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Looking for a growers job in Colorado
- Thread starter Hash Zeppelin
- Start date
Good logic, but easier said than done. Especially in a nepotistic industry. Pot is so corporate in Colorado that they look down on bringing your weed to an interview. Most of the pot companies here don’t want your skill set. They want someone who will grow cheap corporate crap and stick to the recipe with no questions.
But does their recipe work??? Does the quality speak for itself??
I grew in reno for three years. I’d love to go back when my lease in Denver is up next year.
That’s the problem. It doesn’t work. The corporate weed sucks. The connoisseur bud is great though. It’s just that the connoisseur stuff is small batch and those guys are not usually hiring, and when they are there is already a long list of people they already know.
I really just need to find investors and a good business manager and start my own grow. Infrastructure out here is cheap compared to California. Licensing is cheap too. The trick is to find a place willing to give you a license.
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Then formulate a business plan. If you show potential investors you are serious about this, having a sound business plan will help convince them to invest in you instead of the other guy.
Being a great grower isn't enough. You gotta show these guys you will go the extra mile to be successful.
I'm actually in the process of this right now. I'll hopefully be meeting a guy in the next couple of weeks to run his small craft recreational and hemp farm he's trying to establish in Illinois.
I've started outlining a business strategy, marketing and social media interaction, equipment purchases, IPM strategy, supplemental revenue streams, etc. Basically everything I can think of to make a brand for this guy and by association, me.
I want this guy to know I am dead serious about being one of the best in Illinois.
My goal is to be the next Gold Leaf Gardens - known for consistently producing some of the finest flower in the area.
I'll be honest. I'm both excited and terrified this dream comes true. But I am all in. 100%. It's the only way to be if you want it to happen.
I totally agree. One question though. How do I keep them from just stealing my plan? What is the professional way to go about that?
Your business plan shouldn't contain any really useful data other than what they would also find with a few hours of work on the internet.
Investors want to leverage the knowledge contained in your head and in your hands. And honestly, they don't want to know what you know. They're the money guys who want to make more money. That's what they are good at doing.
You need to show them you are more than just a guy who can grow good pot. Those guys are a dime a dozen. (Hell, look at how many great growers we have on this site alone!) The business plan just shows them your serious enough to invest time and energy to create a meaningful product and you're not going to walk away when times get tough. That's what they want to see.
The best thing you can do when writing out your business plan is look at it from an investors standpoint. If you were the investor looking to partner with a grower, one of the very first questions you should ask is, "How can you help me turn this small pile of money into a big pile of money?" That's what an investor wants to know.
Investors want to leverage the knowledge contained in your head and in your hands. And honestly, they don't want to know what you know. They're the money guys who want to make more money. That's what they are good at doing.
You need to show them you are more than just a guy who can grow good pot. Those guys are a dime a dozen. (Hell, look at how many great growers we have on this site alone!) The business plan just shows them your serious enough to invest time and energy to create a meaningful product and you're not going to walk away when times get tough. That's what they want to see.
The best thing you can do when writing out your business plan is look at it from an investors standpoint. If you were the investor looking to partner with a grower, one of the very first questions you should ask is, "How can you help me turn this small pile of money into a big pile of money?" That's what an investor wants to know.
Ok. Usually when a person creates a business plan they have all the costs of operation for the first several years, and how long it’s going to take to turn a profit. That’s a ton of work, and depends on a lot of variables so you have to have multiple possibilities planned out? Creating a viable business plan usually takes a mba and 6 months to a year of work getting things put into place to act on the plan. Are you saying I don’t really have to do that? I just need estimates?
Quite simply, yes. They do need to be reasonably accurate estimates though.
Your rough business plan only needs to be 4 or 5 pages long. Each section highlight estimates and give a couple paragraphs about why you're choosing to build a building with positive pressure instead of negative pressure; why you would prefer LED over HID or CMH, and then show a quick couple of estimates on the ROI of going with LED over CMH or HID and how the LEDs will pay for themselves within a few short years with needing less HVAC and maintenance; how much amendments should cost per acre; a rough IPM strategy involving predator insects and the need for proactive maintenance instead of reactive; a quick breakdown of costs associated with building a full blown HVAC controlled greenhouse vs. a couple of hoop houses with light dep tarps; show that in 3-5 years of decent harvests, you could probably afford to build that killer greenhouse. or completely sealed 20,000 square foot warehouse.
Think of it as more of a sales brochure than an actual business plan.
These are the ideas that you bring to the table when the actual business plan is formed. These are the things that you know that they don't and that's why they need you on their team.
And that's exactly how you should sell it.
Quite simply, yes. They do need to be reasonably accurate estimates though.
Your rough business plan only needs to be 4 or 5 pages long. Each section highlight estimates and give a couple paragraphs about why you're choosing to build a building with positive pressure instead of negative pressure; why you would prefer LED over HID or CMH, and then show a quick couple of estimates on the ROI of going with LED over CMH or HID and how the LEDs will pay for themselves within a few short years with needing less HVAC and maintenance; how much amendments should cost per acre; a rough IPM strategy involving predator insects and the need for proactive maintenance instead of reactive; a quick breakdown of costs associated with building a full blown HVAC controlled greenhouse vs. a couple of hoop houses with light dep tarps; show that in 3-5 years of decent harvests, you could probably afford to build that killer greenhouse. or completely sealed 20,000 square foot warehouse.
