The Dave Crenshaw Success Show

The Hydration Entrepreneur, Katie Gillberg - CEO of Hydrate IV Bar

• Dave Crenshaw • Season 4 • Episode 3

Share episode

Katie Gillberg, founder and CEO of Hydrate IV Bar, shares a unique journey from her days as a Denver Broncos cheerleader to becoming a successful entrepreneur in the IV hydration industry. Drawing on the confidence, teamwork, and professionalism she honed on the sidelines, Katie turned her passion into a business. Starting out, she juggled self-funding her venture while working full-time in medical sales, a true testament to her determination. Listen today and choose which action from Katie's story will get you closer to your own success story.

Action Principles 


Pick one to do this week: 


  1. Take small risks. Build up your confidence by taking minor risks. ACTION: Pick one small risk and schedule time in your calendar to make it happen.
  2. Elevate your circle. Surround yourself with people who are more intelligent and more successful than you.  ACTION: Reach out to someone you admire and ask if they’d be willing to connect and share some advice.
  3. Focus forward. Avoid the “what if” traps of the past and push forward to the next step in your plan. ACTION: Ask yourself, “What’s next?” when you feel stuck in the past.
  4. Spend time wisely. Be picky about how you spend your time. If it’s not a strong yes, then it’s a no. ACTION: Ask yourself, “Does this excite me or fit into my most valuable activities?” before committing to anything new. 



Guest Resources


Follow Hydrate IV bar on Instagram or learn more at HydrateIVbar.com.



Suggested LinkedIn Learning Courses



Time Management Fundamentals

Dave Crenshaw develops productive leaders in Fortune 500 companies, universities, and organizations of every size. He has appeared in Time magazine, USA Today, FastCompany, and the BBC News. His courses on LinkedIn Learning have been viewed tens of millions of times. His five books have been published in eight languages, the most popular of which is The Myth of Multitasking—a time management bestseller. As an author, speaker, and online instructor, Dave has transformed the lives and careers of hundreds of thousands around the world. DaveCrenshaw.com

Katie Gillberg:

So aside from dancing, you're on one of the biggest stages and platforms. And so today getting on stage to do public speaking. You know, a couple 100 people seem like nothing compared to 75,000 people. Yeah, the

Dave Crenshaw:

camera passes by. There you are millions of people watching the game. That happens many times in the season. In this episode, you'll get to know Katie Gillberg, the hydration entrepreneur, and you'll hear the story of how she went from being a Denver Broncos cheerleader to becoming a franchise creating leader in the IV hydration industry. I'm Dave Crenshaw, and this is my success show Welcome back, friends, to the Dave Crenshaw Success Show. This is where I speak to some of the most successful people I've met in my life's journey. I'm on a mission to look for universal principles of success to help both my family and you succeed, no matter what your career is, in case it's your first time here and you're not familiar with me. I'm a best selling author. I speak around the world to Fortune 500 companies, and I've taught millions of people how to be successful through my online courses, particularly my courses on LinkedIn. Learning with this show, I wanted to do something a little different, something that well, I was inspired with the idea of helping my kids succeed, so I wanted to talk to some of the amazing people that I've met. And then I thought, Well, why wouldn't everyone want to hear this? So I share these interviews with you. I'm looking in particular for people like my guests today who have multifaceted success. So not just career, not just financial success, but they love life. They spend time with loved ones, and they live a rich, full life, in addition to the career success that they've had. And by the way, if you think of someone who you think would make a great guest for this show, you can send that suggestion to guest at success dot show now as you listen to today's episode, I always ask you to look for one thing in particular. I want you to listen for an action you can take today or this week, to make my guest success story a part of your success story. And my guest today, she's remarkable. Katie Gilberg is the founder and CEO of hydrate IV bar. Her passion for health and wellness inspired first a career in medical sales, which then led to her creating an IV therapy business. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Katie also fulfilled a lifelong dream by becoming a Denver Broncos cheerleader for two seasons, she serves on the board of the Cherry Creek Chamber of Commerce, the Highland Merchants Association and the butterfly Children Fund. In her spare time, she likes to travel with her family, stay active and enjoy the Colorado outdoors. She snowboards in the winter camps in the summer, and, of course, as always, getting an ivy in between. Katie, thank you so much for being on the show. I'm excited

Katie Gillberg:

to talk to you. I am as well. Thank you so much for having me.

