Upon entering the financial field of connecting Hemp companies with like-minded investors, someone should’ve warned me about my empty dance card. Because if there’s one thing I never expected in this business – it’s teaching entrepreneurs how to successfully dance with investors.
You’d think it’d be a fairly simple thing, right? Investors have money, business owners need the money, so let’s have a conversation and close the deal by the end of the song, where a good-night kiss takes place, leaving everyone in a state of silent bliss.
Trouble is, I’ve never seen THAT dance take place in the Hemp industry. This dance, is more like that awkward junior-high gymnasium, somewhat stiff-and-smelly kind of dance. The kind where you don’t know how to talk to girls and forgot to wear your deodorant. It’s more clunky than graceful. More jitterbug than ballet.
To prove it to you, please allow me to explain…
When it comes to asking for money, business owners are more than familiar with the song and dance that comes from working with your banker (or an old-school car dealer). You know what you want, you’re on guard against the guy who’s got what you want, and you hold your cards pretty tightly in order to keep from getting screwed in the process. You pretend you’re interested, but not THAT interested - and give a little bit of head-nodding when negotiations begin to swing your direction. The less excited you seem, the better a deal you’re likely to get.
But when it comes to working with investors in the hemp space, most of those rules, are out the window.
That’s because the folks who want to fund your hemp business, aren’t interested in the old-school song and dance. They want to know you’re ready for the money. That you’ve got a plan for how to pay them back. And that you can handle the increased revenue/productivity in your business.
In other words, you have urgency to borrow their money, and use it wisely.
In addition, it’s important to realize how frustrated these funders are with the majority of hemp professionals. Hemp entrepreneurs who have a strong amount of business acumen, often have massive egos in tow as well. And those who lack the necessary professional skills, often come across as modern-day hippies with heaps of passion for a plant.
And so begins the dance.
At The Hemp Business Advisors, we teach entrepreneurs how to dance with investors. We show you the steps you need to know, the words which need to be said and the tone in which to say them, in order to secure funding for your organization.
After a couple of lessons, it’s not uncommon to find clumsy communicators gracefully gliding through their conversations with investors. It’s as if your entire life has prepared you for this dance.
The dance which closes the deal on the capital you need, in order to grow your company.
Tell your two left feet to go home.
Carrie Cox
The Hemp Business Advisors
Co-Founder and Corporate Liaison