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Lessons on Entrepreneurial Adaptability with Rachel Hofstetter, Chatbooks CMO image

Lessons on Entrepreneurial Adaptability with Rachel Hofstetter, Chatbooks CMO

S2 E16 ยท The Kickstart Podcast
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5 Plays4 years ago

To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be adaptable. Sometimes so adaptable, that you're completely rewriting the story of your company. To give insight on how you can remain motivated through it all, we're talking with Rachel Hofstetter, CMO at Chatbooks, and investor Gavin Christensen of Kickstart (a VC firm for startups in Utah, Colorado, and the Mountain West) as we bring you both sides of a Perfect Pitch. In this episode, we'll talk about:

  • Adapting to new opportunities during career transitions

  • Why quality over quantity is more important in a professional network

  • The importance of storytelling in a startup

  • How Rachel's challenge of "The Year of Hustle" boosted her career

Recommended
Transcript

Introduction to the Perfect Pitch Podcast

00:00:00
Speaker
To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be adaptable.
00:00:04
Speaker
Sometimes so adaptable that you're completely rewriting the story of your company.
00:00:08
Speaker
To give insight on how you can remain motivated through it all, we're talking with Rachel Hofstetter, CMO at Chatbooks, and investor Gavin Christensen to bring you both sides of A Perfect Pitch.

Meet Rachel Hofstetter: From Editor to Entrepreneur

00:00:27
Speaker
What is Perfect Pitch?
00:00:29
Speaker
It's a podcast from Kickstart that reveals the minds of both investors and entrepreneurs throughout a startup's journey.
00:00:35
Speaker
So whether that's uncovering what everyone's really thinking during a startup pitch or learning how entrepreneurs like you have managed their first major roadblock, Perfect Pitch offers an honest, quick and tactical guide to help you on your startup journey.
00:00:49
Speaker
I'm your host, Karen Zelnick, and I'm excited to introduce you to Rachel and Gavin.
00:00:54
Speaker
So Rachel, I want to tell our listeners a little bit about you.
00:00:57
Speaker
You're currently the CMO at Chatbooks.
00:00:59
Speaker
Before that, you were the CEO and co-founder of Gesterly, an event service company.
00:01:04
Speaker
You were the editor at O, the Oprah Magazine, and the author of a bestselling business book, Cooking Up a Business.
00:01:11
Speaker
I have an entire list of awards here that's so long.
00:01:13
Speaker
I'm not even going to attempt to read it because it would take us all day, but congratulations.
00:01:18
Speaker
And now I'd love to know what else we should know about you.
00:01:22
Speaker
Well, thank you for all that fun intro.
00:01:25
Speaker
And the thing that I love to do when I'm not accepting awards, obviously, is hike.
00:01:30
Speaker
We have amazing hikes here in Utah and also in the surrounding area.
00:01:34
Speaker
But I have a book called The 60 Best Hikes in Utah, and I'm working my way through it.
00:01:38
Speaker
I'm about halfway through the whole list.
00:01:41
Speaker
But that is what I love to do on the weekends is get out here

Passion for Hiking and Life Transitions

00:01:44
Speaker
in Utah and hike.
00:01:44
Speaker
So any recommendations, I love to hear them.
00:01:49
Speaker
Well, Gavin's an adventurer.
00:01:50
Speaker
I know he was just recently taking an adventure.
00:01:52
Speaker
And do you have any recommendations for Rachel, Gavin?
00:01:54
Speaker
Well, she's done a ton of hikes.
00:01:57
Speaker
So I would just say, hey, definitely would recommend Capital Reef.
00:02:01
Speaker
Was there this last weekend with my family.
00:02:04
Speaker
We didn't do as much hiking as I'm sure Rachel would do.
00:02:07
Speaker
But I did do some one-wheeling, which was great on some trails there.
00:02:12
Speaker
We did a little bit of... The final highlight, I would say, was the trees.
00:02:17
Speaker
So they have these amazing 200, 300 year old cottonwood trees that are about 10 times bigger than any cottonwood tree you've ever seen in your life.
00:02:26
Speaker
One of them, it reminded me of childhood memories of the Berenstain Bears book, The Spooky Old Tree, which was a kind of a cool memory for me.
00:02:35
Speaker
And I don't know if you guys know that book.
00:02:38
Speaker
Well, I was a huge Berenstain Bears fan when I was younger.
00:02:40
Speaker
I had every single Berenstain Bears.
00:02:43
Speaker
That's a tongue twister, by the way.
00:02:45
Speaker
A Berenstain Bears book that was ever printed.
00:02:48
Speaker
So yeah, I remember the spooky old tree.
00:02:50
Speaker
We'll put a picture of it in the show notes.
00:02:52
Speaker
But I could talk about children's books all day.
00:02:55
Speaker
But I do think it's time that we dive into the discussion of why we're here about talking

