You must be pretty business savvy if you want to learn how to start a CBD business. CBD products have been gaining popularity over the years as more states continue to legalize cannabis and more people learn of the benefits of using cannabis medically and for other purposes. This, of course, means that more aspiring businesses will flock to offer medical cannabis and also CBD products like CBD oil, gummies, and many others.
The CBD market will reach $20 billion in sales by 2024. The projections are even higher for the future years which means there is a lot of money to be made in the CBD business. However, just like any other business out there, a lot of planning is required to ensure the business runs successfully.
How to Start a CBD Business Online
Here are some steps to help you start a CBD business in order to make money online.
1. Find a source for your products
You cannot start a business without having the source of your CBD products. You can get such products from suppliers that sell at fair wholesale prices and then resell at retail prices for a profit.
You may also apply for a permit to cultivate industrial hemp to extract the CBD. This can only be allowed in states where they have legalized sale of medical marijuana and CBD products.
While deciding on the source of your products, you may also have to decide on what products you will sell on your website. There are many CBD products that you can sell including; CBD oil, gummies, snack bars, lotions, salves and many others. Picking a niche might help your customers easily find what they need.
2. Understand local And Federal Law Governing Sale Of Cannabis
There is a lot of controversy on use, supply, cultivation and other aspects of medical marijuana and CBD products. When starting a business, it is therefore imperative that you know what the law demands of you.
You should understand both the federal law and the state law governing the sale and use of CBD in your region. Cannabis is still considered a controlled substance by the federal law, and therefore business is not allowed to sell CBD products with a THC level of more than 0.3%. Products with a THC level more than that can only be sold where the state has legalized the use of cannabis.
The law also dictates cultivation of Hemp which is the best source of CBD. There are some states that will allow cultivation of HEMP with a license while others will not allow cultivation. Adhering to what the law demands of you will ensure that your business stays legal and therefore you will not face closure or fines.
3. Find A Reliable Payment Processor
Most major banks still shy away from offering payment processing solutions for CBD and medical marijuana businesses as they consider their businesses to be high-risk ones.
As such finding, a payment processor for the business can be a daunting task. It is impossible to run an online CBD business without a merchant account for CBD products because you must be able to accept payments via credit and debit cards.
The banks that offer such services do so at very high rates and little flexibility for the account. They impose many restrictions on the business, and a slight infraction can lead to the closure of the account. Most of the businesses, therefore, use third party payment processors for their merchant accounts.
Such processors are not major banks, and they offer better rates and high flexibility. There are some companies that provide specialized CBD merchant accounts for CBD businesses so that all the aspects of your business are taken care of. A lot of research should be done however before settling on any provider.
4. Market The Business
Just like any other online business a lot of marketing is required to ensure that your business takes off but before you even get to marketing ensure that you have a great website. The design of the website impacts how the CBD business is going to perform.
The website should be easy to navigate and should load quickly. The user interface should be simple and intuitive. There should also be great content that adds value to the visitors.
For the website to appear on searches, it should be optimized around all the necessary keywords like “Buy CBD Near Me.” The business can also be marketed through Google ads where the website is ranked on top of Google searches for certain keywords.
Social media can also be used to market the website. With proper marketing, a lot of organic traffic is directed to the website where the customers can get your products and then this traffic can be converted into sales.
5. Learn The Plants And Compounds
There Are different plants in the cannabis family but the two most commonly cultivated are marijuana and hemp. These plants contain THC and CBD. THC or tetrahydrocannabinol is the compound responsible for getting people high when they smoke marijuana.
It is contained in high quantities in marijuana and negligible quantities in hemp. Hemp, on the other hand, contains cannabidiol (CBD) in high quantities.
Learning the compounds and the plants will help you to obtain the right product and sell the right compound to the people. Remember a CBD business should sell CBD products and not products with high quantities of THC. CBD is used medically for reducing pain and treating epilepsy.
6. Keep Tabs On Your Business
After starting the business, constant monitoring is required so that the business can be able to scale and grow. Keeping tabs on the business will help you learn the trends and therefore leverage what should be leveraged to grow the business.
Also when you start small, you might not have many employees, but as the business grows, you might have to employ full-time people to run the business. You might also need to use automated services to ensure that running of the website is smooth and without hitches.
Starting a CBD Business
There is no denying that the CBD industry offers a huge opportunity for an aspiring individual to dominate and rake in the money. After all, CBD is one of the fastest growing sectors in that industry. As more people are trying to break into the business, you’ll want to get started and find ways to dominate the market.
A combination of the tips offered here and your due diligence can set you up for success in the CBD industry. With your determination and grit, you will be able to start and run a CBD business successfully online and get a piece of the $24 billion in the market.
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