Nathan Farnsworth

If people with hemp agriculture products, even simple ones, are: Blocked from utilizing mainstream Payment systems like Stripe, or Square, or QuickBooks payments Blocked from advertising on things like Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest Blocked even from discussing certain parts of their products without risk of an account deactivation Blocked from even selling wholesale without having to possess licenses on top of other licenses Is it really a free market for them anymore? Just think if you had to do this for things with rice, or whey protein, or moringa, or holy basil, or something along those lines. It would be ridiculous right? Could you imagine ever having to pay $5000 a year per state just to sell Pea protein? Of course, not you’d completely laugh at it because it’s ridiculous, but that’s the type of scrutiny that people in the industrial hemp industry are facing right now and all the old groups that used to try to rally for legislative and industry fairness are completely dead. Do you think that it’s fair that people have to deal with this or not? What would you do to help level the playing field?

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Buyer sends you a $5M offer for your business. You're excited. Finally going to cash out. Then you read the fine print. $2.5M cash upfront. $2.5M earnout over 3 years. Tied to "net revenue targets." Congrats. You just agreed to work for free. For 3 years. And pray the buyer doesn't tank your metrics. Here's what they don't tell you: Earnouts are rarely paid in full. Buyers have every incentive to reduce your payout. They control the books. They control the operations. They control the definition of "net revenue." Suddenly expenses get allocated to your division. Marketing spend gets cut. And your earnout disappears. If you must take an earnout: Tie it to EBITDA with a clear formula. Not vague terms like "revenue" or "profit." Get audit rights in writing. And cap the earnout period at 12-24 months. Structure matters more than price. Protect yourself.

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Rethinking Dispensary Design: The “Liquor Store Model” Most cannabis retailers are stuck between two extremes: 1️⃣ The overstaffed “one-to-one” model, where every customer needs a dedicated budtender. 2️⃣ The underwhelming kiosk model, where customers swipe endlessly until they’re frustrated or give up. Here’s a better way. Imagine a dispensary designed like a wine shop. Products are grouped by category (Indica, Sativa, Hybrid, CBD, etc.). Each strain has empty display packaging paired with a clear, engaging description card with tasting notes, effects, and key details. Customers can browse at their own pace, guided by clear signage and smart merchandising. This setup: ✅ Reduces labor needs — fewer staff can serve more customers without sacrificing service. ✅ Improves education — clear descriptions help customers make confident choices. ✅ Increases engagement — browsing feels like shopping, not waiting in line. ✅ Solves “swipe fatigue” — no more endless kiosk scrolling. We already see this in liquor and specialty wine stores and  it’s time cannabis caught up. The future of dispensary CX isn’t about more tech or more staff. It’s about intentional design that makes buying cannabis feel intuitive, enjoyable, and efficient. What do you think, would you shop here ❓ #CannabisRetail #DispensaryDesign #CustomerExperience #CannabisOperations #RetailStrategy

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The person with the highest leverage wins. Many insurance agents are stuck in the $50k/yr to $100k/yr range. Agency owners, however, are stuck in the $100k/yr to multiple millions per year. Then you have lead arbitrageurs… I don’t know if there’s even an upper range to this practice. If there is, I haven’t found it yet. But it’s not necessarily about how much you make, but how much time you’re buying back. That’s the beauty of buying leads from marketers and selling them to agents. Once you have a network of agents willing to buy your leads, you simply pocket the spread, and it costs you practically zero time whatsoever. That’s how you escape the rat race. And this isn’t like dropshipping or SMMAs. It’s not a trend because the service you provide will always need to exist. Because someone will always be selling leads and someone will always be willing to buy them.

