Brett Gelfand's Linkedin Analytics

There are two types of debt collectors: We'll call them the Old School and the New School. The Old School guys are some version of what's in your head. Rough, tough, no B.S. The kind of guys who transform their voice mid-call, making debtors think they'll show up at their door if they have to. My dad was Old School. He'd use calculated intimidation - not illegal, but definitely unfiltered and intentionally uncomfortable. I'm what you’d describe as New School. More like the lawyer who sends the letter before the Old School enforcer shows up. They take a leaf out of Teddy Roosevelt’s book by speaking softly but carrying a big, litigious stick. The CannaBIZ Collects office became a laboratory where these two styles played out daily with really interesting results. My father's approach worked wonders on the chronic payment-avoiders. He'd create enough psychological pressure that paying seemed easier than continuing to dodge the calls. My more diplomatic style proved effective with business-minded clients who'd fallen behind but valued relationships. I'd talk about payment plans, settlement options, and maintaining industry standing. Both approaches work but it depends on who's on the other end of the phone. The "country club deadbeat" who drives a Tesla but claims poverty typically crumbles under my father's pressure but stonewalls my approach. Meanwhile, the legitimate business facing temporary cash flow issues responds better to structured solutions rather than intimidation. The cannabis industry needs both types - someone who can speak CEO-to-CEO and can cut through the excuses that plague this cash-strapped market. The most valuable lesson is no matter your collection style, you need the emotional resilience to hear "go f*ck yourself" without taking it personally lol

Every single week, I counsel cannabis entrepreneurs who have friends that owe them money. These are some of the hardest conversations you'll have in business. Many in this industry started as friends before becoming partners, which makes collections in this space uniquely painful. That guy who owes you $50K might be someone you've known since high school or the person you smoke with on weekends. This emotional entanglement leads to poor decisions, extended payment terms, and ultimately, resentment on both sides. The key to maintaining your sanity while managing AR is creating objective frameworks that remove emotion from the equation. Start by defining clear triggers for escalation: 30 days = reminder 60 days = formal notice 90 days = final demand These are commitments to YOURSELF that apply equally to everyone, regardless of your relationship. The business owners who successfully navigate collections have mastered the art of compartmentalization. They know that maintaining professional boundaries preserves friendships rather than damaging them. One effective technique is creating a formal final demand letter that looks official.... NOT a text saying "hey man, about that invoice..." This shift signals that you've moved from friend-to-friend to business-to-business, creating necessary distance. Systems that operate independently of relationships protect your business and peace of mind. My advice to everyone right now would be: — Be very careful before extending terms to friends right now. If they do end up owing you, it might cost you a lot more than the lost money. Has anyone experienced this problem? You got any tips on how to handle it?

If you are dealing with non-payers and running into roadblocks with your demands for payment... just listen to Reddit. we got your back at CannaBIZ Collects

MJBiz asked me guest feature for them on the state of industry AR in a recent article. Here are the high(low)lights from the article: — California leads the crisis with $777M in AR — Followed by Michigan with $231M — And Massachusetts with $144M Some states are seeing more than 30% of all receivables past due. While 46% of cannabis AR remains current (0-30 days), 24%—more than $529 million—has aged beyond 91 days. 91 days is significant, because the chances of collecting *plummet* after that. The best and cheapest way to stay out of this mess is to run credit checks. Companies that do this are 60% less likely to end up in collections. And if it wasn't clear from the data, this problem is getting WORSE and SPREADING. -- I honestly hate being the bearer of bad news all the time... I'm actually a very positive person, I promise! But I won't stop waving a red flag about these problems until we can start to meaningfully clean this mess up as an industry. I'm very grateful to MJBiz for giving me the opportunity to share what Cannabiz Credit Association is seeing out there. This affects every single cannabis company, directly or indirectly. Full article in the comments. There's a lot more info in there for you.

What do you do: a new dispensary chain moves into your state and is asking for $50K in product on 30-day terms. They seem legitimate - they wouldn’t be expanding if they weren’t successful…..right? But how do you weigh this up if you don’t have historical sales data on them? This scenario has been on my mind because I just lost a Cannabiz Credit Association member who said, "We'll just use our own sales data." But….you can only see how customers pay YOU, not how they're treating everyone else. It's like a bank only checking if you've defaulted on THEIR loans before giving you another one. The cannabis industry is drowning in receivables because we keep making the same mistake. We extend credit to new accounts with zero visibility into their actual payment behavior. When that Massachusetts operator canceled, I asked, "What about new business?" Silence. Internal data is useless for evaluating new accounts. Meanwhile, our database tracks which companies have been sent to collections. We know which dispensaries consistently pay late across multiple vendors before you ship them a dollar of product. We provide unlimited user access and 30-minute onboarding calls to ensure your team can implement this seamlessly. You get clear A-B-C-D risk ratings, not complex data that requires a financial analyst to interpret. For less than $200 per month, you get visibility that could prevent a five-figure default on your very next order via CCA. The choice is simple: complete industry payment visibility or flying blind with new accounts. What will your CFO say when that exciting new account ghosts you on a $50K invoice?

