More Lows Than Highs: Let’s Get Blunt About Starting a Cannabis Brand

“High” Turnover

One of the main challenges that cannabis companies face is extreme turnover rates compared to other industries. Though it sounds like an issue of stoners flaking on their shifts, Sadler explains that retention issues are largely due to high vice taxes on cannabis products — making it difficult to pay employees competitive wages. If a budtender can earn more as a barista, why wouldn’t they?

Sadler has been able to avoid turnover by growing his businesses at a slow and steady pace. (More on that later.)

You Need to Brand Your Bud

When Sadler entered the industry in 2010, no one really cared about cannabis brands; just strains and delivery methods (vape, tincture, etc.). With entrepreneurs jumping through various regulation hurdles when only medical marijuana was legal even in California, they tried to keep a low profile. This was the antithesis of branding.

Thanks to recreational legalization and increased competition, the opposite is true for cannabis companies today. “Until there is a [recognizable] brand created, all of us are expendable,” Sadler says.

With other industries, Sadler has focused on building a solid product first and branding it later, but with Gelato he put money and time into a strong identity from the outset. “Branding leads to building,” Sadler says.

The Get-Rich-Quick Mentality Is a Buzzkill

Some entrepreneurs entered the cannabis space because they were passionate about the cultivation and the culture. Others just wanted to make an overnight fortune in a new market they barely understood.

Instead of growing too fast, Sadler suggests doing what he did with his son: Work hard, invest in yourself, and always live within your means instead of being tempted by large investors. Even though Sadler got in on the green rush early, his strategy for sticking around has remained the same: “Don’t be in a rush; there is no rush.”

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