Author: Rebekah Campbell
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Genre: General Biographies, Health
Year of Release: 2021
Release Date: 2nd of July 2021
Rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis
What will it take to follow your dream?
On the outside, Rebekah Campbell has an enviable life. At thirty-five, she is founder of hot Sydney start-up Posse.com, she writes one of Australia’s most popular blogs and she gives inspirational talks at conferences for female entrepreneurs.
But when she turns off the light each night, she is alone and terrified of the future. She knows that what’s important to her isn’t money or start-up glory or social media followers. She wants love. She wants a family.
And she is stuck. She hasn’t been on a date in ten years. She’s too embarrassed to list herself on the internet and can’t bear the risk of getting rejected.
She decides to act. She will go on one date every week for a year. She’ll take the tactics she’s learnt building start-up companies and apply them to finding a man: strict targets, a repeatable process that she’ll regularly evaluate and improve on, and relentless tenacity.
Her epic journey will take her on dates with 138 different men in Sydney, New York and San Francisco, while at the same time she faces the immense challenges of raising venture capital and launching a business.
She’ll face exhaustion, humiliation and heartbreak; she’ll meet some strange and dangerous characters. And she will strip herself of the ego and expectations that had been holding her back. She will not stop.
138 Dates proves that the end is always worth the effort
Review
Rebekah Campbell at 35 years old she has founded the start-up company Posse.com, writes one of Australia’s most popular blogs and gives inspirational talks at conferences for female entrepreneurs. On the outside she appears to have it all.
However, when there’s no money to raise, no one to convince that Posse is a worthy app to download she’s alone, no-one is at home to share the ups and downs of her days, the thought of her future as a forever single women is fast approaching and it’s terrifying because Rebekah Campbell wants a love and a family.
Christmas 2011 Rebekah decides it’s time to make a change even though she can’t bear the thought of being rejected, she knows she’s stuck, and she knows her dream of love and a family won’t become a reality if she continues waiting for her dream to come to her.
Her solution she’ll go on one date every week for a year, if Mr Right won’t come to her, she’ll just have to go out there and find him herself! Can Rebekah find him and still be true to herself?
Reaching the end of the first chapter I knew Rebekah Campbell was a woman with determination and drive, as the reader I really appreciated how open Rebekah was and I found this detail refreshing as I felt I connected to her personality, which ultimately made me want to succeed as a businesswoman, rather than just seeing the book as a success story of a woman in her thirties.
I loved reading about the early days of Posse.com even the challenges were interesting and the successes she experienced made me want to grow my own blog further in the future even more after finishing this read. Other entrepreneurs Rebekah mentions throughout the book was of great interest to me as I’ve heard of and even used some of the technology myself, as a reader I felt I could relate to the business more so than to the relationship elements.
Thanks to the detailed timeline Rebekah’s Journey flowed effortlessly across the page.
I’m not a seeker of personal relationships Campbell’s strength to continuously put herself out there was admirable, I found myself at different times throughout the book questioning how many times in my friendships I’ve tried to change myself to please others, to be seen by them, to not rock the boat, just in case those people and friendships disappear, the older I’m getting the more I’m not willing to change, to people please, I’m not as confident in this space as I’d like but I’m getting there.
One of the dates Rebekah went on really struck a bad note with me I remember wanting to yell into my book, he has to be nice to you and show interest in you as a person not just be interested in having you on his arm. I was really impressed with the obstacles Rebekah faced and that they weren’t just glossed over and not addressed. I felt as if I’d watched her grow as a person since starting this book, so many biographies seem to detail a challenge and gloss over potential strategies to overcome hurdles.
With continued thanks to Allen & Unwin for this gifted copy to read and review in exchange for my honest opinion.