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Hello, Cannabis Industry! Researching a New Market

As a seasoned entrepreneur and teacher of entrepreneurship, I am so excited about transferring my classroom frameworks into a rapidly emerging marketplace—the Cannabis market.  Cannabis is the scientific name for the marijuana plant, and its market has reached the tipping point. This is a wave that I couldn’t ignore. So, for the past several months, I’ve been investigating and researching

Credit: en.wikipedia.org. Medical cannabis in the United States

this market, and I’ve used my favorite tactics to shed light on this new, emerging opportunity. 

So, here’s an early tour of my ideas and research.

I hope this helps you think through your own exploration of new markets.

Primary Research: Talking to "Insiders"

 Insiders come in many different forms.  Talk to people who: 

• have been there/done that.  I've had conversations with attorneys serving businesses in the space, CEOs of successful cannabis companies, master growers, cannabis chefs and more. Most of these people gained their experience in California. I learned that Cali is the grandmother of all cannabis business experience.   
• have lived with or benefitted from the product. I was surprised to learn of the many "caretakers" involved with the industry.  Half of the cannabis newbies that I met in my early networking were people looking for relief for a loved one's illness.  This is a strong signal regarding the future market for medical marijuana.
• are in advocacy groups. I've met some people active in PhillyNORML. They are passionate crusaders seeking to overturn unjust laws and end cannabis prohibition. In these conversations, I learned a lot about how laws are formed and influenced. Next, I'm planning on checking out the work of the Keystone Cannabis Coalition and their pro-HEMP agenda.
• run training courses.  I met the instructors from Cannabis Career Institute when they did their all-day training in Philadelphia.   These insiders were happy to share their experience and helped me with introductions to other industry insiders. 
• shape the legislation in your state and local community.  I have yet to meet with legislators on this topic, but it is the logical next step.  Getting to know your local officials and starting conversations to understand their concerns is also important if you plan to run a business in your neighborhood.

Secondary Research: Consume and Analyze Data

Seek out and read the best research reports you can find. While its early days in the cannabis industry, there are some emerging sources of research. 

• Access Definitive Reports.  While they are often pricey, these reports are a short-cut to deep dives on industry trends, costs, profitability, etc.   Companies like Gartner Group, Forrester Research and Jupiter Research have been successful in selling their research to entrepreneurs and investors who want to quickly understand new markets.  For the cannabis industry, the Marijuana Business Factbook 2014 (from MMJBusinessDaily.com) is the definitive source for insights into the industry. The report describes all of the major market niches in detail - built through surveys of early stage cannabis-related business owners.  It also provides state-level grades for stability and opportunity. This information will help inform where to set up shop for entrepreneurs willing to travel to the action. At $200, this report is a bargain given the wealth of industry insight it provides.  I've found answers to questions like: how much does it cost to open a dispensary? how long does a cultivation business take until it is profitable? how much money are marijuana businesses making?  The Marijuana Business Factbook 2015 should be available in late March.
  GreenWaveAdvisors.com offers an in-depth research package that will be updated on an ongoing basis.   The site provides a nice executive summary of the industry for free.   A third option, which I haven't reviewed yet, is ArcView's report on The State of Legal Marijuana. 
• Watch Television.  Television hasn’t missed the opportunity to get in on the Cannabis industry.   CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta covered medical uses of cannabis in his well-researched cannabis documentaries.  Pot Barons of Colorado on MSNBC is a six-part documentary that provides an in-depth look into a handful of Colorado Cannabis entrepreneurs navigating the wild waters of recreational legalization. 
• Take a Training Course.  It is another excellent source of secondary research. Oaksterdam University is one of the oldest educational firms in the business. They occasionally take their show on the road as they did this past year in Atlantic City for $1000 four day long cannabis industry seminar.  I attended Cannabis Career Institute where a day long, $300 event gives a whirlwind tour of the history, current state of the industry, current laws in my state, different career opportunities, overview of cultivation practices, and an overview of edibles. A powerful side-benefit of attending this seminar is that alumni are invited to attend future sessions free of charge. Since these are potent networking opportunities, I've been going as often as I can. I've met some knowledgeable industry insiders through these courses.

