Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Forrest Schrader. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Forrest, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?

At Lost in the Forrest, we now grow a large portion of our inventory. Growing tropical plants in bulk in Minnesota is not the easiest task. Figuring out an effective system to do so, definitely had many moments of failure. In growing these tropical beauties, there is always a percentage of plants that end up looking less desirable than the rest, essentially being ‘Ugly Ducklings’. These Ugly Ducklings took a longer time to grow to the point where they could be sold. We found ourselves overwhelmed with these ugly plants as they lingered around our growing spaces. Taking up so much space, we were not able to bring in as many new plants to grow to keep up with customer demand. At first, I threw some of them away simply to make room for new inventory. Selling them was not an option, I worry that if I had these ugly plants for sale, customers would lose trust in Lost in the Forrest. One day, feeling extra impulsive and anxious about these ugly plants, I decided to lean into their ugly appearance. Within minutes I had an Instagram post to announce a ‘Clear the Greenhouse Sale’ featuring all of my ugly duckling plants, but calling them ‘Second Chance Plants’. For this sale, all of these Second Chance plants would be discounted heavily to reflect their condition. Some plants were so ugly, we did not even recall what the name was, we grouped them together and had them for an even lower price. A few short days later our first Clear the Greenhouse Sale was about to begin, outside I was shocked to see a line of excited plant lovers ready to hunt for treasure among the plants that made me feel like a failure. As we opened the doors, plant lovers rush inside to hunt down treasures to bring home. As the sale ended, almost all of the Ugly Duckling plants had found new homes. Our Clear the Greenhouse sale is now our most popular sale, happening every four to five months.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Forrest Schrader, founder of Lost in the Forrest, and a former Elementary School Special Education Teacher in the Twin Cities, MN. When the world abruptly changed in March 2020, my school principal challenged the students to commit to a “perseverance project” as a way to try something new and continue pushing through roadblocks or setbacks. I was not going to let her students have all of the fun, so I started my own backyard Perseverance vegetable garden. This garden, filled with sugar snap peas, basil, tomatoes, and more, sparked my love and curiosity of growing plants, which quickly migrated indoors to houseplants.
Without the normal summer teaching jobs (and a smaller plant budget), I began selling her propagations and plants on Facebook Marketplace. A few garage plant sales later, Lost in the Forrest was officially born in the Fall of 2020.
In June of 2021, Lost in the Forrest graduated from an online-only shop based in a bedroom to a small retail space in Edina, MN. That summer, I also took a huge step into entrepreneurship and chose to grow Lost in the Forrest full-time, stepping away from teaching. A few short months later, Lost in the Forrest was repotted into its current location, a much larger space in St. Louis Park, MN at the West End.At Lost in the Forrest, we believe that anyone can be (and everyone will be) a successful plant parent given the right tools. We work to give our customers the tools and confidence needed to be successful plant owners. Knowing that there is always more to learn, we love being able to continue experimenting alongside our customers. A phrase I frequently used in the classroom that’s transferred to the day-to-day at Lost in the Forrest: “Mistakes are allowed; mistakes help us learn and grow.” This saying, mixed with some soil and water, embodies our hands on approach at Lost in the Forrest.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Coming from teaching, or any previous job, I was a small part of a bigger system, when owning a business you have to create the system. In teaching, there is a lot of collaboration and working with teams of people with different areas of expertise and experience. As Lost in the Forrest started, I found myself looking for approval in the decisions I was making. I was hungry to be constantly collaborating with anyone who would listen. While I still value collaboration, I have found a new love for being independent, and I have found myself thinking much more creatively and better at solving problems. The ability to act quickly on my impulsive creative ideas, usually, leads to more growth within Lost in the Forrest.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Separating myself, Forrest, from Lost in the Forrest has been one of the hardest things to navigate… in a way I am the business, sometimes feeling almost like a mascot. Early on, I was still teaching in the middle of the pandemic, and running a business at night, I was exhausted! At this time, there was a small group of people online who wanted to tear Lost in the Forrest down. Between the rumors this group started and genuine feedback from customers, I felt defeated and took the hurtful words/actions and the honest feedback personally. One night, a silly rumor pushed me to hit a breaking point, I wanted to quit and never look at a houseplant again. I stopped to think about how much I had persevered through, and if I was going to throw it all away over something so insignificant. In the middle of our living room, I start playing the song, “I get knocked down, but I get up again” and sing the song as loud as I can. At that moment, I decided to persevere, but take genuine feedback not as an attack on me, but rather as an opportunity for growth. I also decided that the mean internet haters were a sign of success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lostintheforrestco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostintheforrestco
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lostintheforrestco/

Image Credits
Summer Santiago