Pacific Northwest cannabis industry media project attempt #2

[Private Witt]

I'm very happy to say a project I relaunched after completely walking away for almost a year is starting to see amazing results. I've been pounding hard on processes and ignoring results, but its pretty great when the well starts to yield.

My focus is on events, music and people. Due to tough state laws, events have been totally held down. There are loopholes that others are operating under and I started to sucker-fish onto others who have huge resources to get things done.

Since my relaunch in April, I've made progress by making friends and deals with many in both the cannabis and music industries. I got lucky and started to cover a rap duo about 1.5 years ago who are totally blowing up. They just came off tour with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and performing at South by Southwest.

As of now, I'm putting together a huge event at the end of the year with these two rappers. We are looking at a 1,800 seat venue and will try to bring some big names they have worked with over the last two years.

I have a potential partner I'm meeting with in early July to see if we can do this together, but if we can't work out a deal I'm going alone. I prefer to partner up with this company as they have an awesome team and app in the industry. It would halve my profit, but it would take off so much pressure with both people and also budget as they are deep stacked.

As for monetization, these types of shows can bring nice revenue, with VIP and sponsorship, in addition to 1,500 seats going for 30 - 50ish. The line-up could be huge and that will dictate the ticket price. My site also has many options for monetization, but that will take time so great to have an income from events in the future.

With both attempts and a try with something else in the cannabis space, I have about 1.5 years of experience in the industry. I've learned this is not enough as the learning curb is massive and in order to move fast you must be willing to pay to play. I'm kinda frugal with most things and would rather wait and make the connections and get free industry coverage for my content and movement. I do enjoy going to events and spend the money to get a booth as the connections you make are unreal.

I will use this thread to update my project as the next six months are going to be very exciting and challenging, and love to engage with others taking risks and taking leaps for their dreams.

 

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[Private Witt]

I have made amazing progress. Ive secured six-figure funding and will be issuing a press release into the industry going right into a huge industry event later today. I will be making a ton of deals and activating industry partnerships all down the west coast.

So far I have five monetization methods starting to bring results and can scale quickly. I have a few more in development and will roll out on the go.

I have a ton of integrations to work out and juggle events as the calendar is getting extremely busy and the timing could not have been better as many partners are rolling awesome stuff out.

The turning point was when I went to Oklahoma last month for the pre-Hemp Fest and had interest in a franchise for that state. I now have interest from many states and believe a franchise model is 100% doable and have taken serious steps to get there with a nice pace of speed.

The show progress is going great, we have amazing sponsors on board including a rising star entity in the form of a Facebook video show. Im going to make a ton more sponsorship deals the next few weeks and great to bring on extra income getting my startup very close to being profitable.

Ive requested through mail the image of the poster to be taken down as there is some sort of lawsuit going on with sponsors on the bus. Im not involved and have no idea the specifics and just have to cleanse the image in like 5 places. It reminds me that danger is everywhere and must tread with great caution on each deal.

 

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[Private Witt]

The cannabis plus music industries moves slow but happy to say Ive made some awesome progress. We have pushed back the 1800 person show to a 400 person event in Tacoma, Washington.

The headliner is rap legend Twista. The rap duo I work with will be the undercard.

Tickets are going for $30 a piece and a sell-out will guarantee profit. We also have VIP options and sponsorship from the cannabis industry possibilities. We have a few sponsor deals closed and have until November to hit a target goal.

Since Twista is a very well-liked name and the response has been really positive a sell-out is most likely going to happen.

My next decision is to decide if to bring a cannabis bus from Seattle with industry VIPs. The next few weeks we will have the VIP packages and any add-ons like meet and greets at a cannabis store or two ready.

Its not a big profit deal as there are a few hands in the pie, but for marketing and development of what Im doing its a great step forward. It makes it easy that the rappers have a network to sell the tickets and all I really have to worry about is sponsors and throwing an amazing event on the bus.

On other fronts, my site and social media are starting to get a little stronger and also entering the industry news cycle with an interview coming out on a local industry blog with a few more lined up and print by October.

My biggest problems are the gaps in time with events and I can be a little impatient but I think when I have the ability to scale I can close those gaps and be wishing I was back to the slower days.

 

[Private Witt]

This is how you do it right here.

Act like you belong. Fake it till you make it!

