Hi there, everyone. Im jj ramberg and welcome to your business. Marijuana movement gaining traction, recently advocating it nationwide. For entrepreneurs, the opportunity to cash in on a new and evolving opportunity is hard to resist. Normalizing the market related to marijuana similar to alcohol. For anyone interested in getting into the business, the stakes are high. This is no longer a world enhabited by stoners donning tiedyes and making bonk hits. Had this is a Serious Business that takes a lot of time, a lot of money and smarts to succeed. This business is pretty much an emerging market. Its highrisk, high reward. This is a story about change, changing lives, changing attitudes and an ever changing landscape for a brandnew business in america, marijuana. Its a very young industry, chock full of entrepreneurs from all over the country that want to build their lives and their careers and their businesses in marijuana. We went to colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana for Recreational Use to see how entrepreneurs are faring in this brave new world. Its a brandnew industry emerging out of black market scenario. So regulation helps streamline the system and puts all the pieces in place to maneuver through this safely and also allows the consumer to get a safe, sound product as well. But the product is pot. Under federal law, selling, producing, possessing and consuming marijuana is still a crime. That makes for a very complicated Business Model when you live under the constant threat of a crackdown. Can benabis industry is challenging. Ceo of Dixie Elixirs and he had i believe so has a wide resume, including a stint in the Reagan Administration a big believer in the free market economy, hes a serial entrepreneur who has been called Ronald Reagan of reefer. Ive been in the business four years, feels like dog years. This is not for an individual that isnt willing to commit a light of time, money and intellectual horsepower. After spending time in colorado, we found enapprehend yours in this business were nothing like the stereotypical counterculture hippies we see in late night punch lines. Tonight well be taking a look at pros and cons of opening a pot store. Pro, getting a lot of repeat customers. Con, they forgot they were in the store a week ago. I need weed man. You check your right pocket. Thank you. We visited the first can ark business summit and found a professional group of entrepreneurs. Many of whom were women networking and coming together to talk about cannabis. We like to think of ourselves as marijuana mavens. Brook was working in commercial banking and real estate before taking that leap of faith and getting involved in the cannabis business in 2009. There are a lot of educated people who left their jobs in Corporate America or left other Business Ventures they had success in because they saw or felt a sense of opportunity. Meg collins also saw an opportunity in pot. In her case, to help shape public policy. Before taking the job as the executive director of the cannabis business alliance, she had spent most of her career in the oil and gas industry. So i like to say ive gone from gas to grass. I felt what a phenomenal opportunity to be on the ground floor of building the legal and regular story framework for a new industry. And this is an industry that has a lot of rules. Like the requirement to grow and sell your own cannabis instead of sourcing it from somewhere else. I met jan cole, a former telluride spa owner and mother of two who decided she wanted to take her experience in that industry and transfer it to the emerging cannabis business. We heat her at a grow facility outside of bolder. I hear this term seed to sale quite a bit. Could you explain what that means. The state of colorado would like us to track every plant from seed to sale. Every plant we put in dirt, every plant we harvest and turn into recreational bud needs to be tracked. Theres a lot that goes on behind the scenes with this industry, it sounds like. Not just a matter of putting seeds into the ground, growing it and selling it. No. We then followed her to the brick and mortar side of the business called the farm. This is not what i expected and not like what a lot of Cannabis Stores look like and i expect thats deliberate. We have been referred to as the whole foods of cannabis. Weve been compared to a customer that cares about what they put into their bodies. Youre going after upscale moms . Yeah. People like us. The Biggest Issue jan and others in the cannabis industry are facing now have to do with all the money coming into their businesses. Backing is a huge issue for the industry nationwide. Because it is illegal at the federal level, banks are not comfortable in jeopardizing their federal insurance. We are treated like every other business except when it comes to financial matters, and then were still treated as a criminal function. With big issues like banking that still need to be sorted out, states like colorado and washington are taking the lead on setting policy, while other states in the federal government sit back and watch very closely to see how their implementation works. I really think all eyes of the world are on our state really focusing on how this is going to happen. And as more and more states legalize pot in some way, shape, or form, its clear that there is a major shift in attitudes happening in the u. S. With a recent poll showing 54 of americans in favor of legalization. If the tide keeps moving in that direction, that means the marijuana market is going to increase exponentially. Across the country coming here. It is the green rush 2. 