Dave Crenshaw:

Yeah. And I especially love talking to entrepreneurs, people who are building their own business. It's always such a fascinating path, and we're going to learn so much from you as we go through this. So thank you for being here to share your wisdom with us.

Katie Gillberg:

Thank you.

Dave Crenshaw:

I always like to start these interviews with a question that we used to get asked. We don't get asked as many times these days, but the question is, when you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Katie Gillberg:

Actually, when I was young, I wanted to be a doctor. I've always had a passion for helping people and being nurturing. Obviously, went the Business Route, but I think it's interesting how it kind of came full circle. And although I'm not our doctor, I am surrounding myself with amazing medical professionals. Oh,

Dave Crenshaw:

that is, that is cool how that turned out, and probably very unexpectedly. I'm guessing you didn't think there was a point where you stopped thinking you were going to be a doctor, right?

Katie Gillberg:

I went from doctor to being a Broadway dancer to being a veterinarian. I love animals, so I've kind of bounced all over.

Dave Crenshaw:

So I know that dance and cheerleading is a part of your story, so I'm assuming that's something that happened early on. That's something that happened in high school, that sort of thing. Yes,

Katie Gillberg:

I grew up dancing my whole life, ballet, tap, jazz. Then went to college and I started cheerleading. I went to Arizona State University, and after college, moved back to Denver, and that's when I tried out for the Denver Broncos cheerleaders and made the team, and so I was able to continue my dance career throughout my 20s, which is sometimes rare at that age.

Dave Crenshaw:

Yeah, and I want to talk to you about the Denver Broncos in a moment. I want to talk. About a little bit about college. So you were studying at Arizona State. What were you studying while you were there at Arizona State,

Katie Gillberg:

I was studying business and communications, and that was really recommended by my father. He's a businessman, and first of all, he'll say it's the sales pitch I gave him to let me go out of state for college. My parents were trying hard. I'm the oldest of five children, and so for me to be the first one to leave the nest, they were really hoping I would stay in Colorado, and the sales pitch I gave him was, if I stay in town, I'll likely want to move out of college. I'll move and I'll meet someone, and I'll get married, and I'll never come home. That's how dramatic it was. And I said, but if I go out of state for college, I'll get to experience that. And then Colorado is my home, and I love it here. And don't worry, Dad, I'll come back. And he brings up that story all the time, but jokes too, that I've always been outgoing. I'm extroverted, and so when I was, you know, considering careers, he said, You really should consider business, sales and then communications. You can't go wrong.

Dave Crenshaw:

And I want to pause here for a second for those who are keeping score at home who have listened to the other interviews. We have another person who has studied business and Katie. I'm emphasizing that because the original idea behind creating this show was to uncover universal principles of success that would help my kids succeed. And one of the things that we've seen a pattern is that most of the people that I've interviewed studied business in some way, in some form, throughout their development of their career. Can you talk to us a little bit about what you gained from that degree that helped set you up for future success? Absolutely.

Katie Gillberg:

I mean, a business degree is so valuable, not only for your personal life. I mean, you're learning how to read financial statements and budgeting, aside from a business, these are values that will help you personally for a lifetime, communications, public speaking, negotiation, marketing, learning about brands. All of us spend money. We're all consumers, and so business has such a wide range of fantastic topics that are valuable, I think about even earlier on. I mean, I was just driven and so between lemonade stands or I would host sports camps in my neighborhood, I would go down to our public park, and I would charge our neighbors to essentially watch their kids, and we would just play games in the park. And I made it this, like athletic summer camp. So early on, I was an entrepreneur without really recognizing it. And then business and learning some of those foundations really helped launch that,

Dave Crenshaw:

yeah, well, and what I'm catching from the story too, is the influence of sports in that story and how now what you do is also very sports informed. Certainly with IV hydration, a lot of people are doing it just because they want to feel better and they have they're not involved in sports. But there's another category, which is understanding that and understanding the science behind it that drives the hydration that you do now, right with your businesses?

Katie Gillberg:

Absolutely, you know, as an athlete and someone who's always been passionate about health and wellness and performance and recovery, and with my passion with medicine, you know, getting into medical sales after college was was a great opportunity to for me to get, kind of my foot in the door and have the business degree, plus the medical experience and what I learned from that job at that time, in particularly, as you know, I was Working in pain management, and it's a very special specialty. There's a need for it, absolutely, but it's heavy. It's depressing. You're working with people who are in pain, who've had horrible accidents. Ultimately, even at that time, I knew this is not a space that is motivating me or fulfilling me, and I wanted to look for other options. So not only was I excited to, you know, for the option, the potential to work for myself, but I just knew that I needed to shift and and do something that was more aligned with my goals and how I value wellness. That

Dave Crenshaw:

job in medical sales was that taking place at the same time you were a cheerleader for the Broncos.