I agree and man yesterday was unreal. I got the VIP treatment, spent the day with the event founder on her golf cart and interacted with the entire elite of the industry. I also was the only one covering the event and will be publishing two articles in a few days. People in the industry love these articles as reminds them of the event and it should be getting to the entire guest list.

My goal now is to bring the founder of the event onto my team in some capacity and utilize her contact base and access to the event list, setting a 3 week goal on that one.

This weekend Im putting together a new sponsorship package for my Nov. 2nd event and will asking like 30 entities in the next few weeks. Will be interesting how many bites I get. I will be taking trade and have made a few deals so already have 3 and 12 is my goal.

 

[Private Witt]

The big day has come and Im now processing a bunch of content and on the business end. I hope to have it all wrapped up by Friday and take a breather for a few weeks while doing light business and working on my site and social media.

I can say the bus event was beyond epic. I nailed the guest list and order of events, food, and the swag bag. There was a massive shift of energy when went to the show that was unexpected and a few meh things but overall it went well.

Will update in more detail and future moves by the end of the weekend.

 

[Private Witt]

I ended up getting incredibly sick with a cold and fever from Thursday to yesterday. This sucks as I lost a lot of earnings from my cash death grind, but okay as I got so much done with a little effort. The first draft of the poster for the event was finished, which allows me to promote and sell tickets. Im going to launch it tomorrow through my social media and hopefully all the performers do the same. I will than execute a marketing plan with strategic partners.

As for the performers, I got really good news. I landed three rising acts, completely different, with great back stories. One is a female from Tacoma on fire, 4 dudes who are growing a passionate local fan base and a Gen X duo who have amazing videos and branding with one of the guys being a major player in a Seattle mega-startup beast.

The venue only holds 270 and I will be comping upwards of a 100 so I will be setting the goal of 170 tickets. The question is how many will buy the GA for $15 or the VIP for $30. Shall soon see. I will be also pounding out cash for sponsorship but will start promoting and getting everyone on the same page for a week or so.

As I mentioned in the last post I need to consolidate human resources and that has already started. I've started with ten people so far and will be expanding 1 - 5 people a day, but not going to rush it, at same time have an intensity of purpose. I think in the end Ill have over 25 entities on this event and over 50 people and time to see who is serious and wants to come to the green promise land with me.

Glad to say I have 12 entities locked down and communicating so I'm really happy with my position with 46 days left to the event.

I also decided to pump up my events to one a month and have already started my April planning with an event either in Olympia or Seattle. By summer my goal is to able to book 1000+ where the real profits lurk, but I need to do some small ball before I take the leap.

 

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[Private Witt]

The roller coaster Ive been on has been complete insanity but strangely Ive landed on my feet and have a lot good news on the business end, but my life is complete madness being at USA ground zero Coronavirus.

Every day is something new and cant even re-balance to make a new plan of attack but in the end my show got cancelled by the venue due to city and state laws put in to place. Im getting deposits back from venue and only lost a few bucks on promo. Talent deposits are being forwarded to when the show goes hopefully in the summer.

So I made a great run at it with two cannabis events and one that went 4 months of planning and so much time, but worth it as Ive made amazing progress in both cannabis and music. Im getting reached out a lot more lately to do higher level things with some serious players, but going to wait and process both what happened with this 4 month show pre period and the insanity that is gripping my city and the rest of the world.

Human resources wise my hostess team of 420 models came down to 6 which are now a solid squad who want to keep going. I have 8 other local models Im on the fence with, but the reality is there are thousands to choose to work with and in no hurry as takes time to process. The ten rappers were a mixed back, they all piss me off in one way or another, besides three who are perfect promoting machines and have talent. Rappers have issues with ego and using their influence properly and I for sure will be setting standards and promotional ownership with musicians I deal with.

Other than lost a lot of income from the virus due to real gig. My main investors are getting crippled with the slowdown as have a lot of Air Bnbs and timeshares looking to be empty for next six months and a few others whose interest is tied to market stability. But I think Ill be okay, there is cash flow and my debt is low and for some reason I think Ill be able to find creative ways to gain traction as everybody is looking to make deals and I have the goods, just need to keep producing.

Article on my show that came out two before it got cancelled. This site is interesting as they are in both cannabis and music and have over 15 writers and staff holding events for nice profit.

