Role track • Manager
Manager
Comprehensive single-store leadership for the person who owns the four-wall P&L. You will learn to read and operate the dispensary income statement under 280E, manage every category of KPI (financial, sales, customer, inventory) at decision-making fluency, and execute the daily, weekly, and monthly cadences that separate disciplined operators from reactive ones. Staffing covers org structures, hiring against cannabis-specific skills, onboarding to productivity in thirty days, compensation design, coaching, performance management, and labor relations. Compliance gets treated as a manager-level discipline, not a delegated task. Strategy covers consultative customer experience, loyalty design, events, and the analytics that turn signals into action. The capstone is your ninety-day operating plan.
28 lessons13.8 hours0 section quizzes7 chapters
Begin courseFree during early access
What you'll master
Outcomes you can defend.
- Read the dispensary P&L through the 280E lens and identify your two highest-leverage cost lines
- Manage to a balanced KPI scorecard (financial, sales, customer, inventory) and read what each one is telling you
- Hire, onboard, coach, and (when necessary) terminate cannabis retail staff at the standard a regulated industry requires
- Pass any audit cold by running compliance posture as a weekly discipline, not an annual scramble
- Design and operate a loyalty program that improves retention without leaking margin
- Build a ninety-day operating plan that ties daily activity to quarterly P&L outcomes
Curriculum
The full syllabus.
Every lesson, in the order we recommend you take them. Click any lesson to begin. Your progress saves automatically.
Part 01
5 lessons • 145 minP&L Mastery
- 01The Dispensary P&L: Revenue, COGS, OpEx, and the 280E DistortionHow to read a dispensary P&L line by line, why the federal tax bill on a profitable-looking month can exceed the reported profit, and the cash-margin discipline that separates managers who control a store from managers who watch it slip. As of April 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis is Schedule III; recreational remains Schedule I; 280E applies to recreational and unlicensed cannabis but not to licensed medical operations going forward.30 min
- 02Sales KPIs: Conversion, UPT, AOV, Attach RateHow to read and move the four sales KPIs that decide whether a dispensary grows or stalls: conversion rate, units per transaction, average order value, and attach rate. Includes worked math, benchmark bands, and the tradeoffs that punish operators who chase one number in isolation.25 min
- 03Customer KPIs: Frequency, Retention, LTVHow to read frequency, retention, and lifetime value as a connected system in cannabis retail, including the math that translates a small retention lift into a large LTV gain and the 280E filter that bends every loyalty-program ROI calculation against the operator, with updates reflecting the April 2026 partial rescheduling of state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III.36 min
- 04Inventory KPIs: Turns, Shrink, Margin by CategoryHow a working manager runs the inventory KPI stack: per-category turns and days on hand, dead-stock thresholds anchored to flower degradation curves, shrinkage decomposition, and GMROI as the single ratio that ties margin and velocity together, all read through a 280E lens that turns reported margin into a misleading mirror.28 min
- 05The Business-Stage Ladder: Launch, Growth, Mature, and What Changes at Each StepHow a dispensary's measurable problems change as it ages from Launch to Growth to Mature, which KPIs become actionable in each window, and how to plan the manager's next 6, 12, and 24 months against the right ladder rung. Note: state-licensed medical cannabis is now Schedule III under federal law as of April 22, 2026; recreational remains Schedule I, and full rescheduling is pending a June 29, 2026 hearing.26 min
Part 02
6 lessons • 185 minStaffing and People
- 06Org Structures and Span of Control at Dispensary ScaleHow dispensary org charts evolve across four revenue tiers, what span of control each tier can sustain, and how to size a staffing plan against sales per labor hour without breaking the compliance load a cannabis store carries.25 min
- 07Hiring: Sourcing, Screening, and the Cannabis-Specific Skills That MatterHow to build a hiring pipeline that survives 60% industry turnover: where cannabis budtenders actually come from, how to screen for compliance discipline and consultation talent at the same time, and why the conditional-offer workflow tied to state agent-license issuance is the single most-violated rule in cannabis hiring.34 min
- 08Onboarding: From Day 1 to Productive in 30 DaysHow to design and run a 30-day budtender onboarding that gets a new hire to floor productivity by Day 30 instead of Day 90, including the labor-hour math that proves the program pays for itself, the daily checkpoints that catch a bad hire before the trial period closes, and the compliance gates that protect the license while a trainee learns the floor.30 min
- 09Compensation, Tips, and the Retention LeverHow to build a cannabis compensation stack that actually retains staff: base, tips, benefits, equity, and shift differentials read against turnover math, peak-hour productivity, and the tax treatment of payroll under current federal law.36 min
- 10Coaching and Performance ManagementHow a working manager runs a coaching cadence that compounds: weekly 1:1s with structure, behavior-anchored performance reviews, PIPs that hold up legally, and the labor-productivity math that turns coaching investment into a defensible ROI on a $20-22/hr budtender wage stack.25 min
- 11Labor Relations, Unions, and Labor-Peace AgreementsHow a manager reads the cannabis labor landscape: when an LPA is the price of admission, how UFCW and Teamsters actually approach a store, what a tip pool can and cannot legally do, and how to design a compensation plan that holds up against both a union contract and the 280E tax bill.35 min
Part 03
6 lessons • 181 minOperations
