Building A Highly Successful Cannabis Education Company
"I just love reading the stories about all the ways we've impacted all these different types of people by providing such valuable and useful education."
Welcome to Four PM, where we grow, harvest, and deliver the freshest cannabis industry insights. 👋🏼
Friends,
Having worked in the cannabis industry for just over three years now, there have been a number of individuals whose actions have inspired me to think bigger when it comes to cannabis. One such individual is Max Simon, CEO of Green Flower.
At the beginning of 2019, when I first decided to create a LinkedIn account, I had very low expectations of what the platform had to offer; so I was completely taken by surprise to see such interesting cannabis content being shared across the space.
Having run many social media accounts, I don’t know what took me more by surprise: the fact that such a large social media network wasn’t censoring cannabis-related accounts or simply the sheer abundance of valuable cannabis-related content being shared on LinkedIn.
Seeking to emulate the path that individuals like Max have paved, I began sharing my perspective on LinkedIn, and many months later Four PM was born as a means to add more value to the cannabis conversation.
For today’s publication of Four PM I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Max to learn more about his journey into cannabis, the challenges he has faced along the way, and what has him most excited about the future.
Max Simon is the former Director of Products & Brand for Chopra Center for Wellbeing and is currently the CEO of the leading cannabis education provider Green Flower.
What motivated you to join the cannabis industry and to build Green Flower?
I have been a medical cannabis consumer for many decades, but always in hiding.
In 2014, I was hired to do some consulting work for a cannabis brand in California, and that's when I really started to dig into the industry. The more I learned, the more excited I got about the potential, the products, the science, the people, and the opportunity. Yet the deeper I looked, the more I could see that there was a huge void in regards to quality education and training, both for individuals and professionals.
People were not understanding the power of this plant, or the industry that was bubbling up to support it, and since my entire career has been in education and training, it made perfect sense to blend my personal relationship with cannabis with my entrepreneurial fire to create Green Flower, which has become a global leader in cannabis education and training.
(📸 / Green Flower)
What's the biggest challenge you've faced in cannabis, and how did you overcome this?
Everything is harder in cannabis.
We've had bank accounts shut down, merchant accounts shut down, insurance policies revoked, office leases denied, social media accounts shuttered, and more. When it happened in the beginning, it would truly upset me and throw me off-course for a period. Now I have grown so incredibly resilient, and my response is: "They are buying into misinformation and that's ok, one day they will be proven wrong."
What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?
Green Flower provides education and training to colleges and universities, cannabis businesses, regulators, banks, insurance companies, medical professionals, and of course, thousands of interested individuals all around the world.
I just love reading the stories about all the ways we've impacted all these different types of people by providing such valuable and useful education. Furthermore, I absolutely love engaging with the incredible team I've built that is filled with the most talented, creative, resilient, and committed people I've ever worked with.
These people are SO passionate about our mission to educate the world about cannabis, and it's an honor to build Green Flower alongside them.
What has you most excited for the cannabis industry in 2021?
I believe we will see MAJOR strides forward in regards to cannabis policy in 2021 now that we have the leadership we do.
When banks can legally do business with cannabis, LOOK OUT WORLD HERE WE COME!! Oh and I'm also very excited about finally launching Ganjier—our cannabis sommelier certification because this has been in development since 2018 and it's so exciting to finally start putting people through the Program.
(📸 / GANJIER)
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