Even if you get your start in corporate, it can be hard to resist the urge to jump into starting your own business if the timing is right. Or, at least that’s what Jonathan Plotzker-Kelly found when he had the idea to start making his own soap.
Stemming from personal need, Jonathon wanted to craft a soap that catered to his allergies and didn’t have scent additives and perfumes. He met up with an old chemist friend to create the soap, and inspiration struck. Jonathon had recently quit his job in retail and was looking for a new endeavor, and through the research process realized that fragrance-free soaps like his could have a space in the market. Jumping forward to today, his small-batch soap company Heliotrope now provides entirely natural bath and body products for customers looking to freshen up their self-care routine, and to avoid strong scents and colors.
Set on a mission, Jonathon leveraged his skills earned working various roles for large retail companies as well as his professional relationships to transform Heliotrope from a small B2C local brand into a well renown skincare & body business, with strong nationwide wholesale success and $400K in annual sales.
Allow me to introduce Jonathan Plotzker-Kelly…
—
I’m JP and I founded Heliotrope – a Bay Area company that creates natural skincare & body products. We make everything locally – in small batches – with no synthetic perfumes or artificial colors.
My first job out of college was Assistant Buyer at Lord & Taylor (RIP) in NYC. After moving to SF, I’ve worked at a lot of big retailers – Wililams-Sonoma, Restoration Hardware, Bare Escentuals.
I had left my last position as a Director at Good Vibrations, and was wondering what to do next. I was shopping one day for a fragrance-free shower gel (I have dermatitis & can’t stand synthetic perfumes in my products). It was hard to find – I eventually contacted one of the chemists I worked with 15 years before at Bare Escentuals & we started working together.
I knew there was room in the marketplace for a locally-made, all-natural, small-batch skincare company – one that eschewed fragrance. It’s all the rage now, but at the time – circa 2010 – none of the big players offered fragrance-free products.
I was lucky, since I already had a relationship with the chemist, so it was easy to say “I’d like a formula that includes such-and-such ingredients, which should do X and Y for the skin.”
I surrounded myself with other like-minded entrepreneurial folks (i.e. others who’d also left their jobs) who I’d worked with previously – so there were built-in relationships. A copywriter, a web designer, a graphic designer to do my logo & labels, et al. It’s really worth it to build good, mutually-respectful relationships with co-workers, since they’re your community, and they’ll be there when you need each other.
I wrote a lot in the last entry, but really it was all very organic. Logo? Check. Formulas? Check. Find a small shop in SF to start filling bottles & selling product? Check. Social media wasn’t quite as big back then as it is now, so a lot of contacting friends & family and hosting events at the shop.
We had some great neighbors at that first shop in Noe Valley, with a shared backyard – and we had some lovely after-work events to get neighbors to come & shop.
The personal touch. Folks in the shop love meeting the owner. Someone will say to me “oh, I love this product” and I’ll share that it’s my company, and there’s an immediate connection.
I’ve found that the most engagement I get on social media is when I’m featured – not to sound big-headed, but having a person that customers can connect with is very meaningful, rather than just images or influencers or memes.
Doing pop-ups is also fun – people have really appreciated the local, “small business” aspect of our company.
I tend to shy away from books or podcasts that are business related. I worked for over 30 years for big retailers, so I never thought I needed someone else to tell me what to do – I’d already done it!
The people I look up to were the buyers & inventory managers & store display people with whom I worked all those years at the big corporations. Some of my best friends after all these years are co-workers from those companies!
Things are hard in retail. Sales in SF have never quite bounced back from pre-pandemic. But many locals shop online, and have been very supportive. Surprisingly, our wholesale business is where all our growth has been – selling our products in bulk to other retailers. There are those to white label, which is fine – but the more exciting thing is how many “refill” shops are opening up all over the country (and abroad).
More & more retailers are catering to customers who want to fill – and refill – their own bottles. We’ve been doing discount refills at our stores since Day One, so it’s no surprise that people want this. Save money AND reduce waste? Sure!
Leverage your community – there are many people you already know that can help. Meet with an SBA advisor if you need some basic business information. Hire friends – or use barter to trade your products for their services – there are creative ways to get what you need.
HeliotropeSF.com or our handle on all the platforms is #heliotropesf.
My mother in law loves to sew.
A few years ago she asked me how to set up an online store.
She wanted to sell fancy throw pillows she was making.
I gave her very basic steps. Enough to get started (I don't know much about ecom).
A few weeks later she showed me her site. It…
Whatever your 2024 goals, hopes, and dreams are.
I hope you make it.
Everyone wants “yes.”
But they don’t wanna pay the price.
100 Nos is the price of one yes.
You can get as many as yeses as you damn well please as long as you’re willing to pay the price.
I was sad to learn that Charlie Munger died today at age 99.
What a life.
He would likely roll his eyes and argue that none of us should be too surprised, based on the actuarial tables, but we’ve lost one of the 20th century’s greatest investors and businessmen.
Chris and I…
