Dealing With Investors Who Have No Clue / Need To Vent

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Deadstill

Deadstill

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So I just figured I'd vent this here because I'm sure there are other growers in the same or similar situations my buddy is having.

So my friend got suckered into growing for these people who have more money than brains. They (the investors) have expressed a lot of interest in opening their own dispensary here in CO.

So, at the moment they have medical licenses for a somewhat large number of plants. My friend has been growing the plants for them for about 6 months now, in an illegal manner. The catch is you cannot grow large medical licenses on residential zoned land. He's been in residential land until now. The investors bought a large piece of property zoned for agricultural use, and thus legal.

The thing is, as we all know, it's illegal to sell marijuana in Colorado without a dispensary, so guess how this crop is getting sold? Yeah.

The waiting list for a dispensary is pretty long, and the investors have no clue when they will actually be able to buy/build one.

The investors have no clue about this industry what-so-ever. However, they want to tell my friend what to do and how to do it. He's the one with 20+ years of growing experience, these people barely know how to roll a joint.

I myself until recently was helping my friend with his job. I've decided for the sake of our friendship that I do not want to work with him nor for the people he works for.

The sickening part is how they treat him. They stick him in an illegal grow operation on residential property that could be raided by local authorities at any time. They haven't paid him ONE DIME. They don't give him any food or anything.

So now that he's moving from a house, to a legal agricultural site, guess what the site doesn't have? A house. It's got a lovely building with 2 big grow rooms and a nice big greenhouse next to it. No toilet. No refrigerator. No means to cook. Hey, there's a cot and water, though, so he's got that going for him.

They claim they're going to bring him a camper or RV to live in but don't know when that will happen, if ever. So yeah did I mention this grow site is located 50+ miles from the nearest STORE? Oh and by the way my buddy has no license to go anywhere. I'm pretty sure they're going to leave him out there to die.

The only reason he's survived this long, is because his girlfriend has been sending him money to eat and buy toilet paper with. Which, he's going to have to pay back. He grovels at the feet of these investors who haven't done a damn thing for him but provide a place to grow and some equipment. They've made promises to take care of him that I've yet to see happen.

He honestly thinks he's going to get rich working for these people. I really don't see it happening. They're treating him as a slave and he's practically worshiping the ground they walk on, it's sickening to watch. I just can't do it anymore. These people have loads of money and they want to undercut you on every thing.

They just wanted me to do a landscaping job that I quoted at 300, they said 200, I said fine. I get to the job, it's a 400 dollar job hands down. That's where I stopped working for them.

SO anyway I have my own grow, and really don't need these people, and I've decided not to take on any "employers" or "investors" as my friend has, and end up getting screwed in the end.

Ever since legalization though, Colorado has seen a rapid influx of these assholes. People with more money than brains, or just no brains, thinking they're going to strike it rich in the pot industry, and don't listen to people who have been growing for decades.. I'm getting really tired of these stories. It's been bad business and cutthroat as hell out here. Just wondering if anyone else thinks my friend is getting taken for a ride? I think stepping away is the best move I can make with these people.. Sucks about my buddy, but he doesn't want to step up for himself..
 
JWM2

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Yeah unfortunately those in bad relationships are the last ones to find out. Sadly he probably thinks he has no other options. I'd support him as best you can as a friend but keep business separate.
 
Deadstill

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Does he even have a written signed contract with the investors?


No, he does not! I keep telling him to get something in writing but he thinks it's all good!

Edited to include - Also, my girlfriend just pointed out, that the second they do put something in writing it all becomes illegal anyways. She's right. You cannot legally sell marijuana in CO without a dispensary, period. So even if he did get something in writing it would only be incriminating themselves.. So what can he do? Hmm..
 
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SoLowDolo

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Yep, I agree. He should hold the weed for ransom once he harvests it. Then, even if they don't pay, he gets a shit load of weed. What are they gonna do about it? Except maybe hire someone to kill him...:D
 
1diesel1

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Tell him to get a seven gallon propane tank and go to a commercial roofing supply business or a farm supply store and buy a weed burner or a propane torch one of the big ones. When he has his next meeting with the investors have it all assembled and ready to go. He’s got to work this into the meeting slow so the fat cats understand what will happen if he doesn’t get what he wants. That propane torch will burn up a pound of weed in about 30 seconds wet or dry. They need to understand that is what will happen to all the product if he doesn’t get what he wants. Those fuckers will work him over time and time again if he don’t show his balls! Just had a buddy go through the exact same ordeal. He ended up telling them to fuck off!
 
