This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, hello, welcome, what's up, welcome back. If you've been listening for a while, my name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. Hey, today we're gonna talk about medical and recreational cannabis. Specifically, we'll look at cannabis cookies that make for a sweet, soothing side hustle for one Oregon mom. Now, at the time I'm recording this, medical and recreational cannabis is now legal in some form, at least, in 29 states and Washington DC.
It's also legal in various forms across Canada, that legislation is actually opening up even further soon. And if you're listening to this a bit after the time I recorded it, it might even be legal in more states. I think it's just a matter of time before this changes across the nation and elsewhere in the world as well. In fact, the seeds are already firmly planted. You might say it's a burning issue in a growing industry.
And today we'll look at that Oregon mom who makes licensed marijuana edibles and achieves high returns. That's right, you never know what you're gonna hear on the show, and I think some people are gonna like this episode. I think some people probably won't, but that's okay, we shall persevere. That story right after this quick shout out to our sponsor. [Music]
It may seem an unlikely journey to go from working in product development to a dog walking business to selling homemade jewelry and then to her latest hustle selling pot lace consumables.
But Jill Trinchero has taken practical cues from her entire career journey and integrated them into this latest endeavor. That endeavor is her she don't know company, which makes premium gluten-free cannabis edibles sold through Oregon's legal medical cannabis market. Jill's initial foray into medical pot was prompted by the anxiety she suffered after the births of her daughters. She experimented with marijuana butter infusions and pot cookies to find a low dosage that was calming. It allowed her to keep her wits about her.
Those experiments and those wits led to broader ambitions with her get baked bakings. She moved from selling home baked goods to medical dispensaries to a full state processing and sales license out of a commercial kitchen for the recreational market. Now we won't get into this part here, but she also has a side side hustle of subleasing her kitchen to five other tenants who also sell in the edibles market. All of Jill's products are handmade, weighed to ensure the proper dose of five milligrams of THC, which is currently what the governing body, the OLCC, has determined to be the standard serving size. But proper measurements doesn't mean she can't have fun with her product names, which include Toklas B Coconut and Bernie's Kind Biscuit.
Despite the legality, the world of edibles is not the easiest industry to bake into. There are some substantial costs. Jill spent a total of $30,000 to develop her business. And among other ongoing costs, she has to pay a substantial amount of money for ongoing licenses. Still, she's now making between seven and $10,000 a month from the kitchen and edibles revenue.
And she's now looking to invest in some automation systems to increase her efficiency. Jill has been pleased with the praise she gets from her customers, but she does have several cautionary notes for anyone interested in this kind of business. The rules imposed by the state are complex. And by the way, each state or province or territory has its own rules about this. And so if you don't have access to perhaps more capital than our average side hustler, you could easily fail.
Cannabis sellers aren't allowed counsel from the Small Business Development Center. They can't get a bank loan, and they aren't allowed interstate commerce. In fact, in a lot of places, they can't even deposit the money they make into a bank account. Because even though marijuana is legal in the state, it's not legal nationwide under the federal system. So the banks are worried about accepting money from something that can be considered a criminal activity by the federal government.
All kinds of challenges there. So Jill emphasizes that you really have to know these changing rules. You have to be aware that it may cost more than you expect. For example, she has to pay $5,000 a year for her state license. But because she lives in the city of Portland, she pays an additional $5,000 for the city's license.
She says in this industry, despite its fast moving nature, you should plan on it taking twice as long and costing twice as much as you anticipate. Now, how does she get the word out about these cannabis cookies? Well, Jill knows that social media is a big part of her marketing. She's on Instagram and Twitter. She has a website.
But she says that familiarizing bud tenders, which are the dispensary employees, and that's not a joke, by the way, they really are called bud tenders, familiarizing bud tenders with the products are the best way to sell them. She advises that the bud tenders have amazing power if they know and love your product, you can be set. Fortunately, with all these challenges, Jill has those cookies to keep calm, producing 10 packs of her five milligram edibles. She's also planning to produce cannabis derived CBD products, which are known more for pain relief than psychoactive effects. And for those she's gonna start with some mints and infused coconut oils.
Jill is also looking to partner at some level to enable sales outside of Oregon. That might involve a partnership with someone who's already licensed in another state. And as for her kitchen tenant partners, those people she leases space to, she sees them not as competition, but as people she helps with advice. As for the name of her hustle, She Don't Know, Jill says it's meant to be empowering. Her brand is about doing what's right for her.
She says you don't have to necessarily listen to other people and it's likely you'll do better if you listen to yourself. So the She Don't Know phrase is a play on the fact that no one has a monopoly on answers. This sweet soothing cannabis cookie side hustle is running smoothly now. But what did Jill do to celebrate when she got her first customer? Well, she said she probably ate a cannabis cookie.
And then she started getting ready for the second order. Jill is a woman that looks ahead five milligrams at a time. [Music]
Well, what a world we live in. I would encourage you, even if you have no interest in consuming marijuana, if you live in a state that offers recreational cannabis, I would encourage you to visit a dispensary just to kind of check it out and see what it's all about. It really is interesting.
Like I'm 39 years old. And I remember like when I was a teenager or a young adult, a couple of times, like a friend of mine would be like, "Hey, I got some pie." And I'd be like, "Cool, like, all right, what's that?" But really like back then, at least in my world, and maybe it was different in your world, but I had no idea what it was. Like no idea where it came from. Was it safe? What kind was it?
There's all these different strains. Like what was the best way to consume it? And all that kind of stuff. So I never really got into it and I'm not super into it now, but it has been interesting to see with the legalization of Oregon, like now you can walk into this dispensary and it's like walking into a brightly lit jewelry store. Like all this stuff is under glass cases and these bud tenders in fact are extremely knowledgeable.
And it's fascinating just to ask questions and to understand like how developed this industry is. And for a lot of people, it's like alcoholic can be abused or it can be used in a healthy, normal manner. And in fact, people who are really into this industry would say that the cannabis in lots of cases is better than alcohol or something like that because it has these proven health benefits for all sorts of conditions. Anyway, I just think it's interesting to consider how far different parts of the country and elsewhere in the world as well have come in a pretty short amount of time. And side hustle wise, remember that when new industries emerge, there are also a lot of opportunities around the edges or margins of that industry.
Like we talked about CrossFit recently, the dude who didn't wanna open a CrossFit gym, didn't wanna become a trainer, but he found a way to sell the equipment. Well, what if you don't have capital, you don't wanna build a commercial kitchen and create a line of edibles. We go back to episode 82. There was a bartender who wrote a statewide marijuana guide to Colorado. And that was right after legalization passed there.
And there were a lot of tourists and visitors coming into the bar and asking about it. And he said, okay, I'll write a book about this. I'll go and interview people. I'll put together all the information and resources. And I forget the precise numbers, but I seem to recall he was doing really well with that.
So when something like this develops, whether it's cannabis or something entirely different, bubble tea, fidget spinners, whatever it is, there's more than one way to make money from it. And with that, I'm gonna sign off for today. I do hope you do something today to get closer to the freedom you're working toward. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. I hope you've enjoyed the high times of Side Hustle School where it's always 4/20, but this episode is actually 3/36.
So if you wanna see the show notes, come to sidehustleschool.com/336. Thank you for listening. I'll be back tomorrow. I'm Chris Guillebeau keeping it real for Side Hustle School.
