Marijuana Business Magazine July 2018

By Marijuana Business Magazine staff S pecialists in the areas of cannabis cultivation, finance, infused products and more shared their professional trials and triumphs with more than 3,000 attendees at the inaugural MJBizConNEXT conference held this May in New Orleans. Entrepreneurs looking to enter the industry flocked to new “walkthrough” sessions, where veterans in the grow- ing industry reflected on their first 100 days of operation, highlighting steps taken to smooth the transition and pitfalls that were waiting. Marijuana Business Daily , which produced the conference, hand-selected investors, lead cultivators and extractors for preconference programming. A roundtable setting gave marijuana business professionals the opportunity to share their own challenges and hear how peers from around the continent tackled similar obstacles. Editorial staffers fromMarijuana Business Magazine were on hand for each session to gather tips and actionable advice from top members of the industry.What follows are the top 10 takeaways to implement in your business. 1. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel Paying experts to get your business up and running can be money well spent. Just ask Elyse Gordon. The cannabis industry was in its infancy in 2009, when Gordon co-founded Better Baked, a Denver wholesale producer of infused edibles such as cookies, candy and hot sauce. As an early industry entrant, Gordon learned the expen- sive way that it doesn’t always pay to try to do everything yourself. “You have the ability not to reinvent the wheel and get assistance from people who have been in the industry for a while,” Gordon advised newcomers. Consider it a worthwhile investment. “Would it pay for you to give someone $10,000 to save you $100,000?” Gordon asked. In the edibles-manufacturing business, for instance, assistance may be help- ful in dealing with: • Landlords and contractors who may be out to gouge you. • Setting up a kitchen so it will pass health inspections. • Working to ensure the edibles are of consistent quality rather than looking like “they came from the worst camping trip you’ve ever seen.” Then, of course, there’s finance and marketing and all the things that go into running a business. Gordon’s advice: Stick with what you love and outsource everything else. “Don’t do it the right way, and the only dough you’re going to be rolling in is cookie dough,” she quipped. Tips to prepare yourself and your business for the future Elyse Gordon July 2018 • Marijuana Business Magazine • 79