Coming Out of the Growhouse
6 months ago I made a big decision – I decided to leave my good, high paying, corporate job to persue my own business. I had no idea what I would be doing – I just knew that I had to try working on my own. I told people I wanted to hustle – which in my mind meant trying a lot of new things until I found my passion. For the first 2 months, I naturally geared myself toward corporate roles. I have a Master’s Degree in Supply Chain Management – with this degree, the corporate world is where you have to work!
Somewhere in there, I reconnected with an old friend, a passionate cannabis user, advocate, and a MMJ Endorsement clinic owner in Michgian. (I myself am not a user, I like wine. But my home has always been a place where friends could always roll one up or smoke a bowl on my porch. It was the judgment free zone – each to their own!) Despite having a canna-friendly home, prior to then, I honestly had never thought much about the budding cannabis industry. However, our conversations slowly started to turn me.
He shared marijuana news with me, articles with me, and talked to me about the patients his clinic helped. I started to listen but still wasn’t totally convinced the business was legit. Cannabis and marijuana were “dirty words” and the that kind of business just wasn’t for me. I worked in the vanilla corporate world – I can’t ruin my reputation!
Speaking to a trusted friend one day, I mentioned that I may be interested in the industry. A few weeks later, I opened my consulting company and announced it on Facebook. A big shoutout to the Facebook newsfeed, my post appeared in the right where a medical marijuana business attorney saw my post. He asked for a referral from our mutual friend and BOOM – I’m in his office interviewing to write Business Plans for the Cannabis Industry. He was looking for someone with practical business experience to write the plans. I figured, let me write a few, and see if it’s for me.
Since then, I have spent hours researching Cannabis. I had to know how a successful canna-business operated. This meant learning about good canna-business practices, the best types of grow facilities, inventory tracking protocols, security plans, dispensary merchandising – basically anything and everything required to operate a marijuana related business. I studied caregiver laws, patient benefits, strain types, and the difference between shatter, oil, and wax. This was my crash course into the industry!
I have been scared to admit to my peers that I work in the Cannabis Industry – but let’s face it – it’s exciting, it’s growing (literally), and in 10 years, it’s going to be bigger than ever! I’m finally onboard and have become a committed advocate!
So today is my big day – I’m confessing and committing to my new industry. Marijuana must and should be normalized!
So it’s your turn now – are you ready to come out of the growhouse? What is your canna-story?
