Christopher Wright & Scott Bell

What if you could save ® the life of one child? What if you could ride the crest of the Green Rush, help those suffering from debilitating illnesses and diseases…and make a good living? Would you do it? Sadie is the very special little girl in the middle of the picture. Her life was saved by medical marijuana 4 years ago. The healing properties in CBD and THC are why she’s alive and beautiful today. To her left is Scott Bell, and to her right is Christopher Wright. Sadie’s story is the WITH CANNABIS reason they wrote this book. Grow and Grow Rich shows you how to create a medical marijuana business that allows you to “do good” for others in need and “do well” financially for yourself. Follow their 5-Step Formula, and build a thriving and sustainable business in the exploding cannabis industry today. CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT & SCOTT BELL For more info go to: www.GrowAndGrowRichAcademy.com or call 1-800-436-5414

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DISCLAIMER

Grow and Grow Rich LLC./Grow and Grow Rich Academy, dba in this book offers health, wellness, and cannabis information designed for educational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other health-care professional. Do not disregard, avoid, or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your health-care professional because of something you may have read on this book. Using any information provided herein is solely at your own risk.

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Table of Contents

Who We Are and Why Cannabis �� 1 Scott’s Story �� 1 Chris’s Story �� 4 How Chris’s and Scott’s Paths Converged �� 6 A Partnership is Formed �� 9 What Scott and Chris Bring to the Table �� 9 Why Cannabis? �� 11 The Science Behind Cannabis as a Medicine �� 15 It’s Time to Come Out of the Closet �� 18 Get on Board the Green Rush �� 19 The Purpose of This Book �� 20

Pick an Income Stream �� 22 Where Do You Start? �� 22 How to Think Outside of the Box �� 23 A Real Example of Someone Who Found Their Niche �� 24 Consider the Green Zone �� 25 How The Green Zone Can Spawn Other Niches �� 28 Indoor Grows �� 29 DIFFERENT CANNABIS STRAINS REQUIRE DIFFERENT GROW ROOMS �� 30 HOW TO BUILD A GROW ROOM �� 32 WHY PLANT SIZE IS MOST IMPORTANT �� 33 START FIRST WITH WATER �� 35 ACCOMMODATE FOR PLANT HEIGHT AT EACH STAGE �� 38 CRUCIAL POINTS WHEN PLANNING �� 39 OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT INDOOR GROWS �� 40 NUTRIENTS AND FEEDING SCHEDULE �� 40 Outdoor Grows �� 44 PICKING YOUR SITE �� 45 KNOW YOUR MEDIUM �� 46 HOW TALL WILL YOU GROW YOUR PLANTS? �� 47 DETERMINE HOW TO DELIVER WATER �� 47 SEEDS VS. CLONES �� 49 TRANSPLANTING �� 50 ORGANIC GROWING �� 53 WATER �� 55 HOW TO CURE YOUR PLANTS �� 58 STORING AND PACKAGING �� 58 PACKAGING AND PRESENTATION �� 58 Edibles, Oils & Extracts �� 59 WHY “EDIBLES” IS A MISLEADING TERM �� 60 LOOK FOR VERTICALLY INTEGRATED OPERATIONS �� 61 INTRODUCTION TO INFUSED PRODUCTS �� 61 YOUR BODY’S CANNABINOIDS SYSTEM �� 63 INFUSED PRODUCT TYPES �� 64 EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE BRANDS �� 64 HOW DOSAGES ARE READ �� 65 WHAT IS POSSIBLE WITH INFUSED PRODUCTS? �� 65 BIOMASS, EXTRACTIONS, AND INFUSIONS �� 65 Green Zone Real Estate �� 66 In Green Zone Real Estate, you have three ways to make money: �� 67 BUILD YOUR GREEN ZONE POWER TEAM �� 69 PICK YOUR GREEN ZONE MARKET �� 72 FIND THE DEAL �� 73 DEAL ANALYSIS �� 74 SECURE THE DEAL �� 74 FUND THE DEAL �� 74 RENOVATE, RENT, OR RESELL �� 75 Where Do Most People Go Wrong? �� 76 Final Thoughts �� 77 Get Legal: Everything You Need to Know �� 80 Jim Fitzpatrick, Solutioneer in the Medical Marijuana Industry � 80 A History of Marijuana Legalization �� 81 The Future of Cannabis Legalization �� 83 Understanding Rules and Regulations �� 83 Hire an Expert—Or Become One �� 83 Regulatory Compliance is a Priority �� 85 The Hierarchy of Federal, State, and Local Laws �� 85 Federal Enforcement of Controlled Substances Act �� 87 State Laws �� 88 Local Law �� 90 Identify State and Local Licensing and Permitting Agencies �� 91 Collective, Cooperative, or Non-Profit? �� 92 Getting Started �� 93 Conclusion �� 94

Funding: Where to Start �� 96 Seed Money �� 96 Building Corporate Credit �� 97 IRA or Retirement Funding �� 99 Final Thoughts �� 101

Distribution: What Do I Do Now? �� 102 After Harvest: Curing, Trimming, and Storing �� 102 Learn How to Self-Market �� 105 DISPENSARIES �� 105 DELIVERY SERVICES �� 106 BROKERS �� 106 Talking to Dispensaries, Delivery Services, and Brokers �� 106 What Should You Say? �� 107 Avoid Throwing Out a Number �� 109 Offer What Others Won’t �� 110 Present Your Business Well �� 110 Create a List & Follow Up �� 112 Presenting Your Product �� 112 When Considering Consignment �� 113 Be Careful Who You Approach �� 113 Stand Out From the Crowd �� 114 What if You’re the Dispensary/Delivery Service Owner? �� 114 Decide on Dispensing or Delivering �� 115 Marketing Your Service �� 117 Paying for Advertising �� 117 Set Yourself Apart �� 118 When You’re Ready for a Dispensary �� 119 Final Thoughts �� 120

Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets �� 121 8 Steps to Set Up a Grow �� 121 STEP 1: SET UP �� 121 STEP 2: CONSTRUCTION �� 122 STEP 3: RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT �� 124 STEP 4: PROPAGATION/CLONE �� 125 STEP 5: WEEK TO WEEK NUTRIENT CHANGE �� 126 STEP 6: VEGETATIVE GROWTH �� 129 STEP 7: BLOOM STAGE �� 129 STEP 8: FINISHED �� 130 10 Secrets of a Successful Cannapreneur �� 130 SECRET ONE: MONEY SHOULD NOT BE YOUR PRIMARY MOTIVATION. �� 131 SECRET TWO: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS ARE TREND-SPOTTERS. �� 134 SECRET THREE: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS HAVE A CLEAR, SPECIFIC FOCUS. �� 137 SECRET FOUR: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS UNDERSTAND AND EMPLOY COMPOUND INTEREST. �� 138 SECRET FIVE: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS LEARNED TO MAKE IT ON THEIR OWN EARLY IN THEIR LIVES, AND HAVE PASSED THIS QUALITY ON TO THEIR OWN CHILDREN, ALTHOUGH THEY CAN GIVE THEIR CHILDREN EVERYTHING. �� 143 SECRET SIX: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS ARE COMFORTABLE WITH RISK. �� 145 SECRET SEVEN: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS LIVE FRUGALLY, BENEATH THEIR MEANS. �� 150 SECRET EIGHT: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS MAXIMIZE THEIR TIME AND RESOURCES. �� 151 SECRET NINE: PATIENCE AND PERSISTENCE GIVE THE SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS THE PERSPECTIVE THAT FAILURE IS DELAY, BUT NEVER DEFEAT. �� 152 SECRET TEN: IT REALLY IS ALL THE SECRETS WRAPPED UP INTO ONE. LIFE IS NOT A TREASURE HUNT. LIFE, ITSELF, IS THE TREASURE. �� 155

Continuing Education: Don’t Stop Now �� 157

Why Choose the Grow and Grow Rich Team? �� 162

Glossary �� 165

Index �� 183

Who We Are and Why Cannabis )

We founded the Grow and Grow Rich Academy on this mission statement:

To spread the word of the positive benefits of marijuana… Educate those who believe in it… Convince those who don’t… And PAY IT FORWARD to those who need it!

Our mission was not always as clear to us as today. Our individual journeys took us on divergent paths, but we both ended up in the same place. Marijuana can save lives, reduce or end pain and discomfort, and enhance quality of life for those suffering in ways prescription opiates cannot.

We witnessed the intense effects of medicinal marijuana up close and personally. And once you experience its curative properties, whether for yourself or a loved one, you’re profoundly changed—no matter on which side of the marijuana fence you stand.

Here are our individual stories on how we came to be so fundamen- tally altered by marijuana.

Scott’s Story I’m a square, and I readily admit it. I don’t drink, don’t smoke, and I don’t medicate. Marijuana has never been a part of my life, and

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at my core, I was skeptical about those who use it and claim it has medicinal uses. That is, until I attended a convention and listened to life-changing stories told by parents who give their kids medicinal marijuana to control their diseases and offer them a better quality of life impossible before.

My background is in the seminar industry. For over 30 years, I’ve been on the leading edge of providing amazing seminars that teach people real-life skills to help them improve and create a better life. I produce and offer instructional seminars on how to flip houses and make money in real estate, and I was on the forefront of educating people during the dot com boom and other legendary, disruptive trends like working from home. I’m passionate about seminars; not only do I produce them, but I also attend as many as I can. I’m definitely a seminar junky.

Several years ago, I agreed to help my then wife with a project to introduce a cannabis cocktail to the edible industry. This was her idea, and while I didn’t support cannabis and the lifestyle, with my expertise in marketing and promotions, I decided I’d help her get her new product off the ground.

We went to a convention in San Diego for the cannabis industry to network and create relationships with companies that could distribute her cocktail. Once there, I gravitated to the seminars presented. They were standard fare: financial and marketing presentations by experts in the industry who offered the same message. One specific seminar caught my eye, however, and it changed my life forever.

The speakers weren’t professionals. They were real people telling in- credible stories, and they spoke with passion and fire. You could tell they were nervous to be up in front of everyone, but once they got started, their stories penetrated even the hardest heart.

12 Who We Are and Why Cannabis

From my recollection, one man, Brian Higuera, discussed his baby daughter Sadie who had over three hundred seizures a day that were uncontrollable by prescription medications. The seizures were so severe that they were impinging on her development; she was far behind other babies her age. This father described his helplessness in the face of a serious, incurable disease that was ravaging his little girl. As he explained how the doctor was at wit’s end and suggested to this distraught father to gently put Sadie down. He said the doctor told him to “be Sadie’s hero and let her go.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience.

Grasping at straws, Mr. Higuera heard about CBD, the medicinal component of marijuana that controls seizures in people. Performing exhaustive research, the Higueras decided to give it a try. He looked everywhere to find someone who would prescribe a medical marijuana card for CBD, but ran into roadblock after roadblock because of medical marijuana laws differing from state-to-state. He finally found a center willing to issue a medical marijuana card to a child so young, and bought oils from a dispensary in a legal marijuana state. After getting instructions from the dispensary on how to mix the oil and give it to his daughter, he drove home and discussed it with his wife. “What do we have to lose, really?” was what they kept coming back to. His wife took their other 2 children out for the afternoon, and Mr. Higuera gave Sadie the CBD.

Within minutes, her eyes stopped flickering back and forth, a sign of seizure. He held his breath and watched her eyes for any sign, but nothing. He only saw genuine alertness and interest in Sadie’s eyes. The CBD accomplished in minutes what doctors were unable to do for months. Giving his precious baby CBD not only stopped the seizures, but saved her life.

Mr Higuera stared into his daughter’s eyes and watched her track his movements, something she hadn’t done for months. The doctors had

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her on so many different pharmaceuticals at very high dosages that she slept most of the time. That day, he saw his baby girl for the first time in a long time. The phone rang, breaking him out of his contem- plation. His wife, frantic because she hadn’t heard from him, thought the worst had happened. He said, “I can’t explain it now. You just need to get here and see it.”

When his wife rushed home and took her first look at Sadie after receiving the CBD oil, she turned to her husband and said, “I have my baby back” and burst into tears.

The father continued his story. He took his daughter and the CBD oil to the doctor who wanted to “put her to sleep.” Faced with over- whelming evidence, that same doctor, a neurologist, is now one of San Diego’s biggest proponents of medical marijuana. She routinely refers patients with no other medical recourse to the Higuera family, who seek the amazing results they’ve seen for Sadie.

Sadie was on the stage that day, a vibrant little girl of around 1 or 2 who is free of seizures and living her life. Not a soul in the audience was unaffected by Sadie’s story. And I had an epiphany. If medical marijuana can save just one little girl’s or boy’s life like it did for Sadie, I wanted to be part of it.

At this point, Sadie’s story opened my heart…and my mind. I began educating myself to learn more how medicinal marijuana can help those with illnesses like Sadie.

Chris’s Story I grew up with marijuana. My father was a user and grew his own. From an early age, I learned how to grow, cultivate, move, and distribute marijuana to users. My brother and I learned the business from the inside out.

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In my early adulthood, I was a rapper with the Imperial Stars. You may have heard of us; we shut down the 101 Freeway during rush hour traffic to play our music. It was international news, but only some of the news coverage got it right. We pulled the feat off not for publicity, but to raise awareness and funds for homeless children. Half of everything we earned on the song played in rush hour traffic, we donated to help children who are homeless. We felt strongly about giving back and doing good.

As a rapper involved in the music industry, I was exposed to drugs and alcohol and the lifestyle that goes with it. I developed contacts with the movers and shakers in the marijuana industry, but I stayed in the “green closet.” You know what I mean by the green closet; some of us who use marijuana certainly don’t talk about it—ever. I didn’t come out of that closet until my father died from cancer and I experienced the powerful effects of medical marijuana.

As my father neared the end of his life, his cancer was so debilitating, he couldn’t walk, eat, or get out of bed. He was in terrific pain, and the opiates were killing his appetite without doing much for the pain. I’d heard about the medicinal properties of marijuana for people suffering from cancer, and eventually convinced him to smoke some marijuana. Shortly thereafter, he was able to eat again, he could walk with the help of a walker, and he was able to quit all of his opiates with their severe side effects.

My father was a new man. The last 3 to 4 months of his life, I watched with my own eyes as his quality of life improved. Marijuana saved him from an ignoble, immensely painful end of life, and gave my brother and me months with him in comfortable, lucid peace to say our goodbyes.

That’s when I decided to come out of the green closet. I had previously shed my rapper persona because I was at a stage in life where I

5 2 GROW AND GROW RICH wanted to be known for something more substantial than the rapper lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong; rappers are some of the best people around. It’s the faulty perception perpetrated by the media and entertainment news with which I wasn’t comfortable being associated.

If marijuana could make my father’s last days on earth comfortable and give my family and him the peace needed to take our leave of each other, I wanted to spread that opportunity to others. I knew deep in my heart medical marijuana can and will change the course of medical history. At last, I’d found my purpose and path in life.

How Chris’s and Scott’s Paths Converged Chris had entered the real estate seminar industry as a way to step back from his rapper persona. After his father’s passing, Chris realized with his strong industry ties, his massive network of contacts in the marijuana industry, and his seminar experience, he could create a program to help people learn how to grow, cultivate, and distribute medical marijuana.

Coming out of the “green closet” made Chris realize he needed a platform to reach people interested in a cannabis business and to discuss the industry’s issues and concerns. He approached KOCI Radio Station and proposed a cannabis radio talk show, but they rejected with idea with “You’re crazy! That will never work.” As states across the U.S. legalized medical marijuana for both recreational and medical marijuana, the changing tide prompted Brent, the owner of KOCI Radio Station to contact Chris to ask how Cannabis Talk 101 would work. Chris convinced him the show would be neutral, showing all sides of the industry and allowing listeners to form their own opinions. Cannabis Talk 101 on KOCI 101.5 FM was born.

16 Who We Are and Why Cannabis

Christopher Wright with The Pot Brothers at Law, Marc on the left and Craig on the right at the Cannabis Talk 101 Radio set

Now that Chris had the platform, he turned his sights on a seminar business to educate and mentor people starting a medical marijuana business. He shared his vision and ambitions with his friend, Jayzee.

Cannabis has amazing medicinal properties.

In the meantime, Scott was riding the “high” of realizing that something as natural as the cannabis plant could profoundly alter people’s lives for the better. He’d been tossing around the idea of a medical marijuana seminar to help people create and maintain a business growing and supplying medical marijuana to those in need. However, he was still on the fence about embracing marijuana because of its stigma and the negative preconception of those who use it.

Scott was attending a cannabis convention with one of his speakers, Jayzee, who kept telling him he had to meet another friend of his, Chris Wright. Jayzee told Scott that Chris was the marijuana guy who knew everyone and everything, but Scott still wasn’t sold on the marijuana business and even had severe doubts about the effect it might

7 2 GROW AND GROW RICH have on his other business interests. He had business associates and presenters who were Latter Day Saints Mormons, and he worried they would turn away from doing business with him.

Chris was also attending the cannabis convention, and Jayzee introduced him to Scott. Jayzee told Chris about Scott’s impressive and successful seminar business, and Chris realized with Scott’s seminar experience and his marijuana expertise combined with his marijuana industry connections and knowledge, their partnership could create exactly what he was looking for—a seminar to educate people on the skills and knowledge they need to traverse the business, legal, and financial hurdles to grow a successful medical marijuana business.

Scott wasn’t convinced though. Still too leery of putting his professional reputation on the line, he declined Chris’s entreaty to work together.

It wasn’t until several months later at another marijuana convention in Las Vegas that Scott personally experienced the authority and powerful connections that Chris could bring to the table. Scott was still working to help promote his wife’s cannabis cocktail idea, and he reached out to Chris to see if he could help get him into the convention. Not only was Chris able to admit him into the convention, he also showed him around and introduced him to the right people. He helped connect Scott and his wife with distributors for the cocktail.

Scott was impressed. Everywhere they turned, people came up to Chris, asking to get a picture with him or an autograph. He knew everyone on the business side of the convention, too, and introduced Scott as his partner to give him instant credibility. It dawned on Scott that here was someone who knew the marijuana industry like he knew the seminar industry. This idea could work.

18 Who We Are and Why Cannabis

A Partnership is Formed Scott put together seminars with professional presenters to educate the audience about medical marijuana and how to create a business in growing, cultivating, and distributing it. As Chris watched, he realized that a lot of what was being presented wasn’t technically cor- rect. He approached Chris with his concerns and suggested they use actual growers to present their seminar.

Chris put together an amazing team of individuals with specialties in each part of the marijuana business. He found attorneys who help people navigate the permits, licenses and laws necessary to set up a legal marijuana business and growers and distributors with on-the- ground experience who can provide actionable steps to help someone get started. They cover everything from what permit you need to operate to what equipment you need to purchase and what nutrients individual strands of marijuana need to flourish.

Chris took Scott around to introduce him to marijuana industry leaders, and it was at one such meeting that the name for their new seminar business was born. The CRO of High Times magazine, Matthew Stang, met with Scott and Chris to discuss their ideas, and was impressed with their vision. A firm believer in personal and professional self-improvement, and a huge fan of Tony Robbins and Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, Stang said, “You should call your seminar ‘Grow and Grow Rich.’” Instantly recognizing its brilliance, Scott and Chris readily agreed.

What Scott and Chris Bring to the Table Scott has decades of experience creating, producing, and promot- ing seminars. He works with talent like Robin Leach of the famous “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” television show and presents seminars on a variety of topics to people. His goal is to help

9 2 GROW AND GROW RICH individuals change the course of their lives and earn a respectable income. He offers seminars in buying and selling real estate, operating an at-home business, and several other specialties. His brand is well known, and he operates his highly successful seminar business around the country.

Chris and Scott with owner Andy at Nature’s Chemistry in Las Vegas.

Chris, on the other hand, has the “street smarts” needed for the marijuana industry. If someone needs to move 100 pounds of marijuana, he can connect you with the legal means to create a business with the buyers and distributors you need to move it. Chris has several successful businesses in the medical marijuana industry. He owns WinWright Corporation, which has partnered with National MedGrower’s, one of Arizona’s target medical marijuana cultivation centers. Chris also partnered with Senator J. Kalani English, Hawaii, to form Hawaii Medicinal Options LLC, and he is part owner of Green Leaf Caregivers, a Measure D compliant dispensary in Los Angeles.

Together, they created a formidable team of specialists who can help seminar attendees traverse the sometimes confusing and risky steps

110 Who We Are and Why Cannabis necessary to create a highly successful and legal medical marijuana business.

Why Cannabis? The tide on medical and recreational marijuana is turning. As more and more people come forward with astounding curative stories, states are moving to legalize marijuana to help patients struggling with life-altering diseases. As of the date of this book’s publication, 29 states and the District of Columbia legalized marijuana and its deriva- tives to treat medical diseases and illnesses.

Until you walk in someone’s shoes who suffers pain, discomfort, and disabling symptoms like seizures, marijuana is just some recreational drug that only stoners with dreadlocks use. The truth couldn’t be far- ther from this stereotype.

Scott lives on the beach with his teenaged son and 4-year-old daughter. There’s no alcohol or marijuana in his house; he’s proudly a square. But people still knock on his door looking for help.

A neighbor who is a devout Christian and a non-believer in marijuana recently had a change of heart. He came to Scott’s home, and Scott was shocked by his appearance. He was missing part of his nose, had an immense growth on his jaw, and had several other lacerations where doctors removed skin cancer tumors. He asked Scott, “Are you still in that marijuana business? Would you mind helping me out? I really need help.”

Scott and Chris always leave the door open to those who change their minds about medicinal marijuana. Non-believers who just a month prior were strong anti-marijuana protesters have a change of heart when faced with a devastating diagnosis or even a symptom for which they don’t want to take opiates.

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One such non-believer, Lee, recently passed away from brain cancer. Lee lived in Utah, a devout Mormon his whole life, who didn’t believe in drugs or alcohol. Brain cancer changed his mind. He suf- fered so many side effects from the opiates doctors had him on that he reached out to Scott through a mutual friend to give him some relief. Lee sadly lost his battle with cancer, but over the last year, he was able to get edible cannabis products that helped him through his nightmare and made him happy.

Another convert is an elderly woman named Virginia. She never smoked or drank throughout her long life, but in her later years, the cartilage in her knees ground away, leaving her with debilitating pain as bone rubbed against bone. She was confined to a wheelchair when she heard about the medicinal properties of CBD and decided to get in the medical marijuana business.

Virginia’s story differs from the others because she was looking for pain relief without using narcotics, and she eventually partnered with two gentlemen who agreed to help her set up a medical marijuana grow business. In reality, though, these individuals were taking advantage of Virginia, not out of malicious or criminal intent, but because they didn’t have any knowledge of the marijuana industry and what it takes to set up a grow.

Chris met Virginia at one of the Grow and Grow Rich® Seminars. She was there with her two partners, and during the Q&A portion of the seminar, she asks, “What is a fair split for partners in a grow?”

Chris said, “A fair deal is 30% to the grower, 30% to the investor, 30% to the landowner, and 10% goes back to the company at all times. If you were the landlord and the owner, 70% would go to you and 30% would go to the grower.”

“What about a 60-40 split?” she asked.

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“A 60-40 split would be good. That’s 60% to you.”

“No, 60% to them and 40% to me,” said Virginia.

Chris Wright in a commercial dry room.

At this point, Chris became concerned. Here was an elderly woman in a wheelchair, and it appeared she was being taken advantage of.

