Pacific Northwest cannabis industry media project attempt #2

[Private Witt]

I'm glad.

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

Crickets and tumbleweed are my specialties.

Sometimes I feel like the quiet hustle is best for me, but in the end, like most I enjoy having the support, thanks!

 

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[amp0193]

The last one I crashed and did an article, this time I was invited to cover the event so a big step up.

This is how you do it right here.

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

 

[Private Witt]

If something that went that well only broke even, then how do you make any money? Or was making money not the goal with that event?

I think these guys have long-term plans with the talent levels they are working with and love to throw epic shows as the goal. But Im just guesstimating with 1000 tickets @$42 and and maybe an extra 15k for the afterparty and sponsorship they were close to the 60kish I heard was breakeven. The profit is in sell-outs and still think they were holding 400 - 600 unsold seats, but could be wrong.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Great progress! Keep pushing forward.

 

[amp0193]

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.

Not to mention the people this person probably knows, and that if you're not a good match for her, she might know of someone else who can help you out in some way.

 

[Private Witt]

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 sh*t!

Thanks Cole! Im glad you think its awesome, because I think I can only make it better with time. I havent cued in the 420 models yet .

 

[Private Witt]

Next event on the calendar!

I ended up doing a survey of venues that were cannabis friendly in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Portland. Last week I had a ton of long drives, conversations and venue visits.

I narrowed it down to Portland for a few reasons. First, the venue is beyond amazing. I visited in April and loved it, but didnt realize the built-in community and amazing cost.

Basically its a cannabis club that charges $20 to be a member and $5 a visit. It can fit around 500 on two levels and patio. It has over 15k members and active nightly visitation.

The party is going to be a launch party for BlazingOregon.com and a memoir I wrote about my reentry into the industry last year. Ill clone my Washington site and slap on the new logo and old content from Oregon. I think I'll make a visit a month for content and also find a nerdy budtender to write articles. The book is about how I bottomed out the first attempt, addressed a 30-year addiction and the relaunch of the project. I'm lucky the cannabis industry is both highly creative and dysfunctional, allowing the insanity in the book not to be a hindrance to my business progress. Part 2 of my saga is coming out next year with the content period ending at the end of January.

I can sell a signed limited edition book for between $15 - 25 at events directly to industry peeps at a nice profit (only $3.50ish to print and get shipped to me). I did this before with a print travel guide and found some success selling at conferences and trade shows as people are so interested in books directly about their local industry.

The beauty of Portland is its 7 miles from Vancouver, WA that has a decent size cannabis community. I can than cross-state market on my visits. I can also draw WA peeps to my event at the club.

Booths go for $250 and can fit 11 as of now, but maybe up to 20 if creative. My cost with rental, DJ and print promo cost will be around $1000. So if I can sell out the booths, which is possible, Ill have a nice profit there. There are no ticket sales as the club gets the $5 cover cost. This is fair as they will be bringing enough people in to justify the cost of the booths.

A lot of marketing is done by the club, but I will visit upwards of 40 stores on both sides of the border with promo. Ill also be blasting my contacts up in Seattle for their Southern WA and Oregon peeps to rally up sponsors and guests.

Im going to start on the primary promo this week and hope to have ready in a week or two.

My goal is 25 sponsors total, in addition to booths, I'll be targeting Seattle entities for swag and sponsorship as so many love to be known down in Oregon from up here.

 

[Private Witt]

Its like Im living in a horror movie as SnowDoom has gone on nine days. A lot of people will say big deal, it snows like balls in a lot of places but Seattle is totally unequipped for the level of snow that is coming and its like every few days it retreats and everyone rushes the stores and restocks.

After about 6 days of this BS totally jacking me up I changed tactics and gave into SnowDoom and took it head on. Im not sure if Ill survive as its predicted for 7 to 10 more days, but Ive been driving around a lot taking care of business the best I can. Seems like 80% have stopped everything and bunkered down playing video games or something as people are communicating like chit, but the real players rise in these times and can get it going. I have a ton of work to do as so far behind but the show must go on and Im seeing a lot of benefits that could come out of this strange time and emerge a little stronger and ready to giddy-up.

 

[Private Witt]

Im going to save a full report to right before the show, but what has happened since my last post has been stunning. But I can say the snow storm went on for over two weeks and was a complete nightmare. I ended up having to reconstruct a great part of my team during the time and man I hit gold!

Even though I still have not replaced a few important slots, in other departments I completely have gone insane with incredibly talented cannabis influencers and a few up and comers that are gonna be huge.

