Bro love this!
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I can give a lot of advise as I see the books from the top, not just sitting is a lab wondering where the money is going…
A couple things I see are
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companies try to go too big too fast. Each market is small. You are only dealing with a single state at this point. Who knows when national legalization will even happen, as the more act and safe banking get passed every year in the house, just not the Senate. A non-democratic based senate will stop cannabis legalization for the next 10 years and that is just the truth…not opinion there…I don’t wanna hear your Republican/democratic shit…there is only one party blocking it…
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pay your employees and vendors on time. I get so much business from people who are tired of getting screwed over…honestly in this business is few and few between
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join a group or build your own. I’ve built a network of people that goes crazy far into WA. I work with one of the biggest indoor facilities in WA and nobody will take that from me. All my resources are taken care of as I also provide a skill back to my community by blasting and distilling for them.
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don’t think you are gonna get rich immediately, even the owners of the most successful brands still put in work
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Yeah I hear you bro but we have more than 150 employees so being a “small guy with low overhead” isn’t really an option. We are kinda caught in the middle. We aren’t huge like these public companies but we are way past being a small, low overhead operation.
The market is just sooo saturated. Yeah the brands like GDL and Snax and those boutique growers will always yield high dollar per pound, but those are also all indoor grows, not greenhouse.
^ Yep. That’s kinda why I posted this. To explore that option.
Don’t wanna come off as rude because I do appreciate the input, but I’m not looking for solutions to turn our business around. It just isn’t going to happen in this market. Pounds are going for $300-$500 and after taxes and all expenses it costs us about $500 to grow a pound. Not much we can do about that except cut costs which may reduce our cost to grow a pound by $100 or so, but the quality will also decrease.
Tons of businesses in CO are in the same boat. There are people GIVING away multi million dollar greenhouses because they can’t afford the monthly costs to keep it open. It’s fucked up out here.
Public companies are losing more money than us. Shwazee’s (big public company) financials show they lost $28M in the last quarter… How does a privately owned company even compete with that???
I do appreciate the input but the point of this thread was for new job opportunities…
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FWIW, we checked all of these boxes.
And just had to close our greenhouse.
- Been at it since 2011 and started with 1 small grow and 1 small store. Been slowly expanding since then
- ALWAYS made payroll on time and never had issues with paying vendors. Ever.
- We have great relationships with bigger and smaller companies, but they are all in the same boat as us now. So not a whole lot they can do for us.
- Owners are in the greenhouse right now harvesting plants lol. This isn’t the norm, but they are definitely involved. Although I will say they definitely have some frivolous and expensive hobbies and blew money on pointless ventures, like a food truck and a CBD company. That hurt us.
But like I said, the input is appreciated! Not trying to argue any of your points. You’re not wrong.
That really sucks man…I would be curious to chat. 150 employees is crazy…I wonder how many middle management you had. I have been focused in implementing Agile to handle communication
I wish I could offer you an position…I have some work now as I am starting to seek out a lab assistant for a trial run as my accounts are now growing fast, but not anything to move to WA for, and you sound stuck in CO
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yeah kinda stuck here for the time being unfortunately. goddamn capital gains tax…
Yeah 150 employees is a lot. We have 4 high level “directors” including me. 3 person admin team. about 50 employees in our grow+MIP… the grow is a 2 acre greenhouse and had about 40 employees, 5-6 of which were “managers”. Payroll was definitely an issue. That was why we had to shut down the grow so quick. Because we wouldn’t have been able to make payroll a month from now if we continued the way things were going.
then we have 5 stores and they average about 10-12 employees each… some part time, some full time.
so maybe closer 120-130, but it was definitely around 150 when we had CBD and the other bullshit going on.
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from the outside looking in you have way to many employees for how small a foot print you have automation/online sales is key nowadays 40people in this market to work 2acres is honestly a bit nuts… plus another 50 for 5 store fronts to sell…
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Exactly the reason why the market is oversaturated too. Big investors overcompensate for a market that isn’t even there. Not everybody in the state smokes (whichever state, doesn’t matter), and the large companies are overproducing because they (the investors) put themselves in that situation in hopes to eventually monopolize the market, which reminder, isn’t as large as most places build out to be. Where is all that extra weed really going?? But that was all an inevitably from the very beginning, wasn’t it. You just have to be big enough to manipulate your workers and survive, or build out to the right degree, ride the tide, and hope for the best. (Not advocating for manipulating workers lol)
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well at least half of those 40 were in harvest, delivery, dry/cure, pre-roll production, and order fulfillment.
We have no sales team. All sales are online through LeafLink.
I know we could slim our team down. No doubt about that. But it doesn’t solve $300 pounds lol. We just eliminated 33 of those 40 and cost to grow a pound, after taxes and everything is more than $300.
