We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa Bastian. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.

Lisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

My son, Ben, graduated in 2020 (Covid). He started college away from home but quickly withdrew as lockdowns were becoming more intense. He enrolled at a local community college and did one semester. He decided to take a gap year which led him to LA for 2 months to help a friend with videography. He came home and went to work. After work one day he suggested, sort of on a whim, that we sell the granola I’ve been making for over 20+ years. He planted a seed and I don’t know if it was timing or if it was an opportunity to do something together, but I couldn’t let it go. We made several batches and shared them with everyone we knew to get feedback. People kept asking for it and we took that as a good sign to move forward. Even though I work full time I set out to learn about the CPG industry. We joined The Hatchery – a food and beverage business incubator in Chicago. I didn’t even know any resource like this existed.

Ben then decided to enter the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) for about 3 months. He went to Alaska from May – July to hike, kayak, and camp in the great outdoors and learn how to lead. He returned, entered community college again and we decided to formally launch PremOla Granola in March of 2022 with a build your own breakfast granola bowl in our home. We invited everyone we could think of. We thought if we don’t do this then we will always wonder about it. The launch was a success and propelled us to do farmers markets, artisan markets, and launch on e-commerce. As a result of the markets we are now in 15 local grocery stores. We continue to do farmers markets and are constantly learning about this fascinating CPG space. It’s hard, but the complete strangers (now friends) who keep coming back week after week suggests our product is unique and solving a problem.

Our PremOla Granola is a delicious and nutritious blend of nuts, seeds, and oats. It is made with 80% nuts, only 2 added grams of sugar and it is gluten-free. It’s perfect for a healthy breakfast, stand-alone snack, a topping on salad, yogurt, and oatmeal, Because of the healthy nutrient dense nuts it will leave you satisfied and energized.

Ben is in college and I still work full time. We told ourselves – we will keep going if – 1) we are always learning, 2) we are getting validation, 3) we are having fun, and 4) we are not bleeding cash. If any of those flip we will talk and pivot accordingly. We still don’t know if this is a viable business. Our product is expensive to make and therefore expensive to sell.

If we closed our doors tomorrow I would not regret one single thing. We have learned so much, met the most amazing people, learned a whole new industry (still learning) and what other mom gets to spend so much time with there 21 year old son?! It’s been incredible. We have stretched each other. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Being mother/son and co-founders we have had to learn new and different boundaries and we are a work in progress.

Lisa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Lisa and I married with 3 young adults. I’ve always enjoyed a healthy lifestyle. I love to cook, read, run, workout, spend time with my family, drink coffee and enjoy good wine. Over 20 years ago a friend called me and said – “hey, I have this granola recipe I think you might like”. We often shared recipes with one another. It mattered to me what I let my children put in their bodies.

I made it and it instantly became a staple in our home. Over the years I modified the recipe to become healthier as I learned healthier options. I added flaxseed, changed up the nut ratios, swapped out the brown sugar for coconut sugar (lower glycemic). I never had to buy store bought granola again. I found them to be high in sugar and loaded with oats. We are not anti-oat, but we like more nutritious nuts and less sugar, which are more filling and are simply better for you.

When Ben suggested we share this beyond our immediate family – something struck a chord. I knew this granola was good. It had to be for me to make it for over 20 years, eat it 3-4x a week and still not tire of it. I wasn’t so sure everyone else would like it too, but there was only one way to find out. I know people are better at reading labels and I knew this was clean, low sugar, gluten-free and super healthy. It’s absolutely so fun for us to be at the markets and see people bee-lining it to our booth to buy 3, 4, 5 and in some cases 10 bags of granola at a time. When complete strangers are enjoying it then I knew this was unique. It wasn’t just friends and family saying it’s good because that’s what they would say anyway.

Have you ever had to pivot?

This is a long one – but you asked. In life, I had to pivot when my oldest son started 3rd grade. A year or so prior to him entering 3rd grade I sensed Cooper was not grasping how to read when compared to his peers. I mentioned this to his teachers and they encouraged me “he was right where he needed to be.” I thought, ok – they’re the experts. When he started 3rd grade within about a month I knew he was struggling a great deal. I then became angry because I had sensed this a year prior and could have gotten him the help he needed. I tackled this issue like I do most things – I ran, prayed, read, and talked to my husband. On a particular run, while praying, I heard this audible voice say “bring him home”. I ignored that. I was just “getting my life back”. I have three children and they were all going to be in school. I dreamed of lunches with friends, grocery shopping alone, going to the gym, making great dinners. I had it all mapped out. Not to mention, I thought homeschoolers were off the grid. I mentioned this voice to my husband and he literally thought I was crazy. Who wouldn’t. He said, “you are NOT homeschooling”. I ignored him, but the voice in my head was getting harder to ignore. I went to the library and picked out substantial books on homeschooling. The more I read the more I thought – I think I can do this. My husband, upon seeing all the books, said, “Lis, you’re really freaking me out.” As Cooper continued to struggle, my husband slowly came around and I became marginally confident I could homeschool. We pulled him out in the middle of third grade. It was the single hardest parenting move I’ve ever made. First, you constantly second guess yourself. Second, you constantly compare your child to other 3rd graders who are reading at a high school level (or so it seemed). Third, the jury is out for quite a long time if this “experiment” was even successful. We got Cooper the necessary reading help he needed. It turns out he is dyslexic. My husband agreed we could homeschool for one year. After one year it was clear Cooper was thriving so we kept going. We then decided to homeschool all our children – that was even harder. We did end up homeschooling Cooper through 8th grade. I am happy to share he graduated high school and college early and is a voracious reader. He lives in Salt Lake City and works in finance and is an avid climber. One day as a young adult he said, “mom, I am not sure what would have happened if you didn’t homeschool me. It was one of the best things ever.” We homeschooled Ben through 3rd grade and our daughter Campbell through 4th grade. Our daughter is now at the University of Tennessee and loving every moment. Those years stretched all of us beyond belief. I was being schooled in patience, grace, humility, and trust. Years later when Ben suggested we start PremOla Granola together it was an opportunity to spend time with him. to learn and grow. I viewed entrepreneurship as another type of homeschooling. We armed ourselves with courses, books, support groups, knowledge and here we are today running a business together. Now Ben has an opportunity to enter a newly created entrepreneurial program in Rochester, New York at the Golisano Institute. We are still trying to determine a path forward for PremOla Granola, but we are confident we will make the right decisions going forward.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Books and more recently podcasts have played an instrumental role in my life, thinking, and philosophy. A book I have read several times was Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. If a holocaust survivor can find meaning in a concentration camp then I challenge myself to find meaning in whatever life throws at me. This single book has impacted me beyond belief.

Another favorites is – A Personal History by Katherine Graham. After her husbands tragic death, Katherine runs the Washington Post. She is a widow and a woman in the 1970s without a clue how to run a business. She rises to the occasion, surrounds herself with who and what she needs to succeed.

I love Bari Weiss Honestly Podcast. I also listen to All In and The Moth radio hour.

I don’t watch many Ted Talks but the one Megan Phelps Roper did was outstanding. I also read her book – Unfollow and listened to her podcast on The Witch Trials of JK Rowling.

I love memoirs and biographies. I find truth stranger than fiction and I learn from every book I read.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.premolagranola.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premolagranola/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083217102608
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/82481238/admin/feed/posts/