It all started with bringing on two local female influencers who also could fall under the 420 model niche at one time but they are focusing on other sides of their talents. One is going to be the event photographer and the other the cannabis bus hostess. Well, this led to a series of Instagram posts and now I wake up every day with beyond amazing local 420, bikini and other models sneaking into my DMs asking to join up, many offering pro-bono just to be on the team . I've had this happen before as have worked on 420 projects before, but never the level of talent I'm seeing. I was going to wait to integrate models until at least the summer, but this is for sure going to accelerate things as now a ton of them will be at the event and they all have decent Instagram presence, so this shall be interesting. You can Google Cha-Cha VaVoom and Summer Rain, two models I've done extensive work with other models through their agency. I swear Im not making this chit up.

One thing to note is I have a very small Instagram page of like 320 followers as I haven't strategized at all due to the fact they shut down cannabis pages all the time and also have had massive Instagram failure. I will say having the page small has helped as I can see who locally is engaging easier versus when getting blasted with a 5k + page and having to really pay attention to who is there, kinda like this thread.

On other fronts, I have a ton of running around to do the next 9 days before the show to get swag, but keep finding every face-to-face just keeps bringing great news.

Buckle up, this could get a little nuts over the next few months.

 

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[Private Witt]

Congrats!

Take the break, you well deserve it.

This is exactly what I did. One month turned into 3, than six. I ended up launching a newspaper into the industry in November. I started a thread on that I need to update, but can summarize real quick. It totally dragged me down as I had massive interest in the beginning, cued the second edition up but did not have the proper systems with sales and advertising. I started to stall and than I stepped on a landmine in December. I decided to put the paper on hold and explore at later time.

For now Im back grinding events. I have a 350 person rap show at Hard Rock Cafe Seattle in March. Ive brought on a local DJ at the biggest rap station to be host and a headliner who is a top five local rapper and has a national record deal. The second act is a local cannabis rapper in traction. Im rounding out the show with 6 other acts and use their communities to sell it out.

Also hitting my stride to get to one event a month as been holding smaller cannabis seshes and will be doing a bigger one in april.

Other good stuff forming on business end but just need to keep grinding and producing epic events and building my brand.

 

[Private Witt]

Still 6 weeks out to the show but things are looking incredibly positive. Have sold most of the VIP and reserved tables. I have a team so far of 20 and most are sharing the event all over Facebook and Instagram. Im going to bring on a few more hostesses. Right now at 10 rappers, one radio DJ as host, one event DJ, and 8 local Instagram models as hostesses. I have swag coming and the ladies and rest of team will all be in unity. They will look great chucking swag into the crowd during artist changeover.

I have a non-profit cannabis event coming up Saturday. Proceeds will go to vets in medical cannabis programs. They are so broke and cant afford their meds so need help. The VA wants to give them 20+ daily pills, but they choose cannabis but of course they have to pay 100% out of pocket.

Im getting serious local media interest. My goal is 5 articles in both digital and print by the show. I have a few locked down and once they roll out will use them to get more.

Business structuring is getting serious. Money is not a big issue for me right now as have a pretty deep F & F pool to go to and also have been doing great with my current business fund management. Ive worked out of We Work before and think Ill be heading back to a shared space soon, most likely in April or May. Im not in a big hurry on things as still working on personal and business systems. Time is my greatest issue, but think I have a decent handle on my time management processes and development. Im preparing for angel funding and also have VC interest. Word has gotten out about my progress throughout the industry both in Washington and in other states. The daily pull is getting stronger everyday and high quality as well. My newspaper has taken it to the higher level I was looking for. Mark my words, within 2.5 years Ill find myself in The Fast Lane cannabis stock thread .

 

[Private Witt]

The veterans event went amazing. A few rappers showed up and a potential model hostess which is always awesome to see part of your team come to a non-related event. Something about showing up to events that accelerates the relationship process. All about effort and showing commitment to what they are doing.

Also getting people coming at me out of nowhere asking for opportunity. Had a few turn up at the event and also getting blasted on social media. Unreal how some react negative when there is no immediate openings for something and than others play it perfectly for later shots.

I did bump into some old cannabis industry folks I haven't seen in awhile and had some interesting conversations about deals in the future.

There is no question having an event a month is so draining I must be out of my mind. It was small with about 75 people and I wasnt even the main host and it wiped out 4 days of my time.

I decided to block April off and just focus everything on my late March show and recovery in April. Since its a huge month being 4/20 all month Ill hit events and let other do the lifting and focus on business preparation as May and summer is going to be busy.

