THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Billion Dollar Authenticity w/ Jamie Kern Lima
Episode Date: February 23, 2021“Champions aren’t made when the game is easy!” If inspiration was a person, Jamie would be it! Jamie Kern Lima started a makeup company in her living room and eventually sold it for over $1.2 BI...LLION! She’s on the Forbes Richest Self-Made Women's List and is an active investor in more than 15 companies. She’s a self-made BILLIONAIRE, champion of women, philanthropist, keynote speaker, and co-founder of IT Cosmetics! The number one quality that makes a successful entrepreneur is their ability to persevere in the face of rejection! You MUST develop a healthy relationship with this gut-wrenching experience. And Jamie will be the first one to tell you, “rejection is like serendipitous grace.” Down to her last $1k in the bank and over 3 years of ongoing rejection, Jamie leaned even harder into her calling. Even though others couldn’t perceive her vision, she remained steadfast and let her FAITH grow stronger than the rejection. In this interview, Jamie shares her INCREDIBLE story of how she turned her biggest setBACK into her biggest step UP, not letting external voices of doubt drown out her internal voice of knowing she was meant to do something great with her life. 99.9% of dreams die because of rejection. The gems Jamie and I share in this interview will prepare you for your next inevitable encounter with rejection and teach the tools you need to be able to lean into your insecurities, embrace your vulnerability and go from DOUBTING you are enough to KNOWING you are enough! Flaws and all, success is waiting for you! And this is just the beginning. Click the link below to order Jamie's new book "Believe It" to go from underestimated to unstoppable! 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 https://believeit.com/ 👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈 → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ▶︎ INSTAGRAM ▶︎ FACEBOOK ▶︎ LINKEDIN ▶︎ TWITTER ▶︎ WEBSITE
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Welcome back to the program,
everybody.
I have such a remarkable woman on my show today.
I've been a fan of hers from a distance for a long time. I have a bunch of mutual friends
who rave about her. I knew her story. You're gonna hear it today. You're gonna hear about her new book, Believe It, which is awesome.
But you're just gonna be so inspired. And why? Well, she used to work in Denny's, which I love.
She also bagged groceries at Safeway, which I did.
And so that's why I'm having her on the show.
No, I'm just kidding.
After she did all that, she went and built a cosmetics company that she sold for a billion,
200 million dollars.
That's all she did.
She's just changed thousands of people's lives with her products after working at a swap
meet after bagging groceries it's safe way.
And by the way, she's on Forbes list every year of America's most rich successful women.
And she's the youngest on that list.
She's ranked the youngest by only two people.
Some lady named Taylor Swift, another one named Beyonce.
And then my guest today, Jamie Kernleema.
So thank you for being here today.
So glad you're here.
Thank you so much. I'm so excited.
You are. Trust me.
This is one of those where I already know it's going to be awesome.
So let's talk about you a little bit.
I love that I read your old story.
First person year family to go to college,
Valedictorian, obviously you're an achiever.
But your dream, your story came out of really a struggle of yours, right?
Your whole dream, your whole business, and so many people that are listening to this
are going through a struggle right now, and they think that struggle they have just qualifies
them from becoming successful.
When in fact, it may be the very pathway to their dreams. So tell us about that with you first of all.
Yes. I love that. Thank you so much. Yeah, it literally an entire thing. I thought was a big set back in my life and ended up being set up, right? For one of like my biggest dreams coming true. So yeah, I mean, you know, I, ever since I was a time I was a little girl,
I always watched Oprah and I thought, oh, I'm going to be a journalist,
my whole career and tell other people's stories.
Like right now I literally just want to ask you questions.
And you like it's what's in me.
And, and so, so I just knew I knew that was my dream.
And I started working as a journalist and TV news anchor and
All of a sudden I in my 20s I got the skin condition called rosacea, which is hereditary
So there's no cure for it and it started, you know, getting the I get we get these big bumps that were bright red and feel like
Sandpaper on my skin and I'd be anchoring the news as I was working as a as a television news anchor
And I would be anchoring the news live and was working as a television news anchor. And I would be anchoring the news live. And I would hear in my earpiece from my producer, there's something on
your face. There's not any face. You need to wipe it off. You need to wipe it off. And I'd be live
on television. And I knew there was nothing I could wipe off. And I saw dermatologists and tried
like every makeup product out there. Nothing would work. And it was this kind of season where I was like,
okay, am I gonna lose my job?
Our viewers gonna change the channel.
What do I do because nothing is solving this?
And so I went through a season of self-doubt for a while
and I started just trying to, you know,
try everything out there and no makeup product would work.
And I had this moment where I realized two things.
I was like, why, there's millions of makeup companies out there, why is nothing working?
And then I kind of had, and I know you have a daughter too, Ed, so you'll connect with
this.
But I had this aha moment where I'm like, wait a minute.
Like my whole life, I've seen these ads on television
and magazines. I've never seen anyone that has problematic skin the way I do. I've never seen any,
I don't even know if those models were actually using that product. And I'm like,
what if there's literally nothing out there that works? And if I can figure out how to create it,
A, I can, you know, solve my own problems, but I could probably also help a lot of other
people out there, maybe giving up on, I make up. And then I had this like, I think moment of grace
where what hit me was way deeper. In the sense of, I realized like, okay, if I can do this,
I want to actually create a company where instead of these unrealistic images of beauty
that, you know, from the time I was a little girl, I wanted to look like that, but they
always made me feel like I wasn't enough.
I was like, what if I, you know, create this company and actually use real, you know, women,
all ages and shapes and sizes and skin tones and call them beautiful models and mean it,
like maybe I can shift culture around
inclusivity and beauty for every little girl out there who's about to start doubting herself and
every grown woman who still does and so it became this big mission. But like anyone out there
listening right now who's going through this or maybe you've launched a business right now and you're like, why isn't this gaining traction?
I poured everything I had into this dream and I wrote the business plan with my husband
on our honeymoon flight to South Africa.
We got back, quit our jobs and went all in, use all of our savings.
And I thought, oh, if we can just create something that literally works, like, it's just going to sell.
Right.
Um, then I learned how hard it was to, uh, to become an entrepreneur.
And it was this moment where I learned probably one of the most important lessons in my whole journey,
which is like how to get still, how to listen to your own inner knowing and making the decision to
trust it, right? And when I left television news, I thought that was my dream job, but that was what I was
going to do my whole career. But sometimes knowing when to let go of a dream isn't quitting. It's
actually the victory. It's like that knowing when to let go of a dream as important as knowing when to go after one. So I listened to it to launch this dream.
But then the first three years of running this business from my living room,
couldn't afford to pay myself and literally hundreds of rejections.
I thought, Ed, oh, I'm in a shift culture and beauty. I have this great idea.
I thought, Ed, oh, I'm in a shift culture and beauty. I had this great idea.