Building your Business Story: Try on Different "What If?" Hats

Determine which aspects of the industry are the best match for your disposition, skills and resources.

• Start by examining your own strengths and weaknesses when evaulating new career opportunities.  My favorite tool for this is the Sweet Spot analysis. Check out our timeless post on finding the sweet spot for a cannabis career. When I tried this for myself regarding the Cannabis industry - I determined that an advisor to new cannabis entrepreneurs might be good starting-place role for me.   
• Create and progressively refine a value proposition and a go-to-market strategy. Building a 10 slide pitch deck allows helps to create a "bouncing ball" that you can test with your network.  
• Take your pitch deck and test your offering.  I like to call this process "bouncing your idea ball" and it is a great way to integrate feedback from knowledgeable people in service of strengthening your business idea. 
• Test your brand. Have you brainstormed some business names? Researched domain names? While I caution against investing too much too early in your brand definition, it's never too early to start playing with different names. As part of that research, I've registered the domain names FrothyWave.com, GreenDirtConsulting.com, BigBudConsulting.com and GreenRushAdvisors.com. (We recommend the domain name service Namecheap.com - they're reasonably priced, don't try to up-sell you using multiple screens and have a Live Chat feature with nice customer service folks. ) I've tested the names with different audiences and used that very early feedback to help direct my brand definition.

Gut Check  - Does this Path Have Heart?

One of my favorite quotes for entrepreneurship is from Carlos Castenada's book on the Teachings of Don Juan:

"Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.”  
―     Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge    

To me, existing marijuana prohibition is nothing short of a violation of our civil liberties. I believe that it's an extension of unjust laws that were founded in racial prejudice and propaganda. Today, we imprison a disproportionate number of American citizens in large part due to marijuana prohibition. Furthermore, medicinal and therapeutic properties of cannabis are being discovered regularly; often providing relief where none could be previously found. It's a plant - and it's a farce to think that the government can tell us how we can use nature.  However, my position on this industry is a topic for another post.

As you consider possible new business ties with the cannabis industry, I recommend you first consult with your inner circle for guidance and feedback.  It's important that you check in with those most important in your life. You can't control what your broader network will say, but you can find out where your family stands.

I checked in with family, close associates and friends ...and do you know what I found?   It has been surprising how many people are ready for this change.  Are you?

(Please leave your reactions and contributions in the comments section.)

 

Top 10 Productivity Boosters for Startups and Small Businesses

There are more ways than ever to boost your productivity and run your small business at optimal efficiency. From organizing your receipts to low cost labor to user-friendly accounting services, small business startups can now operate effectively on a far lower budget than would have been possible even a decade ago. And if you take advantage of the wealth of productivity tools at your fingertips, you can gain a serious leg up over the vast majority of your competition.

With so many new innovations coming to market by the week, it is nearly impossible to be aware of everything that is available out there to make your business run more productively. But here are 10 small business productivity tools that every startup should consider.

1. Shoeboxed: Shoeboxed is one of our favorites. This is a ‘set it and forget it’ way to keep all your paperwork and receipts organized in one secure online folder. If you are a small businessperson working out of your home, you are probably aware that there are many ways you can reduce your tax burden. Small businesses filing a schedule C can deduct home office expenses, business-related travel, lodging, meals, etc.

The challenge is keeping all those receipts in one place and organizing them so they make sense in the event that Uncle Sam ever wants to check up on you. Shoeboxed solves this problem. All you have to do is mail your stray documents using their secure postage-paid envelopes or you can take a photo of your receipts on your smartphone and send it to them electronically. They will organize everything for you (per your preferences) in a secure folder that you can access online. Your folder is also built to be compatible with top accounting software programs such as Quickbooks.

