As a business owner, whatever market you’re getting into, there are always going to be ins and outs that you need to learn to ensure that you’re able to avoid some of the snags that might not apply to businesses in other industries. Sometimes, these market idiosyncrasies can trip you up and make your business harder to run. A lot of business owners outsource and look for partners that can help them stay at the top of their game by better managing some of the workloads they take on. In the CBD business, however, you might be surprised by the specificity with which you have to choose those partners.
Supply
If you’re not producing your own CBD products, then you need to make sure that you take the time to find a trusted source who will be providing their own to you. There are many qualities you should look for in your wholesale partner or supplier, such as third-party quality testing, a wide range of different products that you can sell and expand into, verification of the THC-free status of products, as well as a supply chain setup to ensure that you always have as much product as you’re able to sell.
Marketing
Trying to brand and raise awareness of your product is vital to bring in those sales but doing it within the context of CBD can bring about some problems. For instance, there are still those who have some confusion between CBD products and cannabis products, while others might understand there’s a difference, but still have some level of taboo about which does what. Working with a CBD marketing company, you can ensure that you have someone who understands not only how to best communicate the benefits and purposes of your products, but someone who isn’t likely to make any of the marketing mistakes that could see you getting into some legal hot water. For instance, in some places, you’re not allowed to make any claims about the purported health benefits of CBD.
Logistics
Keeping the supply chain of your CBD products moving is vital to ensure that you can meet the demand of your customers once you get up and running. If you already have a supplier, then all you might need to find next are the delivery drivers or fulfillment companies to help you get your products into the hands of your customers. Working with experienced participants in the CBD supply chain is a good idea over a more generic provider. Not only can they ensure that your products are treated with extra care, but are likely to be more familiar with the just-in-time nature of the CBD market supply chain in general.
Payment processing
Getting paid for the products that you sell is, naturally, going to be vital for the profitability of your business. However, some CBD product providers have found that some of the more traditional merchant account providers can throw up some barriers in their work. Because of CBD’s proximity to the legal cannabis market, transactions can get flagged and misunderstandings can happen which can prevent customers from being able to pay and can even trigger erroneous flags and locks on merchant accounts. You want to find the best CBD merchant provider that suits the model of your business to ensure that you’re working with those who understand the business and know not to make the same mistakes. There shouldn’t be any difficulty in getting paid.
Accounting
There is no business that doesn’t require a steady hand and a keen eye on the financial situation that you’re dealing with. This includes dealing with your taxes. You need to know about any tax laws or exemptions that might apply to businesses within your industry in particular, both to make sure that you’re not paying more in taxes than you should be and to ensure that you’re not putting up any red flags that might get you stuck in a time-consuming and potentially costly audit. As such, one of the best things you can do is to find a CBD chartered accountant to work with. Aside from keeping your books neat and organized, they can make it a lot easier to prepare for tax season.
Steadily, the CBD business is becoming a lot more mainstream and, as such, there are more providers and partners opening their doors to those in the business, as well as more that are specifically set up to work with those within it. For now, however, you should ensure that you’re choosing the partners that are best suited to meet your needs.
