Lisbeth Vargas, Strategist, Founder, Canna Marketing U
Lisbeth began her career in cannabis as the Director of Communications for Mindful (Addison, IL) a medical cannabis dispensary in 2016. While navigating the industry she realized traditional marketing tactics would not work for a cannabis brand. She developed a system for marketing cannabis brands online and went on to launch Canna Marketing U: a marketing coaching and consulting business.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:01] You're listening to Thinking Outside the Bud where we speak with entrepreneurs investors thought leaders researchers advocates and policymakers who are finding new and exciting ways for cannabis to positively impact business society and culture. And now, here is your host Business Coach Bruce Eckfeldt.
[00:00:30] Are you a CEO looking to scale your company faster and easier. Checkout Thrive Roundtable thrive combines a moderated peer group mastermind expert one on one coaching access to proven growth tools and a 24/7 support community created by Inc. Award winning CEO and certified scaling up business coach Bruce Eckfeldt. Thrive will help you grow your business more quickly and with less drama. For details on the program visit Eckfeldt.com/thrive. That's E C K F E L D T.com/thrive.
[00:01:06] Welcome everyone. This is Thinking Outside the Bud. I’m Bruce Eckfeldt, I'm your host. And our guest today is Lizbeth Vargas. She is a cannabis marketing consultant. She is also founder of Canna Marketing U. We're going to find out more about her, her background, how she's gotten into cannabis. She's also from Chicago, which means there is no catch up on her hot dogs. So I want to point that out. She's a I'm a Midwesterner as well. So I know how important that is. But I'm excited for the episode because I'm really interested in marketing in the cannabis space as folks. Now, the legal side of this makes this whole kind of marketing, outreach, publicity really interesting. It can be complicated and can be challenging at times. So I'm excited for this episode to understand and learn what's going on in marketing space and what's going on in Illinois, part of the country in terms of cannabis and the work that's being done there. So what that was about. Welcome to the program.
[00:01:56] Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be on.
[00:01:59] So why don't we talk a little bit about your background and how you got into cannabis. And then we'll we'll kind of hear the stories. We understand what you're doing with with the marketing and Canna Marketing U and where the industry is going. So how did you get into cannabis? What was the backstory?
[00:02:14] So long story short, I was a pre-law, an undergrad, and I had set myself on this three year track. And it was until I finished undergrad and I taught high schoolers for a year that I realized that I really loved marketing. And Chicago is super competitive. I'm born and raised here. I'll probably die here. So. So that was hunting for a marketing job. I was getting qualified for a lot of copywriting work. I wanted to do more branding, more strategy, and that required a lot of experience on education. So I actually went back to grad school. I ended up at Northwestern. And funny enough, while at work at Northwestern is where the opportunity to enter the cannabis space came for me. So I I responded to this very obscure job post that Northwestern's job board. I drove 45 minutes to Naperville and I was presented with the opportunity to be the marketing director for a mindful medical cannabis dispensary out in Addison. And no experience, no real no real marketing training at that point. Major in English lit. You know, as you do when you want to be a freelancer. And so it was a very exciting opportunity, of course. I said, yes, it was very flexible. I was able to help launch the marketing plan for a dispensary here in my home state at the time. Medicinal. It just recreational. It's gonna kick in January 1st.
[00:03:30] So, no, this was a active dispensary. This is one that was in progress. They had a license. What was the state of the business?
[00:03:37] It was in progress to launch when I came on. They had acquired the licensing. We had already built out the brick and mortar space. They were just finalizing launch date, getting all screwed up with with product and and and pretty much building out that marketing launch plant, which is why I was brought in to help announce the opening and really build out the patient base right at the time that the industry was medicinal.
[00:03:58] And remind me. So give me remind me what of the Illinois system worked? Is it a vertically integrated or is this a you have separate dispensaries and producers and growers.
