In this segment, you will learn how to become a respected cannabis cultivator. Next, you will cover commercial cultivation operations and scaling your cultivation business, as well as the national and international mindset in cannabis cultivation. Finally, the future of worldwide cultivation is discussed.

This video segment explains that in order to become a respected cannabis cultivator, you have to identify whose respect you are seeking. Becoming a cultivator requires responsibilities and one of the first is having your customer respect you.

This video segment talks about the amount of capital needed to set up operations, without federal or bank lending. You will learn that the average cultivation costs for an outdoor operation is approximately $17 per square foot to create, a mixed/light greenhouse costs $50 per square foot to create, and an intensive indoor operation is approximately $75 per square foot to create.

In this video segment, you will learn about where cultivators get their money. This includes: family or friends, who earn the lowest return rate; people who want to be in your business and who would want a higher percentage of revenue; and venture capitalists, who take on the highest level of risk by providing the most capital, while also receiving the largest sums in return.

In this video segment, you will learn how to deal without the benefits of banks. This includes making sure you have security for your cash. How is the cash gathered? Where is it stored? Who stores the money?

In this video segment, you will learn about commercial cultivation operations and the cost-benefit analysis of indoor vs outdoor grows. This begins with understanding the cycle and the regulatory fees between different types of grow operations.

This video segment talks about harvesting operations and that post-harvest issues typically cause most crops to lose value. Harvesting and planting are the bookends of cultivation.

In this video segment, you will learn about key employee roles and the need to first determine what you as the cultivator have to do in the operation. A cultivator must know the main functions of the operations, and key employees on the payroll must bring a value that is hard to replace. Finally, employee development is crucial for a cultivation company. This includes key factors such as defining the key employees in the company and treating employees well.

This video segment talks about scaling your cultivation business, and how difficult scaling can be because you are not sure of the end game. Next, you will learn that there must be strong relationships between the cultivator, accountant, and investors. You must think of scaling your operation in phases: Define a successful objective, and once reached, determine the next objective, and continue to learn where the markets are moving and where the company can be increased in size.

This video segment talks about basic seed-to-sale requirements. Tracking systems give us an instant view of what is going on, and tracking can help find problems if any arise during the process. The tracking systems help regulators get their taxes and assures the customer of the product, while always making sure regulators have an honest feel for your company.

This segment advises you to think about your distribution services early in your cultivation business plan. You will learn that distributors choose the products to distribute, which means it is important for cultivators to work with distributors to make products that are marketable. Also, your product can’t be sold without a distributor, so understanding the marketplace is vital. One of the biggest downfalls for a cultivator is falling in love with a product that can’t be moved.

This segment talks about state and local compliance requirements. It is imperative to understand the various forms of compliance within a state. You need to know what the regulatory bodies are asking and why they are asking those questions, while also making sure you know all the compliance factors where your business resides.

This segment discusses how to cultivate outside state lines, and that each state has its own compliance guidelines to follow. Understand that models from state to state vary based on desires, and a lot of expansive plans outside of state lines end up failing from a lack of focus on the regulatory differences from your current state to a new state. Trusting operators who are your equal is a key to success.

This segment talks about the vast differences on products that are regulated and what one can do within the market. Know what value you bring as a cultivator on an international level. Understand how the components of a cultivator’s success can be used in an international scope, but keep in mind that it cannot be done the same way as the states. Finally, know the cultural behavior of each country that your company is dealing with, and build relationships with the government organizations that do the regulation.

This segment discusses how technology will dictate where we can cultivate in the future. Cannabis will be able to be produced in wider ranges with lower costs, and over time, products will be able to cross borders. The 10-year plan in cannabis is likely to be dramatic, similar to the evolution of the computer. Cultivation will likely look drastically different in 10 years.

This segment explains that federal legalization will come down to higher regulations of regulatory control. Cultivators will have to learn how to deal with regulations that are already existing, but also know standard practices as we move forward. Regulatory oversights that are adopted will typically trickle down from federal to state to county, so as a cultivator, recognize what you are doing incorrectly so it can be fixed in the future.

This article discusses financing cannabis cultivation, seed-to-sale requirements, distributing your cultivated product, and the future of cannabis cultivation.