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Changing Lives Through Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship with Kara Goldin, Hint
02 March 202239 min

Changing Lives Through Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship

with Kara Goldin, Hint
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Contents:

After replacing her insatiable appetite for sugary drinks with an unstoppable passion for health, Kara Goldin founded Hint. It is now an award-winning, multibillion-dollar unsweetened flavored water brand! This self-proclaimed ‘accidental entrepreneur’ joins us on today’s episode to talk about her transformative journey of building a purpose-driven beverage company. Take note, she has no prior experience in the industry. Kara also discusses what keeps her motivated and her ambitious goals for the future of the company.

About Kara Goldin:

Kara Goldin spent many years working in the technology and media industries, including for giants like TIME Magazine, CNN, and AOL. After struggling with health issues due to being a diet soda addict, she decided to create an alternative drink. It was named “Hint”, a drink that is both healthy and delicious. Despite her lack of experience in the food and beverage industry, Kara’s passion for the life-changing capabilities of her product kept her going. She has since been listed as one of Huffington Post’s Six Disruptors in Business, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, and Forbes’ 40 Women to Watch Over 40! She is also the host of The Kara Goldin Show.

In her powerful book, “Undaunted,” Kara provides invaluable insights and lessons drawn from real stories and personal experiences. She encourages readers to confront their fears, overcome challenges, and achieve long-term success by breaking down barriers and forging ahead.

For a comprehensive book review, check out this page.

What is purpose-driven entrepreneurship?

Purpose-driven entrepreneurship is a type of business that is founded on a mission to make a positive impact on society or the environment. These entrepreneurs are driven by a desire to do good in the world. Therefore, they use their businesses to solve problems and improve people’s lives.

Purpose-driven entrepreneurship differs from traditional business models in a few ways. First, purpose-driven entrepreneurs are not solely focused on making a profit. They are also motivated by a desire to make a difference in the world.

Second, purpose-driven entrepreneurs often use their businesses to address social or environmental challenges. They may develop products or services that help to solve a problem. Some organization also donate a portion of their profits to charity.

Lastly, purpose-driven entrepreneurs often emphasize the importance of social and environmental responsibility, ethical practices, and sustainable business strategies.

Best Advice that Kara would give to someone who is transitioning from a 6-7 to 8-figure business:

Avoid groupthink and be open to engaging with people whose way of thinking differs from your own. “People don’t have to be just like you and have your same experience. When they are coming from a different journey, they may add more value to what you’re doing and help you think differently.” (29:57)

Episode highlights:

  • Kara explains why she refers to herself as an ‘accidental entrepreneur,’ and what her career journey has looked like to date. (03:09)
  • How Kara has built her brand, Hint, from the ground up for the past 16 years. (06:56)
  • Some of the key factors that Kara believes will lead to a successful entrepreneurial venture. (10:09)
  • What effective leadership looks like, according to Kara. (13:38)
  • The purpose that drove Kara to found Hint. (15:44)
  • Why, as an entrepreneur, it is essential that you fully believe in the mission behind your brand. (22:09)
  • Kara shares the valuable lesson she learned when interviewing for a job in Silicon Valley. (26:04)
  • What Kara believes to be her calling in life. (32:00)
  • Goals that Kara has for the future of Hint. (34:10)

Transcript

[00:00:35] A.J. Lawrence: Many entrepreneurs when they start on their journey are really only focusing on their own needs. They’re scratching their own itch. They’re solving their own problems. They’re creating things for their own world. Well, today’s guest has done that and so much more. She started off with the idea of just creating something healthier for her own diet and expand into one of the newest sort of super drinks out there.

[00:01:03] I don’t think I’m even being close to describing how popular her company has become. She’s been named one of InStyle’s Badass 50, Fast Company’s Most Creative People, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink, and EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern California.

[00:01:23] A.J. Lawrence: She’s been interviewed in the Huffington Post, she is everywhere. She has her own very popular podcast. And she’s the CEO and Founder of Hint, Inc, which is a delicious beverage and just an amazing entrepreneur for us to get to learn from. So please, I’m looking forward to talking and learning from Kara Goldin, the founder of Hint, Inc.

[00:01:52] Hello Kara, thank you so much for coming on the show. It’s really exciting to have you here today.

[00:01:57] Kara Goldin: Absolutely. Very excited to be here.