And so there's beauty stores like Sephora and Ulta and QVC
and department stores.
Every single one of them said no after no after no for three
years.
Literally would say things like, well, you're not
the right fit.
Your packaging isn't prestige enough.
And women won't buy makeup from women.
They don't aspire to look like and it was just no after no after no.
For three years, we got down $10,000 in our bank account.
By the way, I'm sharing this because when you Google my story and this is why I wrote this book
Ed because if we don't share the real stuff like that's when we feel alone in our own rejection
and our own lack of success or traction, right?
And when you Google my story, all you ever see is like,
oh, Denny's way transsolder company for a billion dollars cash
and it makes it seem like, oh, she just got lucky or.
Or yeah, yeah.
And it was a journey that didn't make sense to
keep going except for every time I would check in with my gut I was like okay I'm
supposed to do this but everyone keeps saying no you know we got done in
$1,000 and I think it can as I mentioned and sometimes when there's no proof
around you that your idea is right, and like your friends and family
are starting to worry about you.
And they're starting to be like, are you sure you should have,
you know, started this?
Are you getting any sales yet?
And it was like that.
And it was this three year journey of having
to figure out how to turn down the volume on my own self-doubt
and on rejection everywhere and kind of like tune in or turn up the volume
whether and that and are knowing that kept telling me you're supposed to do this.
And that kind of was one of the things that made all the difference.
You, there's so much there and I want you to keep going. A couple of things I want to unpack
there. Number one is this unrealistic image for women. It's really interesting.
want to unpack there. Number one is this unrealistic image for women. It's really interesting. You know, with men, it really isn't that way. If you look at football, Tom Brady has a few ads.
He's the good looking dude, right? He's got a watch out or whatever. But the guy they got all the ads
was Peyton Manning. It was the every man when it comes to men with women, these unrealistic images,
especially in the beauty industry, for the most part, are the images that we see. And so you really did revolutionize an
industry. That's number one. Number two, it's interesting to me that your dream was to be a broadcaster.
I got to tell you, we both bad groceries at Safeways and I was a broadcasting major in college and
that was my dream. I didn't know I was going to show up 30 years later, you know, after my entrepreneurial
journey. But I think life starts after your first dream is goes away.
I really believe that's where you're defined.
And I'm so curious about this journey with the rejection.
I have a philosophy. I don't know if you agree with this.
I love the title of your book, Believe It,
because what you're talking about turning up this volume
on your inner voice and turning down the external rejections.
Those rejections you got were over and over again.
I actually was telling my son this who thinks he wants to be an entrepreneur.
He said, Dad, what's one of the things that most people
wouldn't tell you?
I said, I don't know that maybe the most important thing
is your ability to deal with rejection as an entrepreneur.
We talk about vision, we talk about communication,
but can you deal with the rejection?
In your case, it broke my heart,
but there was one meeting you had where you thought you had a deal.
Finally, right? With this VC guy. And you thought you had a deal finally, right,
with this VC guy. And I want you guys just to feel the depth of the rejection that you
may experience as an entrepreneur. And could you do what Jamie did and still push back?
So picture, years and years of rejection, you're running out of cash, you're working out
of your living room, everyone's telling you no. And then this dude almost says yes, but then
really hits you with a hard
no. Tell them about that. Yeah, and I thought literally he was going to be my saving grace, right?
Because again, we were down to no money and we got an interest from a private equity company
and they loved our products. Our product worked. Like it really worked. So they loved the product
and they wanted to have meetings. So we started going down that path and you know, they were really big.
I mean, they are really big.
They've invested in a ton of consumer product companies
that you and I buy the grocery store
and they made a lot of them household names from nothing
and I just thought, oh my gosh, if they invest,
A, I'm not gonna go bankrupt.
B, maybe they'll help get me into all these retail stores
that keep telling me no
and keep telling me I'm not the right fit and all that.
And so, you know, we did meeting after meeting and we started the diligence phase, which is, you know, where you show all your projections, your product pipeline, everything.
And it got down to the last meeting and my husband, Paulo, and I flew up for it and I thought, like, this is it, like this is going to be it.
And I'll never forget the head guy was about was standing about three feet from me. And he thanked me, said, you know that we should be proud
of the product we created.
And then he says to me, and he's about three feet from me,
face to face.
And he says, so I wanna let you know, it's a no.
We're gonna pass on investing in it cosmetics.
And I said, okay, like I'm used to hearing no at this point,
right?
And I'm like, all right, well, you know, can you tell me why?
Because usually feedback is a gift usually.
And I'm like, can you tell me why?
And he's like, do you want me to be really honest?
And I said, yeah.
And I'll never forget, like I remember just like him looking at me for a minute.
And I remember feeling my heart racing really fast.
And then I remember seeing his like his lips move in slow motion.
And he basically said, I just, what he did say, straight to my face. I just don't think women
will buy makeup from someone who looks like you with your body and your weight.
And I remember it was this moment where for me, it was almost like this lifetime of body doubt and self doubt kind of like flooded my body
and almost felt like I was staying my own fear
straight in the eye listening to him.
And I, like I knew I had to keep my faith bigger than it.
But at in that moment, like it's wild.
I actually got hurt.
Like I literally went in my car in the parking lot
and cried my eyes out. Those things hurt. Like I literally went in my car in the parking lot and cried my eyes out.
Those things hurt.
But what stands out to me in that moment,
and I actually never felt, I didn't get mad at him.
I still not mad at him.
Because guess what?
The whole reason, that whole why beneath the why
on why I was doing this company.
Like he literally passed on investing in my company because
he had the exact same mindset, right, right, that everyone else does about what you have to look
like, the box you have to fit into to be successful. And and he's just as much, I don't want to say
victim byproduct maybe of the whole beauty industry too. He's passing on an investment in my company
I don't want to say victim byproduct maybe of the whole beauty industry too. He's passing on an investment in my company because of my weight.
And I remember this moment, but the thing that sticks out to me most is in this moment,
I had this feeling, this deep, this deep feeling like as he's telling me this,
that he's wrong.
And I had that feeling, but I knew nothing yet that I had done. Prove that because I had no sales yet, really.
And I also knew like proving it would, would first of inform us,
hinge on me, believing it for myself.
And, you know, fast forward.
And by the way, in the years after that, like it's discipline of
recognizing when, when, when someone else's voice is playing in your And by the way, in the years after that, like it's discipline of recognizing
when someone else's voice is playing in your head
all the set in.
And I listen to a show you did actually where you scratch,
like you scratch it.
And right, and that's what I have to do over and over.
Like I'd have to literally get really good at turning down
the volume on those things because,
oh, and I want to tell you full circle moment that happened. That's so good. But like that's I feel like that what you what you just shared about telling
your son this advice, right? I feel like that's everything because I feel like so many people
what ends up happening is everyone else's rejections, right? End up like equating to self-doubt
in our own head our own self-doubt about our self.
