I Was the Proof of Concept. Then I Found Out What It Cost.

When I was younger, selling marijuana was part of the economy I had access to. In the early ’90s, I was locked up on several occasions for selling marijuana and eventually went to jail for it.

But that wasn’t the end of my story.

I went on to build Advantage Real Estate Group LLC, spending years in real estate, property management, and business operations throughout New York City.

In 2009, I also started, a transitional housing program in the Bronx for men coming home from incarceration.

That’s how I learned what a second chance actually looks like, which is almost never what people think it is.

Then, years later, another opportunity came along.

The state wanted stores open, and fast. There was pressure to get the new legal market operating, and I was among the early CAURD license holders who opened through a temporary pop-up arrangement instead of waiting for the final buildout to be completed.

That one decision came with costs I could never have imagined.

What began as an opportunity to build generational wealth became a financial challenge far more complicated than I had anticipated.

The financing obligations, repayment terms, operating expenses, and costs of opening the business were unlike anything I had dealt with before.

Then came the day-to-day realities.

Internal operational problems involved staff I hadn’t personally hired.

Subcontractors presented as experts.

Product vendors tried to establish themselves and recover their investments in this new industry.

Everybody had expectations tied to the success of the new cannabis retailers opening in the heart of New York City.

And there I was, trying to operate a business in an industry that was still figuring itself out.

What could go wrong?

Apparently, just about everything.

There were disputes over websites, events, security services, staffing arrangements, professional fees, and other business obligations.

Some turned into lawsuits.

At times, it felt like getting sued was becoming a rite of passage.

All of this was happening while we dealt with interruptions to business operations, financial pressures, vendor obligations, and the loss of employees we had invested time and money training.

Then there were the defaults, the lawsuits, the illicit market, cash-on-delivery restrictions, and the biggest challenge of them all:

TAXES.

But those are stories for another day.

The important part isn’t simply what happened.

It’s what I learned from it.

I’m not just talking about opening a cannabis dispensary in New York.

I’m talking about how this entire opportunity came together.

The idea of legally selling cannabis in New York State started long before I received a license or had a location.

Multi-State Operators. Registered Organizations. Growers. Manufacturers. Distributors.

All kinds of businesses and organizations were positioning themselves to participate in the new industry.

Then there was the Office of Cannabis Management, DASNY, and the Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund.

These organizations and industry participants had been developing their respective roles long before I entered the picture.

By the time I received my license, many of the structures, arrangements, and decisions that would shape my business experience were already in motion.

I was entering a business environment that had been taking shape long before I even knew what questions I needed to ask.

And my situation was especially unusual.

I became the first CAURD license holder to open in a state-developed retail location in the heart of New York City’s historic Greenwich Village, under a program designed to create opportunities for people impacted by cannabis prohibition.

That was extraordinary.

But so were the responsibilities and challenges that came with it.

This wasn’t the usual way to start a business.

It wasn’t ordinary.

It was extraordinary, to say the least.

This was my path, and in many ways, it still is.

I continue to learn from the experience and carry those lessons with me.

One of the biggest lessons is simple:

Opportunity doesn’t equal know-how.

You can receive an opportunity without fully understanding everything required to make it successful.

You can have years of business experience and still encounter circumstances you’ve never faced before.

You can hire professionals without knowing whether they’re the right people for the situation.

You can secure financing without fully understanding how the obligations will affect your business.

You can have customers and generate revenue while still struggling to maintain a financially healthy operation.

And you can make a decision today that becomes a very expensive problem tomorrow.

That’s why I say:

A license gives you permission. Permission doesn’t mean you know how.

And that principle applies to much more than cannabis.