“It’s very liberating not to have any money, you realise you don’t actually die,” Pic’s Peanut Butter founder Pic Picot says.
These days, that’s not something he has to contend with, of course.
Picot has just sold a majority stake in his business to a private Australian firm owned by Melbourne-based Scalzo Foods, in a multi-million dollar deal.
But as a hippy in the 1970s, it was a different story for the Nelson-based businessman, who lived a free-wheeling life of adventure – hitchhiking across America, living in a Coromandel commune and sailing across the Pacific.
In those days, he funded his lifestyle with a passion for leather work, making belts and sandals.
He recalls heading off on a road trip to Christchurch in 1972 with just $10 to his name.
“I might have sold a belt or something and I announced to my friends, I’m off, I’m off to Christchurch. We were just picking fruit out of dumpster bins, out the back of fruit shops and things.”
With the financial windfall of selling Pic’s, which he started in his garage in 2007, you’d think Picot would be splashing out.
But he is adamant that the bulk of the money will be used to keep Pic’s Peanut Butter growing into new markets.
Picot was 55 when he started making peanut butter – out of curiosity and a dissatisfaction with the processed taste of many big brands.
At that point, he certainly wasn’t seeking to make his fortune.
But when sales at a local market took off, he knew he was on to a good thing.
“I’d spent 10 grand on buying the concrete mixer [for roasting beans] and the sack of nuts just to give it a go,” he says.
“I’d done some sums and figured that I would be able to make 50 jars a week, and that worked. I could afford to lose that 10 grand.”
It was the next step up that was the most stressful, he says.
“When I spent $50,000 and wrote it off to China [for production equipment], I really wasn’t confident. I was really anxious about that,” he says.
But when that worked, the next step for the business didn’t bother him at all.
“The demand kept growing and I thought, well, I could just tip my retirement fund in,” he says.
“I had a couple hundred k sitting around in stocks or something and I could tip that into it, see where it goes.”
Picot says he’s not a gambler.
“It didn’t feel like a gamble. It was curiosity. I thought if I didn’t do this, I’d be wondering what would’ve happened,” he says.
“I didn’t lose a night’s sleep.”
On the Money Talks podcast, Picot talks about growing up in Auckland in the Foodtown family (his uncle founded the supermarket chain and his father worked with him).
He also talks about dropping out of university, living an alternative lifestyle, sailing adventures and how he eventually ‘dropped back in’ to business success.
Listen to the full episode to hear more.
Money Talks is a podcast run by the NZ Herald. It isn’t about personal finance and isn’t about economics – it’s just well-known New Zealanders talking about money and sharing some stories about the impact it’s had on their lives and how it has shaped them.
The series is hosted by Liam Dann, business editor-at-large for the Herald. He is a senior writer and columnist, and also presents and produces videos and podcasts. He joined the Herald in 2003.
Money Talks is available on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.