The Best is Yet to COME!
Dreams were being lived and created this year.
We’re back! SO many updates. 😊
First off, I have to say that 2023 has been a wild crazy ride (all for the better). So many things have been happening behind the scenes, that I have not be able to share with all the amazing women who have been a part of WICE since we launched in 2020!
First and foremost, this year presented itself with opportunities that we could not pass up. With those opportunities came the decision to wait to host two WICE events in Northern and Southern Nevada. The timing of the opportunities was undetermined and now here we are at the end of October. Therefore, in regard to the remainder of 2023, WICE will not be hosting an event for this year. But that means we now have the time we needed to get our bigger projects knocked out so that we can host our WICE event for 2024! We are in the process of updating our WICE website. Updates will include speaker forms, WICE award nomination forms and more! Well send out a substack when that is completed.
One big thing that happened this year began back in April. This ‘thing’ was supposed to then take place in May but was postponed due to reasons I didn’t fully understand until later. I was then told that fall was when the ‘thing’ would happen. Mid-August, I went to reach out to those contacts and just before I could, those contacts had reached out to me to give me updates on the project. I left home for over 3 weeks between September to October for this project and had the freaking time of my life. Now if you’re like me, you’re probably dying to know exactly what this so called ‘thing/project’ was. And like you all, I am dying to share, but I’m under an NDA and am unable to share until the marketing, promotions come out (which are in the works). As soon as they are out, I will be able to share a little more about this amazing life changing ‘thing’ I was a part of. The best part was getting a significant first-time big win for the Cannabis industry. I was also blown away by all the amazing people I met. Reflecting back on this life changing moment to me still feels like a dream.
The other big project on my plate this year was completing my book, “From Crowns to Cannabis”. My first book is set to start pre-sales by the end of December early January. You can help support me and WICE by pre-ordering a copy once the pre-sales are up and running. It’s the first time in my life where so many things came together, and my story and journey are finally being heard in such a way that I understood what it meant to take the time, while leaving no stone left unturned. To lead with my heart, knowledge, and education, all while sharing my in-depth experiences, I have had along the way.
I completed a big transition. When I began my journey and career into the cannabis space in January of 2020, I had already had a 20year professional career in the healthcare industry. The initial concept and direction upon me entering the cannabis industry was for me to open a cannabis testing lab along with my event company WICE. By October of 2020, my investors had secured a building for the cannabis testing lab. While waiting for the State of Nevada to open cannabis laboratory testing licenses we proceeded forward with WICE. We had already moved our initial event from September 2020 to September of 2021 (due to COVID). The year 2021 came and went. We patiently waited for the State of Nevada to open lab licensing.
You might be wondering, was there another option for us to obtain a cannabis testing lab license? Well, yes, but it came with a heavy price tag. A laboratory license through the State of Nevada costs $15,000 for first time buyer with an annual $5,000 renewal fee. If we wanted to get around this without the State opening its licensing (which by the way all cannabis licenses since 2019 have been shut down due to litigation on how licenses were distributed the previous year). Our only other option was to buy someone else’s lab licenses. But the asking price tag are typically cost prohibited at $950,000.00. This additional costs for a startup even in the cannabis industry is unrealistic. Startup costs for cannabis laboratories is estimated to be between $2,000,000.00 to $3,000,000.00. And they do not generate revenue for the first two to three years.
We patiently waited. The year 2022 went by quickly. 2023 arrived and we waited. After three years of “hurry up and wait”, when the building lease came up for renewal, we chose to not renew due to the unknown timing of the State of Nevada. From May to October, we made the decision to do away with unneeded office furniture and one week ago today, we turned the keys back over to the leasing agent. The thing with buildings is, they are a dime a dozen. And when the timing is right if it’s meant to be, it will be. But we are still forever grateful that we had the building for the time that we did.
Does not having a building effect WICE in any way? NOPE. Thankfully because WICE is an event company, we were able to take our marketing and all business-related items and have them placed in storage for safe keeping. Not only was this way more cost effective but perfect for the time being. In 2022, we held our events around the U.S. and with that, we were shipping most of our items needed to the venue and the items we didn’t ship, generally were supplied by the venue.
Between writing a book, handling a major project, and breaking down a 4,000 square foot building, my plate was overloaded with getting things done. Wrapping up for this fall quarter we will be finishing out the edits needed on my book and now we can move forward with a bigger event for WICE set for 2024!
As we get ready for the holiday season, I hope this finds each of you happy, healthy, and safe. May you and your family and friends be blessed. Happy Halloween.
The Best is YET to come!
Hugs,
Brooke