[00:01:59] A.J. Lawrence: Earlier today, I’ve been watching your puppies play all over your Instagram feed. So wanting to ask you to talk no, no, no, no. This is about your entrepreneurial journey. But I just have to say your puppies are so cute.

[00:02:13] Kara Goldin: Oh, thank you. There a lot. We lost one of our 12 and a half year old dogs to cancer about four months ago and we didn’t think that we were going to get another one. Then we just saw just how bored our other dog was. And so we started thinking about, okay, let’s find, let’s get a puppy.

[00:02:30] And then I was originally looking for a red English lab and they’re pretty unique. And then I put a deposit down on the black English lab in sort of the 11th hour, somebody had backed out of the red one. And so I said, okay, fine. And so they’re a day apart. I accidentally did some research on like having two puppies at the same time. And it is not suggested by anyone. I see why. It’s a lot of fun and it’s, it’s pretty funny, but I mean, it’s just the two of them are just a lot. And my poor Sadie, who’s 12 and a half, all she wants to do is get out of the house and run away from everybody. She was just like she’s in an ever self. We should turn the video camera on because the facial expressions out of her is just like, it’s enough. We can’t do this anymore.

[00:03:26] A.J. Lawrence: Leave me alone.

[00:03:28] Kara Goldin: Yeah, exactly.

[00:03:29] A.J. Lawrence: I thought I was crazy for having two, I have Spanish water dogs. But three, oh my god.

[00:03:35] Kara Goldin: I know it’s crazy. It’ll be fun. Just like little kids, you know, once they get out of diapers right, and they, they start to figure things out. But in the meantime, you know, the little things like chasing a leaf that they focus on.

[00:03:48] A.J. Lawrence: The important things to them. Well, in looking at everything, you know, your book, Hint water, everything that’s been going on and the success you’ve been having with Hint, where do you see yourself as an entrepreneur nowadays? How do you see yourself as an entrepreneur?

[00:04:06] Kara Goldin: You know, I think it’s interesting. I call myself an accidental entrepreneur because I never thought that I would become an entrepreneur. I mean, certainly when I was going to university, there was no entrepreneur major or classes and, you know, and I think in some ways being an entrepreneur was kind of discounted versus actually being, you know, what it is today as kind of this cool elitist kind of a group in, in many, many ways, at least in people’s minds.

[00:04:37] And it’s in my blood now. I mean, I worked for entrepreneurs. I started out, my first job was not with an entrepreneur, but it was at a very classic media company called Time, the Time Magazine. And went on to CNN, was still there when Ted Turner was kind of running around the office, building this 24-hour news network that, you know. Again, looking back I remember days when southern accents saying like everyone in the world has to have 24 hour news. There were some days when we weren’t sure whether or not that was going to be a reality. And then once I moved out to Silicon Valley, had worked for some people that had worked for Steve jobs. I never worked for Steve jobs or a startup, but we were once there for a bit.

[00:05:30] We were acquired by a company called America Online where I got to watch Steve Case do his thing in building America Online. And so again, even having worked for entrepreneurs, I still didn’t get this idea. Like now it’s my time to go and do mine, but I think I had great training.

[00:05:50] I loved the energy of building, kind of like having a creative canvas where you could go and figure stuff out versus something being baked already. You know, even though we’re quarter of a billion dollar company at this point, I mean, you know, built it from zero to that over the last 16 and a half years, you know, it’s still a very entrepreneurial company in terms of, you know, making sure that we not only find the customer and service the customer, but be able to react, be able to do things that maybe the big guys can’t do. I mean, that’s the competitive advantage of having that entrepreneurial spirit, I think frankly any category I definitely have.

[00:06:40] A.J. Lawrence: I like that because it is so often the idea that when we have people in the show, they do talk about the ability to create that’s what’s not there. Kind of lean into those things that Oh, you’re supposed to do X. Well, I think Y and Z are pretty interesting too, you know, that kind of playing around. Do you see yourself now as you guys are quarter of a billion? Yeah. That’s a wonderful number. How do you see sort of your own efforts to marshal this, to kind of grow this? Where do you see yourself kind of growing as an entrepreneur for that?

[00:07:14] Kara Goldin: Starting out this company. I mean, I was not only making the product, taking it outside of my kitchen, into, you know, plants to actually produce it, but also taking it into stores to actually merchandise it, figure out how to make it relevant for consumers and building the brand across social media platforms again, which were pretty limited 16 and a half years ago.