1diesel1

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JWM2

JWM2

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Tell him to get a seven gallon propane tank and go to a commercial roofing supply business or a farm supply store and buy a weed burner or a propane torch one of the big ones. When he has his next meeting with the investors have it all assembled and ready to go. He’s got to work this into the meeting slow so the fat cats understand what will happen if he doesn’t get what he wants. That propane torch will burn up a pound of weed in about 30 seconds wet or dry. They need to understand that is what will happen to all the product if he doesn’t get what he wants. Those fuckers will work him over time and time again if he don’t show his balls! Just had a buddy go through the exact same ordeal. He ended up telling them to fuck off!

I like, no make that love your style bro. That’s what I’m talking about, Willis!
 
Deadstill

Deadstill

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I'd keep all the herb hostage until they paid straight up
I'm sure that's what he'll have to do. In fact I'm sure he'll have to put together any sales himself, as I said these people don't know shit. They don't know anyone to sell it to, so it's going to have to be through him. So yeah he'll be in control of the situation as far as that goes, but I'm pretty sure he's still going to let them walk all over him. The main point is even if he does get paid, they obviously don't want to pay me fair wages to help. I think because he's so subservient, they expect me to also work for nothing and do everything their way.

The problem I have with these people is when they ask me something about something they don't know, and I give them an answer based upon my experience and knowledge, they think they can ignore my wisdom and do their own thing.

For example. The greenhouse on this property they bought is torn to shreds. Everyone who has put a greenhouse out here that isn't made from very, very heavy duty plastic, ends up getting shredded in the wind. Everyone. It's a thing out here. There's miles and miles of barbed wire fences and they catch these shreds of plastic in the wind. The only people who get their greenhouses to stay in-tact are the ones who have invested 40,000 dollars or more for heavy duty ones. This is the front range of the Rocky Mountains. We get 100+ mph wind gusts, 150 in bad storms. I've been living out here on my ranch for 5 years now and watched everyone in the area who put up a greenhouse end up losing their plastic covering.

I have designed a "screen house" that allows you to use screen instead of plastic on a greenhouse frame with a little added lumber such as 3/4" plywood along the bottom sides to block wind, and 2x6 boards for securing the screen. The purpose of this design coincides with the climate we experience out here on the high plains. First of all a major issue we have is grasshoppers. In the spring summer and fall the grasshoppers out here are literally so bad they will eat an entire crop in a day. I've seen it. There's nothing you can do about it except build a barrier.

Second, the winds. The winds, as I said, get ridiculous. You must have a barrier especially from the northern winds as they gust the most. Then there's the sun. The sun is actually a bit harsh on plants out here. Fact is we are at 7,000 feet elevation and there is less atmosphere to protect you from the sun. People get sunburned fast up here. Cars get hotter than hell if you don't have window tint. So most growers end up using some sort of shade cloth to protect their crops from the intensity.

Then you have hail storms. Golf ball size hail is frequent out here. One storm could take out your crop in a matter of minutes. These happen every spring and summer. There's big money in windshield replacement and paintless dent repair in Colorado.

So, to counter all of these adverse conditions, I have designed, tested and successfully used a screen house design to grow outdoors here in Colorado. Basically I told these people they need an 8 foot wall all around the entire greenhouse. There is already a 6 foot chainlink style fence in place, that whoever grew there previously installed, with heavy duty tarps attached to it. Well, I should say, shreds of what's left of heavy duty tarps.

I told them how it needs to be a sturdy wall made from wood. They come at me with a "tire wall".. Which, I could do, and I have done them before, but they are extremely time consuming and labor intensive. Also, extremely hard to make wind-proof barrier out of tires when they're all different sizes. It would have to be filled with sand, which there's plenty of out here, but as I said, labor intensive, and I'm SURE more work than they are willing to pay for. I have insisted they do not go with a tire wall and use my design, but they seem pretty persistent about the tire wall for some reason. I think, because they mentioned a friend had "all the tires they need for free" :/ Still, I doubt there's even enough to do half a wall. The greenhouse is 72 feet long and 30 feet wide and this wall will need to cover 3 sides of it as the building protects one side.

Not to mention.. Tire walls are not illegal, but the fire marshal really doesn't like people building them because we also get.. wait for it... Wildfires!! Yes folks, last year we had to evacuate my ranch for 4 days because a wildfire burned an area of roughly 64,000 acres and was licking our back door. If the winds hadn't suddenly shifted that day, our ranch would have been lost along with the other 24 homes that were lost out here. Once tire piles or walls catch fire there's no putting them out. They might as well put a big ol' can of gasoline right next to their grow and smoke cigarettes all day.

