellishments, such as pouch bags and boxes. We also specialize in stickers, labels, business cards, posters, banners, promotional products, custom designs and much more! Our creative team really sets us apart from the competition. We like to incorporate personality into our packaging which sets it apart next to other packaging on the shelves. We also pride ourselves on excellent customer service. In a world run by computers and AI, it seems more and more difficult to talk to a human, but here at Tree Street Packaging, we want to hear from you, we want your personality to show through on the brands that our customers have worked so hard to create.

How do you think about happiness?
Our journey to becoming Tree Street Packaging started with graphic design. It was such a joy to see a customer’s reaction when we brought their design ideas together with a logo. Little did we know that excitement was nothing compared to taking that design and creating physical packaging. It is such an amazing feeling to know that your art is seen and appreciated and shared with people all over the world. We are so honored and grateful that we get the opportunity to do what we love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://treestreetpackaging.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/treestreet_packaging/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treestreetpackaging
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@treestreetpackaging