- 12Daily Rhythm: Opening, Mid-Day, ClosingHow a working manager runs a dispensary day from key-in to alarm-set: the open that earns the first hour back, the mid-day moves that protect labor productivity at peak, and the close that holds compliance and cash without dragging staff past midnight.19 min
- 13SOP Development: The Documents Every Store Should HaveHow a General Manager scopes, authors, sequences, and operationalizes the SOP set a dispensary actually runs on, including the ten compliance-mandated documents, the launch-phase priority order, and the management cadence that keeps the binder from rotting after the first quarter.32 min
- 14Shrink and Internal Theft: Detection, Investigation, TerminationHow a manager runs the full shrink program: reading exception reports, investigating variance, walking an interview without burning the case, and making the termination and prosecution call when the evidence supports it. Note: as of April 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis is Schedule III; adult-use remains Schedule I. Section 280E relief applies only to the medical portion of dual-license operations going forward.26 min
- 15Security: Systems, Guards, and Incident ResponseHow a General Manager runs the dual physical and cyber security program a modern dispensary demands, including the four-ring physical model, the post-2024 vendor-pivot threat picture, the guard staffing decision, the breach-response clock, and the incident-reporting discipline that keeps the license intact.44 min
- 16Store Design and Flow: What a Great Dispensary Layout DoesHow to read a dispensary floor as a system of zones, queues, and labor positions, and how to lay out flower walls, consultation booths, vault adjacencies, pickup rails, and end-caps so that compliance, conversion, and basket size all stop fighting each other.30 min
- 17Planogramming and Merchandising DisciplineHow a manager turns the flower wall, vape case, edibles set, and checkout counter into a discipline rather than a vibe, with the math (space-to-sales, sell-through, eye-level placement) that separates a store that compounds basket and margin from a store whose shelf drifts to whoever brings the best brand rep.30 min
Part 04
4 lessons • 122 minCompliance Posture
- 18Compliance Posture: The Manager's Weekly ChecklistHow a GM runs a weekly compliance posture check that catches the small drift before it becomes a state finding, including the specific Metrc, SOP, training, labeling, and incident-log items that go on the checklist and the decisions to make from each one.30 min
- 19Audit Prep: Surviving Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual InspectionsHow a manager builds and runs the three-cadence audit rhythm a cannabis store actually survives on: monthly Metrc reconciliation as the operational core, quarterly internal mock-audits as the integrity check, and the 60-day annual external prep arc that decides whether the license renews on time.29 min
- 20Marketing Compliance: What You Can't Say About Your ProductsHow a manager runs the three-layer cannabis advertising stack (state, platform, FTC) without burning a license: audience-composition math, the seven universal creative restrictions, FTC influencer disclosure that survives a warning letter, and the shadow-ban operational discipline that keeps organic reach alive.30 min
- 21Recalls: Your Response PlaybookHow a General Manager runs a recall as a command-and-control event: who decides what in the first hour, how the management team divides labor across the 8-step lifecycle, where the manager-level judgment calls actually live, and the cadence that keeps the store from improvising the response when the notice hits.33 min
Part 05
4 lessons • 117 minStrategy
- 22Customer Experience: The Consultative Retail ModelHow to operate a consultative cannabis retail model the way pharmacy and Apple/Sephora operate theirs, with the medical-versus-adult-use bifurcation driving every staffing, layout, and language decision, and Customer Lifetime Value math anchoring the program against budtender minutes and reward dollars. As of April 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis operates under Schedule III; adult-use remains Schedule I. The 280E tax discipline applies only to adult-use and unlicensed operations going forward.33 min
- 23Loyalty Programs: Economics, Design, and Running One WellHow to design and operate a cannabis loyalty program that compounds retention rather than subsidizing existing behavior, including the four-pillar selection, the math that makes (or breaks) program ROI under 280E and state rules, and the cannabis-specific traps that bend every textbook playbook.30 min
- 24Events, Education, and Community BuildingHow a dispensary manager builds a defensible community moat through in-store activations, education programming, and curated event presence; with the unit-economic discipline that separates events that pay for themselves from events that quietly bleed the P&L.28 min
- 25Analytics and Dashboards: What to Watch, What to IgnoreHow a dispensary manager builds a working analytics stack: which KPIs belong on a daily dashboard, which belong on a weekly review, which belong nowhere, and how to forecast next quarter without dressing up wishful thinking as a number.26 min
Part 06
2 lessons • 49 minManager Mindset
- 26Reading Your Store: Signals Before NumbersHow a working manager builds the floor-reading instinct that surfaces problems 30 to 60 days before the P&L confirms them, using a structured walk, a small set of leading signals, and the discipline to act on a suspicion without waiting for the dashboard.24 min
- 27Community and Local RelationshipsHow a dispensary manager builds the local-relationship moat that protects the license and feeds the P&L: the four stakeholder rings (landlord, neighbors, municipality, peers), the cadence that keeps each ring warm before it goes hot, and the playbook for the moment the cafe owner next door calls about your customers.25 min
Ready when you are
Manager starts with one lesson.
The Dispensary P&L: Revenue, COGS, OpEx, and the 280E Distortion, 30 minutes. Pick it up here whenever you have time.
Start lesson 1