[00:07:39] So over time, really being able to engage with consumers to make a product that maybe when they walked into stores, they didn’t think they needed. Right. I think that the biggest challenge for as people started to think about health and wellness and really changing something that they were dealing with inside of themselves. Whether it’s, you know, weight issues or diabetes or heart issues or whatever it is, maybe there’s certain aisles in the store that they just weren’t walking down anymore because they just thought there’s nothing good on that aisle. And so we had to tackle kind of that problem, that how do we get consumers to understand that it’s different when they won’t even taste the product, even if we were there sampling in stores, right. They wouldn’t taste it because they would automatically think that flavored water wouldn’t be something that they should be drinking. And so, again, by really sharing the story, sharing my story and kind of sharing my why and my mission and my purpose, that was the way that we were able to really get sticky with the consumers and at least get trial.

[00:08:52] And as I say to people, it’s been an important aspect of getting trial. You always have to have a great product. I mean, you can figure out ways to get consumers to try a product. And as I’ve shared with so many people over the years, when you look at you know, even numbers for food or beverage companies getting trial, if you’ve been in the industry for a long time, I mean, it’s not the easiest thing in the whole world, but you could go give a product away. Right? You could go on the street, on the beach, and hand out a bunch of products to people that could get the trial. But for the consumer to actually go back in and purchase again and again, or in our case come online and subscribe so that they’re on auto ship. Right. And, you know, with our direct to consumer business, that is the key to being able to really be relevant with the consumer. So I think over time, what I’ve done and I’m very proud of is build a team that really can support these initiatives. And one of the things that I share with entrepreneurs that I think is a real key to success is being able to hire people that are really world-class in the areas that you’re trying to build after you start to build it.

[00:10:17] So I think that the danger comes in when you go and you say, well, I want to go have a direct to consumer business, but you have no idea what are the elements that you need in order to build it. So maybe you go out and hire an agency that says, okay, we’ve got to go spend a million dollars and you’ve got to be able to do this and this and this and this. It’s very rare that you get immediate traction and what I’ve found and very frankly, I think from being in startups prior to starting Hint, was that if you’re willing to actually figure stuff out yourself as the CEO and jump in to understand what is SEO? What is fulfillment? What are the challenges?

[00:11:00] I mean, it’s shocking to me how many people have no idea about, you know, so many aspects of their business. Maybe they’re a CFO of a company, a beverage company, and they’ve never been to a bottling plant to actually understand how things run and maybe, you know, why things cost what they cost, whatever it is. Being a leader that actually is willing to roll up her sleeves and kind of do the work first and then hire people in so that I understand prior to hiring what are the challenges that they’re going to face and what do they really need in order to grow something, I think is really critical. And frankly, that for me is the most fun as an entrepreneur too. Cause they’re like mini businesses.

[00:11:46] I think that that’s a key thing where I’ve really seen the most success, but I’m proud of the team that we’ve built and we have about 250 people in the company now?

[00:11:55] A.J. Lawrence: That’s a great number. I went crazy with the last company I sold when we were around 36 so that’s so amazing. Well, I realized I needed to grow a lot more than I thought, and that was sort of why I took the sale, but you actually said something that I thought was really cool was this idea that making sure you’re getting yourself, I’m paraphrasing, getting your hands dirty before you start bringing in sort of those experts or the people to, you know, the term, you know, the people smarter than you. I really do agree, but I think, and I know I had difficulty in this and this is kind of why sideways versus continuing up. That transition point, I think is so difficult for a lot of entrepreneurs because you become the person that may be part of this but that transition to then bringing in those people. How was that for you and how do you advise entrepreneurs nowadays to kind of meet that transition point?

[00:13:03] Kara Goldin: Well, again, I think that in order to actually be able to be helpful as a leader, whether you’re the CEO or, you know, you’re just in the management team, the most important thing is to really understand what people need, right, in your team and so that you can be supportive. And I think that somebody once said to me that in order to support your team, you really have to be supportive yourself. Right. And I think that you really have to, it’s a two way street, right? That you have to be able to support them and you can’t really support them if you don’t know how to support them, with what tools exactly.

