The cannabis industry poses its own unique set of difficulties.
The following questions will not only allow you to figure out if you should participate in the cannabis industry, but also shape your business going forward.
- Is this business the right one for you?
Support for cannabis legalization in the U.S. stands at a record high. In April 2016, CBS News released a poll showing that 61 percent of Americans believe marijuana should be legal. This number rose to 64 percent by October 2017, according to a Gallup survey.
Anyone who wants to get involved in this industry has to take on the reputational risk and the legal risk, because even though numerous states have legalized it, cannabis is still a Schedule I, federally illegal drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
- Are you prepared for the unique business model?
Cannabis entrepreneurs have to cope with the hazards of conducting a business that deals mostly in cash, since a majority of traditional financial institutions — banks, credit card issuers, and payment transaction companies — won’t provide services to the industry.
No matter how progressive our society has become, we’re still not completely familiar with cannabis; we’re not used to having it around, as we are with alcohol. So, anybody who opens one of the first operations in any given jurisdiction has to be an advocate.
- Are you comfortable with uncertainty and social change?
“None of this has ever been done before,” says Diane Czarkowski. Cofounder of Canna Advisors. “Sometimes change happens so frequently that you don’t have time to implement the last change before you have to make a change again.”
“You need to be able to get to the edge of the cliff and decide that you’re going to jump,” says Derek Riedle, founder and CEO of the cannabis and lifestyle media company Civilized. “Since you don’t always know where the landing spot is, your challenge is to build a hang glider and eventually turn that hang glider into a plane and, ultimately, a jet.”
See the original article at Entrepreneur