Now that my plate is clear and do have some money to work with I think Ill be making some moves in April. I just want to calm things down a bit and let the next two weeks play out with the world and poke my head out in April and see what the new world looks like.

 

[Private Witt]

Making decent progress on the ticket sales. The rappers are in full ticket dispensing mode. They take photos of each one they sell and put on FB/Instagram to create FOMO. Also selling online and feel we should get to the sell-out of 400. We still have to sort out VIP and sponsors, but that is a different story.

I've decided to push forth and promote and produce my own show. Im going to wait till this show is over in early November and my cash is freed up, but the issue Im having now is very little control over the production and Im not able to do some things I want to dabble in. My two rappers in my current show are awesome, but they are control freaks and I just don't have the position I wish to be in. I've found another local talented rapper with a great following and hopefully shoot for an event in January. Im doing all the legwork now and hope to bring a Strange Music rapper out to Seattle to be the headliner.

On other note, I took a trip to Oklahoma City for an event about upcoming medical legalization in the state. It was a very interesting time as there were many business people looking to break into the industry in Oklahoma from Texas and other parts of the South. There was a contingency of industry related people from Seattle that went and it was great to hang out with them to expand my own network. Some heavy hitters went and looking forward to getting back to Oklahoma as what I do can be launched very easily in the state.

Im really burned from the trip and have ten days to rest and get a lot of work done before a much needed 8 day vacation and than a heavy push for the end of the year starting in October.

 

[Private Witt]

Love what you're doing here @Private Witt

Kick some a$$ and get this thing sold out!

Thanks man, this comment has made my morning and also appreciate the gift that has more than doubled my Fastlane Networth .

 

[amp0193]

Thanks man, this comment has made my morning .

I'm glad.

You were quietly hustling away in this thread to crickets... thought you needed someone to cheer you on.

 

[Private Witt]

Stepping it up a notch and I have rented a cannabis bus. This will cost me a grand but worth it because I now have 30 seats that I will fill up with industry people. I have a few media outlets confirmed and some store and grower-related entities climbing aboard.

Im going to try to find sponsorship to offset the cost. This is pretty common in the industry by hanging banners, giving social media shout-outs and other stuff.

My goal is to invite a few local influencer 420 models and a couple of musicians with decent followings.

It took me a while to get this going as I did not specify how many comps I would be getting in the deal but worked it out and getting a huge chunk and feel like Ill be getting amazing value with networking, social media and both print and Internet media coverage.

 

[amp0193]

@Vigilante We're looking at a notable here. Can't believe no one's in on this thread!

So much action!

 

[Private Witt]

A big thank you to the generous donor who threw me a $10 spot to get me to my first Fastlane 1k, .

I'm stuck in limbo on the show. On October 19th the two rappers I work with are opening for Tech Nine, word on the street is the promoters are struggling to sell tickets big time for a 1600 seat venue. I almost jumped on this one and even though its a huge name I think its going to be a $ mess unless they have some last minute tricks up their sleeve to sell more than 800.

I need to have a pow-wow with my rappers after that to make a last push plan for 11/2.

The things Ive learned from this are so immense that Im really looking forward to putting it behind and being able to fully comprehend the entirety of what is going on with this new path of my business. I 100% want to go way deeper in music production, but I need total control and since Im a total noob learning as co-promoter is best. At the same time, the next time around I think Im going to go on my own and take the lead. Start with a 200 - 400 seat event to ease in.

Tomorrow there is an interesting event for the industry. Its a golf tourney and at each hole there is a booth or two. The last one I crashed and did an article, this time I was invited to cover the event so a big step up. My top targets for partnership and sponsorship will be there so I hope I come with my A game.

 

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[Private Witt]

I just closed my bus sponsor list to lucky 13 entities. I am leaving one whale spot open for a follow-up I have to do today, here is the current break-down.

5 growers (including one amazing edible company and one guy Im going to go deeper in biz with)
4 media/marketing
4 stores

The whale is huge who has a rep on board but may wait to ask for sponsorship deal.

I did trade on everything. The swag bags which I got donated will have awesome swag. Id say the value is way over $100 of cool chit that I got totally for free to allow them to put in the bag and letting me use their logo for promo . I will do a ton of social media shout-outs and other marketing-related tasks that have zero cost on my side. So all free .