[00:13:45] And so I think that it’s just, that’s a great example of going in and starting. And again, what I’ve found too is that in step one of that support, maybe you figure out as you’re building a strategic plan there for some initiative, you’re figuring out here’s plan A, here’s plan B, here’s plan C as you’re starting to look at different stages of the process of building that specific area out to. But when you’re sitting there in your home office or, or glass office, or however, you know, wherever you are, wherever you’re hearing this at this point, and you don’t really understand exactly what is needed to build that you’re in a tough spot.

[00:14:30] A.J. Lawrence: Given the success and given your own journey. What’s the one thing that you think has had the biggest impact on being an entrepreneur for yourself?

[00:14:40] Kara Goldin: I think really understanding the purpose and the mission for why I’m doing this. So I never really thought about starting this company because I had big dreams to be a beverage entrepreneur. And you know, that may sound funny to you. I’ve run into people over the years who have said to me that, you know, they’ve always wanted to start the next red bull or vitamin water, you know, or, or Hint. And that was never me. You know, I really was, I was quite happy being a tech executive and quite engaged with sort of what I was working on. My curiosity was very excited by what I was learning and what I was growing.

[00:15:25] But when I saw this problem around diet sweeteners that I had, that I had never really thought about. But when I finally figured out that I could eliminate diet sweeteners just by eliminating my diet soda that I had been drinking for years. And the impact that it would have on my health, that showed me the reason and the purpose.

[00:15:49] And I thought if I can actually take my curiosity and take my problem solving skills to actually create a better product for people who are trying to eliminate diet sweeteners from their life, that’ll be really exciting to wake up to everyday. That was my purpose. And again, there’s people that go and start beverage companies cause they think, I’ll start a company. I’ll go flip it and make billions of dollars or whatever. That was just never how I thought about it. For me, it was really, if I could actually get this in consumer’s hands and hopefully they enjoy it, then I could actually create impact, and health impact. And I always believed that no matter how much money you had that if you don’t have your health, you have nothing.

[00:16:44] And I think that for me, has always kind of sat in the back of my head and you know, in today’s day and age, I mean, we see it as well. I mean, you can have all the money in the bank. You can have lots of friends. You can have the greatest title. You can have launched amazing companies. But if you don’t have your health, it all just sort of dwindles.

[00:17:08] And so this for me was the reason for launching Hint, and still to this day is really the purpose and what drives me as an entrepreneur?

[00:17:19] A.J. Lawrence: No, I love that because you know, having read a little bit of your bio and everything, you created a feedback loop first for yourself, and then with your customers. You got healthy, you found this product, you found the product market fit, you did that, and then that’s a very strong way to kind of align your purpose. Pretty powerful. I’m going to look for the, and I’m going to see if there’s ways to kind of do that with my own efforts. That’s pretty neat.

[00:17:42] Earlier you were talking about the importance of that transi going from being, getting your hands dirty to building a team. What else would you share with that’s about that transition point usually for most businesses in what I always call that like the first bump. First you have to just gain traction. You have to, you know, exist. You have to get someone to, to actually give you a little bit of money for whatever you’re doing. Then it’s at like, oh, half a million to a million. Is that like, oh, this is a business.

[00:18:15] Uh, you know, what do we do now? That’s about the time I think, you know, you begin if you’re doing things right, which I probably need to spend more time on for my next venture. You start looking for the smarter people. You start, you know, doing it, but what else would you suggest to entrepreneurs in that, you know, that range, that transition to a growing company,

[00:18:42] Kara Goldin: I think because especially when you really have a purpose and a direction, look, my focus was really around health, but I think for somebody like a Ted Turner, when he was launching CNN, he really believed and saw, had this vision that news should not just be six and 10 at night, that most people didn’t get home by six and often they were in bed by 10. And he used to say that all the time. He said, why is it that media dictates when we get news, when we want to be educated about what’s going on. And as we travel between countries more and more, it just seems archaic that we don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the world.

[00:19:31] You know, again, like he had a purpose, he had a vision. He had a belief that this was how the world was headed or should be headed. You know you have to convince people in order to do that. And I think like the number one thing that and frankly, this is the same for, you know, your team and your employees, as well as any, you know, freelancers or suppliers that you’re working with too. If they don’t really believe in what you’re doing, move on. Right. And I think it’s so important because people will say, well, you know, this person has a lot of experience or the best in the industry or whatever it is. If you don’t believe it, it never works. Or if those people don’t believe in what you’re doing, it just doesn’t work.