Startup Journey and Acquisition by Chatbooks

00:02:58
Speaker
about founder stories and entrepreneurship.
00:03:00
Speaker
So Rachel.
00:03:01
Speaker
You're living the high life in New York.
00:03:03
Speaker
You're the food editor of Oh!
00:03:05
Speaker
The Oprah Magazine.
00:03:06
Speaker
You got a book deal from Penguin to write a book about startups for indie food startups.
00:03:11
Speaker
Living the dream, it seems like.
00:03:13
Speaker
So I would love to know what caused you to shift from this world to starting your own company.
00:03:20
Speaker
I took a crazy leap, said, let me just try to do this.
00:03:23
Speaker
I have no idea how to build a technology company.
00:03:26
Speaker
But that first year was exhilarating, all-encompassing.
00:03:30
Speaker
I actually started a Word doc where every night I would just write down like two or three things that happened that day because so much happens so quickly.
00:03:38
Speaker
You look back a week earlier and your whole view of the world would have changed in one week.
00:03:42
Speaker
And then a week forward, it would all change again.
00:03:44
Speaker
And it would be a whole different way of viewing the world.
00:03:47
Speaker
But that was how I jumped in.
00:03:48
Speaker
And honestly, I kind of said, let me try this for three months.
00:03:51
Speaker
See if anything happens.
00:03:54
Speaker
And we launched in six weeks and launch day was featured in Glamour and the next day, Real Simple and this old school thing called Daily Candy that doesn't exist anymore.
00:04:03
Speaker
I loved Daily Candy.
00:04:05
Speaker
I know.
00:04:05
Speaker
Oh, gee.
00:04:06
Speaker
When Daily Candy featured us, I was like, Oh my gosh, we're done.
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:10
Speaker
And there were a lot of really exciting things that happened at the very beginning.
00:04:14
Speaker
They didn't always lead to lots of sales, but they were very exciting and very validating and made me say, Okay, well, let's try this for...
00:04:21
Speaker
another season, right?
00:04:23
Speaker
I did the first three months.
00:04:24
Speaker
Let's try it for three more months.
00:04:25
Speaker
Let's try it for three more months and just see what we can build.
00:04:28
Speaker
And so that's how it started.
00:04:31
Speaker
The passion with which you're talking about that makes me excited.
00:04:33
Speaker
And I'm like, I should also do that.
00:04:36
Speaker
Well, the beginning is fun.
00:04:38
Speaker
I will say then it got harder.
00:04:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:40
Speaker
Let's talk about the harder.
00:04:41
Speaker
So you actually even pitched Kickstart.
00:04:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:43
Speaker
So we kind of had about a year in New York and then my husband and I finally realized, let's move somewhere else.
00:04:50
Speaker
Let's try this in a different environment, maybe environment that was not quite as expensive as New York City, for example.
00:04:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:56
Speaker
