My first 10 days on the new Clubhouse app

While cannabis has been deemed ‘essential’ in several legal states and CBD derived from Hemp is legal throughout the US, the companies bringing this essential medicine are denied basic business resources like safe and fair banking, advertising, and various other essential services.

Of course, there are loopholes available to those who can afford the celebrities, billboards, and Super Bowl commercials, but what about the brands that came from intention? The small grassroots businesses that can’t afford celebrity endorsements?

For decades the industry has been fighting an uphill battle. If you are in it with us, you know the struggle of working with online banking services like Stripe, or Google, or social networks like Facebook and Instagram. Every time we open the app we hold our breath hoping there isn’t a pop-up message telling us our account has been shut down. In fact, just this morning a colleague messaged me because @MJLifestyle wasn’t showing up on Instagram for a new account and when it finally did, it wouldn’t allow her to follow us. 🤬

So when I heard about the new app Clubhouse that doesn’t restrict the conversation, I knew I needed to see what all the buzz was about. The app is currently only available to iPhone users and is by invite only. If you know someone on the app, they can invite you and you can set up a free account. Each person gets ONE invite so think before you hit send because you don’t want to waste an invite on someone who might already be invited—find a friend or business partner who needs an invite.

The Clubhouse app is a virtual speaking platform, there is no texting, video, or photo-sharing—just listening, speaking, and lots of networking. Once you join and complete your profile (include as much info about what you are doing and what you are looking for in your profile) you can begin checking out rooms. Be sure to add your Instagram and Twitter accounts if you have them because that is the way people on Clubhouse will be able to personally reach out to you. The main feed shows rooms started by people or groups you follow and interests you pre-selected at sign-up. You can drop into any room by simply clicking on it.

When entering a room, it is very much like you would be entering a seminar or TED Talk, the conversation will be happening in real-time and you are welcome to sit comfortably and listen along. The only difference is you don’t have to be showered or even dressed to join! A lot of rooms are set up like a Q&A where listeners get the opportunity to ask questions from successful entrepreneurs, accomplished artists, and influential people. If you have a question or wish to speak, click the little hand icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. This will let the moderators know that you would like to speak and they can let you in if the floor is open. Some of the mentor conversations go on for several hours and moderators need to close requests before the scheduled end time so don’t wait too long to raise your hand if you have a question.

Once you make it to the speaker’s box be sure to mute your mic as it doesn’t do so automatically. The moderator will call your name when it is your turn to speak or ask a question. Most rooms have rules you can check out in the upper right corner and typically they want you to keep your questions short and quick limiting time to less than 30 seconds. It’s a good idea to get a feel for the room before raising your hand, so hang out for a few minutes first and try to remember to be mindful of everyone’s time. There will be a party hat on your profile for your first-week on Clubhouse to let the speakers know you are still getting acquainted with the app. When they do call on you, don’t forget to unmute yourself :)

For the past ten days, my feelings about the app have been kind of like a roller coaster. It’s a really really cool tool that virtually gets you engaged in conversations and in front of people you would never normally have access to. You can gain experience from other people’s questions, ask your own questions, brag about what you have going on, and just by speaking up, you can get on somebody’s radar. I have already experienced some really powerful discussions and can’t wait to throw out a practice pitch in the cannabis shark tank-style pitch room. Most discussions I have been in have been extremely positive and educational.

There are of course a few negatives as I’ve already experienced a few “bully” type rooms with some drama going on that I prefer to stay away from. The app is cool now while it is restricted to users, but what happens when the whole world gets on, as the conversations get bigger, we start following more people, our feeds fill up with anxiety, and we might never get to raise our hands again if rooms get so full. I think people quickly find satisfaction in being part of the conversation, but I’ve also noticed it is a lot of extra noise and overstimulation in my mind and find that I need to take a day or two off.

A couple of tips I have learned:

How to Clap in Clubhouse — When you are in the speaker’s box and have your mic showing, you can do so by hitting your mic button on and off really quickly to let everyone know that you agree.

Invite a Friend to a room — If you are listening to a conversation that you want to share with someone else on Clubhouse, press the ‘+’ sign and ping your friend an invite to join.

How to Message Someone in Clubhouse — As I mentioned before, there are not ways to text or share photos, so how do you message someone you just met? To send someone a private message, you will need to have your Instagram account connected to Clubhouse. To do this, click on the person’s profile in Clubhouse. Expand the profile to ‘View Full Profile’ and scroll to the bottom to access their Instagram account. When you click on the Instagram account you will be directed to that user’s profile on Instagram where you can then send private messages.

All in all, I’m excited to see what doors Clubhouse opens up for all of us here in the Cannabis & Plant Wellness Industry. I think that it could be a really powerful tool to connect and educate. Follow me (MJ Lifestyle’s founder) at @jenniferskog we will be hosting various talks with women in plant wellness!

xo,