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Need help making a big decision

MountainBudz

⛽🦨 Kinebud and Heirloom Preservationist! 🦨 ⛽
So I seen my brother over the Holidays, he had come into town to visit with family for Christmas. During a family dinner he says he needs to talk and asks me to go outside with him. After a minute of random conversation, he asked me if I was still growing. I said of course, I'll never stop growing (thinking he was maybe looking for some bud). Keep in mind I am an outlaw grower, been growing for 17/18 years here in the bluegrass state and cannabis is definitely not legal in any form or fashion here in my state.

To my surprise, he asked me if I wanted to work for him? Work for you? How? You live 3 states away from me, I have a pretty large immediate family to raise and be with on a daily basis. So my first thought was maybe he was going to construct and install an underground grow operation here in my town, somewhere (we own a lot of land around here). He actually has investors and 2 other businesses partners and has purchased a 12,000 sq ft warehouse in his state, ready to get into the mmj business. He offered me to be a 'master grower' and salary pay, for now. Said he would pay me $4,000 a month starting out and that the whole operation was under my control. Basically they are going to run the financial and business part of it and he wants me to run the entire grow. Also that within 2 years we would be a million dollar business and that my pay would rise significantly up to 200/300k per year once we really took off...

Heres the deal, I have a large family, several kids and a wife at home. I have never worked out of town, period. I told him this and he says that I dont have to be there all of the time, that I could drive or fly in for a few days, come back home for a few days. Basically I can come and go as I please. But since he does not grow, he does not understand the consistency of it all... you have to be on top of things constantly and ready to handle any little issue or problem as it arises. He did say there would be a secondary guy there, also a grower that would handle things when I'm not around, so maybe that's how I can still be flexible with it all. He plans also to set it up exactly how i personally want it, whatever I want in there he has investors ready to buy everything that we need. He also wants the setup to be automated. But even with automation there is still need for attention and attendance to the grow quiet often.

This is actually a dream come true for me, I never thought I would have this opportunity as cannabis is my passion in life, second to my family. My brother knows that I can grow top notch flower, he has had it plenty of times when he was in town and said the medical out there just doesnt compare. I guess I was just born with this ability, in a sense I believe I was chosen for this lifestyle. I talked to my wife about it and suprisingly she was okay with the whole thing. But something inside of me does not want to leave my family and home so often. This is my opportunity though to get my foot in the door with ZERO investment. He also said that once my state becomes legalized that they would be the first to put in business here as well and at that time I would basically be at home all of the time. But maybe not if I don't take this offer.*

This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever been faced with... Its either I stay here and turn down his offer nicely and keep growing black market or get into the legal business of it all and sacrifice a lot of time with my family... I love doing what i do here too. Just wish he didnt live so far away from me. I'm hoping someone will run across this thread with some experience that relates to my situation, that can answer some of my questions about being a master grower and running such an operation. Would I be able to spend maybe half a month here at home or even 3 weeks and half a month or 1 week there working? Or will I basically have to be there all of the time? He said they are ready right now to start, all paper work is done, investors are on standby and all they are waiting on is me. He said I would have a couple weeks or so to decide what I wanted to do. I know this is life and sometimes life can be hard, but the doors this opportunity could open for me in this industry is basically endless.
 

AgentPothead

Just this guy, ya know?
Wow, first off congratulations and good luck whatever you decide. It does sound almost "too good to be true" right? Since you cannot be there 24/7 and there will be secondary person, I would be interested in meeting that person, if I was in your position. If it's somebody you see eye to eye with and are confident they can handle it in your absence, I guess it never hurts to try? But if it's somebody who you feel will undermine your decisions the second you are out of earshot, it might not work as well, right? So I really feel like that secondary matters a lot. Picard was the bomb, but he knew Riker had his back.
 

Ibechillin

Masochist Educator
"Strike while the irons hot". Considering you had a close call doing the black market thing recently Id take it as a sign to come into the light.
 
S

Sertaiz

holy shit braddah!!!, your hard work, humility, and personal solidity has paid off. DEFINITELY do that especially if you have a good relationship with your brother. dont wait, that is awesome.
make sure your second in command is just that, second in command and you are gold. like you have firing capacity for him right off the start and a couple other guys that could replace him as needed like any other replaceable part and your gold. if he thinks his shit smells better than yours its hard.
congrats. and you would definitely have time for your family, he would do most things with you on speed dial all day. he can send pics of issues, etc. actual time on the farm would be low , even in startup. your gangster numero uno and can work with his hands as well as your own, and grow great herb. we wanna hear your success story. demand the quality. youll be known for it. cheers:tiphat::woohoo:
 
G

Guest

You would definitely be someone I'd buy weed from. Straight up.
 