The next step will be to charge to do this in addition to swag trade. Industry prices for sponsorship for different events is from $100 - $2500 and the costs and popularity are soaring so I picked a right time to get my act together.

 

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[B. Cole]

Haha this thread is awesome. Very different and refreshing direction from the typical marketing, e-commerce, product/service/software threads. Rooting for you man, kill this shit!

 

[Private Witt]

Thanks for the love Roz and helping me get to over 2k Fastlane cash!

I'm still prepping for my Jan. 19th party, but the reality is things are slowing down big time and those who are active are focusing on closing out the year. I'm in good shape as at a club that draws people for events so my main task is sponsors.

Im going down to Portland and will be sponsoring a booth at the same club for an event and do some networking. Once the new year starts, Ill blast for sponsors both in Washington and Oregon. Im not a big fan of doing this only 19 days ahead of event but will be okay as stoners are used to last minute planning.

I did party with the original drummer of Green Day a few weeks ago at an event. Really nice guy and is a grower out of Oregon.

Happy holidays to all and looking forward to an exciting 2019!

 

[Private Witt]

The event went as expected, but the drive there and back on the same day was brutal and destroyed me for days. It was an amazing learning experience as a few things went completely wrong due to lack of knowledge of the venue and Portland, but a few positive byproducts emerged and with a few tweaks and more experience I think Portland will be a place where I can build a lot of strong allies and value.

My next event in Seattle is looking to be very interesting as for the first time I hold the tickets, VIP, sponsorship and music booking. Its a small venue of a max cap of 250ish, but I may have two buses outsides for consumption that seat 50. The situation with the location, cost of venue and the booking agent makes the perfect 1st total rookie shot.

I've had training wheels on for all past events due to others doing the bulk of the ticketing, marketing and sales. Im pumped for the opportunity to take the leap and be on my own.

Its also became clear that this is a great chance to bring on a bunch of industry influencers and possible strategic partners to help sell this out and also throw one amazing event. My plan is to finish the line-up the next few days with four or five local emerging acts who can easily move 20 or so tickets each, Im going to comp quite a few and than sell another 100.

I need a sponsorship plan and I will be bringing a few party throwers to help with that, in addition to my own reach-outs.

When it come down to it Im tapping a ton of different tribes and going straight to the leaders and then on March 9th going to have a little party while Im making deals all the way to the event, during and after.

 

[Private Witt]

Power through if you can. I wonder if there's a local help event / cause that you can organize or promote. You've got skills, obviously.

What kind of tech work is the day job?

Im powering through and some doors are opening. Events are over with and there are a ton of causes within the industry that I maybe be able to address with media work I may be rolling out. I do have some unique skills, but they are more tuned for the real world.

I use both my events and others to make most of my deals around and like to vet in person. But these are new times and I do have a pretty decent network built with a lot of motivated low-ballers, risers and a nice sized pool of big players who I know are looking for projects. I was building certain leverages for the future with my upcoming events, but I see no reason why couldnt tweak a few things and take a stab at a few things.

Im going to keep processing what is happening as its such a huge day by day curve. I may just start developing content and once ready start to drop on my Instagram and website. Will than move my teams from like 30, to around double and can go from there.

I dont do tech work, its a BS 30 - 40 an hour service job with a great deal of the customers from the tech community. Its now plummeted to like 5 - 15 an hour and is very depressing to do, but do like talking to people. I was bootstrapping for 5 years between 20 - 50 hours a week, depending on $ needs and business activity, even took 6 months off FT for business attempts.

The exact same thing happened to me man.

My roommate and others were spewing about how we need to get guns, and crazy shit like that, for about 3 days now. I also checked the news a few times, and heard other people freak out.

I ended up sending some pretty sad depressing messages to my groups.

I woke up this AM and realized that I was tripping.

I immediately took back what I had said, and assured everyone that we will be just fine. Keeping the calm is worth the MOST right now.

Then I went and made a bunch of money and feel all better.

Keep your head up and CUT the negative news sources, and channels of negativity. Tell those people you need to do some self reflection and self improvement, and that you'll talk to them once things pick back up again.

Seriously do this. I just came out of the same feeling you had.

Keeping calm is the best. I did pretty good first two weeks but on Monday when I realized we are heading towards an Italy type situation hit me. Hopefully Im wrong, but this could get a little nasty. At first for two weeks it was the economical hit as personal but now I feel both and really just want my parents safe and to protect my business.