[00:04:08] So it is it is not really particularly integrated. We have growers and we have dispensaries at that time, particularly to the business model. Unfortunately, the Illinois Medical Cannabis Program was the most restrictive out of the state. It required fingerprinting. It only included 40 conditions as opposed to other nearby states like Michigan, who had over 60. And so the program itself at the beginning was very restrictive and it was also a pilot program. So when it first came out, there was that uneasiness of it just being a pilot. We were going to see what was going to happen. But at the time, mindful, I believe, was only the tenth dispensary that had a license.
[00:04:44] Got it. Got it. So from a marketing point of view, with a limited qualifying condition set, like who became your audience or how, how do you kind of approach marketing given that situation?
[00:04:53] So in our state, and particularly because the program itself was so restrictive and it only certain medical conditions would qualify, we did see an uprise in advocacy organizations that would teach people how to apply to get a medical card and then teach them. What do you do the first time that you go to a store and we partner with a lot of advocacy organizations in our state in order to meet patients.
[00:05:16] Got it. So you got involved in this dispensary that was ramping up licensing. Tell us about how did things work and what were your you know, how did you approach it both kind of strategically and then actually putting together the camp? Chains like. Tell us a story of how things played out.
[00:05:31] Yeah. So of course, as a marketing graduate student, I was very excited. I had all these huge plans, email and ads and Instagram, and I was very rudely awakened from that dream like marketing plan because off the bat, Facebook would not let you run any sort of ad because marijuana was in our name. So are mindful medical marijuana dispensary was was our business name. And so that completely eliminates building your brand online. And very early on, I realized that traditional marketing tactics were just not going to work for the cannabis space. And I said it upon myself of meeting who are potential. I keep seeing patients because that's the way that we deal them. Right. We didn't really see them as customers. We saw them as our patient base. How can we provide education? And that was another thing very early on that I realized that a lot of the people who are going to be shopping from our dispensary had either a very limited cannabis knowledge or they know that it's good for them, but they're still within themselves fighting the stigma of smoking. Maybe I should only do edibles. Maybe I have a pain, so I'm only going to use a topical. So very early on, I acknowledge that it needs to be very educational, not sales. And understanding our patient base. So it was a lot of networking on my behalf. I would attend a lot of events where nations would be I organized events with a lot of advocacy groups to kind of get our name out there.
[00:06:49] We were one of the dispensaries out in the suburbs. So that was another limitation of figuring out locally who we can reach and who we can better service. And ultimately, we were getting people who would say, I drove an hour just to be here. The the thing that, again, is is very specific to cannabis and specifically in our state that was medicinal at time. There's rules behind shopping. So you could only be assigned to one dispensary. So when you applied, you would have to pick a dispensary. That's pretty much what you were stuck with. Or you would go to until you decided to change. And at first it was there was a lot of friction. You'd have to fill out paperwork and then dispensaries caught on really early that the process would be cut in half. And we helped with the paperwork, help them transfer. Now it's online. It's come such a long way. It takes less than 24 hours for you. Be able to shop at another dispensary for a medicinal patient. Before it was paperwork, you'd have to wait.
[00:07:38] And so that that was another barrier to to access patients is there is a wait time before someone can switch from another dispensary. So understanding the law, so you get locked into a particular dispensary at the time of getting your medical card.
[00:07:51] Right. And that's where the advocacy groups really came in, because a lot of these dispensaries weren't, you know, up and running for years.
[00:07:58] It was very much like we were new comers and a lot of patients relied on advocacy groups saying, hey, we have a relationship with Mindful. We think this is oftentimes we think we think it's too you should check out. So it was at the beginning a lot of relationship building, a lot of a lot of providing educational support.
[00:08:15] Yes, it was. I mean, just from. I mean, generally, you know, in marketing, we talk about, you know, the the the switching costs, you going to a different provider in this case, it's literally like I've got to go and apply like I have. But the government has to approve my changing of my provider to another business. It certainly seems like the advocacy group was a key strategic move just goes that's that's where you're going to lock people and or that's where you're gonna go. But that initial customer, that initial patient designating us the dispensary.
