The cannabis industry is booming and it is no secret. With the industry booming and new jobs coming on board every day how are business owners, and employees setting themselves apart? The cannabis industry requires a unique knowledge set and investing the time and money into educating yourself through certifications can make the difference of running a profitable business, and or landing a job and turning it into a long termcareer. Harry Brelsford of The CannaTech Group sits down with BriAnne Ramsay to discuss the importance of certifications and education within the cannabis industry.
Video Transcription
Harry Brelsford
Hey, we’re back with another Canna tech podcast and I am with BriAnne Ramsay. of Rocky Mountain cannabis consulting. I’m assuming you’re in Denver, Colorado with a name like that.
BriAnne Ramsay
Yeah, absolutely out of Denver, but originally from Columbus, Ohio.
Harry Brelsford
Wow. No, you’re not no Ohio anymore.
BriAnne Ramsay
Great. Wild West.
Harry Brelsford
Yeah. So you hold yourself out with Rocky Mountain cannabis consulting, the old one consulting for obtaining building and scaling compliant cannabis businesses. Let me turn it over to you. What’s, what’s your story?
BriAnne Ramsay
Yeah, I originally got started in the cannabis industry back in 2014. I moved from the Midwest into Denver, Colorado, specifically to get started in the adult use market when we launched in January of 2014. And just started my way into an entry level position. And then within about three, three and a half years, I was overseeing 20 different licenses for a vertically integrated company here in Colorado. And I oversaw inventory and compliance. And I also oversaw the auditing department. And I was with them three, three and a half years and then went on to Flowhub, a cannabis point of sale company, where I was their compliance officer for a year. And it was a really great experience, I got to see the industry at high level. And when I was there, I realized that there was this gap between compliance Operations and Technology, and how do all of those three things impact one another? And so I started our RMCC as a side hustle. Technically, I was actually still working for flow hub during that time. And I ended up getting a pretty large diverging case come across my lap. So A, the state of Colorado went into my clients operation, shut them down for 90 days, and accused the Yeah, and accused them of diverting legal cannabis into the traditional market. And they hired me as the expert auditor to come in and to validate did they actually divert close to 450 pounds. And what I was able to find was, in reality, it was actually one employee that was making data entry mistakes. And it was this one behavior that happened that ultimately cost this business millions of dollars, because they had to get millions of dollars, injected back in and they were the largest wholesaler at that time in Colorado. And through that experience, I realized that like RMCC, doesn’t have to be a side hustle, this could be a full gig. And so I’m January 2018, I launched the company full time. And so in addition to helping on the auditing side, I also help cannabis technology solutions with their API integration into the state system metric. As we know, metrics sometimes isn’t so user friendly, their documentation can be challenging to read. And so I interpret the API documentation and what that means to the user interface, the user experience, and then also the regulatory framework across the different metric states.
Harry Brelsford
Yeah, so you’re a geek as well. Wow. Yes. You’re gonna geek the lawyer into a bar. Right? This there’s got to be a be a choke here somewhere. I’m not gonna right. Yeah, no, but I’m just looking. So your advanced metrics certified. So you know, coming from the traditional Microsoft world, first career certifications, were everything in my past life, right, your Cisco, your Microsoft, we don’t see that as much in the cannabis field yet. And it could be a maturity thing. What isn’t advanced metrics, certification?
BriAnne Ramsay
Great questions. So I actually got that certification back in probably 2015 2016. And during that time, that advanced certification is just an online training course and take a little quiz at the end. Um, with that being said, I actually developed my own certification within RMCC where it’s RMCC certified. And so I take that framework from you using metric the technology building out SOPs and playbooks and also building out a train the trainer program. And so our students that pass the RMCC skills application exam, become our MCC certified which is really great for consultants because any projects we can’t take on, I then hand off those projects to our RMCC certified students.
Harry Brelsford
Well, I’d make a plug For the audience, and I’m the worst is all of these Microsoft certifications in the wall behind me? I have my career what’s essentially a consultant or an entrepreneur in in that game you pile it on, right? It’s like, you know, I’m certified in SQL Server Windows this that, you just pile it on in that, that professional field versus other lines of work. It may not make sense to take all that time. It’s not so much money with the Microsoft certs. It’s time.
BriAnne Ramsay
Yeah, absolutely. And none of us have enough time. It always feels like we’re putting out fires every day in the cannabis industry.
Harry Brelsford
So, you know, and in most of those now, I’ll end on this. And I have one more question. But most of those are expired, like they go back to my career, right Windows Server, which really doesn’t exist anymore, because it’s 365 and Azure, but I leave them up because it’s eye candy. And folks, you know, I’m being a little facetious. But if you’re a professional in this field, you have to have street cred. I mean, you got to play the hand you’re dealt.
BriAnne Ramsay
Yeah, absolutely.
Harry Brelsford
So final question. Um, I was briefing you before we started podcasting on South by Southwest 2022 is excellent. I will always go to that. Where might we see you in the next several months? All things being equal, that the industry has trade shows MJ impact of these coasts? Where might we see you?
BriAnne Ramsay
Yeah, absolutely. So I always love to go to MJ biz in Vegas, I feel like that’s where a lot of the decision makers are going. Um, some of my other favorite conventions are, if not exactly convention is Emerald Cup. So if you’re familiar with Emerald Cup at all, they’re out in Northern California, actually, they’re having their event down in LA to give a little bit more access to people down in Southern California. But I really love Emerald Cup so much because they focus on the small Sungrown farms up in Northern California. And it’s essentially kind of like a High Times cup but more for Sun Grown cannabis. And because I have helped so many farms up north and I have so many friends that go there that is one of my absolute favorites to go to. So outside of that, outside of conventions and things like that. I plan on heading out to New Jersey working with some clients out there just submitted some applications for some retail clients last week, so I’m really excited to see the east coasts open up.
Harry Brelsford
All right, well, we’re gonna stay in touch. But you know, welcome to the logo chart. Thanks for being a strategical go in our field and Brianna, continued success.
BriAnne Ramsay
Awesome. Thank
