As many of you know, the process to obtain a license from the CCC is long and expensive. (To read more about our journey, click here) One of the biggest expenses can be the need to secure a location prior to filing the application. That means that entrepreneurs must have the capital to purchase a location and hold it empty for many months, or pay rent to a landlord for an empty storefront.
The CBD Store
We were lucky to find a shop location that met the requirements for licensing, but was not ready for occupancy and thus did not require a large investment from the beginning. However, as the licensing process passed the six-month mark with many more months on the horizon, we decided to open a CBD shop in the interim, which could easily be converted to the sale of Cannabis once it was appropriate. We can begin hiring employees and testing our processes. The revenue from the store will reduce overhead for the business while we wait for our license.
Our Greatest Innovation
Our greatest innovation, though, arose from our desire to give back to our community and a stroke of good timing.
As our vision for Devine developed, we knew that we wanted to include our neighbors, friends and those who are economically disadvantaged in the potential success of the company. All we needed was to find 100 people to invest $1- to $5,000. They would have pride of ownership in this new business in their town or their state and be able to reap the rewards. Unfortunately, the entire regulatory system seemed built to further disadvantage small investors. We had heard about crowdfunding, but through regular crowdfunding sites you can only give investors a preview or a discount on your product, not equity. Otherwise, normally only the wealthy can be investors.
That is, until now. Because of recent changes in the laws, Equity Crowdfunding has become permissible. We realized that with our CBD store, we could launch an equity crowdfunding campaign and allow our desired investors to buy a piece of our company.
Our LLC name is New Green, inspired by the rich colors of spring growth in the forest. By investing in New Green, you are investing in our CBD store, which in turn will allow us to continue our application process with the CCC and eventual licensing and operation of Devine.
Click here to visit the crowdfunding campaign and see how you can get involved. We worked super hard to be able to allow our community, friends and family the investment opportunity.
In Health,
Ari and Heidi Zorn
Recent Comments