I was reading your thread, sick how you have come along! Congrats on your success and love your attitude.

No question immense opportunity coming in so many directions. Those who keep from going unhinged, keep pushing, preparing, being creative and taking risks will not only survive but thrive in this new world that is forming.

 

[Private Witt]

Its going to take awhile for my unemployment to go through and shredding through personal funds. I 100% qualify but the state system is totally swamped and just think it will take a month or two. I've halted most business spending, but do need to spend $500 a month or so to keep everything moving forward.

I wish I could pay myself a salary but its impossible at this point. Im on survival on many fronts but feel Ill be okay. Once the government is squared away Ill get a decent retro check and I can than execute my plan of attack when can set a proper budget. If I do blow up in early summer I can get off the dole and put myself on salary, but in reality my business will not be profitable in some time due to revenue sources cut off. I see a few pathways but the wiring is complicated and cant be rushed.

Last Thursday I launched a Zoom cannabis sesh. I had a few glitches but had a decent turnout and some people of interest. Im going to do them every week and call Thursday Night Digital Sesh. I'd love to max it out at 100, but Ill tell you it gets crazy in there even with one page of 20 people on camera.

Ive been working on myself a lot with diet, light exercise, reading, attending a Zoom 12 step meeting, and cleaning way more than I have in my whole life. I will say Im so bored and want to travel so bad to somewhere else and just hang with family and friends.

 

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[amp0193]

Love what you're doing here @Private Witt

Kick some a$$ and get this thing sold out!

 

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[Private Witt]

Okay here is my poster for my event (sorry if so big, cant figure how to post smaller lol). Im not a big fan of the green behind the bus but was only way would make the image work.

Im going to sell only ten seats and save the other 20 for industry people. So far my breakdown for the guest list Ill be inviting is:

5 media sources (one app, one weed news, two magazines, one local paper)
2 growers
2 event holders
2 stores
I have an amazing veteran charity I will ask the founder but he is in a different direction so not sure how to make that work yet.

That takes up about 14 seats and Im going to leave 6 open for some heavy industry hitters Ill be running bumping into events in October. I wont be bummed if I dont sell the ten seats as can give to more industry people as have tons of reserves to ask.

Im going to wait to invite people until I get back from vacation on October 2nd. Ill give the first round of people ten days or so to get back to me to RSVP or move on. Ive learned to put a little giddy-up in it to avoid stagnation and having to wonder if Im going to fill the bus.

Is a weird time for me to take a vacation as so much going on, but need to see family and on the edge of complete burnout as I maintain a BS job to pay the rent. Im happy to say one of my investors is about to reload and once I clear this show and get that funding I will be taking a break from the job (can go back anytime) and take a three-month shot at something special. I will go back into We Work South Lake Union Seattle at the base of Amazon which I do business with on another project and create a little chaos.

Interesting time ahead for sure, but need to pace myself as there is danger and daggers everywhere.

 

[Private Witt]

@Vigilante We're looking at a notable here. Can't believe no one's in on this thread!

So much action!

I think maybe a little to much action to quick as I completely ran myself over. I feel like a complete wreck as came off a tough travel week and trying to chase deadlines.

My back and foot are now jacked up. Hopefully Im okay in a week or so and taking it easy. I have an event on Thursday of this week at a golf course and is a really good one. The distractions are cut down and can really get some work done. I'm going to cover the event per request of the person throwing it for an article but plan on closing business as many of my main targets will be there.

Yesterday went well but event was overwhelming as inside a tight space and so many people there. Im starting to see that big events are actually rough to deal with and the small ones is where the best networking gets done.

My new investment will take time to finalize and need to be careful with money but the source is solid and Im just waiting to clear the event on Nov. 2nd to expend and execute a new plan.

I have been pitched to do something either as a sponsor or on the content end of a 15 show tour starring the former Sublime drummer, a Greenday member and a DJ from old school NWA. They are all from Longbeach,CA and doing a throwback geography based theme.

One thing that is really weird is Octobers calender is the busiest Im seen all year. So many entities are throwing events mostly under the name of a secret sesh. Since its illegal to have cannabis events at most locations this new stealth style is catching on and it went from one a month at best to now about 7.