Shoeboxed has several monthly plans to accommodate small to medium sized businesses. They have a ‘forever free’ option that gives you up to 5 document scans per month – good for those just starting out. For $9.95, you can get 50 scans per month. $29.95 gets you 150 scans per month, and $49.95 gets you up to 500 scans per month. Most startups can get by on the $9.95 plan – a very minimal cost to maximize your tax deductions and keep your office organized and without all those paper receipts lying around. And if you’re not sure Shoeboxed will work for you, they offer a free 30 day trial for you to check it out.

2. Sprout Social & HootSuite

Let’s talk about social media. You know you need to be on it. In fact, you know you need a strong social presence to build your brand online. But the challenge is there are so many social platforms out there, and there are several you should be using to effectively promote your business. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google Plus are all platforms you should have a presence on. But how do you keep all this stuff organized without wasting half your day logging into and out of various accounts? Sprout Social solves this problem, with a tool that allows you to manage all your social accounts in one place. After a 30 day free tial, prices start at $39 per month to manage up to 10 profiles, which should be plenty for any small business startup.

HootSuite is another social media management tool. It is similar to Sprout Social, just without as many ’bells and wistles’. But you are able to access and manage all your major social media accounts from one place, and for small businesses on a budget, the cost of entry with HootSuite is significantly lower. HootSuite’s free option is a basic plan that lets you manage up to 5 social profiles and gives you basic analytics reports. The pro plan (good for most small to medium sized businesses) is $8.99 per month for up to 50 social profiles and enhanced analytics.

One thing to be aware of with HootSuite -- they only give you one free analytics report a month on the pro plan. Additional reports cost $50. For businesses that want multiple monthly reports covering Google, Facebook, and others, this could become rather expensive. If you think you will want more detailed reporting, then Sprout Social may be the better choice.

3. Marbles The Brain Store: Okay, brain training may not seem like a small business productivity tool at first glance, but we all know that running a business requires keeping track of a hundred things at once, and making sure everything runs smoothly. Time invested in brain exercises keeps us functioning at optimal levels, allowing us to out hustle our competitors in today’s competitive marketplace. Marbles The Brain Store has a comprehensive suite of brain enhancement tools covering several areas, such as critical thinking, memory, coordination, visual perception, and word skills.

4. eLance: This is a big one – how do you find the most qualified employees at the best rates to keep your business both productive and competitive? Here’s a hint – it doesn’t happen by placing an ad in your local newspaper. These days, we go to outsourcing websites where we can find great talent in numerous skillsets from areas throughout the world. It is a global marketplace, and there is also a global workforce ready to help you build your business.

One of the top outsourcing websites is eLance. eLance is known for having quality talent, particularly in areas such as technology, content production (writing and video), customer sales & support, virtual assistants, and many others. And one of the big advantages to hiring subcontractors is you can often pay by the project, and there is no need to deal with the mountain of paperwork involved with having employees. BTW – eLance is one of the best outsourcing websites out there, but not the only one. There are numerous eLance alternatives that also have quality talent available for your business.

5. YouSendIt or Dropbox: When you’re working with subcontractors from every corner of the globe, it is inevitable that you will need an efficient way to collaborate and share files. With YouSendIt, you can send, receive and share virtually any piece of electronic data, from small Word documents up to 2GB video files. The free plan gives you up to 50MB file transfers and 2GB of storage – great for startups or businesses that don’t do a lot with photos or video. For $9.99 per month, you can transfer 2GB files and have up to 5GB of storage. For just $15.99 per month, you can make your storage capacity unlimited.

Dropbox is another storage alternative that allows you to store and share files. It’s also a great way to keep files up to date across multiple devices and stay in sync with your team.

6. Evernote: It took me a while to learn how to effectively use Evernote and the learning curve was worth it. It helps me storage information, collect data, organize projects, keep track of my todo list, share notes and so much more. These two blog posts by simplifilm and 47hats do a great job of showcasing how useful it can be for your business. 