And we had had a moment where it seemed like, okay, maybe this is working.
00:04:59
Speaker
Maybe this is really something that is going to drive money.
00:05:04
Speaker
We went and pitched Kickstart, which I have a couple of memories about that.
00:05:08
Speaker
The main memories I have were I really, really prepped for it.
00:05:12
Speaker
I love standing in front of a crowd and giving speeches.
00:05:15
Speaker
And so as I was practicing, I remember standing in front of the conference room, giving this whole speech.
00:05:20
Speaker
And people were like, no, don't do that.
00:05:22
Speaker
Do not stand up in front of the room, sit down, have a conversation, which is very good advice.
00:05:28
Speaker
That is what you should do.
00:05:29
Speaker
But Gavin, that was the prologue to coming into your office.
00:05:34
Speaker
Well, there's some plot twists coming on all of this, but maybe I'll let Gavin jump in.
00:05:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:38
Speaker
Gavin, jump in with your thoughts when Rachel first came in the pitch.
00:05:41
Speaker
I remember where it was.
00:05:43
Speaker
That was a much scrappier office that we were in at that time.
00:05:46
Speaker
I'm sure we had just finished a round of pizza.
00:05:49
Speaker
I think that our office permanently smelled like pizza, which I'm sure you... That's amazing.
00:05:54
Speaker
Gavin, do you remember the stand of stance socks in the corner?
00:05:58
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:05:59
Speaker
People told me about that ahead of time.
00:06:00
Speaker
They were like, they will probably give you some stance socks on the way out.
00:06:03
Speaker
Nice.
00:06:04
Speaker
I love it.
00:06:05
Speaker
That's so great.
00:06:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:06
Speaker
So I definitely remember because...
00:06:09
Speaker
At the time, our impression was like, wow, this is an amazing founder.
00:06:14
Speaker
We need to figure out a way to work with her.
00:06:16
Speaker
This is pretty close to chatbooks.
00:06:19
Speaker
We have an important investment in chatbooks.
00:06:21
Speaker
And I was on the board and still am of chatbooks.
00:06:23
Speaker
And we try to avoid investing in companies that are similar or will converge.
00:06:29
Speaker
So we did something that never works.
00:06:33
Speaker
which is this is this the plot twist i mean i don't yeah yeah without you know bearing the lead too much so we did something that never works which was that you know is there a way to work together really secretly hoping that chatbooks would acquire the company and we could have the benefit of rachel's vision and product combined with chatbooks and like i say that never works because it's like two different groups of founders and
00:06:56
Speaker
our culture, their culture, your priorities, my priorities.
00:06:59
Speaker
But so much of the venture funding process is relationships with people and working through various challenges that if when you find people that you're like, man, I really want to figure out a way to work with this person as a venture capitalist, let's say.

