Christmas Lights in October. Either Very Proactive or Very Lazy....

I noted Christmas lights on a neighbor's home and thought, "Wow, they are either very proactive or very lazy." I like to see the good in people so I went with very proactive, but my gut tells me that's not the correct assessment. It's easy to identify with them, we all know that when the lights go up it's a bit exciting. The holidays are coming which means we can feast and celebrate even if we don't believe in the icons associated with the holiday.

But either way, it's fun to get into the spirit and the lights are an indication of better things to come. And then the holidays get started; parties, too much food, over-ambitious spending, hours of hearing your drunk uncles moan about the "liberals" and so on and so forth. By the time presents are open, I know I am surveying the lay of the land in order to set forth the action plan to return to a life of normalcy. But for some the holiday times are just so much effort that when it comes to taking down the lights it just seems so much work and they become distracted by the thought of a new project....New Years Eve Party! And although they have the best intentions, the excitement surrounding a new project over shadows closing out the last one. So what is my point?

Great question and one I ask myself often. The point is projects have a beginning, a middle and an end. The closing out of a project carries just as much importance as starting one so plan ahead for the tasks that you will need to accomplish to close out the project. This may include assessments, developing policies and procedures or just cleaning up a work area. So to all my fellow Google members...work your plans and always remember to "take down your lights".

Keep Growing! Aaron

Week in Weed Update

Hello world of weed.  If you missed the news this week in the realm of cannabis, it was filled with ups and downs and a couple silver linings.  Here’s your briefing and what you need to know from this week.

DEA Just Said “No”

The DEA reaffirmed their stance that cannabis is dangerous and has no medicinal value.   That means that cannabis will remain as a Schedule I drug and is not legal by Fed standards. The decision was based upon there not being the science to back the move from a Schedule I to II or III, which is the wishes of cannabis normalization advocacy groups.  There was a silver lining to this news though.  The federal government did loosen the policies on research for medical cannabis.  That means more research centers will be available to conduct the research that the FDA and DEA require to reschedule cannabis to a more fitting classification.

AZ Just Said “Maybe”

Prop. 205 looks to be on the Arizona ballot this upcoming November.  That would make the use and sale by licensed dispensaries legal to adults 21+.  To boot, residents can grow six plants of their own for their personal use.  The only hurdle is a group is asking a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to throw out the initiative citing that legalization backers of the initiative are deceiving voters.  That case will be heard Friday, August 12, 2016.  That case looks rough so odds are AZ voters will be voting whether to allow recreational marijuana this November.

New Gallup Polls Shows Marijuana Use is Up

A Gallup poll released on August 8th shows that 13% of American adults now say they smoke marijuana.  That is an increase from 7% in 2013.  Why such a big increase?  Experts cite that the removal of the stigma attached to using marijuana may be the reason.  As legalization and normalization spreads, so does people’s awareness of the positive attributes of marijuana and that they can be more open in saying they use on a regular basis.  The poll goes on to cite that 43% of Americans say they have tried it and the use and experimentation differ by religion and age.

NYC Continues to Prosecute Marijuana Users

There’s no question that the waves of change for marijuana are spreading from West coast to the East and this is an illustration.  Despite promises of changes in regards to enforcement, NYC arrests for marijuana possession are up by a third this year.  What is always startling although studies show whites, Hispanics, and blacks marijuana use is the relatively the same, only 9% of those arrests were of white people.  This looks like another slap in the face for a push for equitable treatment by police and to make possession of marijuana the equivalent of a traffic ticket.

Clinton to Reschedule Marijuana if Elected

In an announcement by her campaign August 11th, Hillary Clinton plans to reschedule marijuana if she is elected in this upcoming election.  “Marijuana is already being used for medical purposes in states across the country, and it has the potential for even further medical use,” Maya Harris, a senior policy advisor to Clinton’s campaign, said in a statement, reported by The Denver Post. “As Hillary Clinton has said throughout this campaign, we should make it easier to study marijuana so that we can better understand its potential benefits, as well as its side effects.”

Another reason to rock the vote this upcoming November.

This has been your update in the world of weed.  Thank you and stay safe.

By Zachary Mercier

Zachary Mercier is a regular host on the Disjointed program which airs every Saturday at 9am PST on U.S. Weed Channel’s USWC.Rocks online radio network.  Zachary can be found on Twitter @CTAdvocate

Where Will Pot Be Legal Next? Recreational Marijuana On The Ballot In 5 States On Election Day 2016

Despite Americans’ statistical lack of enthusiasm for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the Green Party still has little chance of getting nominee Jill Stein into the White House. But another kind of green is poised to have a big election day this year: recreational marijuana.

Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington might soon have some company in the ranks of states that have legalized recreational marijuana use. Five states — Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada — will vote on recreationally legalizing pot on ballot measures this year on election day in November. The states would determine individually what the parameters of legalization would be — California has signaled that recreational pot would be legal for adults over 21 and subject to a 15 percent sales tax.

In addition to those states, four other states — Arkansas, Florida, Montana and Missouri — will have ballot measures this year to make marijuana legal for medical use. The eight ballot measures will be the largest swath of voters weighing in on the issue of marijuana legalization in history.

“This is really a watershed year for marijuana legalization, so I’m hoping that we’ll see some big changes in November,” F. Aaron Smith, co-founder and executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, told CNN.

There is more good news for pro-legalization supporters. Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, an avid advocate of marijuana legalization, is getting a lot of attention for a third party presidential candidate thanks to Americans’ dissatisfaction with the major party nominees. Johnson is currently trying to hit the 15-percent mark in the polls to qualify for the presidential debates. Were he to hit that mark, he could champion the cause of legalization on a bigger platform than a full-fledged supporter of legalization has ever been able to do.

As for Johnson himself, the candidate says he has given up marijuana consumption — he says he likes to consume marijuana edibles — to focus on his presidential campaign and would further abstain if elected president.

“Marijuana products, from a medicinal standpoint, directly compete with legal prescription drugs that kill 100,000 people a year. There has not been one documented death due to marijuana. So [it’s] a whole lot safer and arguably as effective,” Johnson told International Business Times in June. “On the recreational side, I have always maintained that legalizing marijuana will lead to less overall substance abuse because people will find marijuana as such a safer alternative than everything else that’s out there — starting with alcohol. The campaign to legalize marijuana in Colorado was a campaign based on: Marijuana is safer than alcohol.”

A Message to Veterans: You are Not Alone

Tune In Saturday, June 11th for a look at Veteran's Health Care Policies and Opportunities with Brandon L. Wyatt Esp. from Weed for Warriors Projeect on Disjointed at Noon EST/9AM PST at USWC.Rocks or using TuneIn USWC.  For All Faces of Cannabis.

Follow the conversation on Twitter

MMJ Business Insight Today on USWC.Rocks at 9am PST/Noon EST

Tune In Saturday, June 4th for the MMJ Business Update with Aaron Heimes on Disjointed at Noon EST/9AM PST at USWC.Rocks or using TuneIn USWC.  For All Faces of Cannabis.

Follow the conversation on Twitter

Is Gary Johnson the man or just a sweet talker...he had us at "hello".

This week the Legalization Nation Report with Ken Bazinet takes a deep dive into newly minted Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, and how the addition of mainstream rainmaker Bill Weld to his ticket ‎will lift their profile and votes. Both Johnson and Weld are both anti-prohibition advocates who promise to carry the legalization standard into the presidential race.

Tune In Saturday, June 4th for the Legalization Report Update with Ken Bazinet on Disjointed at Noon EST/9AM PST at USWC.Rocks or using TuneIn USWC.  For All Faces of Cannabis.

Follow the conversation on Twitter

The Difficulties and Benefits of Integrating Institutional Medicine and Cannabis

Tune In Saturday, May 28th for the discussion on Disjointed at Noon EST/9AM PST at USWC.Rocks or using TuneIn USWC.  For All Faces of Cannabis.

Follow the conversation on Twitter

Is It Finally Time Marijuana is Rescheduled? There's a 50/50 Chance and Here's Why...

‎This week we take a look at the best chance ever for the DEA to recommend rescheduling marijuana, getting it away from classifying it along with drugs like heroin and LSD. It's at least a 50-50 chance that DEA will reschedule. DEA says it will make it's decision in the next month or so.

Tune In Saturday, May 28th for the Legalization Report Update with Ken Bazinet on Disjointed at Noon EST/9AM PST at USWC.Rocks or using TuneIn USWC.  For All Faces of Cannabis.

Follow the conversation on Twitter

See You In Health Hosted By Dr. A, Saturday at 11am USWC.Rocks

Tune In for the Debut of See You In Health, hosted by Dr. Allen Miller this Saturday right after Disjointed at 11am.  