0. This is pikes peak or bust 21st century style. Cc stark has had several businesses related to cannabis in colorado. He also teaches a sort of cannabis 101 to people wanting to learn about the business so they, too, can become ganja entrepreneurs as he puts it. Zone, tracking, seed to sale. It is complicated but we make it easy. Can you come to colorado, learn the rules and change your future. But as the legalization of pot comes on line in more places, there are serious concerns about new and potent strains of marijuana and the new breed of edibles that are highly concentrated. What happened here on the fourth floor of this denver hotel has both investigators and medical experts asking questions. The group decided to try marijuana cookies. The autopsy report lists the death as an accident. In the past five months the state of colorado dealt with two significant tragedies where it would appear marijuana in some form was involved. I will say dixie was quick to stand in front of the camera and really get out in front of the issue and make sure consumers understand these products have to be consumed in moderation. With the industry still in its infancy, its a future that is totally unchartered, speculative, and at the same time potentially very lucrative, with one study predicting a billion dollar a year by 2015. Im delusionally confident, companies that will compete with alcohol, tobacco. Theres no end to what it can do. What has it done for us in colorado, raised millions, created tens of thousands of jobs almost literally overnight. As you can see, it is not aging hippies or cheech and chong types who are becoming potent apprehend yours, sob entrepreneurs. Ceo of privateer holdings, a private equity firm that invests in the cannabis industry and also president of leafly, a company that helps consumers and companies learn about different cannabis and products. Founder and ceo of leverage legal group, intellectual property and business law firm. So great to see you guys. Thanks for having me. Thanks jj. Youre in the center of this right now. When i was there, its fascinating to see this unfold, because the regulations are changing every single day. So its incredibly hard to be a Business Owner in this industry. It is. The regulations in colorado are changing on a daily, weekly basis will its one of the things they are doing really well there. They are constantly refining the regulations to keep tight control over the industry as it transforms from an area of provision to a legal market. But as a Business Owner its so hard. Some of the people we talked to said this was legal yesterday and not legal today. I have to change my label, move this, change my packaging. How do you even keep on top of everything thats happening . Well, so we have an internal legal team and external legal team. We have people who are dock you have had on lobbying and staying in contact with the regulatory boards to ensure that everything we do complies with the local and federal regulations. What do you say to people who want to jump into this industry. In some ways its exciting. Im an entrepreneur as well as a lawyer. This is ultimate entrepreneurial experience. Entrepreneurs love to be nimble and have to react quickly. So its right for invasinovatio which is exciting. Theres pitfalls to being a Business Owner. Its like a marriage. Have you to be aligned. Thats huge. Negotiating Good Business terms, piout provisions, all these types of things is kr critical to the success of any business. As youre saying its all moving quickly, a lot of people arent having time to consider issues they should be considering before they go into business together. The whole thing is fascinating. Fascinating to see whats happening and again how things are changing every single day and attitudes are changing. J. J. , the way i look at it, theres a phenomenal activity going on here. Theres a gold rush turned green. Lots of regulation difficult for business but thats where the opportunity is. There arent that Many Companies supplying the product. Demand is big. Great pricing power. Big margins, lots of caps, lots of profits. Thats why its a business everybody is talking about, everybody is rushing out to get into it. Brenden, its still very, very young. This is a brandnew industry. Have you seen already some breakouts who are going to be successful and a bunch of people shut down already. What were seeing is the establishment of brands. That will be the big difference over the next five to ten years is that for the first time see trusted professional brands in this industry. Are you starting to see some breakouts already . I think as you covered in your segment, dixie is one that is really interesting in that they are talking about cannabis in a mainstream professional way. Thats really how americans think about this product. Thats what we saw 54 of americans think it should be legal. Its a mainstream product. We saw over and over again, people are treating it as a business. Again, there are late night jokes about it. This is a business. People were seeing very successful are the ones working closely with the regulators and talking to the lawmakers every single day. Well, j. J. , its important to treat this as a sophisticated business. If youre not a sophisticated Business Owner but you happen to be fortunate enough to be in the business you have to align yourself with business partners, financeers. You may not work with investors, work with people like brenden. After the show i want to get in touch with brenden and maybe invest with him. It isnt clearcut. Weve got a conflict of laws with the federal statutes and whats happening in the states right now. As a Business Owner, this is not for the faint of heart. You adopt know yet how the federal government will come out on this. The controlled substances act is unequivocal as far as this is a class one drug, which is interesting that it is. Thats not changing. We dont see that changing any time soon. The banking issues. Brenden, you must hear about this the most. Banking issues are incredibly complicated. Its a cash business for a lot of people. It is. Ive been in dispensaries. Ive been in rooms that have a Million Dollars in cash flying around. Its not a comfortable feeling. We dont violate any local, state, federal laws yet weve been kicked out of three banks in the u. S. So everything in this industry is harder, whether its banking or payroll or hiring a marketing and branding firm. Everything is more difficult. Boy, might there be a big