[00:08:41] And tell me about the product and what products were you. Was Illinois handling in the beginning? I mean, were you doing flower or did you have concentrates?
[00:08:49] What was the market mix like? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. No.
[00:08:52] And unlike other states, like, for example, Florida, who did no smoking for a while, we had access to all types of products.
[00:08:58] So we had flour, we had concentrates, we had topicals, we had a lot of the edibles. So in that respect, we had a lot of product offerings, was limited, was the grower. So we had a couple, especially at mindful, just a couple of growers that we would do business with.
[00:09:13] And at first it was a lot of trial and error. I'm sure when you're setting up a brick and mortar and you're trying to build product, as we built relationships with our patient, there were certain products when opening that line of communication for feedback and of them saying, hey, we don't like this particular product or there's something wrong in this packaging. So that really helped fuel the way that we were adding inventory to to the store as well.
[00:09:36] Do you think having, you know, lots of different kind of modalities here, you know, different types of products, did that make it harder or easier in terms of, you know, kind of patience and education? I mean, I could see a little bit of tyranny of choice. You know, you come in and I'm already kind of grappling with this whole like, should I be using cannabis marijuana at all? You know, what effects is it going I have? And now I've got to deal with, you know, all these different ways of consuming it and then the brands around it. And, you know, it's is this, I guess, how how did that sort of product mix in a product availability affect the marketing side?
[00:10:09] So our business model was very consultative. So we had our patient care specialists would do a first consultation to get to know specifically what ailments you need help with, what was your preferred type of consumption. So at the beginning, we we had a lot of conversations with our patients up front. You're right. The paradigm of choice, there's just so much to pick from. And we wanted to be able to provide tailored service so each individual would get specifically what they were needing, and so that buried biproduct and it varied by type. But we had we had a space where it was a very comfortable it kind of reminds me of a living room. You kind of sit with your with your doctor comfy couch and just talk through what you were looking for. And that really also helped our relationship building aspect of it, right? It didn't feel like you came in and you're like, hey, by everything. It was more of what do you need, how we can help you? And here's what we offer that fits that.
[00:11:01] And to be quite honest with you, there were times when a patient would come in and they were looking for something in particular. And if we didn't have it, we'd help them transfer to another dispensary. We're like, hey, we can't get this for you or we would try. Oftentimes our store manager would try to get certain product. People just loves a certain strain sometimes. And so when your selection is so limited, we often had people who would just call around trying to find whatever they helped, whatever they found, help them. So that was also a big thing for us. We're like, hey, we don't have help. We don't have it. We'll get it for you. We'll help you find it.
[00:11:33] Now, you mentioned that you were working with a grower. Were you?
[00:11:37] What was the supply side of the business like for you in terms of being able to get product and types of product and availability? I it was availability there for most products. Or did you find that some things were were tough to get? You know, I had limited quantities and things like it was definitely there.
[00:11:51] It was one of the things that we're oftentimes we had too much right when we're buying too much and not being able to turn around it and and get enough patients to purchase. I think early on, especially in our state, growers were ready. So we were constantly having sales rep stopping by our store or my office manager would say, hey, this this grower is trying to reach out to us. Have you heard anything online about them? Oftentimes I wouldn't I would search them. And so on the supplier side. As far as I had helped with, it was just figuring out on the on the patient side what we were hearing and then turn around and sitting with my office manager when he would do inventory the beginning a month and he would say, hey, we are facing this out.
[00:12:27] Is that gonna be a problem? Have you heard anybody opposing to that? And it was another thing, too, that I really appreciated, just being a part of the team and very integral into what are we stocking? What are we hearing? And it felt more like a fluid position. It wasn't just, you know, build our sales base is more. How can you build our our branding and our relationship aspect?
