At the end of the rainbow

James Crow assumed all families had a “go to” jar. Whether it was a cut or a scrape, a bite or a burn, Crow’s mother would reach in the cupboard for the 1kg jar of homemade all-natural skin balm to soothe various ills.

Today, however, the 29-year-old Auckland-based entrepreneur is working to get the skin balm, based on a recipe that has been in his father’s family for six generations, into cupboards around the world. Selling under the brand name Pot of Gold, the balm is made from all natural ingredients, including sustainable Colombian palm oil, and is touted as a ‘first aid kit in a jar’ — a salve for everything from eczema to insect bites. It currently sells in around 50 retail stores in New Zealand, as well as online and through retailers/distributors in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Japan, the UK and the US.

The balm is the foundation product of Crow’s family company, which was set up two-and-a-half years ago and now also has a baby balm and a tattoo after-care product in its stable. Crow is the company’s sole director, and the daily driving force behind the operation as its only fulltime worker, but ownership is shared equally between Crow, his parents and two sisters.

Crow was a sponsored snowboarder before he went into business and always carried a jar of the family remedy on his overseas travels. He’d share it with snowboarding friends, which sparked repeated requests for a pot. Crow spied an opportunity to help more people by starting a business selling the balm.

He returned home about four years ago and initially worked alongside a web designer friend to learn the branding, design and website skills he knew he’d need to set up a company. About three years ago he began selling his first jars of the balm, made in his home kitchen, at Auckland’s Browns Bay markets.

Crow has been insistent from the start that the company’s products “earn their own way”. Rather than forking out several thousand dollars at the outset to get a minimum of 10,000 containers printed with labels, he bought 100 jars from a pharmaceutical company and labelled them himself. At the first market day he made $150. Crow plied the markets for a few months and then began approaching natural product and organic stores.

Growth has occurred organically. About half of Pot of Gold’s stockists have come on board after being approached by the company; the rest have come knocking. Crow’s “retired hippy” father works as a “really laxed out” South Island sales rep; his mother and sister sell at weekend markets in Auckland and Christchurch respectively.

Tourists who have discovered the product here and continue to buy online are another source of customers. But the key to offshore growth is building a network of distributors, mainly in Asia, says Crow. Again it’s happening organically; the current seven offshore distributors have all tried the product or heard about it and approached the company, asking to sell it in their respective markets. “It’s totally the opposite of what I hear everyone else doing. We don’t blow money going to trade shows.”

The idea to develop an after-care product for tattoos came through another family contact, tattoo artist Dan Andersen. Crow developed a formula; Andersen tested it on clients then hooked Crow up with another friend, Dan Ritter, who had just started a business selling tattoo products. Ritter took on distribution duties for the product, After Ink, and it’s now available in 60 New Zealand tattoo studios and 45 in Australia.

The company moved to contract manufacturing its products about eight months ago. Crow’s latest challenge is learning about logistics; given his aversion to overdrafts he has to carefully balance keeping enough stock with paying the bills.

The new father says being in business allows him to create a lifestyle where family and business work as one. He doesn’t subscribe to many common business ‘truisms’, dismissing the idea you’ve got to spend money to make money, and that a new business will only turn a profit after five years. The business has been entirely self-funded and this financial year will turn over around $200,000. “I wouldn’t say we’ve grown any slower than a business that has a $20,000 overdraft,” Crow says.

Crow likes to fill what he calls “ethical holes” in markets and wants to have half a dozen ventures up and running in the next five years. “Wherever I go and whatever I do I want to have a constant trail of genuine, honest products trailing behind me.”

Check out James Crow's blog here