 

[Private Witt]

So things have gotten pretty insane. The amount of high-quality relationships developed from the golf tournament has injected a lot of energy into what Im doing, but the byproduct has been a ton of extra work that is now just sitting there. I just got back from traveling all weekend and need to rebalance and get back to it tomorrow.

I went to the Tech Nine show and Im happy to say it crushed. I dont know the numbers but I estimate it sold at least 1000 seats out 1600, maybe more. The place felt packed and the performance was amazing. VIP section sold out and the afterparty which sold for 20 - 30 was pretty packed too. There is a chance they broke even. What was uplifting was seeing the support and also the afterparty opened up an avenue for my own events in the future in that space. Its really hard to find places you can consume in and this one is perfect for what I want to do.

My bus trip has formed up nicely. I got a few industry mini-whales aboard, including a rep for Dope Mag/High Times. My main goal now is to have an awesome swag bag. Im getting great stuff to put in it, but have to work on the bags. I have 9 sponsors so far and feel Ill get to the 15 I was looking for, but if I had more time I could get 20+. This is exciting as I can now plan the next event and charge upwards of 400ish for a booth and could see a nice profit if done correctly. Im looking to knock out this show in like 12 days and then turn around and set something up in December where I control it all.

 

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[Private Witt]

Time has flown and here we are two days away from the big show. I narrowed down to 12 sponsors and have been collecting swag and it has been going well. I love the fact people are giving me incredible stuff for free blows my mind. I can't wait till they are including payments with the stuff in the near future . Here is a poster of my sponsors. There are a few whales and a bunch of other good size fishies.

The next few days will consist of getting more swag and firming up guest list as have some late drops and replacements.

After knocking this off, Im going to meet with an event assistant next week Im bringing on to get the next event going in early December at a profit. Luckily she is from one of the above entities and brings an immense contact base and sway with her.

Randomly I met the director of an incubator at We Work. I was already planning on going back into We Work within a month and she convinced me to check out her spot which is more downtown. The main problem is parking versus the other one which has its own lot. Im going to take a look as they are looking to talk with cannabis companies and the idea of an incubator is very interesting as I need help on so many levels.

Even if not a fit I find it to be an interesting experience to dig deeper. The location is a lot better too, closer to entertainment and a lot of cannabis upper-level entities are in the downtown area versus the Amazon land of South Lake Union where the other choice is.

 

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[Private Witt]

Happy to say processed everything and ready to move on.

The biggest issue I saw was to much of a lack of control with partners. I need to cut hands out of the pie. As of now for holding music shows Im going to put the brakes on until more stronger with the cannabis side of what Im doing. Tomorrow I am checking out a venue for what would be a cannabis-related event with just paying a band a few hundie and not worry about tickets but more about sponsors and use for networking and an integration I want to inject into the equation.

I will say the bus event was a huge success and considering squeezing an industry event in. The biggest issues is the holidays as Ive found from like 12/8 to 1/15 is a sort of dead zone to do stuff. Holidays just slow the hell out of everything and best to use this time to lay low and retool. Im up for trying to get an event off, but the reality is Im really tired and want a period of time that allows me to rebalance and stock up the war chest versus spending and stressing.

Tonight Im doing an interview with two stoner brothers who run a family farm. These guys are amazing. They roll immense joints. We smoked a $150 valued one on the bus trip.

 

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[Private Witt]

The long wait is over! My next event in two days and Im pumped. Since there are no tickets Im not sure what to expect but I feel there will be a good turn-out. I was able to get an interview on an industry blog and a strategic partner that is well-liked did a video inviting peeps and the response was very positive.

Im looking at this as a chance to get 50 or so books into the industry. Hope pick up a few reviews and also have practice for a much bigger launch party Ill be throwing in Seattle on March 9th. Now this next event is exciting as I will own the tickets, VIP and sponsorship. I also will have four local musical acts at a great price.

The last month has been rough but happy to say getting back into swing of things and ready for a productive 2019. I have a ton of work to do on my site, marketing and consolidating partners but things are looking up and just need to keep grinding. I feel I can scale to one event a month by mid-year and take things up a few notches, but for now focusing on what is in front of me and that is to crush this weekend and be ready to turn-around and get to work on the next with lessons learned.

 

[Private Witt]

What a hustler. I can't imagine planning big events like this every month. You have to juggle so much!

Massive juggling and feel the jump to once a month will be insanity, but one of my partners does like 20 - 30 a month so its doable but as a rookie landmines are everywhere.

