| I have a new love -- and it's not a man or a | | | | your market research to understand the needs |
| house or a car. It's an edgy Showtime television | | | | and problems of your target market.4. The failure |
| suburban satire, "Weeds", in which Mary Louise | | | | of most businesses is due to undercapitalization. |
| Parker plays a widowed soccer mom, Nancy | | | | Nancy's personal expenses are exceeding her |
| Botwin, in a fictional subdivision of Los Angeles | | | | income, and she approaches her supplier, Heylia, |
| called Agrestic. Nancy struggles with the sudden | | | | to give her inventory on credit. Heylia laughs in her |
| death of her husband from a heart attack and | | | | face, but after Nancy begs, she's permitted to |
| agonizes how she'll support her family in their | | | | hock her leased Land Rover and multi-carat |
| upper-class lifestyle. Not having any discernable | | | | wedding ring with Heylia to get the quantity of |
| job skills, Nancy discovers the lucrative income in | | | | pot that she needs for the week.Lesson: Being |
| being the local neighbor pot dealer.The show is | | | | self-employed is a financial roller-coaster ride. Have |
| quirky, irreverent, and raunchy. The dysfunctional | | | | financial reserves in place before you start your |
| family dynamics are hysterical, especially when | | | | business so that you can pay your bills until you |
| her unemployed pot-head brother-in-law, Andy, | | | | begin making a profit. And, if you come up short |
| arrives on her doorstep. Her interactions and | | | | of cash, try negotiation with your suppliers or |
| affection for her supplier, a black ghetto family | | | | vendors for more favorable payment terms.5. |
| headed by matriarch Heylia James, and Heylia's | | | | Slow and steady wins the business growth race. |
| unwed pregnant daughter and ne'er-do-well son, | | | | Nancy becomes heady with her sales success in |
| Conrad, are a stark contrast to her daily life in | | | | her suburb and begins to eye other markets so |
| Agrestic. And, the broad social and political | | | | she can make even more money. While on the |
| statements that are constant undercurrents in | | | | local college campus seeking a tutor for her son, |
| the series are really just right on the money.This | | | | she realizes the campus is a ready-made market |
| show is a big shift for me -- I'm probably the only | | | | for pot and is initially very successful in capturing |
| person my age who's never done any type of | | | | that market. However, what she doesn't realize is |
| drug -- so admitting I love a show about a | | | | that she is treading on another dealer's territory |
| pot-dealing suburban mom is strange, I admit. | | | | (one of the campus security officers), and in a |
| What's most fun for me to watch is Nancy's | | | | mock arrest on campus by this officer, she loses |
| development as a entrepreneurial businesswoman | | | | about $15,000 worth of inventory. When she tells |
| who's going to do what it takes to be the most | | | | Heylia what happened, Heylia just laughs and tells |
| successful weed dealer in Agrestic. There's not | | | | Nancy she's been "jacked" by another dealer, and |
| alot of difference between Nancy and me in the | | | | that's the price she pays for trying to grow too |
| quest to build successful businesses, except that | | | | fast.Lesson: Great success in your business will |
| my business is legal, of course, and I don't have | | | | make you want to conquer the world. However, |
| to dodge bullets in drive-by shootings at my | | | | quick expansion without proper planning makes |
| supplier's house.Here are some great lessons on | | | | many a business owner go belly-up. Plan for the |
| building a business from suburban pot mom Nancy | | | | growth of your business, and include that growth |
| Botwin:1. Fish where the fish are. Due to her | | | | in your business plans and vision statements so |
| friendship with her accountant, Doug Wilson | | | | that it's a natural evolution of your business.6. To |
| (played by Kevin Nealon), and his group of friends, | | | | be successful, you need your family's support. |
| Nancy quickly realizes that Agrestic is a wonderful | | | | Nancy tries to be an "moral" pot dealer and |
| market for her product. She finds a great source | | | | refuses to sell to children, or permit anyone |
| of pot and is easily able to sell it, as her upscale | | | | working for her to sell to children. In the same |
