Friends and Family update - February 2019

Welcome to the blog!

Hi everyone, please let me introduce the RISE Edibles blog! 

If you're reading this, you know what I've been up to for the past few weeks and I've probably reached out for help, expertise or to bitch about something. This is my way of keeping everyone up to date on what's happening with Rise Edibles and hear your comments / suggestions. Please do speak up if you've got something to add and thanks for all the help! 

Industry
While January of 2020 seems the earliest we will see legal recreational cannabis sales, I'm excited by the progress made and heartened to hear that things are moving forward. 
There was some great progress in Trenton this week as Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Governor Murphy have come to an agreement on how taxation and regulation could work after legalization. This was the biggest sticking point in the discussion and bodes well for advancement to a vote. There will be challenges from anti-legalization groups, industry advocates and larger industry groups, but the path looks good overall.

Rise News
The business plan for Rise continues to evolve and you all have been immensely helpful in developing it. Thanks to everyone for your contributions!
Currently we're envisioning a 3 phase growth plan with the first phase focused on branding, production and packaging. We'll start with a single product line, build interest, and depending on capacity could introduce a second line in this phase if capacity permits. 
Many of you have seen the concept but for those who haven't, we'll be launching with a line of cannabis gummy candies infused with different strains for a young, active, professional target audience. 
Thanks to Sue, Meg and Melissa for the branding / marketing help and brainstorming names,  logos and a tag line.

Next Steps
I've got a packaging and branding team in place to begin creating the initial 'feel' for Rise Edibles but progress will be slow as it's self-funded. 
The next area for progress will be banking and insurance. There are a number of banks in NJ that will work with cannabusinesses and starting that relationship will be a priority. 
Following that, insurance for the business and for food production is next in line. I have a company lined up for business liability insurance that can probably cover all aspects but we have yet to meet formally. 

Miscellaneous
With the long ramp up time waiting for legislation, I'm going to spend a bit of time documenting my journey. Along with these monthly updates, I'd like to try a video blog on the process and document what goes into launching a cannabis brand in New Jersey.
And since I'm going to have a logo soon, I want to start leveraging social media to start building buzz around Rise. Putting out some teasers on packaging, concept, product shots and the team (as it grows) to generate interest. Let me know if you've got ideas! I really want to hear them

Thanks to everyone for all the help!! I couldn't do it without you!

Best,

D