Stan Klos III

Nature’s Stash Founder, Farmer and Chief Flower Picker Stan Klos III saw a chance to help people choose “plants over pills” by growing industrial hemp and producing the highest-quality organic CBD and cannabinoid products. An entrepreneur by nature, Klos long savored the challenge of doing something at the highest level. A native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Klos (whose family nicknamed him “Stosh,” Polish for Stan) moved around the Southeast before growing up in Atlanta and Tampa, honing his competitive spirit as a youth soccer player who often traveled for high-stakes tournaments.

With a natural penchant for business, beginning with home remodeling and real estate, he graduated the University of South Florida with a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing and finance. Klos soon found his niche in commercial real estate and senior housing through progressive positions with Prudential Tropical Realty, Marcus & Millichap and the Tampa-based Greystone Health Network, where in the role of acquisitions manager he sourced and brokered increasingly larger and wider investments in the regional senior living/home health sector.

Following a stint in Chicago as a senior advisor to Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors, he has spent the last seven years running his own consultancy in Indianapolis, 3G Healthcare Real Estate, focused on assisting a private Florida business to expand its national portfolio of several
hundred nursing homes. In 2019, influenced by his career in healthcare and his entrepreneurial streak, Klos discovered fields of hemp growing near his neighborhood and, recognizing the emerging CBD market and the fertile farm conditions of Indiana, seized on a new challenge. By October 2019 he had leased land, borrowed equipment, and learned everything he could; one year later he saw his first harvest of 6,000 plants on three acres. Overseeing all elements, from seed to sale, Klos aims to produce the purest, cleanest, non-petroleum extracted CBD and rare cannabinoid products on the planet.

The driving force behind the venture, Stan Klos has brought aboard a seasoned team including medical and strategic advisors, as well as legal counsel provided by his wife Kristen, a partner at the Indianapolis law firm of Taft Stettinuis & Hollister. Once a star on the soccer pitch, Stan Klos now tames greener fields with the ambition of setting a new gold standard for the CBD industry

Where did the idea for Nature’s Stash come from?

In a neighborhood meeting that was designed to prohibit me from growing cannabis in the neighborhood. When the neighborhood and I were trying to come up with a solution to their concerns, a gentleman named Drew fell out and had a seizure. That is when I knew that my partnership with Purdue and a research project would further evolve into a product that would help people with medical needs.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

Calling on retail stores and distributors., ordering labels, visiting labs, mailing out orders, discussing strategy and new products, managing SEO, training sales people, follow up with customers all of this before noon.. Then have to work my job as an IB.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Story board and discussion with our board members. Nathan Schulhof, inventor of the MP3 player is our strategic advisor and we are very happy to have him on board.

What’s one trend that excites you?

People are realizing that there is a medical benefit of cannabis and generally more accepting of the plant.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Persistence.

What advice would you give your younger self?

You don’t have to do things the conventional way.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Take calculated risks, do things your way despite failure. BE UNCONVENTIONAL and don’t follow the heard.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Keep trying and never give up.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Being surrounded by smarter people and playing in emerging markets and gray areas.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

I have had failure everyday. Persistence is key to success. I try to stay in the blue ocean and away from the red ocean of bloody competition. I try to stay ahead of the curve and play in the gray area and forward side of progression.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I’m open book, ask me anything. Most top of mind, is enter markets where your competition is not. Be unconventional

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

Hopefully the money on your program.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Crm, Customer relationship Management is vital to my business.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Blue Ocean Strategy, it helps you map your competition and compete in areas there is less competition. For us, as a cannabis company, we are getting into other industries.

What is your favorite quote?

“I have not failed, I just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” Edison

Key Learnings:

• Persistence is mandatory
• Failure is not an option if persistence is implemented
• Don’t compete with competition, find different markets