[00:12:46] Yeah. So once things kind of come up and running. Tell me about how. What was the kind of relationship management or the kind of the marketing to existing customers? And like, how did you how did you keep people, you know, kind of connected to the dispensary? You know, coming back in, you know, letting them know about new products. How did that process work?
[00:13:03] So I really focused on finding out the best forms of communications for our patients at the beginning, of course. When I when we were launching, I wanted to showcase all our products on Instagram and Facebook. And that came with its own challenges. Right, of being shadowbanned, which at the time was really discouraging because you see all other industries being celebrated by tech giants and you yourself who are so new constantly not being able to comment, which is it almost defeats the purpose of being on Instagram. Right. And so I really got to know our patients and I really got to figure out. Do you prefer a text message? Do you prefer it in email? And since we had a very particular patient base because of the restrictions in the medical cannabis program in our state, email was our best platform. And so I actually have a funny story about our e-mail provider. Email is going great for us. The first year it was it was an easy way to tell people about new products, our sales. And another component that I was working through during that first year was events. So try to get people into the dispensary. Everyone who helped the design and the space. So we always got great compliments for that. So integrating event marketing with know marketing. So for about a year it was great. Email opens were great, of course, because you're reaching out to your consumer base. And I was sprinkling a lot of educational content. So it wasn't just like, hey, this is what we have for sale. It was more like, hey, this is what we're hearing about how to handle a migraine or these are the best strains for joint pain. So it was very educational. So one year of bliss and then at the middle and towards the end of twenty seventeen, mailchimp canceled our account because these Flug u_s_b_ cannabis company.
[00:14:39] Yes. So I took it very personally, of course, because I had actually researched their policy and in their policy, quote unquote, promoting illegal paraphernalia. And in my mind, I never put a cannabis picture in any of our emails. It was always very like general. Right. As far as just like strange names. But I actually got on the phone with them at some point.
[00:14:59] I was very frustrated because this was out one means of communication and their response was it's a legal period. That was it. That was there was no buts. There was no room to say, hey, well, well, how can we follow the guidelines? How can you set guidelines? We're not it's not an e-commerce business. So it's not like we're using mailchimp to sale online. But even now, it's been happening a lot. For example, I a lot of my clients have actually had their stripe account canceled and the payment processor. And it's very much because it remains legal. The federal level, and I can see why a lot of these companies don't want to take on the risk and especially as being a plant touching business because we essentially carried product. I can see I can see the aversion to risk, but at the same time, it's unfortunate because there's so much opportunity in order for the companies to build out into the industry because there is that need. So after having our mailchimp so they shouldn't be shut down with.
[00:15:52] No. No appeal. No. Like K, let's work with you to figure out how you can sort of stay compliant.
[00:15:57] They were just basically, hey, look, game over.
[00:16:00] Yes, it was an email. And then I found out that I couldn't log into my account. And then it was kinda. And I did have it through. I'm so glad that I back things up in the age of backing things up at the time. Early twenty, seventeen. So I had ah, I had access to our data. I remember reading this article about intellectual property. So in my mind, as a marketer, our intellectual property is our outlet. Right.
[00:16:26] And at the time, another means of communication was biometric, which was the which was the product platforms that we used in store that allowed you to message folks, which wasn't great. It was a little bit wonky, but it doesn't means that it was a work around until we figured out another email provider.
[00:16:44] Got it. Yeah. I mean, I hear all these challenges at the banking side.
[00:16:48] Honestly, I you know, I get a little bit more just because of the money laundering laws and things like that. You know, they end up shutting down accounts because they're under regulatory issues. But, you know, for something like email marketing system, you know, like I get they they you know, they have policies about illegal activities, but they're not directly affected by my. A lot of these laws as much. But yeah, I mean, I've heard of people using QuickBooks accounts and, you know, stripe and other anything payment related merchant accounts, things like that. Yeah. So you recovered from losing your your single best means of being able to communicating with your customers. What else ever to tell us more about kind of the things you learned in terms of how to successfully market or communicate with customers given the fact that you're dealing with marijuana?