7. GoToMyPC: GoToMyPC is just like it sounds; this service allows you to access your PC remotely from any Web connection anywhere in the world. So for example, if you are at an Internet cafe in Manila, you can access GoToMyPC and see a real-time image of your computer screen back home. This allows you to work with all the files inside your computer, alter documents, send emails, print out documents, as if you were right there on your own computer.  GoToMyPC also has a 30 day free trial, and if you decide to keep it, monthly rates start at $9.95 per month for one computer, and increase by $9.95 for each additional computer you have on the plan.

8. RingCentral: In the old days (like as recently as the late 1990s), when you wanted to start a business, you needed to call up the local phone company and decide how many lines you needed, what calling features you wanted, voicemail boxes, long distance plans, etc. Then you would wait a few weeks for the phone tech to come out and install an endless maze of wires into your office. Once completed, you would pray that everything worked properly. And when you added (or subtracted) an employee, you needed to call the phone company to come out and rewire everything to accommodate the change.

Today, all this can be done in the cloud, and at a fraction of the cost of the old cable and pair lines the phone company used to install. RingCentral is on the leading edge of the communication revolution. They are one of the most cost effective options available to set up and manage your entire phone system. The big benefit is that your phone system is customizable to the specifics of your business and can be reconfigured within minutes as the needs of your business changes. RingCentral plans start as low as $19.99 per month. Coupled with an affordable 24/7 business phone answering service, you should have everything you need to communicate effectively with employees, clients and customers.

eVoice is another alternative phone system that automatically answers every call with a professional greeting and routes them to your office, cell phone, home—or any number, so you'll never miss a call. In addition, eVoice provides the added conveinance of sending your voicemail to email, transcribes your voice messages, screens your calls and allows you to work from anywhere. Plans range from $9.95 to $29.95 a month with the benefit of signing up without a contract, paying month to month and it doesn't charge cancellation fees. 

9. eFax: eFax is a tool that eliminates the need for a fax machine and a dedicated line for faxing. For brand new startups, you can have a dedicated fax number completely free – so when anyone faxes you a document, it will be sent directly to your email as an attachment that you open up, print out, and/or save in a document folder. There is a catch to this free option, however. You do not get to choose the area code for your dedicated fax line, so it is highly likely you will get one that does not match your home area code. These days, this is not much of an issue since most everyone has free domestic long distance.

eFax has 2 paid plans – eFax Plus for $16.95 per month with a local or toll free number and 150 inbound & 150 outbound faxes a month, or eFax Pro for $19.95 per month and 200 inbound & outbound monthly faxes. RapidFAX is an up and coming competitor to eFax offering 300 total inbound and outbound faxes for just $9.95 per month. This service is worth looking into as well.

RingCentral also has a fax service starting from $7.99 a month. They are running a 25% off promotion for the first six months. 

10. Quickbooks: A small business productivity tool list would not be complete without a good business accounting software. We like Quickbooks, because it is chock full of integration features that allow you to do all your financial transactions from one platform. You can do bookkeeping, payroll, invoicing/billing, inventory management, and much more – all tailored around your specific business or industry. After a free 30 day trial, monthly plans start at $12.95, with the ability to upgrade to the $26.95 & $39.95 plans as your business grows.

There you have it. Ten tools to help you jumpstart your business. Are you using other ones we haven't mentioned? Let us know in the comments. 

Primary Research: Talking to Your Prospects

If you want advice, ask for money.
If you want money, ask for advice. 

- from an entrepreneur, based on hard lessons learned 

I teach a course at the Wharton Small Development Center on entrepreneurship.   I've been working with the Wharton SBDC for nearly a decade and one of the most powerful tools promoted by the SBDC is Primary Research. 

In short, Primary Research refers to talking to people in your startup's eco-system.   This might include prospective customers, suppliers and competitors.   Understanding what is working, what is broken, who is the best at this and where the industry is heading can provide powerful insight. 

Years ago, I worked with a  young entrepreneur who was trying to figure out how to test his model for Internet marketing to small businesses.   I encouraged him to just go out, meet with small business owners and ask them if they'd be interested in such a service.   When I met with him 2 weeks later, he had signed up his first five clients!   I blogged about the success story that became Yodle in 2007 with an interview with Nathaniel Stevens.   Yodle is now a national success story. 