Ringodoggie

Well-known member
Premium user
Working for family... strike one

Leaving the wife alone. Women don't like to be alone regardless of what they say. Don't worry, she'll find someone else to keep her company.... strike two.

Being away from the wife. You will stick your dick where it doesn't belong and you'll end up divorced and any money you make (or ever will make) will go to your ex-wife's boyfriend..... strike three.

Other than that, it sounds like a great idea. Good luck.






.
 

art.spliff

Active member
ICMag Donor
Your brother may be saying whatever he can that you want to hear to make this happen. With that said I see a couple of key things here, positive signs. The way you describe your own history and ability to grow. From one person to another, who else talks like this? Do you think managers read essays like that and go around giving applause? Or more likely that you are one in a million, and nine hundred ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine managers just ignores or tosses your essay? Key point number one you have growing experience. Key point number two stability of the relationship with your brother (in other words Trust) matters, I think that is the main thing to look for. A younger apprentice can work fine unsupervised with technical phone assistance as long as they are worthy in their skills and trustworthy.
 

art.spliff

Active member
ICMag Donor
Ringodoggie has an eccentric blunt way of putting things,, if I say yes do it I am happy for you I want to be supportive, or if I say no do not do it things will go wrong, which is more helpful or genuine? The same I believe, we all want to help and are sharing our 2c.

Moving away (from your family) (for money) is the base reason for human trafficking, fighting or infighting, wars, unhappiness, etc. Send you to take resources from elsewhere and mail me a cut of the proceeds, and so on, for infinity.

Not really asking for a fair deal here, but if you confronted your brother about the 2019 street cost of how much cannabis you grow, compared to $44k salary and taxes. Being realistic. Felonies and drug convictions only apply if you want "legit" work, your brother may or may not care about this, but potential buyers down the road might want to know the character of who they are supporting with their money when they purchase flower. This could be viewed positively (altruistic caregiver) or negatively (greedy) or neutral (anonymous), only thinking out loud.

During my recent family stress at home I started to come to the realization I am alone. Alone as in without children or a significant other, and alone socially in my philosophy in this neighborhood where I live. I do not mean I am alone in a way where I want to be or I want others to feel sympathy. Instead I am working through my issues with online friends community and local residents one day one step at a time. In high school, the "peers" may have turned out to be a majority of criminals and thieves. Some were caught, some were caught for things they did not do and received punishment they did not deserve, and many were not caught meaning encountering known thieves and criminals is commonplace. So instead of a police officer or informant I am a citizen who bases character judgement calls on what I know about people on a day to day basis.

The idea, the theory sounds ok, it sounds doable, just watch out for a bait and switch or attempting to con you into doing all this work and then someone else expects to be paid for it. $40k salary with two or three employees growing a warehouse of personal quality high grade sounds like a really good price at the counter. $200-300k for salaries and all new equipment could add up to a less than stellar cost expense to product quality ratio. For example eccentric consumers like me who are sticklers about paying 2-3 levels of middle manager wages, it sounds great and looks cool to see employees receiving health benefits for growing cannabis instead of being treated like criminals, at the same time how am I to afford that? This is information for growers only basically. Insider trading, sharing information, but not for the reasons of profiting. Since you know how to grow you are a supplier, a producer, not a consumer, it's almost like it is planned like destiny or predetermined fate you know what I mean? Always consumer have their hand out and do not want to pay the producer fairly for their produce..
 
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Im'One

Active member
It might be the best. Ideally I would like to move with my family to the new state? The problem with that is the cannabis bubble is going to pop. So???
Which state is it if you don't mind me asking?
I'm in Oklahoma.
 

art.spliff

Active member
ICMag Donor
There is a very clear difference between arguing about money and arguing about decriminalization and legalization

There is really only one cannabis forum, this one IC Mag, when you consider the others were closed and deleted from the internet by cops and are filled with commercial scam shills promoting every commercial tabloid scheme of the week there is in an identifyingly characteristic painful to look at kind of way. There are others which are smaller in size like uk 420, significant to be sure. The issue is with the commercial dot com cannabis sites who think they are the big one and only promote spam, those two (is it just one or more?) are an extra axle an extra wheel don't belong...