We start to turn the volume up on that,
to the point where with all of it,
with everyone else's opinions,
and in my case, the lack of success around me,
it can get so loud that we can't even hear our own
internal knowing anymore.
And I feel like so many people,
and then you, your friends and your family,
like they mean the best, but they're seeing you through their own line,
their own lens of fear and an experience, right?
And, and so between all of it, so many people, I feel like end up literally
talking themselves out of their own calling and talking themselves out of their own
truth and staying in their comfort zone at like the cost of it chipping away at their soul.
We've all done this.
And literally missing out on the person they're born to be.
And I feel like that's, and my story is like years
and years and years of rejection.
But when I look back at the things I did wrong
and the things I did right, usually like my biggest
mistakes came down to when I actually didn't listen to something I knew in my gut and I decided
to go with something an expert had told me when it didn't feel like quite right. And the biggest
successes are when I really listened to that knowing even when it went against what other people told me. So like, this guy telling me this, how did I change who I was, right? And try to
fit some mold that he said would sell. If that were going to be, if that was who I
was authentically, then great. But it's not for me, right? And so how do I ever
conform to him or any of those retailers that told me change this change
that and maybe we'll bring you into our store or L'Oreal that for three years of meetings said no
and all the things I needed to do differently. Had I listened to most of any of that, especially
the parts that didn't align with with my gut instinct, I would have never sold my company for
every billion dollars. I would have never I probably would be out of business.
So, so that's why you're so when you say this, David, we were like, I would have
never sold my company for a billion dollars. Still when that comes out of your mouth,
is there a party like, I sold my company for over a billion dollars? Does it still hit you a little bit?
On one hand, I still can't process it. On the other hand, you'll understand this when I say this,
and you won't judge me for saying this.
And I believe actually everyone in your community,
I believe they're part of your community
because they'll understand this to you.
Um, selling your company for a billion dollars is exciting,
but like for me, I don't feel like I'm
put on this earth to compete with anyone else. I feel like I'm put on this earth to compete with
who got me incapable of becoming. And I feel like I'm just getting started like I'm not there yet.
So selling something for a billion dollars is exciting but but like, I feel like stepping into all of who I am and serving
and giving and all the things I'm really called to do, I still feel like I'm not there yet.
I feel like having watched you speak a couple times and then listening now, I feel like all of that
happened, all of the struggle, all of the ups and downs, all of the selling of the company,
all you've learned, all you've been able to articulate, your broadcast background, all of that stuff is leading you right now to your time.
I think you were called for what you're doing now, which is teaching and inspiring people
and giving them hope.
However, you did say it came full circle.
What did you mean when you said that?
What's the full circle?
Okay, you love this.
Okay.
So, this is so good.
Because I actually never got, like I never got mad at him, right?
Because for me, it was like something bigger than him.
Yeah.
So, so fast forward a few years and when we actually ended up selling to L'Oreal, you know, it was their largest US acquisition in their history.
And so it made the homepage of Wall Street Journal a bunch of stuff like that.
And the day that the deal was announced, I got an email from him.
And he said, you know, congratulations, you know, I was wrong. So proud of you, that whole thing he did. And also, I learned that it would, so two things, I learned it would have been the most
successful investment in his firm's history. But here's the thing, and this is where,
this is where our setbacks, I feel like, and this is where our setbacks,
I feel like, oh my gosh, our setbacks, even when they suck.
Like it sucks to hear him say those words to me.
It hurt.
I cry, like it hurts, right?
Rejection in almost any form.
Basically says to us, you're not enough.
You don't belong.
You're not worth, I don't think I will make money off you or I
don't believe in you or it comes in all those forms and it sucks, but I really
believe even almost all the time. When I look back at almost all the rejections,
I feel like that like again those those setbacks really are our setups and
and sometimes like sometimes rejection is is really like
staring dipitous grace wrapped in this package labeled painful rejection. And and what I mean by
that is I was so desperate at the time. I think you just posted I just saw your thing where you like
scarcity is value. So yeah, I had no scarcity back then. I would have given him like any part of my company.
We were down to $1,000 in our bank account.
I didn't know how we were gonna survive.
How do he wanted to invest?
How do he said yes to us that day?
I would probably give him the majority of the company
for probably almost no money,
just hoping to survive.
But because he didn't believe in me and because we got so much rejection
along the way, when we ended up selling to L'Oreal eight years into the business, I was still the
largest shareholder. That's awesome. I love this serendipitous grace. I may steal that from you.
That is beautiful. And you guys have to say something. That's why you want to get this book.
It's loaded with information like this. It's loaded with stories like this about believing it. Why do you need to
believe it? Let's just unpack this rejection thing and then we're going to get to a magic moment.
The reason that I think your ability to do with rejection is so important. It's not
talked about enough. Let's just be honest. You know why 99.9% of dreams die, everybody? You
eventually get too much rejection. So if that's the thing that's going to cause you not to get your dream 99.9% of the time, it's just there becomes
a threshold that you people don't take the rejection long enough. So they don't stick around
to receive the grace. And so if that is true, if we already know that going in, then why
not pre-negotiate in the in the very beginning? What price you're willing to pay? Hopefully
it's anything as long as it's legal,
ethical and moral. So that the
99.9% of the reasons why your
dream won't happen. You've already
said in your favor, if you've
just decided you'll take the
rejection. That's why it's such a
big part. How do you take the
rejection? You got to believe it.
And that's why this book is so
powerful. So we lead to this
point, guys. And again, the beautiful thing about Jamie's story is
it's her vulnerabilities and her authenticity that made the brand relevant all the way up to the
extreme magic moment. Don't hide your insecurities. Don't hide your blemishes, guys.
Figuratively and literally in your entrepreneurial journey, get people wanting to root for you.
Your fears and insecurities are what connect you with the marketplace. Ironic, you don't have to hide them. You can
work on them, but there's nothing wrong with saying I have them. So finally, somehow,
you get this moment on QVC, right? And you are so brilliant in this moment. You ask them,
I'll let you tell the story. But to me, it's like, if you don't do this thing, again, maybe it still doesn't hit
all the way to the last second, the last moment,
it was your vulnerability that connected you with the audience.
So everyone listens so closely to this woman who sold her company
for a billion dollars plus.
So here we go, take us to the moment.
So yeah, one of the biggest lessons in my whole life
came down to this moment where we finally got a shot on QVC, right?
And so, you know, we had heard no from them for a couple years.
And even Ed, I got their head guy and named Alan Burke who built this billion dollar division in QVC of beauty.
And he's a legend, like an icon.
After, you know, two years of knows from them, I finally got him on the phone.
And I thought, oh my gosh, if he's giving me
a few seconds at his time, like this is good,
like it's gonna be a yes finally.