Im also reminded of the Frye Festival and I never want to be involved with an event that is not the total opposite.

 

[Private Witt]

I've been in Texas 10 years. I wouldn't be able to recognize the place. My friends take pictures of entire neighborhoods that are now completely torn down and rebuilt. I built a house down here for 250k that would go for 850k up there. Hard to go back when I'm $600k richer just by that standard.

Anyway, how are your social media presences? Instagram pages grow ridiculously fast, being that so much of the cannabis culture can be caught on images.

Also, I've reached out to a friend who I know has compiled a massive cannabis dispensary list, but I forgot where he pulled the data from. I'll see about his method. I figure you could do some outreach to a list of local dispensaries. Maybe workout wholesale pricing, and offer a joint with a ticket or a voucher to the locations. In return, more highly targeted places you can send your posters.

Dammit, now that I'm typing this, I wish I was up there, what a time to live!

Yah man enjoy that house, it sucks so hard living in an apartment that I pay $1500 a month for. Im kinda sick of it here and Im very inspired to live elsewhere and happy to say my business is built for so many places I want to be. But I will hack it up for a while as so much opportunity and Im at the cusp, just need to keep executing.

My Instagram page has been kept small for a few reasons, mostly due to cannabis page shutdowns. But I have a decent local industry reach and will be growing it with local influencers and party throwers joining my team soon. My Facebook page I use for a few things but not a big fan as Im always getting ads and things rejected due to cannabis so I mostly use social media to coordinate with allies and pass info.

I have a pretty decent store penetration in the greater Seattle area and Tacoma. Doing those types of giveaways cant be done by law. Washington state has incredibly strict cannabis gifting and wholesale laws so I dont go near it. But there are workarounds with the bus and what Im doing.

In the industry, they say if u can be profitable in Washington state you can make it anywhere.

I agree it is a good time to live, but the good news it will be in your neck of the woods soon enough, nothing is stopping the cannabis train, not even Texas, just a time thing.

 

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[Private Witt]

Looks like I caught a huge break and will qualify for the enhanced unemployment of 600 per week from federal for 4 months and between 400 to 700 for 10 months from state from my survival gig. Wasnt expecting this as dont put into system but it looks legit with the new stimulus package. This takes immense stress off.

As for business, I'm going to digital events and this is looking very promising for my brand growth. Have a lot of creative and busy work to do but hope first event is ready on April 16th. Also firing high quality industry content up and looking like will relaunch my newspaper in May but digital only.

Also talking with a major marijuana business magazine to partner up and gonna try to get cover but that may take 3 to 6 months as not ready, but could be soon.

 

[Private Witt]

It turns out the Oklahoma industry was better than I thought. Its the true cannabis industry promise land, but...

1. Second week I got here I ended up blowing the engine of my car. Was told a 4 to 6 week wait to get fixed as was under warranty. Was at 97k miles, warranty at 100k so caught a break.

2. The red tape to get a med card is not bad, but I failed the process and after 70 days Im still locked out of stores and events. Access to both is critical. I gave up on stores but have a 50 50 rate of getting into events. Hope the card comes within a week as got approved, but the wait has been brutal.

3. Got a loaner car for free from dealer, During the 6th week on the way back from an event on the highway going 70 MPH, a coyote came out of nowhere and I hit it head on and than ran over with the right wheel. 3600 of damage, my deductable 250.

4. Got my car back fixed, 11k in work, not a penny I had to pay. 3 miles down the road check engine light goes on. Get it back to dealer, told the new engine must be replaced as some timing issues and this happens. 4 weeks more wait with no car, no loaner this time as they discontinued the loaners as dealer had 4 with accidents including mine in one week. Current national car rental shortage, 2500 for a rental for a month.

Feel so deflated as will have dusted off 4 months of the 7 months I had scheduled here by the time I get my wheels back. Holding events and launching a publication into stores in 2021 is off the tables as need more development time.

I need to be in the field to do what I do. Not sure what going to do as Im optimized digitally and just need to be out there.

Resistance the past 15 months has been beyond immense but yet my influence from Washington is intact, but yet does me no good here without on the ground development.

Been saying a lot of FML lately, but I can survive this, but living in a place like Tulsa without wheels is gonna be a nightmare, but it shall pass.