Devin Cooley sees a lot of innovation in the cannabis industry, and wants to take on HVAC solutions for cannabis grow operations with solar energy panels.

“We can go green while growing green,” said Cooley, SunTrac president and COO. Tempe, Arizona-based SunTrac is solar-powered thermal hybrid air conditioning system that uses 30-40 percent less electricity to drop operating costs and keep space cool.

In the last year, industry regulators and consultants have called for cannabis growers to use sustainable practices.

Grow operations have a long road ahead of them when it comes to compliance and moving out of the black market to adapt to regulations, especially in California. On Dec. 22, California held a state briefing on environmental rules that await growers entering California’s legal market in January.

California’s agriculture department received fewer than 200 applications from growers in December, and has accepted four. “In Humboldt County, where an estimated 15,000 pot farmers grow illicitly . . . only 2,300 have applied for the required local growing permits,” according to the Associated Press.

HVAC, dehumidification and ventilation makes up 50 percent of a grow’s electricity load, and lighting accounts for 33 percent, according to Solar Power World.

Cooley said growers and cultivators can use high-efficiency SunTrac panels to offset cooling costs. With federal legalization of cannabis grows, hybrid products like SunTrac would become eligible for federal income tax credits of up to 30 percent.

Cooley talked about the basics of solar power panels and how they integrate with existing systems.

How can growers integrate renewable energy?

Indoor growers in Nevada and southern California use air conditioning, and we can help manage the indoor cultivation.

Growers are focused on lighting, so it’s an unsatisfied part of the industry. No one is helping to be creative or sustainable with HVAC, even though they are innovative in everything else they’re doing.

Is the energy consistent, even when it’s not sunny?

Integrated systems don’t change the way [the air conditioner] operates. Even if it’s cloudy for a week, there’s no concern for it being detrimental to the grower.

How does the SunTrac panel work?

An air conditioner has a compressor, you squeeze the gas to change the temperature. With SunTrac you can increase the pressure and temperature through the sun and not the motor, because there’s a solar booster for the compressor.

The air conditioner will use less energy and it offsets the need for generating electricity – like a car going 75 mph in fifth gear, but we use less gas to get to the speed.

How can growers get set up with SunTrac panels?

Installation costs between $6,000 to $8,000. The upgrade pays for itself in three years or less. With old air conditioners, they die. But with SunTrac, there’s the opportunity to break even.

We integrate with every standard air conditioning system. We’re brand agnostic to get set up and integrate our product. We’ll upgrade existing systems, and maintenance is easy – there are no heavy requirements.

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Cannabis business security goes beyond adhering to common state regulations that call for video and audio surveillance.

Due to federal regulations, many cannabis businesses remain cash-only, which makes secure cash transportation another priority.

Tom Siciliano, president of Canna Security America, puts emphasis on compliance when it comes to security regulations for cannabis businesses. Canna Security America protects cannabis businesses, their clients and their cash by providing surveillance, security guards and cash transportation services.

Canna Security America worked on the rule-making committee in the Colorado Department of Revenue and helped to formulate the state’s cannabis business security regulations. The security company has quadrupled in size from $600,000 in revenue in 2014, to $800,000 in 2015, to $2.3 million in 2016, and now close to $3.8 million in revenue in 2017, Siciliano said.

Siciliano shared insight into focus areas for cannabis industry security standards.

Have the security regulations for Colorado to be a model for other states?

Our company was part of writing initial regulations in Colorado. Recently I visited Cathedral City Council in Palm Springs, CA to talk about a large project, a 489,000 square foot facility. They wanted to hear about the security aspect and how the business would impact their community.

Our priorities are making sure that we follow regulations, expand how we help dispensaries and cultivators to strengthen how they protect their assets, and promote the security aspect to let agencies know their communities are safe.

What’s important for industry security standards?

Our industry needs to strengthen our image. New companies have done foolish things in not taking care of compliance and not following regulations. I’m trying to create a company based upon integrity, efficiency, paying bills and taxes on time, and supporting the industry as a whole.

The goal is to help people in larger industries see that if you do it right, communities will accept you more easily.

How does CSA help businesses adhere to regulations?

We’re focused on adhering to the regulations we’re working with, and how we can provide banking and transportation most efficiently.

1. We provide consulting for people getting licenses, with 100 percent success.
2. We offer state-of-the-art security systems with cameras and CCTVs.
3. We provide highly trained guards.
4. We’re one of the few that can provide cash transportation nationally.

What should businesses look for in cash transportation services?

At trade shows, you see a lot of exhibitors talking to customers saying, “We will help you move your cash, bring your money to our attorney.” But it’s paramount to a company as large as ours to do it right, and to keep everyone’s money safe.

We’re servicing three banks in Colorado and work with local banking to move customers’ cash to the National Reserve. We use a 900 sq. ft. vault and a Cummins machine that records the serial number of every bill. The dispensary owner gets cash in their account, and the bank is satisfied.

What’s a typical day for a CSA guard?

We spend an enormous amount of time training our guards on how you carry yourself and your firearms. We see our guards as an arm to our client. Our guards are also representative to the customer – they interact with customers and support their needs on a daily basis.

We had a guard called because a customer fell. The patron had passed out and lost vital signs. Our employee performed chest compressions and saved the person’s life.

How can entrepreneurs anticipate their security needs?

Anyone getting started needs a business plan first for financing, and following state and municipality regulations, which includes security. We work with new business owners to help them understand the components of security.

Where do you put the security cameras – what kind of cameras? Can you remote access into a location? Are only certain people allowed in certain areas? When [officials] are awarding licenses in their community, they will look for a complete and comprehensive security plan.

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At Foottraffik, the cannabis revolution starts with rebranding the industry as an innovative space for future-minded professionals. Foottraffik is an-ROI focused cannabis dispensary marketing agency based in San Francisco.

Foottraffik CEO Guillermo Bravo is a revolutionary first, and a cannabis marketer second. Foottraffik experts are working remotely from the West Coast to the East Coast, focused on content marketing, media buying, public relations, search engine optimization and social media.

The Sonoma, CA, native’s entry to the cannabis industry was right here on Cashinbis, which Bravo co-founded in 2014, as one of the first B2B publications for the nascent industry. He started by “interviewing CEOs, innovators, entrepreneurs – the movers and shakers in the industry,” he says.

Bravo spoke with Cashinbis about Foottraffik’s priorities in rebranding the cannabis industry.

Cashinbis: What’s your biggest takeaway from media involvement in the cannabis industry?

Guillermo Bravo: “From interviewing leaders you get to see how diverse the landscape is. This is controversial, but I’ll say it — you’re dealing with former drug dealers all the way up to venture capitalists. They’re passionate about the plant, whether they’re activists or investors. Everyone comes from a different background.”

 you’re dealing with former drug dealers all the way up to venture capitalists

“It’s an exciting place to be. This is a once-in-a-generation movement, like prohibition. There are opportunities to get rich and build empires.”

What’s important to people who are looking for a dispensary?

“The product, price, location, and user experience: Do they have live menus and a welcoming environment? Are the budtenders educated? Are there short lines?

“Harvest in San Francisco has two stores that offer events like dabbing, and ‘bud & breakfast’ events that create a sense of community. There’s an abundance of dispensaries in San Francisco, and you tend to find where you’re comfortable and stick to that.”

What are the advantages of hiring a dispensary-focused marketing company?

“We are on the front lines. We have dedicated the last two years to learn the unique business practices, challenges, goals, legislation, and advertising limitations of dispensaries. For example, in any marketing efforts, don’t market to the stoners. Alcohol companies don’t market to alcoholics. Stoners are only 10 percent of potential customers. If you’re putting that in your brand, you’ll be missing out on the soccer moms, baby boomers, young professionals, etc. Not to mention, baby boomers spend three times as much money.”

How is mainstream culture getting the cannabis industry’s image wrong?

“It’s changing slowly. But Netflix with that new show Disjointed and other media companies are doing a disservice to the industry. Shows like Disjointed downplay the industry to present an unprofessional image, but if you go into a real dispensary, they are on point.

Sixty five percent of the public approve of medical marijuana. The culture is changing much faster than the politics.”

How can we contribute to a new image as an industry?

“When designing products and apparel, we need to grow up. A great example is the PAX Era vape pen; it’s small, sexy, discreet and efficient. It’s moving the industry forward and normalizing cannabis to be part of everyday life. You don’t have to smoke to get high. I use CBD for overall wellness. Like wine, you have lifestyle products and can find products that fit into your lifestyle.

Are companies still facing issues with having their social media accounts shut down?

“Yes, that’s going to be an issue until federal decriminalization. Social media organizations are public companies and cannot promote the sale or use of recreational drugs. In some cases, it’s not even companies like Facebook or Twitter shutting it down; it’s the competition reporting other cannabis businesses. If the competition sees a successful dispensary marketing campaign, they’re going to report it, so we have people within the industry reporting each other.

Then you have the catfishers — people creating a fake profile and threatening customers and abusing them verbally. We’re facing many challenges now that won’t go away.”

Where do dispensaries need to focus their marketing strategy?

“These are my three priorities:

1. Website
2. SEO
3. Customer database

You own these three. You can generate new customers using social media, but social media can get shut down anytime. For this point, it’s your responsibility as a dispensary owner to capture the customer’s information: phone number, email, and name.

For some clients, upwards of 40 percent of total revenue is from local marketing, SEO, and digital sales. It’s a no-brainer for me to prioritize SEO because you can see the return on investment.

If you have 3,000 people using search engines to request for directions to your store, at an average order value of $30, we can assume you’re generating $90,000 in revenue from this avenue alone. If you’re not investing in SEO you’ll get left behind, sayonara. As a starting point, we wrote a 60-page dispensary marketing eBook to help stores learn the basics of digital marketing, and take action.”

What’s in the future for Foottraffik?

“We’ll be at MJ Biz Con this week. We built a team of experts — the best in the industry — and we’re planning to provide educational resources to dispensaries, and expand nationwide. Our home base is in San Francisco, but we already opened new offices in San Diego and Seattle. I’m excited about the market to unfold here. California is the catalyst for the cannabis movement, and by 2020 we’ll see Texas and the international market grow exponentially.”

The post Guillermo Bravo: The ROI of Cannabis Dispensary Marketing appeared first on .

Dan Williams was announced as EnviroGrow’s new Chief Executive Officer Sept. 19. He’s worked in the cannabis industry since 2009 as the founder and CEO of Canna Security America. Now, he’s focused on the future of cannabis grow facilities.