So, it's little things like that, that are making things aggravating. I'm not the type of person to do any job in a half-assed manner whether that's what the person wants or not. I don't feel these folks appreciate my experience and knowledge and don't deserve my help, just for the way they're treating my friend and how they want to circumvent every bit of advice I give them.

So, I don't know what's going to happen. We have yet to discuss details of the greenhouse renewal as far as materials I'm going to need, and money I'm getting paid to do it. I do have a figure ready to present them and I will not accept one penny less. I also want half of it up front. Is that too much to ask? Frankly I think the price I have in mind is more than fair for both parties. I'm pretty sure if they hired a company to re-do it, they'll pay 10k at least. I could be way wrong, but the figure I have is much lower than that and will make me happy to do the job, and hopefully save them some money and make them happy. But, I'm prepared to walk away from it all if they're not going to agree to it. Not worth my time away from my own crops for a pittance.
 
cemchris

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The big problem is your friend put him self in a situation where he is getting worked like a slave. I don't understand this. I live in CO. I have worked in the industry. Anything that first post said would have made me laugh in someones face. The promise of money is just that. A Promise. Running an illegal grow for some investors? LMAO that's called a partner. Idiot if you aren't taking money as a partner. What is stopping him from walking away? He can't do this on his own? No offense or anything but a pity party is for chumps. If you make a long winded post about how stupid and shady these people are I mean you have 2 choices. Get signed contracts for overpriced work that they have no idea how to accomplish and line your pockets or block their phone number.

The simple fact is a lot of the dudes that you want in these facilities either have drug felonies or they have no reason to go work their asses off for other people for a shit wage when they can do it themselves. They are 86'd from the process. If you have the will and desire to play the game then you're a commodity that is in high demand. Treat yourself like one. Unless you are getting in on some kind of contract work that is beneficial to you I don't see why you would get involved with any of it. Especially as an employee. The whole time I worked in the industry I ran into 1 other guy (who I didn't previously know) who was actually a grower and knew what he was doing before the facility.

I have heard this from owners/investors. "Hey I saw this strain xxxxx. Why aren't we growing that?" Easy "Why don't you go get a cut of that and bring it over here then? No? Thought so..." We sold a business with shipping container pods and I had to go back and fix the timer controls after a power surge because the people who bought the business and the people they employed couldn't figure shit out. That is type of people you are dealing with. If you want to play a game at a disadvantage that is your right. I don't spit anything out of my mouth that doesn't have a price tag attached to it. If I was questioning if I would actually get paid for a job it would never be done in the first place.

Look I get it. Being involved it the legal side is nice. If that is what you are really striving for and you have the skills to backup the talk (that's the big thing) there is no reason why you can't and succeed. If you think any of the other people you are going to deal with aren't going to have the same problems. As Journey said "Don't stop believin'." Best advice I can give you is put a high value on yourself and your work and market yourself as such. Don't do work that isn't worth your time. Specially if it isn't worth they money. It will cut down on the BS by a lot.

I'm prepared to walk away from it all if they're not going to agree to it. Not worth my time away from my own crops for a pittance.

That is your answer right there. If you are prepare to walk away then walk away. No point to stick around for a trainwreck when you can watch it from a far and laugh while stacking money. Real Talk.
 
UncleRomulus

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The big problem is your friend put him self in a situation where he is getting worked like a slave. I don't understand this. I live in CO. I have worked in the industry. Anything that first post said would have made me laugh in someones face. The promise of money is just that. A Promise. Running an illegal grow for some investors? LMAO that's called a partner. Idiot if you aren't taking money as a partner. What is stopping him from walking away? He can't do this on his own? No offense or anything but a pity party is for chumps. If you make a long winded post about how stupid and shady these people are I mean you have 2 choices. Get signed contracts for overpriced work that they have no idea how to accomplish and line your pockets or block their phone number.

The simple fact is a lot of the dudes that you want in these facilities either have drug felonies or they have no reason to go work their asses off for other people for a shit wage when they can do it themselves. They are 86'd from the process. If you have the will and desire to play the game then you're a commodity that is in high demand. Treat yourself like one. Unless you are getting in on some kind of contract work that is beneficial to you I don't see why you would get involved with any of it. Especially as an employee. The whole time I worked in the industry I ran into 1 other guy (who I didn't previously know) who was actually a grower and knew what he was doing before the facility.