Katie Gillberg:

Yes, and yeah, talk about burning the candle at both ends.

Dave Crenshaw:

Yeah? Because that's not a full time job, right? That, or is it? Should it be treated as such? It should

Katie Gillberg:

be treated as such. And a lot has changed since. Yes, I was a cheerleader, but it was a very full time, part time gig. You did it because you loved it. You were passionate about it. I mean, being a Broncos cheerleader was one of the best experiences, hands down, of my life. I also, you know, through that organization, people see the cheerleaders, we dance, we're bring the energy. It's exciting. It's game day. But really, there's so much more behind the scenes with that organization that has also really helped me with where I'm at today.

Dave Crenshaw:

Yeah, and I want to ask you about that, because that is certainly a unique backstory of people that I've interviewed. I doubt I'm going to have many people who have been NFL cheerleaders. So talk to me a little bit. I'm looking for two two things here. Number one, what is that like? What is what is doing that as a full time, part time career like? And then, more importantly, what lessons did you learn from that that inform the work that you do today and help you be successful as an entrepreneur.

Katie Gillberg:

Being a Broncos cheerleader, not only did I fulfill my passion for dance, we would have practices two to three times a week, usually at night, so I would work my regular job during the day, and then from about seven to 10pm we would have rehearsals at the stadium. Then Saturdays, we only performed at the home games. So anytime there was a home game throughout the season, you know, that is a full game day experience. You're going to the stadium early, hair, makeup rehearsal, and then you're you're out, you're with the fans, you're going to tailgates, you're promoting the whole pregame experience. So you pretty much have a full day before the game even starts. Then you have the game, the energy. It's just unbelievable. I still get chills thinking about being on that field in front of that sort of audience. Do

Dave Crenshaw:

you still go to games?

Katie Gillberg:

I do. I still go to games. But what's really great about the organization too is we still are very connected as the alumni network. So every now and then, I still will participate in halftime shows or helping coach the junior program. So it's really fun. I mean, even though I've been out of the system for a while now, there's still a lot of opportunities that I get to be a part of.

Dave Crenshaw:

So what did you gain from that? That maybe lessons that you would never have gotten anywhere else, that make you a more successful business owner and leader? Absolutely

Katie Gillberg:

So aside from dancing, really having confidence, confidence in yourself. You're on one of the biggest stages and platforms, and so today, getting on stage to do public speaking. You know, a couple 100 people seem like nothing compared to 75,000 people.

Dave Crenshaw:

Yeah, the camera passes by. There you are, millions of people watching the game. That happens many times in the

Katie Gillberg:

season, absolutely, even with the media, there's bad press, there's scrutiny, there's opinions, and so it really helped you one we always were very cognizant about how we represented ourselves, how we represented the organization in a professional manner. Also, you know, teamwork, leadership, communication skills, high integrity. I mean, there's, there's so many values that we practice daily. And the coach that I had, you know, she was incredible at driving a lot of these values into these young women. We were all, you know, early 20s, I was 2122 when I was on the team. And so these were some really valuable life experiences that I learned.

Dave Crenshaw:

What did that look like? You said driving. She was driving the values into you. How did she do that? What was the process that she used to instill the values in you?

Katie Gillberg:

Yeah, well, actually, it goes back to even the interview process. So when you're auditioning, only about a third is actually judged on how you dance, how you perform. Some of the judges at the audition, they are executives in the sales and marketing team. They know nothing about dance, but they want to know how you're going to interview. You know, if you're in a tailgate and the news comes up, how confident are you to speak on behalf of the organization? How professional can you carry yourself? So a lot of it was practicing communication, poise, body language. We practiced this early on. I mean, even part of the audition was we took a football test. We had to know everything about the game, we had to know interesting current players and coaches. I mean, they, and I can't speak for every organization, this was the Denver Broncos cheerleader organization, and it's always been attributed to one of the top programs in the nation, but just the seriousness that they took it from day one really helped set. The bar, and that striving for excellence is something that I carry with me every day.