“The grow is at my house and I’m funding it,” said Virginia.

Chris continued to talk to Virginia, and she agreed to let him look into her grow situation. She invited Chris to her house and showed him her room with all the equipment. “This is $60,000 to $70,000 worth of equipment,” she said.

She actually had more like $7,000 to $10,000 worth of equipment. One of her partners was there at Virginia’s house and told Chris that some of the equipment was over at his house, too. Their plan was to set up grows at Virginia’s, this man’s house, and another partner’s home.

“How many grows are you operating right now?” Chris asked the partner.

“None,” he said.

“Well, how many have you managed in the past?”

“None,” he said again.

Chris said, “You’ve never managed a grow, and you will spend $150,000 to $200,000 of this woman’s money and operate 3 grows at the same time.”

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“That’s the plan.”

Chris was able to convince Virginia and her partner that they were setting themselves up for failure. The Grow and Grow Rich® team worked with Virginia to help her get her money back, and we put together an outline of what she could do on her property. We gave her a budget, a flowchart, and a feeding schedule. Then we prepared a 3D rendering of her building and showed her where to install the lights and other equipment.

The Grow and Grow Rich team mentored Virginia until her grow was a thriving business. Now she pays it forward by using her earnings to invest in and help fund other growers getting started in the business.

Dean at Virginia’s grow in the Bloom room

114 Who We Are and Why Cannabis

Virginias’ grow in the Veg room

Virginia’s Grow Room

The Science Behind Cannabis as a Medicine The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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NIDA defines medical marijuana as “using the whole, unprocessed marijuana plan or its basic extracts to treat symptoms of illness and other conditions.” In particular, the cannabinoids, or chemicals in marijuana, are generally cited as helping treat a range of illnesses and symptoms.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not recognize or approved marijuana as medicine, there are two FDA-approved medications containing cannabinoids in pill form, dronabinol and nabilone. They treat nausea and increase appetite in patients suffering from cancer and AIDS.

The FDA’s position on requiring clinical trials in hundreds to thousands of human subjects is what’s holding the administration back from approving marijuana as medicine. To date, researchers haven’t conducted enough large-scale clinical trials to show its benefits.

The body produces its own cannabinoid chemicals. Per the NIDA, the body’s cannabinoids regulate “pleasure, memory, thinking, concentration, body movement, awareness of time, appetite, pain, and the [five] senses.”

Following is what the NIDA reports on its website how cannabinoids are useful as medicine1:

Currently, the two main cannabinoids from the marijuana plant that are of medical interest are THC and CBD.

THC can increase appetite and reduce nausea. THC may also decrease pain, inflammation (swelling and redness), and muscle control problems.

1 Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

116 Who We Are and Why Cannabis

Unlike THC, CBD is a cannabinoid that doesn’t make people “high.” It may be useful in reducing pain and inflammation, controlling epileptic seizures, and possibly even treating mental illness and addictions.

Many researchers, including those funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are continuing to explore the possible uses of THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids for medical treatment.

For instance, recent animal studies have shown that marijuana extracts may help kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others. Evidence from one cell culture study with rodents suggests that purified extracts from whole-plant marijuana can slow the growth of cancer cells from one of the most serious types of brain tumors. Research in mice showed that treatment with purified extracts of THC and CBD, when used with radiation, increased the cancer-killing effects of the radiation.

Scientists are also conducting preclinical and clinical trials with marijuana and its extracts to treat symptoms of illness and other conditions, such as:

diseases that affect the immune system, including: HIV/AIDS multiple sclerosis (MS), which causes gradual loss of muscle control inflammation pain seizures substance use disorders mental disorders

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As of this book’s publication date, there are 29 states with legal medical marijuana laws. The State of Illinois is one such state that finds medical marijuana is legal to treat the following list of illnesses, disorders, and diseases:

Agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, Arnold-Chiari mal- formation, cachexia/wasting syndrome, cancer, causalgia, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, Crohn’s disease, CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome Type II), dys- tonia, fibrous dysplasia, glaucoma, hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS, hydrocephalus, hydromyelia, interstitial cystitis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, myasthenia gravis, myoc- lonus, nail-patella syndrome, neurofibromatosis, Parkinson’s disease, post-concussion syndrome, PTSD, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, residual limb pain, seizures (including those characteristic of epilepsy), severe fibromyal- gia, Sjogren’s syndrome, spinal cord disease (including but not limited to arachnoiditis), spinal cord injury, Spinocerebellar ataxia, syringomyelia, Tarlov cysts, terminal illness, Tourette syndrome, and traumatic brain injury

It’s Time to Come Out of the Closet There are a lot of people today who live in the green closet, who smoke marijuana for a variety of reasons, both medicinal and recreational. They have corporate jobs they’re unwilling to jeopardize by coming out of the closet.

Some in the closet have kids at the stage where they’re questioning or experimenting with drugs and alcohol. These closet users feel their children might take up marijuana if their parents do it.

The key is to come out of the green closet and educate others, especially children, about drugs and alcohol. Medicinal marijuana isn’t

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the only prescription drug parents need to worry about. Every day, there is another story in the news about kids abusing prescription drugs they could get their hands on.

We need to educate young people about medication—all levels of opiates and the varying forms medical marijuana comes in. Education is a big issue right now as teenagers use and abuse both legal and illegal drugs.

GGRA Protégé’s students learning how to set their indoor grow

Get on Board the Green Rush Another educational issue beyond its medicinal value is the massive benefit to our economy. The Green Rush is the next boom, similar to the dot com boom and the current tech boom.

Marijuana, both medical and adult use, is the next big rush that will stabilize our economy. Real estate in green zones will appreciate rapidly. You need only look at Colorado to see the value legalizing marijuana has provided to their revenue base. The Washington Post reported in October 2016 the legal marijuana industry in Colorado created over 18,000 jobs and generated $2.4 billion in economic

19 2 GROW AND GROW RICH activity according to a study by economic consulting firm Marijuana Policy Group. The Washington Post reported, “’If this is done right, regulated right, taxed right, this industry can bring real economic benefits to a state,’ study co-author and MPG founder Adam Orens said in an interview.”

The City of Adelanto, California, was in danger of bankruptcy, and has since pulled itself out thanks to marijuana businesses bringing in new revenue.

The Green Rush will not only stimulate our economy, but will help individuals create a secure financial base. There are no big companies involved in the marijuana industry; it’s a level playing field for anyone to enter and create a successful business. From the opportunities for growers to the various oils and extracts used for medicinal purposes to edibles, the window of opportunity in the marijuana industry is wide open. Anyone willing to put in the time and effort to educate themselves how to become legal and run a successful marijuana business can ride the Green Rush to financial gain and stability.

Whether you’re a believer or a non-believer, medical marijuana makes a difference in so many people’s lives today that the question isn’t so much “why cannabis?” as it is “why not?”

The Purpose of This Book We want to share what we know with others interested in the medical marijuana business. Cannabis, oils, extracts, edibles, and cannabinoids are changing lives every day. And the industry is wide open to anyone who is willing to do the hard work and become educated.

Chris and Scott pulled together a team of experts in each aspect of the medical marijuana industry to create this book. These are the same individuals who work with Chris and Scott in their Grow and Grow

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Rich® seminars that have helped hundreds of people get started legally, financially, and operationally. If you’re interested in learning more about the medical marijuana industry, these are the people to ask.

Each chapter in this book is based on the knowledge and expertise of an expert in the industry. You can read more about our experts in the following chapters.

Turn the page and take the first step in understanding what you need to do to create your own medical marijuana business so you can Grow and Grow Rich®!

GGRA Protégé’s students learning the proper way to transplant and clone plants

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People sometimes have a hard time picking an income stream when they realize all the opportunities available out there. By an “income stream,” we mean a way to make a good living in the cannabis industry because if you want to make money, now is the time to get involved. But if you’re like most of the students who come through the Grow & Grow Rich Academy, you’ll soon realize helping others is even more rewarding than making money.

Maybe we should rename our program to Grow and Grow Wealthy because you’ll find real wealth in helping others and doing good with your money. And that’s what we really do for our students, our col- leagues, and everyone involved in the Grow and Grow Rich® program. We help people get what they really need, not just what they want.

Where Do You Start? Picking an income stream isn’t as simple as saying “Well, growing seems to be the way to make money, so I’ll start with an indoor grow.” That may be your first inclination, but the more you learn about this amazing new market—the cannabis industry—the more intrigued you’ll be by the different opportunities.

Let’s expand your horizons by talking about some of the different ways you can get involved and make a difference in someone’s life—and make money at the same time. We call it “doing good and doing well.”

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Here are the obvious income streams that most people are aware of and consider first:

99 Indoor grows 99 Outdoor grows 99 Edibles, oils, and extracts

We’ll go over each one of these in a minute. Right now, we want to challenge you to go deeper though.

A large commercial outdoor grow. Photo

How to Think Outside of the Box Think about what you’re passionate about. Now add in what you’re good at. How can you use your passion and your skills in the cannabis industry? It might surprise you how easy it is to figure out.

The final income stream is where you might find the intersection of your talents and skills and your life’s passion:

99 Ancillary services

Think about the Gold Rush back in the late 1800’s. Who made the most money? The guys selling picks, shovels, tents, food, and other ancillary services to help the miners live and work are the ones who financially gained the most.

So you think you want to grow. Maybe you think that’s where the big numbers are involved. But consider for a moment the equipment that’s needed for an indoor grow. You need special lighting, soil, filtered water, nutrients, and the other equipment needed to manage all of that like storage tanks, water chillers, inline pumps, and much more. It’s a pretty big investment to become an indoor grower.

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Frankly, you don’t need to touch the flower or the cannabis plant to be part of the industry. Think about all the edible products people are creating. Someone has to sell them packaging for their products. Someone needs to sell the aquaponics equipment if you create a complete ecosystem in your indoor grow.

Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

A Real Example of Someone Who Found Their Niche The story of one of our students Momma Dean is a perfect example of finding your niche in a new and emerging industry.

Momma Dean came to the Grow and Grow Rich Academy to be a baker. She enjoyed baking for others and decided that would be her income stream. But she didn’t have a license to make and sell baked goods. Momma Dean was willing to give it a go without the license, but we convinced her that was a huge risk she didn’t need to take.

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Not only was the risk too large, but she didn’t have a distribution outlet for the cookies and brownies she wanted to make. And with a limited shelf life, she didn’t have a lot of time to peddle her baked goods around town before her goods would turn bad. We’ve seen people get into a negative cycle of creating edibles with a short shelf life, trying to sell them at events and venues, only to end up giving away a good portion because they’re only days away from turning bad. You can’t run a business that way. In fact, it’s the quickest way to lose your business.

So we asked Momma Dean, “What if, instead of baking, you offered something to people with CBD in it that would be legal to sell in all 50 state? Something you could brand and that goes into baked goods? What would that look like?”

We could see the exact moment the idea came to Momma Dean. Her eyes lit up. “I’d sell CBD sugar. You could put it in your baked goods, put it in your morning coffee, and use it just like regular sugar, but get the amazing medicinal benefits you only get with CBD.”

We helped Momma Dean get her license and set up shop. She’s currently creating an amazing product and is giving back to others at the same time.

That’s what we do at the Grow and Grow Rich Academy. We brain- storm with our students and really push them almost over the edge to make sure they have the right product or income stream before they launch.

Consider the Green Zone We have students who come to our seminars not realizing they’re sitting on a gold mine of an idea in the cannabis industry. We’ve had realtors attend who come to us because they want to get out of the

25 2 GROW AND GROW RICH real estate business—until they realize helping people find real estate in the Green Zone is a fantastic way to make money in the cannabis industry.

A commercial greenhouse in the Green Zone. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

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The Green Zone is the perfect triangulation of locations that meet the standards and restrictions set up by local and state regulators. For example, some regulations call for a cannabis business to be 500 feet from any school or religious facility.

To find the Green Zone in your area, you need to dig into your state and local laws to understand their restrictions. Then it becomes a matter of plotting on a map what locations fall outside those restricted areas and are “Green” for growing, selling, or producing your product.

Why is the Green Zone so important? You can almost guarantee the property value will increase by several times its starting value. Let’s say you found a commercial piece of property in your city’s Green Zone for which you paid $1 million. When a cannapreneur is looking for the perfect commercial property to either grow or produce a cannabis product, your property will be in high demand. You could potentially double, triple, even quadruple your original investment.

If you’re a realtor, another hot spot is rental properties in the Green Zone. Take the example of a cannapreneur who wants to open a dispensary in the Green Zone, but he’s finding resistance from landlords. He doesn’t know how to approach landlords and create a win-win situation for all involved. That’s where the Grow and Grow Rich® team comes in.

We’ve helped many individuals realize the perfect solutions to their rental problems. As an example, let’s take our cannapreneur who wants to open a dispensary, but isn’t having any luck finding a landlord. Let’s say he has a $9,000 a month budget. The Grow and Grow Rich® Team finds a landlord who normally rents his place for $3,000 a month, but he doesn’t realize he’s in the Green Zone and his property is worth more. We approach the landlord on behalf of our cannapreneur and offer him $6,000 per month in guaranteed rent. When his eyes light up, we tell him our client wants it for cannabis use, and

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the client has a legal license for a legal business. The landlord is so pleased to get double his rent that when he finds out it’s a completely legal marijuana business, he’s ready and willing to sign a lease.

The real estate expert who set up the deal gets $3,000 a month find- er’s fee, the landlord gets double his asking price for rent, and the cannapreneur gets an ideal location for his dispensary that’s within his budget. There is complete transparency, and everyone is happy.

That’s what a real estate agent working in the cannabis industry can expect. When you attend one of our Grow and Grow Rich Academy seminars, you’ll see how real estate is actually a huge player in the cannabis industry. Not only does the industry needs more realtors, but others in the business need the guidance and negotiation skills only a realtor can give.

How The Green Zone Can Spawn Other Niches Let’s consider Las Vegas for a moment. As this book is being written, Las Vegas is legal for both medicinal and adult use marijuana. In their first legal week, the dispensaries ran out. So business is definitely booming. While you may think Las Vegas must have a lot of indoor grows, the truth is they have outdoor grows too—in the desert. There’s an active market for greenhouses in Las Vegas for outdoor grows. Companies that have sold greenhouses for decades, even centuries, are realizing a new market with big money: the cannabis industry.

A greenhouse is an interesting example of a regular business you can adapt or rebrand to accommodate the cannabis industry. It’s that simple—and that difficult—to focus on what you’re good at, your qualifica- tions, and how you can use those capabilities in the cannabis industry.

Now let’s talk about the more traditional income streams and how to get involved.

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Indoor Grows

Picture of and Indoor Grow

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Dean Kidder, the Grow and Grow Rich Academy’s expert on indoor grows, has touched nearly every facet of the cannabis movement in his decade long journey through the industry, starting with his first custom built grow room 9 years ago. His passion for the cannabis plant has taken him from a small 1 light, 64 square foot hobby to designing fully licensed 500 light, 22,000 square foot commercial facilities. Dean first became a medical marijuana patient in 2008. His status as a patient, along with his belief in the efficacy and eth- ics of cannabis carried him through a 2 ½ year legal proceeding in which he successfully defended his own patient use/status while also advocating and defending for other patients as well. He has held a General Contracting license since 2011 and has grown his contracting business with a special emphasis in fully automated indoor cannabis growth facilities. Dean also served as the Regional Director for the largest hydroponic retailer in Southern California, having personally helped hundreds of patients design, maintain and manage grow facilities all over Southern California. His knowledge of nutrients, feeding schedules, plant genetics, custom grow room designs/construction and clone-to-cure plant processes is extensive and rivaled only by his passion to share the knowledge and experience he has accumulated to assist other patients in their endeavors.

DIFFERENT CANNABIS STRAINS REQUIRE DIFFERENT GROW ROOMS Under international law, all cannabis is considered Cannabis sativa, but the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International recog- nizes 4 distinct strains with distinct growth patterns, smell, taste, and look. Here is a closer look at each:

Cannabis sativa is originally from the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Sativa from each location has distinct characteristics, but they all share commonalities like tall, leggy stature; a large, sprawling root system; large leaves with narrow blades;

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and sparse flowers when grown indoors under grow lights. Sativas bloom several weeks to months after other strains, and can grow up to 15 feet tall in outdoor grows. This rapid growth can sometimes be inhibited when growing indoors because sativas can grow up to 10 feet in 3 months, making them impractical for an indoor grow room. Your basic HID bulb can’t efficiently illuminate all parts of a tall plant, reducing your yield per watt of light or yield per square foot of space. Sativas from Mexico, Columbia, Thailand, and Jamaica can be very potent, with a high THC to CBD ratio. They produce an energetic, “speed” high. Central Africa grows the potent “Congolese” sativa, and South Africa is home to the best known “Durban poison.” The Asian sativas have varying growth rates and potency, and some are prone to grow into hermaphroditic adults. Another sativa is hemp, or rope, grown specifically for its fiber content with very, very low levels of THC.

Cannabis indica originates from Pakistan and India. Perfect for indoor grows, it’s a squatty, bushy plant with a condensed rot system, stout stems, broad leaves, and dense, THC-potent heavy flowers. Indicas are usually dark green, and the leaves around the budgets turn to a reddish or purple color. Indicas contain a higher ratio of CBD to THC and gives an effect of a heavy, almost incapacitating high, ranging from fair to “stu- pefying.” Some indicas have a distinct smell of cat urine or skunk, while others can be sweet smelling and exotic. Indicas that are heavy on resin tend to be the most fungus- and pest- resistant, but few are resistant to gray mold.

Cannabis ruderalis was brought to Amsterdam in the early 1980s by the Seed Bank to enhance the breeding program. Ruderalis grows in northern Minnesota, through Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada. It’s a short, weedy plant that

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produces very little THC, but blooms within a few weeks. True ruderalis is called “ditch weed” because it gives you a headache rather than a high.

Cannabis Afghanica comes from Afghanistan. It is also a short plant, rarely reaching six feet with broad, dark green leaves. The branches are dense, and the plant is primarily cultivated for drugs and resin that’s made into hashish. It is well known for its high THC potency. But many growers consider Cannabis Afghanica an indica.

Cannabis is an annual plant, meaning it only produces for one growth cycle in one growing season or year. Depending on which strain of cannabis you choose to grow, you’ll need to configure your grow room around the plant’s specific growth characteristics.

HOW TO BUILD A GROW ROOM The first thing you need to do is plan your room from the ground up. You don’t need high-tech apps and software to plan your grow room. A clipboard with graph paper can work just as well as the more cutting edge Google SketchUp, a 3D modeling computer program for interior design, architectural drawings, and more.

Attention to detail is key when planning your room, whether you have a 600 square foot space or a 20,000 square foot commercial grow. Here are the different rooms you’ll need:

A mother/vegetation room for taking and growing clones A bloom room for letting the plants flower A harvesting/drying room

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Dean Kidder teaching GGRA Protégé’s students at the GGRA Summit

Each of these rooms should be climate-controlled and will have different equipment. That’s where the details are important. You need to know what equipment is needed for each room. Essentially, you need equipment that allows you to control air temperature, air circulation, CO2 concentration, humidity, water temperature, irrigation timing (to the second), as well as water pH/ppm.

The ability to lay out a room to that degree of detail is most important because planning your room is the first thing you do. And whether you’re building the room yourself or having it built for you, you need to understand the language to discuss your needs and not get taken in by nefarious contractors.

WHY PLANT SIZE IS MOST IMPORTANT You may ask, “How many plants should I grow?” More plants does not equal more yield. You determine the size of the plant in an indoor environment. One plant can occupy every square inch of canopy space,

33 2 GROW AND GROW RICH or smaller plants can occupy the same space. It all depends on how big you want to grow your plants and what type of plant you choose. As a rule of thumb, sativas grow about 3 times their height at the vegetative state, and indicas grow about 2 times their height at the same stage.

The federal and state regulators think plant count is important because it will yield more. You can in actuality grow a six foot plant that yields more than six small plants would. On the other hand, small plants only veg for a short period of time so you can process more. If you’re concerned about federal and state legality, less plants equal better legality. But losing one plant is a higher percentage of your total crop when you grow fewer plants.

Rows of grow lights per tray.

As a general rule, 4 plants per grow light is a good place to start. You can experiment with 8 plants per grow light, 12 plants, and 16 plants to see which you prefer.

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START FIRST WITH WATER The first thing your plants need is water, and you want to give them top quality water to produce top quality plants. A reverse osmosis system filters everything out of the water that could potentially harm your plants, whether you’re using city water or well water.

A reverse osmosis system filters the water from your source (e.g., city water or well water) and into a holding tank. Your average reverse osmosis system can process 8 to 10 gallons per hour. Let’s say you have a 160 gallon tank with a float valve that automatically shuts off when the tank is full. This lets you filter the water overnight while you’re sleeping and automatically shuts off when done to prevent floods. Then in the morning, you can transfer the amount of water out of your reverse osmosis holding tank to your feed tanks. When the float valve drops, it automatically fills the tank back up using the reverse osmosis system, much like the tank on the back of a toilet operates after you’ve flushed.

Dean Kidder with GGRA Protégé’s student teaching indoor water techniques

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One note for your reverse osmosis tank: use a closed-top tank for reverse osmosis water because it should only ever hold pure filtered water and nothing else.

Connected to your reverse osmosis tank is an external inline pump to move the water through an ultraviolet clarifier. Stagnant water grows bacteria, algae, and other living things that can hurt your plants. A UV clarifier attached to pump kills any living thing, and continually recirculates the water through your holding tank to keep it free of harmful microbes.

From your reverse osmosis holding tank, your filtered water goes into a nutrient or feed tank. You need two separate nutrient tanks for your two growing rooms—vegetative and bloom—because they need different nutrients at each stage. Your reverse osmosis tank should equal the sum of your nutrient tanks. These nutrient or feed tanks should be lidless tanks (open top) so when you’re mixing nutrients, you can easily dump materials in. It’s also easier to clean and sterilize; you’ll be cleaning and sterilizing your tanks once every 1-2 weeks.

Water chillers are very important. Put your chiller on the side of your feed tank, and use a submersible pump inside your feed tank to circulate the water through the chiller. You want your water kept between 66-68 degrees Fahrenheit, the optimal temperature for indoor growing. If you have two tanks (one for each stage of growth), you’ll need two chillers. You need separate chillers for each tank so you don’t mix nutrients.

Now that you have the water system planned out, let’s look at other parts of your indoor grow rooms.

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Trays and Water Lines

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ACCOMMODATE FOR PLANT HEIGHT AT EACH STAGE Vegetative plants should all be the same size when you transfer them to bloom stage because it’s important to keep them uniform, especially in height.

Know how tall your plants will grow. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

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The cycle of your indoor grow starts with the mother plants. From there, you take cuts or clones and propagate them. After they’re rooted, the clones move into the veg room, and from there, they’re moved into the bloom stage. At each stage of this cycle, your plants will be different heights, which will impact the height of your tables, etc.

It is important to know the optimum distance from plant canopy to a given type of light (e.g., LEDs, DE HID, Single Mogul HID, fluo- rescent, etc.). Make sure you plan the height of your tray tables ac- cordingly. You need to determine how tall your plants will be at each stage, depending on whether they’re sativa or indica strains. Now you can figure out how tall your grow tables should be.

Finally, the cannabis flower produces the odor. Put odor control devices in the bloom room and dry room. You’ll need plenty of air circulation.

CRUCIAL POINTS WHEN PLANNING There are two keys to making an indoor grow room successful: automation and redundancies. Let’s look at automation first.

