Established in the fall of 2021, founders Tom Rothmeier and Aly K. Benson began a journey to bridge the gap between industry and community. The age of digitalization has brought forth so many discouraging scenarios for content creators and industry workers alike. Nonetheless, TDC partners “Tom Different” and “AKB” found friendship through group chats on Instagram. After two years of finding like-minded content creators, trading insights, and virtual connections, Tom & AKB believed there was immense potential in a modernized networking community-based model for the cannabis space.
“ TDC is a group of diverse cannabis educators, connoisseurs, freelancers & industry workers who want to bring a community back into the cannabis industry. The Different Collective was created to encourage self and professional growth through the power of education & communal support. So whether you are looking to expand your cannabis content creation, find a new career path, or connect with other cannabis enthusiasts, TDC provides a wide variety of growth opportunities to establish yourself further.”
-Thomas Rothmeier, Founder of The Different Collective
Nearly ten months into its development, TDC has gained over 70 active members from a wide range of niches in the cannabis space. No niche is untouched, TDC includes CEOs, budtenders, freelancers, entrepreneurs, small business owners & non-cannabis industry workers who are passionate about the plant.
Co-founder AKB describes TDC memberships as "No fees, no requirements, and obligations - unless you want them. People who put in more time and effort to boost the TDC platform receive membership badges, which essentially put you at the top of the list for free marketing pushes, call for collaborations, networking events, and project opportunities. Other than some budtender groups, most platforms with memberships make you drop hundreds of dollars to be a part of something significant in the cannabis space - that cuts down accessibility so much it hurts. We've volunteered a lot of time to build something that could have been useful to us when we started our endeavors and career development plans. Because of this model, we can help any and all members as best as we can for free, creating a truly innovative and compassionate business model. In contrast to how our memberships work, we charge for the TDC name to be used on large collaborators or "clients." This ensures all of the power, financial compensation, and full recognition goes back to the person or team hired out - we don't take a percentage from TDC members' hard-earned money; we turn to the large business to pay out a percentage, on top of the established charge as compensation for using our network to their benefit."
TDC collaborations begin like any other recruitment firm - with the exception of badge members receiving priority for new opportunities. First, an external party contacts TDC, and the leadership team (Tom, AKB, James Ouimet, & Francis Hall) meet to understand the overview and requirements for the project. Afterward, a recommendations file is sent based on pre-interviewed and pre-qualified candidates to ensure the best fit is found for both parties. From there, the client selects the best applicant, and the job begins!
TDC has had an extremely busy first year in operations with 30+ business collaborations and over a dozen successful-long term recommendations to hire.
For this past 420, twelve TDC members traveled to Kelowna, BC to attend the BC Cannabis Summit hosted by the BC Craft Farmers Co-op and ACCRES. Each member was designated to a protocol to create content, host, and engage in activities from workshops, award ceremonies, panel discussions, contests, and activities. Leading into the summer season, TDC has begun digital microscope courses across BC hosted by Tom and Francis as well as attended the GrowUp conference in a partnership with ND Supplies.
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