Transcript

7 Ways to Trust Your Gut in Business & Life | Jamie Kern Lima

From Jamie Kern Lima · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 28 min · 17,348 words · 177 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "7 Ways to Trust Your Gut in Business & Life | Jamie Kern Lima", an episode of Jamie Kern Lima published February 11, 2026 (1 h 28 min, about 17,348 words). It mentions 10 people, works and ideas, including IT Cosmetics, Jamie Kern Lima, QVC, Bye-Bye Under Eye Concealer, Alan Burke.

What this episode is about

Jamie Kern Lima shares her journey from aspiring television news anchor to successful entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of trusting one's instincts in navigating career paths. She discusses her transition sparked by personal challenges, including a skin condition, which led her to create It Cosmetics, highlighting that recognizing when to pursue new dreams can be as crucial as the pursuit itself.

Key takeaways

  • Sometimes, letting go of a dream is the first step towards a bigger one; embrace detours.
  • Entrepreneurship often starts with frustration; that 'aha' moment can transform setbacks into solutions.
  • Life's challenges can be catalysts for innovation; real-life problems often inspire the best business ideas.
  • The gap between aspiration and action narrows when you trust your gut over your fears.
  • Every success story has hidden struggles; behind every brand is a founder wrestling with self-doubt.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: IT Cosmetics, Jamie Kern Lima, Denny's
  2. – 20:00: IT Cosmetics, Feeding America, Denny's, Jamie Kern Lima
  3. – 30:00: IT Cosmetics, Denny's, Alan Burke
  4. – 40:00: Alan Burke, Bye-Bye Under Eye Concealer, QVC, Sephora
  5. – 1:00:00: Alan Burke, Denny's, Sephora, QVC
  6. – 1:10:00: IT Cosmetics, Jamie Kern Lima, Denny's
  7. – 1:20:00: IT Cosmetics, Bye-Bye Under Eye Concealer
  8. – 1:27:38: IT Cosmetics, QVC, Costco

Notable quotes from "7 Ways to Trust Your Gut in Business & Life | Jamie Kern Lima"

  • If I just try to figure it out? And so, now everyone sees, It Cosmetics, the company that I started in my living room as this sort of like billion-dollar brand, but how it really started was I was thinking I was in one dream job. thinking I.
    about IT Cosmetics · at
  • Built to over a thousand employees. and when we eventually were acquired by L'Oreal, it was their largest acquisition in the US in their history.
    about L'Oreal · at
  • It could go you know well into 2021 and I think that right now I think it's The last number I read was 17 million kids are food insecure just in our country right now. So, so…
    about Feeding America · at
  • No from everybody. And QVC said no several times. And one day I got their head guy, Alan Burke, who'd built this billion-dollar beauty empire, on the phone. And I thought for…
    about Alan Burke · at
  • It. Like had no idea how we weren't going to go bankrupt. And we got this shot on QVC, but they ordered 6,000. we had to sell over 6,000 units of Bye-Bye Under Eye Concealer in…
    about Bye-Bye Under Eye Concealer · at
  • An account like QVC. but I didn't know what I didn't know. And similarly, we didn't have the right team to be able to support an Ulta or a Sephora yet in terms of education…
    about Sephora · at
  • Denny's I worked at was a disaster. Like they would take an hour to get pancakes out. So I learned to talk to people so that they wouldn't leave. They often did leave. or they'd throw like a dime and a penny on the table and leave.
    about Denny's · at
  • The next year. Anyways, for eight years straight, I did 250 live shows a year on QVC and we built the largest beauty brand in QVC's history. It is right now at this very moment.
    about QVC · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Jamie Kern Lima — Person · Main guest · 3 mentions · first at
    Primary interview subject sharing her founder story (It Cosmetics), the QVC breakthrough, and lessons on intuition, resilience, and authenticity.
    Say when to let go of a dream matters as much as when to go after one. and I was just, I was anchoring the news every day and live on camera and I developed a skin condition…
  • Alan Burke — Person · Referenced executive / mentor figure · 7 mentions · first at
    Described as the QVC executive who initially rejected Jamie, later became a champion and mentor; central to the QVC ‘no → breakthrough’ narrative.

Companies & orgs

  • IT Cosmetics — Company · Business focus · 8 mentions · first at
    The company founded by Jamie Kern Lima, discussed as a case study of entrepreneurship and overcoming challenges.
  • QVC — Company · Case study · 3 mentions · first at
    Key platform where It Cosmetics gained initial success, illustrating the importance of staying true to one's vision.
  • L'Oreal — Company · Business focus · 1 mention · first at
    Acquired It Cosmetics, marking a significant milestone in the company's growth.
  • Feeding America — Company · Charity · 2 mentions · first at
    One of the charities to which Jamie Kern Lima is donating the proceeds of her book.
  • Denny's — Company · Personal history · 10 mentions · first at
    Part of Jamie Kern Lima's early work experience, shaping her understanding of operations and customer service.
  • Sephora — Company · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at
    One of the retailers that initially rejected It Cosmetics, illustrating the challenges faced in the early stages.
  • Costco — Company · Personal history · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of the frugal lifestyle during the early stages of building It Cosmetics.
    Gave up my career in television. That was my life dream to go to not pay myself for years, eat Costco, hot dogs and just believe it was going to happen, right? So, just…

Products & tech

  • Bye-Bye Under Eye Concealer — Product · Signature product / case-study object · 2 mentions · first at
    The specific It Cosmetics product used in the pivotal first QVC segment; selling 6,000+ units in ~10 minutes becomes the proof-point for trusting her gut and using real models.

