We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rosanna St. John a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rosanna, thanks for joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
I’ve always managed people and money. I’ve held GM positions and grown multiple multimillion dollar operations, by focusing on team members. Bookkeeping and compliance have always been the foundation of my work life. I’ve managed 50+ commission based employees, please, trust that I understand the importance of policy and procedure! In 2020, my employer of 6 years terminated my position. Like so many people, the pandemic left me unemployed. My daughter was 4 months old, we were in a pandemic, my husband and I both lost our jobs. We never ‘planned’ for this. It was insane. I knew bookkeeping was a great part time, work from home, flexible position that I would be great at. I already have the experience and a Bachelor degree, so I took an online course, got certified and started working as a contractor, on a 13” laptop. It was terrible, and inefficient.
Fast forward: March 2021, New York State announces the MRTA, Marijuana Regulations and Taxation Act. Cannabis has a legal path! As a curious person, I read the regulations and saw the void. I took to social media, and Canna Bookkeeper was born. In summer 2021, I cofounded Women’s Cannabis Collective. Our goal was to create a professional network and platform to inform and uplift local women in cannabis. As my community grew my business transformed. I committed, I pulled my retirement, and gave my business everything I have. I upgrade my screen, joined a professional network, Dope CFO, and took on all the boring expenses Canna Bookkeeper LLC required. We scaled to include business plans, and consulting.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I answered a dm invite, and met up with a random group of female professionals that consume cannabis. I do my best to attend and support events. Our mission is to provide accessible and affordable bookkeeping solutions to small businesses. The majority entrepreneurs I’ve spoken with are unsure of where to find the necessary resources… that’s where we come in! Our goal is to provide tools, contacts, applications, resources and reference materials to build the knowledge base and maintain operations. In Summer 2022, we teamed up with NYS Cannabis Connect, and NYS Department of Labor to provide the community with employment, grants and incentive information.
Have you ever had to pivot?
As I say this, New York State Office of Cannabis Management is introducing new regulations that impact how I can do business within the Cannabis Industry. As a ‘Consultant’ and a subcontractor, I’m only allowed to provide certain services, and they must be priced a specific way. We spent the last few months focusing on consulting, which hurts a little. But that’s ok! We are ready to comply and help other operations comply. My best advice, to remain flexible and organized is to make a checklist for opening/closing tasks. For example, if you need to add/remove a service from your menu, do the work once. Write it down, save it, and keep it updated.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Have branding, strategy, a plan, and be consistent. Strategy, planning and branding are all very different. Each needs to be done, and consistently to grow. Notice I didn’t say ‘done well’. You will get better with practice. You’ll see what your platform responds to, roll with it. It doesn’t need to be perfect. That is the best part of social media. Its more personal, don’t be scared to be relatable. You would be surprised the response you get when you show vulnerability.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cannabookkeeperllc.godaddysites.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cannabookkeeper/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosanna-st-john-76839a36/
- Other: Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1EE3u4ntS2MhDMrzLVmOoI
Image Credits
Amy Greene, @anomalyphotographer