Happiness Before Money For Entrepreneur

James Crow likes to think outside the box when it comes to his startup. If you were to ask him about his business philosophy then he would have to tell you that it’s happiness before the cash reports Stuff.co.nz.

For Crow, that means organic growth and time with his young family are part of the equation and he’s in no hurry to find an outside investor.

Crow is director of a startup called SCFamily, which makes a skin balm called Pot of Gold and an after-care product for tattoos. He shares ownership with his parents and two sisters.

The balm is based on a recipe which has been in the family for six generations. Crow, a former professional snowboarder, used to take a pot of it overseas when competing and share it with friends. They always asked for more.

Crow’s first foray was to buy 100 jars from a pharmaceutical company, make the balm in his kitchen at home, and sell it through weekend markets on Auckland’s North Shore. He now sells Pot of Gold online and through about 50 retailers in New Zealand, and distributors in Australia, the US, UK, China, Malaysia and Japan. Crow doesn’t bother going to trade shows. Most of his distributors have found him, he says, through word of mouth publicity on Pot of Gold’s efficacy.

It’s a genuine family business and one he wants to pass on down the line.

“This is the kind of business that couldn’t be sold because of the family roots,” says Crow. “And I would never want my son to grow up and say, ‘that company used to be ours but my dad sold it’. The skin balm has been made by generations of my family on stoves all over the country for the past 100 years. I could never put a price on it.”

Logo from SC Family

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