[00:17:29] So I learned how your marketing has to be local. So if your plan touching business or your service business, it's not the same ballgame as you would any other industry where you can have all this kind of branding online. And one thing that I have really encouraged, folks, is to build your own website. Same issue with Instagram. You don't own your brand on Instagram. You don't own your brand on Facebook. But you do on your website. And FCO has been very big organic woth has been very big in the industry because people are searching for it. They're searching how to consume it. They're searching more about it. They're searching laws.
[00:18:05] And a lot of publications have sprung up because of that. There's a lot of cannabis publications. But on the business side, it's really owning your brand. And the only way to do that is to have your own infrastructure again. And you have a Web site, you're more likely to be able to retain your audience as opposed to a lot of people, especially in this industry, really focus on the vanity metrics like I have ten thousand followers, I have twenty thousand dollars on Facebook and that's great. I'm not knocking that at all. But is that helping your business model? Are those people turning around it and making a purchase?
[00:18:37] Or is it more on the branding side that you just want more people to be talking about? You know, it's really understanding your consumer base and your local laws is another big one, depending on where you are. There's different marketing and advertising options for you. I know California has done billboards there. They have some restrictions. There's some.
[00:18:54] Again, I always turn to them, but they're more like the innovator than, you know, the. Yeah, the average average state. But understanding for another thing, too, especially if your plant touching is every state has different laws like for example, or packaging. You can't you can't make it look like it's candy or attractive to children. So understanding your local laws and I like to think that just because you're in a particular state in the industry doesn't mean that you shouldn't know more about what's happening at the federal level, but also globally.
[00:19:24] Globally, the market is expanding so much. Our northern neighbors and Canada legalized. And they're also setting an example of what that can look like. But in the space, I would I would definitely encourage folks to really think about local what what branding do they want locally, especially if you're a brick and mortar or someone who's three hundred miles away that follows you on Instagram. Are they going to drive over there and make a purchase? Probably not.
[00:19:47] Now, can I guess how have you kind of stayed abreast of the of the laws of regulation? What's been your kind of go to source to keep you up to date on this stuff?
[00:19:58] I personally love will alert. So I said Google alerts for certain keywords that I'm tracking at the. For example, my my home state of Illinois, I was tracking a lot of the bill passing. Another big thing that I encourage people is to reach out to local organizations that are doing the work. Normal here are Chicago chapter is awesome. They're constantly posting about what's happening. They have events to walk people through. They had two events. I attended one. I was able to attend one of them that talk through that new farm bill that came out. They have a new content to walk through the door for an app. Things that are coming out in our state. So one thing that I will say is in this industry, there's a lot of learning. Everything is constantly changing and it can seem overwhelming to stay on top of it.
[00:20:38] Setting up I usually set Friday morning, I set a timer 90 minutes in the morning, very early, very early and just read through what's happening.
[00:20:46] You don't have to know everything. Of course, it's almost impossible. But I have learned so much just by following high time. Sometimes I'll post business business related. A lot of the MJ Blizzcon, those big publications that have that information, but also taking taking charge and just it can be very overwhelming. But definitely it's worth knowing what's happening in your state and what's happening in states nearby.
[00:21:08] Have you seen anything happening in other states that are in different kind of regulatory contexts that you find innovative or interesting and you know that that are good examples of how you do things differently based on what your state laws are?
[00:21:20] Yes, I do want to commend my home state for including a social equity component to their licensing process to encourage entrepreneurship for communities have been hurt by the war on drugs, though. That's something that we've been talking a lot and I think a lot of buzz in a lot of the Midwestern states that have legalized like, for example, Michigan looking to that. Massachusetts is another great state that I'm sorry, Maryland is another great state that is trying to incorporate that as well. So that to me is very innovative. Unfortunately, I think there's still a lot of marketing restrictions. And I think that that isn't going to change until there is any there's action at the federal level.
