Are you the next Colorado marijuana millionaire?

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One of the enduring stories/ myths of any emerging industry is that it offers the opportunity to become an instant millionaire. When it comes to cannabis, that is particularly true, and Colorado has pretty much become ground zero in the marijuana dream department.

The media are proclaiming legal cannabis here as a new Gold Rush. Last month People magazine profiled four people — a grower, dispensary owner, edibles maker and consultant — already dubbed Colorado marijuana millionaires. Put “Colorado cannabis millionaire” into a search engine and you’ll get a host of television news segments on others who have already cashed in. Marijuana Millionaire: How To Make $1 Million Dollars a Year in the Medical Marijuana Industry! by James Kushfella, is a big seller on Amazon.

One of those statistics we’ll probably never learn definitively is how many people have ideas running through their heads right now that they think will make big money in Colorado Kush. Perhaps you do. A lawyer who deals with cannabis issues told me that about a third of the calls his office receives now are inquiring about how they can invest and become rich — and how quickly they can do it.

There are certainly people who have and who will become wealthy in the cannabis industry. Besides growers and retailers, there are ancillary products and services necessary to operate a successful cannabis business — vendors and suppliers, lighting and heating systems, security equipment, cameras and guards, inventory and business software, attorneys, lobbyists, packaging, seeds, greenhouses, fertilizer and many others.

There are more ideas out there than there are products, and turning one into a business is often much harder than coming up with the idea in the first place. What need are you filling? What’s different about your idea? Who are your customers? Who can/will finance you? How much will it take to start? Will the business scale as it grows? What are the legal issues and how do you deal with them?

Getting answers to some of those questions is part of the impetus behind The Marijuana Show, an online cannabis-themed reality program in production that lets entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to people who can help. It’s similar to Shark Tank, the popular mainstream reality show where dreams are pitched to big-time venture capitalists, who then mostly pick them apart.

That isn’t the case here. The Marijuana Show’s Wendy Robbins and Karen Paull, entrepreneurs themselves with backgrounds in television and business coaching, invited Coloradans last weekend to the Watering Hole in Denver to win a place on an episode that will air later this fall. It was the first of many auditions in other cities to come, and they will be returning to Denver in November. The only requirement was that you be at least 21 years old and that you bring a business plan if you had one.

So each person or group got two minutes to pitch an idea before a panel composed of Robbins, Paull and local entrepreneur Todd Mitchem, who ran the Cannasearch Job Fair in Denver on Tuesday, Sept. 16. Call this Shark Tank Light. The emphasis on Shark Tank is letting outsized personalities like Mark Cuban push everybody else around, but here nobody got picked apart or were made to feel bad through the questioning process. About a hundred people auditioned, Paull said, and they called 22 of those back to move ahead.

I watched two and a half hours of auditions on Saturday. Two people offered plans for cannabis-themed vacation spots. The first envisioned a 420-styled resort, hopefully in the Boulder/Estes Park area, as a classy place, with full amenities and yearround outdoor activities. The second proposed a five-star accommodation, with turndown service, marijuanainfused breakfast specials, edibles throughout the day and Mary Jane spa treatments.

A couple ideas were based around breaking down stereotypes and stigmatization of marijuana users, one through a documentary film and the other, whose originator worked for a cannabis temp agency, to help put non-violent offenders back into society by working in the industry. A group of three women growers wanted money to seed their operations and build them beyond what they’re doing now. Another wanted to form a kind of growers’ cooperative to share information and expertise.

Another maker of infused products, holding her baby in her arms, was looking for seed money to make organic, gluten-free, non-sugar cannabis energy bars for both recreational and medical use. Yet another was promoting a cannabis-themed floral design service.

None of the ideas seemed outrageous or impractical, and the only real differences in the presentations were in how far along in the gestation process they were. Some had little more than a kernel of an idea, while others had prototypes to show and cost-analysis breakdowns to share.

I don’t know what the chances are that any or some of these auditioners might truly become millionaires. What I do know is that everyone I’ve met in the industry who is successful has to work very hard to run a transparent business in an uncertain legal gray area and deal with challenges and obstacles and jump through new hoops each and every day. It’s an exciting time. Good luck to all the dreamers.

You can hear Leland discuss his most recent column and Colorado cannabis issues each Thursday morning on KGNU. http://news.kgnu.org/category/features/weed-between-the-lines/