payoff at the end. Brenden made a good point, sitting with a Million Dollars in cash, theres absolutely profit happening. Security issues, too. Its infinitely interesting to me to see how this industry goes. Thanks for taking time to chat about it. Like the burgeoning Marijuana Industry breweries are grappling with regulations that have a major impact on their business. From new york to South Carolina to utah, micro breweries are lobbying lawmakers to ease laws to make it easier to operate. One minnesota brewer is just now getting ready to open a second brewery after fighting hard two years ago to get the law in that state changed. There was a pretty small change but its still a little piece of legislation that made a difference for us. Good for minnesotans, why wouldnt we want to do it. Founder in minnesota already has plans in mind for expanding his business. We never thought we would experience this success. Its been fantastic. The beer is so popular theres a waiting list for new customers. With so much demand, omar had to focus on increasing his supply. He decided to open a second location. Simple, right . Well, not in this case. Because of this decision, omar had to become the driving forces behind a change in state law. Minnesota is one of those states where you could not sell someone a glass of beer at a production brew. In other words he could serve in bars, restaurants and Liquor Stores but that was about it. When someone comes in for tour, we give them beer. Thats all free. Its not legal for us to charge them for that glass of beer. In some states you can do that, some states you cant. The second brewery he would want to beer would have its own restaurant and bar. He wants to sell his own product. That put him on a collision course with the law. If we could change the law, breweries sell a glass of beer. Then were not just building a brewery but a destination. With a political battle brewing he took it to the capital, hired lobbyists, enlisted expertise of the company one simple plan. I realized what exactly he wanted to do and realized it was a 78yearold prohibition era law and said, well, this is going to take some this isnt going to happen in two weeks. Despite support omar felt resistance from the start. There were a lot of people who didnt want to see that change happen. Thats the way politics work. Usually when laws are there, someone wants to keep them that way. Thats why he had to prove his campaign wasnt just about selling pints of beer. We made it more about Small Business, big idea, free market. This guy wants to grow his business. Why is anybody standing in his way, let alone the government. Argued wouldnt be the only brewer to benefit. His method was focus. Hundreds of jobs createed with a minor legal change. It kind of became a jobs bill. We have a lot of opportunities to do something here. Lets do it here as opposed to other states. One of the sponsors of the bill, she believed it was an opportunity to give the local economy a boost. What he was seeking was a very minor change, in my opinion, to kind of our liquor statutes in minnesota. The law puts Small Businesses at a disadvantage. Thats how most businesses start with an idea. We want to make sure were not putting roadblocks in the way. Arent we here to provide opportunities and jobs. When it fell on deaf ears, omar and his team took the fight public. The fight had to be taken outside of capital doors. People were going to help us out and support us. Fans of surly brewing, better known as surly nation were mobilized. They took action. Facebook and twitter turned into base catches for information for surly supporters as the surly team spent hours to make their case. It was a way to rally troops. It was a way to bring us together and say here is what were saying, here is the next project. The support for surly nation never wavered. Lawmakers got a constant stream of emails and phone calls. People started to take surly nation and how much of a hot button this was. This was pout Small Business, beer, evolution of a company. Legislators took notice. A process just months. With overwhelmtion support in the minnesota house and senate, the surly bill became law in may 2011. If result brews like ourselves can get a tap room license. What that means is we can sell beer that we make here at this facility, we can sell that beer in a tap room. With a win in the surly column, omar says the fight was worth it because the bill has opened the door to growth for everyone. Well see a lot of other breweries open up with this law changing. Its going to make the beer scene here a better place. When we return, well have important advice to help you run your Small Business including how to keep tabs on the competition and how entrepreneurs can stay focused in a world of smart phones and technological overload. If i can impart one lesson to a new Business Owner, it would be one thing ive learned is my philosophy is real simple American Express open forum is an online community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make Smart Business decisions. If you mess up, fess up. Be your partners best partner. We built it for our members, but its open for everyone. Theres not one way to do something. No details too small. American express open forum. This is what membership is. This is what membership does. I want people to live up to their fullest potential and always be committed to service an excellence, to take a sense of pride in serving. Im a server. I might be a well paid server, but im here to serve this community and the guest here. Want to keep an eye on your competition . Much of the information you need is publicly available and accessible. Here now are five ways to ethically spy on your rivals, courtesy of entrepreneur. Com. One, look at what key words theyre using. You should be able to see them listed in the source code of your competitors home page. Two, examine their load time. You can use googsal page feed insights to see how well your competitors site performs compared to your own. Three, discover their most popular pages by doing a f