Success through Passion and Flexibility

00:07:13
Speaker
And I just think about seeing Rachel here, just like how much we've been through together already, right?
00:07:18
Speaker
I mean...
00:07:19
Speaker
Rachel was an entrepreneur.
00:07:21
Speaker
She wasn't a mom yet.
00:07:22
Speaker
And I mean, there's so many things have happened, but that's... It's crazy being here almost six years later.
00:07:28
Speaker
I think Gavin and I first talked September 2015.
00:07:30
Speaker
And Gavin's point, a lot has happened in six years.
00:07:35
Speaker
And we've built something really amazing collectively at chatbooks.
00:07:39
Speaker
And of course, lives have been built too.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:43
Speaker
But at the time, what's amazing is it probably was pretty crazy, but it didn't feel crazy.
00:07:48
Speaker
It actually felt very, very right.
00:07:52
Speaker
It's funny.
00:07:52
Speaker
Probably a question I get asked the most was, what was that transition like for you?
00:07:56
Speaker
And going from technically being a founder to technically being an employee.
00:08:01
Speaker
And the short answer is it didn't feel like...
00:08:04
Speaker
anything.
00:08:04
Speaker
And that's because I came in feeling like I own the company, like any startup employee does.
00:08:11
Speaker
You have equity in a company you work where you do own it.
00:08:14
Speaker
I felt that very intrinsically, but also Nate and Vanessa, who are the co-founders of Chatbook, really empowered me with a sense of ownership too, that we were going to build this together along with the other executive team members, Dan and Steve, who were there at the time and Lauren, who has since joined.
00:08:30
Speaker
And so...
00:08:31
Speaker
I think it felt like I went from owning one thing that I really cared about to owning another thing that I really cared about.
00:08:38
Speaker
And so I think no matter where you are in your journey as a founder, as an employee, wherever you are, that sense of ownership is so important and it makes it a lot more fun.
00:08:49
Speaker
It is.
00:08:49
Speaker
One of my mantras, Rachel, is the thing that separates founders from other people.
00:08:56
Speaker
other than an appetite for risk and all kinds of things like that.
00:08:59
Speaker
But the main thing is the thing that they're founding, they just care more about that than anyone else does.
00:09:04
Speaker
And really all the behavior that's so great about founders and all the outcomes kind of come from that source of just caring more.
00:09:12
Speaker
I think it's probably important to note that what you pulled off with the acquisition of Gesterly and your role at Chatbooks is kind of rare because that takes a very flexible person.
00:09:24
Speaker
I think it shows how rare the culture is at Chatbooks too, that they can partner with another founder and kind of merge the vision and keep everybody excited and motivated.
00:09:34
Speaker
So it's been special to be part of that and see you guys do that.
00:09:38
Speaker
But I think you brought that amazing passion and caring more than anyone else to that common vision.
00:09:48
Speaker
Nate and I were talking about this recently.
00:09:50
Speaker
We've worked with some consultants and people have been at really great startups that we really are impressed by.
00:09:57
Speaker
Sometimes it's so interesting though, because it's the people on our own team who just care so much that really bring the magic.
00:10:05
Speaker
And you're like, wow, they have a really fancy background.
00:10:07
Speaker
And to be honest, we expected something really great.
00:10:10
Speaker
But the caring is honestly what matters more at the end of the day.
00:10:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:14
Speaker
It's what leads to the extra effort, the extra insight, the attention to detail, all those things.
00:10:21
Speaker
I was going to say something else that I'll just share because I think it was really important in the transition is I went in on day zero with this mindset that chat book success was my success.
00:10:33
Speaker
And that it wasn't about building guests early up within chat books.
00:10:38
Speaker
It was about doing whatever was best for the ultimate chat book success.
00:10:42
Speaker
That could come in many forms.
00:10:44
Speaker
I think...
00:10:45
Speaker
it's shifted over the years for all of us of what that product is and what that brand is.
00:10:51
Speaker
And so to your point, Gavin, being really flexible, but it was just a very, very conscious decision for me that it was not about guests really succeeding with inside chat books.
00:10:59
Speaker
It was about chat books succeeding.
00:11:02
Speaker
Gavin mentioned, Rachel, your flexibility, which obviously you're speaking to a little bit there of.
00:11:07
Speaker
Has that come naturally to you?
00:11:09
Speaker
Was that a skill you had to develop?
00:11:10
Speaker
And do you have any tips for people listening on how they can become more flexible and adaptable?
00:11:16
Speaker
You know what?
00:11:16
Speaker
I think it's always looking to two things.
00:11:20
Speaker
What is exciting without shiny object syndrome?
00:11:23
Speaker
But where are things moving towards?
00:11:25
Speaker
And so when I worked in magazines, magazines were fantastic.
00:11:29
Speaker
At the beginning, they were still growing.
00:11:31
Speaker
It was an exciting industry.
00:11:32
Speaker
There was a lot of stuff happening.
00:11:34
Speaker
Then it was, okay, startups look really, really interesting.
00:11:38
Speaker
It's emerging.
00:11:39
Speaker
None of us even really, except for Gavin, we're talking about startups 20 years ago.
00:11:44
Speaker
And then it became this more exciting thing.
00:11:46
Speaker
And so I think it's as much about flexibility, it's just... It's also being opportunistic and looking to where things are growing and moving and following that.
00:11:55
Speaker
If we all just stay with what we knew 5 years ago, we'd all be dead in the water as a company and marketers.

