We caught up with Andrew and we sat down and talked about his new ventures:
Andrew has started Lightning Cannabis Loans and Start Up Cannabis Loans to help others with financing.
What is the most difficult about running businesses as a sole proprietor? Do you extend your knowledge to your clients?
Yes, I extend my knowledge to my clients as a way to help them in their business ventures.
The difficulties in running businesses as a sole proprietor are most felt when proprietors are seeking to raise capital. Sole proprietorship forces a person to personally take on all the liabilities of the business debts, losses, and obligations. This creates a disadvantage to the person and the business by disallowing the business to sell an interest into the business toward any capital investors. Moreover, traditional and private lenders will view a sole proprietorship as a higher risk to lend money toward as opposed to lending money to an established business entity such as a corporation or an LLC.
The fact that sole proprietors have no separation from their business, creates a disadvantage to the business especially when the proprietors are raising working capital and arranging financing for their business expansion plans but are declined due to their sole proprietorship status.
What is the most fun part about creating new avenues for financing for your clients?
The most fun part in creating new avenues for financing for my clients is seeing the manifestation of their dreams come true. I enjoy relating to my clients are on a personal level and helping them in their business goals, so when it comes time to harvest season, I love to see the results we help our clients achieve through our services.
I find it fascinating to see how their business models work in their minds. I enjoy imagining why and how their business can expand beyond its current level, to the level that they envision for themselves.
Where do you see the future of banking for cannabis?
There are about 500 Banks and Credit Unions in the U.S. that are actively operating accounts for marijuana businesses. I see a bright future with banking for cannabis to eventually evolve their current regulations to fully accept marijuana related businesses in accordance with future state and federal legislation. This will reduce and eliminate the current threats in the market of supplying cannabis companies with an efficient, regulated, and trackable banking system to provide growth, sustainability, and transparency within the cannabis market for investors and business owners. Although the nation has not fully accepted the legalization of marijuana, it is clear that we do not benefit from having a $10+ billion legal cannabis industry being forced to operate outside the banking system. Furthermore, I see the banking industry rising within the U.S. for cannabis because of the tremendous growth that the future of cannabis holds within the medical industry, our nation’s economy, and the world.