 

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[Rabby]

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?

 

[Private Witt]

Things are incredibly crazy and I rarely leave the apartment or reach out much. Ive been getting pulled a lot with a lot of business doings and just sitting on a lot deals that I want to convert in June and get aggressive in the industry in July and August and than move down to So Cal and set up HQ down there. I also have the option of taking a few months in Sept and Oct to travel the country and visit other states markets. Really need to wait more and see how the virus plays out but Im for sure leaving Washington as feel my work will be done here and time to go national.

Im getting branded masks this week and will using for a few campaigns including closing HR deals. I actually have two shipments as the first supplier dropped the ball and they are ten days late so went with second order with Custom Ink and they are super reliable. Looking forward to seeing what masks people like better.

The best part of quarantine has been Ive lost like 20 pounds. Ive been incredibly consistent with walking three times a day around 2 miles each leg. Id love to throw in the gym with the elliptical. Diet has been way better but have moments of weakness mostly around pizza and tacos. I was 259 2.5 years ago and now breaking inside 210 for the first time long while and pumped to make the dash to sub 200.

Looking forward to reporting some business progress fire by the end of June .

 

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[Private Witt]

I just read my last post and failed to update like promised. Wont lie, I fell into the strangest hole and literally am shocked Im still in the game. I could write a book just on the last few months, but will give a brief summary:

June: Things were looking so good. The virus numbers were dropping and it looked like some parts of the industry would be pumping back up. I ended up going to Portland a few times to set up a few deals. I felt so amazing getting out of three months of quarantine. I also fixed personal money issues and started to stock up a nice resource base, that I felt would allow me to make some amazing moves.

July: Reality hit and the virus numbers reversed and felt this dread set in. Things started to get dark and I ended up making a series of incredibly bad personal decisions. My lease was coming up in August, wasnt sure where I was going and felt like I was drowning in so many ways. I just knew I had to leave Seattle and start new.

August: I was dealing with the consequences of my behavior from July and moving. One piece of good news is I teamed up with a Fast Lane Forum member for a side project, that went incredibly well. This person has extraordinary skills, vision and work ethic. Im looking forward to sharing the work we created to the community when the time is right and I cant wait to work with this guy again.

Ended up moving but in the process hurt my back really bad and also broke a tooth, I was spinning into the dumpster and I had a ton of doubts to where I was moving, which was Portland. I wanted to go to LA, but I have unfinished business in the Pac NW and decided to tackle a new market. I set up a new website and social media just for the Oregon market. I made a business deal to have a stage at a cannabis club so I could hit the ground running. I didnt find a place before I moved. I just threw away most of my stuff and packed my car and pointed south. I ended up staying in sketchy extended stay at 1800 a month. Could not find a place in Portland for under 2200 that was furnished and short lease. So ended up in Vancouver, WA, which is 15 mins from Portland. Six month lease at 1150 was found and very happy with the rent reduction. Get to keep tax free state status too, big bonus.

September: Got my place, tooth fixed, back better and time to work. The venue I made a deal with hit hard times and was pondering closing, putting a massive wrench into my plan. I went to plan B which also failed. Felt horrible many days in this month, but decided to push on.

October: Held a reggae event on Oct 3rd which had a 50 max due to the virus, in the end around 35 showed. Decided to stop holding events and shift back to content and business development. But something happened where the stress of this year defused my ability to create content and keep pushing articles back. Ended up taking a 2 day road trip to clear head, no business, just travel. It went great and have hit a good stride and back making content. My new site and social media is growing slowly as the word is spreading in the community. Im going to hit a few other events this month and start to make deals and partnerships for the rest of the year. My lease in up at the end of February and will evaluate if to move on to another market or tighten up the Oregon market more, but feel the lessons learned from Washington have made the process so much easier.

Also have a full team swag for my model team and will be having a photo shoot up in the Seattle area in Nov or Dec. Ordering women's clothes was harder than I thought but we did it as a team and the gear should be ready in a few weeks, the pics as a team are gonna be amazing.

Overall all my teams are at 30 and just set a goal to get to 50 by end of year and when ready unleash the chaos I have been prepping for 5 years. While there is delay after delay, I feel my overall plan is in great shape, but feels like pure hell filling in the blanks.

 

[Private Witt]

The long awaited four month update!

Rest of October: I ended up going on an amazing trip to Bend, Oregon. Was such a magical drive and feel in love with the state of Oregon even more. I felt renewed, but it faded quickly with the lead-up to the election. I started to feel very stressed in every way, like it was eating my whole existence. I was continuing to do business, but just felt off in every way.