An absence of names or faces tells a lot. for example peanut breath scout granola airborn og all of these names you might generally associate them with a kind of gist or suggestion you aren't quite able to place your finger on. It depends on how much you look into it and think about it but some of the names are more on the nose conjuring up some idea of pro military or anti bad guy, or anti something pro something 'I'm (not) exactly sure what' but at the same time burning obvious. I want Peace cannabis the good kind not king of the hill i stole this kind. If I'm smoking doggie peanut butter breath or granola bars or tagalong peanut butter girl scout cookies all good I'm happy with that I like those things. But if it is like supposed to be scout as in a marine soldier then no, no thx.

Breeders showing up here in the comments like "hi this is DJ, hi this is Bodhi, hi this is Jigga415" gives me some information to go on about what I am purchasing and supporting. If I do not hear anything from any of these people, instead there is an obscure flyer for a promotional sale on seeds, on a different website no less, I will choose seeds from a known breeder here first. Dubi PANIKZ and Gypsy aridbud and so many more are actually here and respond..
 
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hellfire

Active member
I would consider asking for production goal bonuses. No reason why you should stay 4k a month if you pull 2lbs more per light the next month..

Time away from family is definitely a personal cost. Up to you, try to work out some 3 day visiting weekends?
 

art.spliff

Active member
ICMag Donor
I mean Tony has shown us what the upcoming Gorilla Bubble backcross number six or number seven is going to look like scheduled for release in April, along with Purple Gorilla and some GB hybrids. The release date, the website, all noted in advance, with awesome mega pixel images that convincingly match 30%+ thc and cannabinoid lab tests graphs :tiphat:

For that price, explain why I should purchase a random flashy tag line knock off cheap name thumb nail picture? over generic seeds available for like $2-3 a piece
we have quality vendors, and affordable vendors. in other words real and generic,
or genuine and generic.

Designer boutique or exclusive or silly name, at any price, these are their own category. Like a long winded explanation about how it's a secret poly hybrid they found in a cave...
 
S

Sertaiz

get a lawyer..... make a bulletproof contract that has raises, and their expectations of production, etc all figured in so they sign something as well..... dunno about the family thing. but id talk to the fam and a laywer......
 

art.spliff

Active member
ICMag Donor
I knew a doctor who moved to the midwest and brought like 8 colleagues family members and trainees with him, which would be that many paid full time positions, then passed away shortly after. It is sad it isn't something I like to bring up for any reason but it is an example of either corruption or misguided running wild, take your pick, it boils down to the same thing. Legal isn't likely to offer what cannabis producers are truly worth given this previous information this climate and social context. Big promotion going from cannabis grower to Cannabis Cultivator :)
 

art.spliff

Active member
ICMag Donor
the more and more you think about it it is basically a tug of war because they need you, or are soliciting you for your services, and you do not need them or you did not ask
you are the source of income or revenue and they are material resources and networking connections
really an apple to orange comparison. it doesn't take long to see why people get into disagreements

at some point it's going to be like oh what do you mean cannabis i only care about money, and someone else what do you mean money i only care about cannabis, or people,

same concept applies elsewhere managers administrators and so on if the person they are representing isn't carrying their weight they are irrelevant extra bunch of stick figures
 

Amynamous

Active member
To MountainBudz
Sounds like a great opportunity. I have lived my life with the realization that the best things in life come with taking chances/risks. If your wife supports the opportunity, then do it.

Having gone into business with friends/family, i would strongly suggest that everyone one with skin in the game put their expectations (for you and each other)in writing, that these be openly discussed and agreed upon, and put into writing. Clear and open communication in the beginning can help defuse or eliminate problems/miscommunications later.

And lastly, speaking of expectations, recent history has shown two things to be true: growing commercial is not like growing “outlaw”, and maintaining the level of quality you expect might be impossible. Second, until congress changes the laws, the present tax laws regarding cannabis businesses makes it extremely difficult to make an actual profit. I hope your brother and his financial backers have a good business plan.

Good luck.
 

tobedetermined

Well-known member
Premium user
ICMag Donor
If your wife supports the opportunity, then do it.

That is your #1 consideration. Your wife will have to fill both roles while you are away. I just retired from a career that required about 50 nights of travel per year & I have first-hand knowledge of the toll this can take. So she has to be 100% in the game.

Money. Mid-$40K is not big money – especially once you subtract your travel expenses. Flights and/or car costs, accommodation & meals when you are ‘there’ & not home will add up quickly. Who will pay?

Your skills. Making the transition from outlaw to large-scale gov’t inspected & approved will be very daunting. Losing a crop at home is a pain in the ass but at that level it is a huge money/labor/lost income scenario that you will be responsible for. Can you deal with the pressure? And can you manage people? Etc . . .

Good luck.
 
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