Dr. A takes on a the challenge of trolling through the many viewpoints and approaches to the medical cannabis community to present the truths and challenges of the movement.  Tune in and join the conversation.  Salute! 

www.uswc.rocks or via TuneIn Follow the conversation with Twitter and Facebook

PTSD and Veterans Win a Small Victory: This weeks Legalization Nation Report

PTSD and Veterans Win a Small Victory: This week the Legalization Nation Report with Ken Bazinet takes a look at a small but significant victory for veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Congress approved an amendment allowing doctors at the Veterans Administration to discuss and possibly recommend cannabis for vets with PTSD. It’s still illegal under federal law, but at least veterans can enroll in state and local programs in states where medical marijuana is legal with the blessing of VA doctors. This is a BIG DEAL!  

Tune In Saturday on Disjointed at Noon EST at USWC.Rocks 

Deep In Gilbert and DIY Cannabis Business Guides: Legalization Report with Ken Bazinet on USWC.Rocks...

Deep In Gilbert and DIY Cannabis Business Guides: Legalization Report with Ken Bazinet on USWC.Rocks...: Tune In Saturdays for Ken Bazinet's Insight into the cannabis movement with his Legalization Report.  USWC.Rocks or on TuneIn USWC Fol...

Legalization Report with Ken Bazinet on USWC.Rocks, Disjointed. Live on Saturdays at 9am PST

Tune In Saturdays for Ken Bazinet's Insight into the cannabis movement with his Legalization Report.  USWC.Rocks or on TuneIn USWC Follow the Conversation on Twitter @uswc_USWC_Radio

Deep In Gilbert and DIY Cannabis Business Guides: Sustainability Issues and Solutions in the Cannabi...

Deep In Gilbert and DIY Cannabis Business Guides: Sustainability Issues and Solutions in the Cannabi...:      Let's not kid around, the cannabis industry is rapidly expanding and just as when any economy or industry expands quickly, the cha...

Obama Is Starting To Do the Right Thing...

"The jailing of non-violent drug offenders and how President Obama is starting to do the right thing by commuting their harsh sentences."  by Ken Bazinet, former Washington Correspondent and Founding Partner of Collective Consulting, is the subject of this week's Legalization Nation Report this upcoming Saturday on Disjointed.  Tune in Saturday, May 7th at 9am PST/12pm EST on USWC.Rocks or download the App for IOS devices or on TuneIn.  

www.uswc.rocks 

"For All Faces of Cannabis"

Follow the Conversation on Twitter: @USWC_Radio

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Identifying and Defining Your Cannabis Target Audience

The cannabis marketing environment is noisy.  For marketing, advertising, messaging and merchandising it’s important to know who the audience is for the business and product(s).  While this includes the final consumer, which is most important, the distributors, wholesalers and retailers are also included as the target audience.  For the marijuana industry the target audiences are the following:

Cannabis Users: This includes users of cannabis that do not grow cannabis.  These individuals frequent cannabis lifestyle websites and social media channels.   The cannabis users will be the primary focus of products that are for using cannabis.   

•             Geo locations of high concentrations of cannabis users: California (L.A. area, San Jose, San Francisco), Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut.

Cannabis Retail:  Dispensaries or similarly structured retail operations i.e. collectives, that dispense cannabis, inclusive of flower and edibles, to patients and/or legal residents.  Smoke shops.  Dispensary consulting companies. 

Cannabis Commercial Growers:  Growers associated with legal commercial growing operations normally associated with a legal dispensary.  Normally these operations take place in large greenhouses and warehouses that have been outfitted for large grow operations.  

Cannabis “home-based growers”/hobbyist growers:  Growers that grow in their personal spaces for themselves and/or others.  Normal plant counts are less than two dozen.  This group frequents websites and forums that center on education, techniques, grow journals and new products strictly about growing cannabis.  This makes up the vast majority of growers and does not include commercial growers. 

•             Geo location to target:  Entire U.S. but emphasis on California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut, Michigan, Arizona, Montana, Maine, Rhode Island…states that allow patients/residents to grow. 

Growing Suppliers:  Retail indoor and organic grow shops, both brick and mortar and online, and the distributors that supply those grow shops.  The audience comprises of shop owners, managers and purchasing agents for distributors.

•             Primary geo location to target:  Entire U.S. through distributors especially California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Michigan.

•             Secondary will be states that allow growing of plants by patients/residents limited to Connecticut, Arizona, Montana, Maine and Rhode Island.

     After identifying the target audience various criteria include purchasing behavior, levels of involvement, media consumption, lifestyle, and personality traits.  Using stock images of your target audience as visual aids will help in designing marketing approaches, advertising and selecting content for your social media postings.

