Kunzea Products to Relieve, Heal, & Soothe

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Hayden Brass, Founder and Managing Director of Zea, located in Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Zea is a family-owned Australian health and wellness company founded on a love for Kunzea and Australian native ingredients. At Zea, we’re rooted in the infinite wisdom of nature and its ability to have a positive impact on both people and the planet. Our line of natural health and wellness products blends organic, wild-crafted, and sustainably grown native Australian botanicals with the best of green science to help you harness the remarkable properties of nature. We have four distinct brands for health, wellness, and lifestyle - Zea Relief, Zea Gourmet, Zea Essentials, and Zea Active.

Specialising in a diverse range of natural products, including pain management, skincare, 100% pure essential oils, Australian Honey, and sports recovery – we’re sure to have something for the whole family. With a lasting commitment to ethical trade and sustainable practices, we hold ourselves to uncompromisingly high standards–for you and the greater good of this earth. Our most recent focus has been on sustainability and being a profit-for-purpose business. We donate 1% of all sales to the planet and recently became a Certified B Corporation. This means we have met the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

Tell us about yourself

The entrepreneurial seed was planted over twenty years ago in my homeland Tasmania. Growing up with self-employed parents, I think it was inevitable that I would end up running my own business - it was just a matter of time! As the oldest child in the family, I was privy to getting up close and personal in the business with my parents from the time I was a baby and further into my childhood. I had several opportunities during my childhood to embrace my entrepreneurial spirit. One early memory was borrowing money from them when I was 10 to buy hundreds of earrings from a shop that was closing down and had significantly reduced their prices to clear. I then went on to sell these earrings at full price at the local markets. A taste of what was to come! Since "exiting" the jewellery market at the age of 11, my career has progressed a little further.

Later into my teens, I was travelling around Tasmania and Australia, promoting and selling our range of health and wellness products at markets and expos. During this time, we learnt about a mysterious Australian plant called Kunzea (kun-zee-ya) ambigua. Having not heard of it previously, we began investigating the benefits of this native botanical and became truly inspired by its impressive aromatic and therapeutic properties. I saw the potential in this spectacular plant and so decided to take a family project and turn it into a real business that could help people all over the world. And I also saw the opportunity to learn from a lot of the mistakes my parents made in their own businesses throughout my childhood. I believed I could bring in a different and new element to business - take a good idea and turn it into a great business.

After several years of testing, investing, promoting, and learning about Australian Kunzea, I eventually developed their own range of ethical Kunzea Products, and thus, a new company called Zea was born! What followed was Zea Relief (short for Kunzea Pain Relief), a natural personal care range that contains the natural therapeutic benefits of pure Kunzea Oil. Zea has since extended its range to include two new sub-brands. The first is Zea Essentials, which is a range of Australian essential oils and aromatherapy products. The second is Zea Gourmet, which consists of delicious Australian Native Honey, Bush Foods, and Condiments.

And as I have been on the journey of Zea for six years now, I think my inspiration has evolved from building something and creating something exciting to having a positive impact on the lives of millions of people around the world. And that’s only the beginning! We recently reached an incredible milestone - 8000+ five-star product reviews. Every single one of these has been written by a real customer who has received real benefits from using our Zea products. This is the number 1 reason why I do what I do. And it is shared daily with Zea’s and my vision to improve the quality of life and enrich the well-being of 10 million people worldwide by 2030.

Every single day we get emails, comments, and phone calls from people who say that their lives are literally being changed. They can walk, hold their grandkids, get a good night's sleep, and walk their drive…that is what drives me. Being a profit-for-purpose business that has a positive impact on people's lives every day. We want to build a household brand that is loved by millions of people.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

In November 2021, Zea became a Certified B Corporation after making intentional changes to the business to ensure that we're continually making a positive impact on the world. This means we have met some of the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

B Corporations are for-profit organisations certified as being at the forefront of a major culture shift in the business where the traditional bottom line of profit has been expanded to include the triple bottom line of Profit, People, and Planet. B Corps work towards addressing these issues through business – like tackling inequality and poverty and the creation of high-quality jobs.

From our locally and sustainably sourced botanical ingredients to our eco-friendly packaging, through to the way we run our ethical company, we believe in taking responsibility, and this certification is proudly a reflection of that. Achieving this impressive certification was pivotal in ensuring that we are operating a new kind of business – one that balances people, planet, purpose, and profit.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Like any small business, we have had our fair share of challenges. One of the biggest challenges of a fast-growth, product-based business like ours is cash flow, as there is always a gap between manufacturing products and selling the stock where cash has to be found. Otherwise, the most challenging part of our family business, both personally and professionally, was when my Dad passed away within the first two months of launching Zea. Losing my Dad and one of my business partners was very hard, but to be honest, it actually put me in a position where I was more motivated than ever to make Zea work and make Dad proud.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Changing the world is hard, but it is not something we have to do alone. As a strong and passionate Zea community, we know that together we can do great things. We're here for better business, and that means everything we do has a purpose. It is critical to have a strong and empowered team that is aligned with the company's vision and mission to help drive the business forward.
Whatever challenges you face, you get through them and come out the other side stronger than ever. Growing a business is hard, and you need to be resilient. Every time you get knocked down, you need to take it as a learning opportunity and grow from it.
And most importantly, you need to know in yourself as an entrepreneur what is important to you outside of business as well and what makes you happy as a human. You will be living and breathing your business, and you need to love it and love the purpose, if you are going to succeed.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.zea.global/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zearelief
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zearelief/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeaaustralia
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zea/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.