Multi-Millionaire EXPLAINS The #1 Thing To Holding You Back From SUCCESS | Kara Goldin

And I'm really thinking about the consumer every single day and ultimately how they're living. I think that that's the most important thing. But again, if you don't try, then you'll never know. Recognizing that even during times like the year that 2020 has been, what are the things that you're ultimately doing right? And how do you ultimately expand on those things?

All right, so.

You want to grab a hint over there?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Got you one.

Yeah. You guys want to get on there and get your subscription to hint. And it's just been so fun to see your growth over the. I mean, you were already growing, but here, and especially for those of you that saw Kara last time with your business, and you've just, you've stayed the course. You've stayed the course and, you know, all kinds of peaks and valleys and so forth. I love your creativity. I love that you are willing to do things that others haven't done. And I think that it's so easy to get into the trap of trying to follow what other people are doing and mirror it instead of trusting, you know, that you. Your own imagination. And the subscription, subscription service. Nobody was doing that super bowl commercial, which was a big leap for your company. Usually it's going to be the Budweiser or the, the Coca Cola, right? How do you come up with the creative ideas? How do you implement the brainstorming? Do you sit with your team? Do you have thinking days like, where does this come from? You?

Yeah, I think every day I wake up and I think like, the, the customer. I mean, I think that that is just. I literally, like, I, I go. I live in Marin county, and I go out on my hikes every day, every morning at 5:30, and that's where I start. And I'm really thinking about the consumer every single day and ultimately how they're living. I think that that's the most important thing. And you know, the super bowl situation was, you know, I think whenever you start a business, I mean, so they had inventory available. And so I was reminding the salespeople on the other side, I said, okay, well, you're going to have like, empty inventory. Is your boss going to be happy about this and joking about it, but somewhat serious. And so the craziest story is that we had nine of the major markets for less than $1 million. And a national Super bowl ad this year was $5 million. We had 80% of the country for less than a million dollars. And that to me was like, who does that? Right? But actually the Bigger thing that, again, didn't expect. Like, there were things that I didn't expect out of that. It was great. I felt great. We had great ad. Everything was, you know, customers were excited. The employees being at super bowl parties throughout the US and seeing that their brand that they had been working so hard for was now running a Super bowl ad and had better placement than the Pepsi ad. Like, we ran, like, 15 seconds before the halftime show. Like, it just could not have been better. Like, just the momentum and just the excitement and. And my phone was just blowing up from watching the team and how excited they were. Yeah. And again, like, taking that leap, but.

Also.

Building this underdog. Right. Like, they always thought of themselves as the underdog, but now the underdog is flying. Right now the underdog is showing up. And there were many dances that were going on. I mean, people were so excited. And that extreme extended, you know, into 2020. I think people just really felt, you know, strong.

Yeah. Yeah. That. That's so powerful. And I love that people didn't expect it. But I also love the fact that for you, the creativity is thinking about your customer and what the customer wants and needs.

Yeah. And trying, too. Like, I didn't know. I had no idea going in whether or not we'd be able to get what we got for less than a million dollars.

Yeah.

But again, if you don't try, then you'll never know. Right. No one had done what we did for the Super Bowl. No one had done 80% of the country for a fifth of what a Super bowl ad. And I don't know that they'll be able to do it ever again. Like, we really gained the super bowl. And I think there's plenty of people that are not happy about that on sort of the, you know, on the selling inventory side of the world. But again, if you don't try and you don't find these inventory possibilities out there, then you won't get.

Yeah, yeah. If you don't ask. Right. If you don't ask.

Totally.

And your. Why. From the time that you and I spoke before the first time that you spoke, you were. You have been focused on changing the state of people's health. And when I read articles about you and different things that you're doing, you always are on point with your mission and your vision and, you know, giving people a better option than the crap that's out there right now. How do you keep and build upon. Because we're going to talk about vision today and building your strategic vision. And I think sometimes business Owners are like, I don't have time for that. I need to work on the strategy. But that's so important because it's like your North Star. But as you grow and all of these different things happen, like the Starbucks, how do you keep stay the course with the vision and the mission and when you bring in investors and everything, that you don't lose that.