[00:21:53] Yeah, yeah. I've certainly seen a lot of the big players, you know, while cannabis does represent a pretty significant market. They just don't want us to treat their other business or risk their other business by getting into the cannabis space. But, you know, it's happening. I mean, we'll see. I mean, banking is starting to change. You know, I think as we get federal legislation, you know, either due scheduling or rescheduling, this will allow some of these these platforms stuff to start allowing marketing, you know, drug marketing from cannabis point of view.
[00:22:20] Tell us about cannabis marketing. You like what's the you know, what are you putting together there? You know, how are you kind of developing and taking the experience that you've had and creating more kind of value and more content around it? What are your plans there?
[00:22:31] Yeah, so kind of marketing. You stemmed from having a lot of conversations. So when I first came on into the industry, I was huge on networking. I still am now. I try to at least one cannabis networking event a month. And when I was having a lot of conversations with folks about cannabis, their initial thought was, Oh, well, the only way that you can make money is by opening a dispensary. And there's so many barriers to entry for that. And of course, you can't make money that way. But I don't think people had really realized the ancillary businesses that are needed in the cannabis space. Right. Cannabis needs a char. They need accounting. They need marketing just like any other industry. And so kind of marketing, you stem from the idea that there are still many different ways that you can work in the space and you don't have to have a lot of money. You don't have to be an enterprise business to pivot, but you can. And so at the heart of it is educational content walking through the different ways that you can market your cannabis businesses for those entrepreneurs that want to enter the space, but also pivot your skills into the space. I tell people all the time, whatever you love doing, you can do it in cannabis.
[00:23:31] And what you see in any particular areas and particular parts of the industry or kind of these ancillary product and services in the industry that have been particularly interesting or that, you know, you wouldn't think of that. Oh, yeah. We need we need this in the cannabis space. Anyone that you see kind of pivot in that are interesting businesses.
[00:23:49] So what kind of accounting has been a huge one? A lot of people that I've been talking to meeting accountants from the beginning to start their cannabis business because the legality of it is still so uncertain and and just having a good accountant. But on the branding side, videographers, designers, a lot of people saying, oh, yeah, people think I need to have a cannabis portfolio. And it's like, no, you need to have the vision and the skill set and you can showcase that into getting a cannabis position.
[00:24:17] There is definitely a lot of need. I think people to gravitate towards the bigger players. They want to work for the crest schools of the world and the world. But there's for example, I tell people all the time, start thinking about cannabis. brome seemed to sale all the different touchpoints packaging, transportation. There's different ways that you can work in the industry and still do what you want to do.
[00:24:37] You know, any any other piece of advice that you have for people like getting into cannabis in terms of, you know, things you kind of need to know about the cannabis space that you may not you may not be aware of at first, but it's important to know if you're gonna be successful kind of getting into cannabis from other businesses.
[00:24:51] I think being authentic has been huge for all the networking events that I've been to. When you show your authenticity, when you show that you're willing to help. There's been a lot of community that I've received even launching Canna Marketing U. So many mentors have come out and said, hey, how can I help you? And I've seen that across the industry, across the space with people just making yourself available when you attend these networking events. Don't go out there trying to land a job, learn what people are needing. And I have learned so much that way. Just taking note, taking a backseat to a lot of conversations and hearing folks who already have established businesses who want to fit in the space. And they're just curious, can I offer a product or service? Licensing do I need do I need insurance?
[00:25:31] That's another big thing, too, people don't talk about and I'm sure insuring your business now and any good networking events or places that you've found sort of successful ways of learning about about the industry and meeting folks.
[00:25:44] Any particular groups or types of events that you found particularly valuable?
[00:25:48] Yeah. So I love normal. There's local chapters all over. So Chicago normal and o-r and normal.
