Colorado citizens voted to pass Amendment 20 in 2000 opening the door for an influx of new legal medical marijuana dispensaries. Over the past several years, the Colorado medical marijuana industry has become the fastest growing industry in the state. It was reported in 2010 that the number of Denver dispensaries has grown to outnumber the number of Starbucks in the city.

With this overwhelming number of new cannabis dispensaries opening across the state, it’s hard to know where to start. So if you have your Colorado medical marijuana registry card and you’re wondering how to find the best Colorado dispensaries, then keep reading for some handy tips…

The first step in locating a new medical marijuana dispensary is to identify all the dispensaries that are in close proximity to your location. Google maps is a great tool for this task because it will actually overlay location markers if you do a search for something like “Denver Dispensary”.

Once you have a list of a few dispensaries in your area, you can start researching each by doing another Google search for their specific name and keywords. So search for something like “Denver dispensary review” or just “the best Denver dispensaries” and you should get you the appropriate results. I recommend using the research from these results to further refine your list down to about 3 of the more interesting dispensaries.

You’ve done the proper research and read the reviews, now it’s time to visit these top 3 medical marijuana dispensaries to see for yourself. One thing to keep in mind is that since this market is still so young there really isn’t an industry standard when it comes to how individual Colorado cannabis dispensaries operate. What this means for your is that every Colorado dispensary that you visit will be a unique experience!

While most Colorado medicinal marijuana dispensaries do not require appointments to access the medicine viewing rooms, it’s probably a good idea to call ahead and see if there is going to be a wait to be seen. When making your personal assessment of a new Colorado cannabis dispensary, there are a few things you will want to pay close attention to on your initial visit.

Your first impression will usually be the waiting room area where you will need to provide your Colorado medical marijuana registry card to the person at the counter. After that, you will either be immediately taken to the bud room or you will have to wait until your called back. Wait times are generally very short, often only taking a few minutes. I’ve found many Denver dispensaries have no wait at all during none peak times.

The most important part of evaluating a new medical marijuana dispensary in Colorado is your experience in the bud viewing room. For many people, their first time walking into this room can be overwhelming. With row after row of glass jars packed with the finest Colorado grown medicinal cannabis, patients just don’t know where to begin.

Well, here’s my tips for dealing with this initial experience. Start with the best. Ask to see the A grade, top shelf, red dot or whatever they call their best cannabis strains. This will immediately give you an idea of the best that they have to offer. Also, don’t overlook the lower grades of bud…sometimes you can find the best value for your dollar here.

Also be sure to take note of their pricing structure. This can be a major determining factor when choosing a primary caregiver for the long run. Most Denver dispensaries offer separate pricing structures for members and nonmembers, so be sure to ask each for specific details.

After visiting a few places you will start to see how the general decor and atmosphere of Colorado cannabis dispensaries can widely vary place to place. Some dispensaries present a stark clinical environment that’s similar to a doctor’s office while others will feel more like you’re walking into a friend’s comfortable house. Whatever your preference, there’s a Colorado medical marijuana dispensary that’s right for you.

This article is not an endorsement for marijuana use. Cannabis is still a drug but it is extremely helpful in treating many people with various aliments. The medical marijuana world is rapidly changing so I strongly recommend reading the official Rules and Regulations for Medicinal use of Marijuana from the Colorado Department of Health before making any decisions regarding the medicinal use of cannabis. In the end the best decisions are informed decisions, so be sure to do thorough research on any topic involving your health before acting.

By: Wesley Winston

Corporate America can be harsh. Regardless of your job title: Mailroom Clerk or Executive Director, there is no promise or security in the job markets. Millions of people have found that out the hard way. Don’t assume just because you are loyal, or that you’ve been with your company for several years, that it can’t happen to you.

If you’ve lost your job, first off, take a deep breath and access what’s just happened. This could turn out to be an opportunity to land a better job or a new career. Don’t make any hasty financial or emotional decisions that could cause you to regret later. Far too many people ‘do now’ and ‘think later.’ So how can you financially survive a job loss? The following are 12 tips to make it through a rough period of time for you and your family.

1. Start Looking for Work Immediately

Don’t assume you’ll find a job and decide not to look for a job right away while taking a mini at-home vacation. Tap into your resources. Search for job leads. Ask around – friends, neighbors, the mail man, the UPS truck delivery man, the grocery bag clerk, whoever. Usually, somebody that knows somebody else can provide you with some kind of lead. Spend a whole day and do nothing but sign up for employment at temporary agencies. Or spend a whole day on career sites like: Monster, HotJobs.yahoo, CareerBuilder, or ServiceLocator. You can also type in the word ‘Jobs’ in the search engine of Google and you’ll find several online job resources. Phone, Email, and fax your resume to those jobs you think you qualify for.

2. File for Unemployment Benefits

If you were fired or laid off, you likely qualify for unemployment benefits. Contact the US Department of Labor: ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/. File a claim for unemployment insurance benefits under the state you live in. In some states, you can look forward to receiving a check in a few weeks, but it may take longer.

