S1E15: Overcoming DOUBTS & DOUBTERS with Kara Goldin
Welcome to Women Rocking Business, where we are here to help you rock YOURSELF, rock your life, and rock the world as a woman entrepreneur, because the world needs you and the time is now. I’m Sage Lavine, CEO, trainer, unretired camp counselor, and best-selling author of the Hay House book Women Rocking Business. We had the honor of serving over a hundred thousand women entrepreneurs around the globe, just like you, who are here to do more, be more and have more by giving your gift to the planet. Let’s do this.
Hello everyone. I am so excited to dive into the topic of overcoming your doubts and Your doubters .
Sage Lavine
00:00:42
For any of us as women entrepreneurs, doubt is something that stops us in our tracks as do the doubters, the naysayers. There’s nobody on the planet that I’ve met that knows more about this topic than Kara Goldin, the best-selling author of Undaunted, Kara has been named EY entrepreneur of the year 2017 California, and one of InStyle’s Badass 50 in 2019. Kara hosts the amazing podcast, The Kara Goldin Show. In the incredible bestselling book, Undaunted Overcoming Doubts and Doubters, it was released just a few months ago, it’s hit the Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestseller lists. Kara is here in the Bay area with her family near me. So excited to have you Kara.
Kara Goldin
00:01:26
Yeah, thanks for having me. I’m very excited to be here.
Sage Lavine
00:01:30
For those of you who have a product inside of you or who know you want to really grow business and just scale it beyond what you could even imagine… Kara is somebody who’s done that, it’s so impressive. You know, Kara you’re out there calling yourself an accidental entrepreneur. I tend to say the same thing about myself, but how do you think that impacted your journey and getting Hint Water to like where it is now?
Kara Goldin
00:01:56
Well, I really focused, and really not even intentionally, but focused on this problem that I was trying to solve in my own life, which was as you and I have talked about before, I did not enjoy drinking water. I drank diet soda, a Diet Coke in particular for years, not actually thinking that I was doing anything wrong. After I left my career in tech, I was taking a couple of years off and started my family and was just kind of living and doing what I was doing. Suddenly, I realized I had gained all this weight. My skin had developed really kind of funky adult acne.
Kara Goldin
00:02:39
My energy levels were really impacted and I thought, During this time that I’m taking a break, I’m going to get healthy.” So I started to go through a process with food, but no one actually shared that it could possibly be the diet soda. Again, this like 16 years ago now. People didn’t think that there was anything wrong with diet sweeteners. mean, you kind of remember this time where… I was very alone. When I tested this theory with just by swapping my Diet Coke out for plain, that’s when I saw this dramatic change, my skin cleared up, my energy levels were back and I had lost over 20 pounds and two and a half weeks.
Kara Goldin
00:03:30
I mean it’s crazy, right? So people would ask me when I would see them, “What are you doing? I mean, you, you look dramatically different.” Cause it was a big change. And I would share this with people. Then finally about a year into this journey, I went into my local Whole Foods and San Francisco and I started looking for a product that had fruit in it, because to be honest with you, I thought I was going to start cheating. Right? Like I was because I was so bored with water and I thought, I don’t really want to put juice in, cause it tastes sort of watered down…and instead if I just had a little bit of fruit in it. That’s when I recognized that there was this hole in the market, but I certainly didn’t think that I was equipped because I didn’t have the experience to actually go and solve this problem.
Kara Goldin
00:04:23
But the more I started thinking about it and just my excitement around what I had discovered… I never felt like that when I was in journalism, when I was in tech. That’s when my curiosity really cropped up and I thought, “Okay, well today this is going to try and figure out how do I get a product on the shelf? Then tomorrow I’m going to try and figure out how I find distributors.” When I realized in this journey was, I always say, I I’m an accidental entrepreneur, but I also realized something so key in my life whileI was going through this process. I sort of had fallen out of enjoying or, or really realizing about me, which was, I was so interested in just the idea of launching a beverage company because I was learning and I was educated and I was the least knowledgeable person in the room. Right? But that didn’t mean that I couldn’t go learn as long as I was willing to ask anybody and everybody for help and information and just make it happen.