Think of it as more of a sales brochure than an actual business plan.
These are the ideas that you bring to the table when the actual business plan is formed. These are the things that you know that they don't and that's why they need you on their team.
And that's exactly how you should sell it.
Sounds good. The sticker on a properly built grow is huge though. Also wholesale price is so low out here that it’s very difficult to make any money on a grow with out owning a dispensary also, and legally dispensaries have to grow a certain percentage of what they sell.
Interesting.
Illinois has no such problem with only 21 facilities allowed in the state to produce the bulk of the Rec and Medical. Dispensaries are supposedly paying $30/eighth wholesale, no breaks on qty. because of the taxes. It's kind of fucking ridiculous honestly. It'll be great for the producers but will suck for everybody else.
Oh, and you can't gift clones, seed or finished product to those in need. Great fucking law, Pritzker.
There were 60 Craft licenses allowed this year, and another 70 next June. Maximum canopy size of flowering plants is 3,000 sq. ft. My guy already has his app in and licensing fees set for his rec license. And he currently holds a hemp license. So there's a very real chance I'll soon be a farmer.
I'd never thought I'd utter those words.
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Interesting.
Illinois has no such problem with only 21 facilities allowed in the state to produce the bulk of the Rec and Medical. Dispensaries are supposedly paying $30/eighth wholesale, no breaks on qty. because of the taxes. It's kind of fucking ridiculous honestly. It'll be great for the producers but will suck for everybody else.
Oh, and you can't gift clones, seed or finished product to those in need. Great fucking law, Pritzker.
There were 60 Craft licenses allowed this year, and another 70 next June. Maximum canopy size of flowering plants is 3,000 sq. ft. My guy already has his app in and licensing fees set for his rec license. And he currently holds a hemp license. So there's a very real chance I'll soon be a farmer.
I'd never thought I'd utter those words.
Illinois is a pretty big state. I’m surprised they allow so few licenses. That’s awesome that your friends has one though. I hope you get to be a farmer!
BGS Blueberry
Member
The Chicago political machine would never have legalized cannabis were there nothing in it for them.... States that don't allow home grow are shit. Unfortunately, people have been taking it in the ass for so long that they're just happy that somebody won't kick down their door over a dime bag. Truly, a sad state of affairs.
Ain't that the truth.
Recently I saw this interview with a Colorado dispensary owner. I won’t mention which one. He said the mistake Colorado made was allowing home growing. Fuck that guy. I interviewed for that company and turned it down. I got the d-bag vibe from that place and I was right. Plus their weed wasn’t any good. People like that are exactly why home growing should be legal.
Well I got a job offer from some really cool guys, with really good weed, up in boulder. Unfortunately I’d have to start as a trimmer, and hit a pound a day. After 90 days if I don’t average a pound they would have to let me go, which is understandable. I was looking at how well their Bud was trimmed too, and it was good. I know at that quality of trim I can only hit about three quarters of a pound daily, so I had to turn them down. I’m on a lease so I couldn’t take the risk at the moment. To add to that the commute would be about an hour there and an hour back every day because traffic. Maybe if I move closer and get some more solid savings put away I could get another shot in the future because it seemed like a really great company and crew. I wish I could have taken the job.
boulder is a lot of coco with salts, every now and again some of it is pretty good, a lot of it is meh
I have had offers to trim before too, I was also given the pound a day quota, I was told if the master grower boss or whatever didn't like the trim job they wouldn't pay me, so basically they could just be like well this isn't up to my standard and get out of having to pay, and NONE of the bud being grown for shops in boulder is actually that good, it comes down to potency by and large, more thc they can charge more, I have seen horribly trimmed bud before and it all sells for the same, the vibe I got was a bit shady and not trustworthy
I don't agree with the hiring trimmers thing, imo if you plant the seed it's your job to see it to the shelf, but the cost of leasing a warehouse is such they have to churn as much as possible
at least it's better than denver, but no one I know from around boulder smokes shop shit regularly
I have had offers to trim before too, I was also given the pound a day quota, I was told if the master grower boss or whatever didn't like the trim job they wouldn't pay me, so basically they could just be like well this isn't up to my standard and get out of having to pay, and NONE of the bud being grown for shops in boulder is actually that good, it comes down to potency by and large, more thc they can charge more, I have seen horribly trimmed bud before and it all sells for the same, the vibe I got was a bit shady and not trustworthy
I don't agree with the hiring trimmers thing, imo if you plant the seed it's your job to see it to the shelf, but the cost of leasing a warehouse is such they have to churn as much as possible
at least it's better than denver, but no one I know from around boulder smokes shop shit regularly
This stuff was organic soil, and really nice from what I could tell. Pay was guaranteed, and they also offered bonuses and health insurance. They grow for multiple shops around the cities north of the Denver area. They don’t own a dispensary. Their grow was old school. Nothing fancy. Reminded me of my first warehouse but smaller. They even had some tents going, but they were using them right it looked like. They had time to focus on quality over quantity. They were definitely boutique.
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