Automation is using float valves in tanks so they automatically fill up and shut off when full. You should automate the transfer of water from your reverse osmosis tank to your feed or nutrient tanks as should the humidity, temperature and odor control. Shoot for an indoor grow system that will run for 7 days using automation with no human intervention.

Next, build in redundancies. For example, the grow lights product a lot of heat. What happens if your air conditioning goes down? You should have a backup so you don’t lose your plants. One idea is to have an exhaust fan that is temperature activated. It will prevent it from getting so hot in your grow room that it kills everything. Now

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consider each component of your grow rooms and how you can build in redundancy.

I can’t stress enough: REDUNDANCY and AUTOMATION are key to everything.

OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT INDOOR GROWS Here is the lifecycle of your indoor grow:

1. Mother plants are kept in a vegetative state for cloning. 2. Clones get propagated and are allowed to root in the vegetative room. 3. After it has vegged, it moves to the bloom area. 4. After bloom, the plant is harvested and dried in a climate- controlled drying room.

This is the flow of any indoor plans you will design. So, the flow of a 600 square foot facility is the same flow as a 20,000 square foot facility.

Each room has separate climate controls to mimic the growth stage you want. This means you can’t use a single room for two different stages because it would reduce your harvest frequency.

NUTRIENTS AND FEEDING SCHEDULE It’s important to give your plants not only the nutrients it needs, but when it needs them. For example, at certain stages of your plant’s growth, you’ll want to emphasize nitrogen. At another stage, you’ll use phosphorous, and at yet another stage, you’ll emphasize potassium.

What does a good nutrient recipe look like and how do we do that? Here’s a good schedule for the vegetative stage:

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Grow lights mimicking seasons, Christopher Wright in a large grow

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Week 1 800 PPM Week 2 900 PPM Week 3 1,000 PPM

You gradually increase your PPM each week of vegetative growth. At the same time, your pH is falling. At the beginning of vegetative stage, your pH will be around 6.1. As your plants progress through the vegetative stage, your pH will drop gradually to about 5.9.

The same trend continues in bloom, but changes towards the end. From our previous example, you ended up with 1,000 PPM at the end of vegetative. So at the beginning of bloom, you’ll start around 1,000 to 1,100 PPM of nutrients. Over the eight weeks of flowering, increase your PPM to about 1,600 at Week 6 of bloom. During the last two weeks, drop your PPM down to around 800 in Week 7, and in Week 8 you can go as low as 0 to 250 PPM.

In week 8, there should be no base elements at all. You can use some sea kelp or beneficial microbes, but definitely use pure reverse osmosis water. It helps to reduce impurities and increases the flavor. If you don’t flush your plants properly using this process, you’ll get a more rough smoke at the back of your throat that can be a little uncomfortable.

During bloom, your pH again will be decreasing. You pH should start during bloom at around 5.8. This is an average because different strains have different preferences, but this is a good starting point. Each week, your pH should decrease until it reaches about 5.6+/- at Week 8. Adjusting the pH allows the plant to uptake different elements at each stage. At the beginning, higher pH helps the plant to uptake nitrogen, and as you progress through bloom, you’re helping with the uptake of phosphorous, potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

Hydroponics shops have hundreds of different bottles of nutrients.

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How do you figure out what you need? Here are a few basic pointers to have in your nutrient reservoir every single week.

One thing you should add are beneficial microbes. Don’t let them linger in your reservoir for too long. A good rule of thumb is to add them the day before you clean and refresh your reservoir tank.

You also want to add enzymes. You certainly want growth enzymes and digestive enzymes, like Hydrozyme. These are great products to make sure your root systems stay as clean and healthy as possible.

Another great product is sea kelp. There are a couple of different species, but all sea kelp has every single trace mineral that planet earth has mainly because all the minerals from land wash into the oceans. Sea kelp is also a great stress reducer. You can use it in your reservoir for your root system, but you can also use it as a spray. If your plants are stressed out for any reason, you can use it as a foliar spray on your plants. For instance, if you’ve taken cuttings recently, you might want to give them a little extra love and care with sea kelp spray.

Another great additive to use is a bloom booster. These have elevated levels of phosphorous and potassium and are used towards the beginning, middle, and end of the bloom stage.

Finally, it’s important to use calcium and magnesium. A high quality, two part nutrient tends to have a great combination of these two minerals, but if not, there are additives you can find to make sure you have enough calcium and magnesium in your mix.

When you use common fertilizers you find at your hydroponics store, they are usually mineral based. Sometimes they’re referred to as mineral salts. But they can build up a crusty layer on top of your roots. You need to flush your plants to eliminate this crust so they can continue to uptake nutrients. Take pure reverse osmosis water, and you can add

43 2 GROW AND GROW RICH a flushing agent like a hydrozyme or others. At a minimum you want pure reverse osmosis water with whatever pH level is scheduled for that week of growth. Let’s say you in Week 1 of bloom, where they should be getting fed around 5.8 pH. At the end of that week, you should flush with about 3 times the amount of water you normally feed with a pH at 5.8 to make sure your roots are crust-fee to continue to absorb nutrients throughout the rest of its growth cycle.

A few last things to note about your indoor grow:

Your bloom area should only have 1 day of downtime. When you harvest, you clean and sterilize for the next batch of plants within 24 hours. If not, you won’t get 6 harvests a year. Once a harvest, or every 2 months, you should sterilize the whole system. When you bring clones in from another facility, you don’t know if there are pests or disease. You must have a quarantine process to bring in rooted clones. Put them in a small space such as a 10”x20” propagation tray that usually comes with a dome. Using organic methods, you can spray your clones to eliminate pests and disease. Try to keep as sterile an environment as possible. Always wash your hands and remove your shoes when you go into your grow rooms. Don’t go into a room if you were just digging in the garden. Jump in the shower first.

Outdoor Grows Nick Boomer, the Grow and Grow Rich Academy’s Sungrown and Greenhouse Specialist, bills himself as a Cannabis Cultivation Consultant with over 13 years experience in California’s medical marijuana industry. He specializes in pesticide free, organic farm- ing and Aquaponic integration. Nick is also a genetic developer and commodity broker for CBD and THC products and an Educational Seminar Speaker.

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Nick Boomer speaking at GGRA’s Summit

PICKING YOUR SITE Whether you’re growing in your own backyard or you have a plot of land elsewhere, you need to inspect the site first. Outdoor growing differs from indoor in a few ways; particularly, indoor is easily se- cured and not visible.

With an outdoor grow, you’re looking for a great spot with plenty of sun and not too much shade. Take a good look at your site to make sure you can secure it with fencing to keep people and animals out.

Water access is crucial. Make sure the tap water from your house can reach where you’re watering. Or perhaps you’re using a well, stream, or pond with a sump pump to move the water. Contrary to indoor grows, water in an outdoor grow doesn’t need to be as sterile. Outdoors, you can get away with clean pond, lake, or stream water. But if you use tap water, get a pH reader to test it.

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Aerial view of a large commercial outdoor grow. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

KNOW YOUR MEDIUM Now decide what medium to use. Outdoor grows don’t use hydroponic media like indoor. Look for soil or soil media with nutrients in it. You can also consider soilless media.

After you’ve decided on your grow medium, do you want raised beds or containers? One caveat about raised beds is you can fit more soil in a similar space that allows for larger roots and larger yield. Raised beds are my preference, but for your outdoor grow, whether you use raised beds or containers should be site specific—whichever fits your site best.

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HOW TALL WILL YOU GROW YOUR PLANTS? Now think about how tall your plants will be. Height obviously depends on the strain of cannabis you choose to grow.

Some plants can grow 15 feet tall; you’ve no doubt seen pictures of these amazing plants. Those growers use trellising.

You can use tomato cages or concrete meshing that can fit your hands and large buds through. Stay away from chicken wire because you need larger squares to access the plant.

Tall plants in an outdoor grow. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

DETERMINE HOW TO DELIVER WATER One option is a standing reservoir with an aeration system to circulate dissolved oxygen. Place your water reservoir in a shaded area to have it on hand when you need to water.

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Look at your water quality and how you will water when you’re setting up your site. A watering wand is most common for even larger outdoor grows. The drawback is it’s the most labor intensive, but you have a more hands-on approach to your plants.

If you’re looking for a less labor intensive solution, you can install automated irrigation. Simply buy a water control system at a home improvement center that hooks up to electronic solenoids in the plumbing line. The drawback to this system is you need to know how to design and install it.

Automation allows you to hook up drip emitters like sprinkler heads that drip water to each plant site. Now you can water all of your plants on a timer or at the push of a button without having to water by hand.

Aerial view of a large commercial outdoor grow. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

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SEEDS VS. CLONES When your grow is ready, you need to decide where you’re going to get your plants. One option is clone propagation. Cloning is taking a small cutting, similar to taking a rose and putting it in water or some other media, and recreating that plant as a clone in baby form.

Another option is seeds. All clones come from seeded plants originally. Let’s look at the differences.

When you get seeds, they may be male or female. There’s a 50/50 chance your seeds will be male or female. And whether you’re a newbie grower or an advanced pro, you’ll have to grow that seed and sex the plant at about a month or two of growth to determine if it’s male or female.

You want female crops because their buds are without seed. The male plant’s flower produces pollen which pollenates the female plants and produces seeds.

If you’re not ready to start from seed and sex your plants, you may be better off starting with clones. You can take clones from female plants to eliminate the seeds. You traditionally grow the female plant with its buds for the THC and CBD found in medicinal marijuana.

All clones come from a seed that someone grew, sexed, and cloned because the strain was good and the plants produced great buds. So they can grow this plant indefinitely in their nursery. If you know what you’re doing, you can keep growing clones for a very long time.

So you need to decide if you want to grow from seed or clone. If you decide on clones, you need to find a reputable source, such as a friend, a nursery, or a collective that can legally get you those quality strains. Otherwise, look for a seed bank from which you can start growing your own mother plants for cloning.

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Dean at Virginia’s grow examining the clones

TRANSPLANTING Regardless of starting from seed or clones, the transplanting process will be similar. Plants grown from seed start off around 6 inches in height before you get to the transplanting stage. Clones start out at 6 inches in height, and once their root system grows and takes hold, you can transplant them at around 8 inches in height.

Nick Boomer teaching Protégé students how to transplant at the GGRA Summit

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You want to transplant your baby plants into a one-gallon sized container. Get high quality, organic soil to place in your plastic pot or fabric container. Fill it up three-quarters of the way, and place your baby plant in the exact center. Then backfill with more soil around your plant.

You don’t want to crush your seedling, but make sure to compact the soil around so it won’t fall over as you move the container. Set the transplanted seedling off to the side and continue with the next.

After about 10 or 20 transplantations, water your containers because the soil is dry and they’ll start to wilt. It’s important to know that you can overwater, but you can also underwater. So make sure those baby plants get soaked with water to eliminate any air pockets or dry soil anywhere.

Let your transplants sit for a week or two until the soil dries out so you can water again. Don’t make the mistakes of overwatering your transplants.

You’ll need to add nutrients to your organic soil. You can choose organic nutrients or synthetic fertilizers. Synthetic fertilizers come in bottles at your hydroponics store or other retailer.

These products work well, but take care not to use too much, especially in the beginning of the growth cycle. That’s why you should start with organic soil, which will have nutrients for the baby plants to use for the first month after transplant.

You don’t fertilize during the vegetative stage. Outdoor growing doesn’t require the level of nutrients that an indoor grow does, although you can follow a similar nutrient schedule in your outdoor grow. Just realize that your outdoor grow season is going to be longer.

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Nick Boomer with bottled fertilizer. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

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Give your plants less nutrients over time and just plain, fresh water. You’ll be surprised at how well they do. The Grow and Grow Rich® team can provide you with a nutrient regimen for weekly feedings once you get out of the baby stage, or the vegetative stage.

When it’s ready to transform into bloom or flower, the days become shorter and darkness comes sooner. Then, the hormones in your plant are naturally triggered. This is when plants begin to produce flower or seed. Since you have all female plants, they’ll produce the sinsemilla buds needed for medical marijuana.

You’ll need a different type of nutrient for the bloom stage, primarily phosphorous and potassium. Make sure to look closely at the leaves. If you notice any discoloration or deficiencies, call the Grow and Grow Rich® team, and we can help you.

Through the flowering stage, you’ll want to slowly increase the parts per million of fertilizer for bloom. If you’re using organic nutrients, you’ll most likely use compost tea, top dressings with different nutrients, and guano.

ORGANIC GROWING Going organic is not that much different from buying synthetic fertilizers from your hydroponics store. A lot of the stores carry both synthetic and organic fertilizers you can use.

Organics can come in a bottle or in a granular form, called amendments. Put the granular form in a tea bag to place with your plant’s roots, or you can top dress your soil with a layer of amendments that soaks into the soil with every watering.

Top dressing your soil is preferable because it allows the nutrients to be released slowly with each week’s watering, and it doesn’t build

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Nick Boomer explaining organic methods. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm. up a lot of toxicity or pH lockout like you would with a synthetic nutrient line. As a newbie grower, you want to avoid pH lockout and overwatering.

Organic growing allows you to reduce your expenses and reduce your mistakes. It’s cleaner for the environment, and it’s better for your health, especially if you’re growing this for medicine.

To prevent pests and mold, you’ll want to go organic. State regulators are pushing for OMRI certified products. OMRI is a third party agency that certifies the solutions are organically sourced, healthy for the environment, and healthy for consumable products. You wouldn’t want to consume pesticides and fungicides when eating fruits and vegetables, any more than you want those contaminants on your medicinal product. When you’re growing for medicinal, you want to make sure the end result is as clean as possible.

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Ask the Grow and Grow Rich® team what organic products you can use to treat your plants during all stages of growth so you’re not spray- ing pesticides or fungicides.

Organic sprays are great to use before flowering, but once blooms come, you can’t spray because it encourages mold growth. One thing you can use that other growers have had great success with is predatory insects. There are predatory mites and a wide variety of other insects you can release into your garden to eat the bad bugs that will harm your plants. Predatory insects do the hard work for you naturally and sustainably. Once they’ve cleared your plants of the bad bugs, they’ll fly away in search of more food.

By the time harvest comes around, you have no contaminating re- siduals left on your plants and no bugs.

WATER Water is the most important topic in this chapter. You can have the perfect soil, the right plants, and the best grow lights, but bad water can ruin your product.

For outdoor grows, you can use your pond water, local streams, or well water provided it’s been tested as clean. If you’re using municipality water sources, you’ll want to test it. Let it sit for 48 hours in a standing reservoir so you can aerate and clean out the chlorine and chloramine. You don’t want either of those chemicals or any other trace elements in your plants’ water source. These contaminants will kill off the good bacteria and fungi in the soil that are good for your plants.

As such, you need to test your water with a pH or PPM (parts per million) monitor. Have these tools on hand at all times. Ideally, you should test weekly to make sure your water doesn’t change.

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If you don’t have clean water, you will need a reverse osmosis system. The reverse osmosis system removes all of the additives in city water to keep it sterile. This process will leave you with low PPM. Let’s say you started off with city water at 300 PPM. You can’t use any of those contaminants. You need to eliminate it and start between 3-50 PPM, which lets you add in your other nutrients like calcium and magnesium to give more benefit to your plants.

Water sourcing is important, so please ask the Grow and Grow Rich® team if you have any questions at all.

GREENHOUSE GROWS

Greenhouse or light deprivation techniques, such as blocking out the light for certain growing periods, is becoming very popular because of sustainability reasons, overall costs, and to be able to grow year-round. Certain states have an acceptable year-round climate for outdoor grows, but some places can use greenhouses to grow their plants year-round despite the outdoor climate.

A classic greenhouse grow. Greenhouses offer plenty of room. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

If you’re in an area that gets snow or hail, be aware of what the snow load of your greenhouse is. Whether you’re building your greenhouse

156 Pick an Income Stream out of PVC, wood, or metal framing, and if you’re doing it yourself or contracting someone to build it for you, you want to make sure you’re up to code so both you and your plants are safe.

That goes hand-in-hand with the site and location of where you’re going to grow, but it’s more advanced because you’re putting more time and money into a structure that didn’t exist on your property.

If you find a property with a greenhouse already constructed, you can retrofit it or use it as is. That allows you to keep warmer temperatures and resist dirt, wind, and rain that can contribute to mold growth which can ruin your harvest.

Research greenhouses, talk to the Grow and Grow Rich team about your options. We encourage you to grow year-round, and a greenhouse might be the way to do that. With greenhouses, you can produce high quality sinsemilla buds that rival indoor quality.

You can add the high intensity discharge or LED lights. The greenhouse is a domed structure with rows for your plants, but you will need air flow. So you need exhaust fans with louvers. And you’ll also need lighting if your season is too short. If you put plants out at any time of year, you need to know how long the sun is out. You need at least 16-18 hours of full sunlight for the vegetative stage. Anything less, you end up flowering before you want to.

Watch the season and see if your area needs a light deprivation cover. It involves blacking out your greenhouse with a dark tarp to trick your plants into flower sooner than it would have. It allows you to get a faster return on your investment and keeps you in propagation. The quality is sometimes better than outdoor, and is just as good or better than an indoor grow.

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HOW TO CURE YOUR PLANTS When you’re ready to harvest your plants, you need to hang-dry them, which is exactly what it sounds like. After hang-drying, you remove the buds and store them in a glass jar or a turkey bag.

Make sure you label the jar correctly and put the date on it. Check the jar daily and “burp” it. Just like you “burp” plastic food containers, open the lid and let air inside to exchange with the spent oxygen in the jar. Burping removes extra moisture. That’s what curing is.

Bigger buds dry at a slower rate than smaller ones. Once an even cure is done, you’ll see a good clean smoke at the end and the taste will be so much better. Let it cure for a month or two. My personal preference is to allow for 2 or 3 months before I consider the buds smoke-able or sellable.

You’ve completed curing and burping when the moisture level is low enough that the bud cracks and smells amazing. Once it’s ready— and you’ll know it’s ready—you can sell it.

STORING AND PACKAGING Pack your cured buds in a jar, and never leave them under heavy lights or out in the open in a room. Put your glass jars in a secure area, such as a locked storage area, locked shed, your garage, or a locked steel cabinet that no one has access to.

If your storage facility is close to neighbors, you can odor-proof it with a carbon filter to help eliminate the smell and to be polite.

PACKAGING AND PRESENTATION When you’re done curing, you have two options: using jars or a turkey bag.

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Jars look clean and professional, but there are a few drawbacks. When you transport your product in jars, you risk breaking the glass. And when you give your product to your dispensary or retailer, you don’t get your jars back.

Using turkey bags allows you to safely transport your product in a duf- fel bag or a backpack. Turkey bags are airtight and odor proof, making them the perfect solution to keep your product fresh. In addition, you can fit more product in a turkey bag than a jar. Finally, turkey bags are more cost-effective and also look clean and professional.

Edibles, Oils & Extracts

Nate Winokur teaching Protégé students at GGRA Summit about Extracts/oils

Nate Winokur, the Grow and Grow Rich Academy’s expert on infusions, oils, and extracts, has been an involved and passionate member of the Cannabis community for the past 16 years. Witnessing the birth and growth of this professional industry, he learned the endless possibilities and miracles that come from the Cannabis plant. Nate

59 2 GROW AND GROW RICH initiated his Cannabis career while assisting with a growing operation; this provided him with the beginnings of his in-depth knowledge of the plant.

In 2011, Nate began working for SC Labs, where his responsibilities included the complete growth and development of their Southern California operations. Nate built this SC Labs operation from a single employee to a fully functioning lab of eighteen employees. Nate’s in- depth, hands-on experience allowed him to grasp many areas within the operations of a Cannabis lab. Following six years at SC Labs, Nate ventured out on his own to assist extraction labs with their build out, development, process flow, and optimizations to produce quality product.

Nate’s passion and extensive knowledge of Formulations and Infused Products has continued to allow him to be very successful consulting on the effects of Cannabis in a medical/therapeutic setting. To this day, Nate is engaged with Cannabis Science to the fullest, and his commitment to the Cannabis plant and community give him the drive to succeed. He is excited to watch this community continue to grow into the mature industry it was born to be.

WHY “EDIBLES” IS A MISLEADING TERM “Edibles” suggest if you’re infusing cannabis into it, it must be edible. The idea of cannabis is that it can be infused into anything, not just food. Consider cosmetics, topical joint pain applications, and aroma- therapy, just to name a few.

While you can infuse cannabis into virtually anything, you must consider cannabis is an oil soluble product. It is extremely difficult in some applications, such as a water soluble product. Remember, oil and water don’t mix.

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LOOK FOR VERTICALLY INTEGRATED OPERATIONS Particularly in the State of California, vertically integrated operations describe a company that’s able to use multiple parts of a cannabis plant or business in products or services. A great example are companies that produce the flower or the bud for adult use smoking while also manufacturing concentrates used in infused products. Vertically integrating operations often take a raw product and a manufactured product from the same plant—think of petroleum and its byproducts. Vertically integrated operations in cannabis would be similar.

Most state and local regulators are modeling the cannabis industry after the alcohol industry. As such, a testing lab (and until recently, a distributor) could not vertically integrate in any other cannabis business in California. The labs are also the most regulated sector of the cannabis industry.

INTRODUCTION TO INFUSED PRODUCTS Infused products have existed in California since Proposition 215. They’ve been incredibly amateurish, verging on trademark infringe- ment, however. This leaves the industry wide open for a smart cannapreneur with a professional business model to take over the market.

Infused products were originally packaged in sealed Ziploc bags. While packaging is making leaps and bounds, there’s still a consider- able gap between today’s packaging and what professional packaging will be in the future.

There are also still concerns with regulated dosages. Unscrupulous companies can package an infused product with a dosage of 1,000mg. To the untrained individual, that dosage might appeal. And anyone can be duped by a stated dosage like 1,000mg because who can really tell the difference between 1,000mg and 750mg? Not many people can.

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Strain of cannabis used for medication.

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YOUR BODY’S CANNABINOIDS SYSTEM Your body has an endocannabinoid system that largely consists of receptor sites. When your body receives a high-enough level of cannabinoids, it can deregulate your cannabinoid receptor sites. When you flood your body with cannabinoids, your body can turn off these receptors to regulate your body’s response. We often hear this called someone’s “tolerance.” In effect, when a regular cannabinoid user takes in more cannabinoids, he or she is getting no higher than someone less experienced who is taking in less. The reason is all about how acclimated your body is to the cannabis and how well your endocannabinoid system functions.

Our endocannabinoid system was only discovered in the 1990’s, and it still hasn’t found its way into medical texts and education. Out of 4 years of medical school programs, there’s only a one-day course on our endocannabinoid system, even though it’s considered by many just as important as our hormone system.

Nate taking questions at the GGRA Summit

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INFUSED PRODUCT TYPES The following short list will give you an example of some infused products that are popular today:

Foods and drinks Topical skin products E-liquids and vape often infused with a carrier liquid Suppositories

One woman used suppositories on her colon cancer-riddled father with remarkable results. The point is, even if it doesn’t go in the mouth or on the skin, it can still be an infused product.

The beauty of an infused product is that while cannabis distillate doesn’t have an infinite shelf life, it’s pretty close. Whatever you infuse the cannabis with, it’s probably going to go bad before the cannabis. So, in effect, by adding the cannabis, you’re often adding a natural preservative.

EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE BRANDS Look to the following brands that are effectively producing, packaging, and distributing their infused products:

Bhang Chocolates Grön Chocolates Sprig Soda Cheeba Chews Bloom Vape

If you’re considering an infused product line, you need to make sure you have developed effective packaging and your product is store ready. Anticipate being ready for the mass market. The future of infused products in the cannabis industry—the only stuff that’s going to

164 Pick an Income Stream get attention at the end of the day—is the professional, mass market ready product. Anything less will not survive.

HOW DOSAGES ARE READ Dosages are read by milligrams. Different patients with different toler- ances and different ailments will be prescribed an appropriate dosage. As a rule, a good starting dosage is 10mg. One serving is 10mg in Colorado.

An average cannabis consumer takes somewhere between 60-80mg. As such, the average edible sold contains 60-80mg. Smart dosing sense puts products right about where your average smoker considers a reasonably medicated dose.

Edible products are more than 2 times stronger than smoking because edibles act as a different drug; it metabolizes into a different chemical. This different pathway is known to produce effects at least 2 times stronger.

WHAT IS POSSIBLE WITH INFUSED PRODUCTS? Different types of infused products can target different parts of the body, and different cannabinoids affect different cannabinoid receptors. For the most part, CB1 receptors are located in the brain and nervous system, while the CB2 receptors are located in your gut and torso. This means a product targeting CB2 receptors will bind less with the receptors in your head. Let’s say you have a digestive disor- der; you can target it with products which have CB2 binding affinity. Infused products may help you deliver the right dose to the right parts through the right delivery system.

BIOMASS, EXTRACTIONS, AND INFUSIONS What is biomass? It’s the total extractable mass in a given area or vol- ume. For the cannabis industry, your plants may be grown specifically

65 2 GROW AND GROW RICH for maximum biomass for large extraction yield. Or may include byproducts like trim and sugar leaf. If you were growing plants for flower content for the most smokable buds, you would often have byproducts called trim and sugar leaf that can be used in infused products.

Green Zone Real Estate Green Zone Real Estate is booming, as discussed previously, but what does it really look like? Done right, your real estate business is system- dependent, not people-dependent. This means anyone you hire can come in, follow your sequence, and be able to do what needs done.

Why choose Green Zone Real Estate? Think about any business—any business at all—and we can show you a company that needs real estate. All businesses revolve around real estate to some extent.

Example of a Greenzone area for Medical pot facilities would be allowed in light manufacturing and industrial zones.

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In Green Zone Real Estate, you have three ways to make money:

1. GREEN ZONE RENTAL PROPERTIES Having rental home properties in the Green Zone is an excellent business proposition because you can generally charge more rent since people working at marijuana commercial properties in the Green Zones need a place to live. And if you own a commercial property in the Green Zone, you can charge your tenant two to three times more, do less tenant improvements, and require larger deposits. This is because the Green Zone is the hottest thing in real estate right now. It’s part of the Green Rush that’s sweeping the country.

For your rental properties, you’re the landlord, which means you need to know exactly where you are financially. You should be able to support yourself and two buildings, so you need to figure out how much you need every single month to cover those expenses. This dollar amount tells you how much money is left over for advertising, for new staff, or other improvements.

When looking at areas for homes, look for good areas because you’re buying a neighborhood, not a house. If it’s in a rough area, you won’t be as profitable. The dollar amount of the property is irrelevant; what’s most important is the profits it will make and the financing deal you can get.

Your responsibility as a landlord is to provide a safe, clean, and functional home to your tenants.

When looking for commercial properties, you will generally look in industrial or agricultural areas for potential Green Zones. Sometimes, you will be looking in less desirable areas. The reason is some cit- ies and counties will allow marijuana licensing in the “not so good”

67 2 GROW AND GROW RICH parts of town or the county because there are no schools and parks, and the area generally needs an economic boost. The municipali- ties are willing to give marijuana licenses in these areas where other commercial companies may not want to rent or buy in. They see the boost in economic growth in this sector of their city or county that the Green Zone brings.

2. GREEN ZONE RETAIL FLIP Similar to when you rent a home, single family home values will increase once commercial marijuana facilities are up and running in Green Zones. When you buy property, renovate it, then put it back on the market to sell it for a profit is called a retail flip. When you’re buying for a retail flip, reverse engineer the deal. Know who’s going to be living in the house. About 98% of properties are families with kids, so look in areas with good schools, amenities, parks, neighborhoods, etc. Make sure the neighborhoods you’re buying in have a higher percentage of owners to renters. You need to stage a home before you sell it so families can see themselves living there.

Know your days on market and your After Repair Value (ARV). You can find a comparable home that’s been sold within a mile to two miles from your property. Comparable properties help you know the value of your home. This will help you determine your profit from flipping.

This strategy applies to when buying into a potential Green Zone for commercial properties as well. The difference is you are dealing with larger numbers and more sophisticated owners.

3. GREEN ZONE WHOLESALING The simple definition of wholesaling is you’re controlling paper. You’re a master negotiator. You’re providing a service to help people

168 Pick an Income Stream get what they want.

For example, you find out what people want by networking, engaging in conversation, and getting an idea of what people are doing. If you know the criteria of what people want, you can deliver it. Let’s say you meet someone who needs to find a commercial space for a dispensary. You take the time to learn what the cultivators are looking for in dispensaries, then you call your realtor.

Your realtor will do the ground work finding properties that are in your budget and in the Green Zone. They go out and negotiate with the property owners and then bring the deal back to you.

You cater your services around your consumer. Your providing a service where you offer a full deal, sealed and delivered, for exactly what your customer is looking for.

Let’s look at the process for Green Zone Real Estate.

BUILD YOUR GREEN ZONE POWER TEAM We have a power team at Grow and Grow Rich®. We’re not trying to master everything; we’re each master of our individual craft.

When you go to build your power team, know they’re representing your company. If they don’t know what your company does, they can’t represent you very well. You have to be extremely clear with the service you’re looking for. Here are the team members you need:

Realtors. If you have a realtor to find properties for you, they need to know your exit strategy. Don’t be afraid to be super specific and over communicate. Starting out, you want at least three realtors. They need to be experts in certain areas. You may need one realtor who’s an expert at resale, another

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who specializes in two-to-four-unit buildings, and a third who focuses solely on commercial real estate. A real estate broker who specializes in pocket listing (real estate that’s not on the listings yet, but the realtor knows about) is handy to have. You might want a realtor who focuses just on land. Each realtor must specialize and focus only on their craft. You need to know what they love doing and what they’re good at because you don’t need a Jack of All Trades. You want masters at their craft. Let me in on your strategy so they can put out their feel- ers. Realtors are the lifeline of bringing you deals.

GGRA Protégé’s students out looking at real estate the GGRA Power Team In Vegas

Home Inspector. It’s extremely important to get a home inspection done before you buy a property. You can exit the deal if there’s too much wrong. It takes about an hour and a half to two hours to go through a house to know its exact condition. Your home inspector will send you a report about 15 pages long with pictures and explanations. Go through your report line by line and highlight what doesn’t make sense. This helps

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you gain experience so you can go through home inspection reports quickly and easily and understand what they mean. A home inspection is to find out strictly what’s wrong. And like your realtor, your home inspector needs to know your exit strategy. If you’re going to flip it and your home inspector walks into the basement and sees a serious need for renova- tion that’s beyond your budget, he or she can call you, let you know it’s not a good deal, and you can pay him half the inspection fee.

Contractor. You need at least three contractors to quote your projects until you get a solid team in place. Your contractor needs to get in the house and know your exit strategy again. If you’re exit strategy is to flip the property, but they think you want to rental it, those are two completely different strategies that require different rehab. A construction agreement is a doc- ument that lays out every detail of the relationship between you and your contractor, the scope of work, the draw schedule, what kind f work they’ll do for each draw, how much money they need, and what the expected completion date is. When you hire the right people for contractors, you’ll have a sustainable, thriving business with a team you get along with and work with. Again, you might want specialists. You wouldn’t want a contractor who doesn’t know historical renovations working on an old home you want returned to its historical roots.

Project Manager. This person oversees the renovations and is in conversation with the contractors.

Funder. A funder’s main goal is to fund your project through hard money, private, conventional, investors, crowd funding, or other funding means. If you have a deal that makes sense, you don’t have to worry about funding because a good funder will convince people they want to invest.

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Property Manager. Your property manager oversees your rental properties, making sure you have cash flow. He or she screens your tenants, collects rents, processes evictions, and coordinates maintenance. Expect to pay eight to ten percent of collected rents to your Property Manager.

PICK YOUR GREEN ZONE MARKET You need to know where you want to invest, acquire properties, and provide housing and rental space. Look for space in the Green Zone where it’s already legal for medical and recreational marijuana use. This is where the biggest demand will be.

GGRA Protégé’s students out looking at Green Zone real estate with Christopher Wright

You can set up Google Alerts to keep you in the loop before anyone about what property is in the Green Zone. City Councils are a resource you need to be connected to. You can set a Google Alert for city-specific City Council meetings. Then make contact with someone in the city office who will keep you in the know. You want everyone

172 Pick an Income Stream in your city council area to know what you’re doing and how you can contribute to the community, because they’ll help you with the zones you should be focusing on.

FIND THE DEAL Craig’s List is great for helping you find the deal. Go to Google and type in Las Vegas Craig’s List, for example. Once you’re on the Las Vegas Craig’s List site, type cannabis in the search field. You’ll see subcategories like sales, housing, gigs, events, resumes, etc. Click on any one of them and you might find a cannabis industrial park or a cannabis business for sale, among other deals. More importantly, you can find out what people need and what they’re trying to do. You can help them find the space that’s perfect for their needs.

Protégé’s students getting off the buses at the GGRA Summit to look at Green Zone Real Estate for Sale

When you deal with owners, it’s up to you to educate them as to why your clients are doing what they’re doing. Make sure your client has licensing, the budget, and you understand their situation so you can present them in the best light to the owner.

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A great resource is LoopNet which is specifically designed for commercial space. You can easily set up a free account. Let’s again say you’re looking at Las Vegas. You can search for Las Vegas industrial, which returns all listings. You can click on listings and bring up more information like purchase price, building size, cap rate, primary type, and subtype. This helps you structure the deal and talk to your customers about property.

DEAL ANALYSIS How do you figure out if it’s a good deal or not? Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you’re looking at a property where the mortgage payment is $20,000, and the income is $68,000. Expenses are $12,000. This leaves your net return at $36,000. This is your cash flow, what you’ll generate for this deal.

SECURE THE DEAL Put it under contract. Always go with written contracts; verbal contracts are too risky. Here are the five essentials for every contract:

1. Offer or letter of intent. You want to include the inspection period, financing period, what your conditions are, and ear- nest money. There has to be an exchange of money for it to be legal and binding, even if it’s just a dollar. 2. Timeframe 3. Compensation 4. Addendum 5. Acceptance period

FUND THE DEAL You have options for funding. There are conventional loans through a bank, private money where you deal with other investors, or gap

174 Pick an Income Stream funding.

Let’s say you need $50,000 for a down payment. You talk to your friend and work out a deal on how much you’ll pay him back and when. That private money. You also have self-directed IRAs which we cover in more detail in our Funding Chapter later in this book.

RENOVATE, RENT, OR RESELL This is when you need your contractors and home/commercial in- spectors. They’re going to take your property and build it into what you want to do with it. Make sure you have the full picture of what you’re dealing with before you seal the deal.

Your property manager is going to be the person who determines what type of renter will be accepted and how long the rental agreement is for. You don’t want to focus on renters’ credit score; rather look at their credit history. If they have a good track record of always paying their bills on time, they’ll make a good tenant.

When reselling, you may use the same realtor who helped you purchase it. Or you may work a deal directly with your client, if you’ve scouted, purchased, and renovated the property to meet their needs. All you have to do is sell it to them in its ready-to-go state.

For Green Zone Real Estate, start diving deeper and get more comfortable. It’s important to know what type of real estate strategy you want to use, but it’s not hard. Reach out to the Grow and Grow Rich® team to get connected to our Green Zone Real Estate Academy. They will guide you in the direction you need to go that best fits your needs.

Let’s turn our attention now to what else you need to know about picking an income stream.

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Where Do Most People Go Wrong? When picking an income stream, some people decide to use multiple income streams. They don’t focus on one thing and get it right before branching out to other income streams. And sometimes they get confused.

The best thing you can do is start with one income stream. It’s okay to have a backup plan, but go deepest in your main income stream.

We’ve seen motivated individuals get into an income stream without doing their due diligence. They don’t realize what it’s really going to cost, and they haven’t put a proper infrastructure together.

Picking an income stream is just like opening any other business. You have to approach it in a systematic way so each step gets done properly.

If you’re not a born entrepreneur, you need a colleague or a team to support you. At Grow and Grow Rich®, we call that our “Wolf Pack.” When someone needs to pull together a business plan, we have someone in our pack who knows how to do it. We have attorneys, accountants, real estate agents, web designers, packaging experts, and just about anyone else you would need to connect with.

At Grow and Grow Rich®, we make sure you have the right team and are moving in the right direction. Making sure you’re guided in the appropriate direction is so important. We have individuals come to us often who have a great idea for a cannabis business. But after they tell us their perfect idea, we have to break the news there’s already a company doing that. A lot of people new to the industry don’t realize yet what’s already out there and what’s still available. The Wolf Pack at Grow and Grow Rich® is there to help guide cannapreneurs so they make the right decisions.

So if you don’t have your own tribe or wolf pack, join ours.

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Christopher Wright teaching Protégé’s students about the Green Zone as there are on their way to a Green Zone property for sale at GGRA’s Summit

Final Thoughts Regardless of the income stream they choose, we meet more and more people each day involved in the cannabis industry for compassionate reasons. They want to help those afflicted with illnesses or diseases like Parkinson’s, Tourette’s syndrome, glaucoma, cancer, AIDS, epilepsy, and much more.

These admirable individuals aren’t in it for the money. They just want people who are ill or in pain to have the opportunity to try the medicinal effects of marijuana. They’re working to make sure the truth about medical marijuana gets out there, and they need a network to help them get their message out.

The Grow and Grow Rich® team is proud to work with veterans’ organizations like Weed for Warriors. Educating our wounded vets on the medicinal effects of marijuana is a mission for our network. We’re

77 2 GROW AND GROW RICH tackling big issues like PTSD and opiate addiction. Vets are tired of using the drugs available and love the natural, organic medicinal value of cannabis. We’re helping these Wounded Warriors have a much better quality of life.

Christopher Wright on the Bus with Students at the Summit listening to their Green Zone questions.

One particular wounded warrior is José Martinez. He’s a triple am- putee whom the doctors thought might not survive. He stepped on an explosive device that took both his legs and one arm. As he tried to cope with these unfathomable changes to his life, he became ad- dicted to opiates. And he contemplated suicide.

The turning point for José was when a friend talked him into smoking marijuana instead of taking the opiates. He was able to kick his opiate addiction, manage his PTSD, and turn his life into something meaningful. Now he helps other veterans by growing medical marijuana. José is also a motivational speaker who helps people understand no matter how bad it is, life is still worth something.

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There’s so much more you can do, and it all starts with picking your income stream. Think about how you can help others or just get the word out about the wonderful and amazing effects of marijuana. This is what we mean by doing good and doing well.

79 2 Get Legal: Everything You Need to Know )

Jim Fitzpatrick, Solutioneer in the Medical Marijuana Industry Jim Fitzpatrick is a Notre Dame graduate who worked in the consumer side of Big Pharma, for a division of Johnson & Johnson selling Tylenol. He prepared West Coast retailers for the billion dollar pre- scriptions soon to be available over the counter.

Jim is an international business executive and a land use subject matter expert out of necessity. He built the largest chain of car wash and detailing centers in southern California. Jim is a former elected official and retired Chairman of the Planning Commission.

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Jim Fitzpatrick speaking at a GGRA live event

Jim has now turned “Solutioneer,” crafting customized solutions to complex issues. He is an active institutional investor in public cannabis companies.

A History of Marijuana Legalization First, let’s look at how marijuana went from legal to criminal and back to legal.

Marijuana has been around for thousands of years. There are an- cient Egyptian graves containing marijuana buried with the dead. Eventually, marijuana use spread from Egypt until it reached North America with Christopher Columbus in 1492.

Some of our Founding Fathers grew marijuana for hemp. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington both had hemp farms. It wasn’t used as a drug until the early 20th century when Mexican immigrants brought its drug use to the U.S. As a result, horrified Americans recoiled, and states banned it as a dangerous, degenerate drug out of racism.

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Marijuana use was criminalized in 1937 thanks to Harry J. Anslinger who was head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (the predecessor to the DEA) from 1930 to 1962. He convinced Congress to completely ban cultivation, sale, and possession, and the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937 was born. By this time, states had already banned its use, so now marijuana was illegal everywhere in the U.S. Under both federal and state statutes.

The Tax Stamp Act made anyone who wanted to sell cannabis to pay a tax and get a license. But the law was designed to make it practically impossible to do so.

In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Tax Stamp Act was unconstitutional. Quickly thereafter, President Richard Nixon and Congress enacted the Controlled Substances Act, which categorized marijuana as one of the most dangerous substances in the world.

The tide against marijuana didn’t turn until 1996 when California voters passed the first medical marijuana law in the world. Several states followed suit in the next few years.

In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Passing by a wide margin, the law allowed purchase, possession, and use of up to 1 ounce of cannabis per person.

In 2014, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, D.C. followed suit with recreational use laws.

In 2016, California and Massachusetts passed their own recreational use laws.

Today, 29 states have medical marijuana laws, and adult use is legal in 8 states including the District of Columbia, covering a population of 69 million people.

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The Future of Cannabis Legalization Reforms are beginning at the federal level, but it’s moving slowly. Late in 2016, Congress passed a law barring the DEA and federal prosecu- tors from targeting medical marijuana providers in states where it is legal.

We still have a long road ahead, but nothing that can stop cannabis’s forward motion now.

Even while the industry becomes regulated around the U.S., at the federal level, it is still considered a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance, which we’ll discuss later in this chapter.

Let’s now turn to what you need to know about getting legal from the local, state, and federal angles.

Understanding Rules and Regulations Words matter on this topic. Ignorance is not a defensible strategy. You can make a mistake on watering schedules or fertilizer regimens when growing your strands, and you may recover. If you make a mistake on Land Use and regulatory issues, it can have a devastating impact on your finances and in some cases your life.

Now that we have your attention, let’s discuss federal, state and local Land Use and regulatory topics.

Hire an Expert—Or Become One Basic rule of thumb: if you are home growing, you need to become a subject matter expert and seek cost-effective resources to help you become the expert.

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Become a cannabis expert.

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If you chose a commercial operation, the best way to answer, “How do you know what to do, if you don’t know what to do?” is to find someone who does. Legal and accounting experts in the cannabis industry can make sure you’re on the right track from the beginning.

Consider hiring an expert not as an expense but as a time- and money-saving investment.

Regulatory Compliance is a Priority You will wear all kinds of hats and make many mission critical decisions. Far too many businesses fail to prioritize compliance and suffer consequences much greater than lower margins or lost customers.

Consider a few of the many aspects of compliance with which you must become familiar:

Where business operations will take place Hours of operation Distance requirements to sensitive receptors (children) Odor control Security and surveillance requirements And much more “I did not know” as a defense will never fly when confronted with regulatory agencies with the power to fine, close you down, or other not-so-pleasant scenarios.

You must … keep good records and documentation. Most business people keep a file or a binder at their operation identical to one they carry in their vehicles.

The Hierarchy of Federal, State, and Local Laws First is the concept of “supremacy,” defined as the state or condition

85 2 GROW AND GROW RICH of being superior to all others in authority, power, or status. Relevant to your medical marijuana business, this means federal law, trumps state law, and state law trumps local law.

Now if you are thinking this should be a State’s Rights issue, that cannabis law should be left up to the states, consistent with the 10th Amendment, you would be right.

But we are still in the days of Refer Madness, so the federal government considers cannabis a Schedule 1 Drug, a controlled substance without medicinal value.

Will the Feds reschedule or de-schedule, changing the federal regulatory scheme? YES. When? Who knows.

On a daily basis, we are seeing legislators realize the will of the people is to have a properly regulated cannabis industry based on the freedoms fought for and established by our Founding Fathers (and a bunch of women).

One important piece of legislation is the Rohrbacher Far Amendment. This omnibus budget rider bill essentially defunds the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of Justice (DOJ), preventing them from using budgets or even their jobs to perform enforcement in states with legalized marijuana. Without this legislation, cannaprenuers, entrepreneurs like ourselves, would be subject to Draconian acts like asset forfeiture and criminal offenses.

This important federal legislation requires an annual renewal. Rohbacher, a conservative, crossed the political aisle and garnered liberal support once with Farr, and is doing it again with Bluementhal. This process gained the necessary votes, over time, by using the “State’s Rights” as the platform to whip votes.

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It is unlikely the bell of cannabis freedom can be un-rung. New Frontier Data, a data aggregation company that guides industry op- erators, policymakers, and investors in the cannabis industry, put out a graphic in March 2017, reporting 95% of people live in a state with some level of state legislation governing cannabis. New Frontier also reported 93% of Congressional members have constituents in some form of marketplace where cannabis is legal.

The troubling reality is the federal government owns the patent to marijuana that cites the medicinal values. Companies like GW Pharmaceuticals, a British biopharmaceutical company, have proven in trials that cannabis is an effective medicine. We know it works; it will take time for others to catch up. There are powerful interests influencing the process.

Federal Enforcement of Controlled Substances Act The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA) is the statute establishing federal drug policy which regulates the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of certain substances. This legislation created 5 schedules (classifications) under which substances would be included. Cannabis is federally regulated under Schedule 1 controlled substances, which have the following findings:

1. The drug or substance has a high potential for abuse. 2. The drug has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the U.S. 3. There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision.

We know different today. It’s just taking the federal government time to catch up.

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A U.S. Department of Justice memo from the Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole’s Office covers how the federal government enforces the CSA. In the “Cole Memo,” he offers guidance to DOJ attorneys and law enforcement to focus on eight priorities in enforcing CSA2:

Preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors; Preventing revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels; Preventing the diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other statues; Preventing state-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or other illegal activity; Preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana; Preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other ad- verse public health consequences associated with marijuana use; Preventing the growing of marijuana on public lands and the attendant public safety and environmental dangers posed by marijuana production on public lands; and Preventing marijuana possession or use on federal property.

These 8 priorities are what federal attorneys and law enforcement personnel will use to judge whether your business violates the CSA and whether they should go ahead with prosecution. It’s good to keep in mind the risk of legal action against you, such as a fine or worse, if you don’t get the legal and compliance issues right.

State Laws Let’s look at California first. Another good state to consider and

2 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, Memorandum dated February 14, 2014, “Guidance Regarding Marijuana Related Financial Crimes.”

188 Get Legal: Everything You Need to Know model after is Colorado, as they were first for Adult Use, Edible, and Manufacturing standards.

In California, the vote heard around the world was Proposition 215, The Compassionate Use Act, in 1996. This did not legalize Cannabis, but it offered “Limited Immunity.” What this meant was if you had a doctor recommendation and law enforcement took action, then you could use this voter-approved initiative as your defense. It was a step towards decriminalizing.

But it took another 20 years for meaningful adoption of federal, state and local laws to make meaningful policy chances.

Up until late in 2016, you could possess oils extracted from cannabis flower with a doctor’s recommendation, but the actual process of extraction was considered Drug Manufacturing under the Health & Safety Code. So the State of California banned the cow, but allowed the milk.