And I'll never forget on the phone, he says to me,
you know, we've reviewed your products
with our whole buying team and it's unanimous,
you're not the right fit for QBC or for our customers.
And so instantly I go into like, oh,
but I am the right fit.
Let me tell you why.
And I start like, poor, like pitching my heart out, right?
And he thanked me and thanked me for loving QVC.
And it was a no.
So that was like one of the most memorable nights because I spent,
I don't know if you've ever had, you know, bad news and business or something like that.
And you wake up the next morning and you're like, oh, fuck it's like, like you
hoped it was a dream.
Yeah.
And it wasn't, right? It was's like you hoped it was a dream. And it wasn't, right?
It was like that for three days in a row.
I just knew in my gut we're supposed to be on KVC.
And it's so, and I knew for years because I thought, Ed, oh my gosh, I can go live.
And I'm like, all those ads I've seen my whole life that I don't even know if they're real.
Like, let me show real women.
Like my mom and my friends and my, like, let me show real women. Like my mom and my friends and my
like, let me show real women. And I believed it. And yet everyone kept telling me no. And finally
to get Alan Burke on the phone and here literally, I'm not the right fit. When you hear those
words, it sucks, right? And by the way, like anyone who's ever been told they're not enough
and is tempted to believe it is why I wrote this book.
Because there's a lot of people that work really, really hard and there's a lot of people that
still don't quit. They keep going but like making that decision to believe that you can and
that your dreams possible for me, that's huge. And I just like made the decision to believe it.
And I kept, and every time I got rejected, whether it was from Alan Burke at QVC
or any of the retailers for a year after year after year,
like I would still approach them as if it was gonna be a yes
and send themselves updates and send them product launches
and they're like, who the F is, and I keep,
like I just made that decision.
So three years into this, we finally got this yes on QVC.
And what happened with this yes and this one shot is literally
one of the single greatest lessons I've ever learned in life and in business. So it, you know,
what this meant was we had one chance to sell our product in this 10-minute window live on KVC and
you know, if anyone in familiar with KVC who might be listening, it's live television show and
it's broadcast to a hundred million homes. There's no script, no teleprompter. And what I learned, Ed, right before I went
on is that you're given 10 minutes in the case of the segment I got, but that's not a guarantee,
right? If you go live and let's say a minute or two in, you're not hitting the sales
goals, your clock cuts live. So you might be a minute or two in, you're not hitting the sales goals, your clock cuts live.
So you might be a minute or two in,
thinking you have eight minutes left
and you're not doing well, boom, you're down to one minute.
And you know, you can calculate in your head
how much money you just lost and what that means.
So we get one shot, we get a yes.
And this is like huge, right?
Because I knew, I knew in my gut,
like this is supposed to happen and I'm going
to show real women alive. I'm going to shift culture and beauty like I knew it and here's
what happened. We got a purchase order and I quickly learned oh, we were only selling
two to three orders a day on our website right packing them from our living room just trying
to survive down to no money. Well for 10 minute window at QVC,
we had to sell over 6000 units of our concealer
to hit their sales goal or not come back.
And their consignment in beauty.
So what it meant was if we didn't hit those numbers,
we didn't sell in that 10 minute window,
everything that we didn't sell got shipped back to us
and we weren't paid for it.
So, and you know you should never accept a purchase order, you can't afford to lose and we weren't paid for it. And you know, you should never accept
a purchase order, you can't afford the lose. But in this case, it was like, we didn't know how
we're going to make it either way. So I thought, okay, this is our one shot. This is going to like
be life-changing, right? So we hired these third-party consultants that are amazing and their experts,
and they help a lot of people sell on television and in retail stores. And, you know, we worked with them on, okay, how do we produce our 10-minute window?
And the craziest thing happened, right?
When we know what we stand for and we think that we're going to stand for it
when it comes down to everything on the line, but then someone else tells you
that that's not going to work.
It's really hard not to question our own values
and not to question our own intuition. These experts told me, you know, in order to succeed,
here's what you need to do, you need to use this type of model. And it was the perfect flawless
skin, the models I'd always seen in TV ads. And I would say to them, like, well, but that's actually not why I created
this brand, like, like, and I would tell them, you know, imagine if you're 70 years old
sitting at home and you see someone, you can't even relate to you that doesn't look like
you.
How do you know the product's going to work for you?
Or, you know, I have rosacea or 70% of people have hyperpigmentation.
If they don't see someone that looks like them and we would get into into it and argue and fight, and they wanted, they wanted me to win. Like,
but they were literally giving me the very best advice through the lens of their own experience.
And the thing, the thing that I wish I knew, so, that I know now, but this one to save me so
many nights crying myself to sleep is sometimes even experts, even even the people that are touted visionaries, right? And they really are,
and they would never admit this, but they still often can't imagine. And they're subconscious,
something succeeding if they haven't seen proof that it has before, right? And that would have
made the rejection sting a lot less because if you're doing anything authentically,
anything that hasn't been done before, anything differently,
people often can't even imagine it succeeding
because of their own right.
And so all of them told me to do it.
And they're like, listen, we would fight.
We got into it and they're like, we want you to win.
So I was in this moment where I flew out to QVC
in Pennsylvania a week early
before this one shot on live TV
to either hit their sales goals
or basically go out of business.
And I went all alone and sat in this rental car
in the QVC parking lot
because it literally felt so heavy.
Like I knew what my gut was telling me to do,
but in that moment, I hadn't seen any proof
that it was right.
No proof in the form of sales anywhere.
I mean, we're doing two to three orders a day
for three years in.
No other retailer saying yes.
Everyone telling me, you're not this enough or that enough.
And, but those moments in life Taylor saying yes. Everyone telling me you're not this enough for that enough.
But those moments in life where we still have that knowing, it's so easy to doubt it.
And it's so easy to think we're wrong and to not trust it anymore.
And I sat in this rental car praying and crying and literally asking God to take this
from me because it felt so heavy. I felt like everything came down to this moment. Honestly, I was tempted to go against my own gut. I was like,
okay, well, maybe if I listen to what they're saying, right? Yeah, like maybe I'll do that and I'll
do really well for a while, then I'll try it my way. And I just sat in that car and it didn't feel
right. And I just kept praying about it. And I would imagine like who my customer was on the other end.
And for some reason, I don't know why I kept imagining the single mom in Nebraska who
was like folding laundry and way too busy to remember that she mattered and that she's
beautiful.
And I just had this moment, I'll never forget the rest of my life in that car, rental
car, where I was like, it was just like life in that car, rental car, where I was like,
it was just like it hit me like a ton of bricks where I was looking at what I would rather
go on live television. I would write, she's going to give me two seconds of her precious
time and look up at her TV screen. Like, I would rather her see me up there showing real
women who look like her calling them beautiful and meaning it and have her buy nothing. I'd rather do that
than sell a shillow to product and like stand for nothing. So I knew what I had to do,
but sometimes when we know what we have to do, it doesn't mean it's easy to do it. And honestly,
like I was I was freaking out. I was so prepared. I had this demonstration on my wrist I was going
to do that shows how our product doesn't crease in the top two department store ones do.
