This is a guest article by Dr. Cassandra Meeks of Wild Herb Wellness.
At the age of 50, I decided to take a leap of faith and join the medical cannabis industry in Oklahoma, with the assistance of my father. We went all in, opening a retail location while simultaneously building a commercial grow (indoor and greenhouse). I quickly realized that vertical integration was the only chance I had at making it, so I’m currently in the process of applying for my processing license, including a processing room in my building design.
To turn my dream into a reality, I could not afford to quit my job and I did not want to take out loans. I put my life savings into this, so I had one shot to make it. I listened to countless sales pitches and researched almost every system on the market. Choosing MJ Platform was one of the best decisions I’ve made, and I was sold after going through the demo with the MJ Freeway team.
The retail module takes some effort to set up, but every minute spent on the front end more than pays off in the long run. My MJ Platform trainer, Charles, drilled this into my head, and I’m grateful he did. The monthly reporting to the state and sales tax calculations are automatically created, and that feature alone saves me at least a day’s worth of work each month. Compare that to one of my colleagues who used to spend an entire day on her retail report!
With MJ Platform, it is literally a matter of locating the value in a spreadsheet. Their Business Intelligence tool has the capacity to compare and analyze every aspect of the business. It aids in choosing merchandise, setting store hours, determining when I need more staff, and helps ensure I stay compliant. I can log into the platform from anywhere, so I can handle issues with setup, pricing errors – anything I can do onsite can be accomplished remotely.
I have a PhD in Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences and have worked in research for most of my career, so the level of data analysis that is built into the system was impressive. Then, add to that, new features are constantly being rolled out.
I’m looking forward to comparing results between the indoor, controlled environment to the outdoor natural environment. Much of my career has been related to stress responses and secondary metabolism in plants, so the ability to compare terpenes and cannabinoids (entered from my laboratory testing reports) is interesting to me. My grow is still in the infancy stages, and I continue to find new features every time I access my training site. I look forward to setting up my processing business and using MJ Platform will make vertical integration so much easier.
Having a top-notch system is useless if you do not know how to operate it. MJ Freeway has unprecedented customer support. Not only does their support include one-on-one recorded training sessions with your own trainer, but I also have constant access to tech support. Unlike most tech support hotlines, this one is useful. If the person I reach by phone does not know the answer, they immediately reach out to the team for assistance. Charles, my initial trainer, has stuck beside me the entire time. Even though I have completed my formal training, I can reach out to Charles and he helps me.
Having a great program with amazing customer support is enough reason to use MJ Platform, but these guys take it a step further. When I signed up, my sales rep Dan and Charles told me they were committed to helping me succeed in every way. They referred me to an extraordinary accounting firm that was affordable on my limited budget. I have no background in business or retail so I had to be walked through simple processes. I had no idea how to do payroll, which taxes need to be paid monthly, quarterly, or annually. They also suggested I form a staffing company so I could write off my employee expenses. I formed a “gift shop” for my nonmedicated items, which subleases to the dispensary. Between the dispensary, staffing company, gift shop, grow, and (hopefully someday) processing, business operations can get complicated. They make it possible to stay compliant and manage the intercompany aspects of the business.
I’ve had many delays in completing my grow. I decided to buy a greenhouse so I wouldn’t have to wait on my indoor facility to be completed. This was an added expense at a time when money was already tight, but I hoped to get a harvest this season to recoup some of my expenses. The day it was scheduled to ship, long after the money had cleared my account, I was informed it would be delayed several months due to COVID. After paying two months of cultivation platform fees, I took a chance and reached out Dan, lamenting about my situation. He went to bat for me with his billing department and helped negotiate a solution to allowed me to manage my financial hardships during these unusual times. This is another example of the level of support I receive from MJ Freeway.
If you are just starting out, you will quickly realize how difficult it can be to navigate the ever-changing waters of the cannabis industry. I encounter new fees around every corner. The regulations are constantly changing. Every detail must be accurately tracked to remain compliant. The wording of rules is often unclear. I encounter pitfalls around every corner. MJ Freeway has supported me through this entire journey. If you are considering joining this industry, do yourself a favor and choose MJ Freeway. These guys have been here from the start and are in it for the long haul.
