With legalization on the horizon in many states and possibly even federal reform making its way to the country before long, now is absolutely the right time to get into the legal marijuana industry on the ground floor. Some 17 million people live in states that have already legalized recreational marijuana use, and that number is likely to increase by 25% after this year’s elections. That means 86 million U.S. resident will have full access to recreational marijuana in 2017.
But if you’re thinking about how to get into the marijuana business on the cultivation side, growing a few plants by your kitchen windowsill isn’t going to get you anywhere. You need to think long and hard about your marijuana cultivation business plan: Indoor or outdoor? How much space? How much harvest? How many workers? What will you charge?
After you’ve figured out the logistics for yourself, you need to put it down in writing. That way, you can attract lucrative cannabis investment opportunities to get your operation up and running. To write an effective marijuana cultivation business plan, here’s what you’ll need to include:
- Executive Summary: This should be a one- or two-sentence pitch of your entire operation. What will you do? How will you do it?
- Opportunities and Objectives: Here, you should outline the potential areas of business you want to reach. Don’t just say “cannabis users”; be more specific. Define your target demographic by age, gender, income, location, or any other number of characteristics, and then say what you’ll offer them that no one else can.
- Your Team: Who are you? Who are you working with? Why are you the best qualified people to deliver this product? Give ample information about everyone’s background and experience, as well as what role they’ll play in your cultivation company.
- The Competition: Who else is out there doing something similar? You can’t possibly say “no one.” Find your competition, identify their weaknesses, and show how you can fix them. This is possibly the most important marijuana investment strategy you can have.
- Business Model: Now, you can get to the good stuff. Go into as much detail as you can provide about your method of operations and your growing and sales procedure. The better plan you have, the easier it will be to execute it.
- Projections: Where do see yourself in one, five, or ten years? Be reasonable and base your statistics on hard facts.
Once you’ve written up your marijuana cultivation business plan, the next step is getting it into the hands of potential investors. A well-written plan might make the difference between a successful launch and a struggling one.
