It is estimated that, in five years, the CBD market is expected to grow to $20 billion. Popularity is coming from various parts of the consumer market. Much of the desire for the products center around the desire for medicinal benefits. While most medical experts agree that more research is needed to make accurate assertions regarding the effects of CBD on the human body/mind, it’s pretty clear that the industry is taking off ahead of this research. 

Entrepreneurs are constantly looking for the “next thing,” often hoping that they come across an idea that others don’t notice. If an opportunity already is popular among both producers and consumers, there are other ways to ensure market share and profitability; often involving large marketing efforts as well as dedication to high quality production. CBD is already a popular business. Many large and small operations are making attempts to make a profit in this space. Some are successful, others not. 

This article is an attempt to hone in on a winning formula for making a desired CBD product. What I’ve come to understand is that successful CBD cultivation comes from mastering two broad categories of your business:

1. Efficient production geared towards quality. 

2. Marketing Efforts

I personally spent a large amount of my summer in hemp fields in Ohio. I walked in the fields, handled the irrigation. I cut off dead leaves. I would cut out excess grass taking nutrients away from the crop. By the time harvest arrived, I came to respect the crop I was helping to cultivate. By the end of the season, I came up with many ideas that for how to make next year easier. 

One of the first challenges I came to respect was the strict adherence to the Federal Farm bill that classifies CBD products. THC, or Tetrahydrocannabinol, is the psychoactive compound found in all cannabis products that provides the consumer with feeling “high.” In order for cannabis and hemp to be considered legitimate CBD, it must have less than .03% of THC. A farmer growing cannabis with the goal of providing CBD must painstakingly make sure that the crop doesn’t accidentally exceed this percentage. If your crop has .031% , the entire crop must be discarded. 

Once you get through your season and are ready to harvest a crop that meets these governmental standards, how can you make sure your producing something high in quality? One of the crucial points in production is the extraction process. The extraction describes how you get the oil from the crop itself. As of the time of this article, the process for extraction that is considered the best is the CO2 process. More detailed articles will be provided about this later. Suffice to say that the CO2 extraction process decidedly produces the most pure form of CBD with the least amount of undesired chemicals. 

Over the holidays I gave someone some of the CBD products that I helped harvest over the summer. The friend who I gave it to has family who are building a spa in California. When she showed it to her family, they became captivated by the packaging and asked many questions about what it was and what it could do. Over the next few weeks I hope to meet with them an answer some questions that they may have. 

This story covers two lessons I would like to provide. Firstly, do not underestimate the value of having professional packaging in your product. This is the forefront of how your customer sees you and what you are offering. Secondly, it’s is also vital to cultivate quality relationships with people for purposes of selling your product. My friend’s family is building a spa, which is one of the optimal places to sell CBD products. Therefore, I’m personally very excited to meet with them. 

There are other avenues as well. Going door to door into vape stores can also lead to promising results. However, you also want to make sure you are spending your time reaching your target audience. Trying to approach various vape stores while also hoping to maintain the appearance of having a high quality product may be counter productive. 

Having a solid marketing strategy in place will help to ensure that your efforts are most effective. While I’m not a marketing expert, I’m sure we can all agree that efficient marketing involves making connections, presenting the product effectively and having a strong web/social media presence.

This is a broad article discussing the hurdles and solutions involved in overcoming the barriers to entry involved in the CBD industry. With a sound business model, I’m personally confident that a person can make and distribute a product that people will want time and again.