      Advertising and marketing needs to be laser-focused to be effective in this noisy world.  So after the ideal customer is in mind, go into more detail of who they are including; age, lifestyle, living situations, married/single, hobbies, shopping patterns, frequented social media platforms and where they live. For example, if you have a smoking product you may identify your target audience as 18-25 men and women, living in high-density urban areas that regularly visit nightclubs and vape lounges, are in college, shop online and through specific social platforms (Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook) and do most of their shopping in the evening from 10 pm to 1 am. 

     Now using a tool, such as Nielsen, and using the zip code look-up feature you can identify if that zip code would have your target audience.  Now, you have your target audience, their attributes and where they are more likely to live and shop.  This will help immensely when you are launching any public relations, marketing or advertising campaigns.  

Keep growing,

Gib

This piece is an excerpt from the DIY Guide to Launching a Product Into the Cannabis Industry. Here's the link to purchase.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/252983128/marijuana-business-tool-kit?ref=shop_home_active_2 

Can Guerrilla Marketing Help Your Business?

The cannabis industry is "noisy".  Consumers are inundated with text messages with "today's specials", Twitter messages, content marketing, pop-up ads, commercials and other messaging to get them to buy, buy, buy!  In fact, it's estimated that 95-98 percent of marketing information that is thrown at consumers is NOT being absorbed.  So how do you differ yourself from the others?  How do you grab that much needed attention to drive your message home and gain new market share?  One potential solution is not new but is probably one of the most controversial types of marketing; guerrilla marketing.

Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional method of marketing that is meant to be; unconventional, surprising, original/creative, cheeky/provocative, cost-efficient, flexible, unusual/atypical, funny, spectacular and contagious.  While the term is thrown around all to often the bottom line is the three most important aspects of your next campaign are that it is unusual, contagious and cost-efficient.  

Why does it work?  Emotion.  Emotion drives people's actions.  One of the most obvious examples of this is political campaigns.  Rather than speak of boring issues that are most pertinent to our everyday lives, campaigns will focus on subjects that stir emotion, which drives action, which in that case is go to the polls and vote.  For business marketing, take a lesson from the "Trumps" and others that are talented at making people emotional and make your message one that gets them to laugh/cry/cringe/barf/second-guess their existence, share with others and create that curiosity to visit your store or website.

Guerrilla marketing effectiveness weighs heavily on the creativity juices of the authors and artists rather than spending a lot money.  This is why I strongly suggest a couple pulls off the chizzer before setting the pencil to the pad and brainstorming ideas.  Have fun with it, step outside of your comfort zone and make an impression that no one will ever forget.  The best test is show it to your mother/father/sibling/loved one and watch their face as its shown, if they laugh/cry/cringe/barf/second-guess their existence...you got a winner.  Go to print!!