Sage Lavine
00:05:46
I could not be more impressed with your journey. I didn’t really anticipate going here, but my heart is feeling tugged in so many directions. You know, my dad just passed away and my dad passed away from colitis and ulcers, which were ultimately caused by what he was drinking. For 30 years, he drank Diet Coke three times a day. I think of about, you know, Kara, I think about how many people don’t know what they’re putting into their bodies. Then they end up with digestion issues and digestive disorders and so many problems like your sharing with the skin and the nervous system, like being thrown out of whack by putting chemicals in our bodies.
Sage Lavine
00:06:28
I’m going to get emotional, but it’s like, do you know how many people’s lives you’re changing by introducing Hint? What a key and essential problem you solved just by being brave. You know, your book is called Undaunted and you talk so much about what it takes to overcome doubts and not only doubts, but doubters. In training hundreds of thousands of women entrepreneurs myself, I see us getting strangled by our doubts. Here you are here bringing a solution that would have added for sure, 10 or 15 or 20 years to my father’s life. He’d still be here. So I just want to know, like, what is your advice for us around overcoming those doubts that feel so real in the moment?
Kara Goldin
00:07:15
Well, I think there are a lot of things that you said. First of all, I’m really sorry about your dad’s. So hard…
Sage Lavine
00:07:23
It’s just real and it’s true. I think that’s what makes interviews potent is like just really speaking the life journey that we’re all on. Right?
Kara Goldin
00:07:32
Well, and here’s what I realized when I was thinking about this idea is that it is so hard. It was hard for me to understand. It was hard for me to get healthy and I just about gave up and I truly looked at this can of Diet Coke one day and saw the ingredients. And I thought, “What am I drinking?” I mean, I care more about what I’m putting in a car. I just don’t question it because the packaging is pretty. There’s, you know, celebrities, they’re on TV, you know, showing me that they’re drinking it and it’s called” diet” What’s really bothered me. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about this, Sage, but I don’t know when I decided that the word diet was an added benefit, right?
Kara Goldin
00:08:19
I’m quite sure when I took a vocabulary test right in grade school, that diet was, I wouldn’t say it’s a negative word, but it’s something that you kind of don’t want to do. Right? Do you know what I’m saying? So along the way, and, and particularly for girls, so teenage girls… that is when they start and they start looking at diet as something that they do, but maybe they don’t want to do it, but then we put it on a, can we say, “Oh, that’s better for us.” Its kind of whacked.
Sage Lavine
00:08:59
So whacked. It’s so whacked.
Kara Goldin
Yeah, that was really where I was when I was researching kind of why I believe that it was healthier and better for me. Then I started looking at things like low fat and the science behind something being better for you that’s low fat. Even they’ve done studies around the drink Vitamin Water. Right? Vitamin Water was never my thing. But it was, I mean it’s a huge company. A lot of people drank it and I think what’s so, I mean, people call it brilliant marketing and yeah.
Kara Goldin
00:09:40
It’s crazy though how many people have gotten addicted to it because even the only up until a couple of years ago, did they even have a diet version of that drink. But vitamin and water, they weren’t guaranteeing how many vitamins you got. Right? They just said, “There’s vitamins in here.” There’s a ton of sugar. There was this much sugar in a Vitamin Water as a can of Coke. So consumers are every day falling into these traps. So I really, I had fallen into that trap, but I thought by launching a product, I could actually help people get healthier.
Kara Goldin
00:10:29
I remember speaking with the girlfriend of mine when I was first thinking about starting this idea who worked for the Center for Disease Control. She was telling me, she still works for the Center for Disease Control, but she was telling me about this new division within the CDC on type two diabetes. At that time, 15 years ago, it was like 2% of the population had type two diabetes or pre-diabetes. Today 45% has type two diabetes or pre-diabetes. The thing that is so bizarre on a lot of levels is that most of those people that they’ve studied say that they, first of all, type two diabetes as compared to type one, you’re not born with it.
Kara Goldin
00:11:14
So something happens along the way and it could be some tied to your genetics or whatever. But in addition, these people are claiming to be drinking diet and eating low fat. So what I mean, what are we doing? We are increasing the risk of health issues and knowingness, yet nobody talks about that. Diet soda is, I mean, it’s crazy. So for me, I still to this day, when I, when people say, “What’s it like running a beverage company?” I have to sort of kind of get my arms around that concept for a minute because yes, we are a beverage company, but for me, the beverage has always been the tool to actually help people get healthier.
Kara Goldin
00:12:08
So it just was something that I felt like I was gifted to, to really go and do. Again, I was addicted to the stuff and I thought it was crazy. And people said, “Oh, did you go down to one?” No, I just stopped. I just said, “I’m done. I’m finished.”