And I get to the live studio, I walk in,
we have our 10 minutes, and I go out there
on the set live with the host,
and I'll never forget, at the clock was like,
was it 10 minutes since like 9.59, 9.58,
like I'm on, like this is happening, right?
And I was trying to, and I felt literally sweat all the way dripping down everywhere. I didn't want to talk about that. I was
free and I'm not nervous for television, but everything was on the line. And I was trying to do
this demonstration. I had practiced a million times in my bathroom mirror. And my hand was like this.
I was trying so hard to do it. And the host was thank you sugar and she pushed it under and we what I remember the moment my bare face. Yes. Right. Red Rowsation came up on
national television right and I I remember walking over to these real women and calling them beautiful
and meaning it and there was about like one minute left in the cell and in the in the 10 minute
segment and the host was like the deep shade is almost sold out.
The tan shade, we're down to 200.
I was like, and then I remember literally right at the 10 minute mark,
the sold-out sign came up diagonal, like across the screen.
And tears like start streaming down my face.
And I remember my husband, Paul,
he came rushing through the double doors.
And I'm like sobbing.
And I'm like, real women have spoken. And he's like, we're not going bankrupt. And I'm like sobbing and I'm like, real women have spoken.
And he's like, we're not going bankrupt.
And I was like,
and that one airing turned into five that year,
101 the next year.
And then we did 250 live shows a year.
So I've done over a thousand live shows myself on QVC.
And we grew the largest beauty brand in QVC's history.
And it is right now at this moment to this day. And I only share that because it was three years, right, of them
saying no and you're not the right fit and no one can tell you you're not the right fit.
You know what I mean? And sometimes I feel like we shared those every one of us has heard
that in some form or another
that you're not the right fit or you're not enough.
And I feel like those aren't the moments where you give up.
Those are the moments like you get back up
and with God and grace and grit, like you keep hustling
and you keep going and you keep following your knowing.
And one more little thing to share with you just on
the topic of full circle moments,
Alan Burke, who is the head, like legend, after we launched on QVC, right, he's the one
that said no, and I was crimeist not to sleep three nights in a row, and he told me I'm
not the right fit for QVC, all that kind of stuff.
After we launched on QVC, I ended up getting to know him really well, and he became not only
a dear friend, but literally one of my greatest mentors
in my entire career.
He is right now, it's this day, one of my greatest mentors.
And he's the one that built that $1 billion,
multi-billion dollar empire at QVC for beauty.
When he retired from QVC, we hired him
in a paid position on our advisory board.
So Ed, the guy that rejected me was now working for me.
Like no one can tell you you're not the right fit, right?
And so anyways, I mean, you guys listening to me on this,
I went and I got to say that I love you.
It's one of the great stories of all time told by the person still living it.
Why do you need to get the book?
I'm not selling the book, guys.
I'm just telling you, why do you want to get the book?
Why do you want to follow Jamie?
Because she really did it.
Do you know how rare it is in the business,
entrepreneur self-help space that it's not someone theorizing about things they think would probably work,
but they've never applied.
She did this.
So what's in this book is gold. You don't have a lot of people on earth who
have done what she's done. And then even fewer her like, and let me teach you how I did it and how
I think it's very rare. And it's why today's such a gift to be doing the show with you.
I have to just tell you it's interesting because we've met a couple of times in green rooms or backstage
and different things. And just so you know, Jamie is so kind.
It has so much humility.
And you can't find anyone anywhere
who has a bad word to say about her.
She's just a beautiful spirit.
And so I knew the story a little bit.
And then I knew you're gonna be on the show.
So I was prepping.
I already know the work that went in.
And I know the result, but I went and watched the clip
when you showed your rosacea, right?
And I found myself, even though I know what happens, I was like,
God butterflies in my stomach for you now, even though it's years later,
kind of saying quiet prayers for you.
And I already know that you won, but it's such a poignant moment to go through all of that rejection.
And I think you're giving so many people hope that you stuck to your guns about your beliefs as well. I just want to ask you one thing you said there. I want
to unpack a few things. I want to give some people some nuggets and some keys that you
did. But I want to ask you one thing. If you could go back to you in year one in the living
room and you've got one employee and you're part of the one that your first employee basically
paid with free rent in your house, so they'd work 20 hours a week, right?
The story's remarkable.
See, I know everything.
I've really done my research.
But I would wonder if you could go back and whisper in your ear a piece of advice or
a message to you at that stage, because millions of people listening to this right now, and hundreds
of thousands who are watching it are at that stage somehow.
I'm curious what you might say to yourself back at that stage.
Oh my gosh. Three things just flew into my mind right now. Can I do three instead of one?
By the way, I love what you said. Thank you because yes, I built a billion dollar company. Yes,
I said, Denny's waitress, all those things. But this book, in and of itself, it's really a book about
like a girl who went from not believing in herself to to learning how to believe in herself and and doubting she's enough to knowing
she's enough. So if I could go back and tell that that girl anything you're one
because I was already working 100 hour weeks and literally not knowing
how to do this. Yeah, yeah, and I didn't know this like double workday thing you do yet either. So I was, it was, it was three things I would say really that just flew into my mind right
now.
I would say champions aren't made when the game is easy.
And you're a champion, you're born to be a champion.
So when the game isn't easy, embrace it, right?
Because that's how champions are made.
I would tell myself that earlier on, I know that now how champions are made. I would tell myself that earlier on.
I know that now. I learned that, but I'd tell myself that earlier on. That's one thing.
The next thing, I would tell myself something that I actually told myself a lot to help get through
it. And I think, you know, no matter what faith someone might practice who's listening or no faith
at all, I feel like these words apply to everyone because so many of us go through seasons where we don't feel qualified.
We feel like an imposter. We feel like we didn't we're not for me. I'll speak for myself.
I would have feelings like I'm not smart enough. I did come from the right family.
Didn't go to the right school. Don't have the right connections. All those thoughts, right?
I don't feel qualified. And whenever I'd have those thoughts, like there are words
I'd call on that for me would help me get through it. It's a famous, a famous quote that says,
God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. And I would tell myself that over and over
and over. And to me, I think any of us, any person listening right now,
as part of your community, it's like,
when we really get still, and there's this dream on our heart
or this feeling in our gut that we're supposed to be doing
something, and you just can't shake it no matter what,
I feel like that's part of your purpose.
And part of your calling, and God doesn't call the qualified,
he qualifies the call, to me, it means you already have everything inside of you. You need right to accomplish your wildest dreams
and part of our greatest journey in life is learning to believe that for ourselves. And so I would
tell that girl that but that's only I had to tell myself a lot. And the other third thing that just flew in my mind
is like, I learned this time and time again
that your gut, like your gut is more powerful
than anyone else's advice.