[00:20:22] And I think that that is the most important thing for entrepreneurs, you know, to believe. And again, it doesn’t mean you’re wrong. That somebody doesn’t believe, it just means that maybe they have caught up to where you are in terms of seeing the purpose. Of seeing the need for something. And I think that that’s just a really, really important aspect that every entrepreneur should look for.

[00:20:48] And frankly, I think that, you know, there’s too many opportunities today for people to get a job worldwide. I mean, we’ve now opened up the world to be able to be virtual. If you are not doing something that you are excited about and that you obviously are going to make some money doing as well, but there’s just no reason.

[00:21:11] And I think it’s, gone are the days where you go and work for something that doesn’t really excite you. So I think people call it passion. Maybe it’s passion. Maybe it’s just something that you’re just really curious about and that really interests you.

[00:21:26] I have a 19 year old son who’s quite interested in cars. He loves BMWs. And you know, he’s constantly, he’s redone a few BMWs that my one issue is that he, he redoes them and he never sells them. So we have too many old BMWs that he is constantly, constantly redoing, but, you know, he’s applied for some roles in Germany, at the BMW, like, because he’s really interested in it and very passionate about it.

[00:21:55] And I think like that is the future. That is the future for people and the future of work. It’s figuring out really what you want to be doing, because when you’re interested in something, that’s when you engage and that’s when you can really add value. And I think that it’s definitely not only from a work environment, but also from an education environment.

[00:22:18] I think more and more when we’re being forced to learn certain things, those are the areas that we don’t do that well in if we’re not really interested in them. And so I think it’s the exact same thing for work and products. Find that thing that you’re really, really interested in and you think that you can add some type of plus to that company,

[00:22:43] A.J. Lawrence: Your own spark into it. Yeah, that is often because as you said, kind of finding the people who will believe in you being able to take your own idea as get it such that people then start finding themselves in it. Yeah. I like that idea of leaning into that when you’re in that transition phase. Too often, we get so focused on just, okay, is the next XYZ happening? Is the next client doing Z, you know, dah, dah, dah. And then all of a sudden it’s like, okay, Oh, um, um, oh, that’s right. Why, why, why am I doing this?

[00:23:19] Kara Goldin: No, it’s so true. I’ll give you another example if you don’t mind. I’ll never forget when I had moved from New York to Silicon Valley and I really wanted to go and work for Apple. I was obsessed with this guy, Steve Jobs. I had an apple computer when I was in college. It was one of the first and I was, it was really unique and really different.

[00:23:41] And it was from a design aspect, I loved it. It was smaller, not as small as they are today. I got it. It interested me, but I couldn’t, I had sort of put up a wall in front of myself to say that I could never get a job at Apple because I wasn’t an engineer, I wasn’t a product person or whatever.

[00:24:01] But then I stumbled upon this little startup where this group of people had worked, five guys had worked for Steve at Apple and they had spun it out. It was a CD Rom shopping company in the mid-90s. And I’ll never forget walking into this office and interviewing. There were no offices, it was just a bunch of desks in a room. They were all wearing jeans, very different atmosphere than what I had experienced in New York City. And it was kind of group think that was actually two of them had PhDs, a couple were engineers and product guys. They were, you know, had incredible experience. And my experience was very, very different. When they heard that I had worked at CNN on the other coast and had worked for Ted Turner and what we were doing and how we went about going up against the big networks to actually get traction.

[00:25:02] I mean, they were so interested because it was outside of what they knew, but they also thought here’s a person that knows how to build something. That is interesting. I mean, they were interested in sort of how I thought about things and right before they were offering me a role to come and work with them. One of them said, I have a question for you. Do you think that you can provide help, impact to us? Because we think you can, but we really, we want to hear that you think you can. And no one had ever asked me that question in a job interview before. And I think it’s an interview question I use a lot that really, because you can see whether or not somebody is just taking a job because they need a job, they liked the money, they liked the title, maybe they even like your product. But can they actually come in and provide some kind of impact? And I think that what it also does is it opens the conversation up when they take a role with you that you want to hear from them. Right. And that they’re not just there to turn the wheel on, that they’re there to actually add value in some way. And I think it’s such an important, it makes people part of it. It’s you know, makes, makes them part of the situation. And again, it was one that no one had ever asked me before until that happened in Silicon valley. And I think it’s very much a thinking of, ideas can come from anywhere, people don’t have to be just like you and have your same experience. In fact, when they are consumers, when they are coming from kind of a different journey in some way that they may actually add more value to what you’re doing and help you think differently.