The number of people from the day, we put our first bottle on the shelf at Whole Foods, probably coming from the tech industry, we put an email and a phone number on our bottles and it was crazy how many people were calling us and emailing us off of that bottle. I’ll tell you, going back to your original question around the doubters and you know, how do you kind of get through these people?
Kara Goldin
00:12:56
I remember, first of all, I had my own doubts and then I would run into… I would share with my family or my friends that I was going to go and launch this beverage company. Family and friends are the worst because they want you to be safe. Right? They want you to do all of the stuff that easy. Right? So they’re never going to tell you, or 99% of them are never going to tell you to go and go out and do it. Right? Then the beverage industry… I ended up having one of the stories and the book. I ended up having this meeting about a year end to this when I was just about to give up, because I just couldn’t figure out how to get traction.
Kara Goldin
00:13:36
I had a meeting with this executive at Coca-Cola and he said to me about 15 minutes into the conversation. I shared what I had, you know, done in the Bay area where I live and you know, it was doing great. I was sort of on my sales mode andalso really excited to share that there’s so much I don’t know. He interrupted me and said, “Sweetie, Americans love sweet. This product isn’t going anywhere.” And I was like, like, “Wait, what just happened?” I mean, this guy just said this across the phone and, and people I’ve had, I’ve shared that story when I’ve been out speaking over the years and people have said, “Why didn’t you hang up the phone?”
Kara Goldin
00:14:18
I said, “I don’t know.” I don’t know the response. I was so shocked. And I’m sure you’ve been in situations like that where you’re like, “Wait, what just happened?” But I went on to listen. Like I’m so thankful to this day that he actually said that to me because it sort of threw me. Right? I sat there and I just listened, and what I listened to for the next 45 minutes was his strategy. He had been at the soda company for years and he was telling me why he was right. And at the end of that call with this person that had years of experience in a billion dollar business…He had so much credibility in my mind when he hung up the phone, it was clear as day to me that my mission and purpose for a beverage was very different than his.
Kara Goldin
00:15:12
He was sharing with me that consumers want lower calories. They don’t care about health. Can you imagine?
Sage Lavine
Wow, this is so cool. I love this discussion. I want to just take a pause and share something I know you guys might want to know about and that’s that we just launched a rock, your business bonus training package for anyone who buys my book, Women Rocking Business. The book hit number one when it was recently published with Hay House and the book is a 12-step system for any woman to go from having just an idea to building a six- or seven-figure business with a simple and elegant business plan that’s based in women’s values. You know, women are starting businesses one and a half times faster than men right now, but we’re also failing faster than men. But what I’ve seen is that when we learn to build businesses that align with our innate values of collaboration, rather than competition empowerment, rather than power over.
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Sage Lavine
00:17:04
It’s got to validate the place that you’re coming from as well, because you’re like, “Wait a second. Like, it’s a new era. It’s a new decade. It’s a new dawn.” Like, yeah, look at what’s happened with Whole Foods. Look at what’s happened with the wellness industry, right? It’s the second fastest growing industry, right?
Kara Goldin
But he couldn’t see it. That’s what I always say to people. Sometimes the people that are on the outside are actually the most dangerous to the industry as a whole, because they see something. Now you have to be able to execute on that. But it’s, but today, and I’ve read so many entrepreneurial stories along way, and it’s the same thing.
Kara Goldin
00:17:50
It’s not the people who come with loads of experience that actually go and figure something out. Again, you can see this in lots of different industries. So that meeting where he was dismissive, rude, whatever you want to say. I was so thankful for that meeting. I got off and I said, “I have decision to make.” I either quit or I throw my foot on the gas, because he’s going to eventually figure it out. He has way more money than me. And so I just got to get going and execute better. So that is my doubters story.
Sage Lavine
00:18:30
Talk about fuel under your fire, right? It’s like, I think that’s the key. You’re speaking to something I really believe, which is one of the secrets to success is really speed. It’s really momentum. It’s really, you know, I’ve watched you do this. It’s like you you get the nudge from the universe. You go for it. You also said something that I think is so important, which is you don’t identify with being the CEO of a beverage company as much as you identify – forgive me if I’m you know, changing the word around – as much as you identify with someone who’s out to help people, you know, really create amazing health. Right? I just think so many women entrepreneurs get hung up in this because we’re so passionate and we’re so on fire and we’re so nurturing and we want to help everyone.
