When we first dive into our cannabis business, we’ve got big dreams and goals we want to hit. 

But let’s be real– it can get pretty overwhelming at times, especially if we’re not sure where to begin or what to do next. Good news – you’re not alone, and I’m here to help!

Today, I’m thrilled to have a chat with the fantastic Susan Stone. She’s an all-around superstar with tons of experience in marketing, customer experience, and organizational development across all sorts of industries.

In our conversation, Susan’s going to share some super helpful strategies to help your cannabis business flourish.

Susan’s background

Susan didn’t go to school for her current field but started as a fine art major focusing on photography and printmaking. She ended up becoming a graphic designer and, through that, began selling advertising. She found marketing research fascinating and eventually got into the direct mail business in the ’80s. Susan was lucky to learn everything from the ground up and spent the early part of her career in direct mail, catalog marketing, and database marketing, before moving into publishing and technology in 1999.

She spent 15 years at Intuit, where she did a lot of different things, and the company was great at training high-potential people and giving them various experiences. Susan led customer care, HR, and marketing roles. In 2017, she left and got the opportunity to explore the recreational cannabis business in 2018, where she met some great people. Since then, she’s been consulting and having a blast, continuing to interact with many of the folks she met through Mesh Ventures. She enjoys doing the fun stuff without having to deal with all the corporate stuff that was necessary but not where she wanted to spend her time.

When you’re launching a new Cannabis business or a new company, how do you think about team building?

Susan points out that many entrepreneurs have incredible energy, charisma, and strategic thinking but often struggle with delegating tasks and identifying what they’re good at. She suggests that when starting a new company just like Cannabis business, it’s essential to figure out where one’s time is best spent and what tasks can be outsourced initially. One key piece of advice is to hire contract workers before committing to full-time staff, as it allows entrepreneurs to see if the person’s skills match their needs.

When building a team, she recommends waiting to hire until you can afford the level of expertise needed, as hiring more junior staff may lead to more work and lower-quality output. She highlights the importance of ensuring that every team member has a sense of purpose and understands how their role contributes to the company’s success.

She has observed that in the cannabis industry and other small businesses, companies often hire someone for a specific role but end up burdening them with various responsibilities, leading to disorganization. Instead, she suggests thinking about categories of work, breaking them down into simple operations, and assigning cohesive sets of responsibilities to each team member. This approach can help prevent overburdening staff and ensure that everyone has the necessary skills and expertise to achieve their goals.

What does success look like to you?

Her experience working in corporate roles with talented individuals has taught her that a lot of leadership is about knowing the right questions to ask. She learned the importance of job descriptions from a former boss who had worked at Procter & Gamble. Job descriptions help employees understand their priorities, avoid burnout, and stay satisfied in their roles. They also provide a benchmark for coaching and improvement.

Susan emphasizes that everyone in an organization must understand what the company is trying to achieve and its role in reaching that goal. She refers to the concept of commander’s intent, which is about maintaining a clear and aligned vision so that employees can make informed decisions at more granular levels. When employees feel connected to a bigger idea, their strategic thinking, imagination, and creativity are called upon. In this context, a job description becomes crucial for evaluating an employee’s performance and contribution to the company’s overall success.

How to break up the workloads and assign tasks?

Susan shared an example of taking over a small team in disarray, even without knowing much about the business. She started by asking what decisions needed to be made to help the team move forward. As a leader, Susan’s role was to make decisions and ensure that the team knew whose responsibility it was to make those calls.

She emphasized the importance of onboarding new employees properly, giving them clear guidelines on their responsibilities, and ensuring they knew which decisions they could make. She had worked in various roles throughout her career, giving her empathy for her employees and a desire to make their jobs easier.

In her experience, empowering employees to make decisions, even if they aren’t perfect, helps to move the business forward. One of her previous CEOs, Steve Bennett, advised making the best decision with the data available, course-correcting later if needed. Susan believes in creating a culture where staff feels comfortable making decisions and taking risks without fear of severe repercussions. This approach leads to a sense of co-ownership, fostering an inclusive, high-performing team environment based on trust.

When trust is present, team members can focus on advancing the business instead of worrying about their own roles. A trusting and open-hearted team dynamic allows for more creativity and effective collaboration, as everyone is aligned and working together toward shared goals.

What tools do you use to manage a team?

She said that she isn’t much of a tools person, and when she worked in marketing operations and project management, the software for those tasks wasn’t as advanced as it is now. She prefers writing things down and believes that project management systems can be useful for some people, but only if the leader and team consistently use them.

Susan thinks that for entrepreneurs, Slack is a great tool, as long as all communication happens on that platform. If conversations are split between different mediums, they can become unruly. She has had clients who use Slack and others who use Microsoft Teams. She believes that, especially for entrepreneurs, it’s essential to build systems around what works best for them.

What are some tips for hiring the best possible talent for your Cannabis business?

Throughout her corporate years, she found that involving subject matter experts in the interview process made a significant difference. For example, if she started a new company and needed to hire a cultivator, she would want someone who’s skilled in that area to interview the candidate as well.

She emphasizes the importance of getting a subject matter expert to evaluate the candidate you need to hire, even if you have a good impression of them and they seem to have a strong resume. Susan wouldn’t hire an engineer without an engineer’s point of view, as she can only evaluate their soft skills, like communication and strategic thinking.

So, if someone has been running their cannabis business alone and needs to hire, Susan suggests reaching out to people they trust for help in the hiring process. This could include mentors, friends, or industry colleagues.

Where to find great talent for your Cannabis business?