Thanks for having me and shedding light on this critical topic of credit and collection issues plaguing our industry MJBiz. I see so much blame thrown around and it’s time operators wake up to understand best practices around credit/collections if they decide to ‘act as a bank’ and extend any type of credit terms to customers.

"We're too busy to run credit checks. We're swamped and just need sales." I hear this from cannabis operators a lot. But it’s not about time. This is what they really mean: “We need every single sale and we need hope. A negative credit check can ruin that.” When half your accounts receivable (AR) is already past due and cash flow is tight, turning down a potential sale feels impossible. Cannabis companies are extending credit in desperation, thinking "we need the sale" while knowing they may never collect. They'd rather keep their eyes closed and hope for payment than confirm upfront that a customer is a risk. It’s striking that a lot of businesses would rather not know which customers are likely to pay and which aren't. They're consciously choosing the uncertainty of "maybe they'll pay" over the certainty of "this customer has a history of not paying." It's like throwing your inventory - a balance sheet asset - out the window and hoping someone brings it back someday. The cannabis industry has created this culture where saying "no" during a sale feels more damaging than writing off bad debt months later. This short-term thinking compounds over time as more inventory walks out the door with less cash coming back in. Eventually, businesses find themselves dedicating entire teams to chase payments they should have evaluated properly from the start. But as someone who does both credit checks and collections, let me tell you, it’s a lot less painful to know in advance who intends to pay you.

When I was 24 years old—and with zero experience—I was named CEO of a cannabis company and raised $20M. That is NOT a sign of a mature industry. In our early days, many cannabis businesses coasted on hype, easy capital, and predictions of imminent federal legalization. That was me! Now we’re in a very different world: tight capital markets, price compression, and regulatory burdens that punish even minor missteps. But I'm very optimistic that everyone struggling in this industry today is going to be an all-star operator when the conditions improve. The adage goes, when markets get tough, operators get better. Companies are focusing on their fundamentals and prioritizing cash flow over market share. The cannabis operators surviving today are building skills that will serve them for decades. They're mastering how to run efficient businesses under the most challenging regulatory environment imaginable. When market conditions eventually improve - and they will - these battle-tested companies will dominate. Perhaps there's a silver lining to the delayed progress on federal reform. Had legalization happened years ago, billions more would have been squandered by green operators who hadn't yet learned these painful but necessary lessons. Instead, we're building an industry of resilient founders who know how to deliver quality products despite enormous obstacles. So stay optimistic. Our best days are ahead of us, and the operators who stay the course will come out like warriors. FYI: this is a photo of me in well over my head as CEO of a company at 24 years old.

Growing up as the son of a debt collector, I swore I'd never follow in my father's footsteps. For 30 years, the man managed a team of 100 collectors and mastered the psychology of debt. Throughout those years he constantly drilled one message into me: "Be your own boss, start your own thing." That mindset stuck with me even as I deliberately avoided his line of work throughout my early career. But life has a funny way of coming full circle when you least expect it. When I found myself in CO chasing payments from customers who had no intention of paying, I finally understood my father's world. I had over $500k in unpaid invoices, watching my inventory walk out the door with nothing coming back. Suddenly the old man’s expertise didn't seem so irrelevant! So I called him up: "Dad, it's time for you to get back in business." We launched CannaBIZ Collects together in 2017, with me bringing in the clients and him handling the collections. Working alongside him, I witnessed firsthand the psychology of debt collection that he'd mastered over decades. He approached collections with an unfiltered directness that definitely contrasts with my client-facing style. He was *a little* rough around the edges but undeniably effective. Last year, I bought him out of the business, and he passed the torch. Perhaps the lesson here is that you need to find your own path while honoring the wisdom of those who came before you.

"But you guys are going to take your fee which will hurt our margin." I hear this objection all the time from cannabis companies with aging accounts receivable. Let me be absolutely clear: — There's NO MARGIN if you can't collect — 25% of $0 = $0 50% of $0 = $0 100% of 0 = $0 When your invoice hits 90+ days past due, you've crossed into a different financial reality. What started as a potentially profitable sale is now a rapidly depreciating asset. Every day that passes drops your probability of recovery by approximately 1-2%. Yet cannabis operators keep dedicating sales reps, finance staff, and even executives to fruitless collection calls. These resources aren't free - their time represents a significant opportunity cost to your business. The expense of chasing debt for months exceeds any contingency fee you pay. So the rational question becomes: — "Is something better than nothing?" — CannaBIZ Collects brings specialized tools that dramatically increase recovery odds. The most financially disciplined cannabis companies establish clear escalation thresholds. And they know when to stop fantasizing about preserving margin and start maximizing cash recovery.