Dutchieman420
Well-Known Member
Harder to find work in Colorado, all the east coast kids moved there after legality switch with money and California we still have more weed
Employment Tips?
- Thread starter jollygreen
- Start date
MMJ Dreaming 99
Well-Known Member
jollygreen
Well-Known Member
Hey just wanted to follow up. I finally got to a point financially to make the move. Took a lot longer than I had hoped but so far I'm liking CO. It is definitely more expensive, but manageable. You were right trimming/wash tech jobs were all I could find. But I don't mind. I started taking horticulture classes at the university, and taking private online grow courses. I'm working a trimming job right now, but I think I lucked out because of some company changes that happened right after I got hired, that are going to create a lot more positions. They also promote from within a LOT, so I'm not holding my breath but I think I can get a grow tech job within 6-8 months hopefully. Might get a house with a coworker and start growing at home again too =D
Colo MMJ
Well-Known Member
The dude could probably get a job trimming. Most people hate trimming. If he shows he is a hard worker then they may start to show him growing.
Colo MMJ
Well-Known Member
Work hard, show up on time, don't be a stoner. You will get promoted because lots of people in the industry are stoner f*ck ups.
jollygreen
Well-Known Member
Yeah that's the impression I get, and what I've heard repeatedly. Most of my coworkers I ask how long they've been there and it's like 2-6 months lol and they have endless stories about crazy people who came and went quickly. I haven't been late or absent a single time so far, and they gave me some free merchandise the other day because the manager noticed how hard I was working on camera. I'm just gonna bust my ass, learn as much as possible and genuinely try to make their company as successful as possible. Hopefully in a couple years I'll have enough on my resume to be able to find work in some other states if I want to move again.
Lucky Luke
Well-Known Member
I recon living with a co worker might be a bad idea. Home time will be talking and bitching about work. Any negativity they have will amplify and drag you in and down.
Share a place but not with someone from the same work place and if ya able a different Industry
jollygreen
Well-Known Member
Maybe, he seems like a really laid back guy though, we get along pretty well. He is moving out of his place specifically because of the drama/negativity between his current two roommates who are bf and gf. Thanks for the advice though I appreciate it, definitely gonna think it over a bit more first.
jollygreen
Well-Known Member
Thank you sir. I'm in a shitty little studio apt surrounded on almost all sides by college students lol, in a smaller town where it's cheaper to live. I wake up at 5:45, commute 45 minutes one way, and I make $12/hr trimming.. Right now I just hit 10 plants/day for 21lbs wet weight. My last job was almost $18/hr and literally everything about living was cheaper in Iowa. I'm just gonna grind and live frugal and study. Hopefully within a year I can move closer to my job and hopefully get a raise or grow tech position that pays more. I feel you on that sentiment though. If only I had studied horticulture right after high school.. I'd already be looking at houses probably and making a nice salary
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Hey good for you jg, keep up with the schooling and become a indispensable/model employee, if not for this guy for your resume. Nothing is easy from the start. Good luck and I'm glad you kept us up to date.
Colo MMJ
Well-Known Member
Thank you sir. I'm in a shitty little studio apt surrounded on almost all sides by college students lol, in a smaller town where it's cheaper to live. I wake up at 5:45, commute 45 minutes one way, and I make $12/hr trimming.. Right now I just hit 10 plants/day for 21lbs wet weight. My last job was almost $18/hr and literally everything about living was cheaper in Iowa. I'm just gonna grind and live frugal and study. Hopefully within a year I can move closer to my job and hopefully get a raise or grow tech position that pays more. I feel you on that sentiment though. If only I had studied horticulture right after high school.. I'd already be looking at houses probably and making a nice salary
Extraction might be the area you should learn more about. Somebody is making money in the MMJ business and it seems like most of the workers are not making it. Regular farmers generally do not make much either. I wonder if lower pot prices are making it very hard to pay people much money.
Renfro
Well-Known Member
Thing about the industry is that federal government doesn't allow deductions because cannabis is illegal in their eyes. This means that they pay taxes on their gross income and that makes it very difficult, the pie slice isn't as big as one may think.
Imagine the math. Lets say hypothetically, a grow costs $300 bucks to make a pound. Hand trim costs say $100. The pounds wholesale for say $1000. All these numbers are just numbers for the sake of showing the money trail. Not including all the little costs like local taxation, for example some counties charge yearly tax on the square footage of the grow. Also not factoring in the license fees and cost of the facility itself. So with those numbers the business is at $600 a pound wholesale. Now they have to pay federal tax on the whole $1000. So lets say thats 30% or $300 a pound (again just a number) So they get a profit of $300 a pound.
Employees are just worker bees, a necessary evil like any other industry, replaceable.
Imagine the math. Lets say hypothetically, a grow costs $300 bucks to make a pound. Hand trim costs say $100. The pounds wholesale for say $1000. All these numbers are just numbers for the sake of showing the money trail. Not including all the little costs like local taxation, for example some counties charge yearly tax on the square footage of the grow. Also not factoring in the license fees and cost of the facility itself. So with those numbers the business is at $600 a pound wholesale. Now they have to pay federal tax on the whole $1000. So lets say thats 30% or $300 a pound (again just a number) So they get a profit of $300 a pound.
Employees are just worker bees, a necessary evil like any other industry, replaceable.
ANC
Well-Known Member
most people pay by the wet weight unless they are dry trimming.
Renfro
Well-Known Member
It's going to turn into just any other big business. Eventually the feds will fix that tax issue somehow and at the same time supply and demand will dictate even lower wholesale prices so in the end I think the employees are never gonna get the big bucks. Like my grandpa used to say "Them that gots, get".
jollygreen
Well-Known Member
Well I did it! Took me 2 and a half years from when I first posted this lol (I didn't actually move and start job hunting until 09/18 though), but I finally got a grow job. Official Grower title =D I moved to Denver because it's way easier to get your foot in the door here since there are so many grows/dispensaries. My boss has grown for like 25 years and told me right away he was going to train me like I'm replacing him, and that the last 3 guys he hired are all now head growers elsewhere. Was only $14/hr but when I heard that I jumped on it. I've probably quadrupled my knowledge in the 5 months I've been there and I'm loving it so far. Perfect place to learn and they let me experiment with a plant here and there if I want to. I just wrote up my first action plan suggestion for them and I think they might approve it and my boss hinted at a raise! We have Fusarium fungi attacking one specific strain, so we guessed that it's probably systemic and dormant in the mother plant. I suggested that we soil drench with diluted Physan 20 fungicide which gets absorbed and circulated through the plant killing fusarium and creating a protective film for 2-4 days (after which it biodegrades into Nitrogen (I think, couldnt find any study saying that but I know it degrades quickly and is harmless when diluted). Then after that hit it with a beneficial soil bacteria that will colonize the roots and compete with/block any surviving fusarium trying to re-colonize. My boss told me our CEO asked about me in a front office meeting and wanted to know my name since he always sees me staying late working overtime. I feel like if I just keep my head down, keep studying and keep grinding I might be able to move into a head grower position in the next 2-3 years. I still have a shit load to learn though lol. Hopefully I can at least find like an assistant manager job or something before too long.