It just is.
It just is.
And learning how to get still, how to turn down the volume
on all that other stuff and how to hear it,
and how to hear your own gut and then trust it.
To me, that's more important than how smart you are.
If you went to school or not, any of that other stuff.
Well, I relate to all of those doubts and that is so beautifully said.
Thank you for giving us three.
Because there were three remarkable ones and you know, gut is sort of what I would call
discernment.
The Bible talks about the gift of discernment
and you all have that gift at some level
and trusting it when it's easy,
as Jamie said earlier, is that's one thing.
Trusting it when no one else sees it.
Trusting it when you're being rejected
in deep, painful ways is really where you're gonna be measured.
And I want them to read the book,
so I don't wanna go through all of it.
You talked about body, doubt, and the different doubts.
Would you mind just sharing what God doubt is
since you mentioned God, just that one form of doubt.
And I'll let them get the book to go through the other ones.
But what is God doubt?
What do you mean when you say that?
For me, I was raised going to church every Sunday.
It never resonated with me.
Like when the pastor had been given the sermon,
I was literally counting down the minutes,
like scanning the church pews for cute boys.
And that was a standing for the cute boys,
but I was trying to get out of there.
But you were trying to get out of there.
And so then, but I believed in God,
and I prayed and all those things.
The older I got, and this really started in my 20s,
I was on to get out and see the world
and see and meet different people.
And I lived in the East Coast for a while and all these things.
I started meeting people that have different face and have no faith.
I started meeting a lot of people that believe in science-based arguments of which you believe
in what you can see and touch and feel and prove for which faith is not required.
They all started making sense, and I started, every time I would pray,
I started feeling like an imposter
because I felt like I still doubted God existed
and had those doubts.
And I was raised in a family that never went to therapy
for anything, like you either just don't talk about it
or you figured out.
And I went through this season, there's a, I won't give it all away, but there's a big
thing in my late 20s where I found that I was adopted by surprise and went on this crazy
five year journey with probably the deepest rejection I've ever gone through.
And so I talk a lot about that in the book, about what happens in our, in our personal
life with relationships with people we trust in, like the rugs pulled out from underneath us. And so I was going through a lot is the summary
and I finally started seeing a therapist. And one day I told her I said you know I'm doubting
God exists and I'm just like feeling hopeless in a lot of ways. I don't know where I come from.
I don't know who my parents, I was just in the season.
I talked about for the first time ever in the book
and the therapist said something to me
that literally changed my life.
She says, well, what makes you think
God can't handle your doubt?
I'm like, what do you mean?
And she goes, what makes you think
God can't handle your doubt?
Okay, if he created the whole universe,
what makes you think he can't handle your doubt. If he created the whole universe, what makes you think he can't handle your doubt?
Why don't you tell him you doubt him
and ask him to prove you wrong?
And this thing she shared with me literally
started a multi-year journey where I was like,
okay, that makes sense to me.
Every time I would pray, whether it was like,
oh, praying for somebody's health or this or that,
or at the end, I'd be like literally in
my own head. I would be like, and also, God, I'm dotting you
exists. So if you could please prove me wrong and like show up
somehow, be on a shadow of a doubt so that I know, in fact, you
do exist, I would be super grateful. Thank you. In Jesus' name,
amen. Like, I would literally pray that for years. And what started I am, oh, I'm so excited. Okay, I don't want to I think so many people now, you know, say, oh,
Jamie's self made all these things.
It's like, oh, I'm partly self made.
But what I know for sure is like I mostly God made, right?
Like, like, like, yeah, I worked harder than I possibly
thought I could ever work.
And yeah, I didn't give up.
I got back up every time I got knocked down. But like,
he did everything else. Like the open doors, the closed doors. Thank God. The serendipitous grace,
right? Which is really the grace beyond comprehension. The connections I didn't have, the people I didn't
know, you know, I feel't know. I feel those things.
I feel those things.
So.
I love you, sister.
I love you because I just must say,
your vulnerabilities are remarkable.
Most people would never share that
because we wanna look like these great people of faith.
And I've told people many times,
I just wanna say this, we can go back and forth a little bit.
Yes, I relate to that very deeply.
And ironically, some of my successes
or my struggles that came along,
I think you inevitably reach the journey
or the conclusion as you're chasing your dream
that maybe you can't do it alone,
that you need to enroll God.
That, you know, I have this,
I've written about my successes and failures
and even the successes like,
there's sometimes I just want to go,
can I just be honest with you guys,
I did all this work, I know these things work. I know the mindset I know the techniques
But then there's entire windows where it's kind of a blur and these people come into my life and these circumstances happen
And I believe in science. I believe in the quantum field. I believe in vibration
I believe in energy. I just happen to believe that the creator of the universe created those things
Yes, and I want to share with the audience something because you were willing to share size want to say
People ask me sometimes do you ever struggle with your faith? The answer is yes. And even to this day, sometimes I do, I have a relationship with God. And in any
relationship, it has ups and downs and ebbs and flows and good times and rough times.
And so my relationship with God, ironically, the doubts that I do have from time to time, strengthen it as that conclusion is reached over and over and
over again. When there's real difficulty, you see a child, I work a lot with children
and try to help families that have children with cancer when you see a three or four year
old child, you can't help but thank God, why would you allow this to happen, right? And
those things are healthy. So yes, I have a relationship with God
that's growing and growing and growing over my lifetime
until the day my body stops working here.
I want it to grow and I want to be in this conversation
with God.
So that's beautiful that you share that you guys have
got to get this bump on this woman.
You know what, Ed?
One more thing because we talked about feeling
unqualified like in our business or in our success
or in our all of that.
I have this deep knowing.
So just to share it, I feel like so many people
feel unqualified to have a relationship with God.
I feel like so many of us, I do, I think we think,
oh, it's too late.
I've made too many mistakes.
I'm not worthy of showing up in print.
And I feel like I have this deep
known because for me, I thought that for a long time. And I have this deep knowing that
I don't think God chose it for perfect people that are I feel like God lights most and
showing up for like imperfect people who just seek after him. And I don't think it's
never too late. No one's ever too old. No one's ever made too many mistakes.
Ha, ha.
He's there and like that disqualification thing is so big.
I think people carry shame with them as a weapon they use against themselves.
Oh, you don't know about these thoughts I have.
You don't know about this person I heard.
You don't know about this lie I told her this thing.
I'm so ashamed of her.
This divorce I've had or this failure or this moment of weakness.
And I relate to that.
I think I beat myself up with that, you know, very regularly.
But I've learned that, you know, God's grace is beautiful, that I'm a sinner saved by
the grace of God.
I just believe that.
