The holiday season is the perfect time to reflect on the year that was and set goals for the year that has yet to be. With that in mind, we checked in with our advisory board members to learn what they see as an important lesson from 2021 and a key trend to keep an eye on in 2022. It’s a pivotal moment in cannabis, but aren’t they all?
Here’s what they had to say.
Rich Kwesell, owner, Strawberry Fields
What is the biggest lesson you learned in 2021?
The biggest lesson we learned was to embrace automation earlier. The environment of people seeking jobs has decreased dramatically in the last two years with wanted signs everywhere in all industries. The competitive raising of minimum wages has created a situation across the board always giving new employees a short-term, bigger better deal that oftentimes affects the attrition rate overall. We needed a way to produce more per employee, and automation was the answer. We are able to offer our employees greater responsibility, more value to themselves as well as to the company all the while offering a higher pay rate, keeping our staff numbers to a minimum. Easier said than done, many risks involved with expensive decisions that must work out. One law falls the wrong way and that piece of expensive machinery could be rendered useless, but such is life. No risk, no reward, play the man, not the puck.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
We are most looking forward to further expansion, more states coming online and furthering our consulting business. National legalization gets us excited and nervous all at the same time, just depends on if states scrap their original models or if they keep them with modifications. Either way, we will get in where we fit in and do great business, same as the last 13 years of this licensed cannabis ride. Bring it on!
Ken Morrow, owner, Trichome Technologies
What is the biggest lesson you learned in 2021?
This year has taught me that moving forward one must think ahead as much as possible. Shipping and distribution interruptions will continue to plague the cannabis industry regarding supplies such as vape cartridges and many ancillary products that are produced in foreign countries. Raw materials and cultivation products will be much more difficult to source for the upcoming future as well as being much more expensive.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
Hopefully a reduction in cannabis taxation, as well as banking allowance and a realistic plan for federal legalization.
Mason Walker, CEO, East Fork Cultivars
What is the biggest lesson you learned in 2021?
This year offered a range of lessons. The biggest one? Growth comes in many forms. For the last few years we've been laser focused on revenue as our key indicator of growth. But faced with numerous setbacks ranging from COVID to severe wildfire crop damage to the death of a business partner, we've found growth in other metrics. Layoffs avoided. Partnerships strengthened. New opportunities seized.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
A resurgence for craft cannabis. The pandemic led to increased cannabis sales, but craft products got lost in the shuffle. A decline in in-person interactions, including budtender education sessions, brand tabling, industry events, and in-person shopping made it harder for consumers to learn about nuanced products. I'm starting to see a returning interest, particularly from retailers, in building back the momentum we had pre-COVID in building a craft cannabis community.
Nick Jack, COO, Diego Pellicer, Colorado
What is the biggest lesson you learned in 2021?
As a retail-operator, positioning your company to be flexible in today's economy means more than just giving customer's different options to choose from when they shop at your store or business. You need to be able to revaluate your entire business model and sometimes make big changes on the fly. Being able to adapt and overcome sudden shifts in what could be viewed as unstable market conditions can be a big challenge for teams. And when you need to make big changes, remember to put a focus on team dynamics in order to stay cohesive and on track.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
Today's shoppers are looking for convenience, and in 2022 we're looking forward to delivering our most convenient consumer shopping experience to date. We've spent a lot of time revamping our customer journey to make it more accustomed to today's preferred retail shopping experiences and we're excited to show Colorado everything we've been working on.
Salpy Boyajian, executive vice president and board chairwoman, Flower One
What is the biggest lesson you learned in 2021?
The industry is still so young, and there is still so much to be done to make cannabis a more formalized business that is valued and accepted by the public sector. More specifically, the opportunity to be able to utilize one of the many features of accepted businesses, such as normalized banking. Once SAFE Banking is available, it will serve as a safer and more trustworthy method of banking for cannabis businesses, equivalent to what other sectors are able to already use.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
I am truly looking forward to the opening of consumption lounges throughout Nevada in 2022. These lounges will serve as a safe and convenient space to consume, as consumption is currently highly monitored at hot spots in Las Vegas.
Debby Goldsberry, community outreach liaison, Magnolia Wellness and Flor/co-founder, Berkeley Patients Group collective
What is the biggest lesson you learned in 2021?
I discovered that small business entrepreneurs have to work harder and harder every year to survive in the cannabis marketplace, as big businesses have the runway to survive disasters and small businesses often do not. In that case, as we saw this year, it becomes a buyers market, where small companies are bought out by larger ones for ever decreasing valuations.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
Helping small business owners learn to compete better in the marketplace, especially helping people to secure licenses in markets all across the country.