Sage Lavine
00:19:16
It’s like, I never set out to be a business coach. I set out to change the way business is done. You know, it’s like I help people, help women value themselves, help women have lives, where they can make incredible money and live on their terms and give back. That ended up looking like business coaching. If I had gotten hung up on business coaching or being a digital marketer, I would have gone into resistance a long time ago. So I just want to ask all of you that are listening, you know, where is that place where you might resist the thing that’s tapping you on the shoulder because you don’t identify that way? That tool, that product, that service is the doorway into changing the world.
Sage Lavine
00:19:57
Just like with what you’ve done, Kara. I think that one of the things that you’ve done and your speaking to it already is, you know, you’ve gone up against major beverage companies. You’ve had conversations with people like the man you were just talking about that, who who have basically just said to you, like, “You don’t know what you’re doing, this isn’t going to work.”
You literally looked that resistance in the face and you’ve said, “Watch me.” So like, what do we do in the face of naysayers? How do you recommend…what’s your advice for women who are just looking for that little, you know, extra morsel of courage? You seen to have gotten that in droves.
Kara Goldin
00:20:42
I think training your brain to look at these naysayers and think, “What is their purpose?” Right? So the gentleman at Coca Cola had a purpose, right? He had been trained to think a certain way, very different than what my purpose was. So I wasn’t angry at him. I didn’t get off the phone depressed and defeated instead. I just was like, “Okay, we’re different.”
Kara Goldin
00:21:23
So if you ever get that opportunity, so often we stop at, “Oh, this person said it was a bad idea.They have way more experience and they know.” Instead, really think for a minute, and maybe you do it by journaling or whatever. Maybe you do it in your own kind of private time. You don’t talk to another friend about it or whatever, but if you can actually get… you know what your purpose is, right? If you can get to their purpose and really understand why they might be thinking. So often when you’re feeling defeated, if you look at why they would say such a thing, then you can see that you’re on two different rivers. It doesn’t matter. Right? And you just keep moving.
Kara Goldin
00:22:03
I think that that is so important. I also felt that it was so valuable because he really gave me the strategy behind a multi-billion dollar company on how they thought about things. It was amazing, right? Not that it was that useful, but more than anything, it told me that he wasn’t coming down my river anytime soon, right? So I was really happy about it. I think that if you look at situations and actually see, once it bother you, again, this is a deeper sort of conversation, but I don’t think that people generally are bad or intentional.
Kara Goldin
00:22:48
I try and lead my life thinking that people will say things because that’s what they believe. Right? Maybe they’ve been trained to believe that way or whatever, but they might be wrong. Oftentimes they are, right? And if you just sort of live like that, then you’ll be happier.
Sage Lavine
00:23:09
Yeah. I am so picking up what you’re laying down and I love that this is the deeper conversation because I tend to attract pretty deep women. They’re deep thinkers and they’re listening to you from a deeper place, because Kara, you are this magnificent combination of heart and head. I think that’s one of the things that women entrepreneurs forget is like, we oftentimes we get in our head and then we, we sometimes, you know, lose the heart, the passion, or we’ll be like in our passion and we stop critically thinking about things. What I see you doing is using your passion is fueled to drive you forward, but using your mind and the brilliance of your mind to keep you in check and to live from that belief of everybody’s doing their best, like everybody’s trying their best.
Sage Lavine
00:23:58
If that’s true, then rather than taking offense at, or taking things personally, which I think the taking things personal issue can stop a lot of women entrepreneurs in their tracks and slow them down. What you’re speaking to is like, let’s just assume that everybody’s coming from good intentions. Let’s just think critically about this because they’re not always right and they’re looking through a totally different life lens and the thing that’s going to make each and every one of you who’s listening successful is by continuing to look through your lens, like your particular entrepreneurial endeavor is a mixture., It’s a recipe of all your life experience, bringing forth, like leading edge of consciousness, like what you’re supposed to bring to the market next, whether it’s a service or a program or a product.
Sage Lavine
00:24:44
I just think I want to keep kind of want to keep on this just for a couple of more minutes, because the thing that I see you do so well and Undaunted…I’m going to recommend every single one of the copy, buy five copies, buy 10 copies, give them to your women friends. You know, Kara was featured in New York Times Square on the frickin big, glowing billboard lights. I mean, it’s just so impressive what you’ve done, because you didn’t need to go write a book. You launched a successful beverage company, but you knew that the bigger message behind the beverage company was what mattered to you. I want to stay on this piece of, you know, forging forward in the face of all the figuring out.