[00:27:06] A.J. Lawrence: The diversity of thought. Yeah. Moving away from group think, that is really important. Sorry. I’m now like you have me thinking about all different things I need to be working on. I always love when I get to interview entrepreneurs like you, because it’s like, oh, that’s right. There’s so much that it gets set and it got set again, but I always find it interesting. It’s 99% of what’s set out there is relatively true but it’s out of context and hearing from another entrepreneur about how they view it. It’s that difference between like, oh, go do X, Y, and Z to like, well, I was kind of facing this and X sort of worked Y into, so yeah, you now have I have my journal and I’ll be writing a bit after this.

[00:27:54] Given the success you’ve had, the book, your own podcasts, you know this quarter of a billion dollar in sales, so obviously much, much more valuable company. How do you define success for yourself as an entrepreneur?

[00:28:10] Kara Goldin: I think the first thing is building something that not only can provide impact for small group of people, but also a large group of people.

[00:28:23] So I think that being able to make a difference. I think it would be very, very difficult. You asked me in the beginning about, you know, the definition of the entrepreneur and sort of, as I see it, and it’s interesting because I don’t think I could just go and be an entrepreneur just for the sake of being an entrepreneur.

[00:28:47] I think once I’ve actually seen how you can actually create products or services that change people’s lives, that’s my calling. Right. And I think that I will always be most interested. I’m always finding white space in the market for new products, but they tend to be ones that actually, well change lives for the better. That’s where I’m always looking and trying to think.

[00:29:15] And it’s not all in food and beverage either. I think, you know, I’ve looked at technology, I’ve looked at, but it sort of has to pass the sniff test actually. Is it really going to make someone’s life better? In some ways they’re going to save them time. Is it going to provide some kind of need that otherwise they felt like they weren’t able to meet in some ways.

[00:29:39] So I think that for me is really pretty key.

[00:29:43] A.J. Lawrence: As you look at them and your ability to reach out. I’ve seen so much of the brand, live so strongly with many people. You have amazing creative, the give back that the company does also. Terrific. Do you see that sort of expanding or changing though, moving into the future?

[00:30:04] Kara Goldin: You know, I think that the focus and the goals of the company are always to continue to really help people enjoy something that’s tastier, at least in the water your water category, and also better for them. I mean, look, we’re living in today’s day and age where health is something globally that people are really focused on. The number one challenge for people who do get COVID, whether they you know, we’ve been vaccinated or not vaccinated worldwide, is if you have diabetes. Type two diabetes is probably the most prevalent. You’re not in a good situation walking into this virus. And so what is it that is actually causing this, you know, global epidemic around diabetes, it’s human’s ability to actually really deal with insulin levels.

[00:31:03] And so there’s a lot of consumers that I think are, are still under the impression that it’s sugar. And yet many of these people have been challenged for years by these diet sweeteners. And it doesn’t matter if a diet sweetener is natural or, you know, artificial. I mean, it’s you know, maybe somewhere one is a little bit better for you, but when you’re speaking specifically about kind of how the body actually processes it, you know, there’s still plenty of people out there who are having natural diet sweeteners that have this disease called type two diabetes. It’s the fastest growing disease in the world right now, faster than heart disease. And so I think for us, If we can get more people to understand that there are healthier alternatives, that you’re not going to be consuming and feeling, oh gosh, you know, I really miss that other stuff. I think that that is the future for Hint.

[00:32:11] And there’s a lot of doors. We’re only in the US right now, we’re not outside of the US so of course there’s a whole world out there. So I personally think that, you know, Hint could be a multi-billion dollar company. We have been looking at potentially doing an IPO. I mean, there are a lot of room for growth, and I think that for us as a brand, we’ve created the benchmarks for where we need to be, but we’ve also laid the groundwork for being able to get there.

[00:32:46] A.J. Lawrence: I’m really excited to see where you go with this. It’s been wonderful having you here on the show today.

[00:32:52] Kara Goldin: Thank you.