Fort Collins-based EnviroGrow creates state-of-the-art custom grow facilities for clients in their 60,000 square foot warehouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut, including vegetative rooms, flower rooms, dry/cure rooms, and certified C1D1/D2 extraction labs. Then they ship the complete grow room to their client’s facility.

Dan said, “I’ve seen grow facilities go over budget, using two to three contractors. That can take up to 12 weeks. Ours can easily be set up in two to four weeks. It’s a really open-ended way of approaching grow facilities, and it’s really necessary.”

The trend in cannabis is large-scale facilities from 10,000 to 200,000 square feet as states are giving out a limited amount of cultivator licenses.

“I believe EnviroGrow is perfectly positioned to meet this need as our product provides new cannabis businesses with a solution to the biggest barriers to market: speed to market, optimum grow performance technologies, and competitive pricing keeping their projects within budget and without overage,” Dan said in an EnviroGrow release.

Dan talked with Cashinbis about the future of EnviroGrow and cannabis industry grow facilities.

You’ve seen hundreds of grow rooms around the country. What makes a good one?

There’s so many ways of setting these up. Larger companies have more investments – they have the funding to build facilities the way they want them. We’re moving toward modular set-ups to contain any contaminants in the veg/flower areas. After one contaminant destroys the entire crop, people learn to modulate which also allows overlapping grow times.

What has been your focus in re-branding EnviroGrow?

There’s been so much development since 2012. Using nationally recognized engineering firms Fuss & O’Neill and Plump Engineering, EnviroGrow has been able to develop huge labs similar to pharmaceutical companies. Not everyone knew, so we’re getting all the information on that engineering development up on the website.

We re-launched the EnviroGrow website with extensive FAQs on the veg/flower rooms and extraction labs. You can see information like how many pounds of water are removed from cannabis per day – I don’t think anyone has yet put millions of dollars into equipment to determine how much water is removed.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned so far?

The amount of technology that goes into these grows. EnviroGrow has put over $2 million into engineering of cannabis grow technology. For the first time I’m seeing how investment in engineering can really pay off for maximum growth potential. As we’re updating the website – I don’t think I’ve ever seen statistics like that before. Our extraction rooms are engineered down to the square inch, and we can track everything using environmental control systems.

What are the challenges in creating large scale grow facilities and how do you approach them?

The challenge is usable square feet and how to optimize – we design the interior modular rooms, the veg/flower rooms. Instead of needing larger spaces, we can build up and expand the space using a second mezzanine level so we’re able to increase 50,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet – we’re able to double it.

Extraction labs are highly regulated by both the cannabis industry and fire codes. Denver city has the highest level of regulation, so if our labs meet Denver code, they’ll meet code in any city.

It’s very interesting to see how strict these fire codes are. Fire regulations are much more strict than the cannabis regulations. You’re dealing with hydrocarbon and THC in the extraction labs, and you have to do that in a room that is fire retardant. There’s a C1D1 [lab] regulation that you have to cover all the light switches so they can’t create a spark. [Cannabis business owners] forget that extraction labs are treated like pharmaceutical labs – they can explode. They quickly learn – new potential [EnviroGrow] clients are surprised to find that it’s one of their biggest barriers into the industry.

What’s most important to cannabis industry CEOs right now?

The initiative right now is being able to keep up with growth in the industry while keeping a high level of product integrity. We want to make sure as we’re growing quickly, we’re not losing quality. Quality control is important to the industry.

Who inspires you most within the cannabis industry?

The new small business owners – entrepreneurs who’d never started a business before. People in the cannabis industry tend to start small and grow something out of nothing. Watching people do that with a small nest egg is very inspiring.

Did you ever imagine you’d build your career in the cannabis industry?

I thought it would be a flash in the pan.

The cannabis industry is like a family.

We’d have gatherings in our backyards and all of us were thinking there were threats that they’d search our houses, seize our bank accounts. It was scary having a family and wondering ‘Is the DEA going to bust in any minute?’

Eight years later, seeing it broaden to so many states – professionals in this industry have to be more professional than other companies because of the stigma. But we’re proud of starting from the mom-and-pops. I’m proud of everyone that’s been involved.

When I found EnviroGrow, I didn’t know there was a next step in grow facilities – it’s no longer the days of the garage and tarp separators between growth cycles.

What’s in the future for EnviroGrow?

This year will be big. We have the new website. Over the last 12 weeks we’ve had tremendous response. EnviroGrow is currently undergoing its Series A capital raise. We encourage accredited investors to contact us regarding this investment opportunity.

We’re working on all the systems and research for how these systems work to take the burden off people joining the industry, so stay tuned.

The post Dan Williams: EnviroGrow’s New CEO on the Future of Cannabis Grow Facilities appeared first on .

Michael Julian, President & CEO of MPSI Security

Security is one of the most important aspects of any business, and this is especially true for the expanding cannabis industry. More and more cannabis businesses are reaching out to established firms in an effort to enhance their security, as well as increase their knowledge on how to successfully  and lawfully operate their business.

Michael Julian is the President/CEO of MPSI Security and National Business Investigations, Inc. NBI is an industry leader in legal and corporate investigations, covert surveillance, corporate security services, and has been charged with the protection of many high-level VIP’s and celebrities. Michael continues to flourish in the security and investigative industries, all while running his father’s successful company. NBI is the largest and most well-known security firm in the cannabis industry. They look to provide education and protection, as well as fantastic customer service to both existing and future cannabusiness. Michael is looking to leave his mark on the industry, and he shared some of his most important anecdotes in our most recent industry profile.

What was the deciding factor for you to join this particular industry?

I joined the board of directors of Medical Marijuana Inc. in November 2013. I was enjoying lunch with Troy Dayton and a few other corporate leaders. We discussed our combined 46 years of experience in investigations and security as well as the lack of sophistication in the cannabis industry. It seemed like a blue ocean of opportunity, and we all wanted to jump in with both feet. We began the corporation in January 2014.

What skills from your previous experiences helped you in what you are doing now?

My father started our company in 1967, so I’ve been involved with security and investigations since I was young.

This type of work is all I’ve ever done. It came naturally to me, so I continued my college education in Administration of Justice. I am a graduate of the Executive Protection Institute of Virginia. I’ve undergone extensive training to further my experience and knowledge in this industry. I was the president of the California Association of Licensed Investigators, the largest P.I. association in the world. I frequently lecture for executive protection professionals all over the country.

Describe point in the time you realized the ‘green rush’ was coming?

I realized the “green rush” was coming when I started talking to people about CBD and the medicinal benefits of cannabis and hemp. As somebody who used recreational cannabis in high school I knew it was not a terribly evil thing. The older generation is programmed to think it’s the worst thing in the world. However, once Colorado legalized cannabis I knew it was just a matter of time before everybody else would catch on.

Specifically, what are you doing to impact the cannabis & hemp industry?

We are protecting it.

We are educating our clients on how to legitimize the industry and play by the rules. We teach them how to work with local law enforcement to let them know that these are viable, legitimate business that don’t cut corners. These are business owners that have been growing and selling cannabis out of their garages for the last 20 years. They need to understand that police is relieved about the industry’s progress because they can finally practice law enforcement instead of busting high school kids for smoking pot.

Who is a person that you consider as a role model? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?

By far my father was my greatest role model.  He taught me everything I know and gave me the instincts to naturally succeed. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1997 and has not seen any of my success. I’ve grown this company from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million, and it saddens me that he is not able to see what I have achieved.

How do you find inspiration, personally and professionally?

I find inspiration in knowing that we were the first to market this service and that the potential possibilities are limitless. We are sitting on the launch pad and have barely fired up the engines in this industry.

As far as the cannabis industry, I have several google alerts for news, newsletters, and blogs such as WeedBlog. I attend conferences, network as much as possible, and talk to my clients often. We have offices in Southern California, Denver, Illinois, and Maryland, so we’re constantly talking about changing and evolving laws. I receive emails and phone calls daily requesting our services in states that aren’t green. I am constantly learning from the people that are learning the business.  

Tell me about an esteemed achievement of yours.

My proudest achievement is creating the largest and most well-known cannabis security firm in the country.

How would you advise someone who wants to join the industry?

Whenever I teach, I am sure to stress this as my main point: Cannabis is just another product, it just happens to be the newest and best product on the market. If you are a new entrepreneur, you need to do whatever it takes to become a good businessperson. It doesn’t matter what your product or service is – if you don’t know how to run a business, you will fail.

Where do your great ideas come from?

My best ideas come from talking with my clients in order to better understand what their needs are so we can fulfill them as best as possible. Back in the 40’s, my grandfather owned a grocery store and he always used to say “the customer is always right, even if they are wrong”. If I don’t know what the customer wants then how can I give them the service they need? The most important thing in the world to me and my business is customer service.

What is the last book you read that you’d recommend to other entrepreneurs?

Big Weed by Christian Hageseth, the owner of Green Man Cannabis.

If we are sitting across from each other a year from now, how will our conversation about the ‘green rush’ be going?

I think we will be excited about the fact that there will have been more research done, more experience gained in the refining and dosing of cannabis as medicine. There will be specific amounts of THC to address specific symptoms just enough to treat and make them comfortable rather than becoming impaired in their daily functions.  The science of cannabis has not been perfected, right now it’s the wild west.  Right now our knowledge of cannabis is around 1%, and we will be at 5% in the next year. I believe, in a year from now, that there will be several more states either online, or pending to be online. I think that a lot of minds will change as people worldwide learn more about the tremendous medicinal properties of cannabis.

It doesn’t matter what your product or service is, if you don’t know how to run a business, you will fail.

Legality is a big issue for a lot of people. I know doctors, lawyers, and business professionals that have tried cannabis every once in awhile, but some never touch it for the mere fact that it is illegal. I am the same way, but when cannabis becomes legal, I can guarantee I will keep some in the house just like I would a six pack of beer. The bottom line is that cannabis is a healthier, more natural element, and I would rather mellow out with a vape pen at the end of a hard day then have a martini. It would be much better for me.

What scares you most about this industry?

What concerns me the most is how screwed up the industry is going to be when the federal government legalizes cannabis. Big corporations and big money will engrain themselves in the industry and commercialize everything. In terms of fear, I overcame the concept a long time ago, it has no place in business. You should respect your clients and your competition, but fear is an emotional reaction, not an intellectual one.  