Sage Lavine
00:25:28
I mean, I think that’s one of the things I’ve been most impressed about with you. It’s like you knew nothing about beverage companies. You knew nothing about scaling a product. I think it’s so easy for women to go, “I’ve been called to do this thing, but I really don’t know anything about it.” And it’s like, who cares? You’ve been called, can you say more about that piece?
Kara Goldin
00:25:46
Yeah. I mean, I think it’s sort of this life lesson that I’ve learned as well around constantly learning. So I often insert myself into circles where I know zero, right? My favorite conferences, just as an example, are ones where I don’t know anyone, I just show up there and I, you know, roughly there something there that I think I can get out of it, but I’m kind of ears and eyes wide open when I go and I’m a little uncomfortable and I immerse myself into situations where I’m learning.
Kara Goldin
00:26:28
That’s what I learned when I started Hint. Here I was an executive I’m running, you know, a billion dollars in business at America, online, running their e-commerce and shopping. I stumbled upon this idea for beverage company and I’m carrying cases into Whole Foods and stacking bottles. I’ve never had so much fun. And people were like, “Can you make a business out of this?” And I’m like, “I don’t know. I mean, I think so. I hope so. At some point. I’m working my butt off. I mean, I hope I can do that.” But the fun of it was that every time I would get comfortable, then something new would come on the plate.
Kara Goldin
00:27:09
Like I was, you know, excited that I was in Whole Foods. Then suddenly the whole foods guy who’s stocking merchandising, and the store says to me, “Oh, we don’t allow vendors to come in to the store to actually do deliveries. You have to have a distributor.” So I’m like, “Who’s the distributor? I’m a seasoned executive from America online.” I have no idea what is a distributor. I said, like the Coke truck that goes down the street, do you have their phone number?
Kara Goldin
00:27:51
I mean, where, how does, how does this work? So all of the sudden, all of these mini puzzles kind of came into my world. So that’s what I share with people all the time now is that always make sure that you got some little puzzles that you just haven’t figured out. Instead of looking at those things as a burden, look at those as something to look forward to, right? Because when you solve them, then you feel good about yourself and you can look back on all those little challenges along the way and be pretty proud.
Kara Goldin
00:28:32
That’s something that I think again, until I lived it, I wasn’t able to articulate that. But that was the other reason for really getting it into words. I mean, this book, I didn’t even intend. I knew plenty of authors out there, but I didn’t intend on writing a book. This was my journal. It was over 600 pages. I would be out speaking and talking about, you know, the Coke story and people would ask all these additional questions. Then suddenly I would say, “How did I feel about that? Why didn’t I do these certain things?” So I started writing it down. And then finally about two years ago, I think you and I were talking when I finally had committed to this, but I didn’t even know how to write a book.
Kara Goldin
00:29:18
I was like, “How do you write a book?” I guess you get a publisher. I don’t really, maybe don’t have a publisher. I don’t really know how this whole thing works. But again, all of the sudden I had inserted a puzzle into my life, which at moments it was hard. Right? And that’s okay. Right? Sometimes you just have to put it away for a little while and, you know, and then start again. But you’re like, “Okay, I got to tackle this whole thing and I got to get going and figure out if I can actually get some traction on it.” Then you look over your shoulder and look back on what you’ve actually done. That’s my journey. That’s my life.
Kara Goldin
00:29:59
And I, in my journey, I want to be known as somebody who is creative, who figures things out, who isn’t afraid. I’ll even go a step further. One chapter in the book that I talk about is recognizing what your fears are too. Maybe that’s in business. In my case it’s in my personal life. I’m terrified of heights. I’ve been terrified of heights my whole life. So I purposely insert height situations into my life.
Kara Goldin
00:30:39
One of the stories that has really hit lots of people and I’ve heard from many is a story about the Grand Canyon. That was my first memory of knowing that I was afraid of Heights. While I prepared and tackled and thought I had, you know, that was the worst thing that was going to happen. It wasn’t the worst thing that was going to happen. You know, you’ll have to read it to sort of see, but that’s the point where… How many people didn’t see the pandemic coming this year? I didn’t. Right? And you just, but when you have enough kind of little puzzles in your life, little challenges and you know, “Okay, I got this.”