Storytelling in the Digital Age

00:12:01
Speaker
We have to keep evolving and
00:12:02
Speaker
you know, essentially run where the ball is going.
00:12:06
Speaker
So I think that's how I kind of think about the flexibility too, is don't stand where you are because the ball is somewhere totally else on the field.
00:12:13
Speaker
So just keep running where that ball is going.
00:12:16
Speaker
Maybe just another tip out there for younger listeners is so much better to have a few relationships where you've really created value for people than just knowing a lot of people.
00:12:28
Speaker
And then they become not just like, yeah, I know they're great to like that person is incredible.
00:12:35
Speaker
Rachel, she does this sort of naturally.
00:12:37
Speaker
It's really got her embedded in this community incredibly quickly.
00:12:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:43
Speaker
And too, I think it helps with the times where your passion, your energy around something lags.
00:12:48
Speaker
It helps maintain that momentum when you are really invested in the people around you and the community around you.
00:12:54
Speaker
Not only are you taking ownership in your company, but you're owning the culture that you're creating in the entire community.
00:12:59
Speaker
So I love that point.
00:13:00
Speaker
Thank you so much, Gavin.
00:13:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:05
Speaker
I want to transition a little bit, Rachel, because as a former editor and an author, you're clearly expert at storytelling.
00:13:12
Speaker
And we talk all the time about how important storytelling is for founders.
00:13:16
Speaker
How is that translated in your business at Guestually and then also at Chatbooks?
00:13:20
Speaker
I think we're in what I would call an attention economy right now, even especially in 2021, where the attention we give someone is the most valuable currency, whether that is us talking right here or a listener listening to this podcast or when you're scrolling your phone on TikTok or Instagram or what have you.
00:13:39
Speaker
It's all about fighting for people's attention.
00:13:42
Speaker
But what I've seen really interesting over the last 20 years is how storytelling has evolved.
00:13:47
Speaker
I think it will continue to evolve.
00:13:49
Speaker
And we think of the traditional hero's journey story, which is great, or a novel, or even the beautiful long-form magazine articles I used to sign out and edit where I would have 2,000 words to tell a beautiful story.
00:14:03
Speaker
There is not a ton of attention for 2000 word articles.
00:14:07
Speaker
There is still.
00:14:09
Speaker
But I'm super impressed these days by people who are telling stories in really quick bite-sized formats.
00:14:15
Speaker
As an example, one that's very top of mind right now in the marketing space is a company called Hill House named a product, The Nap Dress.
00:14:24
Speaker
That's literally two words.
00:14:25
Speaker
It's a name of a product, nap dress.
00:14:27
Speaker
And yet there's a whole story tied up in that.
00:14:30
Speaker
You hear the name, you're like, wow, a dress that you take a nap in.
00:14:33
Speaker
That's a whole life.
00:14:34
Speaker
That's a whole vibe.
00:14:35
Speaker
There's a hero in that story.
00:14:37
Speaker
And you better believe they are taking a glamorous nap at 3pm.
00:14:42
Speaker
And so stories can be that small is where I'm going with the nap dress example.
00:14:47
Speaker
But even we did an ad for chat books a couple years ago.
00:14:50
Speaker
And it starts out with a mom in the bathtub.
00:14:53
Speaker
And she looks like she's having a relaxing bubble bath.
00:14:56
Speaker
And isn't that great?
00:14:56
Speaker
And you're like, wow, that mom is not me.
00:14:59
Speaker
And then she stands up and she's fully clothed.
00:15:01
Speaker
And it turns out her kids are running around and things are crazy.
00:15:03
Speaker
And she slipped and she fell into the bathtub.
00:15:05
Speaker
That is 15 seconds when that happens.
00:15:08
Speaker
And you have a whole story.
00:15:10
Speaker
And then there is more to the video.
00:15:12
Speaker
And hopefully that first 15 seconds kind of hooks you.
00:15:15
Speaker
And so I think that's where I get most excited about storytelling is kind of what story can you wrap up in 15 seconds or less?
00:15:25
Speaker
One more example of this, by the way, is memes.
00:15:26
Speaker
Memes are great because you get a whole story in one teeny little piece, right?
00:15:30
Speaker
It's like, oh, I have all this other context that now makes this funny or interesting or mean something.