[00:25:56] They constantly have networking events. Instagram has also been huge. The community there is expansive, so they're constantly posting. I love checking out normal sometimes too, with the larger events like MJ Blizzcon. If you want to invest, I definitely see it as an investment and that's another thing. To see it when it comes to these networking events is investing in yourself and building out your branding in this space. If you are genuine, if you you have a skill set to offer.
[00:26:22] There's going to be someone who's going to connect with you. Instagram has been huge. LinkedIn has been my platform to communicate with people in this space. I constantly get messages on LinkedIn about anything. You know, questions big and small about this space. Do you know a payment process or, hey, what do you think about this product? Or can I have five minutes of your time to talk about this launch? And so I don't think people use LinkedIn enough as far as there's so many groups that I follow on LinkedIn, cannibus, networking business directories, so you can find more about candidates businesses.
[00:26:54] But it's really taking the ownership of finding what's out there, what's near you. There were it's so funny because I had this conversation with a fellow, Kenneth Finau. I attended Latina Expo last weekend and they have here in Chicago and they had two candidates breakout sessions. And she was like, yeah, I was very intrigued. And she's like, I don't even they didn't even advertise that they had the, you know, so take take ownership event.
[00:27:17] Hi. Oh. Is another good one. They they have a lot of it's kind of like Eventbrite. But for candidates they publicize a lot of cannibus events. But stay local. Instagram is a good one. I love LinkedIn as well. Yeah.
[00:27:30] Any thoughts in terms of people who are maybe still in the closet, their involvement in Denver? You know, like in terms of like posting, like how much do I put on my profile or is that still an issue of you?
[00:27:43] I guess? What's been your personal experience and what have you found and the people that that you've been interacting with that are or kind of getting into the cannabis space or are people just starting put us putting all this information now on all these platforms like LinkedIn, or are people still kind of keeping a quiet in terms of their involvement in cannabis businesses?
[00:27:59] It's definitely so funny you say that because I for sure am one who is very wary about posting anything cannabis related on LinkedIn. So when I was in a marketing class, they classified four types of people who consume social media and one of them is called a lurker.
[00:28:13] So you pretty much consume more than publicized. I hated that expression, but unlike a total group that I will say though that I'm more active on private groups because there is that that safeguard unfortunately in our state. If you're a medical patient, there's no real detection. And so I can see why people even like myself would avoid sharing cannabis content for that same reason that there's still a lot of stigma. And your co-workers might think that, you know, are some sort of drug addict when you're talking about cannabis. And that's unfortunate, but that shouldn't stop you from building your brand. And I'm I'm there. I'm there with you folks. If you're nervous about posting anything or liking anything cannabis related, don't it's OK. I am, too.
[00:28:57] Coming out of the cannabis closet in unlinked. And even though I use it privately.
[00:29:02] Yeah, I think it's in it's a it's a really fascinating issue both. I mean, professionally, personally.
[00:29:06] And you bring up the point of the you know, it it potentially impacts your employment. It impacts, you know, all sorts of things where, you know, cannabis use can get a little complicated.
[00:29:16] And because they haven't really straightened out the laws and they know that you have all these kind of funny quirks with the federal and the states. And, you know, and we haven't developed very good drug tests, you know, around cannabis and stuff. So now it does create a lot of complexity. So I think it's one of the big issues that still has to be worked out in the market.
[00:29:32] But if people wanna find out more about you about kind of marketing. What's the best way to get more information? Yeah.
[00:29:37] So Canna Marketing U is on Instagram as CannaMarketingU. You can also check out our web site which is launching soon. There is something up there to join our newsletter for weekly tips. CannaMarketingU.com
[00:29:50] I'll make sure that those are in the show. No. 2 people can click through. Lisbeth, thank you so much for taking some time today. Great conversation. I love to hear about how people are actually making cannabis work. I think the work that you're doing at the local market and, you know, helping get the message out there and build these businesses is great. So thank you for taking the time. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
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