Dave Crenshaw:

So I grew up around media. I was not an NFL cheerleader. I know that's disappointing for you to hear, but I did learn being around radio. My father was a radio host. The importance of research and preparation, and like you said, body language and how you present yourself. And I think now, especially in the world of YouTube and Instagram and Tiktok, these are now survival skills. Absolutely,

Katie Gillberg:

we

Dave Crenshaw:

need to get comfortable with these things and get comfortable with being on camera and being in front of a microphone in a way that it's never been in in the history of the world?

Katie Gillberg:

Absolutely, I think about it too. With business, founding the company, being an entrepreneur, building a brand, you are your brand as much as you know you want to disconnect, or try and disconnect and not be your your brand all day, every day, you are. And so that's something too. You know, we talked to our franchise owners about that, that attention, and you know, attention to detail and striving for excellence, and how you carry yourself and everyone that you hire. I mean, it matters Absolutely, how they're they're all a representation of you. So that's something too, that you know, our brand, our image as a cheerleader, was just ingrained in us, and I think as a business owner, that's so important to be reminded of.

Dave Crenshaw:

So I'm going to put you on the spot here. Okay, my background, for many years, was an entrepreneurship coach. I would help businesses get to the point where they could sell, where they could franchise, that sort of thing. So I'm going to put you on the spot. Do you have a training program? Do you have a system for training your franchisees how to be solid on camera. We

Katie Gillberg:

have a media training kit, and this is something that our marketing director, you know early on, and by default, I look at videos of myself. I mean one I am still not perfect, and still practicing every day and still learning, and I look at myself compared to eight years ago and some of these interviews that I did, and there's time, don't, don't google them all please, because there's some I see, and the news would show up in our business, and all the lessons like in my head just out the window. I was so excited and so and, you know, we have attention, and they're here to talk about us. And when you have the opportunity to prepare for something like this, take it seriously. Prepare. You're going to set yourself up for success when you're doing live or when someone catches you off guard a little bit more challenging, no matter how much you've practiced or rehearsed. You know our franchise owners now we give them examples of here's what Katie did that we wouldn't do again, and use me as the example. Nothing is horrible, but it's on the internet. It's essentially there forever. And so that's something too, that we talk to our owners about.

Dave Crenshaw:

Well, it is an evolutionary process, and yes, please do not try to find videos of me 14 years ago, when I first started, like in 2010 putting this stuff up. And I look at it, and I was like, Oh my gosh, okay, it's shifting gears. I want to talk to you about sales. Sales is clearly an important part of what you do now. It was part of the cheerleading, it was part of your medical sales. So I'm going to start by asking you this question, what does the word sales mean to you?

Katie Gillberg:

Sales, to me, is relationships. It's not just what can you do for me? It's what can I do for you? And I have never loved when sales feels super transactional. There needs to be, in my opinion, and in my success, more depth to that. And so even with our team right now, I mean, I have nurses who are emergency room nurses, and if I tell them that they need to sell a membership, they immediately have a response to it. They don't like that, even though we may be upselling a product or selling a membership, for us, it's always been, what is your need? How can we solve it? So that, to me, is the sales process. It's about relationships people and listening to what is the need that you can solve.

Dave Crenshaw:

Yeah, I love that. That's a great definition, and it harmonizes how I think about sales, which is simply helping people make good decisions. I love that sometimes that decision isn't your product or service, but often it is, and you want to help them move past the objections that they have so that, for instance, in your case, if IV therapy is the right thing for them, you want to help them through the sales process make a good decision, absolutely.

Katie Gillberg:

And you know, fortunate enough if you can find your play, find yourself in a place where you're passionate about what you're selling. Because then you're speaking from experience, you're speaking from a place of truly caring, and that makes it, you know, so much easier at hydrate IV bar. This to me, I mean, it's a no brainer, because I see people every single day, and I see that instant gratification, and then we're making people feel better. And I see the referrals, and I see the word of mouth, and so something like that. If you're lucky enough, or if you're able to position yourself in a place that you're really passionate about what you're selling, then kudos to you. The sky's the limit.

Dave Crenshaw:

What's something that you learned to not do in the sales process. A mistake

Katie Gillberg:

that I've made is being too focused on maybe the quota or what I need out of the sale versus what they need. And as soon as someone may feel like this is not for their benefit, this is because you need something right now, I think it'll totally go sideways. And so that's a lesson that I've learned. Yeah, that's

Dave Crenshaw:

a great point. Okay, so now let's talk about where the idea first started coming into your head, about IV therapy. But more importantly, I'm going to start a business. I'm going to become a business owner around this. What was the genesis of that moment?