That doesn't mean I want to send over and over again.
It just means that it's part of who I am as a human being.
I try to do as little of it as I can, but I so love your message.
I just love that when someone becomes so successful,
I believe, tell me if you've noticed this.
I think some of the most blissful people that I know,
they tow this very unique line of self-confidence
because we have to work on that.
I think you like me struggle with it
and have what had to build the tools
to become a more self-confident person. Yet they're confident, they believe it to quote you. Yet it's combined with a very
high level of humility that allows them to be open to learning, open to be coached, open
to be criticized. Do you see that in most of the people that you know that are the happiest
and most successful? They kind of have that line of confidence and humility, humility without the confidence is tough.
Confidence without humility can be really ego driven.
And for me, my faith contributes to my humility.
Do you agree?
Yeah, I agree.
I see it in the people that are not just the most successful,
but the ones that are actually fulfilled.
And I think it's because when you're doing something
bigger than yourself, and that's what's driving you, like it's literally not about yourself anyway.
So, you know, right?
But the people that haven't transcended that yet are still so caught up in doing
so many things for our ego or getting significant out of it.
You know, I remember, I guess this might sound weird, but, you know, the moment,
like I remember sitting in this corner, but, you know, the moment, like, I remember sitting in this corner office, because, you know, the first three years was in our living room where I couldn't
afford to pay myself. Like, when my husband and I would go on a date night, it was like, if it was
a fancy one, it was like that, you know, that, I don't know if you've ever been to the outdoor
Costco hot dog stand, like right out front, right? The dollar hot dog was like a big dummy and it was like we had I mean it every penny went into the business and
you know so that's a pretty weak date night so I
I'm gonna get this struggle that's awesome you were together yeah we
up and and I just remember you know this moment where I'm like oh my gosh I saw
my company for a billion dollars cash I'm sitting in this corner office with
this I mean the office my office was like,
like a movie, right? And like, I don't know if you've seen Devilware's Prada where Anne
Hathaway walks into this. I mean, that's what my office looked like. And I'm looking at this
whole Manhattan skyline. And I'm sitting there in this moment. And by the way, this was one year ago.
Okay. So I haven't even shared this, but, but after we sold the L'Oreal, you know, I I agree to stand for three years and I think when people
believe in you, you prove them right and you know, I I worked really hard. We
double the size of the company in the first two years post-acquisition and on
year three, which was just a year ago, I was trying to decide, do I stay? What
do I do? And this is crazy Ed because this was literally the highest moment of my entire career.
I just remember sitting in this,
we just opened this brand new 60,000 square foot office.
And I'm sitting there in my office
and just my corner office alone is bigger
than almost any place I've ever lived in, right?
And I'm sitting there and I'm looking around
and I have this knowing of two things I can stay
and I can get so much significance from the outside, the things that feel like significance,
but they're not what life's about.
You know what I mean?
And I had this deep knowing of at this highest moment, like you're meant to transcend the stuff
that actually doesn't matter.
Like the company's actually in the spot
where now your mission can scale.
You know, because our mission is scaling so huge
with Gloria globally now.
It cosmetics this year became the largest luxury
makeup company in the country, which is crazy
because when I was a Denny's waitress,
I would save my tip money to buy like a department store,
lipstick, an eyeliner, and for a Mac or a lamb column, and now this company I started in my
living room is larger than all those brands in the country. And it's crazy. But I think when we
listen to our truth, and we know like, again, and I like when you talk about separation season and listen, I think other people and what they're doing can drive us to up our own game.
But literally, I think the ultimate separation season is, are we. We know what we're born for more.
We know, right?
And I just had that knowing.
And so it was a crazy thing that I just decided to leave.
When all of a sudden, it could get really comfy
and pretty freaking fun and glamorous.
Like several years or not glamorous and all the
sudden it was like this one and a billion glamorous situation but I really
believe how I stayed it would be awesome in so many ways but awesome in a lot of
ways that that fill our our I don't see egos of significance that I don't want to say egos of significance that don't, they never
are enough and they never are truly
fulfilling and I think when we do
things bigger than ourselves, right?
Which is, which is what you show up
and do every single day.
I feel like that's when that's when
that's in fulfillment.
Half you're still trusting your gut,
which is remarkable that you keep doing that.
That's another decision.
Most people would not walk from that level
of influence,
significance, the external trappings that come with it.
I got two more questions for you.
By the way, we went longer than I told you we were going to,
Jay, because this is so good.
I can feel people in tears,
I can feel people feeling inspired.
I want everybody, by the way, to go get believe it,
whether this is the release will be very close.
If you get its pre-order order, go get it.
It's available everywhere.
Follow Jamie.
We'll put her stuff up on social media here on the YouTubers
on the audio.
Go follow her on Instagram and all the other platforms.
I got two questions for you.
Women, is there anything unique to being a woman?
Because I'm not one.
Is there anything to being unique to being a woman? Because I'm not one. Is there anything to being unique to being a woman
entrepreneur that you might impart some counsel
and what advice wisdom onto women?
Or is it the same exact thing as it is for men?
What would you say to that?
So I think there's a lot of overlaps,
but I think two of the things that
are a little bit more difficult when you're a woman,
as you know,
so many of us are raised to be people, pleasers, and we are raised to not want to disappoint other people.
And, you know, in my journey of building a cosmetics after years of rejection, when we finally got
yeses from like Sephora or QBC or the department stores or Ulta, they would often tell us things that we needed to,
they wanted us, like, let's say some big trend
was happening in the marketplace,
and they wanted us to create this whatever
because it was gonna sell.
I got really good at disappointing people
when I knew it wasn't a line
with our authentic mission of the brand.
And I think that women struggle with that.
I think that, you know, and by the way,
I think on the second part of this is comparison,
which I'll talk about in a second as well,
that I think is really even more difficult
on female entrepreneurs,
but sticking with your own authenticity
and being okay, disappointing people,
being okay, saying people, being okay,
saying no, being okay,
letting people down and getting over
that people, please, or element is
really big for women.
I think women are less likely to set
boundaries, less likely to say no
because they want to make everyone
happy. They want to take care of
everybody. So they're more inclined
for burnout. They're more right.
And all of those things.
And so when I look back, you know, I am, it's funny.
I used to, I used to always say to our employees,
we built to over a thousand employees
before I sold the company.
And they could probably repeat these words
in their sleep by this point.
But when they would bring me something
another brand was doing or something
that was hot in the market or a big trend,
it was like I would say over and over to them,
like our biggest threat to our
success is not what our competition is doing is if we ever get distracted by it and then consider
you know changing our strategy and deluding our own authentic secret sauce right because
here's the thing I had is after after doing a thousand QVC shows, I've seen thousands, literally thousands of brand founders
come and go and almost all of them don't make it.
And when I look at that common thread
of who lasted at QVC or even who lasted
in the beauty industry, it's two things.