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Last year, a seller came to me frustrated. Doing around $65k/month in wholesale. Working hard. Buying consistently. But profits weren’t growing. He thought he needed: • More suppliers • More SKUs • Bigger orders That wasn’t the problem. After reviewing the account, we found 3 silent leaks: 1️⃣ 40% of capital was stuck in slow-moving SKUs 2️⃣ Two “approved” brands had unstable pricing 3️⃣ Reorders were based on excitement, not sell-through Nothing was broken. But nothing was structured either. So we didn’t add products. We removed 17 SKUs. Focused on 9 stable ones. Built reorder rules. Dropped one risky supplier. 90 days later: • Fewer SKUs • Lower stress • Higher net margin • Better cash rotation Revenue didn’t explode. But the business became stable. And stability is what actually scales. Most wholesale sellers don’t need more products. They need: • Clear reorder discipline • Supplier stability • Capital control Before you try to grow, ask yourself: Is your wholesale business built on volume… or built on structure? If you want the 𝐖𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 I used in this case, comment 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 and I’ll send them over. #AmazonWholesale   #EcommerceStrategy   #BrandScaling

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Not every project requires a big retainer or some long discovery process. Reality is; in 2025 marketing & revenue ops; sometimes you just need to fill gaps. There are too many softwares, tactics, channels for any small business to fill internally & you can't have an "agency" for it all. That's one thing we're proud of being able to do at Pisgah Peaks Ventures. I use the general contractor analogy a lot. The contractor isn't usually swinging the hammer, but they make sure all the nails go in straight, they clean up before they leave, that the subs are qualified & legit, that subs are paid, have the right materials, etc. I know the nuances in the marketing trades & when to flex which person & for what task. Right person, right time, right budget, right vertical. We know the diff in a $15 hour Shopify Developer & a high-end, custom coder who can build something legendary. Or the $25 dollar an hour Canva designer vs a $150 an hour UX designer. And when to use one & when it requires the more senior person or when using lower-cost option makes more sense. We know roughly how long certain tasks can take & can plan projects around realistic timelines; not made up GPT Jargon. And we're good with one-off projects; which many agencies avoid. For example; need a animated explainer video of UI & UX for your website hero image that this needs to be applied in JSON to website. You could figure it out yourself; but you'd spend hours vetting someone on Upwork; or digging in Slack groups. Then you'll need to brief them, manage them, ensure they're paid, go through feedback loops, etc. Maybe your company uses Hubspot, but only need a couple hours of support / technical guidance a month to execute what you really need? Why pay a big, flat retainer only to let it go unused each month? Or you need a trifold designed for an upcoming Fall Festival? Sure; you could do it in Canva; but what else could you have done in that 1/2 day? Or your website needs a product detail revamp; but you don't have a budget for a full website revamp. We can bring in a developer, designer, copywriter, project mgr for one flat fee; run them through the entire process seamlessly & then ensure they leave no mess behind them! How about when to use the $500 dollar a month Meta Ads freelancer or when you need a full-on $5K+ a month team to hit scale? There is a time & place for both & we have relationships for both. Have a lingering project in Q4 you want done before 26' gets here?

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Most founders are secretly running their businesses in a state of biological panic. The truth is that you can’t out-mindset a dysregulated nervous system & you can’t scale a company when your baseline is stuck in survival mode. So what do most high-achievers do? They use Cannabis at the end of the day to check out. To numb the stress. To tolerate a reality that is burning them out. But what if you stopped using cannabis to escape, and started using it to tune in? What if you used it as a somatic tool to completely reset your nervous system, expand your capacity for stress, and lead with absolute biological clarity? That is exactly why I built the Conscious Cannabis Collective. It is a private hub for high-performers who refuse to operate on autopilot. We use the world’s largest conscious cannabis curriculum and live coaching to permanently shift your baseline. I am opening up 7-Day Free Trial to the CCC today. Come inside, test-drive the curriculum, and see the exact protocols we use to de-mystify the worlds most misunderstood plant medicine while helping you stop tuning out with the plant and learn to begin tuning in with it. Zero risk. Link is in my bio (and in the comments below) to grab your pass. 👇

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