Yeah, I think it goes back to really putting stakes in the ground around your mission and, and sticking to that mission right along the way. So I think that's part of it, but then I think that the other piece is really. I think it's also recognizing that even during times like the year that 2020 has been, what are the things that you're ultimately doing right? And how do you ultimately expand on those things? And, and so I think so many leaders in all different industries, the best leaders are the ones that can go back to the early days. Right. So one thing that I did during, at the beginning of COVID so again, we're an essential product. We're sending teams of people into stores to ultimately stock shelves. I had a few salespeople from my team who know me really well and called and said, hey, you're sending us into stores? Like, are you sending us in to dye? I mean like literally that those were the questions that they know me well enough and were calling me on it. And at that moment I put on my hint uniform and my sweatpants and my hint shirt and I went back to what I was doing when I started this company, which was I. I took on a route in Marin County. So I was the salesperson and I was going into stores and I was understanding for my team things that I probably, if I wouldn't have been able to get scrappy and know how to do that. I was educating my team in March to go into stores before 7 o' clock in the morning and after 7 o' clock at night because those were the times where there were less people in the store. We had, you know, thankfully, because of the fires up in Northern California, we had a bunch of N95 masks that we said to people like, look, you know these, like use them sparingly. But if you guys need N95 masks, if you're going into stores, like here they are. Like, we had those in people's hands immediately. We were thinking not, not just like the consumer during this process, but also about our employees concerns. And I think as a leader, the number of people who came back to me and said, you told us that you're working we didn't have any layoffs during this process. I mean, we said to people, you're going into stores and you're doing the work, but I'm here with you and I'm out there in the stores. And if I think it's too scary and I think that we're not going to be able to do this, then I'll let you know. But I think being a leader and growing a team and them seeing that you're able to do what they do every single day, they do it way better than I do. Right. But I think being able to sort of. I mean, I still. I had started this direct to consumer business, and I can still go in and get into Facebook algorithms when I need to, and I can still get in and reach out to Sheryl Sandberg. Only once a year, I tell my team and say, why are you kicking my ads out? I can be a resource for them, but I'm also not a leader that doesn't really get dirty. And ultimately, I think that that is so important.

That you know the different aspects of your business, but without getting in their way.

Yeah, without getting in their way. And I think, like, that's such an important piece of sort of leading it and sort of being able to ultimately scale. Because if you've got a team that ultimately, you know, doesn't sit here and say, oh, they're clueless. They don't really understand how to do email marketing. They don't really understand how to do, you know, Facebook. They don't really, you know, know how to go into Target. My favorite Target story during COVID happened in the first week when I'm stocking the shelves. And this guy was very defensive about, you know, he didn't see his typical sales guy from Hint coming in there. And he said, what? So what do you do for Hint? And I said, oh, I'm. I said, I. I've been here forever. And he said, well, you know, we. Where's my guy? And I said, oh, he's here. I'm just helping him out. There's a lot of stores. And he said, what do you normally do? And I said, oh, I do a little bit of everything. And finally, it was just annoying. And I said, I'm actually. I'm the founder of the company. And he said, get out of here. You're the founder of the company and you're in here pulling cases out of the back room. And I'm like, yeah, look. Look at that. And he was like, that's awesome. He was like, well, you Autograph a bottle for me. And then he was like, just because you're in here right now, he was like, we're going to give you this extra space in the store. And, you know, I'm not supposed to do that. But he was like, I just think it's great that you're in here and you're showing up and, you know, he's wanting to take pictures with me. And now my sales guy is like, you got to keep coming in. Like, all my accounts, you're the best salesperson. And, you know, all my accounts, I gotta. Like, it's way better when you just go in there and I don't know what you do, but, like, the fact that you're, like, in and you're showing up like that. Like, never forget the scrappiness of understanding what your team is going through every day. And I learned a ton, too, about I hadn't been in there for the last couple of years just because we're scaling and I'm doing lots of other things, but I'm not going away. Right. Like, I won't be in there every single day. Like, I've been in, but I will definitely not lose touch with what's going on. And again, like, I think there's. There's so many leaders that I think a lot of you guys probably know this, but getting on your customer service calls, getting on, really understanding. Even if you've got teams of people that are doing it. I particularly dislike having large meetings on a regular basis. To me, I feel like sometimes people are meeting for the sake of meeting. And so I'm constantly sharing with my team what is the purpose of meeting. And I learned this from Jeff Bezos actually has written about this. Anyone who's worked at Amazon, or if you know any people that have worked there, will share this with you. That you actually have to determine exactly what your purpose of your meeting is. And like, Jeff Bezos will not show up in a meeting unless you basically do a brief saying, what are we going to accomplish in this meeting? Otherwise, like, there should be another reason for having that meeting.

I love that. I love that. And we have one of our speakers that are coming in the event. Cameron Herold wrote a book called Meetings Suck. So I agree.

I love it.

