How This Canna-Couple Learned to Think Inside the Box — entrepreneur.com

Luke and Eliza Maroney, owners of Lucky Box Club, pivot from cultivators to curators. June 17, 2018 3 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what your company does. We are a married, canna-couple from Northern California. Together we co-founded and run Lucky Box Club, a subscription box company that curates awesome craft cannabis products for our members based on their cannabis preferences: Flower, Extracts, Vapes, Edibles, Tinctures, and Topicals. We hand deliver each Lucky Box to our members and also feature other “lucky” items such as accessories, stickers, music downloads, and artist prints. Our goal is to deliver a “magical” cannabis experience, all while saving our members time and money.   What inspired you to create Lucky Box Club?  Our breakthrough moment came when we went to the MMJ Biz Conference in Vegas in 2014. We saw the cannabis industry evolving rapidly and, with it, the influx of big businesses creating large commercial grows. Being cultivators ourselves, we realized that in order to survive in the future, we’d have to adapt. Cannabis would become a commodity and once it did, how would we survive?Having both worked in marketing, we started brainstorming a platform that would support craft and micro cannabis businesses. Coming up with the idea wasn’t difficult. We both had “magic” boxes filled with all our favorite cannabis flowers and products, and we both belonged to subscription box clubs. Lucky Box Club was a natural blend of the two.Related: How to Thrive on Thin Margins In the Subscription Box Industry How is your service different than others? For one, every box is custom curated for each member. When you sign up for LBC, it’s like having a personal budtender or cannabis curator. Members set their preferences and our team of passionate cannabis experts hand-selects each item for their box.  Secondly, we have actual “experience in the fields.” Having cultivated in California for over 10 years, our experience and network make us perfect for curating premium cannabis products.  When a brand/product goes into our box (and ultimately to our members), it’s been vetted and approved at the highest industry (and LBC!) standards. We personally visit our brand’s farms and manufacturing facilities and make sure all our products come from safe and sustainable sources.Lastly, besides the cannabis itself, we also include art, music, accessories and more. Our goal is to give members a “magical” experience. That goes beyond just the products and includes the unboxing experience and the other “lucky” goodies members receive.   What was one of the toughest challenges you faced and how did you overcome it? The hardest challenge has been staying patient and adaptable amidst the shifting grounds of an evolving industry. Changing local and state regulations, never-ending banking issues, real estate delays, and securing funding have all been major challenges.Related: 8 Ways Practicing Patience Radically Increases Your Capacity for Success What trait do you depend on most when making decisions and why is that useful for you? Teamwork. Truly, we wouldn’t be here without each other. Working together as a married couple has its challenges. We typically take extra time to communicate clearly and make sure we are always on the same page before making big business decisions Is there a particular quote or saying that you use as personal motivation? “Teamwork makes the Dream work.”Related: The Importance of Teamwork and Collaboration

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