November: The stress of the elections was immense, but it passed and I started to feel better but pure business tragedy struck. Out-of-nowhere Oregon shut it all down, the cause and effect permanently shut down the cannabis club I invested in a business membership into. They couldn't afford their nut and Covid officially murdered the most awesome cannabis club on the planet. Double decker club of so much dopeness. I had a contingency plan if this happened. In fact, when I moved to the Portland area I promised myself the club would be secondary as I knew this was a big possibility. I pressed on with my primary goal of growing my Oregon website content, connections and social media.

December: Along with the Oregon movement, I continued to build my model marketing team. Got the team up to my goal of 25. Team gear was sent to the first 14, which was a whole process of itself of constant shaking my head. The holidays came and went without one social gathering. This was a first for me as I always found a place to get a plate and great company at least 2 - 4 times a holiday season even away from family. I did not care, I only cared about backend business growth.

January: I gave zero thought to the New Year. Didn't set one goal or get excited with getting out of 2020, the worst year in modern history. Little did I know hell was about to set in. I woke to a message a murder took place in my parents building in Chicago. Thankfully, they were quarantined elswhere. A murder spree hit the city taking five people, and one of them was the doorwoman of the building who was an amazing human. Such a sad event in a community that has been the home to my family for over 80 years. I was shaken up, and the day after I found the news, I got another great gift, I got Covid. Two weeks of pure hell, borderline needed to go to the hospital but I decided to ride it out. I didnt consume anything for a week besides Gatorade, Sprite and forced myself fruit, and eventually was able to get some soup. I lost my sense of taste and had serious breathing issues. I lost 20 pounds by the end of the month.

I worked through answering messages but ended up stopping my Oregon work and focused on the model team. We ended up producing this video, which I still need to have the team and myself market. I think we could get it up to 2500 to 5k views, which would be amazing for a one video YT channel. I have more videos in the works and promo plans being developed. Happy to say the song keep me connected to the rap community and helped me keep in the game even with no shows. There is a deep history with this song, as Adam Sandler got accused of ripping it off.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb7X6zD6_aM


I was so happy to get out of January, did not pencil in death and severe sickness to start the year.

February: Focus to start the month was to get stronger as felt so weak physically from nonmovement. Also we did a campaign with the models that was a problem and ended up parting ways with 3 bringing my numbers to down to 22. I realized I needed to organize stronger with stricter team rules. This was a huge battle for a few weeks as just imagine battling 22 stoner models to try to be more efficient. I tied it in with the girls who left and also some other tactics and now we are stronger than ever, but yet still a lot of team building to go. I hope to get back up to 25 and than can duplicate another 25 to get to 50 in my budding model army.

My lease is up in one month and Im heading to California next. Will be unleashing some things down there and will be piecing a bunch of things together from Washington, Oregon and California. Should be interesting as my funding is pretty healthy and feel the last 6 years of prepping went well.

 

[Private Witt]

I'm very excited to say I've been offered to write for a Cannabis legalization site that sees decent traffic. I'll be the official cannabis culture writer and my section called Cannabis Culture Corner. Its at a DA of 62 right now but rising due to some moves the owner is making. They also have an amazing YT channel that just hit 20k subscribers with decent viewage and will have the ability to provide content when ready. I dont like to be on video but this opportunity will be to good to pass up and hope to start on video in a few months after getting a few articles in the cue.

Also huge audible, I will not be moving back home to California at the end of the month. I will be shoving off to Oklahoma for 1 to 2 months, luckily in Tulsa there is a huge inventory of month to month furnished inventory and will be paying way less than I have. A lot of people dont know this, but Oklahoma is the hottest cannabis state for the last two years due to almost zero restrictions and with massive amounts of cash pumping in from Texas to pre-position for national expansion. Also Tusla has an amazing music scene with iconic venues plus a few cannabis clubs already running smoothly. Very excited, but never saw my self moving Oklahoma for cannabis business, what an adventure.

 

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[Private Witt]

What a roller coaster ride! Hang in there and keep moving forward.

Yes it has been, thanks for the support. The good news is I havent bleed any significant business funds for quite some time and have different types of assets lined up correctly.

Also I have been able to poke my head around the local industry and love the vibes, but in the end I need more exposure to figure who is who and vet properly and as we know that takes time.

The core of who I am and what drives me is action orientated. The stalling and delays for 15 months since Covid hit have been tremendous, but the light is shining, I can see it, but cant get to it, the only answer is to be patient and than be more patient.