Kara Goldin
00:31:22
Yep. I don’t know how, but I do. Then the more of those, those are the people that will ultimately go and solve the problem. People have said to me, particularly in March when this whole stuff was going down, in addition, I’ve got a book coming out, I’m running a company. I mean, we’re an essential product. So we’re on the hook by the U.S. government to make sure that our factories are running 24 hours a day, that we’ve got bottles on the shelf. I mean, there was a lot, right? I was very zen about the whole thing, because I thought I can freak out or I can just go and I can do what I can do.
Kara Goldin
00:32:07
I think that when you have so many little puzzles and so many little challenges, when something really big comes up, you say, “This one’s a little harder, but I got it.” I’m just going to keep relying on how I dealt with things in the past. I mean, 2009 financial crisis for me was life-changing right? And taking a lot of those things that I did right and wrong and bringing that into the pandemic. I was like, “Okay, let’s go.” Again, you have to rely on yourself, but I, again, I can’t emphasize enough that setting yourself up with uncomfortable situations and challenging yourself is key.
Sage Lavine
00:33:00
Ever since I was young, I remember just making this decision that when I was afraid of something, I should move toward it. It’s why I went skydiving. It’s why I moved to New Zealand, like all these things, right? It’s like, there’s so much in what you’re sharing, but the bottom line is, you know, your problems don’t define you. I see women all the time go, “Oh my gosh, I’m so overwhelmed. Social media, video marketing, online conversion opt-in pages, blah, blah, blah.”
It’s like each one of these things that you can learn, it doesn’t define you, but it’s a part of your success. That “come from” place that you’re seeing to Kara, that “I’ve got this, “you know, and it’s like, we train the mind either before us are against us.
Sage Lavine
00:33:41
It’s like, what I’ve seen you do so well also is just be the beginner and the room, no matter how much of a badass you are, no matter how much success I’ve seen you create. I’ve also seen you in situations where you’re like, “What is that? I don’t understand, you know, explain it to me.” I just acknowledge you for that. I invite all of you guys to really be willing, no matter how old you are, no matter how much expertise you have in a certain field, let yourself be the beginner, let yourself be.Let yourself be the lifelong learner, like Kara speaking to, because that’s, what’s going to set you up for that, that just that humble magnetism. You know, you’ve magnetized so many things to you, Kara, and I’m always astounded at how little ego there is in there.
Sage Lavine
00:34:26
You know, you’re just humble and you’re grounded and you’re in this for all the right reasons. And that’s what it takes. You know, I remember last week, our, you know, our Facebook ads account got hacked and, you know, it’s like, we’re going into a launch. Like, all of the things could’ve come up. I was like, “What if I didn’t let this tip me over? Like, what if I was just zen about this? Like, what if I just was like, you know, we’ve got solutions we’ve got back up and my team already has like six solutions in the works.” There’s something that you’re speaking to around. Just the commitment and just doing what you can do and letting go of, of that, which you can’t control.
Kara Goldin
00:35:03
And learning, right? I think that’s the other thing, that challenges will happen in your life. They will continue to happen. What I would say about that one in particular…Was there something that maybe you didn’t have the right controls on whatever, whatever it was, you can always learn from challenging times. Again, they can be challenging times that don’t turn out in the end, how you want, or maybe they slow things down or whatever, but can you look back. For me, another story in the book that I talk about is an incident with Starbucks. We were in all of the Starbucks across the country, and we got booted out of there on very short notice after a year and a half.
Kara Goldin
00:35:52
We were doing almost triple the number of the number of bottles that we were to sell every day, but they changed strategy and they were really apologetic and very nice about it, but they were still kicking us out. It was a bummer. It was hard. I remember one day a friend said to me, “You know, you’ve got customers. You just have to figure out how to communicate with them.” And I said, “How am I going to communicate with them? I don’t have their emails. I don’t know how I’m going to, I don’t have money to go launch ads saying, ‘we used to be at Starbucks and now we’re not.’” Somewhere along the way, as I was talking to somebody, I said, and it’s 40% of my business.
Kara Goldin
00:36:33
I said, that’s what it is. I said, “Why, why did I allow 40% of my business to be sitting in the hands of a company that could just change strategy?” Right? So today, you and I talked about the journey a little bit. Everybody has a journey. I’m always looking at the sales numbers constantly in our company. And I’m like, “That’s too high. You need to figure out how to have other business to, to balance that out.” And people would be like, “Why?” And I’ll share with them the Starbucks story.