If you do them right, they can be powerful. But, yeah, you don't want to waste your time. Well, we just have a few more minutes, but I want to talk a little bit because you have a book coming out. I do, and we're really excited. And I want you all to run out and grab that book when's it coming out.

So it's in pre sale right now and you can get it at Undaunted the book or karagolden.com or on Amazon as well. And basically I was writing for the last four years. I touched on this a bit in my talk around this concept of being fearless, on being having people would accuse me of not having doubts along the way. And I really started thinking about how if you can ultimately just move forward, even if you have those doubts, even if you have those fears. And I wanted to write the story because I believed that by sharing my story and I fully believe that if I can do this, anyone can do this, you need to figure out exactly what you fear and what you want to do. And you know, I think some of the bigger stories in there are not even related to business. I have a story in there about hiking the Grand Canyon. I'm terrified of heights. I went out there thinking, I'm going to hike the Grand Canyon because I'm terrified of hikes. And you'll have to read it to really get the full breadth of it. But what I learned about myself as an entrepreneur, and it was just amazing. And when I came out of my, you know, 22 mile hike in one day, exhausted, my husband said to me, how was it? And I was smiling, not because I had finished, but because I realized so many things about how I make decisions on critical decisions and, you know, decisions that I could have lost my life in hiking the Grand Canyon at points. But I was like, I came out just like, wow, it's amazing. So again, I'm a big believer too, in that you go and try things that are really hard for you and really, really challenge you. And there will be points along the way where you've got to wake up and recognize that these are things that are really, really helping you to become a better leader, become a better entrepreneur. Like that is really the message in this book.

I mean, in the middle of what we have going on, and you guys are here today, even if it's uncomfortable, even if you have other things to do, to do, this is where the growth happens. Is hearing things like this. And I just remember, I remember, and I've said this to you before and it just has always stuck with me. Is that when we first talk, you said, alison, I thought I was building a billion dollar company, but I realized I'm building a $2 billion company. All right? And she just. It was a knowingness, it's stating it. You don't know how you're going to get there. You don't know the steps that you're going to take. But you're like, I am putting my stake in the ground, like this is going to happen and you'll come back in three years and you'll be like just about there. So it just is, you have to own it. And it's not always going to be comfortable, it's not always going to be convenient.

And you don't necessarily know all the pieces on getting there either. And that's okay. And I think that that is such an important piece of it as well.

Yeah. And so the book is coming out. Well, you can, you can buy it now. You can get on Amazon right now and grab yourself a copy and let's help her get this to be a number one best selling book. Undaunted. And I cannot wait to get undaunted.

Overcoming doubts and doubters, Doubts and doubters.

And what's an example of a doubt or doubt and doubter you overcame?

Well, I think the Starbucks story is probably one of the bigger ones. But also I think that the key thing in never allowing those doubts to ever get so big, right? How many times have you said, oh, I can't do that, that's impossible. And I always say you can find people if you're in your doubting party, right? Like you're having a doubt party where you're like, I can't do that. Like that's impossible. Why would anybody pick me? Why would I be able to do that? I, your best friends will join your party and say, yeah, you're right. Like that's really hard. Like how many people have ever been through that, right? Your parents, your, your family, they're like, yeah, don't do that, right? And instead, instead of getting that far along the way where you create the largest doubt and doubters party along the way, just go try and see what will happen along the way. Because if you get so far where you think like, oh, I can't get that job or I can't build this business to this, instead you stop yourself and then you just go try and you go see what happens and maybe you'll figure out that the way that I can ultimately scale this business is to go start a direct to consumer business in the case of the beverage industry, right, don't listen to all these people around you that are telling you that you can't do it. You're a tech executive that has four kids and you live in Marin county where no beverage business has ever scaled before. Like and you can listen to those people just don't absorb it. Right. Because just because they didn't do it or just because they didn't think of it or just because they don't have the courage to ultimately go on and the know how and the scrappiness like that is ultimately what this book is really about.

Yeah. Those people in one ear and out the other, right? Yeah. You just kind of nod. Uh huh huh. And I think that's a perfect point for us to end on here just because you know, if anything remembering that is that you just have to cut off that noise and stay on your path because another door is going to open. Get support, don't do it on your own. And that's why you all are here.

I should mention too, I just saw in like the comments over there. So if you go to Karagolden.com it's K A R A G O L D I N. It's a free case of hint water and pre with the book. With the book order. So it's kind of a no brainer.

I mean it's like water and the book. Is that insane?

I know, right? That's quite generous. It is, it's, it's awesome.

So I love it. Well, let's give Kara a hand.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.