Balls!

A bit over three months ago I decided to take a "sabbatical". In other words, I quit my job. It wasn’t something that I took lightly but my health, the happiness of my household and my life depended on it. There isn’t a “right” time to go, a proper time to do something, but when I walked into work on the 4^th of May I knew it was time to drop the hammer on my twenty-five-year career in librarianship. When you’ve done something for that long you have either been fortunate enough to have been able to take the high road, one that, if you are lucky, just keeps on going higher and higher, or you look around, know that you long ago hit the pinnacle of your career, and say, “what is there left to do?” On that fateful day I knew that “once the boss, never the servant” was what my life in that business was all about. What is funny is that I figure that most of the folks who have been getting my applications, reading through my resume, listening to me chat library stuff with them over the phone, got that too.

So, three plus months of grooving since then. I go to the library almost every day to use their free computer time, send off apps religiously, take naps when I can and help to keep the house clean. I cook a lot, drink a bit of wine (sometimes more than a bit!) and, for the sake of possible piss tests, have been keeping my pee clean. I sleep well at night, my digestive tract is back to normal, I am happy and my household is humming along. My partner, gawd bless her heart, has been with me on this. She is happy for the changes she has seen in me and has been behind me on this quest that I have been on, to gain access to the cannabis trade. 

As a matter of fact, she is the one that made the connection that helped me land the position I will be starting on the 28^th. We were leaving the Denver Vangst career fair that fateful Sunday last month when she heard me mention that the lines for The Farm were just as long as when we came in. She walked over, got the attention of the HR manager and told him that we were leaving but could her partner introduce himself and leave a resume? Well, one thing lead to another. A midweek phone call and a bit of serendipity lead to an interview. I turned down the possibility for budtender work but then they showed interest, called me in again and found a way to fit me into a new position they were generating to help get their Indigopro products out into the world. 

So, after a fun and informative interview I went off to eat some Indian buffet when 

I got a phone call on my way to the hot plates. Starting at the end of the month (with time for jury duty, a bit of eclipse watching and a visit to see the kids) I will be coming on board as a courier driver, with the chance to see how the industry works from the bottom up. Years of providing quality customer service plus experience as a driver plus persistence helped to pave the way to this opportunity, one with a new car to drive, health benefits, a smart phone to use and discounts in the shop! Wow!

This month in High Times there is an article about securing a job in the cannabis trade. I have been reading for months now how lots of folks from all walks of life are finding their way in, or, as was the case for me, trying to find a way to get a foot in the door. I know that the allure of pot, the thought of getting high all the time, must drive a lot of folks to want to play in the industry but this industry is maturing and is growing like any other form of big business. In other words, be serious about this and you will be taken seriously. If you have a trade, that is great. Managers, accountants, sales reps, chemists, security, IT folks, warehouse people, food service types are all needed. And sure, if you have “experience” with cannabis that might be helpful, too, for securing those coveted sales jobs at the counter but it will take more than that. The line behind you is long and full of folks who really, REALLY want a place in this business. 

Be more than just another head at the pot shop. Study up. Read the Cannabist, Marijuana News Daily, Leafly and Weedmaps for the latest in the business. Tune into what NORML and other activists are doing. Study up on your state's marijuana laws. Talk with dispensary folks, attend job fairs, go to a big tent pole show like the Cannabis Cup, read up about all the uses of hemp, dig deep into Jack Herer's The Emperor Wears No Clothes, keep up with the national news daily to help you stay on top of the political climate of the most sacred of all plants. Be interested in all aspects of cannabis. Learn about the medical efficacies of it as much as the fun, recreational side of it. Read the trade magazines, do regular dispensary crawls, find out about all the new products coming on line and then be sure to try them out if you can. Then, and only then, you will find folks beating a path to YOUR door instead of waiting for the phone to ring.

It took balls to quit a well-paying job with benefits. I don’t know if I was ever so ballsy before in my life, knowing that bills and rent and child support were all hanging in the lurch. But I got lucky. I have a great partner, a good home life, a trickle of unemployment and a deep, abiding love for cannabis and all of that got me through what could have been a pretty bleak time. But it wasn't.Yeah, I got lucky. Now, go out there and make you own luck. Go out there and live YOUR mota industry dream!

And don’t forget to bring your balls, you’ll need them!

Salud!