When it comes to finding an expert to hire, Susan suggests tapping into your network when looking for new hires. LinkedIn can be an incredible resource for connecting with potential candidates. Start by reaching out to your connections and expanding your search to their circles. You can also post job listings on LinkedIn to target a specific group of professionals.

When hiring, she advises doing a three-month contract if you’re uncertain about a candidate, as it gives you an out if things don’t work out. She also recommends exploring Facebook community groups to find people with specific skill sets.

For customer-facing roles, consider hiring from nonprofits, as they often have excellent people skills. Think about the personality traits that would be ideal for the position. Small businesses can offer unique opportunities for talented individuals who might not have had a chance otherwise.

In Susan’s experience, working in a small company provided her with invaluable business knowledge that she might not have gained elsewhere. Entrepreneurs can create opportunities for people who have faced disadvantages, helping to uplift them and benefit the company as a whole.

Managing multiple people and multiple components

Susan believes in using a straightforward approach when planning to double a business’s growth. She suggests breaking down the process into smaller, manageable tasks and assigning responsibilities to different team members. To keep everyone accountable, planning should be done in specific time periods, such as monthly, quarterly, or yearly plans.

The key is to have everyone involved in the process agree on the priorities and goals, and to keep the language simple to avoid confusion due to jargon. Once priorities are set, narrow them down to three to five main categories of work for the next period, and assign ownership to specific individuals.

Susan emphasizes the importance of having a combination of a traffic cop and someone who can see the bigger picture while also focusing on the smaller tasks. This ability to think strategically and execute tasks is a skill that should be sought out when hiring new team members. She calls this skill “Stractical thinking” – a blend of strategic and tactical abilities.

 What are Daily Stand ups?

One thing that I love about working with Susan is her daily stand-up meeting. She suggests using daily stand-up meetings to keep teams aligned and moving forward. These meetings involve team members showing up on a Zoom call. The main goal is to set priorities and create an operational plan, ensuring that everyone has what they need to make progress.

As a leader, Susan found that her most important responsibilities were making decisions and removing roadblocks to keep everyone moving forward. Daily meetings can significantly speed up the process compared to weekly ones. However, it’s crucial to be flexible and cancel or shorten the meetings when they’re not needed. The key is to strike a balance and ensure that these meetings remain efficient and effective.

What to do when you’re overwhelmed?

Susan shares her experience transitioning from working in smaller businesses to a company with 8,000 people. In the beginning, she struggled to manage her time, as her calendar was always fully booked. To cope, she would take four hours for herself and go somewhere without interruptions to focus on her own deliverables. This helped her reduce anxiety and avoid procrastination.

She also found that making a list of tasks for the next day at the end of each day helped her protect her energy. By writing down her tasks, she could mentally close the door on her work and relax. Susan believes that learning to manage one’s energy is a crucial life skill for adults, especially in today’s fast-paced world.

Many people struggle with managing their time at work, often attending meetings simply because they were invited. Susan highlights the importance of being honest about whether one’s presence at a meeting is truly valuable. If it’s not, it’s better to spend time on more important tasks.

She believes people are often afraid to admit they’re not adding value in certain situations, fearing it reflects poorly on their overall worth. However, Susan argues that recognizing when one isn’t contributing and choosing to focus on more productive tasks is a positive and valuable skill.

Quick tip: I remember feeling extremely overwhelmed when dealing with numerous systems and a visible calendar. However, I eventually learned the trick of blocking out time for downtime and catching up, which turned out to be a great tool. Time blocking and organizing my time is an important skill to learn, and I am currently working on mastering it.

How to track employees’ progress in Your Cannabis Business?

Susan emphasized the importance of defining success by having a conversation with the person and explaining what doing a great job looks like. Usually, it’s a description of a set of behaviors. The issue often lies in behavior rather than skills. If it’s a skill problem, like not being able to use PowerPoint or Excel, that’s different. The focus should be on whether the person can work in ambiguity and their emotional maturity.

Being able to describe to someone the difference between their current behavior and the desired behavior can be groundbreaking. Susan believes it’s essential to have a performance plan, whether it’s official or not, as long as it’s clear. She shared her experience working on a project that involved developing performance expectations for a company based on their values. It’s amazing how quickly people can understand and have productive conversations about performance when it’s clearly defined

Best practices for being a good boss for your Cannabis Business

Susan believes that empathy, forgiveness, and understanding are essential qualities to have, along with a desire to help people achieve more than they ever imagined. Having experience in various roles, she emphasizes the importance of expressing gratitude. Susan highlights the need to appreciate that everyone wants to do well, and no one wants to do a bad job. Her goal is to be in service to ensure the success of those who work with and for her.

 Susan’s unique background and vast experience in various fields have equipped her with exceptional insights, which have significantly contributed to our personal and professional growth. As a leader, she has shown us the importance of empathy, forgiveness, and understanding in fostering an inclusive, high-performing team environment. We hope that by sharing Susan’s wisdom, you too can benefit from her insights and apply them to your own journey toward success.  

To learn more about Susan Grayson Stone, visit her website: https://susangraysonstone.com/

I hope this has been helpful to you. Follow me on Instagram @highsalwa and visit highsalwa.com to learn more, access some downloads, and sign up for the email list. Listen to the High-Class Podcast and leave a comment or suggestions for upcoming episodes. Thank you!

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If you’re competing, or you’re thinking about competing for a license, but you don’t know where to start, I went ahead and cleaned up all of my application material, and updated a lot of it and you can get your own copy here: https://highsalwa.com/business-downloads.  It is what I use to win licenses in multiple different markets. I have cultivation, production and retail that’s currently available and I’m looking forward to adding more to give you a head start.