How To Build an Ancillary Cannabis Business with Glassblower Chris Piazza #63

Have you ever considered that there is opportunity in the cannabis industry beyond owning a dispensary, making cannabis products or growing cannabis? You might be able to leverage your current skill set in an ancillary cannabis business. In this episode we meet Chris Piazza, a professional glassblower who has built a distribution network for glass blowers nation wide. Chris shares why he entered the industry and some of the challenges he faced and how we was able to overcome them. We talk about the power of having a great business partner and importance of strong business partners.

Glassblowing Pipe Business

Last month I purchased a pipe from Chris. It’s unique, colored aquas, indigos and umber in color shaped round and somewhat sensuous. I bought it on a rooftop in June at Tony P’s cannabis networking event.  We talked about how is that he decided that this was his life’s work.  Pipes have been made in India for years, but Chris has decided to focus on Americans.  He first learned glassblowing in Colorado. I asked him about now art is misunderstood by our culture. He has concluded he is more businessman than artist. We also chatted about his journey and how it’s not been a straight line between two dots.

Promoting a Cannabis Business

Persuasion is a big part of  business. I asked him about persuading dispensaries to stock his pipes and enroll pipe blowers to join his catalog. What in your experience is the path for success I asked? He answered get people to talk about themselves. According to Chris his biggest challenge in starting his company has been cashflow. The experience has been bitter sweet. The glass pipe business grew so fast he couldn’t sustain the growth, built slowly, got all the big dogs immediately. ancillary business, big companies want terms, we stretch to make them happy. we pay artists first.

Take Advice for Cannabis Leaders