Hint Water’s Kara Goldin on the Important Lesson She Learned From a Major Setback

When you land a cope with a consumer as massive as Starbucks, the alternative may be each a blessing and a curse. While you may wish to commit time and sources to nurturing that relationship, you possibly can’t let the scale of 1 buyer hold you from neglecting different areas of your small business.

That’s based on Kara Goldin, founder and CEO of flavored-water firm Hint Water. Goldin discovered this lesson the onerous means in 2012, when Starbucks immediately determined to cease carrying Hint merchandise. Goldin shared that story and others from her current memoir, Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts and Doubters, on Thursday in a personal Inc. Masters discussion board Q&A, the place she additionally answered questions from entrepreneurs about overcoming enterprise obstacles.

Because Starbucks accounted for 40 p.c of Hint’s enterprise, the loss felt like being “punched in the gut,” Goldin says. Since then, she’s suggested entrepreneurs to create choices for themselves by creating a number of income streams. It’s just too harmful to have so a lot of your small business’s fortunes tied up with one firm, she says, particularly when that firm can sever ties with out warning.

There was a silver lining to the Starbucks ordeal, nevertheless: An Amazon purchaser, who had tried Hint’s merchandise in Starbucks, received in contact about including Hint to Amazon’s grocery enterprise. The success of these on-line gross sales finally prompted Hint to start out promoting water by itself web site. Now, direct-to-consumer gross sales make up 55 p.c of Hint’s enterprise, based on Goldin.

Hint’s diversification technique continues to be paying off. Before the pandemic, 15 p.c of the corporate’s enterprise got here from supplying water to the workplaces of huge corporations like Google. In March of 2020, workplace closures brought about that income stream to dry up. Anticipating that it won’t come again, the corporate centered on direct-to-consumer gross sales to make up the distinction. It labored: Hint’s direct-to-consumer enterprise has tripled since March.

Goldin says that protecting your choices open will aid you cope with any problem, whether or not it is a vendor relationship or a pandemic. She additionally tries to by no means let duties or issues pile as much as the purpose that she will get overwhelmed, she says, including that she retains her to-do lists brief.