If you could tell a skeptic one thing about this industry to make them change their mind, what would it be?

You should visit some of the people whose lives have been changed and saved by cannabis. Then see if you can come and tell me that cannabis is as evil as people think it is. The biggest impact to me is the effect cannabis has had on children. There is a misconception that we are letting kids smoke cannabis, but that is not the case.

Tell us something that you wish you had known before becoming a cannabis entrepreneur.

I wish I had known earlier on how it would explode, so I would have gotten in earlier!

Anything else you would like to share with our readers?

I really want to stress how important it is that those who want to contribute to this industry do everything right. They need to focus on doing everything legal so they don’t provide any ammunition for those who fight against cannabis.

The most important thing in the world to me and my business is customer service.

MPSI focuses on security solutions for the cannabis industry. We do all things security including designing plans for new dispensaries, electronic programming, and transportation and physical security. We currently have licensing opportunities, and we really encourage people to visit our website to find out more about these opportunities.

The post Mike Julian: Securing the Future of Cannabis appeared first on .

Cashinbis has talked about marketing, branding and advertising in the cannabis space before, but Alexa Divett, Co-Founder and Marketing Director for Maya Media Collective, is approaching the subject of cannabis business development in a new and refreshing light. A seasoned veteran of the cannabis industry, as well as a long-time cannabis advocate, Alexa brought her impressive business savvy into the industry years ago, when she first got involved with the medical side of the community. Fast forward years later and Maya Media Collective is quickly becoming an authority in cannabis related marketing and branding strategies. In fact, WeedBlog called Alexa’s eBook Marijuana Millions: The Foundation For Success, the best cannabis industry branding literature on the market today. Alexa has worked hard to establish herself as an expert and a thought leader in the cannabis space, a space that Alexa loves and couldn’t be happier to be a part of, as she explains in our recent conversation.

Tell us a bit about your background before you co-founded Maya Media Collective?

I’ve been a long-term cannabis advocate and a medical grower for the last 8 years. I went to college in Ashland, Oregon at Southern Oregon University where I graduated with a degree in public relations in 2001. In my first 10 years out of college, I did a lot of public relations and marketing strategies in the non-profit world. In 2009, I started an online coaching program teaching college graduates how to create successful business practices using online marketing principles and the power of the internet. As a certified business coach with a background in public relations, my main focus has been using public relations and smart marketing techniques to help non-profits and young entrepreneurs build successful businesses.  

Prefer to listen to this interview? Listen below!

When and how did you decide to enter the cannabis industry professionally?

We have a very strong medical cannabis program in Oregon, and I’ve been a cannabis advocate since my teenage years. Around 2008, I was approached by a friend of a friend who had multiple sclerosis (MS). She asked if I would be interested in becoming a caregiver for her. It seemed like a good fit and when I jumped into the medical community, I found such a passionate group of people as well as many patients benefiting from using medical cannabis.

There’s no other industry right now that allows you to get in on the ground floor, work closely with the movers and shakers, and create something that works for everyone.

I didn’t realize that I would be able to create a new career for myself by merging my experience in public relations and marketing with my passion for medical cannabis. I get to use my experience to help cannabis entrepreneurs serve the medical and now recreational communities. It’s really exciting to be able to blend my passions. Finally I get to live that quote, “If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life”. I used to think only crazy people said that but now I realize how much I love what I do. I couldn’t be more passionate and grateful I am about my new career.  

Is this an industry you planned to get into? Or did joining the cannabis industry catch you off guard?

I think it was a blend of both. I’ve always been passionate about cannabis and I always saw the medicinal value behind it. The power of cannabis is so vast, helping patients with cancer, epilepsy, MS, arthritis, and many other diseases. However, if you were to tell me that I would be working in the cannabis industry 10 years from now, I would have laughed and said ‘I hope so’. None of us thought that this industry was going to unfold this quickly and with such amazing results. We’ve all been in the dark, but now that it is here, it is a perfect fit for me. I’m involved in the community and I’ve been involved in this family for a long time. I have these skills that I can use to help people in the cannabis industry, and it feels great to be a part of it.

What was your household like growing up, was it strict or more free-spirited?

I had a strict upbringing, growing up on the east coast, right outside of New York City. My parents were both entrepreneurs in advertising and finance. They definitely would not have been on board with my business, at least not until the Wall Street Journal started writing articles about the industry. Now they send me articles and tell me how proud they are of me because the see that we are all pioneers in this industry. East coasters are all about the mighty dollar. They see this as an amazing opportunity, especially now that I have been able to educate my parents about how medical cannabis can help them with their own ailments. They are seeing the science and economics catch up to what seemed like a counter-culture to them for a long time.

I’ve always been a free-spirit. As kids raised by entrepreneurs, we were trained to understand risk, work hard, and have good manners, all while learning as much as possible along the way.

Now you’re the author of the Marijuana Millionaires eBook series, which WeedBlog said was the best cannabis branding book to date. Can you talk about what the eBook is and who should be reading it?

 is an eBook that helps cannabis business owners use smart branding and marketing techniques to create success in their business. Going above and beyond standard marketing advice, it gives background on the industry as well as information on the pioneers of the cannabis world. The eBook also talks about using community service as a public relations tool and how helping your community is a very smart marketing and branding technique.

A lot of what the WeedBlog was saying really resonated with me. There are all these people, really amazing marketers and branding consultants, who don’t know much about the cannabis industry, seeing this movement as a “green rush”. While many of them are smart and  amazing people, they don’t really know about the background of the cannabis industry and all the effort spent to get the industry to where it is now. They bring their outside “cookie-cutter” business mentality and that doesn’t necessarily translate to this space.

The difference between more mainstream techniques and the Marijuana Millions eBook is that it really understands the history of the cannabis industry. It shows that we do need these time-tested marketing principles and branding techniques, but we also need to balance that with gratitude and an understanding of what it has taken to get the industry this far. It didn’t happen overnight. Marijuana Millions really resonates with industry insiders because it was written by someone who has been in this industry for a long time and who understands the power of medical cannabis, as well as the economic benefits from adult use. I think that it is an incredible opportunity to reach the masses who are interested and have worked hard for this industry.

I want to help the trailblazers of this industry be successful because they deserve a piece of the pie. They have risked their lives for this and they work so hard to serve the medical community. I am on a mission to help them be super successful while the opportunities are here.

Is it too late for people to enter the cannabis industry and get in on the ground floor? Where do you think we are in that process?

This industry is in its infancy. Even though it feels like it’s a runaway train and people are nervous they are going to miss their opportunity, they aren’t. We are not even close to what we are going to do. There are only a handful of states right now that are fully legal right now, plus DC. California is revamping their medical cannabis program while looking to vote on a recreational program in 2016. It’s not nationwide yet so everyone still has a chance to jump on the train!

Since the train is still at the station, we have the opportunity to build an industry the way the insiders, growers, processors, and medical patients want to see this industry work. That’s unique to the cannabis industry. There’s no other industry right now that allows you to get in on the ground floor, work closely with the movers and shakers, and create something that works for everyone.

People do business with people they know they can trust, and you build that trust by building credibility and positioning yourself as an authority.

Right now, the industry is wary of outsiders and of people who are just coming in for the dollar or don’t understand what these patients are really going through. The industry is also cautious about the big guns who are waiting to enter the space, those waiting for federal legality that will jump in with their multinational corporations.  

The family (as I like to call it) has an opportunity to create something amazing that we can all be really proud of. That’s why I really want us to all remember how we got here. I was only a little kid when these pioneers were working really hard on the industry. It’s easy to forget people like Jack Herer, who went to jail for this industry. Without these people, you and I wouldn’t even be having this conversation. I think that is something to remember when we move forward. Yes, there is money to be made. Yes, we want to earn our marijuana millions. But we don’t want to do that by stepping on each other. We want to create an amazing industry that levels the playing field for people that might not have an MBA but might be a master gardeners. There’s a huge amount of opportunity here, and I just want people to know that they can absolutely create a successful cannabis business and compete with the big guns.

Why is it so important, in your mind, to get a good business strategy together well before you launch your business?

It comes down to competition. The old mindset that cannabis will sell itself just does not work anymore. This industry in incredibly competitive. The Multnomah County of Portland, Oregon, has almost 200 dispensaries open within the city limits. How are we going to attract the customer who is driving down the street, seeing a different dispensary every 1000 feet? That comes from having a strong foundation and knowledge of what sets your cannabis business apart from the dispensary down the street.

If you don’t have that strong foundation, then you won’t create a branding strategy that is unique to you.

If you don’t have that strong foundation, then you won’t create a branding strategy that is unique to you. You won’t make that target audience stop the car and enter the store. Of course, a long-term success strategy has to piggyback on that. It’s not good enough to just have a beautiful logo and an amazing website. You have to have a strategy to drive traffic to that website and then turn that traffic into dollars in your store. That comes with a long-term strategy that looks at your foundation and creates a roadmap for where you want your business to go.

Is the lack of a long-term strategy one of the biggest avoidable mistakes you see people make?

Of course, the long-term strategy is incredibly important because a cannabis business, though unique, is still a business. The same principles and foundations that have worked for successful businesses across the world are going to work here. What I’ve seen, besides the long-term strategy, is that people love to put the proverbial cart before the horse. For example, I’ve seen dispensary owners get excited about having iPads hooked into their POS systems and digital screens of all their products, all before they have figured out their unique selling proposition or who their target audience is. They don’t know their mission statement or their value statement. It is really easy to get caught up in decorating your dispensary before you even have a logo or develop a website before you have your target audience established. You can have the most gorgeous dispensary in town, but if no one knows about it then you have just wasted a lot of money.

Smart branding strategy includes: knowing who you are, how you are different from everyone else, and most importantly, who you want to serve. If you don’t know these things, then the inside of your retail space really does not matter. These mistakes have appeared over and over with dispensary owners in Oregon. They are excited, and they should be, but you still have to take the time to put the foundations in place. I guarantee you all that Willie Nelson has a branding and marketing strategy.    

Let’s talk location. Can you compare adult use states, like Oregon, to one that may not be legal or have as much competition? Is there a difference to how entrepreneurs should approach the two areas?

The foundation is always the same, regardless of whether there is a ton of competition or not.