Kara Goldin
00:37:15
They’re like, “Really, that happened?” I’m like, “It did.” But the reason I cared about that was because the 40%, and again, from that, didn’t turn out the way that I wanted it to turn out. But it actually was a super important lesson for me to go back and, and really look at.
Sage Lavine
00:37:35
Same thing with me when the pandemic hit and we were so dependent on live events and I spent 90 days working harder than I had ever worked to get everything virtual. I thought to myself, “I’m never doing that again.” My systems now are in place for virtual events across a variety of platforms. It was like, you know, so many people are like, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” I’m like, you know, I’m a hundred percent responsible for the fact that, you know, I put the majority of our revenue and financial health of the company in live events. Now I know, and I’ll never make that mistake again. Now we’re diversified and diversification is a big piece.
Sage Lavine
00:38:15
I love that story because it’s just like, rather than pointing the finger, so many people would point the finger at Starbucks or whatever the strategy changing or whatever. It’s like, no, you actually took it upon yourself to say, “How can we be stronger from this?” That’s what I love so much about your book, I’d love for you to tell us how we get your book. Of course we can go buy it on Amazon, but where else can we get it so that we can also stay connected with you in all your incredible resources? I get cases of Hint Water delivered to my house. Watermelon is my favorite flavor, but, you know, Kara is the truth teller.There’s a saying that says, the truth will set you free.
Sage Lavine
00:38:55
I think when we can wake up each day and just commit to seeing our businesses and our lives clearly and telling ourselves the truth about what we know, we can end up on a trajectory like Kara, where we’re changing the world with a product that is improving the lives of so many people. So Kara, thank you. How do we get the book?
Kara Goldin
00:39:14
So as you mentioned, Amazon, and then on our site on www.drinkhint.com, and we’ll have a little linkas well that you can just click on. Also on audible as well, but I’m really excited to hear from people as well. As I said, that the number of people, what I didn’t anticipate and in writing this book, I kept thinking, “Okay, it can really help a lot of people.” Maybe entrepreneurs may be more than that, but what I’m hearing over and over again is you help me to get unstuck. You help me to realize that it’s okay to share my failures and my challenges.
Kara Goldin
00:39:57
Not everything’s pretty, right? Some things along the way, as you have read in the book there, you know, you’re going to have challenges, but it’s really how you embrace those challenges and learn from them and go try and don’t allow anybody to stop you from traveling your journey. It’s not going to be perfect, but that’s okay. At some point, you have to say that this thing is going to play out the best I can and it’s my job to kind of make decisions along the way that maybe impact it a little bit, but also do what you can and that’s the best you can do.
Sage Lavine
00:40:41
Head over to www.drinkhint.com Grab some Hint Water. Grab Kara’s Book, Undaunted. It’s incredible. I also love your sunscreen. It’s the only sunscreen I want to use anymore. So I always order a bunch and put my suitcase for when I get on a plane. I’m just so grateful for your wisdom. I encourage every single one of you to go grab the book and take these words and go out there and keep rocking it. Because your doubts are never anywhere near as big as your passion and your commitment. You have the opportunity to make such a difference in the world and such a difference in your own life, by going for it and seeing things clearly, and really just committing and the way that Kara has with Undaunted. Kara, any last words?
Kara Goldin
00:41:31
I love how you’ve described it. It just makes me so happy that you’re, you’re reading it in Your, and you’re sharing it with your audience. I’m very, very excited for all of your success too. As I mentioned, it’s very, very exciting.
Sage Lavine
00:41:52
Thank you. Thank you everyone. Go be a powerhouse woman entrepreneur. The world needs us. Go grab the book. We’ll see you on the next episode. Bye everyone.
You’ve been listening to Women Rocking Business. I’m Sage Lavine. The next step is to join our private Facebook group. The Women Rocking Business Sisterhood and introduce yourself over there for the real and vulnerable conversation of what it really takes to launch and scale a business you love in that Sisterhood group. We have each other’s backs, each other’s sides and each other’s fronts. This is true collaboration. So go grab a seat in the Sisterhood because we can go so much further when we go together, you’ll find a link to the private Sisterhood group and do our upcoming events in the show notes.
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