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 \u2013 hitchhiking across America, living in a Coromandel commune and sailing across the Pacific.<\/p>\n
In those days, he funded his lifestyle with a passion for leather work, making belts and sandals.<\/p>\n
He recalls heading off on a road trip to Christchurch in 1972 with just $10 to his name.<\/p>\n
\u201cI might have sold a belt or something and I announced to my friends, I\u2019m off, I\u2019m off to Christchurch. We were just picking fruit out of dumpster bins, out the back of fruit shops and things.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the financial windfall of selling Pic\u2019s, which he started in his garage in 2007, you\u2019d think Picot would be splashing out.<\/p>\n
But he is adamant that the bulk of the money will be used to keep Pic\u2019s Peanut Butter growing into new markets.<\/p>\n
Picot was 55 when he started making peanut butter \u2013 out of curiosity and a dissatisfaction with the processed taste of many big brands.<\/p>\n
At that point, he certainly wasn\u2019t seeking to make his fortune.<\/p>\n
But when sales at a local market took off, he knew he was on to a good thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d spent 10 grand on buying the concrete mixer [for roasting beans] and the sack of nuts just to give it a go,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the next step up that was the most stressful, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I spent $50,000 and wrote it off to China [for production equipment], I really wasn\u2019t confident. I was really anxious about that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
But when that worked, the next step for the business didn\u2019t bother him at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe demand kept growing and I thought, well, I could just tip my retirement fund in,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a couple hundred k sitting around in stocks or something and I could tip that into it, see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Picot says he\u2019s not a gambler.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel like a gamble. It was curiosity. I thought if I didn\u2019t do this, I\u2019d be wondering what would\u2019ve happened,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t lose a night\u2019s sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
He also talks about dropping out of university, living an alternative lifestyle, sailing adventures and how he eventually \u2018dropped back in\u2019 to business success.<\/p>\n
Listen to the full episode<\/a> to hear more.<\/p>\n Money Talks is a podcast run by the NZ Herald. It isn\u2019t about personal finance and isn\u2019t about economics \u2013 it\u2019s just well-known New Zealanders talking about money and sharing some stories about the impact it\u2019s had on their lives and how it has shaped them.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Money Talks is available on iHeartRadio<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Apple Podcasts<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But as a hippy in the 1970s, it was a different story for the Nelson-based businessman, who lived…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[308,138,298,309,307,299,246,311,295,305,293,296,302,304,300,111,139,69,90,297,244,245,290,291,310,306,294,312,301,292,303],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-actually","tag-business","tag-butter","tag-die","tag-dont","tag-dream","tag-finance","tag-founder","tag-fund","tag-have","tag-his","tag-into","tag-its","tag-liberating","tag-money","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-peanut","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-pic","tag-picot","tag-pics","tag-realise","tag-retirement","tag-says","tag-talks","tag-tipping","tag-very"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}