I have heard this from owners/investors. "Hey I saw this strain xxxxx. Why aren't we growing that?" Easy "Why don't you go get a cut of that and bring it over here then? No? Thought so..." We sold a business with shipping container pods and I had to go back and fix the timer controls after a power surge because the people who bought the business and the people they employed couldn't figure shit out. That is type of people you are dealing with. If you want to play a game at a disadvantage that is your right. I don't spit anything out of my mouth that doesn't have a price tag attached to it. If I was questioning if I would actually get paid for a job it would never be done in the first place.

Look I get it. Being involved it the legal side is nice. If that is what you are really striving for and you have the skills to backup the talk (that's the big thing) there is no reason why you can't and succeed. If you think any of the other people you are going to deal with aren't going to have the same problems. As Journey said "Don't stop believin'." Best advice I can give you is put a high value on yourself and your work and market yourself as such. Don't do work that isn't worth your time. Specially if it isn't worth they money. It will cut down on the BS by a lot.



That is your answer right there. If you are prepare to walk away then walk away. No point to stick around for a trainwreck when you can watch it from a far and laugh while stacking money. Real Talk.
Preach it brother. Rich douches are rich for a reason. Always using people. I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve been promised I’d get rich but I just got someone else theirs. It’s not fair but ain’t changing anytime soon.
 
H

Highkev

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We can fix everything and make everyone happy. Tell your friend to grow illegal for me. He can keep all the profit and just give me a an ounce a week. I have a torch so diesel can go burn their facility down instead of the crop. And the crop can now be split amongst the farm and we can say diesel burned that too lol:fire:
 
Freshone

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Your "friend" only has one person to blame and thats himself,He should just walk away,the plants will die on their own.
As for the weedburner he should be very careful or it could end up shoved up his ass sideways,Its one thing to walk away and another to destroy property that is not yours.
 
1diesel1

1diesel1

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Your "friend" only has one person to blame and thats himself,He should just walk away,the plants will die on their own.
As for the weedburner he should be very careful or it could end up shoved up his ass sideways,Its one thing to walk away and another to destroy property that is not yours.
Flip that propane bottle upside down and turn it on that torch will blow a 30 foot flame out the end.
 
AnselAdams

AnselAdams

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Tell him to get a seven gallon propane tank and go to a commercial roofing supply business or a farm supply store and buy a weed burner or a propane torch one of the big ones. When he has his next meeting with the investors have it all assembled and ready to go. He’s got to work this into the meeting slow so the fat cats understand what will happen if he doesn’t get what he wants. That propane torch will burn up a pound of weed in about 30 seconds wet or dry. They need to understand that is what will happen to all the product if he doesn’t get what he wants. Those fuckers will work him over time and time again if he don’t show his balls! Just had a buddy go through the exact same ordeal. He ended up telling them to fuck off!

from an old Clint Eastwood movie.... The Good The Bad and the Ugly "there are those with guns, and there are those who dig. Dig" As others have already pointed out; your friend has the GUN, he has their friggin $$$ crop. He will only have this one chance to show your balls or have them squished.

Good Luck to him.

p.s. A handshake is great and is officially a contract, however a written contract can be taken to court. If they won't sign a contract; don't walk, RUN in the other direction. Oh, and take the weed with him, it is his until they fulfill the handshake contract.
 
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H

Highkev

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from an old Clint Eastwood movie.... The Good The Bad and the Ugly "there are those with guns, and there are those who dig. Dig" As others have already pointed out; your friend has the GUN, he has their friggin $$$ crop. He will only have this one chance to show your balls or have them squished.

Good Luck to him.

p.s. A handshake is great and is officially a contract, however a written contract can be taken to court. If they won't sign a contract; don't walk, RUN in the other direction. Oh, and take the weed with him, it is his until they fulfill the handshake contract.
But if it’s illegal your agreeing to be illegally do something
 
1diesel1

1diesel1

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from an old Clint Eastwood movie.... The Good The Bad and the Ugly "there are those with guns, and there are those who dig. Dig" As others have already pointed out; your friend has the GUN, he has their friggin $$$ crop. He will only have this one chance to show your balls or have them squished.

Good Luck to him.

p.s. A handshake is great and is officially a contract, however a written contract can be taken to court. If they won't sign a contract; don't walk, RUN in the other direction. Oh, and take the weed with him, it is his until they fulfill the handshake contract.
Tooshay bro!!!! Greatest American hero to walk the earth!!!
 

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