Then came Senate Bill 420 that went into effect January 1, 2004, and established Proposition 215 guidelines and a voluntary Patient Identification Card System. Now patients had regulatory certainty and were allowed 6 mature or 12 immature plants and ½ pound of processed cannabis.

Along the way, there were some local court cases, like Miral v. City of Riverside that established a city’s right to prohibit and ban cannabis.

Finally, the legislature acted to frame a regulatory scheme called the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA), and has later evolved. But here the state established commercial categories and allowed for a state licensing scheme similar to schemes and ultimate enforcement in the alcohol industry. This is intended to be imple- mented in January 2018, and time will tell when implementation

89 2 GROW AND GROW RICH actually occurs. It is necessary to bring regulatory certainty to an industry that seeks to be properly regulated.

Then, on November 8, 2016, voters of California approved Proposition 64 that established rules and regulations for Adult Use.

Local Law For those operating out of your home or developing commercial operations, this is where the rubber truly meets the road. If you’re considering a commercial operation, you must achieve “Local Authority” before you can apply for state licenses.

Here are a few tips on how to go about establishing Local Authority:

Go to your city’s website, and search on keywords “Marijuana” and “Cannabis.” Find your city’s Municipal Code and do the same. Using these resources, answer the following questions: »» Does the city prohibit cannabis businesses? »» If there is an Ordinance, what specifically do they allow? »» If home cultivation is allowed, how many plants are allowed and what other operational criteria do they have? Visit City Hall, talk to the City Manager and visit the Planning Department. Depending on what type of business you’re considering, you may seek input and feedback from the local police and fire.

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Indoor grow labeled and compliant with local laws.

Identify State and Local Licensing and Permitting Agencies You’ll need to make sure you have all the proper licenses and permits required by both state and local agencies like city and county. Look for:

99 Business license 99 Taxation 99 Operator’s permit 99 Seller’s permit 99 Agricultural permit 99 Conditional use permits

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Collective, Cooperative, or Non-Profit? How do you know whether to set up your cannabis business as a collective, a cooperative, or a non-profit? The spirit of the Compassionate Use Act, the Medical Marijuana Plan, and the California Attorney General is laid out as:

Nothing in Proposition 215 or the MMP authorizes collectives, cooperatives, or individuals to profit from the sale or distribution of marijuana.

What does this mean for you? Let’s look at the different business options first to help you decide.

The most common and widely used business application for California dispensaries is actually the mutual benefit corporation (MBC). Like a traditional corporation, a MBC is structured like a regular company with a board of directors, members, and other employees. The difference is the MBC is only for the benefit of its member. It is not intended to make a profit.

Some dispensaries form as true non-profit organizations like a public, educational, or religious non-profit. They fall under more strin- gent requirements, such as corporate structure subject to Attorney General approval. Non-profits are eligible for tax-exempt status under California law, but non-profits aren’t allowed to distribute medical marijuana to non-members or non-patients.

Cooperatives must be officially crated created and registered under a special part of the California Corporations Code. Very few dispensaries are cooperatives. Like the MBC, it’s designed for the benefit of members, but is democratically controlled with voting members and allows members to receive distributions from excess supply of the corporation.

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Finally, collectives are technically not recognized under California Corporations Code. You find the term “collective” in the MMP pro- vision which permits patients and their caregivers to “collectively or cooperatively” cultivate medical marijuana. Obviously, the term “cooperatively” implies a cooperative, but the “collectively” is unde- fined. Here’s what the Attorney General says:

…A collective should be an organization that merely facili- tates the collaborative efforts of patient and caregiver members—including the allocation of costs and revenues. As such, a collective is not a statutory entity, but as a practical matter it might have to organize as some form of business to carry out its activities.

A collective generally involves a written membership agreement covering how medical marijuana is cultivated and transported by and amongst its members.

While these all may sound similar, their differences lie in tax lia- bilities, company structure, funding and financing alternatives, and member status.

If you’re wondering where that leaves you, we suggest that you consult with a competent marijuana lawyer who is knowledgeable in medical marijuana laws. Reach out to the Grow and Grow Rich® team to get connected with an attorney who can help you determine what type of entity your business should be.

Getting Started Build your binders. When you research, print out 2 copies: one for your place of operation and the other for your vehicle.

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Jim Fitzpatrick at a Grow and Grow Rich live event

Always ask why. Just like a young child, when a local authority tells you “No,” you respond with “Why?” Then you go away, dive into research mode, and find a great answer to “Why?” You don’t go back to City Hall until you have an educated and informed opinion. As complexities increase, you may need an expert to help you find the answers.

Do internet searches. To cost-effectively seek information so you can make informed decisions, go to your target city’s web site. Typically, in the top right corner, you will find a search box. In that box, on separate searches, type “marijuana” and then type “cannabis.” Read everything. Focus on the dates to make sure you are reading most current information. Print or save links to information so you will have fingertip access to it in the future.

Conclusion As Miguel de Cervantes so succinctly put it:

“Forewarned, forearmed: to be prepared is half the victory.”

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A key item is to realize the legalities at the federal, state, and local levels are always changing. It’s up to you to stay educated about the changes that occur. But today, we have a little bit of federal and state regulatory certainty, so now is the time to get into the cannabis industry. The door is wide open for a cannapreneur to Grow and Grow Rich®.

As a cannapreneur, use your passions and skills set to decide where you start in the industry. Obviously, if you love growing things, you should become a grower. But if you’re a great accountant, be a cannabis industry accountant. Or if you’re passionate about the retail market, consider opening a dispensary. Consider how you can be the person selling the picks and shovels during the Gold Rush. The intersection of your passions and skills and the cannabis industry is where you should start in this amazing Green Rush.

What the team at Grow and Grow Rich® can do for you is to help you navigate what used to be a gray and black market and is now a regulated environment. The cannabis industry is at a crossroads: if you can get your local municipality on board with your home grow or commercial operation, then in 2018, you can get the Holy Grail: a state license.

I’ve made it my mission to be a subject matter expert in the legalities, particularly Land Use of medical marijuana and adult use. I’ve been around the block and want to share what I’ve learned. That said, please read the following disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER I am not an attorney and cannot offer legal advice. The preceding information is offered for your education in general terms. If you’re unclear about your options when confronted with a specific legal issue related to the cannabis industry, I urge you to consult an attorney with a background in marijuana law.

95 2 Funding: Where to Start )

Any startup, no matter what income stream you choose, will need funding to serve your customers. If you already have adequate funds to get started, you’re in good shape. However, if you need outside funding, we have some suggestions.

Indoor grows require big outlays upfront.

Seed Money Normal seed capital or seed funding is usually in the form of investment capital in exchange for an equity stake in your company. And all too often, this results in you losing some power or control over your business.

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At Grow and Grow Rich®, as usual, we’ve got your back. We’ve partnered with a seed money organization that doesn’t need equity in exchange for helping you finance your startup. The partners of the organization have years of experience in investing, and offer some very innovative funding and credit building techniques.

Using seed money can give you the cash credit line you need to launch your business. No matter what income stream you choose, you will have startup costs that must be funded. This option con- nects you with the financial resources you need to sustain your business, while offering your access to their team’s vast knowledge and experience.

Our seed money experts have invested in ventures that achieved more than $90 million in revenues. They’re successful at what they do, and they have the long, proven track record to back it up. They’ve helped over 5,000 new businesses get a start since 2008.

It’s easy to get started. You only need a minimum credit score of 680 or higher. There are no official mimic requirements on annual sales to qualify, and any type of business is acceptable. Our partner organization can even help you get your business started correctly, regardless of what state you’re in.

If this is a funding option you’d like to pursue, call the Grow and Grow Rich® offices to get connected with seed money.

Building Corporate Credit Not only we help you find funding, but we also have experts who can guide you to earn a perfect business credit rating in just a few months. When you get a perfect business credit rating, you can get additional funding at the lowest interest rates possible. Our corporate credit experts will consult with you on how to use your new business credit to

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get the most out of future credit availability at the least cost of interest.

Our corporate credit experts help you get your business set up in a way that protects you personally while building your business credit scores. For example, they’ll offer direction on what banks look at when they’re researching your business for funding. In addition, they’ll help you with the twenty compliance items bank lenders look at when determining your credit-worthiness.

You even have access to “Member Banks” who will help you with your first business loan. If you haven’t tried before, getting a business loan is often referred to as the “Holy Grail” for business because of how difficult it is.

These credit experts guide you to establish a Paydex score of 80 or more. Dun & Bradstreet coined this term for a numerical score for businesses like your personal credit score. The Paydex score ranges from 0 (worst) to 100 (best). A Paydex score of 80 or more is considered a healthy company.

Imagine this for a moment. Using this partner to help you gain financing, you can easily apply for vendor credit lines such as:

99 Starter cards 99 Major retail 99 Office resources 99 Building supplies 99 Gas and fleet cards

You’ll have access to all types of funding programs like:

Bank funding »» SBA loans »» Equipment financing

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»» Revenue loans »» Retirement funding »» Invoice financing »» Unsecured lines of bank funding Investors »» Hard money lending »» Angel investors »» Crowd funding »» Private investors »» Venture capital

If you’d like to connect with our corporate credit building partner for more information, get in touch with the Grow and Grow Rich® office.

IRA or Retirement Funding Did you know if you have a retirement account, you can use it to invest in real estate and private businesses? If you have a self-directed IRA, you can use your retirement funds as an investment resource. Let’s discuss how your IRA works first.

A traditional IRA is managed by a trustee like your bank. The bank has certain restrictions on what you can and cannot do with your IRA account, mainly because they want to limit the time and effort spent in administering your account. For example, if you want to buy real estate or other business assets inside your IRA, a traditional trustee prohibits it. But when you go to the IRS publications, which are the legal source for what’s permitted by law in an IRA, there is no restric- tion prohibiting you from buying those things in your IRA.

A self-directed IRA lets you do anything that’s not prohibited by the IRS with your IRA account for a flat annual fee. Self-directed IRAs have been around for decades, but usually only the wealthy know about them.

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Just to give you an example of how powerful a self-directed IRA can be, let’s look at Mitt Romney, presidential candidate back in 2012. As part of campaigning for the presidency, Romney released his financial statements. One thing stood out: over a 15 year period, Romney grew a self-directed IRA to over $102 million.

Does that sound impossible, considering you can only contribute $5,000 annually to an IRA? But a self-directing IRA lets you take that $5,000 contribution and invest it in ways that make more money than traditional IRAs, like real estate, especially Green Zone Real Estate.

Imagine if you took your $5,000 IRA contribution and used it to purchase real estate that generated a cash flow of $1,000 a month. Since the IRA owns the real estate, the cashflow goes back into your IRA, not your checking account, which means an additional $12,000 a year. That money is not taxed because a self-directed IRA is taxed when you put your original $5,000 in, not when you take money out. And if you sell that real estate, there is no capital gains tax inside your IRA. They are tax-protected shelters.

Romeny used his business connections and knowledge to invest his IRA contributions in money-making assets and real estate, and grew his tax-protected funds exponentially.

Another retirement funding solution is a solo 401(k). If you have a 401(k) that’s eligible for rollover, you can create a solo 401(k) that gives you tax-free, penalty-free access to your 401(k) money at any time. Let’s say you have $100,000 in your 401(k). With a solo 401(k) account, you can borrow your own money at 5.5% prime plus 2 points interest rate. But, who gets the interest you pay? You do. It’s paid back to your 401(k). This is called “zero cost of capital” and it’s the best deal around. And you can contribute up to $50,000 to $60,000 per year per person to a 401(k).

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So for someone who’s looking for cash to start a business, you can easily find someone with a self-directed IRA or 401(k) who’s interested in investing because they’re looking for larger returns that traditional accounts offer.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you’ve found Green Zone Real Estate and need $153,000 to purchase and renovate it. Let’s say you’ve already raised $100,000 so you’re looking for $53,000. You’re willing to pay 12% interest to the person who lends you the money because you know that Green Zone Real Estate will be in high demand. Let’s say your timeframe is to buy the real estate, complete renovations, and flip the property in 4 months’ time. That means someone can earn $6,360 in 4 months, tax-free, by investing in your through their retirement account. You help their retirement account grow faster than any bank can provide, and they help you fund your business. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

That’s how private money works. Again, if you want to pursue this type of funding, the Grow and Grow Rich® team can hook you up. Give us a call, and we’ll connect you with the IRA funding experts on our team.

Final Thoughts You have options when you need funding for your medical marijuana business. And the Grow and Grow Rich® team is here to help you make the best choice for you, personally and professionally. When you combine the years of experience our funding experts have, we offer centuries of knowledge and financial positioning to help you get the best deal at the best price.

There is a solution for you. We have it. Give us a call.

101 2 Distribution: What Do I Do Now? )

You’re in the home stretch. You’ve grown a beautiful plant with a wonderful smell, taste, and look. Now what? How do you take your finished product and get it in the hands of those who need it?

First things first. Let’s talk about packaging and trimming so you present your medical marijuana in the best possible light. Because how you present your product, and to a great extent yourself, is key to creating a professional reputation and gaining the best prices.

After Harvest: Curing, Trimming, and Storing Properly curing your harvest not only increases it potency, but also its value. There are a few different methods for curing like freeze-drying, water curing, or even dry ice. We will focus on the easiest and most consistent way to get the results you want.

To dry your harvest, you can cut off branches of your plant and hang them from string or wire, or you can trim down to the buds and dry them on a drying rack. Some growers even hang the full plants to dry. You want your curing room to stay between 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit with 45 to 55 percent humidity. Also, an oscillating fan should circulate the air.

1102 Distribution: What Do I Do Now?

Chris at a large grows curing room

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It’s important for the results of your harvest that you keep the temperature and humidity consistent, so make sure your curing room is automatically controlled.

Depending on how dense the flowers are and the climate conditions in your curing room, it can take anywhere from 5 to 15 days for the initial drying process to complete.

Next, you want to trim your buds into a nice, conical form and remove any leaf matter on the outside. This presents your product nicely and shows you are a professional who goes the extra mile. You want your customers to see your product in its finished phase as high quality.

After trimming, put your buds in an airtight container. You can use turkey bags, glass jars, or a vacuum sealer. An inexpensive vacuum sealer from the store usually comes with bags and ensures your buds stay preserved longer and are fresher. You want a storage solution that is not only odor-proof, but one that exerts your professionalism when you take it to the collective or dispensary.

One warning: most plastic bags are unsuitable for curing because they can react with certain terpenes in the cannabis and degrade. It’s best to stick to turkey bags, class jars, or vacuum sealing.

Put your sealed bud containers in a cool, dry, dark place to cure. During the first seven days, open your containers and let the buds breathe a little. This lets moisture escape and replenishes oxygen. After the first seven days, you only need to open your containers once every few days or so.

Four to eight weeks is the perfect timeframe for curing to produce the best results. Don’t skimp on the curing process. With competition ris- ing in the medical marijuana industry, curing properly can take your very good product and turn it into an excellent one.

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Make sure whatever storage container you use, you label it properly. The strain and the date should be neatly and legibly printed on each package. Your customers will be appreciative you brought a quality product in in such a professional manner so they can buy and store it in their vault appropriately.

Learn How to Self-Market To be involved in the cannabis industry in any income stream, you need to learn how to self-market. If you’ve gone through the initial steps outlined in this book, you hopefully have decided on a company name and an income stream. Part of creating your brand for your company is getting experience through networking. And the best way to get the experience you need is to start shopping your product.

You should always start with an amazing product; market the very best of what you have. And the best way to determine to whom to market your product is by reaching out to your clients where they are. For example, you can find dispensaries, delivery services, and brokers on Weedmaps.com or Leafly.com. Before we go further, let’s look at what each of these distribution outlets is.

DISPENSARIES A marijuana dispensary is a physical location often called a “storefront” that is legally recognized under law to dispense medical and/ or recreational marijuana. Refer again to the chapter on getting legal because you must set up a dispensary under the right business structure with licenses and permits. You must also follow all local and state regulations. We’ve also discussed how important it is to find the right location for your dispensary in the Green Zone in your target city.

If you want to start a dispensary, be prepared for a large initial outlay of cash. One thing that you can do with a dispensary to set yourself

105 2 GROW AND GROW RICH apart from the others is by establishing a highly professional culture in your dispensary. Remember, perception is half the battle when en- ticing customers to purchase from you. You want to be clean, well presented, and professional in every way.

DELIVERY SERVICES Delivery services are mobile medical marijuana providers that bring a patient’s medicine to his or her door. Of the 26 states allowing legal medical marijuana as of the writing of this book, there are a wide variety of regulations on who may deliver marijuana: caregivers, dispensaries, or commercial delivery services.

If you’re interested in selling your product to a delivery service or starting your own delivery service, research both your state and local regulations on the legality of delivery services in your area.

BROKERS Brokers are the middlemen who negotiate deals between those who grow medical marijuana and those who buy and/or sell it. There are pros and cons to working with a broker.

Obviously, when you sell to a broker, you don’t have to deal with a variety of dispensary and delivery service owners. You negotiate only with your broker. On the flip side, a broker needs to get marijuana at the cheapest prices to resell to dispensaries, delivery services, and other buyers. At the end of the day, it comes down to how much time and effort you want to put into marketing and distributing your product.

Talking to Dispensaries, Delivery Services, and Brokers This step is one of the easiest you’ll find. Simply go to Weedmaps’ or

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Leafly’s website where distribution services are advertised and enter your location. You’ll get a listing of stores and delivery services within your geographic location that you can start reaching out to. Next, we will show you exactly what to say to prospects and how to say it.

First, before you make any phone calls, remember—these dispensaries and delivery services all want what you have. You don’t know yet if they specifically want your product, but you do know they want what you have. That’s called a hot lead. It’s no different from a mortgage lead, a sales lead, a car lead, etc. Anyone who sells something needs hot leads.

Don’t think when you first make phone calls that you will get conver- sion rates better than 10%. If you do it right, for every 40 calls you make, you should get around 4 appointments. Like with any sales objective, it’s a numbers game. Every single time someone say no, it increases the chances that the next person will say yes. You’ve got to have thick skin and be impervious to rejection. With a 10% conver- sion rate, that means you’ll be rejected 9 times out of 10. But all you need is that one “yes.”

What Should You Say? Here’s the script you should use. Practice this before calling, and start with dispensaries and delivery services that are not high on your list first to get the wrinkles ironed out of your spiel. And say it just like this:

“Um, hello. Yes, I was wondering … if you um … ever work with patients … who uh grow their own medicine?”

The most common answer is “yes” or “what are you talking about?”

Either one of these answers is beautiful. If they say “yes,” of course

107 2 GROW AND GROW RICH you can make an appointment and go right to the dispensary.

If they say “what are you talking about” or “what do you mean,” you can say something like:

“Well, I grow my own medicine and sometimes I have extra. I… uh… grow an indoor hydroponic product, and it came out really good this round. And if you have any members of your collective who might benefit from it, I’d be happy to bring in some and share it with you guys.”

Notice that the tone is rather hesitant. Why do you need to say it like this? Let’s break it down into detail. First thing, let your voice break a little bit. You’re trying to sound like you don’t know what you’re talking about. Why? Because someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about is an easy mark. A dispensary owner or delivery service owner wants that person to come in because they think they will get a really great deal on that medicine. Simply because you sound like you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Secondly, notice the pause after the word “patient.”

“Do you work with any patients … who grow their own medicine?”

The reason for the pause is you’re essentially asking them if they work with patients. And the inevitable response is “yes” because they certainly do work with patients. You’re priming them to say “yes.” If they think you may be a patient, they’re interested in working with you because they want to sell you something. They don’t know that you’re trying to sell them something.

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Avoid Throwing Out a Number Let’s say you’ve gotten to the point where the person is interested in what you have and might want to meet with you. One of the most common questions is something like, “What’s the ticket?” That’s the industry way of saying, “How much does it cost?” This is an area where you want to be very careful.

Since you don’t know who you’re talking to and what their motives are, choose your words carefully. Here’s an excellent response, especially if you’re a medical patient speaking to a collective or delivery service who caters to medical patients.

“Well, you know, this is just what I grow for myself. I never try to be too greedy. I just ask to be reimbursed for my cost of production.”

That’s your key phrase: “I just ask to be reimbursed for my cost of production.” There’s no mention of profit. There’s no mention of anything other than you being reimbursed as a patient for your costs.

Most likely, however they will still want to press you further for how much you’re charging. Once again, try to avoid going into specifics. The most important thing is to get that meeting, to get to their location to show them your product.

Here’s Negotiation 101: Avoid being the first person to throw out a number. You can say something like, “Well, you know, it’s a great product. If you want it, I’d be happy to come down today and show it to you. If you like it and offer me a fair price, I’m inclined to say yes.”

For example, you may say you’d like to get $2,000 for a pound, but the dispensary or delivery service owner may be prepared to pay you $2,200. What is that person going to do if you throw out your

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number first? They’re probably going to offer you $1,900 or even lower. Whatever number you throw out, the other person negotiating will throw out a lower number. So try not to be the first person to throw out the number, although that’s not always possible.

If you do need to quote a number, know up front what is the lowest you’re willing to accept for your product. Start with a number you’re willing to negotiate down from. In any negotiation, everyone wants to feel like they’re getting a great deal, and the cannabis industry is no different. If you know you won’t go less than $2,000, start at $2,200 or $2,300, if your product is worth it, and go down from there.

Offer What Others Won’t Another great tip is to offer to bring only one-quarter pound. A lot of dispensaries and delivery services don’t want to commit to too much up front from an unknown grower with unknown product. A lot of brokers and growers don’t want to sell quarter pounds. They only want to sell in one, five, or ten pound quantities. Don’t be greedy when you’re just starting out. Be willing to offer a quarter of a pound to allow someone to try you and your product out. This gives the members of their collective to see how they like what you have. If you have a good product, they will call you back.

Present Your Business Well Have you ever heard of this saying:

Perception is stronger than reality.

It matters what you look like, what you talk like, and what you sound like. If you’re going into a dispensary or a delivery service, you must look like a professional business person. Dress the part with clean, professional clothing, and be consistent and on-time. Show your

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Make sure your product smells, tastes, and looks great. Chris at Reef’s Grow in Las Vegas.

111 2 GROW AND GROW RICH customers you are a reliable and consistent provider of a great product for their members.

Create a List & Follow Up Another tip is to create a list. You can use an Excel spreadsheet or a piece of paper and a pencil. Capture all of the dispensaries and delivery services in your area. And as you go through your list to make calls, unless someone says, “Don’t ever call me again. I never want to speak to you,” don’t get rid of their information.

If someone says “I can’t meet with you today” or “this week,” you continue to call them each week until you’re certain there’s no chance whatsoever that you’ll ever meet with them. This is following up just like any business does with a prospect. You keep at it until you’ve made a sale or received a definitive “no.”

Presenting Your Product How do you make sure you get the highest dollar amount possible for what you’ve grown? The first thing is you must grow a great product. If you’ve followed the suggestions in this book, you most likely have a good product. And how you present it to your prospective customer is important.

You can present it in a glass jar, or you can offer it in a turkey bag, which is very common in the industry. Our experts have presented it both ways, and find that it’s much easier to transport in a turkey bag and much easy to move large quantities.

A glass jar is clean and presents professionalism, but more likely, you don’t want to get rid of that glass jar. One option is to present your product in a glass jar, and bring along some clean, fresh, empty turkey bags to transfer purchased product into. Do not bring an old,

1112 Distribution: What Do I Do Now? crinkled, crumpled bag. You want to make every aspect of yourself and your product clean and presentable.