| target market is eager to buy and can easily | | | | vein, she tries to shield her children from the true |
| afford her prices.Lesson: Know your target | | | | nature of her business, not wanting to set a bad |
| market. Are they male or female? What age | | | | example for them (see the irony in this series?). |
| group? What industry? What socio-economic | | | | However, secrets are hard to keep from |
| group? Where do they hang out on- and off-line? | | | | teenagers. In an act of rebellion, Silas, her 15 |
| What do they read? To what groups and | | | | year-old son, tells her he doesn't have to follow |
| associations (real and virtual, personal and | | | | her rules any longer, throwing in her face that she |
| professional) do they belong? How much money | | | | has no right to tell him what do to since she's |
| do they make? Can they easily afford your | | | | selling pot. When she tells Andy, her |
| product or service?2. It's all about benefits, not | | | | brother-in-law, about the situation, Andy tells her |
| features. Doug discovers a cheap source of | | | | that Silas is just angry with her because she has |
| medical marijuana in a clinic in LA and thinks he's | | | | lied to him about how she's making money.Lesson: |
| discovered a gold mine. However, in order to use | | | | Deciding to run your own business can be the |
| the clinic, he has to get a prescription for medical | | | | quickest road to divorce or family alienation. Keep |
| marijuana from a shady physician and then drive | | | | your family updated on what's happening in your |
| an hour into the city every time he needs a refill. | | | | business, especially if you run a business that's |
| Nancy offers him the opportunity to buy the | | | | going to keep you away from them on an |
| same stuff locally, without the drive, and no | | | | ongoing basis. Family rules, structure, and |
| prescription needed.Lesson: People do business | | | | expectations may need to shift for awhile, and |
| with you because you can help them solve a | | | | the more that you family can be a part of |
| problem. They care little about how you solve it | | | | creating that change, the healthier and happier you |
| (the features of the solution). They just want you | | | | all will be.7. The Lone Ranger didn't ride alone. As |
| to make the problem go away so that they have | | | | Nancy reviews her life lessons in entrepreneurship |
| one less thing to worry about (the benefits of | | | | during Season 1, she realizes that it's hard work |
| doing business with you).3. Understand the needs | | | | running a business by herself. She invites her |
| of your target market. Nancy takes a trip to LA | | | | accountant and attorney (two of her best clients), |
| to check out the medical marijuana clinic, and | | | | her brother-in-law, another dealer, and son of her |
| discovers a sheer cornucopia of pot, available in | | | | supplier to go into business with her and help her |
| more varieties than she'd ever imagined. This visit | | | | grow her territory and make it all work.Lesson: |
| makes her realize that she's buying the | | | | You're great at the core service you provide to |
| bottom-of-the-barrel weed and gives her supplier | | | | your clients, but you can't be good at everything, |
| a list of the "good stuff" that her clients really | | | | nor should you try to be. Create two lists, one of |
| want. Then, to give her clients a better high for | | | | what you love to do, and the other of what you |
| their buck (and enable her clients to hide their | | | | hate to do. Do what you do best (and love to do) |
| marijuana use), she begins to package the pot in | | | | and delegate the rest to your support team. |
| various baked goods that she makes in her home | | | | Spend your time more profitably looking for |
| kitchen. One client cleans her out of baked goods | | | | opportunities rather than wasting it on tasks that |
| in one visit.Lesson: Give your clients what they | | | | you can hire out much more cheaply and |
| want, not what you think they need. Many | | | | efficiently than by trying to do it all |
| service business owners head into the | | | | yourself.Business lessons show up in many |
| marketplace and have no idea if they offer a | | | | shapes, forms, and sizes. Tune in to the next |
| product or service that the public wants. Or, they | | | | season of "Weeds" and see what's in store for |
| offer what they think is good for a client rather | | | | Nancy as she builds her suburban pot empire. |
| than what will solve a client's pressing problem. Do | | | | |