Katie Gillberg:

So I was working in medical sales, as you know, and I was transferred from Denver to Las Vegas. So living in Las Vegas, working in the hospitals, there a little bit different, unique settings. And this is when IV therapy was becoming super popular for hangovers, and really the brands at the time. I mean, you you see traditional functional medicine clinics, and then you had this mobile concierge, these hangover brands, and that's what I was seeing in Las Vegas. I didn't think much more of it until I moved back to Denver. Denver is a very functional alternative wellness. It's an active community. There's just very health conscious people. And I started learning more about Myers cocktail, which is the kitchen sink of vitamin therapy. So it really there was kind of a light bulb that went off in my head at one just super curious as a consumer. I'm always looking for other modalities that I could do for my own wellness. I know a lot of these athletes, they were getting IV therapy. So there were athletes, there's, you know, the general wellness, there's the hangover portion. And at the time, it was a passion project I was thinking about as a consumer, what is the experience that I would want, and why is this not more accessible to the general public at the time, eight years ago in Denver, or nine years ago, when I started, it took about a year to put the business plan in place and to open my doors. You could either go to a traditional doctor's office Monday through Friday. Here's an appointment. You're going to be put in a single room, white walls, no tea and blankets and essential oils and all the other soft touches that we provide now. Or we're going to come to your house. It's going to be kind of weird, and we're only focusing on hangovers. So I identified a need, and so this was really just, what can I do to kind of fill this one need?

Dave Crenshaw:

What did you do for funding in that first phase? Was it self funded? Were you getting loans? That's a hard spot for many entrepreneurs.

Katie Gillberg:

I self funded all of it. I had one business partner that I started the business with. So we self funded, and that was a little bit of blessing of working in medical sales. We it was lucrative. We were both doing really well. We were saving our money. I didn't have a mortgage. I didn't have children. I was in my early 20s. There were a lot of big risks that I could take back then that I probably couldn't or wouldn't take right now, and so that was also part of what motivated me, is I have this opportunity. I kept my medical sales job, by the way, so I worked full time on a salary for that job for the first two years, while I founded operated, ran this business, and because I had the ability to do that, I didn't need to take money out of hydrate. I could keep it in hydrate. So that was the luck of the timing.

Dave Crenshaw:

And that highlights a philosophy, a perspective, that some new business owners need to decide where they stand on. For example, what you were saying was, you held on to another job for a while, while it was growing. The other school of thought is, I am going to drop everything, and I'm going to 100% devote my time and energy higher risk, faster growth for that. Yeah, and I don't think one or the other is really better. I know some people swear by each of them, and the answer is, well, whatever worked for you, right? So for you, it worked to do that, where you were doing both at the same time,

Katie Gillberg:

it did work. And I recognized that I was fortunate that I was with a company that as long as sales were coming in, they weren't micromanaging me. They weren't monitoring my daily schedule so I could work the front desk six days a week, manage, operate, grow, hydrate, while still servicing all of my business and hitting my quotas. And so that's unique in the sense I would not have been able to do that if I was clocking in and out of another career, and it worked for me, but it wasn't sustainable forever, and that's something that I didn't have on my radar from the beginning, my business plan was I know what my hard costs are, my fixed costs, I need to pay a doctor and I need to pay a nurse to work with me, who's going to administer the services, and I will do everything else. And I don't care if I don't sleep, I'm going to do our marketing, I'm going to do our bookkeeping, I'm going to be our handyman. And I did it, but crashed pretty fast.

Dave Crenshaw:

And that gets to the next thing I wanted to ask you about, which is the point of delegation. There is always that point in a truly successful business. I'm not talking about someone who created one that requires them to show up every day for work. That's not a business, that's a job, and you just happen to be working for a crazy owner. Who is you? The key here is that you did reach a point where you started to delegate. So talk to us about how you got past your objections to trusting someone else to do those things for you.

Katie Gillberg:

First of all, eight years later, it's still hard for me to delegate. This is still something that I practice. One piece of advice that I was given that I really lean into is the importance of building your team, and now I hire for people who are smarter than me that know skills that I don't know. I mean higher higher up. And so as soon as I started shifting towards people who could fill gaps that I didn't know, then I'm learning from them, and then it's not so much delegating, because they're growing and improving and evolving and helping and so building a team around you that have these skills that you enjoy working with, then it doesn't feel as much like delegation. Now. There are still and and really becoming the franchisor. That was a big moment where it's totally, you know, pulling your hands off of your baby, that's yours, your you know, something you created, and trusting that they are going to operate it and follow brand standards and and make you proud. And so that's something that you know is incredibly challenging, but you know, if you're not uncomfortable, you're not growing right?

