Kara Goldin, founder of Hint, shares how she lined up 90 interview prospects while waitressing in high school and built a company on the belief that "no means maybe, maybe means yes." Her book teaches networking through bold asks and simple phone calls to get meetings.
Chapters
Hello, Book Thinkers family! Today's book tip is going to come from a book that I just finished up, Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts and Doubters by Kara Golden, the founder and CEO of Hint. Wow, this was a fantastic book for quite a few reasons, and we're going to jump into them in just a second. But I'll tell you that one of my favorite genres is an iconic autobiography of an entrepreneur. I love reading about the early days of a startup and the foundation that enabled an entrepreneur to become successful. What was the relationship with her parents like? What was her high school experience like? Were there certain themes in her childhood that kind of unraveled themselves into this entrepreneur that she is today? Those are all questions that are answered in this book. And so, Kara, if you're watching this, thank you so much for writing it. It's a great example of what I love to read. Everything from when she was in high school, she actually lined up 90 potential interviews for herself. Who does that? She does that. How did she do it? By waitressing and waiting tables and asking customers, hey, what do you do for work? Is there an opportunity for me to get hired? Can I have an interview? Those are questions that she would ask. And I know that when I was in high school, I was way too scared and timid to be asking questions like that. So I love to see themes of confidence and consistency in somebody like Kara's story. She also had this whole mantra when she was younger that I thought was fascinating, which was like, No means maybe, and maybe means yes. And her dad would always talk to her about that. Why won't you just take no for an answer? And so a theme like that is really interesting to me because it enabled her to make all of these amazing connections in the future. She just had to ask. And so as for a summary of the book, Sheryl Sandberg does it way better than I ever would. She's the COO of Facebook and the founder of leaning.org. She says, what would you do if you weren't afraid? I've asked myself and others that question many times. Kara Golden didn't let her fear hold her back from chasing her ambitions. Undaunted is the story of how she persisted to achieve her dreams of starting a company. It's a great read for any entrepreneur looking to proof— looking for proof that her dream too can come true. Cheryl said it best. I'll say it second best. I really enjoyed the book. There's a ton of fantastic lessons for an aspiring entrepreneur. aspiring business owner, or somebody who'd like to be an entrepreneur within this read. I already mentioned some of my favorite parts— her childhood, the foundation, everything like that. There's another quote actually that comes from page 42 that I'd like to read, uh, everybody, because it's a common question that I get in my DMs. People ask me all the time, how do you connect with these amazing authors like Kara and all the other authors that are on the podcast? By the way, Kara is going to come on soon. And I always tell people, I just ask, what's the worst that can happen? If the worst that can happen isn't that bad, then you might as well shoot your shot. And Kara says right here, people ask how I get appointments with interesting and powerful people. They're surprised when I tell them my super secret method, a phone call. And I love to do the same thing. I've always been somebody who thinks, just ask, just shoot your shot, find a creative way to get in front of somebody. And you'll be very surprised at how accessible these people are. Amazing authors and entrepreneurs like Kara are always open to sharing their wisdom, whether it's in the form of a book or whether you can actually connect with them yourself. So always shoot your shot. That was a lesson that she'll talk about a lot in the book and that you'll definitely understand. And so I don't want to give away too much of the book. There are tons of additional lessons, but overcoming your doubt and overcoming your fear is a main theme. And that's something that, again, a lot of people are asking me about. If that's something that you're facing, I would highly recommend checking out this book. I had a really fun time reading it. Kara is also a big fan of reading amazing books. She's read a ton herself, and she has some quotes in here about reading. So you know that I always appreciate that. If you're looking to check out more information about this book, check out Kara's profile. It's tagged in this video below. Let me know if you have any questions, and stay tuned for the podcast with Kara coming up soon. Bye! Bye!
