Do not. Start a grow op or processing center and work in that industry. Margins are better, taxes/start-up is cheaper, and you learn a lot more about the industry.
You’d do better selling product through other dispensaries than dealing with all the problems.
As a dispensary owner, you’ll be inundated with companies offering to sell you everything. Once you make it through the state licensing (which includes geographic limitations, city/county restrictions, and a lot of costly paperwork lawyers typically do in every state), you’ll also have to register your LLC, etc. and end up on a cannabis business registry. It’s not BP or law enforcement that you have to worry about anymore.
Now you’ll have B2B consultants trying to offer you security, lighting, signage, packaging, retail POS software platforms, inventory/warehouse platforms, accounting (still federally illegal, so you can’t deposit earnings in an FDIC-insured bank, though the reservations and local credit unions may be willing to help), insurance of all kinds (regular business and cannabis-specific), HVAC, security, and products of every kind.
You’ll also need investors. Come to the Southwest Cannabis Conference in Phoenix or whatever’s near you.
Besides me and other media, there will be professionals in every line of business in the industry, along with educational seminars geared toward specific tracks like banking, investment, retail, growing, edibles, legal, etc.
Pay close attention to what the MPP and Safer AZ is doing with the cannabis ballots this year, because either will greatly impact you, and the MPP’s is most likely to go through.
Also in November, there’s an international investment conference at the Rio in Las Vegas.
If you want to meet up at either conference, I’d be happy to show you the ropes. Bring business cards and a tablet or laptop to take notes. You can make a lot of connections at either conference or of course the Cannabis Cup: