What It's Really Like Starting A Cannabis Dispensary. Interview with Tree Of Life Dispensaries.

We interviewed Chris Vickers, COO of Tree of Life dispensaries (this company has a very special story that's included a few paragraphs below). We touched base on what the startup process of a newly licensed dispensary is really like AND got to touch base a bit on the mission.

We purposefully did this interview for investors who are scoping out the cannabis industry to hear more about what it's like to go through the dispensary startup process. It's something so many clients and potential clients ask us about at Cann Strategy, and it's something that so few industry insiders speak or write about publicly.

We figure there must be a lot of other people who can't find information about what the BUSINESS itself is like. Perhaps similarly to you, they see the high valuation announcements and the expansion updates but aren't wooed by the glitz and glam. They want to know the real deal and don't have access to information they're looking for.

We can tell them all about the business and what each step of the way entails, but it occurred to us that hearing from someone who is in the middle of the process might also be helpful.

THE ONE OF A KIND STORY OF TREE OF LIFE DISPENSARIES:
One of the things we are most proud of having done in this industry so far is writing a successful license application for a dispensary group in Vegas that has promised and committed to giving SEVENTY (70%) percent of their profits TO LOCAL CHARITIES.

We were incredibly intense about writing the story of the mission into every section of the application to make sure it wasn't missed. We detailed the board's credentials and credibility so any reviewer understood that these people had a history of doing this type of giving before it was ever something that would get them points on an application.

People doubted them. A lot of people.

They were told to not even try. They were told they had no chance of beating the "big boys." Well, guess what? Those apps sure did beat a whole lot of the "big boys."

People didn't get it. They didn't see the value. They had the small- and narrow-minded view of only aiming to get the community impact points rather than seeing the BIGGER picture beyond the application. They didn't have the mental capacity to process the impact that private funding has on a community. And they most definitely couldn't believe that anyone would ever give that amount of profit to charities.

The Tree of Life team is made up of long-time philanthropists, philosophers, teachers, non-profit leaders, and doctors who are creating a cannabis business that will generate ongoing donations for people in need.

You can't even imagine how many people approached them to try to buy their licenses and got turned away immediately, every single time. After two years of post-application litigation, Tree of Life is finally on the brink of opening its doors and we are SO EXCITED to see this business model unfold.

We believe in this model so much that we are hopeful to partner with other long-time philanthropists who want to invest in creating on-going donation generation, for their local communities.