 

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[amp0193]

There is a chance they broke even.

If something that went that well only broke even, then how do you make any money? Or was making money not the goal with that event?

 

[Private Witt]

Great progress! Keep pushing forward.

Thanks, love your name, Im with ya!

And thanks for the support and donation, love that too .

Im from the Chicago area myself, grew up in West burbs and family now in Hyde Park.

 

[SDE]

Love your progress, mate.

Keep executing!

 

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[George Appiah]

Interesting shovel-selling idea, and awesome reporting!

Reminds me of some of my favorite episodes from Chris Guillebeau's Side Hustle School podcast:

• “High Times” Cartoonist Creates Creative Cannabis Accessories | Side Hustle School
  
• Bring Your Own Cannabis to this “420-Friendly” Painting Class | Side Hustle School
  
• Cannabis Cookies Make a Sweet, Soothing Side Hustle | Side Hustle School

Following!

 

[Private Witt]

Love your progress, mate.

Keep executing!

Thanks Raz, all about the executing, will have an update soon, got some good stuff going on and happy to say people are getting back on their grinds from the holidays and a lot is going on which is good for what Im doing as I just show up to their events, let them do the heavy lifting and I just network and make deals.

 

[Private Witt]

Interesting shovel-selling idea, and awesome reporting!

Reminds me of some of my favorite episodes from Chris Guillebeau's Side Hustle School podcast:

• “High Times” Cartoonist Creates Creative Cannabis Accessories | Side Hustle School
  
• Bring Your Own Cannabis to this “420-Friendly” Painting Class | Side Hustle School
  
• Cannabis Cookies Make a Sweet, Soothing Side Hustle | Side Hustle School

Following!

Hello to Ghana! I was very close to moving to Mali once for a job and was reading about cannabis in Ghana.

It is interesting those links you shared as it reminds me how many opportunities within the cannabis industry there are in so many directions. I look forward to the day when the majority of the world embraces both the medicinal and financial impact the plant and allow millions upon millions have amazing opportunities in the zillion local industries that would be created.

 

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[Jonathan Hoch]

Cheering from Texas... grew up in Seattle. Down here they condescendingly call it the devils lettuce, while drinking their piss water/bud light.

 

[amp0193]

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.

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

 

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[Jonathan Hoch]

Haha, will be funny how the devils lettuce attitude changes when Texas starts to feel the $$$$ potential. Ill never forget my trip to Oklahoma last summer and now the industry has gone nuts in that state.

Man, u must be shocked when you come home to Seattle. Ive been here only going on my 4th year and the changes have been incredible, what a disaster. Shocked when I hear when the long-term locals tell me what this city used to be like.

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!

 

[Jonathan Hoch]

I never plan on going back for more than maybe a few Seahawks games, so I've never looked into the laws. bummer!

You're right though, the politicians will eventually get greedy enough to want their piece of that green tax, and it'll spread like a humboldt county wildfire >< And of course, I'll be waiting for that gold rush with my shovels and headlamps!

As far as the accounts getting shut down, any reason why? Maybe some sort of "+21 Only" watermark on your images, so you can really showcase yourself as a responsible brand?

PS: As I was typing this, I got word back from my friend, and he naturally has lists of California and Nevada. Nothing in Washington or Oregon.

 

[Jonathan Hoch]

Damn. That’s like your entire business model summed up in 4 bullets. Stupid.

 

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[Private Witt]

Resistance is hitting me hardcore. First I was sick for a full week. I also had to rearrange my entire work schedule and deal with irregularities due to Seattles ViaDoom for three weeks. Basically they shut down the secondary main in Seattle to realign a tunnel that launched on Monday. Seattle is already a traffic nightmare and this just made it so much worse.

Of course on Monday, Seattle was hit with a massive snowstorm which like an idiot I drove through as I needed to grind my pay bills job. Made it alive with a ton of close calls, but man i saw like ten accidents in real time and was nuts.

Now I cant do my cash grind and have to cancel all meetings as city and surrounding area is on lockdown. The hills are what kills it as they are very hard to pass and they are everywhere.

Im hitting off tasks at home but this has been going on for three weeks and ready to giddie-up. I think another week of snow too, but Im going to try to get my grinds on no matter what happens.

Been rough since October with gloomy weather and makes everything harder, but it shall pass and will be stronger.

I slowed down team building, but focusing on the ten or so attention I have and hope to have a few meetings in next few days that put massive actions in ticket sales and sponsorship. So far 120 tickets set aside for comps and sponsors, 130 to sell at $30 each.