When Considering Consignment A very common request you’ll get from delivery services or dispensaries is they want to try your product out on consignment. Consignment is where you give them your product and get nothing in return so they can see how well it moves. If your product moves, you get reimbursed; if it doesn’t you get your product back.

There are pros and cons either way with consignment. The pro is you can often get someone to try your product when they wouldn’t otherwise give you a chance. The con is you could lose everything you give them. For example, if the dispensary goes out of business, if they’re dishonest, or if they get robbed, you will lose everything you’ve given them on consignment. The key to determining the best way to handle a consignment case is to never give over any amount more than you are willing to lose. Because when you transact business on consignment, you risk never seeing that product again.

Be Careful Who You Approach Depending on the size of the dispensary or delivery service, there may be several levels of gatekeepers. You might have a receptionist, a bud tender, or even the HR person. You want to make sure you’re leaving your sample with or showcasing it to someone who actually can make a business decision and who look to have an ounce of responsibility.

Sometimes in dispensaries or delivery services, you’re dealing with young people making lower wages who might not treat your product with the care and responsibility you want. And leaving your sample with them is probably a waste of time. Try to get in touch with the

113 2 GROW AND GROW RICH owner or the person in charge of purchasing products for the dispensary or delivery service.

Stand Out From the Crowd Finally, avoid sounding just like everyone else. Put yourself in the shoes of the dispensary service or delivery service owner. Now imagine how many times they’re interrupted from their work with a call from a grower or a broker who asks, “Are you meeting with any ven- dors today?” You make it all too easy for them to say no. Remember you’re interrupting them with a phone call, so they’re naturally not inclined to say “yes” to you. They’re more than likely looking for the first excuse to say “no” and get back to what they were doing. Think of yourself when someone calls you on the phone to sell you something.

You want to call in a way that makes them feel good about what they’re getting out of this deal. Think of the person on the other end of the phone and what they might need. What does a dispensary or delivery service owner need? They need someone who can deliver top quality product on a consistent and reliable basis at a cost that allows them to make a profit. Offer them that and you’ll make sales.

What if You’re the Dispensary/Delivery Service Owner? Maybe you decided you want to be a dispensary or delivery service owner. How do you go about marketing and distributing your product?

Again, turn to Weedmaps.com or Leafly.com. You can find a representative on these sites who will help you build your own vendor listing. This allows you to advertise and build your brand around your company name and your product.

Another great source to reach out to potential customers is through

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Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms you can use for free. Nick Boomer, the Grow and Grow Rich® Team’s outdoor grow expert, reaches over 30,000 followers who are interested in how he lives his lifestyle, how he grows, and what kind of information he can share, as well as networking with him.

The cannabis industry is very decentralized as far as communication, so using social media as an outlet allows you to reach directly out to your consumer, buyer, or associate. In addition, getting a representative from Weedmaps or Leafly makes the process even more simple.

Visit each website and scroll around to decide where you think you may want to advertise. Let’s say you’re in Los Angeles, and you want to do business there. Make sure your location, which is a huge part of your success, is in a well-trafficked area, as well as in a delivery service radius area that’s serviceable.

Decide on Dispensing or Delivering Delivery service is a little bit easier to start out. Advertising costs are less, but there are a lot of delivery services online because of the low initial startup costs. Delivering may be a great place to start for growers, though, because you learn the ins and outs of the cannabis business before investing in a dispensary. Owning a brick and mortar store is not only more expensive, but it’s riskier. So we want to make sure you have a good understanding of what you’re getting yourself into before you go there.

Once you start deciding whether Weedmaps or Leafly is a good idea for you, you’re ready to get your feet wet first. This allows you to understand the industry in a way that helps you make a more informed decision whether to open a brick and mortar store. A dispensary is more high risk in terms of financial investment and competing with established collectives.

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Christopher Wright Teaching Protégé’s students how to set up a dispensary

So, get on the Weedmaps or Leafly websites, navigate them, and become familiar with how they work. You’ll find a link on each website that will connect you to a representative. Your rep will contact you and is more than happy to offer great service and to answer your questions. In addition, you can always turn to the Grow and Grow Rich® team, too.

When Nick Boomer was starting off as a grower, he had a small delivery service. He offered a premium product that most stores didn’t want to pay the higher cost for, so he went with a driver and a manager. Nick functioned as the buyer, inventory manager, and grower for that small delivery service collective. It’s very realistic for you to do the same. You just need to get on Weedmaps or Leafly, connect with one of their reps, offer yourself as a local delivery service, and offer a premium product.

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Marketing Your Service One thing to consider when marketing your new delivery service is you’re competing with others who are established. Patients don’t know if you have any credibility, let alone a good product. You can’t ask them to come to your store or just trust you.

You need to prove yourself. So, helping you get into that market, you want to build reviews—especially 5-star reviews—on those websites. You don’t want to tell people to go give you reviews specifically. You want them to be genuine. You want to ask them to leave you a review so you can continue doing what you’re doing, which is providing a great service and a great product.

One thing we highly recommend is first-time patient promotions as well as referral and recommendation programs. Think about yourself as a consumer. You like it when a company remembers you and offers you a referral or a reward for shopping there and referring friends and family. And conversely, if their service or product is poor, you will not leave a positive review.

Most people will go out of their way if you ask them politely, “Hey, could you do me a favor? Could you write about your experience, positive or negative, on Weedmaps and share it so other patients can see it?” This type of online referral, like Yelp, is a huge factor in customers deciding to choose your delivery service. Think about how you as a consumer choose to shop or eat at certain places and put yourself in those shoes.

Paying for Advertising Once you get your representative on Leafly or Weedmaps, they will offer you some solutions and packages. The packages can range from hundreds of dollars up to thousands of dollars for advertising

117 2 GROW AND GROW RICH depending on how many locations you service. But you don’t have to do that in the beginning.

Start with the cheapest package; you’ll have lower startup costs and lower risk. Hopefully, the package works for you, but if it doesn’t, you can always back out or change it as needed.

Talk to your representative, feel out the various promotions, or call the Grow and Grow Rich® team. We’re happy to go over all the details with you to help you make the right choice in the right demographic area.

Set Yourself Apart Finally, offer a niche product. If you have a good, all around product, have something that no one has in your area, whether it came from you or you had a link with someone else to get that product on your shelf. Offering something unique is an opportunity to present yourself over and above the competition and really set yourself apart.

To set up your delivery service, standard operating procedures will differ from a dispensary. You’re delivering the actual medicine to the patient. So, you need a driver with an enabled vehicle and a manager whether that’s you or a specialist who can help you identify and manage good quality product. The key to a successful delivery service is to be consistently on point with quality and timing when you deliver medicine to a patient. They will judge you based on those criteria and will leave good or bad reviews based on that experience.

For a delivery service, you to want to do a few things for advertising and marketing a little differently. Getting online with social media like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter allows you to network with a group of people with whom you can engage. You need to learn how to advertise with hash tags and physically being on the site and

1118 Distribution: What Do I Do Now? interacting with companies and people to build relationships. This obviously isn’t face-to-face, but the internet still allows you to build rapport.

Once your target audience sees you’re now posting about a new product on social media, they’re highly likely to visit you on Weedmaps or Leafly. So for a delivery service, social media allows you to get more exposure for free initially and build a demographic of reliable and repeat patients.

When You’re Ready for a Dispensary A collective dispensary model—a brick and mortar—has its advan- tages. You’re a storefront. People walk by or they drive by and see your sign out front. They need not go online to find you because they can physically see you.

One warning is that most people, patients and growers alike, will automatically navigate to those websites because it’s the cannabis industry’s known hub. So your dispensary still needs a presence on Weedmaps or Leafly so consumers can find your store faster.

As a dispensary, you want to take extra steps to make sure your store is highly visible. You’ll also need to take into consideration different marketing alternatives for zoning reasons. There may be sign limitations or public advertising limitations. Some areas allow billboards; other do not.

Try to compete with an existing collective in your area will be a major goal. Coming out with premium products and niche products will definitely set you apart. This doesn’t mean you need a lot of different items to sell. Rather, you want the right amount of the best, unique products.

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Christopher Wright with Protégé students teaching them techniques to set up a dispensary

As a buyer for a dispensary, look for high quality product and the right supplier, whether it’s edibles, extractions, or growers. If you can, consume all of these so you know exactly what they do and don’t do. But if you don’t have experience in determining the details of a product, hire someone who does and vet them well. The right team player will have a huge impact on your dispensary by bringing in the right product that results in the right customer base.

Final Thoughts It comes full circle at this point. We started off talking about building your team, and we’re still talking about building your team. Always remember, however, that you have the Wolf Pack “your Grow and Grow Rich® team” who has your back.

The next chapter offers a little bit of inspiration to take action and the secrets of success in this interesting and amazing industry.

1120 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets of a Successful Cannapreneur

“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.”

Mary Kay Ash

8 Steps to Set Up a Grow Through our years of experience in growing and building indoor and outdoor grows for many people, we realize we want to share with you the cannabis industry and our passion for growing this beautiful plant. Any one of the Grow and Grow Rich® team can help you learn the tips and tricks that have made us successful in the cannabis industry.

STEP 1: SET UP The first thing you want to do is find a suitable location. The most important thing is safety: you need access to sufficient power, and try to avoid second stories. Another thing is privacy. When you’re setting up your grow, you need to take into consideration odors, lighting, and the people around who might take offense.

The simplest way to calculate how much power you’re using is look at your various electronic devices will have a sticker with amps and

121 2 GROW AND GROW RICH volts that particular advice uses. Multiply volts times amps and that will tell you how much watts that device uses. Simply look at the sticker on any electronic device, and add up all the amps for everything you’re using to get the total amperage. Then take the total amperage and check it next to the breaker that supplies that particular room. Does the breaker you have supply enough power for what you need? It’s very important that you not use more than 80 percent of a breaker’s capacity. For example, if you have have a 20 amp break, just make sure you’re not putting more than 16 amps on that breaker on a continuous load. One additional note: one thing people do is use power strips if they don’t have enough outlets in a room. There’s nothing wrong with power strips, and we’ve used them on grows before. The problem happens when you overload a circuit and possibly cause a fire. If you use a power strip, make sure you know the maximum capacity of the power strip is and make sure you don’t overload it, and don’t forget the 80 percent rule.

Once you’ve found a suitable location that’s private and you have enough power, you need to make sure the location is clean. Don’t skip this step because things like mold, fungus, pests are everywhere, and you want to clean your environment in such a manner that ensures your success from the beginning.

Next, open up all the equipment you have to make sure all the parts are there and that you have the owner’s manuals. Make sure you save the boxes. Most of the hydroponics equipment does come from China and occasionally, you will have a defective product. Don’t throw away that box!

STEP 2: CONSTRUCTION Now put everything together. Lay all of your equipment out and build it. An easy way to start is with a grow tent. Grow tents let you create a small, controlled environment in any room. If you have an extra

1122 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets

Consider hiring a licensed electrician. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

123 2 GROW AND GROW RICH bedroom or garage, you can put up a grow tent in the middle of the room, and you can begin to construct your grow room from there.

One of the easiest ways, whether you’re using a grow tent or a large commercial facility, is to start from the ceiling and go down. That way you’re not tripping over anything you did on the floor if you’re trying to attach things to the ceiling. Start to assemble your hoods and attach them to the ceiling. The lights are the first piece to go in because they’re at the very top. The next component to go in are your fans. Use a wall mount oscillating fan. This is very important to keep air circulating to make sure you don’t get things like mildew and sad and sick leaves. Make sure you have a nice, gentle oscillating fan that doesn’t blow the leaves around too much.

Another fan you need is an inline fan that draws fresh air into the room and exchanges old, stale air to keep your plants invigorated with fresh CO2. This helps reduce the chances of powdery mildew and bud rot.

When you’re setting up your environment, the canopy top is very important because you need to know the temperature and the humidity at the canopy height. Hang a thermometer and hygrometer at the canopy height to let you know the temperature and humidity.

Depending on the type of growth you want, you may or may not want to install a dehumidifier. A dehumidifier can help prevent powdery mildew and bud rot from growing. Too high and too low are both not good. You want plants between 65 percent and as low as 45 percent humidity. The dehumidifier gives you the greatest amount of control in an indoor grow environment.

STEP 3: RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT You want two types of water reservoirs: a reverse osmosis reservoir

1124 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets and a nutrient or feed reservoir. The nutrient reservoir makes sure you’re giving your plants the exact nutrients they want at the exact time they need them.

Your reservoirs will get dirty over time. To make sure you have a successful grow, you’ll need to clean and sterilize them. We recommend you clean them once a week. As a result, you won’t get clogged emitters, unhealthy plants, bad pathogens. Clean at least once a week, or at the most every two weeks.

DIAGRAM OF A REVERSE OSMOSIS SYSTEM WITH BASIC COMPONENTS:

STEP 4: PROPAGATION/CLONE Now you’re ready to grow. There are two main ways you can start your plants: seeds or cloning. There are many seed banks around the world that can help you identify the right type of seed to grow in your climate and environment. The simplest way to start seeds is to give them water. As we previously discussed, always use reverse osmosis water because it’s much gentler on your plants. Soak your seeds for 8

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to 12 hours to make sure they have sufficient water uptake.

Now place the seeds in your 10 inch by 20 inch tray and dome. In the bottom tray are channels. Make sure the channels have just enough water in that it doesn’t lip over the top of the channel. In the propagation tray, you want to create a highly controlled micro environment. Humidity needs to stay at 100 percent, and temperature needs to stay between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit inside your dome. The seeds and the media they’re in should stay wet, but not soaking wet, and should never dry out.

Cloning is the easiest way to create high quality cannabis plants. You can purchase clones from any number of reputable distributors, or the Grow and Grow Rich® team can show you how to do it at home. It’s very easy.

Once your clone or seeds have sprouted roots, it’s time for transplanting. Transplanting is very stressful on your plants, so make sure you give them the best possible transplant for successful growth.

STEP 5: WEEK TO WEEK NUTRIENT CHANGE As your plants progress, they’re going to need different nutrients at different times to maximize their growth stages. From the very first week of vegetative growth to the last week of bloom, your plants will need different nutrient mixes each week. The Grow and Grow Rich® team can help you learn what nutrients to feed at what time and give you specific recipes to use.

Generally, you’ll be using a mineral based fertilizer. It’s important to make sure you flush your plants once a week. It’s exactly what it sounds like: flush an excessive amount of water once a week through your plants’ roots to make sure they don’t have built up minerals en- crusted on their roots.

1126 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets

A clone taking root.

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Beautiful plant in vegetative growth. Photo courtesy of Boomspharm.

1128 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets

STEP 6: VEGETATIVE GROWTH Now you’re on the vegetative state of growth that needs to mimic the spring and summer seasons. Plants need between 16 and 18 hours of light per day. Your plants will stay in vegetative growth for one, four, ten weeks; technically forever. The size of your plants at the end of the vegetative grow will dictate their size at the end of the bloom stage.

STEP 7: BLOOM STAGE You’ve made it to the bloom stage, one of the most rewarding stages of growth. This is where you get to see your flowers begin to mature into the finished product.

In order for the cannabis plant to bloom, it must receive 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness. The hours of darkness are just as important as the light, because if they don’t get 12 hours of uninter- rupted darkness, they will not bloom. If even a pinhole amount of light pierces the darkness and touches a leaf, it can halt the bloom process. It’s incredibly important to make sure you don’t have light leaks.

Black tarps to eliminate light leaks.

How can you test for light leaks? The best way is once you’ve finished your room, whether it’s a tent or a room, turn off all the lights inside your room/tent and turn on a high-powered light source outside of the room. Now step inside. It should be pitch black with no light anywhere. Address and seal any light leaks you find.

Most cannabis plants take around 8 weeks to bloom. Some can take as little as 6 weeks and some as long as 13 weeks. You do want to make sure you know how many weeks your strain requires so you build your nutrients around that plant’s requirements.

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STEP 8: FINISHED Congratulations! You have a finished crop. Now it’s time to harvest and dry your plants.

In order to dry cannabis properly, your temperature and humidity should be kept at constant levels at all times. Leave the buds on individual branches and hang your branches on a string across a room. You can do this inside your grow tent; some people use a closet; and some people use a dedicated room. As long as you regulate the temperature and humidity, you can dry your harvest anywhere.

The final step is trimming your buds, which can be rewarding. You’re ready to make them look pretty.

You need a set of gloves because if you’ve done things right, your plants will be very sticky. The next thing you need is a high quality set of trimmers. Don’t go cheap on the trimmers because it will cost you later. Finally, you need rubbing alcohol to clean your hands, trimmers, or anything else with the sticky residue from your plants.

These are the simple 8 steps you need to create your own grow. Any one of our coaches and mentors can help you learn the tips and tricks we’ve learned over the years in the cannabis industry. The Grow and Grow Rich® team is here to help you create your own successful business. All you need do is call.

Now let’s look at what makes for a successful cannapreneur.

10 Secrets of a Successful Cannapreneur As you will learn, being in the Cannabis business yourself, you need to always be learning and experiencing new ideas and concepts. We outline the 10 secrets a Cannapreneur lives by so you can have the unfair advantage of achieving financial freedom. Everyone always

1130 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets talks about what secrets rich people have. The only reason we call them secrets is because we all know what they are, but we don’t seem to pay attention to them. It’s as if there is this elite club called the “Private Rich People’s Club” for members only. No guests or outsiders can enter.

Here are the secrets of successful cannapreneurs that no one talks about, but the Grow and Grow Rich® team.

SECRET ONE: MONEY SHOULD NOT BE YOUR PRIMARY MOTIVATION. Your motivation is an inner drive that compels you to take action. You want to be rich. By providing what product or service that other people want or need? Your rewards in life will reflect the quality and amount of contribution you make. There are exceptions to that rule, of course.

Professional athletes and entertainers receive an extraordinary compensation for their services, disproportionate to their contribution when compared with educators, scientists, health professionals and care givers. Conversely, people do what they want, before they do what they need, so they are willing to pay more for entertainment than they are for their own education and health, and for that of their families.

In studying the motivation behind many of today’s self-made millionaires, we’ve found that most of them have focused on building a dream that didn’t necessarily have huge dollar signs attached in advance. Tom Monaghan, who founded Domino’s Pizza and built a billion-dollar fortune, was an orphan. He grew up with one pizza parlor delivering hot pizza to college students in Michigan in their dorms. His challenge was to get it there in a thermally insulated package in a half an hour. He loved the challenge.

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He didn’t see his pizza business as a job. To him it was the launch- ing pad for a career. Millionaires begin to act like owners once they realize that people will pay a great deal of money for quality, speed, convenience and service. So a career is something that you would do no matter what. You love doing it. You’re excited about doing it. You don’t watch the clock while you’re doing it. You do it because it’s part of your inner life.

Many individuals try to get the highest paying job possible, located conveniently to where they live, with what they hope are maximum security and benefits. They do this regardless of the industry, the long-range growth opportunities, and with little thought given to the products or services the company provides. If you chase money and security, you will always be their slave. By letting money pursue you because of the inner motivation that makes you give more in service than you receive in payment, you’ll always be in demand and you’ll always be the master of your money.

By doing what you love to do in a career and by delivering more than you promise, you’ll always be underpaid. People who seem underpaid for the level and quality of the service they provide are always in demand and always ahead of the money in their knowledge and contribution. So money and opportunity are always chasing them.

Motivation is a combination of the words “motive” and “action” and is an inner force that compels behavior. It comes from within, not from any external circumstance. You know where you’re going because you have a compelling image inside, not a travel poster on the wall, a financial statement with a big bonus, or a slogan in the hall. The performance of many externally motivated individuals begins de- clining as soon as they make a big score or win their own version of the Super Bowl. They don’t maintain their passion and excellence after winning the ring, the medal, or the cash. Money should be seen as a byproduct of accomplishment, not as a goal in itself.

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As a boy in Scottsdale, Arizona, Steven Spielberg liked to shoot 8 mil- limeter films featuring ordinary people being pursued by large forces. He was his own writer, director, and star, and he knew that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. His grades weren’t that good, and he saw no point in going to college because movies were made in Hollywood.

Dressed in a suit, carrying a briefcase, and looking like he belonged, he would sneak past the guards at the entrance of the major studio lots and spend the day just walking around, soaking up the atmo- sphere, planting the seeds.

Action step:

Ask yourself these questions:

99 Are you going where you want to go, doing what you want to do, and becoming who you want to become? 99 What did you most enjoy as a child growing up? 99 In what did you excel in junior high and high school? 99 Are you engaged in those activities in your career now? 99 What do you love to do most after working hours? 99 In addition to exercise, family and relationships, recreation and community and spiritual efforts, is there anything you love to do in your spare time that may be a career that has been put on lay-away?

As one of the most important aspects of Secret One: Money Should Not Be Your Primary Motivator, is that age is no barrier to discover- ing your core talents, your core passions, and your breakthrough idea for gaining your own financial security.

Most millionaires become so after the age of forty, many after the age of 50. Ray Kroc started the McDonald’s franchise when he was fifty-two.

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Some of Michelangelo’s greatest creations came well after the age of 70, as with many other masters of art, music, science and invention.

Grandma Moses, one of our best known artists, didn’t begin painting until she was in her seventies and thereafter produced more than 500 priceless works of art. Many of my friends, and myself included, have made more money in one year in our forties, fifties and sixties, than in all the previous years combined. It seems that no experience is wasted, and when we finally focus on what drives us from the inside, we see the results materialize externally.

However, today we are seeing more young, rich millionaires, even billionaires, than ever before. The reason is simple: technology has given the younger generation an advantage of becoming a millionaire than years before. I guarantee you will see the number of young millionaires double or even quadruple over the next ten years.

SECRET TWO: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS ARE TREND-SPOTTERS. We are moving into the greatest economic surge in history. This is because of two powerful, yet projectable trends. First, baby boomers, the largest generation born in history, are moving through their peak years of earning and spending. Secondly, the combination of the computer and network communications technologies is moving out of niche markets into mainstream affordability and application. The size of the baby boomer generation and the awesome potential of the information technologies are much greater than the forces that drove the industrial revolution and the assembly line. The new global economy will be unlike anything you’ve experienced before.

The typical person may have approximately five to seven careers instead of one or two in a lifetime. There will be more temporary jobs than permanent ones, and there will be virtually no job security

1134 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets because of global competition. Baby boomers will live longer than any generation. And they’ll have less support from government programs like Social Security and Medicare because there are more people spending benefits than there are people contributing money.

More baby boomers and succeeding generations will start their own home businesses than ever before, and the majority of them will be women. The workplace of the future is demanding people who are self-directed, who can manage their own business or be leaders of self-managed work teams. We all need to run our lives like a business and become responsible for our own revenues, costs and net worth.

Here are trends you can count on that will create the next wave of millionaires:

Trend #1

Computer illiteracy will mean impoverishment for millions of for- merly skilled workers. Increasingly, jobs that were once done without computers are being taken over by computers or being aided by computers. Cannapreneurs who don’t keep their skills up to date will find they have been pushed out of the market place. Get computer literate, and find ways to make money via electronic communication, training and merchandising.

Trend #2

The notion of a full-time, permanent job will be obsolete in less than 20 years. Employees will be hired on a temporary, contractual basis to work on projects and assignments until complete. Performance pay will replace seniority status.

