This year we’ve been reselling items like smokeable hemp, and cbd isolate. I also had a local guy with a processing license who basically would take our CBD and make lotions for us. But lately he has been charging a lot for this and there is no one else I know who would make tinctures/lotions for us. Dude went from doing $100 for making like 5 gallons of lotion to wanting $100 each gallon of cbd lotion for example. So we had to discontinue that.
In illinois you cant make any products with hemp, unless you have a processing license. But if you wanna sell smokeable flower, NOT A PROBLEM. Cause it’s a " final hemp product". So to get around this, weve been buying ingredients and using a processor to make our “final hemp products”. It was cheaper than goin through white labeling, until dude upped his price. Which I understand but it’s not like it was hard work (took 30 mins to make them)
I’ve been looking at the rules for this processing license and it seems like it’s pretty god damn strict. You have to consent to random inspections, all your info is shared with cops, and all that stuff
Issue with this is, that we’ve been using an office space for our business (350 sq ft for $250 a month). The property manager knows what’s good and knows we use it to store and ship cbd products from. However, I highly doubt that he would be cool with us having the office registered as a cbd processing facility.
The cheapest rent for a warehouse or retail is $1000. Which is pretty steep for us, since we have only have been making roughly $1000 in sales a month (we started 6 months back). And it would probably cost an arm and leg.
Do you guys think we should do the jump and start doing retail/warehouse or should we just stick to reselling? If we should stick to reselling, how do we get around the whole we need a processing license to make cbd lotions/tinctures?
But if you’re only making $1000 month, I’d just make them and not worry about licensing. You’re not big enough to attract any attention. Being licensed doesn’t mean you create a quality product. From a moral/ethical perspective I think making a quality product is more important than licensing.
I think if you try to get someone else to produce products for a low rate, they’ll cut corners somewhere.
So you can best serve your clients by controlling production. If you serve your clients well they’ll pay for licensing before you get big enough to catch the eye of the Man. (Or pay for you to move processing out of state where you don’t have to deal with as much regulation)
Bro… If you seriously can’t go through the different ads, and find a reliable company for “White Labeling” your products, there is SERIOUSLY NO HELP for you…
But REALLY, take a deep breath, Take 2 hits off of something that will flood your system with some THC, (Maybe some CBG, I’ve been dabbing some CBG crumble daily with my thc.), Then look through the verified slingers in the right section, and find yourself a professional company to mix your shit…
Edit: I would have provided some links, but I don’t have them. Sorry…
That said, you’re in hustle stage 1. This is when you can take risks, push products, and grow / scale up.
When your processor was making the product for you, was that including bottling and labeling? If so, think of how much time that takes, cost of the bottle, etc etc.
I’m assuming with little/low numbers you aren’t testing your lotions for potency, or testing multiple times per batch. Homogeneous mixes are crucial and needs to be a main focus as you grow. How do you know if bottle 3 and bottle 53 have the same amount? What about in the bottle? Is pump1 the same dosage as pump 2?
My personal suggestion is to focus on growing, and focus on your product. Fuck the license (if your exposure is low). I bet nobody is getting popped for making a lotion or a salve.
Make a manageable goal, like 5k a month. Once you got that, then look at expanding the business, and getting that proper license.
Wow $250 a month for an office I’m jealous, my little 1,000sq ft office here in so cal is more than 2$/ sq ft
You shouldn’t pay someone $100 to mix 5 gallons of product, they are surely cutting some corners. Picturing someone just firing up a homogenizer and dumping some isolate in a bucket of lotion.
Consider learning how to formulate the lotions from scratch also instead of buying a base to have them infuse and you’ll save quite a bit.
I am in illinois, too. There are almost no rules for processors this moment, but the strict rules kick into effect in January, I think. Right now you can make cbd oil in your home kitchen legally, but under the new rules I think they are similar to food. Processors need a certified kitchen or lab space. I have been meaning to call the state and see of they would let me rent that space, rather than maintaining it full time. It doesn’t take very long to make more oil than I can sell.
It might be easier to jump across the river and do your processing in Kentucky, as they tend to have much less strict rules. And the state of illinois does not have jurisdiction over you doing so.