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bingo. all about valuations for these public companies.
these guys boast about their gross revenue (which is high), but the fact that their losing millions doesn’t prevent them from raising capital. I really don’t understand how these guys get so many investors losing tens of millions each quarter. And that loss is just going up.
But as long as they can keep raising money from investors, they can keep losing it, and no one eats shit except the investor bag holders.
Colorado has to be one of the most saturated markets out there too.
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Yeah, I moved out of state from CO because I was only getting offered 13/hr for my experience at the time, from multiple places, and I was working 3 jobs to pay my $1300/mo rent in Longmont (it was a 2bed and I was growing, I wanted to grow no matter what.) I gained a lot of good experience in CO was cross trained at a start up that was small but vertically integrated to begin with, but it shut down except for the dispo (that’s when I got 3 jobs). No where near your director level experience, but I definitely feel well rounded and worth much much more than 13/hr. I was able to get 20/hr in Spokane and was the reason I moved, and now I’m making relatively good money thanks to @lefties.cannabis in Seattle, and he’s trying to get me a raise and other people in the company paid very well, so just a quick shout-out to the guy, super thankful. It’s been a wild ride and probably gonna get bumpier haha
Edit: and I moved back in 2018 or 2019 lol so that market has BEEN fucked.
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yep, that’s another common issue. We had to put our entry wage to $16/hr because we are in a kinda remote location and we couldn’t find ANYONE for anything less. So that hurt us too.
But we are kinda in the same boat now. Just stores (and our kitchen/MIP). The stores are killing it because everything is dirt cheap. The owners have told our senior management that we have nothing to worry about and all of our paychecks will continue to be paid, even if it comes outta the owner’s personal bank account, but I feel like every owner would say that. Just a lot of uncertainty man, which is why I’m to this point.
somewhat reassuring tho to know we aren’t the only ones. Like I know we could have cut costs here and there but at least I know we didn’t royally fuck up hearing everyone else’s similar stories.
But I’m glad you figured it out and are doing well man. and shouts out to leftie for helping out!
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Cough cough, and me.
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I started playing poker again and all the dealers and many players are stoners and like my weed and prices. Its legal to carry around an oz too. I know its just luck but im making close to 100 per hour on poker too over th past 2 months. a realistic longterm win rate is way less. I do want a job but im not gonna like dickhead bosses or dead end jobs at all. also hourly wages stink, there should be some incentive. You sound like you are underpaid and being taken advantage of. Id get out and give them 2 weeks notice but not respond to them at all or speak to them= theyll kick you out in no time and you did offer the notice. thats how i left my last job 18 years ago is giving them the silent treatment and they couldnt handle it. if i did silent at poker they would love it because I thump there too. If chads are running this shit and people are buying 60 dollar quarters then fuck chad. When i was a kid id get busted alot but now cops really dont give a fuck about weed since we have a weekly murder rate of like 60 plus. Have you considered putting a weed vending machine in your yard?
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Low overhead keeps u surviving. And i find no lone wolf gotta network. These days. Market is tough for sure.
Im kinda seeing improvement in indoor price. Picky picky tho. Gotta fight for a grand locally. Nov was 16
I dont c how some of the flower over trimmed and so cheap? I use a centurian pro and it gwtts good but not this military cut i keep seeing.
U think a second machine use to refine? They cant b doing that much buy hand?
Where are you located? $1,000/lb sounds like a dream right about now in the CO market lol.
Like you said if its not that top top quality indoor, like Green Dot, you’re kinda fucked. those guys are still getting like $3k+ a lb. but its all pre packed 8ths.
Washington by oregon border
Some guys going lower to just pay a bill. Im in the loop so not getting ass raped too bad lol
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Hell yeah thump, that’s dope. I’m actually paid salary and make decent money here, which is what makes it even tougher to leave. I can’t walk away from $75k/year to sell eighths at the casino unfortunately. Too risky. I have a mortgage I gotta pay. And that’s a whole lotta eighths lol.
Got a few options to explore from this post so far though, and some great advice, so I appreciate y’all
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damn I thought it was dirt cheap out there. if we could get $1000/lb, or even $800, this post wouldn’t even exist lol. miss those days 
Digging into a new idea now - starting my own shit and running it. Overhead stays low, maybe a couple employees. Only hurdle is getting a license.
Colorado has a moratorium on new licenses right now unless you have been arrested or convicted on a weed related charge. If you have that, you can get a license… and for cheap. From there you can sell the license for $1M+, or operate it.
I haven’t ever gotten a weed charge but I know a bunch of you out there have at least one lol. Doesn’t have to be in Colorado. You don’t have to relocate.
I’ll literally do everything. I’ll need info and arrest records from you obviously but I can do all the legwork in getting the license. If anyone’s interested, lemme know.
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