This week, I had the pleasure to debrief with entrepreneurs on their primary research as part of their course-work with me.   Consider these two success stories. 

The Fools Gold of Entrepreneurs: "I Don't Have Any Competition"

As we deal with  young entrepreneurs, we often have the tendency to criticize what they may or may not be doing correctly. Competition is a topic that is often overlooked among these individuals.

It's not that they ignore competition, but they look at the topic in the wrong perspective. Competition is something your business must have, not something you don't want.

Posts You May Have Missed Last Week: Incentives for a Positive Work Environment and Oldies But Goodies

Life sometimes prevents us from enjoying ourpleasures. And by pleasures, we mean Cheap Revolution. 

Just in case you missed our top posts from last week, we compiled them into a short list for your convenience:

3 Incentives for a Positive Work Environment

We often try to provide our employees with incentives to motivate them, which we hope will provide our business with positive results. Thephilosophy, of course, is that wemust keep our employees happy in order to run a successful business. If our employees view us as the boss without a heart, they will be more likely torebel or be careless.

Oldies But Goodies: 25 Nearly Free Ways to Market your Business

Just because a post isn't fresh, it does not mean it is not filled with useful information. We want to refresh you with our most popular posts to provide you with our best work. If other readers found a post helpful, you may also find the post useful.

One of our top posts is titled 25 Nearly Free Ways to Market Your Business.

In this particular post, we provide  you with ideas around marketing your business for almost nothing.

Posts You May Have Missed Last Week: Young Entrepreneur Steven Courtney and 20 Ways to Close A Business Letter

Life sometimes prevents us from enjoying ourpleasures. And by pleasures, we mean Cheap Revolution. 

Just in case you missed our top posts from last week, we compiled them into a short list for your convenience:

20 Ways to Close A Business Letter

More often than not, we write some sort of formal communication each week. Whether that be in form of a typed letter or an email, we are constantly writing to a prospective client or to another business. Even though the bulk of our letters are standard, our chance to be creative is in the way we close our letters.

Free White Paper: "Social Mobile User Engagement" by Virtue

According to eMarketer, by the year 2016, the growth of mobile social network users is expected to reach 1.7 billion users, a 210% increase from 2011. Marketers need to be aware of this growth and begin to build a strong foundation for an effective mobile social engagement strategy now. In this whitepaper, Virture explores how mobile users are connecting with brands on Facebook.

Young Entrepreneur Steven Courtney Provides Insight On Networking

Steven Courtney began working in restaurants at age 14 and fell in love with food. Due to his fascination, he quickly moved through the ranks at several restaurants. Steven understood that he wanted something bigger then restaurants, which is how he discovered a new and different career : food science.

After graduating, he was hired at Campbell Soup Company. It was here where Steven was introduced to an entirely new world and quickly became fascinated with how everything worked in corporate America. Steven began to think bigger and started his own company. He began joining organizations, reading, researching, brainstorming, sitting in on lectures, networking, and attending entrepreneur events.

Steven is surrounding himself with, and learning from, the smartest and most talented entrepreneurs in Philadelphia. Steven is very interested in networking and believes that the lessons he's learned from others are priceless. Steven is currently working on an exciting new idea in which he plans to disrupt the social world.

Posts You May Have Missed Last Week: 4 Ways to Promote Your Business Online in 2012 and Seth Godin

Life sometimes prevents us from enjoying ourpleasures. And by pleasures, we mean Cheap Revolution. 

Just in case you missed our top posts from last week, we compiled them into a short list for your convenience:

Top Entrepreneurs on Twitter: Seth Godin

Each week, we will seek to provide you with one entrepreneurwho can be considered to be a must follow on Twitter. We will base our selections on inspirational entrepreneurs who providevaluable insight, as well as content for our readers. 

 We encourage you to follow our reccommended entrepreneurson Twitter, so that you absorb various viewpoints and opinions.By using Twitter, you enable yourself to consume an endless database of knowledge.

This week's top entrepreneur: Seth Godin.