00:15:37
Speaker
So as a marketer, and even what we're doing at Chatbooks right now, it's constantly trying to wrap up our value props, who we are, what our products are, who we are as a brand.
00:15:45
Speaker
And as bite-sized as you can get.
00:15:47
Speaker
This isn't even bite-sized candy bars anymore.
00:15:49
Speaker
It's the teeny, teeny one-fourth of a bite-sized candy bar.
00:15:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:53
Speaker
But you can get so creative within those constraints.
00:15:56
Speaker
And then think about how much more that teeny bite leaves you wanting.
00:15:59
Speaker
So the effect of that storytelling.
00:16:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:02
Speaker
That is my... Oh my gosh.
00:16:03
Speaker
I just went on a soapbox about storytelling.
00:16:05
Speaker
But I think it's the bite-sized stories right now that are really exciting.
00:16:09
Speaker
I love this insight around the micro storytelling.
00:16:14
Speaker
In some ways, it's almost like a collective consciousness that we have because of all the layers of digital and social media where we can tell a story at the tip of the pyramid because of all this deep context that we've gotten because we've over consumed in so many ways.
00:16:29
Speaker
If you just see a meme, it shouldn't be funny.
00:16:31
Speaker
But because you know all the layers underneath, it is.
00:16:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's right.
00:16:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:36
Speaker
You're like, well, because Gandalf and yeah.
00:16:38
Speaker
And then in Flintstones and Michael Jackson.
00:16:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:41
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:43
Speaker
You know, what's funny is I have a 17 year old.
00:16:46
Speaker
He'll do these meme sessions with his cousins.
00:16:48
Speaker
They'll just sit there and look at memes for like an hour and laugh.
00:16:52
Speaker
As a parent, it's just kind of like, I can't handle it.
00:16:56
Speaker
It means they are creating all these storytelling connections, Gavin.
00:16:59
Speaker
There you go.
00:16:59
Speaker
That's right.
00:17:00
Speaker
It's really, really good.
00:17:01
Speaker
It's education.
00:17:02
Speaker
Yeah, there you go.
00:17:03
Speaker
We've reframed it.
00:17:04
Speaker
That's great.
00:17:05
Speaker
Gavin, how have you seen storytelling evolve for founders, especially as they come to pitch you?
00:17:09
Speaker
Or what should they know as they're pitching about how to tell their stories?
00:17:14
Speaker
Some of these same principles apply, which is there's a broader context of startups and technology companies, a tapestry that it's important to be able to define yourself clearly and show how you're different, but also in the context of that broader tapestry.
00:17:30
Speaker
So I think that actually is an important part of storytelling.
00:17:33
Speaker
You know, it can get kind of trite.
00:17:35
Speaker
We're like Uber, but for, you know, like doing kind of that thing is maybe too much.
00:17:40
Speaker
founders really forget to add interest to the story.
00:17:46
Speaker
There should be a main character.
00:17:47
Speaker
There should be conflict.
00:17:48
Speaker
There should be a plot twist.
00:17:49
Speaker
There should be a villain.
00:17:51
Speaker
How that person, that customer, that employee kind of insert themselves into that hero's journey description is part of how you get someone to do something that's not strictly rational.
00:18:03
Speaker
Give up pay, give up prestige, give up, et cetera, et cetera.
00:18:08
Speaker
So I think maybe thinking about the elements of the story and making sure that you don't just jump to the end.
00:18:15
Speaker
How about this?
00:18:16
Speaker
Not always short form.
00:18:18
Speaker
Have the elements there.
00:18:20
Speaker
Show that you've thought through who all the players are going to be and what's down the road a little bit.
00:18:25
Speaker
Speaking of bite-sized stories, we like to keep these easily adjustable on someone's commute or on a workout or something.
00:18:31
Speaker
But I do have one final question for you, Rachel.
00:18:35
Speaker
And that is, what's an effective practice you've implemented in your work or personal life that's had a great impact on your success?
00:18:43
Speaker
This may not be bite-sized, but... Even better.
00:18:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:47
Speaker
Gavin just said they're not all bite-sized.
00:18:48
Speaker
So it's great.
00:18:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:49
Speaker
Hero's Journey.