Keep growing,

Gib

Oligopolies Have No Place in the Cannabis Industry

     Cannabis is booming.  While the industry has always existed, the dark curtains of the black market shielded the production and distribution of marijuana.  And while the black market will never completely disappear, the legal shift is further lowering the curtain and pulling the marijuana industry into a legal market that can be taxed and regulated.  As states and municipalities look at how to regulate the production and distribution of marijuana there is a trend of trying to put the control of production and distribution into a few hands and creating oligopolies in new markets.
This was the case of Issue 3 in Ohio.  The creators of the proposal tried to pull the wool over Ohioans eyes and ride the wave of "legal weed hysteria" and push through a law that would have limited grow operations to a few firms.  Luckily, Ohioans saw past the smoke screens and voted the measure down.  And while the battle cry for voting down the measure was about not giving the market to the "corporate America", to me there are bigger fundamental reasons not to have oligopolies in the legal marijuana market.  First of all, what is an oligopoly?
     While not a common-place term, oligopolies are the ugly cousin of monopolies.  Monopolies are more common in conversation and occur when a single organization owns a market.  Without competition, monopolies control pricing and have no incentive to improve their products to meet customer demands.  Governments deter monopolies through antitrust laws and regulation because they lead to over-priced markets and lack of innovation, which, in the end, hurts all the stakeholders in an economy.  Oligopolies are very similar in effects but differentiate in that instead of only one firm, there may be just a few firms that control a market.  Cartels are sometimes used in place of oligopolies because they lead to price manipulation, quality management issues, supply shortages and violence.  But what are the risks to the marijuana industry if oligopolies are allowed to exist?
     The first is pricing.  As with any oligopoly, firms are more concerned with their "competitors" prices than pricing elasticity, or what the customers are willing to pay.  As in the case of OPEC, which is regarded as an oligopoly, the firms involved agree on pricing that all will follow.  And because the product has such high demand, the firms do not worry about what the consumers think because they ARE the supply.  This is great for the firm but not good for the consumer.  Where this impacts the legal marijuana market besides the obvious of price-fixing is how it will affect the movement of marijuana between states and the viability of the black market.  If prices in one market are too high, people have a tendency to either get their product from elsewhere which would either be from another state (road trip!!) or go back to the black market.  Either way, this is not beneficial to government tax revenue and the crime for that area.
     The second impact is quality management.  A great example of this is the meat industry.  Over the years, as margins have shrunk and conglomerates such as Tyson have strong-armed their way to owning the chicken meat market, the quality management of the output has been effected.  With the use of confined animal feeding operations this has led to breakouts in disease that have wiped out entire farms of chickens and pushing out tainted meat into our grocery stores.  How this is a lesson for the marijuana market is that marijuana has a tendency to be infected with molds, infested with insects and attract other plant diseases.  This is nothing new and anyone that has grown knows that a undetectable spider mite family can quickly spread through an entire crop in just a few days.  So when you concentrate grows to just a few there are quality management issues that can lead to massive spread of these issues.  And because so much is riding on each crop, there may be a tendency by growers to control or mask the diseases by strong pesticides and trimming out tainted areas.  So by concentrating grow operations the risk increases greatly for this scenario.  When grow operations are spread, so is the risk and likeliness that quality will be affected.
     The third issue is supply shortages, either by choice or bad choices.  The oil embargo of 1973 was a lesson of this scenario.  When a few players own a market or at least control a large portion, they have the power to control the supply.  As in this case, the OPEC participants rebelled against the U.S. involvement in Arab countries/Israeli and imposed an embargo.  The impact was crippling to the U.S. economy, which had become dependent on OPEC oil.  This lead to long lines at fuel stations and shortages at the pumps.  The marijuana industry should not forget this and avoid the possibility of supply shortages because that just drives marijuana traffic to either neighboring states or countries and to the black market.
     The last trend in oligopolies is violence.  When markets are owned by only a few players, disagreements between those players can elevate quickly if one or more of the participants is not willing to "play ball".  This has been noted in the illegal drug markets of the U.S., Mexico, Columbia and pretty much every country where oligopolies controlled markets.  While this is an outlier risk in the legal marijuana market, oligopolies are part of the foundation for past violence in markets and avoidance is the best policy.
     I commend Ohioans for seeing past the funny mascots and big promises of the last proposition but I don't think this is a trend that will be going away soon.  At the same time, the "no corporate America" battle cry is not the issue.  The issue is much larger than that and historical occurrences of oligopolies is enough evidence for the avoidance of the risks that are associated with giving too much power to a few participants in any market, including the new legal marijuana markets.

Keep growing,

Gib

To Launch or Not to Launch...? A Guide in Determining Feasibility of Your Next Big Idea.

     Ideas.  They are everything in today's "the world is flat" economy.  Our intellectual property is even more valuable than ever before but for all of those great ideas that end up on the market, over 95% never make it to the shelves.  In fact, studies show that the proportion of products that successfully survive the entire process from creation to successful product is only 4.75%.*  That is both a frightening and empowering statistic, meaning if you have a new product idea, the odds are against the success of that product but at the same time, if it is successful, you have beaten the odds.

     In my experience, the marijuana industry is full of dreamers.  This is not a negative connotation because if it was, I would be insulting myself, because I am myself a dreamer.  But I'm a dreamer that has had business experiences that has lead to this layman's "litmus test" of feasibility for products or the next "big idea". Just as important as it is to get new products and new technologies or methods to market, it's also important, and smart, to know when an idea should just remain a hobby or small-scale garage project.   So I share with you a basic guide to help with knowing and feeling confident about your next big idea.

     Determining a product success can be a bit arbitrary, especially in the marijuana industry where companies are not public, sales numbers are clandestine and only now are tax revenues starting to track sales.  At the same time, there are empirical consistencies across all industries that can be used to help determine product feasibility.  For instance, timeliness to market.  If you are 25th to market with your product, do not expect 50, 30 or even 20% of the market share.  More than likely, it will be closer to 5-8% of market share and your projected sales should reflect that.  But if you are first-to-market, you can expect to have over 50% of the market share just purely from the fact that you were first-to-market.  And other basics, which will be used can help estimate costs and other figures that will help you out.  But let's start with a basic question, is the product a "good product"?