You always want to know who you are, why you’re unique, why you’re awesome, who you’re serving, and how you want to convey that in your branding. You literally have 7 seconds to sell your brand to a potential customer. That is not a lot of time. We are constantly bombarded with marketing and advertising messages, whether it’s text, phone, email, TV, or radio. We are constantly blasted with sales messages in this world. 7 seconds is all you have to tell your potential customers, through branding and marketing messages, why you’re awesome and why they should do business with you. That foundation is the same across the board, whether you’re entering a saturated market (like Portland) or entering a brand new market.

Being an Oregonian, I try to get outside as much as possible. I love hiking, going to the beach, swimming in the beautiful Oregon rivers, and hanging out with friends.

However, if you’re going to drop into Denver, Colorado and open an adult use store expecting to compete with the pioneers, you’re going to have to go above and beyond that foundation. What really helps in a place so saturated, and this is universal throughout all business, is going into the industry thinking, ‘How can I improve on what is already being done.’. You need to figure out what part of the population is underserved and how you can target them. Perhaps there is a demographic that is not being served in a certain part of town, or there is a product that somebody needs and they don’t know they need it. Figure out the pain point, whether it’s physical or emotional pain, so you can focus on how to serve their needs better than the competition. How can you fill those gaps through your branding and marketing to your potential customers?  

If you weren’t doing this line of work, what would you be doing instead?

Well, I would do this exact same thing, just for a different audience.

You can’t say that, pick something else?

I only say that because I have a marketing background for all sorts of different audiences. I think that if I wasn’t doing this then I would probably be managing some eco-yoga resort in some tropical island somewhere. For me, it’s about living a life of balance, working hard and helping people while also maintaining health and happiness. I would follow that path, and that is why I am super lucky and really grateful to be in the cannabis industry. I get balance every day.

What do I need, as a business owner, to maintain or even grow in this market space? If you’re not growing are you standing still, or possible going in reverse?

I think that it’s important to have your brand identity sealed and that you love it. Once you have that, then you have a few years before you have to revisit it unless it’s not working with you. However, if you work with a good freelancer or a really good creative firm, everything should be in line for success. You should be able to run full speed ahead with your branding for many years. The key is to build brand recognition. If Nike all of the sudden did away with the swoosh, they would have an uphill battle to rebrand. Of course, you don’t want to do that. Once you have your branding set, you want to run with it.

With the digital platforms changing so rapidly, you can’t really set a 10-year plan or marketing strategy.

It’s your marketing and advertising strategy that needs to grow as your business grows. That includes a budget. You need to look forward to a 3-5 year plan, not necessarily a 10-year plan, a concept that I discuss in the eBook. 5 years ago if we knew that Instagram would be everything for the cannabis industry then people would have planned for that.

With the digital platforms changing so rapidly, you can’t really set a 10-year plan or marketing strategy. You have to constantly evaluate where your audience is, how they are connecting with your brand, how they see your products and services, and always deliver value to them.

In my personal business coaching for the cannabis industry, we talk a lot about providing more than just products to you customers. We talk about providing an experience, an environment they can connect to with real lasting relationships so that, when they come into your dispensary, they understand the story behind your products. There’s something that makes them feel connected to you that is above and beyond just how great your products are.

Have you encountered any resistance personally or professionally because of your interest in running a business in the cannabis industry?

It’s funny because earlier we were talking about my parents and my upbringing. 10 years ago I wouldn’t have said, ‘Hey mom, I’m going to grow medical cannabis and serve this population of sick people,’ or ‘I’m a cannabis advocate’. I don’t know that I would have said that over thanksgiving dinner. But now that the industry is becoming more mainstream, we are all coming out of the basement. We are starting to talk to our parents, our college mentors or professors about what we are doing without meeting a lot of resistance. It’s becoming much more mainstream.

You mentioned content marketing in your eBook educational series. Can you talk about the different types of marketing that a business could look to take advantage of in this market?

Content marketing is super important because, unlike other distribution channels, you own your content. We encourage all of our clients to write a blog in order to set yourself apart from the competition. By doing so, you can prove that you’re not just a thought leader, but that you are an expert in you niche. If you’re a dispensary owner writing blog posts about how medical cannabis helps with certain ailments or how recreational tax dollars can benefit your community then you are going to establish credibility in your industry. People do business with people they know they can trust, and you build that trust by building credibility and positioning yourself as an authority.

If you’re not on Instagram you are missing out on a huge chunk of the pie.

If you use a free platform (like WordPress) for blogs then that platform owns that blog. However, if you pay a designer or developer to customize your website, then you own that content. This is really important, especially in social media marketing, which is everything in this industry. Instagram is everything. If you’re not on Instagram you are missing out on a huge chunk of the pie. Although, there is always a risk that social media websites could say they want nothing to do with the industry, and that would change everything.  Until that changes, if it ever does, social media continues to be a vital part of business development in this industry.

Email marketing is another great tool as it again goes back to owning your content. This type of marketing is fantastic because you can deliver value right to your prospect’s and customer’s inbox. You can connect with them, provide information that they might be looking for, and show them photos of your product or fun things going on within the business. You have a real opportunity for engagement, which is incredibly important right now because people want to be engaged with where they are spending their money. Email, social, and content marketing are the three main pillars, all working simultaneously together. Moving forward, we don’t know what we are going to do as far as advertising. We might not be allowed to do billboards, print ads, TV, or radio advertising. But right now, social media, email, and content marketing is a strategy that can work for the long term, regardless of how your community limits advertising in the future.

What does Alexa Divett do in her free time?

Alexa tries to sleep when she can. I do a lot of yoga, Pilates, and other exercises because that’s my sanity. I also have a million amazing friends all over the country, but mostly on the west coast. We all love live music, travel, and going to concerts. Being an Oregonian, I try to get outside as much as possible. I love hiking, going to the beach, swimming in the beautiful Oregon rivers, and hanging out with friends. Not a dull life out here in Oregon.

How do you think marketing and branding will impact the cannabis industry moving forward? What are some of the best brands that you have seen around the industry? Join the conversation and comment below!

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Lori Glauser – Co-Founder, President & COO of Signal Bay, Inc.

Lori Glauser is the Co-Founder, President and COO of Signal Bay, Inc., a publically traded company (SGBY) that provides research, advisory and management services to the cannabis industry. Her 25+ years of job experience, ranging from mechanical engineering and management consulting to entrepreneurship in the energy and tech sectors, have taken her around the world. Before entering the cannabis space, Lori was working at senior-level management consulting positions with Ernst & Young and IBM. Since she was introduced to the cannabis industry less than 2 years ago, Lori and her team have been completely immersed in the space. In addition to her work with Signal Bay, Lori is the founding chair of Women Grow: Las Vegas as well as an outspoken participant in local and national organizations and conferences including NCIA and FOCUS. In an industry that could certainly use more female leadership, Lori shares how she has navigated through her professional journey.

What was the deciding factor for you to join this particular industry?

My initial experience with legal cannabis came when I moved from Boulder to San Francisco, so I could launch a tech startup. It was the tail end of the ‘dot com’ boom. Gavin Newsom was city mayor, Proposition 215 was recently passed, and in my neighborhood, preparing for the Burning Man festival was everyone’s second job. It was there that I met cannabis patients, advocates and growers who opened my eyes to the beneficial effects of cannabis.

Fast forward 10 years, I landed a project with IBM in Nevada, and wound up in a Burning Man camp with cannabis industry pioneers including Leslie Bocskor, Mark Goldfogel, and Joe Brezny. They let me know it was an industry to watch.   

This industry is going to mature in the blink of an eye, and we want to be, indeed we are compelled to be, a part of its growth.

My first opportunity to work around cannabis as a professional was with Ernst & Young. I worked on a project that evaluated the impact of energy theft in British Columbia, Canada. A shocking amount of electricity is diverted around meters, mostly by cannabis growers, not so much to avoid paying the high energy bills, but to avoid getting caught by the Provincial Authority which was affiliated with the utility.  

About a year later, Leslie formed Electrum Partners, and asked for my assistance preparing cannabis establishment applications. I immediately recruited the most capable person I knew – William Waldrop – and we got to work. Soon we had submitted eight complete applications to the state and today all of our clients have establishment licenses.

Through this process, we clearly saw there was a need for more business expertise. Here was an entire industry being re-formed on top of a foundation of decades of illegal, unregulated activity. The new legal industry offered little in the way of market intelligence, best practices, and sound business models available to the cannabis entrepreneur. This was precisely the type of expertise we can bring to the market.

Since we launched Signal Bay, Inc. the only industry I have seen go through as much transformation as quickly and the cannabis industry has is the Internet. This industry is going to mature in the blink of an eye, and we want to be, indeed we are compelled to be, a part of its growth.

What skills from your previous experiences helped you in what you are doing now?

I began my career as a mechanical engineer in the nuclear power industry. That experience comes in handy when working with imaginably dangerous substances in a regulated environment. In addition to performing design engineering, I wrote and adhered to operational procedures, strict security and transportation protocols, and dealt with lots of regulatory reporting and compliance. Obviously, the marijuana flower is not nearly as dangerous as radioactive uranium, but sometimes it appears that regulators think it is.

We anticipate that California is going to be the next huge market for consulting services as all those business who have been working in a lightly regulated arena will need to come into compliance quickly.

One project that helped me prepare for the cannabis industry was my involvement in planning a $500Mil power plant in Mexico, on the US border. We developed an extraordinarily detailed due diligence package that involved business on both sides of the border (which meant two currencies). The package included everything from multiple fuel sources, complex power purchase agreements, piles of vendor agreements, and a financial pro forma that maxed out the capability of Excel at the time. The plant got funded, and is now generating hundreds of millions per year in electricity sales both in the US and Mexico. Developing application packages for cultivation, production and dispensary facilities is no easy task, but it has been made easier by this experiences.

In addition to these experiences, I started, or have been involved in several startups throughout my professional life. In 2008, I participated in a clean tech accelerator program in Palo Alto, where I developed an idea for an automated building controller operated on a wireless mesh network. I learned a tremendous amount through that program, most of all the importance of working with the top people in the industry.

Right now, where are you guiding your passion and energy towards?

Thousands of business owners and entrepreneurs in Oregon, Maryland and Hawaii are getting ready to submit applications for adult use marijuana establishments. As deadlines loom and state requirements evolve, we are preparing to assist dozens of entrepreneurs as they launch their businesses. Our passion lies in helping cannabis industry entrepreneurs succeed, and do so on a large scale. Next year is likely to be a windfall for new regulations. We anticipate that California is going to be the next huge market for consulting services as all those business who have been working in a lightly regulated arena will need to come into compliance quickly. They need business intelligence, they need help getting their businesses started and they need help operating their businesses once they open their doors.

Signal Bay intends to be there for businesses as they need help with improving operational efficiency, to assist with a coming wave of managing mergers and acquisitions, and to help entrepreneurs exit the industry entirely when it’s time to cash out. Additionally, and just as important, we want to guide the industry towards providing safe and sustainable products that are in compliance with local and state rules.   

Describe your work ethic to me in one word.

Ambitious.

What do you consider your weakness as an entrepreneur? Your strength?

I’m highly analytical, and as a result I sometimes find myself overthinking an issue. That’s why I work well with my CEO Will Waldrop, who is decisive and can see when to move strategically and quickly. It’s a good balance.

My strength comes from my ability to see patterns in markets and trends.

My strength comes from my ability to see patterns in markets and trends. My experience working with energy market and price forecasting, working through boom and bust cycles in multiple technology fads and developing business models in other developing industries has given me an ability to understand the direction the industry is going. For instance, in the cannabis industry, I clearly see a coming wave of exuberance, retraction, regulation, optimization and standardization followed by consolidation, and ultimate stability. The maturity of each market varies by state, but ultimately, the entire nation will come into sync.

Another strength I have is networking. I’ve made around 1,000 connections in the cannabis space in just over a year’s time, and many of those have joined the Consultant Marketplace. Today, I feel comfortable that if I have a question on virtually any cannabis related topic, there is someone in my network who can help me out.

How are you differentiating yourself from the competition?

As a public company, we have leverage to grow through acquisition. We believe there will be opportunities for strategic acquisitions to add shareholder value in the coming years. When William (CEO) worked in the telecom industry, he very quickly worked his way up to VP, and oversaw the buildout of dozens of corporate retail outlets. He ultimately oversaw over 400 stores.

As a consulting firm, our key competitive advantage is our vision and ability to scale. Through the Cannabis Consultant Marketplace, and with the guidance of leaders from big consulting firms, we have the ability to quickly build a deep bench of expertise and deploy experts nationwide. As a publisher and as a service provider, we provide the platform for industry experts to provide their research, information, and services to the industry.

How do you find inspiration in this industry? What have you found that has inspired you?

I’m inspired by the rate of innovation in the industry. Each time I hear about a good idea (or think of one), it seems an entrepreneur somewhere is making it happen. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of passionate, hardworking entrepreneurs working towards a goal of forming a great new industry that is built on a foundation of caring for people’s health, relaxing and finding some moments of peace in our hectic world.

As a publisher and as a service provider, we provide the platform for industry experts to provide their research, information, and services to the industry.

I am also inspired with what could be a massive shift in the way we medicate in this nation. We have become so accustomed to taking synthetic pharmaceuticals or resorting to alcohol for very common ailments such as pain, insomnia, and depression. With the regulation of marijuana, an incredible amount of science will come out to demonstrate new treatments and condition-specific formulations from this plant. As more people discover the benefits of cannabis, their eyes will be opened to all aspects of natural healing. People will consider other herbs and natural medicines as alternatives to synthetic drugs.  

What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

To listen.  

At IBM, I was trained to ask why 5 times before drawing a conclusion with any client or providing advice. With each layer of questioning, we uncover the root cause of issues, and under that the root cause of that. Ultimately leading to a solution that may fix problems at the core rather than firefighting symptoms.  

I’m inspired by the rate of innovation in the industry.

Active listening is also key to developing trusting relationships in business, and in life. It’s the way to understand others motives, and generally makes the partner, client, or employee feel better that they have someone to talk to – which ultimately builds trust. Maya Angelou said  “People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. “

Where do your great ideas come from?

Great ideas are not born in isolation. They come from sharing ideas with several people, Las Vegas based entrepreneur and Zappos.com CEO, Tony Hseish refers to great ideas forming as a result of “collisions”. Ideas morph based on various points of views and perspectives. That is why I believe strongly in the power of building a big network that can allow us to collectively develop and incrementally improve ideas. It is also crucial to challenging other’s thinking to transform a good idea into a great idea.

Ideas morph based on various points of views and perspectives.

It’s exciting to see new ideas get born that way. For instance, the idea for the Cannabis Consultant Marketplace came from our CEO during a long circuitous conversation about how we can leverage our information site, CANNAiQ.

Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of falling in love with their own “great” idea that they may have come up with while on the flight home after sitting through an inspiring conference. So much so that they invest money and time into something before discovering that it may not be feasible in the macro.

What is important to you – mission, vision, or core values? Why?

Core values.  

Mission and vision are important, however they can and do change over time. Core values, by definition, do not. Signal Bay has very strong core values that are rooted in the foundation of our company; safety, compliance, sustainability, integrity, and really, really hard work.

William is a dad of two awesome boys, and I’m a Big Sister and an aunt to two remarkable girls. We are defining an industry that could shape their world as they will soon go into high school and beyond. When making business decisions, we may keep them in mind every step of the way.   

What will we be seeing from you and Signal Bay in the coming future?

Because we are publically traded, I can’t disclose our future plans. However, I can share what our current initiatives are, that way it will give you a flavor for where we are going.

We have two divisions, Research/Advisory and Services.

On the Research and Advisory side, I mentioned the Cannabis Consultant Marketplace. This is a platform where cannabis professionals can come together, not only to find projects, but also to collaborate with one another – as they would in any big consulting firm. In its current version, consultants apply to join the marketplace, while companies post projects. We make the match. This concept has taken off rapidly, and we expect to start facilitating more of those “collisions” I mentioned earlier.

CANNAiQ is an industry news and data portal. This site offers a stage from which our consultants to publish their thought leadership pieces, as well as leverage the site for data and information – and contribute to it along the way.  We envision continuing to build out CANNAiQ, so it is a critical business intelligence tool that helps professionals stay up to date with the industry, evaluate the competitive landscape, follow trends, or simply access industry statistics and regulations. You can imagine the power this will have as it becomes the place to get information from multiple states, and as a growing network of consultants contribute to it.

Signal Bay has very strong core values that are rooted in the foundation of our company; safety, compliance, sustainability, integrity, and really, really hard work.

Among our publications is the Medical Marijuana Desk Reference by Dr. Alicia Wilbur. A compendium of the published studies that have been performed related to a long list of medical conditions, and a cross reference to them. Dr. Wilbur is now working on the next book, Medical Marijuana Physicians’ Desk Reference, which takes the research to a much deeper level, going into more detail about the types of studies performed and how the studies were done.

On the services side, we have a management services agreement with a licensed production facility in North Las Vegas. We are also acquiring a majority interest in a test lab in Oregon, for which we will also provide management services. Furthermore, we are pursuing other opportunities to serve marijuana establishments. We anticipate deploying consultants that have joined our marketplace to assist in these efforts.

In addition, we are getting on the speaking circuit. In July, William and I spoke to entrepreneurs at the Cannabis Creative Conference, and will be doing so again at upcoming conferences in Santa Monica and the Marijuana Business Daily conference in Las Vegas in November. We are also co-sponsoring a two-day conference in October – Powering Indoor Agriculture for Utilities. This niche conference is geared towards bringing professionals from the power industry together to discuss how indoor growing is and will affect them. Our speaker lineup includes representatives from utilities in Nevada, Colorado and Washington.

What scares you most about this industry?

I am concerned that excessive government regulation and inconsistency in those regulations across the country will stifle the development of the industry, possibly leading to unintended consequences including unnecessary costs that could enable the black market to thrive. For example, in Nevada, security concerns led to a regulation that prohibits the ability to observe growing cannabis from outside the facility, including from above. This has led to much debate about whether greenhouses are allowed in the state.

I learned the hard way that I can’t change the minds of people who have diametrically opposite values from me through words alone. Instead, I can lead by example. 

For this reason, I am grateful to serve on a sustainability committee for FOCUS – Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards. We are working towards developing rigorous and common sense standards that will promote safety, sustainability and allow the industry to self-regulate nationwide.  

If you could tell a skeptic one thing about this industry to make them change their mind, what would it be?

I learned the hard way that I can’t change the minds of people who have diametrically opposite values from me through words alone. Instead, I can lead by example. I’m a highly productive person with a great career and education, who happens to work in the cannabis industry.

I am confident that skeptical minds will change, one at a time, as they get over their fears of the unknown. For instance, I was working in the business for months before I finally “came out” to my conservative 70 year old father. My dad had served as a volunteer deputy sheriff in Florida for many years, and he tells me, he never once tried marijuana – not even while serving in the army during the Vietnam war. I prepared myself for some major resistance when I went to them to say “Mom, Dad, I’m not going to be a partner at EY – instead I’m launching a business to help the cannabis industry.” Shortly after the shock wore off, they were good with it. They’ve been following the media coverage, seeing the same images of pot barons saving the lives of epileptic children on TV as everyone else. Not only were they ok with it, but they even invested in Signal Bay and have helped out with the business.

Tell us something that you wish you had known before becoming a cannabis entrepreneur.

I wish I had known that business transactions, which are relatively straightforward in any other industry, take much longer in the cannabis business.   

Industry players are taking extraordinary care in the decision-making process. Regulators, policy committees, lawyers, buyers, sellers, investors, landowners – are all going the extra mile to ensure every contingency is covered. This is a good thing. However, because of this, everything takes time. Lots and lots of time. We anticipated businesses in Nevada, for instance, would have been open months sooner than they have. Other states are seeing similar delays. These delays not only affect the establishments themselves, but the ancillary businesses that have sprung up around them.

Despite these delays, speed to market is critically important in this business. And entrepreneurs are innovating daily. We are in the midst of a massive grab for market share, so those who can maneuver in this regulatory environment best will have a great advantage at the end of the day.

Anything else you would like to share with our readers?  

Cannabis prohibition is coming to an end. Thousands of new businesses are emerging or will be created, generating well over 200,000 new jobs.

Signal Bay is prepared to be there to help businesses, regulators, entrepreneurs and investors navigate what is arguably one of the most exciting and pivotal industries to work in today.

How do you think the proper implementation of standards will impact the perception of the cannabis industry? What do you think needs to change and what is working as is? Join the conversation and comment below!