3. Weigh Your Health care Options

As far as health care is concerned, most companies will still offer healthcare 30 days after termination. After this period of time, you may be eligible for COBRA, which is a federal program that may allow you to continue group-plan coverage for up to 18 months and in some situations as long as 36 months. However, this indeed will be at a higher cost to you, then you were paying, but it is still an option if you would like to keep your health insurance. If you are 65 years or older you are automatically eligible for Medicare.

Click here for more information: medicare.gov. You may qualify for Medicaid. Contact your local state office or locate your state by clicking here: cms.gov/medicaideligibility

For more healthcare options, visit Health Care.gov to get updated information on other health care and pricing options for you or your family.

4. Reassess Your Career

Do you really want to continue to work in the field you were currently working in? Are you qualified to work in a different field? Do you have skills that would be better equipped in a different job? Could you afford to go back to school to pick up a new trade? Many schools offer job placements while going back to school. There are also financial assistant available for people who do go back to school.

5. Start Your Own Business

At age 50, Jane Adams had a high-paying job with a Fortune 500 company. She was employed for 19 years. She was devastated when she lost her job due to corporate downsizing. She ended up starting her own flower shop. It had always been her hobby and she turned it into a business that is very profitable. She’s excited when she tells people that she makes more now then she ever did at as an Executive Director. Because the job market is not secure, many launch out and start there own businesses. There are many tax benefits, it’s flexible and you are your own boss.

What skills, hobbies, education, something you’re good at or experience do you have that you could start up a business with? There are thousands of Start your own business opportunities on the web, but be leery, because some are scams or just a waste of money.

Search Amazon and type home business in there search engine. Or visit the public library and search the many books on starting your own home business. The 200 Best Home Businesses: Easy To Start, Fun To Run, Highly Profitable by Katina Z. Jones, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business (2nd Edition) by Barbara Weltman are among some good books to start with.

6. Dip Into Your Retirement Fund, 401(k) or Insurance Policy (This is definitely a last resort.)

A cash value life insurance policy is an excellent source of liquidity, if you’ve build up enough cash in the policy. On the other hand, you could take from your retirement plan or 401(k).

However, be aware of restrictions, penalties fees and income taxes that will need to be paid on the withdrawal amount at the end of the year. This should be done only if you really need the money. Typically, you can cash out, roll the money over to your new employer, or roll the money to an (IRA) individual retirement account. Check out your options with your last employer or the investment company your retirement plan is with.

7. Consider Government Assistance or Private Assistance

Local food drives are in every community. The Emergency Food Assistance Program, better known as ‘Food Stamps’, Housing Vouchers, Cash assistance are all aid from the government. Any of these programs can be explained and applied for at your local county building.

The following is an excellent site for information on various government assistance program located in each state: govbenefits.gov. Click on ‘locate benefits by state’.

8. Spend Wisely, Consolidate Debts, Work with a Credit Counseling Service and Defer Payments

Many receive a severance package when laid off. Prioritize and spend that money very wisely. Depending on the type of bill, you could be eligible for a deferment or extension of a month or two. If you don’t ask, you won’t know what is available to you. Are there some bills you can do without temporarily?

For example: Your cable; lawn service; doggy daycare; high speed internet; cut out eating out all together, etc. Could you tap into the equity in your home, or refinance to pay off credit card debts, a car payment or other bills? Mortgage companies may offer an option to defer your mortgage payments, but be assured that you will be charged fees. To minimize debt burden you could also contact a credit counseling service.

9. Contact a Financial Planner

Certified Financial Planners will usually collect a client’s data (check stubs, checking & credit statements, titles for homes, tax returns, insurance policies, etc.), prioritize your financial goals, examine resources, make recommendations and implement a financial plan according to your needs. To find qualified financial planners in you area, call Financial Planning Association at 1-800-322-4237 or search online at: plannersearch.org

10. Have a Garage Sale

Need some extra money while looking for a job? This one may sound strange, but after you think about it, it just may be an excellent idea. Everyone has junk or stuff they would like to give away, pawn or get rid of. Go through your closet, garage, whatever. You don’t have anything to sale? Well, what about placing a small ad in the newspaper or post a flyer in your community/neighborhood asking anyone if they have any stuff or junk they would like to get rid of? If so, drive and pick it up for free. Place there stuff or junk in your garage sale and make some extra money.

11. Think Creatively

Don’t focus on the fact that you don’t have a job. Focus on looking for a job or on ways to make some extra money until you can find a job. Could you shovel someone’s snow for them? Could you mow someone’s lawn? Could you babysit a neighbor’s child? Could you run some errands for someone? Could you take on a seasonal part-time job?

If you are renting, could you temporarily move in with a family or friend until you get back on your feet? Could you have someone move in with you? Don’t neglect your local community newspaper. Many people place odd or temporary jobs in those papers. Could your spouse or partner take on more hours at his or her job? Could your teenager or another adult in your family perhaps help out financially? This outside the box and stay focused on finding a job.

