Every business owner can encounter mistakes, but for those diving into the cannabis industry, the journey may present unique challenges. Understanding the common mistakes and how to overcome them helps you protect your business from time-consuming and frustrating headaches.
In this post, we’re going to discuss the 9 mistakes that can seriously derail your cannabis business to ensure you start and run your business smoothly.
Not Keeping Precise Records
Neglecting proper record-keeping is an important misstep often seen among cannabis business owners. For a thriving and compliant enterprise, precise tracking is essential, extending from managing inventory to maintaining complex financial records.
Not Vetting Vendors Properly
Skipping careful checks on your vendors is a big mistake that can seriously derail your cannabis business. Not properly looking into vendors can cause problems, like quality issues, following rules, and overall hurting your business’s reputation. When you ignore this important step, you’re inviting potential troubles that can impact how reliable and successful your cannabis business can be in the future. Make sure you prioritize checking your vendors carefully to avoid problems and build a strong foundation for your business.
Overlooking Properly Vetting Employees
Neglecting thorough employee vetting can significantly hinder your cannabis business. Hiring the right staff is important to ensure compliance and security of your business are in place. And in the cannabis sector, hiring isn’t just about finding reliable and friendly folks who fit the company vibe. It’s like making an important investment. Bringing in a new team member for finding, hiring, and training your employees is a wise decision. So, it’s essential to see hiring as a valuable investment in building a strong team and using resources wisely.
Not Having Backup Equipment
Just like any other industry, the cannabis market also requires backup equipment to ensure the smooth and seamless operation of your business. Running your business without a backup isn’t ideal for maintaining a strong brand or business reputation. The absence of backup systems can result in disruptions, impacting productivity and customer satisfaction. Ensure the robustness of your operations by keeping backup equipment readily available, protecting your business from unexpected downtime, and ensuring a continuous flow in your cannabis venture.
Neglecting Operational Infrastructure Investments
Overlooking investments in operational infrastructure is a common oversight in cannabis dispensaries. Similar to other retail businesses, effective management of employees, stock, and sales is important. To ensure smooth operations, it’s essential to design and implement systems early on, incorporating processes and reliable software.
A strategic approach involves partnering with experienced suppliers and software vendors. Choosing proven industry solutions for your Point of Sale (POS) eliminates concerns about manual inventory management, order updates, and maintaining HIPAA-compliant customer records. This proactive choice sets the stage for seamless and efficient dispensary operations.
Neglecting Surveillance System
With the high demand for cannabis, it’s important to have strong security. Having a certified security service not only safeguards your cannabis but also ensures compliance. Neglecting security rules in your cannabis business can lead to severe consequences which might include your license revocation and paying penalties. In more serious instances, you might face fines and other complications.
Not Adjusting to Latest Marketing Trends
In a dynamic cannabis market, some businesses miss out on customer preferences, limiting their clientele. Not understanding the market trends and customers’ preferences may turn out to be one of the mistakes that can seriously derail your cannabis business. Moreover, the lack of innovation and technology adoption becomes a barrier to growth. Successful adaptation, like embracing online services, is crucial for staying attuned to customer needs and expanding reach in this evolving sector.
Ignoring Cannabis Regulations
Every business has to follow rules, and for cannabis, there are a ton because of its history. You have to follow both state and local rules, but here’s the catch—these rules are constantly changing. If you’re not updated on what’s happening in the cannabis world, you might end up paying penalties or high fines. Moreover, fixing that mistake is not just costly but also affects your brand reputation. So, always stay informed about the new regulations to keep operating your cannabis business smoothly.
Not Having A Roadmap for Business
In the cannabis business, following the rules and regulations is super important. Planning ahead gives you peace of mind and sets a strong base to grow your business. Running a cannabis business without a clear goal for scaling, going public, or selling can slow down your progress. And you might not reach the full potential your business is capable of achieving. A defined roadmap is a must for making informed decisions and maximizing opportunities. Without it, your business may face uncertainties and miss out on strategic advantages.
How Can Cure8 Help?
Whether you’re starting a cannabis business, or need help with operational plans, IT setup, or security, Cure8 has you covered. As a leading cannabis IT and security services provider in the US and Canada, Cure8 offers a one-stop solution for dispensaries, cultivators, manufacturers, and distributors. Our services range from IT and security plans to SOPs, floorplans, POS installation, digital display setup, hardware procurement, and more.