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Aeron Sullivan – Founder of Tradiv

Aeron Sullivan is a former US Marine who has served America around the world, namely the Middle East. Through his military service, Aeron learned countless lessons, on both life and business, that have propelled him forward to become the business owner he is today. The idea for Tradiv, a business marketplace that facilitates the purchase and sale of wholesale cannabis products between licensed businesses, came to Aeron in a dream. Since inception, Aeron has built Tradiv from the ground up, aligning the company with state regulatory systems in order to save entrepreneurs and consumers time, money and heartache, all in a truly legal and transparent manner. After first thanking Aeron for his military service, we stood at attention so he could share his fantastic story with us.

What was the deciding factor for you to join this particular industry? What was that pinch in your heart that like, wow, I’ve got to get involved in this?

I was actually at a birthday party with my girlfriend and I had a pretty extensive conversation with a cultivator from right here in San Diego, CA. At the time, I was in an MBA class, with a focus on business e-commerce and I guess the intersection of those two concepts just percolated through my subconscious.

You know those dreams that you have? Where if you don’t tell somebody, right when you wake up, you forget it within a couple of minutes. Well I woke up with this grand idea and I immediately woke my girlfriend so I could share the idea. She loved it so much that we started doing research immediately. A little less than a week later we were incorporated and working towards building Tradiv.

I think the best way to describe the military’s influence on me is that they teach you how to solve complex problems.

What were you doing before you started Tradiv? How does your background help you operate your business?

Before founding Tradiv, I spent 8 years in the United States Military.

Overall, I think the best way to describe the military’s influence on me is that they teach you how to solve complex problems. No problem is insurmountable. They may be difficult, but there is always a way. Building a system like Tradiv, you have to deal with the intersection of federal, state and local laws. Creating that technology application is as complicated as you would expect it to be.

We are working to solve a very complex problem in the cannabis industry and we are approaching it with that very mindset. The solutions are out there; sometimes they’re just complicated. In the military, we never back down from a problem. As you start to break down these barriers, you will find that you are able to open up more opportunities than you ever thought imaginable.

What did you do in the military?

I was an Amphibious Assault Officer. I led a platoon of Marines and eventually a company of Marines that worked and operated on amphibious assault vehicles (AAV). If you haven’t seen them before, they’re basically light, amphibious tanks.

No problem is insurmountable. They may be difficult, but there is always a way.

After I completed my initial 4 years within the military, as a Boots on the Ground Commander, I was privileged enough to transfer to a prototype engineering facility that worked on upgrading those amphibious assault vehicles and other vehicle’s software and equipment systems within the amphibious assault community of the military. The acquisitions side of the service operates much like normal businesses.

We had more civilians working on our site than we did Marines. We had a number of project managers working on a number of different projects at any point in time. We had a budget, timelines and customers. In the military, you get a lot of intangible skills from your time operating in combat environments, but I also learned countless skills during my service there that I am directly leveraging in this new business.

When did you first realize the coming of the Green Rush. When was that ‘aha’ moment?

It really hit me this last summer, when we saw Colorado and Washington go legal and the sky didn’t fall. I figured that, since I had ‘invested’ enough money in cannabis in high school and college, I should probably make some of that back. At that point, I decided to start looking into cannabis as a viable business opportunity. I weighed the pro’s and con’s, did my due diligence and as they say, ‘the rest is history’.

In the military, we never back down from a problem. As you start to break down these barriers, you will find that you are able to open up more opportunities than you ever thought imaginable.

Right now where are you guiding your passion and energy towards?

I’m very passionate about saving businesses time and money through a technological solution that also delights customers. All of my energy and passion is going towards building that process as well as improving current systems that businesses have in place today. I want to make their companies more streamlined, but do it in a way that makes it a little more fun as well.

While I was working at the prototype engineering facility, I had a number of different roles. One such role was that of Process Improvement Manager. That position, combined with my previous military training, really showed me that the process is sometimes confused as being as important, if not more so, than the product itself. The goal is to streamline and reduce that process, taking the minimum steps necessary so that you can maximize your time and focus on the actual product.  

Describe your work ethic to me in one word.

Grit.

Who is a person that you consider as a role model? Maybe someone who’s been a mentor to you. Why and how did this person changed your life?

One of my biggest role models is my former military supervisor. He really broke the mold of what a typical Marine Corps Officer is normally thought to be. To this day, he is the best leader I have worked with. He was very good at empowering both his subordinate leaders and civilian employees. He challenged them, provided them solid direction and pointed them down the right path, but at the same time gave people a lot of flexibility in how they accomplish a certain goal or task. This created a lot of opportunities for innovation. “I want you to do this for this reason,” not “I want you to do it this way.” I appreciate that leadership style and I am working to lead my team at Tradiv the exact same way.

What book have you read that you’ve been inspired by? Any particular read that our readers should put on their list?

“The Lean Startup“.

Everyone interprets information differently, but I took a very succinct message away from this book. When you approach building something new, be it a product, software system, theme park or whatever else, diving headfirst into consumer interaction, first, will allow you to confirm that what you’re building is right. Sure, filling a need is great, but can you fill a need, want and desire all at the same time?

Sure, filling a need is great, but can you fill a need, want and desire all at the same time?

Tapping into that idea will allow entrepreneurs and businesses to know what their customer craves before they get too far down the line and find they need to reinvent themselves ten times over. Doing this out the gate will save you capital, energy, and the most precious commodity of all, time.

Tell me about an esteem achievement of yours, something that you are super proud of?

I got deployed to the Middle East, where I helped lead nearly 300 Marines. They all came back home.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I’ve received came from my girlfriend. She always tells me that ‘You can do anything’.

What is the most important thing for us to know now about the legal marijuana industry?

The most important thing to know about the legal cannabis industry is that it is going to be much larger than everyone thinks. Take for example, the state of Colorado. Prior to legalization, its medical market was approximately the same size per capita as any other mature medical market out there. Right now, Colorado has a population of roughly five million, compared to the nearly forty million of California, but it’s selling 25% of the cannabis in this country. When you extrapolate that growth to other states; especially states like California, the true growth potential of this industry is staggering. I think that’s something that shouldn’t be underestimated.

However, it’s the execution of the entire business that is really going to set companies on the path to success in this emerging marketplace.

Also, as the industry continues to grow, we are going to see businesses start to rise or fold depending on their processes. Anyone can make a good product, and there are great examples throughout this industry of fantastic innovations. However, it’s the execution of the entire business that is really going to set companies on the path to success in this emerging marketplace. Tradiv was founded with this idea in mind and we are helping businesses function more efficiently. Not just in the present, but for the future.

If we are sitting across from each other a year from now, how will our conversation about the Green Rush be going?

I imagine we’ll be talking about the different markets we have rolled into. Also, the explosion of wholesale and commercial production that has taken place and how we have capitalized on that.

Any last words for our readers to know or what you would like to convey to our readers before we get off this line?

If you are interested in joining the cannabis industry as investor, entrepreneur or just an activist, do your research and approach it realistically. The cannabis industry can be very lucrative. However, it is also the hardest industry to work in throughout the entire United States right now.

What is the best advice you have ever received? How about an influential book you have read? Comment below and your addition might be added to our books/advice of the month articles!

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Armando Ramos – CEO of Hip To Be Hemp

Armando Ramos, Founder and CEO of Hip To Be Hemp, founded his company with his fellow US military veterans in mind. Armando noticed that his veteran friends were consuming cannabis to effectively deal with a wide variety of post-service ailments, such as PTSD. However, Armando noticed the same problem kept resurfacing that represented an inconsistency within the cannabis supply chain. Patients were finding a strain that fit their needs one day, but would have different effects the next time they purchased from the same dispensary. For Armando, this was simply unacceptable. That’s when he came up with the idea for Hip To Be Hemp, a company comprised of Lean Six Sigma Process Engineers and a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Hip To Be Hemp uses a quantitative approach to hemp production, operations and compliance to make sure the entire process, from cultivation to distribution, is as safe, effective, productive and consistent as possible. We recently sat down with Armando and he shared some trade secrets that every business entrepreneur can learn from.

What was the deciding factor that made you want to enter the cannabis industry?

I’ve been passionate about cannabis and hemp for many years now. For me, the deciding factor stems from two things:

First, the Japanese culture has had a very big impact on me. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to Japan numerous times and it’s amazing how different cannabis and hemp culture is over there. The Japanese have hemp everywhere in their gardens and they have used it throughout history to make clothes, baskets and many other productive items; such as phytoremediation of the Fukushima Plant. Yes, hemp absorbs radiation. Seeing how prevalent hemp has been to their culture really brought to light the wide array of applications hemp could provide. It is incredible how strong hemp fibers are. In fact, Henry Ford created his first automobiles out of hemp.

When I came home from those trips, I really started to look into the history of hemp in America and how it could impact our future. I found out that George Washington grew so much hemp that he paid all his taxes off hemp income alone. Another cool tidbit I came across is that, years ago, the State of Kentucky produced the finest hemp in the WORLD. Lastly, did you know that when our former President George Bush was shot down over the pacific, his parachute harness was made of hemp.

It is incredible how strong hemp fibers are. In fact, Henry Ford created his first automobiles out of hemp.

Another big factor for me was my history as a US military veteran and the lack of consistency in the cannabis industry. I have friends who use cannabis to treat PTSD as well as other injuries they sustained while serving the country. However, the systems in place in the cannabis industry are quite the opposite of those from our former military careers. There is very little consistency across the board and all too often I have seen a patient experience different results from the ‘same’ medication. He might find a strain that perfectly serves his PTSD symptoms, but, he might go back to the dispensary and buy that same strain again, only to find out it isn’t having the same results because it wasn’t produced the same way. That sort of irregularity in the industry has really motivated me in the creation of ‘Hip To Be Hemp’.

To organic or not to organic, is that even a question?

We stress organics, natural pesticides and nature fertilizers until we’re blue in the face. For us, it is important to set yourself up for success, both in the short term and the long term. There may not be a need for an FDA approved label quite yet, but that time is fast approaching and the cultivators who best set themselves up for that change are going to be the ones who take over as leaders in the space.

I’ve taken cultivation cycles from 160 days to 120 days, that’s almost an extra cycle per year.

As soon as federal legalization takes place, I imagine the cannabis industry will be regulated much like the alcohol industry. Everything is going to need a label and ingredient listing. Percentages are going to have to be precisely noted and quality control systems are going to move to the forefront of the industry. Instead of waiting for that day, we are helping companies become compliant now. That way, when the time hits, they can continue to operate effectively, requiring only micro level adjustments rather than a wide-scale company overhaul.

Give us some insight as to the Hip To Be Hemp process?