Dave Crenshaw:

I haven't interviewed many franchisors, so for some people, they're hearing this concept for the first time as they're listening to this interview. Can you give me a brief just, you know, few sentence description of what that means to be a franchisor.

Katie Gillberg:

As a franchisor, I have a proven business model that we are able to share with others. They essentially are the business owners, but they are working under our brand standards, and it gives them the autonomy to run their own business with their own clients, but they have us for ongoing support and training,

Dave Crenshaw:

and you're providing systems to them, right processes to follow. How many locations do you continue to operate yourself, versus ones that people have bought?

Katie Gillberg:

Absolutely So to date, we have 12 operational spas, two more that are opening in the next call it six weeks. So almost 14. We have another 12 in development. Wow. And of that system, four of them are corporately owned. So I opened one a year for four years. They were always self funded. I waited until one was profitable, and then chose a new market that I wanted to go into, and then opened a second one that was just what worked for me. And then, after four years, four profitable spas, that's when I really took the leap of faith to go into franchising, because it is a whole new world, and it's been unbelievable. It's given us an opportunity to scale the businesses in ways that I would have been restricted via capital operational support. Otherwise.

Dave Crenshaw:

I want to highlight something too for people who are not familiar with this. The interesting thing about being a franchisor is that before you. Were selling IVs to customers the moment you became a franchisor, what did you start selling businesses?

Katie Gillberg:

Yes, and we still are navigating between the two entities. We have our four corporate spas that deserve our love and attention every single day. And then we also are the franchisor, which we operate, that separate entity, and that entity, like you said, is communicating to entrepreneurs, business professionals who own their own business, but they're following our roadmap. And so how do we speak to them and give them the tools and resources. So everything from CRM to booking systems to point of sale systems, we vet all of our vendors and work on group purchasing orders. So we really have to focus on the big picture and how to identify all of these other needs. Our heads are on a swivel every single day. I

Dave Crenshaw:

think it really is a fascinating thing for someone who's not familiar with this to say, Okay, this is a viable career path to not just be an entrepreneur and have your business, it's also to create a model for other people to buy, and that is another successful method of expanding your business as much as you're able to is there a, is there a story that you you've learned from you go, I don't want to repeat that ever again.

Katie Gillberg:

Oh, absolutely. And, you know, I think it's important to note like I love, I love sharing success stories. I love that people can, you know, see our social media and our website and see these awards that we're winning, and you know, we're growing, and life must be roses and butterflies and so wonderful. And it is, I am grateful and blessed every single day, and no one sees the tears and the heartache and the frustration and letting employees go and begging a bank for money. I mean, there are, it is hard. And so I think, you know, for me, there's a lot I didn't know when I opened the business, and a little bit of that, you know, ignorance is bliss. It made me I had blinders on. I was so determined and so focused that from the beginning, it was the culture that I creating, the service that we providing. There's no option. This has to work. And we just started small, and because we stayed laser focused, I think that's really what has attributed to our natural growth and progression. There are other businesses that what works for them is to shoot for the stars, and they raise capital immediately, and they have franchise. You know, they they build a business to franchise, and that mindset needs different tools and experience and resources, but it is possible to start small like myself, and learn as you go. There's a lot of people that I talk to that have better ideas than I had, and they get so stuck in all the what ifs and the distractions and competition that they just never do it. And so I really just encourage people, even if you start small, if you have this passion or if you have this intuition. I mean, I remember telling my parents back then I signed the lease for my first location before telling them that I was going to start a business, and my dad was looking at me like, What happens if this fails. And I truly said, Well, you and mom have a great house, a wonderful basement, I'll move back in with you. I'll get another job, and at least I tried. And that was I mean, my parents thought, okay, there's no stopping her. So if you just have that, you know, determination and grit and you're willing to put in the hard work, it will pay off

Dave Crenshaw:

well. And you started fairly young. I mean, you're still fairly young. How old were you when you started your first location?