The 'Year of Hustle' and Conclusion

00:18:50
Speaker
So talk to me about that year that yesterday was acquired by Chatbooks and I joined Chatbooks.
00:18:55
Speaker
That happened in November.
00:18:57
Speaker
But I went into that year in a bit of a slump.
00:18:59
Speaker
I just wasn't sure what the next level, what the next stage of this company looked like.
00:19:05
Speaker
I just moved to Utah.
00:19:06
Speaker
I didn't know what the next stage of my life looked like.
00:19:09
Speaker
And so I really wanted a way to cut through that and figure out what I was doing next.
00:19:13
Speaker
So I invented this challenge for myself.
00:19:16
Speaker
I called it the year of hustle.
00:19:18
Speaker
For me, that meant literally 365 days where I was just going to go at my absolute highest level.
00:19:25
Speaker
I was going to reach out to everyone.
00:19:27
Speaker
Gavin was one of the people on my list that year.
00:19:30
Speaker
I mean, I literally made lists of hundreds of people and I worked my way through it and we built software and launched things and I called customers one-on-one.
00:19:40
Speaker
I mean, I just did all the things.
00:19:44
Speaker
7 days a week, 18 hours a day.
00:19:46
Speaker
And I went as hard as I thought I ever could.
00:19:48
Speaker
But it was amazing because the more you do, the more it starts to unfold and the more that opens up for you and the more possibilities come out of nowhere.
00:19:55
Speaker
Another way of saying that you make your own luck by putting things out there.
00:19:59
Speaker
And so year of hustle was really pivotal for me.
00:20:03
Speaker
And so since then, I've continued to try to create these seasons and they're not always a year.
00:20:07
Speaker
And I think whenever you're unsure about what the next step is, or you just don't know how to break through or how to structure a season of your life, giving yourself this time delineated challenge, it's only for a set amount of time to put it on the calendar.
00:20:24
Speaker
You have a very clear concept.
00:20:26
Speaker
then you just use it to break through a little bit and open new doors that you might not know were there or spark new ideas.
00:20:33
Speaker
So I would say I've used that time and time again, this idea of a quick challenge to restart things.
00:20:38
Speaker
And I highly recommend it.
00:20:41
Speaker
Gavin, have you seen that practice play out for Rachel and Gasterly and chatbooks?
00:20:46
Speaker
I definitely saw the results of it and the network she was creating and the value she's creating, but didn't realize there was a seasons of hustle behind it.
00:20:55
Speaker
So yeah.
00:20:56
Speaker
Hashtag year of hustle sounded good on Instagram too.
00:20:59
Speaker
Well, I mean, yeah.
00:21:00
Speaker
Speaking of the fact that Rachel is so good at motivating and mentoring and inspiring people, I remember talking to her about this concept.
00:21:06
Speaker
And I want in particular, Rachel, that you mentioned was think it, do it.
00:21:09
Speaker
That one that you had.
00:21:10
Speaker
And there are some times where, you know, you're having a day where you're just, I'm a little sluggish today.
00:21:16
Speaker
And I was like, Nope, today's my think it, do it day.
00:21:18
Speaker
I'm just going to get it done.
00:21:20
Speaker
And so it's been motivating for me.
00:21:22
Speaker
So I also encourage listeners to do that too.
00:21:25
Speaker
Stuff like that has been very helpful.
00:21:27
Speaker
So it's been so great to have you on.
00:21:29
Speaker
I've loved this discussion.
00:21:30
Speaker
I've loved all we've talked about as far as the ways you can think about being an entrepreneur, not just starting your own company, but also just within a company and taking ownership and having that hustle there.
00:21:40
Speaker
It's been a really, really lively and enriching discussion.
00:21:43
Speaker
So thank you, Rachel and Gavin, for being here.
00:21:45
Speaker
Really appreciate it.
00:21:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:47
Speaker
Thanks guys.
00:21:48
Speaker
This was so fun.
00:21:49
Speaker
And of course, thank you for listening as we dive deep into what it takes to create the perfect pitch.
00:21:54
Speaker
If you want to learn more about our investor, Gavin Christensen from Kickstart or Rachel Hofstetter and her amazing marketing team at chat books, we'll have a link to the company and longer bios in our show notes at kickstartfund.com.
00:22:06
Speaker
You can listen to more episodes of Perfect Pitch wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:22:10
Speaker
And if you like what you're learning, leave us a reviewer rating.
00:22:12
Speaker
We'll be back next time with more insights from entrepreneurs and the investors who fund them.
00:22:16
Speaker
So be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a thing.