12. Stay Positive

So what does this have to do with surviving a job loss? A lot. Staying positive will help you maintain persistence, faith, and staying on the grind. Stressing out is not going to find you a job, but appearing positive definitely looks good in a job interview. Read positive books, listen to positive audio CD’s. Stay optimistic. Picture yourself in your mind finding the job you want. This may sound like a waste of time, but it helps tremendously.

You may get a job over someone else, simply because the hiring manager thought you appeared more uplifting and positive then the last women or man he interviewed.

In summary, a job loss is serious business, and the stress from it could see overwhelming and frustrating. This is especially true if you have mouths to feed. Don’t give up. You can survive a job loss financially. There is a job out there for you or at least another source of income. Be wise, think clearly, and take advantage of all your resources.

By: Tinisha Johnson

One Of The Many Working At Home Jobs.

Ambrose Bierce is reputed to have once said, “Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility.”

Unlike a corporation, you are taking full responsibility for your activities on the internet building your own position or finding work from home nursing jobs.

This can be a curse or a blessing:
If you fail, there will be many to point and give you the old “I told you so,” or the one I hate the most “Who do you think you are thinking you can make it on the internet?” On the other hand, when you succeed, there will be no shortage of people coming forward to say how much they supported you and believed you could do it. What I found the easiest was to laugh and walk away when I had “made it”. There is no happy middle ground, it seems. Just keep in mind that you truly are the captain of your own fate. You may have gotten discouraged when you were having a tough time in nursing school. Take the same kind of mindset with you into this. Be diligent and painstaking in your search. You want and deserve the best. Modern technology can bring it to you. Work from home nursing jobs? Yes, they are there and yes you can have one. The question is how to find one that is right for you?

There are so many kinds of nursing specialties I won’t pretend to be able to direct you to one place. However, in the following paragraphs, I will tell you how to find EXACTLY what you want in the EXACT specialty you are thinking of.

This method cuts to the search with surgical precision. It will deliver to you results that are highly focused and relevant to your search and quite likely, in the end, take you to places you never dreamed existed.

It all begins with a simple web search. Whether it is Google or whatever doesn’t matter. The real magic begins with an “optimized” search. This simply involves wrapping your search words in quotes. This cuts the trash by 90 percent and tightly focuses your search.

Next, what you are looking for are forums dealing with the subject of your inquiry. These web places are like schools of fish of the same stripe.

Whatever you might be inquiring about, there are people on these forums that have or are doing the exact same thing you are contemplating.

If you want to know what you can do from home for, let’s say, Oncology Nursing, try searches exactly like this one: “forums+oncology+nursing+from home”. Usually, this yields more results than you know what to do with.

Take some time now and look through the first 10 or 20 results. If you are not satisfied, alter the wording a little and try again. Before long, you’ll be conversing with nurses doing what you are considering and, many times, they can give new ideas that you had never even thought of.

Ideas are what work from home nursing jobs is all about.

So, in conclusion, what you want to do in your journey to work from home is:

1. Cut as much of the trash off as you can so you do an “optimized search”.

2. You start searching for tightly focused forum titles.

3. Register with those forums and leave requests for information behind. Answer others’ questions that you might find there.

4. Try to keep in mind that there are possibilities out there that never entered your mind. This will keep you open to new ideas.

By: Octavien J. Remillard

When people start their own business, they seldom consider personal safety an important issue. Their heads are filled with financial perils, distribution problems, marketing roadblocks – they don’t have time to think about whether or not their business could be harmful to their health.

If you use your home address as your business address, you could be putting yourself and your family at risk. Think about when you meet a client for the first time. People who would never let strangers into their house under other circumstances often invite prospective clients into their home office to discuss doing business together. This can be a dangerous situation.

Google’s Place Pages (part of Google Maps), for instance, highlight local businesses’ addresses on convenient online maps as a courtesy to business owners. However, these listing may place you and your family at risk. When a web surfer clicks on a business that’s listed in, he is taken to a Place Page, which provides detailed information about the business (such as one employee, owner is a female, etc.) Directions to your house are also provided to web surfers. A street view is also available, which is a boon to burglars who can see where the best entry point to your house is.

So there your house is, on the map, and if you’re a woman working at home alone or with a baby or small child in a quiet neighborhood that’s deserted during the day, any enterprising thief/stalker/rapist can easily find you and carefully plan to get into your house.

An inexpensive solution is to lease some executive suite or serviced office space. Regardless of how much time you spend there each month, you are allowed to use the street address of the facility on your business cards, in your business literature and on your website.

Safety tips for solopreneurs:

• Don’t use your home phone number or address on your business cards.
• Take advantage of your virtual office’s amenities and Always hold first-time meetings with prospects at your executive suite office’s conference room.
• If you become uncomfortable during a first-time meeting, trust your instincts.
• Don’t have meetings after hours or when the facility is deserted.
• Always carry a charged cell phone with 911 programmed into speed dial.
• Carry mace or pepper spray.
• Many executive suite facilities employ security guards. If you work late, don’t be embarrassed to ask him or her to walk you out to your car.

By: Nathan Jansch