BUSINESS EXPERIENCE: The Cleveland Cannabis College

Recently, I was hired to help out the Cleveland Cannabis College to create a business course for their college curriculum. The Cleveland Cannabis College (CCC) is the first physical, educational facility in Ohio for cannabis education with the goal of educating the wave of cannabis entrepreneurs and industry workers. They specialize in: Cannabis Horticulture, Cannabis Business, and Medical Applications of Cannabis

Their President, Richard Pine, contacted me in hopes that I could create a BUSINESS 101 course for their new comprehensive curriculum. Being passionate about cannabis, I leaped at the opportunity to help out an organization grow in an industry and state I love.

Over three months, my business partner @derekmiller and I crafted a comprehensive course curriculum that included social experiments, useful handouts, interactive presentations, and two in-depth exams. This is the class curriculum we developed that CCC will be teaching this year:

WEEK ONE:

• Overview of syllabus and social demonstrations from lessons learned from the book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
• How to start a business: the small steps in successfully starting a business
• How to start a business: the big steps in successfully starting a business

WEEK TWO

• Overview of record-keeping: understanding the basics and importance of accounting and finance
• Accounting and financial terminology with interactive examples
• Understanding and applying Cannabis Financial Management

WEEK THREE

• Management and human resources overview with attention to hiring and firing in the cannabis industry
• The fundamentals of operations and how to streamline the cannabis supply chain
• Interactive mid-term exam review
  

WEEK FOUR

• Mid-term exam including multiple choice, fill-in the blank, and two comprehensive case study analyses
• The fundamentals of marketing and the specifics of marketing in the cannabis industry
• Understanding market research, competitor analysis, and SWOT analysis

WEEK FIVE

• Understanding and applying branding concepts including videos from Gary Vee
• Sales principles and setting up the right sales force for your cannabis organization
• The fundamentals of funding and the pitch check including examples of successful start-up presentations

WEEK SIX

• Creating a business plan with Kickstarter and GoFundMe experiments
• Course and final exam review with cannabis related giveaways
• Final exam that includes multiple choice, true/false, and two comprehensive cannabis case studies.

Working with the Cleveland Cannabis College was definitely a rewarding experience and looking forward to the ninja students that will graduate and enter the cannabis industry. It is cool to do something that will have a lasting impact for years to come. We will do an update on the course next year and are developing other business course with the college to maximize the amount of knowledge given to their students.

Thank you as always for your time and attention.

Namaste

@chiefmappster