Let’s pretend you are the cultivator who is looking to improve their process. The first thing we do when we arrive at your facility is what we call a ‘gap analysis’. Basically that means we are going to run analytics on your facility itself to determine the effectiveness of production versus where it should be. We consider lighting, PH levels, humidity, temperature and numerous other factors in this determination, weighing those reading against our baselines that we have created as analysis tool. If you are off that baseline, you have a gap that needs to be fixed.

Our most recent process overhaul is projected to save our client’s dispensary $142,000 in this next year.

In addition, we have studied the science of cannabis cultivation and offer a wide range of improvements to your cultivation techniques. For example, let’s say the average curing time in the industry right now is around two weeks. I’ve developed as system that has it down to two hours. Systems like these will improve your cultivation process and allow you to make money more quickly. These are the concepts of ‘lean’ known as the velocity ratio. I’ve taken cultivation cycles from 160 days to 120 days, that’s almost an extra cycle per year. Not only does it save money, it actually makes you money. Often times our services pay for themselves in the very first year!

You have a Masters of Arts in Industrial Organizational Psychology. How do you think that helps you and Hip To Be Hemp?

First off, the industrial psychologist is closely related to the industrial engineer. The main difference between an industrial psychologist and an industrial engineer is that the industrial psychologist does not design tooling systems. Instead, our specialty is the knowledge of experimental science and statistics. In other words, we are applied mathematicians. We use analytics to improve systems and create a more productive, efficient process. For example, recently I was working with a cultivator who was taking 13 days to complete his germination process. By the time we were finished that process was down to 6 days, less than half the time.

How are you innovating new cannabis systems? Can you give us an example?

One of the many things we have had success improving is the process of concentrate extraction. Our scientists have developed an extraction process that uses no chemicals, no CO2 and no butane. It is 100% green and 100% safe. Our goal for that technology is to rid the industry of extraction explosions from those chemicals and butane, something we have been seeing too frequently in the industry.

Our goal is to not only improve your system, but also to make you one of the first in the cannabis industry to be independently certified as a quality supplier of medical grade products.

These systems, among the others we have created, all go back to my Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt education. For years, businesses outside of the cannabis industry have been applying these methods and processes to become leaders in their fields. I think we can apply that same effort to the cannabis industry, which will allow entrepreneurs to make more money and the industry to grow more quickly as a whole. If I can come in to your dispensary and improve your process so that you can serve 200 customers in the same time it would have previously taken you to serve 100, then you can double your revenue without increasing your cost. Our most recent process overhaul is projected to save our client’s dispensary $142,000 in this next year.

How You Stand Out

We’ve talked about reducing costs for the same amount of overhead. Perhaps just as important is our ability to make your business stand out to the public. Take Colorado for example. There might be a dispensary on every corner, so in order for you business to set itself apart, you have to prove that you can serve customers more efficiently and effectively than the location across the street. If you can provide the same, high quality experience every time someone visits, then they will return to your location more frequently. It’s the same logic that has been successfully applied to franchises all over the world. That is how empires are built and how businesses will stick out in the cannabis industry.

Independent Certification

Hip To Be Hemp has a certified ISO 13485 (International Organization for Standardization) auditor. Our goal is to not only improve your system, but also to make you one of the first in the cannabis industry to be independently certified as a quality supplier of medical grade products. We are a third party, non-affiliated company, so our international certification will make you one of the first in the world to gain such accreditation within the cannabis space. And if that’s not enough, when you’re certified, you get to put the internationally recognized certification logo on the front of your business. That immediately tells your new or existing customers that your products and processes are proven safe, effective and consistent. In an evolving industry that can, from time to time, mirror the Wild West, this proactive certification will prove to be invaluable to your company’s future.

Old School Vs New School

I love everything about the cannabis industry. It is filled with old school and new school entrepreneurs that provide a wide range of talent and wisdom. While I enjoy that diversity, one of my overall hopes is to bring the ‘grow by feel’ cultivators into a more consistent, new school model. I’m not saying we need to get rid of the flair that part of the industry has provided us for decades, but rather we need to create a more consistent cannabis product so that patients can rely on specific effects every time they consume it for medical treatment. We want consumers to know exactly what’s in that bottle.

Imagine if you were that soldier in combat, and you had to walk all over the battlefield when you ran out of ammo because everything was in a different place every time.

Perhaps a good example would be McDonald’s and the consistency they have achieved across the world. Doesn’t matter if you are in California or Florida, if you buy a McDonald’s french-fry at either location, it will taste exactly the same. It looks the same. It’s in the same container. It’s scooped with the same scoop. The temperature under which it’s warmed is the same temperature. That sort of process control is going to lead to a safer cannabis community, especially on the medical side.

How has your military experience helped you with Hip To Be Hemp?

In the Army everything has to be very well organized. If you’re in combat, you can’t be looking for your ammunition. It’s got to be in the same place every time. I know that is a specific example, but it provides a solid mental picture as to exactly what we do at Hip To Be Hemp. I was recently looking at a time study for a dispensary I was working with. One of the first things I noticed was that the employees had to navigate themselves throughout the entire dispensary for a single transaction. Imagine if you were that soldier in combat, and you had to walk all over the battlefield when you ran out of ammo because everything was in a different place every time. It wouldn’t be safe for you and it is not efficient for these companies. I’m often amazed that the experiences I had in the military are not more commonplace in the civilian world.

How do you help businesses build consumer trust?

From the consumer’s perspective, a well-run organization sets itself apart in a number of different ways. First off, posting certifications outside of your business tells the consumer that they are entering a facility that has been vetted for quality products and service. Then when they make it inside, most people can tell right off the bat if they are going to have a good experience or not. How are the products laid out? We want it to be as if you were going to Walgreens; clean, safe, quality protocols in place, trained employees, pest control, house keeping, corrective action for customer complaints, safe packaging, correct labels. Is the cannabis untouched or is it being handled by the staff with gloves? Do the budtenders have sufficient information to make accurate recommendations? Is the process quick and streamlined? All of these factors build consumer trust and loyalty.

Posting certifications outside of your business tells the consumer that they are entering a facility that has been vetted for quality products and service.

As the cannabis industry grows and more entrepreneurs enter the space, value is going to be created by systems and processes like these. Taking initiative now will help you build that strong patient base and, no matter how big the market gets, you will retain and capture more clients than any of your competitors who don’t offer these same assurances. Human nature desires a certain level of comfort and reliability. We can help your business maximize those attributes.

Do you think consumer trust is important for a successful business? What is the number one thing a company does to lose your trust as a consumer? Join the conversation and comment below!

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Alyssa Riccio: Co-Owner of AspenTGI/AspenTHC

Alyssa Riccio is the Co-Owner and Managing Consultant of AspenTGI, a cloud technology firm that helps cannabis businesses stay compliant through consulting and software. Businesses all over the world are seeing positive economic growth from the implementation of cloud technology solutions and Alyssa has made it her company’s mission to make sure the cannabis industry does not get left behind. However, her road to success has not been an easy one as both the technology and cannabis industries are typically dominated by male entrepreneurs. Alyssa has overcome sexism and ignorance to build her business into a real solution for companies who want to save time, energy and money. After all, who doesn’t want to do that! We recently picked Alyssa’s brain to find out what brought her to the cannabis industry and how her journey has made her the person she is today.

What was the deciding factor for you to join the cannabis industry?

I have long been a proponent of cannabis. Over the past few years I have had cannabis businesses approach me, wondering if my company serviced the industry. It blew my mind that there were so many businesses out there that were turning their backs on the cannabis industry. I realized that the industry needed help with implementing technology solutions and that AspenTGI could be there for them.

How has your previous experience helped you in what you are doing now?

I have been an activist for the legalization of cannabis for over a decade. For me, It was an easy transition to jump into the cannabis space. I first became involved because my favorite local dispensary was being bombarded with hundreds of phone calls a day. People were calling to ask when the shop would be able to serve adult-use consumers, what their hours are and where are they located. Vendors were calling constantly, attempting to get in touch with the owners to pitch their products. My experience in process optimization and streamlining kicked in and I implemented a new phone system for the entire store. They are now only transferring 47% of calls to the budtenders straight away, which eliminates a lot of hassle and increases the productivity and efficiency of everyone involved. Being a customer really helped me to understand their pain points, and the proper technologies to fix them!

We install effective solutions that have a clear ROI and help businesses grow sustainably.

Tell us about the point in time you realized the ‘green rush’ was coming?

I knew the train had left the station the day that Colorado legalized recreational adult-use. I had anticipated there would be support going into the vote but, when I saw how many people were happy that it was legalized, I realized that people from all over would be Coming Out Green!

What in particular are you doing to impact the cannabis industry?

My company, Aspen Technology Group, helps MMJ dispensaries and ancillaries stay compliant and keep their data secure. Through advanced cloud application, we make adopting technology solutions easier for businesses than ever before. We install effective solutions that have a clear ROI and help businesses grow sustainably. A popular marketing and rewards strategy is the use of ‘short codes’. Those signs you have seen that say “Text ‘green’ to 65789 to receive info”. These systems are not secure nor are they HIPAA compliant. Educating dispensaries about compliance, and the importance of it, has become a large part of our business.

Being a customer really helped me to understand their pain points, and the proper technologies to fix them!

Who is a person that you consider your role model or someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?

As corny as it sounds, I would have to say my biggest inspiration growing up was my mother. She is a strong women who taught me how to stand up for myself and accomplish anything I put my mind too. As a woman in a male dominated industry (both tech and cannabis), you have to have confidence in yourself. You will encounter sexism… it is how you respond to it that sets you apart. My mother taught me to be brave, but above all, to be the bigger person.

Tell us about an esteemed achievement of yours.

In my eyes, the fact that I own a technology consulting firm, as a young woman, is my greatest achievement. Technology is often a difficult space to be in for women. My hope is that, in the future, it won’t be an achievement to be a woman-owned small business in the technology arena. It will just be common place.

How would you advise someone who wants to get his or her start in the industry?

Do your research! Make connections by going to industry events as well as meetups. Furthermore, always keep an ear to the ground for new opportunities.

My hope is that, in the future, it won’t be an achievement to be a woman-owned small business in the technology arena. It will just be common place.

What inspires you? Where do your great ideas come from?

My biggest inspiration comes from people who have found the courage to persevere through challenging life experiences.

As for where my greatest ideas have come from? Cannabis and the great outdoors.