As Cannabis businesses strive to become more profitable by becoming leaner and more efficient, outsourcing will be the guiding mode for success.

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In a cyclical Cannabis business, it’s more practical and less costly to hire two contractual workers for busy times than to have one full- time employee year round. The temporary staff business, especially in technical positions and computers skills will be in great demand as will consultants.

Trend #3

Therefore, Virtual shopping on the World Wide Web has and will rev- olutionize retailing. The decision to buy goods are taken place before entering a store or mall. The Virtual Malls such as Amazon will be where the purchase is made. Cannabis Delivery services will far outpace dispensary services. This is such a great advantage for someone working from home because you can make money and compete with large corporations for customers world-wide.

Trend #4

Cannabis businesses will outpace fixed-base franchises early in the next decade. As outsourcing continues, many people will work out of their homes for a variety of clients.

More people will earn extra income in prime time than those who just sit and watch TV in prime time. Cannabis home delivery business have a better success rate than most dispensaries because: they have lower start-up costs, are not as capital intensive, have more flexible hours, fewer employees, and are not limited geographically.

Overhead expenses will be reduced and turnover will decrease because talented employees who need or prefer to work from home will be able to do so with no loss in productivity and much less down time.

Being aware of these trends now and analyzing your ability to

1136 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets capitalize on your own talent and expertise in solving these problems will position you to be a millionaire in the next decade.

SECRET THREE: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS HAVE A CLEAR, SPECIFIC FOCUS. It’s important to believe that you deserve as much success as anyone else. People with self-esteem believe they are worthy of abundance. It’s also important to have a passion to make a contribution to society beyond making money. This is called “the purpose behind the purpose.” It’s important to be able to spot the next hot trends, which we discussed in the last message. But without clear focus, where you tolerate little distraction from your major goals, being financially independent is a pipe dream. It is just another vague, wonderful concept. Ideas today are a dime a dozen. What everybody wants to know from you today is what the specific game plan is.

You are the world’s greatest expert on yourself. There simply isn’t any doubt about it—no one knows more about your hopes, dreams, fears and fantasies than you yourself. In your secret heart, your goals are quite clearly defined, and most likely they have been since childhood. That doesn’t mean, however, that you won’t choose to delude yourself about them. All of us feel the pressure of what we believe the world expects us to do and be. Under that pressure, most of us feel the need to compromise on what we really want from life. This is part of maturing, and it’s inevitable. But the danger arises when we convince ourselves that growing up means not just adjusting, but abandoning what we really want and need.

Why does this abandonment take place? It happens because we don’t take a practical approach to realizing our most closely held desires. We’ve already talked about the importance of having a mission in life that is greater than earning money. Money is a by-product of being passionate about the product or service you contribute to society. Creating

137 2 GROW AND GROW RICH a clear focus is something quite different. It means thinking of your dreams in very realistic terms. If you want to be a filmmaker, for example, it means learning the ins and outs of the industry you want to enter.

In order for you to be successful, you must be engaging in what you want to become in your mind all the time, and in your would-be career during your spare time. Of course, it’s important to see yourself on stage in a splendid performance. That’s how we visualize and celebrate outcomes in advance. But you don’t let beautiful dreams distract you from the businesslike realities. Dessert is delicious, but the vegetables have the nutritional value that energizes you.

If you don’t take a practical approach to achieving your goals, sooner or later you’ll start doubting yourself. You’ll start beating yourself up emotionally for your pie-in-the sky dreams. And you’ll start settling for less than you really want because you don’t clearly see how anything more is possible.

If you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t make any difference if the alarm clock goes off in the morning. But if your goals are vivid, specific, flexible, and supported by action plans and sub goals, you’ll believe that your life is worth living. More importantly, your income will show it as well. Millionaires have a clear, specific focus. They know where they’re going and they get there.

SECRET FOUR: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS UNDERSTAND AND EMPLOY COMPOUND INTEREST. Interest rates may be at their lowest point in decades, but that doesn’t mean that you want to be borrowing as much as possible. In the long run it’s better to be a lender receiving interest, instead of a debtor paying interest. The insidious thing about debt is that it always must be repaid and the more interest you pay, regardless of tax benefits, the less principle or gain you will net on your investment.

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Understanding the compounding of interest over time, via the use of discretionary income both as debt and assets, is one of the most critical components in building financial security. Financier Baron de Rothschild said, “I don’t know what the seven wonders of the world are, but I know the eighth wonder of the world is compound interest.” Manhattan Island was sold by the Manhattan Indians in 1626 for about 24 dollars’ worth of cloth and beads. Had they invested that 24 dollars, at even today’s very low interest rates, the tribe would have accumulated enough money to buy back all the properties in Manhattan at today’s market prices.

Americans typically save less than four percent of their take-home pay. They view extra money as disposable income and hasten to dis- pose of it. They buy now and pay later if ever. They owe more on their automobiles than they’re worth when they go to sell them. If you want to be millionaire, you need to get rid of disposable income thoughts. Never again ask how much the monthly payments are.

Monthly payments are full of interest and finance charges. Embrace the discretionary income attitude of Asians, Canadians, British, Europeans and newly arrived immigrants. They save an average of 14 to 25 percent of their incomes.

Here are some action ideas to make compound interest work for you instead of against you:

99 Make a commitment to pay 10 percent if possible; or if that’s not possible, at least 5 percent of your take home pay as your first mandatory payment each month.

99 Put that amount into a real estate trust, mutual fund, income producing real property investment, a money market account, or a combination of these, and consider that account untouch- able. No vacations from it. No gifts. No down payments on

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homes or cars. No college tuition. Call it your “life mortgage payment”, amortized over 30 years. If you don’t pay it on the first of every month, your future will go into foreclosure and you’ll end up living in a senior center or in a relative’s home as a stowaway.

99 The best way to harness the power of compound interest is to start saving as early as possible. Using the average appreciation of real property or the Dow Jones rate of return, you’d only need to save five dollars a day to accumulate a million dollars over the 43 years between college and retirement! That’s the Big Mac or Whopper and fries you shouldn’t have eaten, or the Starbuck’s latte you could have done without. Compound interest works for you or against you. Don’t use credit cards with high interest rates to pay for depreciating assets.

99 Use your precious credit wisely and pay interest only on appreciating assets, or use credit cards strictly for business expenses. Never simply pay minimum balances. If you do, you’ll pay double or triple the original cost and never be able to recover your investment. Call your bank tomorrow and ask them for a lower interest rate on your credit cards. You’ll be surprised that many will if they think they’ll lose you to a competitor. Consider consolidating your credit card debt into one account with a much lower rate. Consumer Reports lists those institutions with the lowest rates. Making additional principal payments on your home mortgage is another sure way to create higher net worth.

99 Money compounds over time, so you can use your discretionary income as a stair step, trickle down, incremental program.

The younger you are, the less you have to put in each month, and the

1140 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets lower the return you need to become financially secure. Financial security is the value you place on the time of your life. You need to define the quality of life you’re seeking first. Then compute how much it’s going to cost to finance that quality with a standard of living that can be maintained without continuing your current employment. That’s the bottom line.

In your mind, picture your life as a stairway you are walking down, with five steps to fulfillment. Instead of an uphill climb, view it as a downhill hike, walking carefully and surely. Similar but different from what I talked about earlier with the three bucket theory, I want you to complete this picture by placing five large empty buckets on each of the five steps and label them from the top bucket to the bottom: Survival, Stability, Quality, Security and Independence.

This is what I call the “Overflowing Buckets Concept” of creating financial independence. It’s like Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs by putting first things first in their order of importance.

The object is to fill each of the five buckets full of dollars as you progress down the stairway, so that when one bucket overflows, it spills into the next bucket down on the next step. Bucket One, The Survival Bucket, is how you budget your basic needs of food, shelter and basic existence. Over your cost of living, any extra money flows into Bucket Two, which is The Stability Bucket. Financial stability is the ability to remain solvent in the event of sudden, unforeseen changes and emergencies in your life. It is called insurance against catastrophic loss. It means having an emergency fund in a savings account equal to a minimum of three month’s income, preferably six month’s income. It includes having adequate medical insurance that remains in force regardless of your financial status and is permanent and transferable.

Another important component of financial stability is life insurance,

141 2 GROW AND GROW RICH consisting mostly of term insurance while you build your assets, with some whole life, that accumulates cash and loan value and is level premium. Many people purchase split dollar policies that afford the low premiums of term, and appreciation tied to mutual funds rather than low interest rates. An important part of your stability program is non-cancelable, individual disability income insurance, equal to 70 to 100 percent of your monthly income. One of the greatest financial blunders most people make is to assume that insurance against premature death is all they need, besides health, home, and auto insurance.

The likelihood of loss of income due to injury or illness is much greater than loss of life. Not only are you without income when you are sick or injured, you also need to be cared for and the expenses continue to mount even though you’re not able to work.

The next Bucket you need to start filling after Survival and Stability, is Three, the Quality of Life Bucket. This is where you sit down with significant others and determine what standard of living will give you the quality of life you desire: The home, possessions, education for children, recreation and vacation. These items should be budgeted and saved for, rather than put on credit cards.

Once you have established a savings habit for your quality of life, a little discretionary income should also be set aside for Bucket Four. This is The Financial Security Bucket. Financial security is defined as the amount of assets in dollars, that will give you the amount of monthly income you need for the quality of life you desire, at some pre-determined point in the future, without having to depend upon day-to-day income.

Less than 5 percent of Americans ever fill this bucket. Your goal is to be in the top five percent who do. To get in the top five percent club, you need to put about 10 percent of your spendable income into an

1142 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets appreciating investment at the first of every month, like a utility bill or mortgage payment. Treat it as the most urgent bill you need to pay.

The Fifth, and final, Bucket at the bottom of the stairs is Financial Independence. This is achieved when you beat the target date you set for retirement.

Personal freedom is when work is a choice not a necessity, when you can do what you want, when you want, and your health and energy levels enable you to do virtually anything you desire. Being free to chase your passion, not your pension is one of the greatest goals you can set and reach.

SECRET FIVE: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS LEARNED TO MAKE IT ON THEIR OWN EARLY IN THEIR LIVES, AND HAVE PASSED THIS QUALITY ON TO THEIR OWN CHILDREN, ALTHOUGH THEY CAN GIVE THEIR CHILDREN EVERYTHING. Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, self-made millionaires are not set up in business and are not given a financial nest egg by their parents. Most of the self-made millionaires we’ve studied earned their own spending money as teenagers and young adults, helped pay for their cars, worked while they attended college, at least during vacations, paid for their study materials, paid for their own clothes and their recreation.

When their parents did help, it was not with credit cards, gasoline cards, and long distance phone cards. It was a small allowance in addition to helping with their education when they could. Many of the wealthiest self-made entrepreneurs in present-day society came from very modest backgrounds.

It is simple to understand, yet difficult to implement in your own family. The object of parenthood is not to give our children everything

143 2 GROW AND GROW RICH we didn’t have and everything the children didn’t earn. Our job as parents is to teach our children how to fly from home as independent young adults without them getting hurt physically or impaired emotionally.

Adolescence especially is often a time of maximum resistance to further growth and a tendency to be irresponsible for their actions. It is a time characterized by the teenager’s ingenious efforts to maintain the privileges of childhood, while at the same time demanding the rights of adulthood. They want rights without consequences. It is a point beyond which many human beings do not progress emotionally. Yet research has proven the more we do for our children, the less they can do for themselves.

The dependent child of today is destined to become the dependent parent of tomorrow. To help children grow from total dependency toward independence doesn’t do anything for your children, including making decisions, that they are capable of doing themselves. When children are three or four years of age, they should put away their own toys, play materials, and belongings. They should help make their beds and keep their rooms in order as a regular daily routine. Don’t pay children for doing something for themselves. Pay them a reasonable, regular allowance for regular household chores, outside of their own room which should be maintained in order and cleaned with no payment other than praise or a family outing.

One to two dollars per week per year of age of the child is a reasonable allowance. This means an eight-year-old child would receive about eight to ten dollars per week allowance if he or she completed regular chores.

For a fourteen-year-old, it might be fourteen to twenty dollars per week. Each child should have regular chores at regular times on certain days. Whatever is expected of them should be inspected by you

1144 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets and approved. This is an excellent time for positive reinforcement for a job well done and also for positive coaching when improvement is needed.

Pre-teens and teens should have savings accounts and checking accounts which they open and manage themselves, with initial supervision from parents. They need to learn early that savings accounts are for delayed gratification and the future. And that checking accounts are for weekly necessities. Dream lists and goals for their savings should be encouraged to stimulate delayed gratification.

For small children, three large jars are ideal. Jar One is for one-third of allowance money and can be spent any time. Jar Two is for one-third of allowance money to save for later in the year for special occasions and gifts. Jar Three, with a tight lid, is for one-third of allowance money and should not be spent at all. It is for transferring into a savings account for the long-range future, such as a car or college education.

Let your children accept responsibility for their own actions. Help them understand that they cause their own effects in life, good and bad, and that their rewards in life will be in proportion to the contribution they make. Money is appreciated most when it has been earned.

SECRET SIX: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS ARE COMFORTABLE WITH RISK. Accept change as a constant in today’s world. Expect it. Welcome it. Recognize that large companies and traditional industries can no longer guarantee permanent employment or career security. Take advantage of the fact that smaller, rapidly growing, highly flexible, Cannapreneurial companies are creating most of the new jobs. More money will be made working from home than working for someone else.

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There’s an old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This means that if you’re successful for the time being, you should just keep doing more of the same thing in the future. But this is very dangerous thinking entering the twenty-first century. The new reality is, “If it ain’t broke, it’s obsolete!” To survive and move ahead in today’s volatile world, you need to continually challenge your assumptions, upgrade your skills, and become more adaptable and resilient to the reality of constant change.

Even if you never own your own company or Cannabis business, you must behave as if you’re self-employed for the rest of your life. If you’re currently working for someone else, never confuse your personal, long-term interests with those of your employer. Set up your own training department, in your own mind, home, and cubicle, and make sure that the most important employee, yourself, is continu- ously updating his or her skills and education.

There was a very cautious man He rarely laughed, he rarely cried He rarely risked, he rarely tried He rarely sang, he rarely played He rarely laughed, he rarely prayed And then, one day, he passed away But his insurance was denied They said because he never lived He never really died.

Fear is always related to the unknown. As you gain knowledge about a subject, situation, circumstance, or person, fear tends to dissipate and you become comfortable with risk. Total security is a myth. Virtually everybody I meet talks about wanting security.

Employees are terrified that industries might suffer from environmental treaties as a result of global warming. People worry that foreign

1146 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets competition may endanger our standard of living and people want a world without disruptions, negative circumstances and problems. They want to live risk-free. But life is inherently risky, especially today.

Driving in the rain on our freeways is a risk. Entering a new relationship is a risk. Starting a company is a risk. The biggest risk is one you should avoid, however. That’s the risk of doing nothing. Doing nothing sets you up for atrophy, where you wither and rust out, rather than wear out from activity.

Those who take the calculated risk every day, stretching their comfort zones, reaching for new peak experiences, venturing into uncharted territories, create their own security. Those who seek security, risk becoming unprepared, inflexible and obsolete in a rapidly changing world. Everyone in today’s global village is at risk. The only security comes from within.

In order to deal with risk, and creating financial security, it is important to go through a fundamental check-off list of the do’s and don’ts of financial risk-taking. Here are a few do’s and don’ts that I put together for you:

Don’t invest in your Cannabis business unless you can stand the downside. In other words, if you feel the possible ad- vantages of the investment outweigh the possible disadvan- tages, and you can stand to lose the investment without great financial distress, do consider the investment. If you can’t stand to lose what you have invested, or if it isn’t insured, don’t consider it, unless it represents only a fraction of your financial net worth.

Don’t invest in raw land unless it’s in the path of immediate development, you plan to build there or flip to another Cannabis investor.

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Don’t let how other Cannabis businesses appear make buy or sell decisions for you.

Do invest in your Cannabis business for the long haul.

Do ask your bank to lower the interest rate they are charging on your Visa or MasterCard account. If you have been faith- fully making your payments, they should lower your rate by a point or so, if they want to keep your business.

Do match your Cannabis investment strategies to your time horizon.

Do have realistic expectations. No get rich quick schemes or lotto mentality.

Do keep hope, greed and fear in check by committing to investment discipline.

Do limit your real estate investments to those you have personally investigated, and can control.

Do formulate a Cannabis investment strategy and stick to it!

What we have just discussed is not risk-avoidance, but calculated risk. Some people who are risk-avoiders have no Cannabis investment strategy at all because they are afraid of losing money. Because they are seeking maximum security, they are impacted by cost-of- living increases and increasing taxes. Risk-taking should be based on knowledge, patience and common sense.

The greatest challenge you face in reaching your Cannabis dreams is to withstand the pressure from friends, associates, and family members who will try to convince you that you will not be successful in

1148 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets what you are trying to accomplish. Today, more and more individuals realize that risk creates reward. The national mindset is shifting. Those who thought they had entered “safe” careers a generation ago now enter Cannapreneurial arenas that encourage and require risk taking and personal accountability.

Suddenly, risk takers are the new heroes. The thing about risk is that no one is completely comfortable being a pioneer. Most people regret what they didn’t do, rather than what they went for in life.

Be prepared to sell your ideas to an in different world. Don’t expect people to care about or even get excited about your plans. They won’t unless your ideas solve their late problems or create an opportunity they can instantly grasp. They still won’t until they are convinced of the benefits.

You are bound to be criticized for risking. If you can’t stand the heat, you’ll never be able to take a risk. Size up the resistance. Anticipate where the heat will come from. And be flexible enough to overcome objections to your approach.

Challenge your assumptions about risk taking. Interview risk takers about how they approach the issue. Learn how they size up risks, how they measure the upside and the downside.

You don’t have to take the full risk all at once. You can turn an avoca- tion into your vocation gradually after you’ve gotten all the bugs out of it. You can test market your idea on a limited basis. Take incremental steps.

You don’t have to assume all the risk yourself. Partners or lenders can share risk. And the people you recruit to share your dream can as well. As we interviewed innovators around the country, we discovered that most of them were exceptionally adept at team building.

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The key to dealing effectively with venturing forth into unknown territory or challenging situations is commitment and diligent training. No train, no gain!

SECRET SEVEN: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS LIVE FRUGALLY, BENEATH THEIR MEANS. There’s a saying that “new” money is flaunted more garishly than old money. That’s because a lot of new millionaires have curb appeal and an extravagant standard of living. While the more mature millionaires know that when you have the real thing, you don’t have to flaunt a loud imitation.

If you read the recent New York Times bestseller, The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko, you learned that common threads among America’s wealthiest individuals are that they live below their means, and that they don’t need to massage their egos by displaying high social status.

Great examples of this have been the late Sam Walton, H. Ross Perot, Oprah Winfrey and the late Joan Kroc, the philanthropist widow of Ray Kroc, McDonald’s founder, to name a few. The majority of rich millionaires live more modestly than people who are trying to act rich! They are more interested in having their investments work qui- etly for them, rather than seek high social status. Interestingly, they don’t buy new cars every year or two or lease one. Most of them own and keep their automobiles for a minimum of eight to ten years.

They don’t like to invest in depreciating assets. One of the most profoundly simple secrets of self-made millionaires is that by living beneath their means, they always have money to invest in appreciating assets or emergencies, without liquidating an investment at an inap- propriate time. One of the hardest choices we all need to make in life is forgo the materialism in our status-hungry society and realize

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that superficial trappings attempt to tell the rest of the world how important we are; when in truth, the concentration on status symbols is more likely to say to others that we need to pump up our image to hide a lightly valued self inside. The person with strong self-respect can afford to project a modest image.

Things that retain their value or increase in value, rather than things that are simply expensive and impressive, are what the authentic millionaire has learned to possess. Always spend less than you earn, and realize that the most insidious thing about debt is that it must be repaid, usually long after the pleasure of the purchase has subsided.

SECRET EIGHT: SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS MAXIMIZE THEIR TIME AND RESOURCES. This secret links back to Number Three, having a clear, specific focus. Consultants don’t get rich very often. Investors and entrepreneurs do. Consultants don’t usually create wealth because they are “Jack of All Trades, Master of None.” They are so busy helping their clients become successful, they don’t concentrate in any one area to push it through to great rewards.

One reason that Warren Buffett, the master investor, is successful is because he concentrates his time and resources doing things he understands, has experience in, and enjoys, and will tolerate little or no distraction from his areas of expertise. Wayne Huizenga built one of the most lucrative disposal businesses, then built Blockbuster Entertainment, and then bought the Florida Marlins, The Miami Dolphins and the Florida Sharks. He focused his efforts on building one business to its full potential before diversifying.

A slogan you should memorize is: Specify before you Diversify. You must focus your time and resources long enough and strong enough to bring your main area of expertise and interest to its fruition. In

151 2 GROW AND GROW RICH addition to concentration, you need to develop a true understanding of time and money. You’ve heard the saying, “He was so busy earning a living, he never made any money.”

Surprisingly, many doctors, lawyers and other professionals never become millionaires. Why? Because they trade hours for dollars, and there aren’t enough hours to trade no matter how much per hour you are paid. When you are paid by the hour, week, or month, you become a slave to your paycheck and the clock. When you can leverage equity or cash to be your slave, and work for you, you finally become the master.

Maximize your time and resources owning all or part of your Cannabis business that can be sold at a profit in the future. Eliminate from your thinking the idea that if I work so many hours more, I can make a little more money. Stop thinking in terms of small salary increases and start thinking about long-term investment plans; and beginning your own Cannabis business in your free time. The only security you will have in the future is that which you create by investing your money and your time in a rapidly growing Cannabis business. Every fourteen minutes a new millionaire is self-made in America and that is through business, not winning the lottery or placing a bet in a casino. Why not you?

SECRET NINE: PATIENCE AND PERSISTENCE GIVE THE SUCCESSFUL CANNAPRENEURS THE PERSPECTIVE THAT FAILURE IS DELAY, BUT NEVER DEFEAT. Everyone wants success, but most people lack two very important qualities: persistence and patience. They’re like farmers who keep digging up seeds to see how they’re doing, never giving them an opportunity to take root. Be willing to wait longer for your goals to bear fruit than you had anticipated. Impatience is a virtue only when it helps sharpen your focus on what you need to succeed.

1152 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets

Too often we assume that successful people just happened to get a string of lucky breaks. In reality, the opposite is usually true: Many a superstar had an incredibly rough time before he or she attained any lasting success. When you feel a little discouraged that you’re hitting a brick wall and can’t seem to reach your goals, take heart and consider the following:

Most millionaires are not financially successful until they reach their late forties and fifties. Many are in their sixties. However, you will see a new breed of young millionaires take place as technology grows. Lucille Ball had little success until she was in her forties. Stephen King was a fifty dollar a week laundry worker who threw his manuscript in the trash because it had been rejected so many times. Fortunately, his wife rescued it one final time and the book Carrie sold over five million copies and launched his career. Sally Jesse Raphael was fired eighteen times before she finally got a break in television.

Learn everything you can about achievers who have overcome set- backs and handicaps. By realizing that failure and disappointment have not deterred the great champions in every field throughout history, you’ll gain the courage and motivation to pursue your own dreams to fruition.

Be sure you understand the difference between the statements: “No pain, no gain” and “Patience, Pacing and Persistence.” You don’t need an entry fee of physical or emotional pain to succeed. Sometimes you can best learn from others’ mistakes instead of having to endure all of them yourself. One reason why people don’t often succeed while they’re young is that they stubbornly resist listening to the wisdom of people who have been there and done that before them.

