In today's world of social media, internet and all the different was to  support super fast information obtainment- why is there still a big question mark as to what this information means and is it really correct?  Do you believe everything you read or should you always have a suspicious mind towards digital information- what about information from expert sources- directly from people- is it accurate or just full of fluff? How do we know ?  it all comes down to trust and being on the side that you hire people to provide expertise- that expertise costs money- bottom line is the information is not free at this point.  

I on several occasions have been seriously generous with my time. In the last 2 months as acting Laboratory Director of a working medical and recreational cannabis testing laboratory I have been able to see first hand the complexities of analyzing such a complex plant material- it is absolutely critical that the scientific approach is solid, methods robust and validated- if not walk away! With no standards or little literature precedence - make sure the methods meet or exceed FDA, USP, AOAC guidance. For example for microbial analysis - follow the FDA BAM- follow that and the methods will stand up to any audit.  

So I digress---- keep this in mind if you decide to go off on your own and have Plan B, C...D even.

The worst thing you can ever do is to doubt your level of expertise or ability to help an organization. If an organization is considering utilizing your consulting expertise then obviously they need YOU for what they can't do or can't do as well themselves. Always remember that.  I myself have to remember that - as frustrating as it seems - I am the one they are asking to help them because I have the know-how that they don't.

So in order to not go completely off kilter- I contacted my good friends at Orion GMP. They seem to have run into the same road-blocks with their proposals, on much larger and in-depth scale than I. It definitely gave me piece of mind I am not alone and that I need to have more business savviness on the front end of any business deal or conversation- after all information - my information is not FREE!