Cannabis Companies: A Field of Dreams

With warm weather and baseball season on deck with the lockout behind us, I thought I’d take an opportunity to share lessons learned from Kevin Costner’s iconic baseball movie “Field of Dreams” and years of coaching and apply them to the cannabis industry… truly its own “Field of Dreams” as this industry booms.

Here are four lessons learned for business owners – cannabis or otherwise:

1. Get your head in the game. Like Ray in “Field of Dreams,” it’s time to stop spinning and get out of the “analysis paralysis” than can come with starting your own company, and get into the game. There are many great resources, from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission to your local Chambers of Commerce, to help you build your own field of dreams in this industry and I have found that industry leaders are open and willing to step up to the plate and help other entrepreneurs – just ask.
2. What’s your vision? Baseball coaches always tell hitters to envision where they want the ball to go. Can you visualize what kind of cannabis business you’d like to visit every day of every week of every month of the year? Do you have the resources in place to make that vision come to life? What challenges are in your way? A business plan will put all of these hopes, dreams, and challenges into one document: you can’t get anywhere without a map.
3. “Recognize significant moments while they are happening.” This quote from the movie will sustain you through the difficult start up phase. Don’t give up – acknowledge that even a first base hit is progress forward and preparation is a mental skill that great baseball hitters tout as their secret to success, especially under pressure.
4. “If you build it, they will come.” Spoiler alert: they didn’t come at first. The truth is all your success thus far was mere preparation.  Dial up your focus and prepare to move into the major leagues.  Commit to the daily process of preparation and execution.  It isn’t easy, but if you are committed, the rewards are plentiful.

Adult use and medical marijuana continue to be a rewarding and lucrative industry for entrepreneurs with incredible projections for future growth – projected revenues by 2035 are $30 billion – and I encourage entrepreneurs, especially BIPOC business owners, to get inspired and in the game that I love: the cannabis industry.

Based in Worcester, DeCaro is CEO and Founder of Resinate Inc., a vertically-integrated cannabis company with three locations in Central Massachusetts. (iresinate.com)