Get comfortable with the unfamiliar. Break your daily ruts. Put your TV

153 2 GROW AND GROW RICH set in the closet for a month. Go to work a different way. Try different restaurants and foods. Make at least one new friend each month, even though not every one of them is likely to become a lifelong buddy. Remember, you can explore new territory emotionally as well as physically. Become aware of your ups and downs, of what makes you happy and sad, and make an effort to be less of a victim of your moods.

Above all, remember that the real secret of mental toughness is con- tingency planning. A good motto is: Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised. You can’t control what others do. But you can anticipate the various alternatives and prepare for them as best you can. You can also control your responses to what happens.

If you believe you deserve success as much as anyone, and that wealth is not reserved for someone else…

If you want to be free, with dignity, and independence in your later years…

If you have a passion in life that transcends money…

If money is a by-product that will come from some great service or product you want to offer to the world to make it better…

If you understand saving people time and money will give you money and free time. And the trend is toward instant global communication and commerce…

If you understand that risk-takers make their own security. And that the greatest risk is defending the status quo…

If you are patient and persistent enough to understand and apply compound interest and do two things:

Pay your future first as if it were a utility bill, in appreciating

1154 Take Action: 8 Steps to Grow and 10 Secrets

savings funds, and second, live frugally, beneath your means, by not paying credit card interest for depreciating assets, you will become financially secure over time.

If you focus on your primary goals and avoid distraction by all the fads that look too good to be true because they are get rich quick schemes…

If you utilize part of your evenings and weekends for goal-achieving, rather than immediate gratification, tension-relieving escapes, and pass these traits along to your children…

I guarantee if you embrace only four to six of these secrets of self-made Successful Cannapreneurs, you will become a self-made Successful Cannapreneurs yourself.

SECRET TEN: IT REALLY IS ALL THE SECRETS WRAPPED UP INTO ONE. LIFE IS NOT A TREASURE HUNT. LIFE, ITSELF, IS THE TREASURE. Throughout the global society, especially in the West and increasingly among the developing nations—on television, in the movies, in sports, and in business—the message seems to be that life is made up of winners and losers. If you’re not number one or in the top one percent, you’ve failed. There doesn’t seem to be any real reward for simply doing one’s best and enjoying it.

But you can spend years reaching one moment of triumph. If you are unhappy through those thousands of minutes leading up to a victory, what good are those few moments of triumph? Life is made up of small pleasures and tiny successes like family reunions. Intimate moments with a loved one. A baby’s first steps. A job well done. Helping a friend or a stranger in need. Flying a kite in a good wind. A walk in the country, by a lake, or near the ocean. And even laughing at something stupid you did.

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If the condition of being happy cannot be experienced in the present moment, it will probably never be experienced at all. You cannot defer happiness pending some future occurrence because the future is always uncertain. Some new challenge will always come along just as you find a solution to the previous one.

Life is really a succession of problems and goals, both large and small, but genuine achievers are able to see these apparent obstacles for what they really are: endless opportunities for continued motivation and growth. True wealth is probably best defined as your own collection of memories and the goodwill of others, without necessarily receiving national media attention for it.

The great humorist and writer Oscar Wilde once defined a cynic as “someone who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.” Value is something quite different from price. The toys and trappings of affluence tell nothing about how important a person truly is. The true value of a person is measured by other criteria, such as integ- rity, generosity, graciousness, and lasting contribution to the general good. It’s interesting to note that the largest gifts ever made to sponsor New York’s Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera, and many of our finest universities and medical schools have come from anonymous donors.

Sharing the harvest of your labors in your lifetime and experiencing the inner delight in knowing that you are planting the seeds of great- ness in others is the real secret of wealth. Real Wealth is being able to give the best of everything you’ve accomplished, anonymously, and experience the faster heartbeat and inner applause that comes from living a life worth spending your time building, growing, sharing, enjoying… loving.

Count your blessings; they are priceless. And Pay It Forward!

1156 Continuing Education: Don’t Stop Now )

You’ve learned a lot up to this point. We’ve covered a lot of ground and discussed quite a few examples to help you get a feel for the cannabis industry. We also offered tips and suggestions to get started. Now we feel is a good time to point out an essential component of the cannabis industry that we haven’t really touched on before.

It’s changing and evolving each and every day. State and local regulations and compliance matters can change quickly, so quick it’s hard to keep on top of everything. So if you think your cannabis industry education is complete when you put this book down, we urge you to reconsider. Don’t stop learning now.

The structured education you get from this book and from a Grow and Grow Rich® Seminar is very important to your success. But highly motivated individuals who dedicate their lives to lifelong learning will have the competitive edge in the cannabis industry. When you prioritize time in your busy life each day to educate yourself about the concepts, ideas, and current trends in medical and recreational marijuana, you can see the plentiful opportunities just waiting for someone like you to capitalize on them.

Your cannabis business is only as strong as the effort and knowledge you put into it. There is a direct correlation between people who strive for growth in their personal lives and those who are successful in their

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professional lives. We urge you to commit to the concept of lifelong learning. In an ever-changing market like the cannabis industry and in our new global economy, it’s more important than ever to stay current, up to date, and competitive.

Technology makes it easier than ever before to pursue and attain knowledge. You have access to information at your fingertips. It’s your responsibility to take that advantage and privilege and use it in pro- ductive ways.

Marijuana, pot, cannabis, weed, 420—whatever moniker you use— is a completely different commodity than it was in yester-years. You need to get rid of your assumptions and your convictions about its use, its purpose, and its value so you can be open and receptive to the new way of doing business. Whether you were always open minded or whether medicinal marijuana contradicts what you have always believed to be true about cannabis, it’s a new day. Hopefully you’ve come across information in this book and elsewhere that challenges your worldview. Rather than stay in your comfort zone, use your new- found knowledge to educate others and shed light on the uses of medicinal marijuana in ways that can enhance, improve, or change someone’s life.

As you make it a priority to learn something new every day about marijuana, take the time to think about what you believe and why. Do you have an outdated mindset that’s holding you back from ad- vancing medical marijuana and helping to make it available to those who need it? Be willing to question your beliefs and dig deep. And let new information and research inform your opinions. Separate yourself from the crowd by developing an independent mind steeped in facts and real life testimonials.

Just as you cultivate land before planting seeds or clones, cultivate your mind by weeding out the prejudices and misconceptions. You

1158 Continuing Education:Don’t Stop Now want information to blossom and grow just as your plant flowers beautiful and strong. Consider your brain the active soil waiting to be fed new ideas and concepts. Water it daily with news, information, and stories, and your knowledge and wisdom will bloom.

It’s not enough just to cultivate your mind, however. You need to apply what you learn. Consider creating a to-learn list just like you would a to-do list. Unless you’ve been in the cannabis industry since its origin (which would make you older than Methuselah), there’s still more to learn. You might complain your already-busy life can’t fit one more thing in. If you let limiting thinking like this keep you from learning more about your craft and business, prepare for mediocrity.

This is where you can get ahead of everyone else in the cannabis industry. You understand the important of time management and prioritizing the never-ending education of your industry and trade. Constantly strive to learn more, do more, and know more than your competitors. This will help propel you towards success.

Daily learning opportunities don’t have to be hard or time-consuming, nor do they have to inconvenience your life. You can actually learn on the go. Consider these ideas for using the downtime you find in your schedule to learn more:

Stuck in traffic. Especially if you live in California, make use of this time. Listen to Cannabis Talk 101 on the radio, play a podcast on new business concepts, or listen to a political debate about cannabis on the radio. You can find audio books that will help you with business ideas, strategies, marketing, and any other subject to make your business more successful. When you’re waiting. Think about all the time you spend waiting—at the doctor’s office, in the check-out line, waiting to pick the kids up from school or practice, or any other number of instances. Read a few pages of a book while you wait.

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Just 15 minutes a day will help you read a new book every other week. Social media. This might be hard for some people, but it’s estimated that Americans spend 23 hours every week on texting and social media. Channel that energy and time into your business or personal enrichment. You could be a thought leader and master in your field simply by changing your hab- its and mindset.

Some other ideas for growing and learning is to seek out a mentor, someone who’s been where you are and can offer insight and en- couragement. Surround yourself with like-minded individuals and try to learn something new from them each day. The Grow and Grow Rich® Team is a perfect example of experts in their field who have valuable information and insight to share.

Consider setting aside a weekend to take the Grow and Grow Rich® Seminar. You’ll have access to all of our experts, you’ll learn in detail what you need to know about the cannabis industry, and you’ll make lifelong contacts. These contacts will help you as you expand your business and find new challenges to tackle.

Filling your mind with all of this information is incredibly important to your business’s success and to your personal fulfillment. But it’s useless if you don’t apply it. Reading a book or listening to a podcast isn’t the same as physically getting your hands in the dirt and apply- ing what you learn. Find a way to take what you’ve learned and apply it in a functional and fun way. One of the best ways most people learn is by being hands-on.

Finally, never be too proud to ask a question. Each question you don’t ask is a missed opportunity.

So how are you going to challenge yourself to learn more about the

1160 Continuing Education:Don’t Stop Now cannabis industry today? Commit to expanding your mind, continuing your education, and becoming the master you’re meant to be. The world is your classroom; you can always find something to learn. My bet is you’ll slowly notice you’re achieving everything you want, personally and professionally.

Help others by opening their hearts with stories like Sadie’s. Help educate them to open their minds…

Now it’s time to pay it forward.

161 2 Why Choose the Grow and Grow Rich Team? )

We talked about Sadie at the beginning of this book. She’s the beautiful little girl whose life was saved by medical marijuana and whose picture is on the back of this book.

Sadie has Schinzel-Giedion syndrome, a congenital neurodegenera- tive terminal syndrome. Sadie is the 57th known person since 1974 to be diagnosed with this dreaded disease. She was also diagnosed with intractable epilepsy, which means doctors couldn’t control her seizures with treatment. As a result, Sadie has had tumors growing on her spine, her liver, her kidneys, and the base of her neck.

To keep their daughter alive, Sadie’s parents—at the recommendation and advice of a team of medical experts—had her on 14 different medications for the first 9 months of her life.

In fact, four times the doctors pumped her with so many pharmaceuticals that her heart stopped. And all of these pharmaceuticals further damaged her already-damaged kidneys.

Finally, the doctors had no more hope to offer Sadie’s parents, but to give her a medication that would help her system shut down within two months, relieving her from her suffering. In effect, they were telling her parents to let Sadie go.

1162 Why Choose the Grow and Grow Rich Team?

Sadie with her mother and two sisters.

Sadie’s father Brian telling a interviewer about Sadie’s Story at GGRA’s Summit

It was a dark time for the family. How do you let your child die? As a parent, there is no worse situation. Could you live the rest of your life knowing you ended your daughter’s life? How do you look at yourself

163 2 GROW AND GROW RICH in the mirror when you made the decision to give up on your child’s life?

We told you about how Sadie’s parents bucked convention and gave her CBD as a last-ditch effort.

Look again at the picture of Sadie on the back of this book. Her seizures have stopped. The tumors on her spine, liver, kidneys, and the base of her neck are completely gone.

That’s the life-saving power of medical marijuana.

Hear what Brian, Sadie’s father, has to say about this amazing cannabis industry you’re entering into.

“The amount of love in the cannabis community is unbeliev- able. After hearing Sadie’s story, a lot who were focused on making money, somewhere along the way they’ve changed their focus to saving lives.

“Everything the people at Grow and Grow Rich® do is helping more than you can imagine.”

We’re in the right place at the right time to make a difference in so many lives.

Won’t you join us on this amazing journey and save a life along the way? What could be more fulfilling, personally and professionally, than to use your talents and passion to help improve the lives of those in need, like Sadie.

Call the Grow and Grow Rich® team today and get ready for the sweetest, most rewarding ride of your life.

1164 Glossary )

420 Code for consuming marijuana. Its origin can be traced back to the early 1970’s to a group of high school students in San Rafael in Marin County, called the “Waldos” because they hung out in front of a wall. Every day at 4:20pm after school, they would meet to smoke, and it became a code word for their activities and the time they would meet. Deadheads helped spread the term from San Rafael to across the country.

A Acapulco Gold An heirloom strain of cannabis originally grown in western Mexico’s mountains. amotivational syndrome A supposed medical syndrome featuring lack of motivation in those who use cannabis, which has been challenged.

B bag A package of marijuana. bhang A traditional edible or drink preparation of cannabis.

165 2 GROW AND GROW RICH black market Underground illegal cannabis trade.

Blue Dream A sativa-dominant hybrid strain of cannabis. Also called Blueberry Haze because it’s a cross between Blueberry and Haze strains with Afghani, Mexican, and Thai roots. blunt A cigar filled with cannabis often mixed with tobacco. bong A water filter for smoking cannabis. bud The part of the cannabis plant that is consumed or used for its CBD and THC properties. bud tender A point of sale employee in a cannabis retail dispensary.

C cannabidiol Usually abbreviated CBD, the non-psychotropic chemical compound found in cannabis. cannabinoid receptors Parts of the endocannabinoid system located in the cells throughout the human body that are activated by cannabinoids. The receptors influence appetite, pain sensation, mood, and memory. Two types of receptors have been discovered: cannabinoid receptor type 1 and cannabinoid receptor type 2.

1166 Glossary

cannabinoids The chemical compounds, with varying effects, found in cannabis. At least 113 different natural cannabinoids have been identified. Most common are: Cannabidiol (CBD) Cannabinol (CBN) Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cannabinol Abbreviated CBN, a mildly psychoactive substance found in cannabis. cannabis Latin or scientific name for the entire plant hemp, legally named marijuana or marihuana in some jurisdictions. Other names include grass, weed, and ganja. There are three recognized species: Cannabis indica Cannabis ruderalis Cannabis sativa cannabis and spirituality Entheogenic and religious use of cannabis, including Rastafari and some branches of Modern Paganism. cannabis consumption Different ways cannabis can be consumed to experience either the psychoactive or therapeutic properties. Includes: Cannabis foods Lotions Oral tinctures Smoking Vaporizing cannabis culture A society and fellowship associated with consuming cannabis or hemp products. Includes:

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Beatnik Cannabis consumption Cannabis smoking Flower child Hippie Hipster (both from the 1940’s and contemporary subcultures) Psychonautics Recreational drug use Responsible drug use cannabis (drug) Cannabis used as a drug for medical or personal reasons, legally named marijuana or marihuana in some jurisdictions. cannabis edibles and extracts Psychoactive products made from cannabis, including: bhang cannabis tea charas concentrates honey oil live resin shatter wax hash oil hashish kief tincture of cannabis cannabis flower essential oil A product with little or no psychoactive properties extracted from cannabis leaves and flowers.

1168 Glossary

Cannabis indica Latin, or scientific name for the plant species Cannabis indica, dis- tinguished by its broad leaves and relatively short, densely branched stalk. cannabis industrial and home products Non-psychoactive industrial hemp products, including: cannabis flower essential oil canvas hemp hurds hemp jewelry hemp juice hemp milk hemp oil hemp protein hempcrete

Cannabis ruderalis Latin, or scientific name for the plant species Cannabis ruderalis, which is sparsely branched with narrow leaves, typically shorter, and autoflowering.

Cannabis sativa Latin, or scientific name for the plant species Cannabis sativa, known for tall, sparsely branched stalks with long, narrow leaves. cannabis smoking A method of consuming cannabis by inhalation of vapors released by burning cannabis or cannabis extracts. cannabis strains Pure or hybrid varieties of Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis, including: Acapulco Gold Blue Dream

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Charlotte’s Web Gorilla Glue Kush Skunk Sour Diesel Thai stick White Widow cannabis tea An infusion of cannabis. canvas A heavy-duty fabric traditionally made of hemp. chalice A sacred Rastafari water pipe. charas A traditional form of Indian hashish. [See cannabis edibles and extracts.]

Cherry Slang word for a burning ember at the tip of a joint or in a pipe bowl. chillum A traditional clay pipe for smoking cannabis. chronic A slang name for high quality cannabis. cola Topmost flower bud on a cannabis plant.

1170 Glossary consemilla

A mature marijuana bud with seeds. concentrates Products including budder, honey oil, live resin, shatter, taffy, wax, commercially extracted from cannabis with CO2 or hydrocarbon solvents. cottonmouth Slang name for a dry mouth caused by smoking or vaporizing cannabis or cannabis extracts.

D dank A slang word for high quality cannabis. decriminalization The lessening of criminal penalties in relation to consumption of cannabis, reflecting changing social and moral views. doobie A slang word for cannabis cigarette. drug paraphernalia Equipment or accessories used for making, consuming, or concealing cannabis or cannabis extracts, including: bong chalice chillum herb grinder hookah one-hitter

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roach clip rolling paper stash box vaporizer

E effects of cannabis Consumption of cannabis has various psychological and physiologi- cal effects that can include euphoria and anxiety. Other effects of cannabis include munchies. endocannabinoid system A group of receptors for cannabinoids in the brain and nervous system.

F flower child A hippie. freedom fighter A cannabis rights activist.

G ganja Jamaican and Indian word for cannabis.

Gorilla Glue Several hybrid cannabis strains bred from indica varieties. grass A slang word for cannabis.

1172 Glossary

grinder Apparatus for grinding cannabis before use.

H hash oil A resin extracted from cannabis or hashish.

hashish An extracted cannabis product made from resin.

head shop A retail outlet specializing in paraphernalia and items related to cannabis culture.

hemp English or common name for the entire plant cannabis, legally named marijuana or marihuana in some jurisdictions. Other names for hemp include: Cannabis indica Cannabis ruderalis Cannabis sativa Feral cannabis Ganja Grass Mary Jane Medical cannabis Reefer Trees Weed hemp hurds Hemp wood, the inner portion of the hemp stalk separated from the fiber.

173 2 GROW AND GROW RICH hemp jewelry Jewelry made from hemp cord, rope, or thread. hemp juice A non-psychoactive drink cold-pressed from cannabis leaves and flowers. hemp milk Plant milk made from cannabis seeds. hemp oil Oil extracted from cannabis seeds. hemp protein The protein content of hemp seeds. hempcrete A bio-composite construction material made from hemp hurds. high Slang name describing the state of being under the influence of cannabis. hippie 1960’s cannabis culture hipster 1940’s or contemporary cannabis subculture hit Act of smoking or vaping a puff of cannabis or cannabis extract. homegrown Cannabis that has been personally cultivated.

1174 Glossary hookah A traditional Indian water pipe, also called shish in Arabic speaking locales and in Southeast Asia. hophead A user of cannabis. hot box Slang term for smoking cannabis in a closed space.

I informant A word used to describe an undercover police informant, narcotics, agent, or snitch.

J jay Slang name for a joint. joint A cannabis cigarette.

K kief Traditional cakes of hashish, sometimes mixed with tobacco. kind Word describing high-quality cannabis, or anything related to cannabis culture.

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Kush A subset of indica varieties of cannabis bred from descendants of strains originating in the Hindu Kush mountain range of Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan.

L Legalization The process of removing the legal prohibition against cannabis. lid A measured quantity of cannabis, usually one ounce to 1.5 ounces, an amount that would fill a shoe box lid. live resin Extracted fresh cannabis that is kept at freezing temperatures through the entire process, rather than dried.

M marijuana or marihuana A slang word for cannabis, the legal name in some jurisdictions.

Mary Jane A slang name for cannabis. medical cannabis Cannabis used as a drug for medical purposes, legally named marijuana or marihuana in some jurisdictions. munchies Increased appetite.

1176 Glossary

N narc A slang word for undercover narcotics agent. nug Slang name for a bud of high-quality cannabis.

O one-hitter A pipe for smoking cannabis.

P pot Cannabis, possibly derived from Spanish potiguaya, itself possibly derived from potacion de guaya. pothead A frequent user of cannabis. prohibition Laws in some jurisdictions banning the cultivation or sales of cannabis in an attempt to prevent its use. These bans are criticized because they create a black market and because enforcement is disproportionate in communities of color. psychonautics Altered states of consciousness induced by meditation, cannabis, or other substances.

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R Rastafari A religion developed in Jamaica during the 1930’s currently with an estimated 700,000 to 1 million members worldwide. reefer A slang word for cannabis, possibly derived from reefing, or rolling up a canvas sail. reefer madness A fictional cannabis psychosis caused by smoking marihuana in the 1936 film Reefer Madness. reeferphobe An individual who feels uncomfortable around people who consume cannabis. Someone who is reeferphobic, or has an irrational fear of cannabis law reform, or someone who exhibits reeferphobia. reeferphobia Aversion to, dislike of, or prejudice against marijuana consumers. reform A social movement that aims to make gradual change in cannabis policy. roach Remains of joint or blunt after most of it has been smoked. roach clip A device to hold the butt of a joint while it is burning. roasted Slang name for being high.

1178 Glossary rolling paper A thin specialty paper used for making cannabis cigarettes.

S session Slang name for a cannabis get-together. shatter A type of extracted cannabis concentrate that is brittle, usually trans- parent, and breaks like glass. shisha An Arabic word for hookah, a traditional water pipe for smoking cannabis. sinsemilla Spanish for without seed, a slang name for high quality, dried cannabis. skunk Hybrid variety of cannabis that is known of a pungent fragrance. smoking A method of consuming cannabis by inhalation of vapors released by burning cannabis or cannabis extracts. snitch A slang word meaning police informant. spliff A slang word for cannabis cigarette.

179 2 GROW AND GROW RICH stash Word used to describe a supply of cannabis. stash box Any container used for concealing cannabis or valuables. stoned Slang name for being under the influence of cannabis. stoner A slang word meaning heavy cannabis smoker, the word is deroga- tory except within the cannabis culture. stoner bashing Verbal or physical abuse directed against a person who is perceived by the aggressor to be someone who is a consumer of cannabis, including unprovoked threats, intimidation, and offensive jokes made at the expense of a cannabis consumer by an attacker who is in position of power over the victim.

T tetrahydrocannabinol Abbreviated THC, a psychoactive substance found in cannabis.

Thai stick A variety of cannabis flowers from Thailand tied together around a stick. tincture of cannabis An alcoholic extract of cannabis. toke Slang name for a puff of cannabis smoke or vapor.

1180 Glossary toker A slang word meaning one who smokes cannabis. trees A slang word for cannabis. trichomes Structures giving the cannabis leaf a powdery appearance and containing most of the THC.

U undercover agent A plain clothes police officer, narcotics agent, or informant. underground economy Black market or shadow economy created by cannabis prohibition.

V vape or vaping Act of consuming the active ingredients in cannabis by vaporizing dried flowers or cannabis extracts. vaporizer A device for smokeless vaporizing and consuming of cannabis or cannabis extracts. viper Jazz-era term for a cannabis smoker.

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W War on Drugs An American term, popularized by the media after President Richard Nixon, in 1969, formally declared a “war on drugs” including eradi- cation, interdiction, and incarceration. wax A type of extracted cannabis. weed A slang word for cannabis.

White Widow

Hybrid of Brazilian sativa and Indian indica varieties of cannabis with buds covered in white-colored resin crystals.

Y Yippie A word referring to the Youth International Party, or its members.

Z zero tolerance Policy of imposing strict punishment for cannabis law violations, which has been criticized because it forbids discretion regarding individual culpability, history, and extenuating circumstances. Zero tolerance policies in schools are said to contribute to a school-to-prison pipeline in the United States.

1182 Index )

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