Inception: From Cannabis Dreams to CannabITs Reality

Ever since I was a kid I dreamed of owning my own business… and today that dream is a reality with CannabITs Consulting, LLC, a company born out of my passion for technology, cannabis, and my unique journey in life. I went through a lot more than most kids, I grew up, and I suddenly found myself twenty years old and about to get squeezed out of my position running the receiving dock at a large natural foods grocer due to unfortunate timing of a corporate merger and perhaps what is still the best extended vacation of my life. So it goes.

I took the opportunity to build a casual part-time job offer from one of my delivery vendors into a full-time position/partnership and could feel the entrepreneurial spirit awaken in me, albeit only for a few years. Unfortunately our differences in opinion on the direction of the business and my lack of funds for any sort of financial investment led to me looking for a new path once again, but I will be forever grateful for the lessons I learned along the way. Thanks again, Bob!

Late in 2009 I got home from work one afternoon and was greeted by an ad for the local technical college when I turned on the TV. A few years prior I had considered (and dismissed) the idea of going to tech school to be a software developer, but between experiencing more of life’s hard knocks and the imagery on the screen of IT techs not being “stuck behind a screen all day” I realized I should seriously consider this route. I enrolled in their Computer and Network Technology program without realizing just how impactful this decision would be for my career. And I crushed it.

I spent the next 11+ years working for a managed service provider that the school connected me with when I graduated. Starting as a Level 1 technician and eventually parting ways as a Senior Network Engineer, I saw and helped the company grow from about 4 people to 14, playing a key role in much of the technical strategy and operations of both our clients and our internal systems and procedures. I moved from CT to NY and shifted to a 95%-remote position late in 2017. Then COVID happened. Needless to say, I was ready for a major change, and in the summer of ’22 I left the job I’d had for so long without much of a plan beyond enrolling in the Cannabis Cultivation Technician program at FMCC and a faint dream of converting half of my house into grow space for a microbusiness license.

Then reality hit. The cultivation program requires hands-on internship hours, where I was fortunate enough to get placed at a nearby farm… and with such great people that I still continue working there after completing the internship! Being exposed to the NY cannabis industry every day has opened my eyes to the needs these new business have, and as I’ve had plenty of experience in the area, I wasn’t surprised to find technology not being used to its fullest potential (or at all, in some cases.) That and realizing how much of a risk it would be for me as an unproven, novice grower to raise the capital needed to build an indoor grow facility, as I’d been dreaming, led me to reassess my path once again. Besides, there are so many more deserving people that have been fighting for this legalization for so long, while I’ve mainly just been a consumer/advocate from the sidelines until now.

Driving back home after another day at the farm last month, I randomly started thinking about a time last fall when I was able to help the “camera-guy” troubleshoot a wireless bridge he had installed and been struggling with. A few more miles down the road I thought “CannabITs Consulting.” And I’ve kept thinking it since. Every kind of business needs technology, and by the end of my time working for the MSP I was longing for any sort of deeper connection to the mission of my clients to keep me going. I want to help people, and I want to help people who are doing things I believe in. “CannabITs Consulting.” This is the way.

As I said at the beginning, I first knew I wanted my own business when I was a kid. Then eventually I got into IT… but if you asked me 5 years ago if I ever planned to start my own IT company I would’ve told you you’re crazy. I left IT to get into the world of legal NY cannabis, with the initial hopes of my own microbusiness license in the near future. Now here we are on 4/20/2023, and I’ve just officially filed the documents to establish CannabITs Consulting, LLC… an IT company. Funny how life happens, isn’t it?