Katie Gillberg:

I was 26 I think 27 by the time we, you know, were operational,

Dave Crenshaw:

yeah, yeah, I had several mentors who early on. I mean, I started, I started coaching business owners, Katie when I was 23 but when I started, I didn't know any better that I couldn't do it. And I did, honestly, I did fail. The business failed the first time I attempted it after about a year or two, but the failure wasn't as costly, because I took the risk so early and had a mentor say to us when we were in college, you don't realize it, but you have the most freedom now than you're ever going to have in your life, because everything's in front of you. So I commend you for taking that risk and for you. It's paid off quite well, and that's fun to see that. I

Katie Gillberg:

also just think, for me, it was, if I don't take opportunities that I have right in front of me, the privilege that I have, I can literally create an LLC on my own. There's nothing stopping me from starting my own business. I would be so crazy not to try.

Dave Crenshaw:

Yeah, love it. Thank you for sharing that, that story and example with us. Let's shift gears for a moment. I know family's important to you. You mentioned that you come from a family of five children, and right now you have how many children I

Katie Gillberg:

have, one daughter who's almost two years old and a baby boy on the way. Yeah, congratulations.

Dave Crenshaw:

That's exciting. Thank you so much. We've established that you're driven. We've established that you're you're a go getter, and you're working hard on growing this business. So talk to us about what you're doing to make sure that you maintain balance in your marriage and with your family in the midst of all of this that you're creating. Thank

Katie Gillberg:

you so much for asking this and pointing it out, because, you know, it's something that needs a lot of attention. And you know, my husband is an entrepreneur as well. He has founded a successful business and is still in that right now. And so even before we had children, these were conversations that we each had. Of we cannot let these businesses absorb us individually, and we also need to recognize when do we need to hold space for each other. So communicating, the more you can, the better. I've never been shy, and I don't think anyone should be shy to reaching out to counselors, therapists, mentors, someone that's not your spouse or your mother or your coworker, that may not be appropriate to talk to, to think that you can do it all, all the Time. Well, I think is crazy. So set realistic expectations. I've had to be super disciplined with my time. If it's not a hell yes, it's a hell no, I can't afford to commit to things that are maybe, you know, if it doesn't fill my cup and it's not something that is going to bring me value, then I'm not doing that to take me away from my family. Oh,

Dave Crenshaw:

that's a great lesson, right there. And of course, I appreciate it as the author of The Myth of Multitasking, yes, that's right up my alley. And I do want to emphasize something you said, and I learned this as a business coach, there are universal truths. It's lonely. At the top, it's difficult to self correct. You don't know what you don't know. These are things that came from my mentor, but I added one to to it, which is, your spouse can't tell you anything. It doesn't work, even if you're working together, even when you're both very gifted, it's so much more helpful to have someone else say the hard things, because there's just relationships too complex to hear that from other people. No,

Katie Gillberg:

I agree, and it's hard to take the emotion out of it. It's the same even, you know, leading a team, if I can get my employees to recommend something, or, you know, work peer to peer, it's likely going to be absorbed better than the boss telling them. So you're right. I think you know who you're having those conversations with really matters. And a lot of what I practice and what I, you know, talk to my franchise owners about, is you have to fill your own cup. You have to take care of yourself. I mean, this is I even tell my mom friends this. I mean, as a mom, you're constantly giving to others, and you know you're giving your babies. You're giving everything. You have to take the time. It's not selfish to practice that self care. And you know, if you're not serving yourself. You cannot serve anyone else, so take that time, make it a priority.

Dave Crenshaw:

And what do you do for self care? Katie

Katie Gillberg:

yoga. I love yoga. I love being outdoors. I mean, even if it's taking a breath of fresh air, disconnecting from technology, that's been one of the hardest challenges for me as an entrepreneur, especially in the beginning, I was always on. I cared about every like and every follow, and I was constantly on social media, and I thought if I wasn't paying attention to it at all times, then I was doing a bad job or it wasn't working hard enough. Now, the discipline of waking up having a routine before ever looking at the screen, and then same with going to bed. So a lot of it is just practicing mindfulness, getting outdoors, getting fresh air, taking deep breaths, taking breaks. Ultimately, it all goes back for me to managing my own stress. And anxiety,

Dave Crenshaw:

and that's so critical to create boundaries, especially when you're a business owner, because otherwise it'll just stay with you all the time. And you need those breaks. You

