American dollars grow with the right planning and advice.

Hiring a consultant could save you thousands of dollars and headaches

In this competitive world of legalized medical and recreational marijuana, there are a lot of misconceptions about the relative ease of cultivation. This misconception can be the initial culprit in what makes or breaks a state licensed cultivation facility, determining success or failure based upon an attitude. Believe it or not, the right attitude has a lot to do with it, and ego-mania runs wild in this industry. For instance, if an entrepreneur who has never grown cannabis themselves, has an attitude that the cultivation and harvest process are secondary to all of the other “important” things about a start-up business, they tend to underestimate the details. They do not realize It is not so easy keeping living plants trouble free, and consistently producing high yields, while maintaining high quality, on every single crop. After all, your cannabis plants are the center of your business. It is absolutely imperative to appreciate your plants, in order for them to appreciate you.

Mistakes are often made in the beginning of a cultivation facility start-up, simply because the most crucial things to consider go ignored and disregarded as unimportant. This consideration will oftentimes shape the very nature of one’s entire business strategy, reputation in the market, predictability of returns, and probability of crop failure (causing delay disruptions). The right attitude is everything, and admitting that your operation needs help, is a huge step.

This is where professional expert consultation comes in. Facility owners who realize that they could use the outside help of a professional, and those who can appreciate the value in bypassing the many hurdles and headaches that are involved with commercial scale cannabis production, are good candidates for consultation. From start-to-finish projects, to grow room make-overs; LED or HPS discussions, pest infestations and plant diseases, to the pros and cons associated with every growing medium, genetic appropriate nutrient schedules, or the many different automated hydroponic systems on the market.

Optimization for efficiency in both the production and harvesting processes will ultimately maximize your yields, while minimizing business losses. That being said, there are learning curves, which typically involve several years of trial-and-error, before a cannabis cultivator has finally “dialed in” their method of choice. It takes a good number of repetitive actions, and devastating mistakes, in any particular growing method, before those repetitions eventually give way to newer and better ones.

Hiring a consultant can help prevent those foul-ups that will have you kicking yourself for not doing so. It could be the best business decision you ever made. However, it does take a certain amount of trust – trust that the consultant knows what they are doing, and what they are talking about. There are really no proper college courses or degrees that can do justice to all of the areas of expertise of a cannabis cultivation business consultant. An initial phone consultation, or on-site assessment, should help bring your mind at ease – at least, to know that help is available. Just remember, consultants are professionals who gain specialized experience by working with many different clients, who all have different problems, at different stages of their cannabis specific business. Although negotiated rates can differ widely, and indeed, seem quite steep, you must weigh out the cost of consultation, with the cost of failure.

A good cannabis consultant will be the kind of professional whose unique expertise can assist and guide the whole operation past these trial-and-error periods in just a matter of days, weeks, or months, rather than years. This can save literally, thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in the short term and especially in the long term. The true value of hiring an experienced cannabis cultivation consultant cannot be overstated. From assisting owners in the facility property searches, and construction oversight, to equipment procurement, commercial indoor farming design, and total build-outs. Experienced consultants can even train whole teams of growers on best cultivation practices for optimal growth and yield. The expertise is going to depend on the expert, of course.

There’s a myriad of topics on which the right cannabis consultant can offer valuable guidance and advice. An expert cannabis consultant should be able to prove their worth from the very first consultation. Experience is the key consideration when you hire a cannabis consultant, because this consultant will need to be much more than just a master grower in their own right, but a master in consultation services as well.

In order for a cannabis consultant to cater to master growers, it always helps to be a master grower as well. This means having knowledge of climate control systems for different regional outdoor conditions, not just one. The craftiest and most resourceful consultants will have a professional network and rolodex contact list of equipment suppliers, and nutrient providers. Likewise, a good “number cruncher” type of cannabis business consultant can provide valuable realism to “pie-in-the-sky” figures that usually lead to overshooting and overestimating budgets, which can result in major losses and failure. Most of all, an experienced cannabis business and cultivation consultant can and should be an instant wealth of trustworthy information and resources.

(Edited for content and clarity)

Austin D. Page is an established Expert Cannabis Cultivation Business Consultant with a professional background spanning more than 20 years in the hydroponic supply industry, catering primarily to master grower clientele. Also a master commercial scale cannabis grower, he has had access to equipment and experimentation with all growing methods, a rare level of experience. His contacts include thousands of knowledgeable customers and suppliers from all over the world. He engages with this worldwide family of professional cannabis enthusiasts holding in-depth cultivation conversations exploring the leading edge of cultivation techniques and latest products on a daily basis. In other words, he eats, sleeps, and breathes cannabis cultivation.

(Click To Visit Austin’s page in the Sativa Directory)