     What determines a "good" product?  I like to look at the product quality, product definition and the time to market .  Product quality, while self-explanatory, is not only speaking of the quality of your product, but also the quality of your future competitors.  Customers eventually, in all industries, want the best for the best price, so where does yours stack up?
Product definition is answering the question of what your product does.  Does it solve a problem?  Is a big problem or minute?  What are the inputs into making the product, are they readily available, need to be manufactured specifically for this new product or crazy expensive?
And lastly, what does the playing field look like for this product?  Are there no competitors in a new industry, is this changing the industry or exceptionally different and if there are competitors, how many and how big are they?  Most products don't make it past this qualitative test, so if yours does, cool, let's move on.

     After you can say confidentially, yes I have a kick-ass product! Let's dig more and see how it will fair it might fair in the market.  These are just a few activities that help with determining marketability, or if it will sell.

• Initial screenings via surveys, focus groups and individual feedback.  Whichever method you use, the goal is to obtain empirical data that shows you have a winner in the eyes of soon-to-be customers.  At minimum, use surveys and speak to people you will be marketing to so you can receive feedback.  Sometimes there are small tweaks that are discovered that will help you.
• Market assessment and studies.  What you're trying to determine is if this market is too saturated, where are the hot-spots of activity, what are the cycles of the market, is it booming or diving, how does the economy affect this industry and any additional data that helps you form a picture of the industry and where the product would be best positioned for launch.
• Appraise your product.  What is the value i.e. what can you sell your product for?  $5.00, $9.99, $10,000?  The best and easiest method is check the online marketplace and see what similar products or products that solve similar problems sell for.  It's better to be conservative.
• Complete a quick SWOT analysis or risk analysis.  Here are a couple links to assist.
• SWOT http://deepingilbert.blogspot.com/2015/11/how-to-complete-swot-analysis.html
• Risk http://deepingilbert.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-diy-of-risk-management-i-promise-this.html
• Complete an initial financial analysis to see if the idea "pencils".  Here's where the rubber hits the road because numbers don't lie.  Here's the steps:
• Determine the margin or profitability of each unit sold.  Take the determined price point and subtract the direct costs or cost of goods sold (COGS).  The costs should include materials, packaging, labeling and shipping costs per unit.  Subtract that from the retail price and baam, write that number down, that is your gross profit per unit.
• Next, estimate the number of units to be sold.  Remember, stay conservative.  
• Now multiply the gross profit per unit to your number sold.  Hey, there's your gross profits!
• Next, calculate cost for research and development, consulting fees, legal costs including patent and trademark(s) and 20% for taxes.  Subtract that from the gross profit and now you have a net profit.  How's it look?  Scary, exciting...do tell!!!  Any room for advertising or salaries?  
• Trust your gut.  All of these numbers and data are only guides and not the final word.  Trust your instincts but don't lie to yourself at the same time.  Like old school, keep it real.

   So do you have a winner?  Time to go back to the drawing board?  Whatever the outcome, at least you will now have the confidence to either move forward or set this idea aside and work on another project.  But whatever you do, never give up and don't ever lose the faith.  Much love!

Keep growing,

Gib

Resources:

*Cooper, R.G. and Kleinschmidt, E.J. (1998), "Resources allocation in the new product development process", Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 17, pp. 249-62.

How to Complete a SWOT Analysis

     A SWOT analysis is a brainstorm activity that requires an objective viewpoint that will be helpful with the business launch.  This helps the business members understand and aware of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business and product(s).  It’s a good practice to do this exercise with each product if there is a major differentiation between products in your portfolio.  Here’s some further guidance on each aspect of a SWOT analysis:

·         Strengths- The strengths has more to do with the internal strengths of the business and products versus external strengths of the product(s).  Strengths can include superior product quality and price point compared to competitors, strengths relating to the leaders within the business and resources available.  Avoid vagueness or embellishment to keep this specific and realistic.

·         Weaknesses- Just as with strengths, weaknesses are relating to the internal threats to the business and product roll out.  This could include lack of resources in capital, marketing expertise or knowledge of the market the business is expanding into in the future. 

·         Opportunities- Opportunities are also external as in the business being first-to-market, new changes in regulation that open markets, technological advantages of product, marketing campaign capital or having a niche in current markets to exploit.

·         Threats-Threats are external.  These are threats for the business externally from other factors such as a saturated market, declining economy or new products that out-perform or are priced lower than the company’s product or service.