Katie Gillberg:

need to be resilient. Every single day it's there's super high highs and super low lows every single day. You know, as a business owner, I mean, resilience is one of, like, the biggest values that I could say. And, you know, in 2020 we joked that our word was pivot, because you were throwing curveballs every single day, and there was no option. We didn't even have time to sit back and think about it or complain, or this isn't fair, or what if it was just okay? Here we go, one step in front of the other, and we still do that today. And so another mentor of mine said something that I think about often, is lead with a smile and every hard conversation, every uncomfortable situation. Whenever I am you know about to put myself in that position, I lead with a smile, and it changes the entire energy. So that's something I recommend to love

Dave Crenshaw:

it, lead with a smile. So what I do at the end of every episode Katie is I like to wrap up with some action items, some things that someone listening to this can do because they've heard your story, they're inspired by it. But the question is, what are they actually going to do about it? Because action is more important than knowledge. So I'm going to share three actionable principles that I heard from this that suggest something that someone can do today or this week, not a month from now, not a year from now and then. What I'd like you to do is, at the end, chime in with one actionable principle. It can be something you said or haven't said that someone can do today, so they can make their your success story part of their success story. Sound good. Sounds good? Okay, the first one that I listed, and we're going to go all the way back to the the Broncos cheerleader time, which is to do something that's a bit of a risk in order to gain confidence. And I think it's really easy for all of us to think small, to shrink in, to not take risks, but the fact that you kept appearing on camera built confidence in you. It built in you the ability to do any kind of interview, to talk to any kind of person. Now obviously not, not not anyone listening to this is probably going to be on camera as an NFL cheerleader, but you can extend yourself and go up to someone and say, hello. You can try a risk that you haven't tried before. Just just give it a go. And the more you do little things like that, the more you're going to gain confidence for the future. The next one that I want to highlight is associating with people who are smarter than you. You use the phrase higher up. If you are an entrepreneur, you can make that part of your philosophy. If you're hiring people, try to hire the smartest people that you can. But what if you're not a business owner? How can you use this principle? I would still say, try to associate with people who are smarter than you, who are more successful than you, who have done something that you want to accomplish, and spend time with them. So make one new friend, or go to a group of people that are gathering like that, and start to participate. And that's going to help you grow and be more successful in the long run. The last one, I just want to highlight that story of you jumping into entrepreneurship without fully understanding the consequences or all the work, I should say that it's going to take to succeed with that. So I'm encouraging someone listening to this to not get stuck in the what ifs. Instead, just ask, what's the next action step to that dream that you have, to that thing that you think you're going to accomplish? Don't think about all the things that need to be done. Just think about the next action step. Maybe it's picking up phone, making a call, maybe it's writing something, whatever it is, do that, and then ask, what's the next step? And if you do that and you start stacking those together, it can lead to amazing, wonderful opportunities, like you've seen Katie have. What's one suggested action you'd add to this Katie?

Katie Gillberg:

The other item that I just really can't stress enough is being choosy with your time. If it's not a hell yes, it's a hell no. So be very cognizant about what brings you joy and if it fulfills you. If not, is that what you should be spending your time on?

Dave Crenshaw:

That's a such a great principle. I absolutely love it. I also phrase it as whenever you say yes to one thing, you're saying no to something else. So you need to see. They know more often than you say yes. So fantastic. Katie, thank you. Thank you so much for being on the show. If people want to continue to follow your business, follow you, where should we send them to do that absolutely

Katie Gillberg:

well. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to learn more about me and my story. I would love for anyone that's interested to follow us on social media. Instagram is one of the best so at hydrate underscore IV bar. Also our website is just hydrate IV bar.com. Wonderful.

Dave Crenshaw:

Please go check those out. Thank you again, Katie for being on the show.

Katie Gillberg:

Thank you. I

Dave Crenshaw:

appreciate it, and thank you everyone for listening. Remember it's not just about the inspiration that you received or how knowledgeable you feel after listening to Katie. It's about the action that you take. So make sure you do one thing today based on her story, and you'll make that story a part of your success story. Thanks for listening.

Darci Crenshaw:

You've been listening to the Dave Crenshaw Success Show, hosted by my dad, Dave Crenshaw, and produced by invaluable incorporated research and assistant production by Victoria bidez, Sound Editing by Nick Wright, voiceover by me Darci Crenshaw, and the music is by Ryan Brady via Pon five licensing, please subscribe to the Dave Crenshaw success show on Apple podcasts Spotify, wherever you like to get your podcasts. If you have a suggestion for someone my dad might like to interview, please send it to guests at Dave crenshaw.com and please don't forget to leave us a pleasure view. See you next time you.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Dave Crenshaw

Host