Marijuana business owners can take steps to defray building rental costs while waiting for a license By John Rebchook It can take months for a marijuana dispensary or other business to get its license approved by regulators. A key requirement: A company must first...
Marijuana businesses need to have a plan at the ready to handle a product recall that could sink the company By John Rebchook Product recalls increasingly may be a fact of life for those who sell marijuana products, meaning that cannabis business owners need to have a...
Cannabis business owners increasingly must confront a workplace reality that mainstream companies have faced for generations: organized labor.
To woo wary neighbors, marijuana businesses need to do early public outreach and act like good corporate citizens By John Rebchook A little neighborly outreach and goodwill can go a long way in the marijuana industry. That approach can save you time and money – and...
Tips for finding businesses on the block at fire-sale prices by John Rebchook Marijuana businesses are a hot property. Scores of new grows, retailers, ancillary firms and infused product manufacturers are opening their doors as recreational and medical markets sprout...
Ancillary companies serving marijuana clients and mainstream customers must tread carefully – and take steps to prevent potential snafus by John Rebchook A national sales director for a lighting company transmitted an email blast telling clients she’d be attending a...
Financial sweeteners and a professional approach can help win over a wary landlord by John Rebchook Marijuana retailers and growers have sometimes been forced to pay two to four times the market rate when leasing a building. At first blush, negotiating a reasonable...
Securing prime property requires finding a good broker, doing a lot of your own legwork, and patience by John Rebchook It took Mike Cuthriell 11 months to find the ideal location for Metropolitan Wellness Center, a medical marijuana dispensary seven blocks from the...
Six tips when tapping friends and family to help finance your cannabis company by John Rebchook Fresh out of business school in 1962, Phil Knight hit up his father for a $50 loan to launch what would become one of the planet’s most iconic brands: Nike Inc., the giant...
Jeanine Moss dreamed up and researched the idea of “affordable luxury” accessories for chic cannabis-smoking women, created a brand, designed products, manufactured them – in China, no less – and supported a sales and marketing operation.
All within 18 months.
Tim Cullen has lost a lot of bank accounts over the years.
“Man, I’ve been kicked out of more banks than I can name,” said Cullen, CEO and co-founder of the Colorado Harvest Co., which operates medicinal and recreational cannabis stores in the Denver area. “Well, if I did name them, it would probably be over 15 banks.”
When Nancy Whiteman launched the infused products company Wana Brands in Colorado five years ago, the marijuana industry was a completely different animal than it is now.
“There was not the level of regulations 5.5 years ago as there is today,” said Whiteman, who co-founded Wana with her husband at the time. “For example, there was no seed-to-sale tracking.”
