Small Business Research and Enterprise

Recently, the charity Samuel Wilson’s Loan Trust, whose advisers work alongside SBREC, supported a wonderful business called My Healing Kit. We caught up with one of the founders, Tan, to learn more about how their business started and what their future plans are.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us! Could you start by telling us a bit about your business and the work that you do?

My Healing Kit is a natural holistic business, where I, together with my business and life partner Kaz, embrace the healing powers of nature. We do that by creating herbal blends, seamoss gels and other natural products that are beneficial for body, mind and soul. At the heart of our business is a desire to re-connect the ideas, practices and uses of ancient healing rituals to the modern-day diaspora, without erasing or appropriating the origins of where they come from.

What inspired you to start your business?

In my early 20s, I was diagnosed with 3 chronic autoimmune conditions which led to an array of health issues. I didn’t really understand where they came from, because no one else in my family had any of the conditions, and I didn’t know what to do to feel better. This is where my journey to take back control of my health started.

My first step was to re-visit the knowledge from my childhood and the expertise passed down from generations, to explore the powerful botanicals that nature has to offer. I was fortunate enough to be raised in an environment where natural folk remedies and Ayurvedic practices were embedded into family tradition. I also spent most of my childhood in Sweden, swimming in the lakes, soaking in the beautiful nature, and enjoying wild berries!

Building on the wisdom I received from my ancestors and heritage, and my strong connection to and love for nature, I started experimenting with natural health remedies. I felt like I was really onto something when one of my conditions almost completely disappeared. When I shared what I’d found with family and friends, they really liked it and it improved their lives as well, so Kaz suggested that we start our own business.

My own journey is far from over, but now I get to share these amazing healing herbs, roots and flowers so that they can help others on their healing journeys!

What is the main challenge you have faced so far while running your business?

Every year and every month you have new challenges when running a business – you don’t learn how to run a business in school and you end up having a lot of random issues that are only related to your business, so you have to learn as you go which can be really tricky. As a business owner, I’ve also found that I need to do so many roles instead of just one job and one role. I’m lucky to have a business partner, but between us we have to be the operations manager, the CEO, the graphic designer, the accountant, etc. That means we need learn how to do all those things as well, and it easily gets overwhelming.

The finances are also a massive challenge. We had to essentially prepare ourselves to be ‘broke’ for however many years it would take us to get over the threshold. I think this is where a lot of businesses give up, because it’s really hard.

Finding a functional work-life balance has also been challenging. Kaz and I had our first child in 2021, and it became a lot to manage at once. We needed to find time for our family, our business, and our relationship and there are only so many hours in a day.

A lot of these things are still struggles, they don’t go away – so it’s about finding ways to work around them or make your life easier as much as possible.

And on a more positive note, tell us a bit about your biggest wins and what keeps you going?

While there are a lot of challenges with running our own business, there are so many things that keep us going and that we enjoy!

We get to be our own bosses and decide how to use our time. Kaz and I don’t have to answer to anyone, and we can build whatever we want. We can also live in a different way compared to if we had 9-5 jobs.

At the heart of it all is the love for our business and what we’re doing for the world – that helps us through the rough patches.

We’re glad SWLT have been able to support you on your journey! What does the future hold for My Healing Kit?

The Samuel Wilson’s Loan Trust has helped us immensely. It was the first ever organisation that believed in us and we’ll forever be grateful. The funding has allowed us to scale up, and that’s what we want to keep doing going forward. Once our business is at a stage where we are comfortable, we plan to expand to Sweden. After that, we hope to expand globally!

It’s been great to hear from you, it’s so inspiring to see your success and how you’ve managed to spread what you learnt from your own conditions so that other people can be helped! As a final question, what advice do you have for anyone thinking about starting their own business?

Just do it – you’ll have plenty of time to deal with the battles of business later. The first steps should be all about creativity and passion. It’s so easy to procrastinate and not start. There is always an excuse for why you shouldn’t start now, but there is never a right time in the future when conditions will be perfect. The right time is now.

More from My Healing Kit:

---

*We strive to do our best when supporting small business and their growth. Our business databases can give you information and data that can help you with advertising, market research, company information, and industry factsheets. If you have already taken the plunge, we would love for you to join us at a seminar, our workshops cover digital marketing, business model canvas and planning, demystifying taxes and intellectual property to name a few. Visit our events page or website for more information.