[00:32:52] A.J. Lawrence: I really do appreciate you coming in. I want everyone in the audience to make sure they go check out Undaunted. Obviously, go subscribe to Hint. We’ll have links down below for everyone. Thank you so much for coming on today. I greatly appreciate it.

[00:33:06] Kara Goldin: Thank you. Thank you so much.

[00:33:09] A.J. Lawrence: I hope you have a wonderful day and that the puppies don’t distract you too much.

[00:33:15] That was something that I got to learn a lot from talking with Kara really, really was very, very interesting and so much more than I expected. I love so much she had to share with us, the dog toys. Definitely. As I listened to my dogs outside barking and running around with the two toys her team was so kind to send me.

[00:33:39] Getting to the point, I think, I know I have difficulty doing this, but she talks about how she had worked and known and dealt with entrepreneurs from early on talking about Ted Turner who’s an amazing entrepreneur who pretty much wield the whole concept into being Steve Case. Even more so, and working with people and dealing with people who had dealt with Steve Jobs and like not copying them or not that but just by having been around them and see them on action, she was able to realize what was possible as an entrepreneur to create, not the specific products, companies and such like that.

[00:34:26] But the what you could do as an individual if you believed in yourself, in your entrepreneurial mission to create. So taking that, like really spend time in here. Cause I really want to dive into that entrepreneurial mission but first, just from that idea of what she was able to take. It doesn’t always have to be the people we’ve worked with or the people we get to see or past bosses or mentors.

[00:34:49] It’s people we read, people you get to listen to here or elsewhere. I mean, listening and learning how other people create their worlds is probably the best way we get to understand what is possible. Everyone’s unique. Everyone has their own skills stuff, but like, if someone else can do something probably close to 99% of the time, so can you. So much of it is about our ability to make what we see others do, make it our own, not copy it, but see that it’s possible. And then go forward. But then going even deeper into what it was, so amazing is how much she’s used her belief in the importance, her mission, her goal, that this is something that makes the world better.

[00:35:36] She talked about how important it was when she was introducing the product to new markets that people were just so against the concept of any type of new drink, because they just couldn’t perceive of it as being healthy. So by using our own story, by diving into it, by going deep into what it meant to her, she was able to get people engaged with her story and then therefore into the product, which is really cool and something that I’ve seen, you know, I’m a marketer. So yeah.

[00:36:09] I love to look at all the bells and whistles and calculate the numbers and play with the stats and all that fun stuff and data analysis at the zoo. But the reality is all of that stuff means nothing if there’s nothing inherently there to turn into something and use all the great little toys out there.

[00:36:31] She created the why out of her own story and got other people to believe and come along on the journey i.e. buying the product, that I think is amazing. And she’s kept that as part of the way she’s built her team, that’s been able to now go to quarter of a billion, if not much higher of a business. And that’s just something cause that’s then the next thing that I found really, really interesting because she was sort of talking about early on, about having to use this belief, this mission, to get people to try, take a chance on it. But then later on, she also talked about the importance of how she was using it to grow her team and grow the capabilities they had.

[00:37:13] So mission, it’s something that we all, not all, but I know I have, and I’ve talked with many of you have difficulties with when we make it true. There’s so much that can be done and so much value we can generate out of that. So, learn from Kara, work on your mission, make it inherently true to who you are. And it will help.

[00:37:37] So everyone please go out and buy as much Hint Water as you can. We’ll have links obviously to their site, but you can buy it pretty much anywhere. But please go out there. Go check out her podcast, go check out her site, karagoldin.com, and we’ll put links to everything. So therefore you won’t have to, but go check her out. She’s relatively intelligent and just so kind in how much she gives to other entrepreneurs.

[00:38:04] And as always, please come to the site beyond8figures.com, sign up for our newsletter so whenever we have other amazing guests, you can find out about them. Check on our socials. @beyond8figures.

[00:38:18] Let us know how you bring your mission into your business. I love to learn more about how you’re all doing it, because I think there’s so much more we can do. All right, everyone, if you enjoyed today’s episode, please share with someone and give us a review. We love learning what you guys think of this. Have a wonderful day. Thank you for listening. Goodbye.

[00:38:45] This episode of Beyond 8 Figures is over, but your journey as an entrepreneur continues. So if we can help you with anything, please just let us know. And if you liked this episode, please share it with someone who might learn from it. Until next time, keep growing and find the joy in your journey. This is A.J., and I’ll be talking to you soon. Bye bye.