Hello and welcome to the Exit presented by Flip. This is a 30 minute podcast featuring

amazing entrepreneurs who have been there and they have done it. The Exit talks to incredible

operators who have bought and sold businesses of all different sizes. You'll learn how they

did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of Exits. It's a world occupied

by a small few, but accessible to many. And on this special episode, I sit down with Kate

Nolan. She's a fantastic entrepreneur, classified as a gritty entrepreneur, and we had a great time

sitting down talking about her company graced by grit. She goes through how the acquisition

happened by a company named Hylete. She talks about meeting the acquiring company at a conference

and really digs into the realities of starting an e-commerce company, building a brand,

and the importance of a brand, and really inspiring women everywhere to get into business.

And all of the coaching that she's doing, helping with women get involved in businesses,

really inspiring. So without further ado, let's jump right into my interview here with Kate.

What is up guys? I am here with the gritty entrepreneur Kate Nolan. How's it going today, Kate?

Great, thanks for having me, Steve. Yeah, I'm excited to dig in here. So before we get started

with graced by grit, let's talk a little bit about your backstory. How did you start in business

and what led you to eventually start your your company? Yeah, so I mean, I would say for me,

I don't know that I would have had to find myself 20 years ago as an entrepreneur, but I was always

finding things within my community or network that seemed to be missing and starting programs.

So for example, I recognized when my kids were really little that there wasn't a great youth swimming

program at the facility that I wanted them to go to. And so I started one. I was a triathlete

and I realized there wasn't a master swimming class, so I started one. I also had a real knack

for organization both in my house and for businesses and teamed up with another woman and we developed

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