What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader in this space?

I firmly believe in creating strong alliances with the organizations that are driving the future of the cannabis industry. I am committed to constantly learning about the industry and staying active in furthering the message of the miraculous cannabis plant!

Soon the ‘Green Rush’ will give way to the “Green Flood’ and that will hopefully give way to a ‘Green America’.

If we are sitting across from each other a year from now, how do you think our conversation about the ‘green rush’ will be going?

We will be excitedly discussing all the states that are rolling out recreational adult use! We are seeing the domino effect that legalization in Colorado has started. Soon the ‘Green Rush’ will give way to the “Green Flood’ and that will hopefully give way to a ‘Green America’… eventually

What are you doing to impact the cannabis industry? How do you think technology applications will help the industry evolve? Join the conversation and comment below!

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Matt Chapdelaine – CEO of HerbFront

CEO Matt Chapdelaine of HerbFront, unknowingly actually took his first step toward the cannabis industry in 2004, when he became a commercial real estate broker in Chicago. In 2014, when Illinois legalized medical cannabis, Matt quickly realized that the cannabis industry was going to have a big impact on both commercial real estate and technology. On the advice of his friend, Matt looked to start a business that would combine his skills for both real estate and technology, thus HerbFront was born. HerbFront is the first real estate exchange platform designed exclusively for the legal cannabis market. The cannabis real estate market is growing exponentially, just like the rest of the cannabis industry, and Matt Chapdelaine is traveling all over the country to make sure HerbFront stays at the forefront of that growth. He even stopped off in our backyard to tell us what puts the wind in his sails.

What was the deciding factor for you to join this particular industry?

A while back, I was working as a real estate agent in Chicago. I was selling a property in the suburbs and a potential dispensary was willing to pay way above fair market price. At first, I had no idea what made the property so valuable, but after doing some research I saw how hard it was to find a compliant property. Not only in Illinois, but all over the country. That was when I saw a great opportunity to put my real estate and technology skills to work in this industry.

Identifying compliant properties can be a long, inefficient and expensive process – we give our users the ability to identify the best properties instantly and at a far lower cost.

What skills from your previous experiences helped you in what you are doing now?

I have been a commercial real estate broker for 15 years. In addition to that I started my own technology company about 4 years ago. The idea for HerbFront actually came to me through a friend, who suggested I merge my two areas of expertise.

Tell me about the point in the time you realized the coming of the ‘green rush’?

As I mentioned earlier, the demand for compliant properties across the country is so high right now. Furthermore, that demand isn’t going anywhere any time soon. We expect over 9,000 cannabis industry related real estate transactions in the next 4 years. Brokerage fees for that real estate would generate roughly $700,000,000. We saw that no one else was chasing this business and it would be a great opportunity to both support the industry and provide it with an important service.

What are you doing to impact the industry?

We are giving both states and municipalities, who chose to embrace cannabis in their community, a tool to implement new locations professionally and in accordance with the law. Identifying compliant properties can be a long, inefficient and expensive process – we give our users the ability to identify the best properties instantly and at a far lower cost.

Forbes magazine projected the cannabis industry to be worth as much as $25B by 2020.

Who is a person that you consider as a role model? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?

Instead of a person, let me tell you about the office that we are located in, ‘The Merchandise Mart’. ‘The Merchandise Mart’ was built by Joseph Kennedy, who made his family’s fortune during prohibition. The irony of building HerbFront in an office building built off prohibition doesn’t escape me, I would go as far to say that it inspires me to remain steadfast in our mission.

How do you find inspiration in this industry? What have you found that has inspired you?

From a real estate perspective there is so much opportunity in this industry.  The value of total,  state regulated cannabis real estate, is worth $5B as of 2015, and that value is expected to skyrocket in the foreseeable future. Forbes magazine projected the cannabis industry to be worth as much as $25B by 2020.

Tell me about an esteemed achievement of yours.

As a commercial real estate broker, I have closed over $500M worth of commercial real estate transactions.

How would you advise someone who wants to join the industry?

I would tell them it certainly is an interesting opportunity, one that only comes along once or twice in a generation. To add on, the cannabis industry comes with a lot of challenges, but if you can figure out a solution to those challenges you will be rewarded.

Where do your great ideas come from?

Trial and error. Most of my ideas are not great at first. However, as I move forward I make adjustments as needed until I figure it out.

What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader in this space?

We have a really dynamic team. HerbFront is jam packed with professionals, all of whom are very gifted in their fields of work and strive to make the company a leader in the industry.

If we are sitting across from each other a year from now, how will our conversation about the ‘green rush’ be going?

It’s hard to tell – but isn’t that what makes this so much fun?

The cannabis industry comes with a lot of challenges, but if you can figure out a solution to those challenges you will be rewarded.

What scares you most about this industry?

Not much.

If you could tell a skeptic one thing about this industry to make them change their mind, what would it be?

This industry is primarily comprised of professionals with advanced degrees. Many investors come from Wall Street. The research and development often comes from big pharmaceutical companies and many of the operators have some sort of pharmacy background.

Tell us something that you wish you had known before becoming a cannabis entrepreneur.

One of the hardest parts of this industry is keeping up with the constant evolution of regulations, especially on a real time basis. I’ve worked hard to put those systems in place at HerbFront so that we can provide real value for our clients. That’s what I would tell a future entrepreneur; make sure you are doing everything possible to keep par with regulations. It will help you stay ahead of the game!

Anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Our predictive mapping and zoning technology, which we first developed for the cannabis industry, can be applied to countless areas outside the industry as well. In fact, we are getting ready to release the first phase of our software that will serve other real estate industry verticals; such as retail, residential and healthcare. These are exciting times here at HerbFront.

What is the number one thing you would say to a cannabis industry skeptic to try and change their mind? Join the conversation and comment below!

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Brett Roper: Founder and COO of Medicine Man Technologies

Brett Roper is the founder and COO of Medicine Man Technologies, a premier consulting and advisory services company in the cannabis industry. He would be the first to tell you that while he has never indulged in cannabis use (mainly due to his ongoing lifelong battle with asthma) he has always supported an adult individual’s right to decide on cannabis use for themselves.  In 2012, his future partners exposed him to an outstanding business opportunity within the cannabis industry. Brett did his due diligence and used his business savvy to craft an entrance plan into the market that has directly led to the current success of Medicine Man Technologies, Inc. (currently 19 clients in 12 states; winning licenses for clients in both Illinois and Nevada having an active S1 filing with the SEC for public company status).  Brett’s favorite job within MMT are his duties as associated with being the Licensing Services Director where he has his hand in many different pots ranging from national marketing coordination (he is amassing a substantial number of cannabis event lanyards) to prospect management (just to name a few).  An experienced business professional like this can certainly be difficult to track down but fortunately for both of us, Mr. Roper recently took some time to share his journey as a cannabis medicine man.

What was the deciding factor for you to join this particular industry?

I envisioned an opportunity to assist Medicine Man Production Corporation in furthering their industry presence through an intelligent deployment of their experience and technology that could assist others in similar efforts that would minimize ramp up time as well as mistakes that are commonly a part of any start up experience.

What were you doing before?

Since 2002 I have been and continue to work in the public market space as COO of a nano-cap OTC markets QB status company providing guidance and second opinion advisory services to pre-public as well as public companies. Prior to 2002 I had amassed a substantial experience base in business as well as industrial real estate development. I have also had gainful (paid) employment as a rock and roll musician, gymnastics and swimming coach, design draftsman, marketing director for a regional industrial real estate developer, etc.

Experience is the toughest teacher as it often gives the test well ahead of the lesson.

Tell me about the point in the time you realized the coming of the ‘green rush’?

My first meeting with Andy and Pete Williams was in late 2012 and after touring their facilities as well as conducting some modest due diligence on the local industry I was left with a rather distinct feeling that the industry was fleeing the ‘stoner sport’ mentality (complete with ‘couch olympics’) to metamorphize into a real business providing health related benefits in addition to the recreational use aspects of the cannabis plant.

Right now, where are you guiding your passion and energy towards?

Providing frank and thoughtful advice to others wishing to enter the space as well as insight and second opinion based perspectives to those desiring to become public in addition to those having already become listed in the OTC markets exchange.

Describe your work ethic to me in one word.

Passionate.

Who is a person that you consider as a role model? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?

I once worked ten years for a gentlemen whom most people thought was greedy and all about himself; but soon discovered that money was just another scorecard element he used in his interpretation of success. He was a negotiator supreme and I found, over time, that most people who did not care for him were, in my opinion, jealous of his success. Over time I was able to identify most of the elements of his ‘scorecard’ and discovered a simple fact, that I could pick what scorecard elements I thought best fit me and not adopt those that did not suit me.

His work ethic was phenomenal and over time I found the lessons he provided gave me a greatly improved business awareness and technical foundation. This person showed me that I could respectfully disagree with a person in authority if I had the skills to show my disagreement as respectful, backing that opinion up with facts. When doing this he would often say … “Brett, while I am set on doing this my way, bring this up again in six months and if your approach seems best I will reconsider my position.” By the way, I won many of those six month contests over that ten year period. That person’s name was Joe Hollingsworth Jr.

What book have you read that you’ve been inspired by? Any particular read we should put on our list?

“The Art of the Explanation” by Lee LeFever (Business) and “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi (Science Fiction).

Tell me about an esteemed achievement of yours.

Gaining the respect of my peers.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

“Experience is the toughest teacher as it often gives the test well ahead of the lesson.

This country has and will always be about the freedoms we enjoy and not about the dislikings or out of touch perceptions of the minority.

What is the most important thing for us to know now about the legal marijuana industry?

Once the banking issue is resolved; legalization at the federal level will not be far behind.

If we are sitting across from each other a year from now, how will our conversation about the ‘green rush’ be going?

We will very likely be talking about the next great thing in the evolution of the industry … whatever that may be.

What scares you most about this industry?

Ignorance and an unwillingness by opposition to evaluate the industry on its comparative merits.

If you could tell a skeptic one thing about this industry to make them change their mind, what would it be?

This country has and will always be about the freedoms we enjoy and not about the dislikings or out of touch perceptions of the minority. As an uniformed cannabis basher you are now in the minority.

Tell us something that you wish you had known before becoming a cannabis entrepreneur.

That I did not discover this unique as well as nascent business channel earlier.

What is the one thing you want to know about the cannabis industry? What do you think is the biggest misconception? Join the conversation and comment below!

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