It's the brand founders that were good at saying no
when the buyers wanted them to launch short-term products
that made them success for five minutes,
but diluted their own authentic brand DNA, I think women especially need to get good at saying no to
and not wanting to be a people pleaser when someone's giving you advice whether it's an expert or a
buyer or anyone else when it's not aligned with your own authentic mission.
And the other thing is authenticity, right? When I look at the thousands of,
of brand founders that I've seen go on air,
and I look back like, oh wow, like just like a small fraction
ever built anything that lasts and ever, ever made it.
And it's like, what's that commonality?
And I look back at that and it's like, oh,
it's the people that, it didn't even matter how smart they were
or how talented they were or what their personality type was like. It's the people that were the same
on air when they were selling as they were in the green room for better or worse, right? And I
realized and learned this this life lesson before my eyes that like authenticity alone doesn't guarantee success, but in authenticity guarantees failure.
And so with women, right?
And by the way, you know all the studies that show
like you can never have a true connection
with another human being unless you show up authentically, right?
And a connection with another human being
can also mean your customers, right?
So I think that as it pertains to women and entrepreneurs
and really everyone, I feel like nowadays
with social media, especially it's so easy to compare ourselves
and to see everyone else's highlight reel and get distracted
and think we need to do all these things
and think we need to change how we show up.
But that's actually the recipe for disaster, right?
And I think that when people realize
fully showing up authentically for better or worse,
and especially women that deal with perfectionism and people pleasing,
when you get rid of all that and you realize that's going to come at the price of your own success,
and you stop getting distracted about what everyone else is doing,
what this woman's doing, or that woman's doing,
and you fully show up authentically in your own business
with your own authentic mission.
A, it's freedom, because you don't have to worry
about all that other stuff.
And B, it's literally the only way I believe
to ever have success or build anything that lasts
or build anything that matters.
Well, in the midst of it, one of the greatest interviews I've ever been privileged and honored
to do, that was one of my favorite moments.
I hope everybody stayed this late in the conversation because that, by the way, that applies to men,
but I completely agree with you the more I'm thinking through what you're saying as it applies
with women.
The other thing I noticed is that I think women entrepreneurs and women in the workplace seem to get more unsolicited advice than men do.
So I was like, can I give you some advice? I just think that happens more often. So your ability to not take it sometimes.
Your ability to be willing to make people uncomfortable is so real. Last question, you're amazing.
You're amazing. Was it worth it and why? Meaning what we're not talking about those
hundreds of hours, I'm sure you sacrificed, it's not just when you're an entrepreneur
and you struggle. Let's be real, there's the other little things, you're
sacrificing some time, you sacrifice friendships. Sometimes even if you're not
careful, you sacrifice your health, you can sacrifice part of your faith, you can,
you can, there's a lot that we give up in order to make a dream come true.
And I get asked all the time, is it worth it or not?
And if not or if so, why?
So after all of it, and that's a long journey you've been on, was it worth it?
And why?
Yes, because I believe everything I went through isn't for me. I believe it's for something greater than myself. Do I question it often? Yeah, I pray every day that I didn't do damage
to my health that I don't know about. I, you know, for the first time ever, I get so real ed.
I've never shared these things before,
but for anyone out there who is especially going into business
with a partner, a spouse, a friend, a family member,
I really share the story behind the story
because, you know, my husband and I started working
100 hour weeks, and we did that
from us a decade and it got to the point where if my phone rang and it was him I actually realized
I saw it as a work call right and and all these things happen and you know I talk about the
journey that I went on of for a decade of struggling to carry a baby and having, and just all the, you know,
we did 100 out of weeks for 10 years.
So, and I, and I did barely see my friends and family for a decade, right?
So, and it was all choices, right?
It was all choices.
And all I can say is every time I would pray and get still,
and every time I would listen to my gut, I felt like I was supposed to keep going. It was where I was
supposed to be, and that I was doing something bigger than myself. You know, there was a big moment
where I, you know, after selling the L'Oreal, I got this big award in the beauty industry and it was this whole thing.
And I remember this moment where I got to stand
in this one room in New York City and get this award.
And I think everyone expected me to give this people
pleaser speech that made everyone happy in the room.
And instead I had this, and I wrote a people pleaser speech.
And then I had this huge moment, like days before the event
where I was like, oh, in this one room right now,
and it happens once a year, is literally the heads of the
companies that represent the image of,
every beauty company in the world is there.
And they represent the images, billions of girls
and women see globally.
They're all gonna be in this room on this one day.
And I remember taking this moment and going,
okay, maybe they're not ready to do the right thing morally, but maybe they'll see my success
and want to make money. And because of that, they'll change the images they're using. And I took
this moment, I took this shot, and I probably lost some friends that day, but I basically wrote
this whole speech called
what will you do with the power that is you and challenged every person in that room to
think about the impact of what they're doing and the decisions they make and the decision
makers in that room that day.
And what impact do they want to have on the world?
They literally in that one room, Ed, controlled images, billions of girls and women see globally.
So those moments spoke
my truth. So those moments make me feel that it's worth it and all the lessons. And here's the thing
is I've made so many mistakes and I share all those in the book too. By the way, I've done a lot
of things wrong and I did a lot of things right, but the thing that I think feels most right is, okay, I've figured out how to go from that believing in myself to
believing and not hearing my own and a voice to trusting it and doubting I'm enough to
knowing I'm enough and figuring out how to really listen to know, am I on this right path
of the person God created me to be?
And it's been really fun to accomplish
some of my greatest dreams.
But what makes me think it's all worth it is,
like I'm so honored and blessed and grateful
and fired up to do whatever I can for God to use me
to help other people on their own journey
to stepping into who they're called to be.
So that's a long answer to say yes,
I think I hope I pray it was worth it.
It's a beautiful answer and it was,
I loved your hesitation and your honesty.
Wasn't that a hesitation?
The answer was hesitation to say it
the way you really felt it.
And I gotta tell you, I'm so struck by you.
I'm, I just think you're a remarkable woman.
I'm actually holding back some emotion right now
because I'm, I'm just so grateful that we did this today.
And the time happened right, you know, it's just it was the right time. It was God's time.
You've inspired so many people. You truly inspire me. You've taught me things today.
And I just have this feeling that you're going to teach me more things. I just think you're incredible.
I really do. I hope, I hope words are so easy. I hope you feel my sincerity
because your authenticity, your vulnerability, your experience combined in a package that's
obviously incredibly articulate and God has been preparing you for this moment to step into this
time right now and I'm it's so obvious to me. I want everybody to go get believe it. I want
everybody to follow you and I just want to say thank you for today.
I enjoyed it tremendously and it flew by for me.
I wish we could go another hour.
So God bless you and Jamie.
Thank you for being here today.
And thank you so much.
God bless you.
Thank you.
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