Full transcript with timestamps

How did you get your job? Aka, how did you find yourself doing the work you're doing today?

You know, I always since the time I was little, Nathan, I always sort of knew I would be an entrepreneur one day, I thought that like I would I would, you know, save candy that I would get at a holiday and then I would think, how could I sell this? And so, I always kind of had that inkling. Um, but then I actually thought growing up that I would do something totally different. and I would sit in my living room and watch Oprah every day as a little girl. And I thought, one day I'm going to I'm going to share other people's stories with the world. And so, you know, growing up, I kind of had my sight set on that. And I did all kinds of jobs um from waitressing at Denny's to pushing grocery carts in the in the parking lot and and all those things, slicing meat in the deli. And I eventually landed in what I thought was my dream job uh which was which was uh anchoring television news and sharing people's stories with

the world. And like so many entrepreneurs um I had a big problem happen that I I couldn't solve. And I kind of had this big aha moment where I was like oh my gosh if there's hundreds of companies out there that that do this and none of them work for me like what if I just try to figure it out? And so, um, you know, now everyone sees, you know, It Cosmetics, the company that I started in my living room as this sort of like billion-dollar brand, but but how it really started was I was thinking I was in one dream job. Um, thinking I would stay there forever on on television news and and uh and I learned this big lesson that sometimes knowing when to go after a dream um or I should say when to let go of a dream matters as much as when to go after one. Um, and I was just, you know, I was anchoring the news every day and and live on on camera and I developed a skin condition called rosacea. So for me, like my cheeks, my

forehead, my nose, everything would get really really red and bumpy. And so I started, you know, spending my whole paycheck on on makeup products and I I tried everything out there from the most expensive stuff to the least expensive and and nothing would work. And um there was one moment, Nathan, uh that was sort of the pivotal moment for me, which was it was I was live on on air and all of a sudden I hear in my earpiece from the producer um there's something on your face, there's something on your face, you need to wipe it off, you need to wipe it off. And I'm I'm live over the airways and and I I glance down to my little compact mirror off the side and I knew what it was. It was it was that the makeup was kind of breaking up almost the way like if you imagine clay in a desert starts to crack. It was like cracking on my face and the redness, the bright red um skin was coming through and and my producer had no idea what it

was. He just thought like, "Wipe it off. Get, you know, get it off." And um and I knew there was nothing I could wipe off. I I kept trying to reapply makeup and it it wasn't working. And so this sort of started um uh you know what I what I thought was a season of setback in my life. I thought like you know, am I going to get fired? Are viewers changing the channel? because every single time I I would go on the air live, um it would happen, right? Because the hot HD lights would start to break up the makeup. And so I would I would find myself in the same situation. And and um it was uh and then I realized like, okay, if I can't find anything out there, and there's hundreds of makeup companies, I can't find anything that works for me, there must be so many other people out there that maybe have just given up on makeup or feel like they've never found anything for them.

And so, you know, for every person who is a founder or an entrepreneur listening right now or maybe someone who hasn't taken the leap yet, but they're listening uh and reading founder because they know they want to one day. Um, I want to share that, you know, because this is really important. It's easy to see the outcome and the success story, but but for a long time, Nathan, I I had this idea like, you know, I what if I launch my own company? What if I do it? and my gut told me I was supposed to do it. Like I couldn't shake that feeling, but for a long time I didn't do it because my head was sort of talking me out of it. I would I would think things like, "Oh, but you're not qualified and you don't have any money and you don't have any connections and you know what I mean?" And and and so many people, I'm sure, have already tried to do it and and if there's nothing that works, what makes you think you can? And just all of

those thoughts that we tend to have. And I just when I look back now, I am so glad I listened to my gut and went for it and took the big chance even though it was much harder than I could have imagined because I think so often in life our our head tells our guts telling us one thing but then our our our head is telling us another and um and our life comes down to which one we listen to. So

yeah. Wow. What a crazy story. So, can you tell me kind of I'm just curious. How long did you have this idea in your head?

Well, it was a couple years cuz I was just trying to find anything that would work. And um you know, one thing that happened that sort of put me over the edge um that I think is really important just to share, especially with anyone out there who whatever phase they're at in their their business or their entrepreneurial journey, um is early on I had a blessing that I look back now and go, "Thank goodness that happened." And it's really what put me over the edge to to really launch this thing and go for it. And you know, we hear so many amazing thought leaders talk about your why and identifying the why of your your business and your brand and your mission. And what I know now, because I' I've now had the the gift of just meeting tens of thousands of entrepreneurs over the years, and a lot of people, I think they think their why is strong enough, but they haven't actually done the work to peel back the

layers and like go deeper and get to the why beneath the why. that's so powerful that they can lean on it when the times are super tough and they're tempted to quit. And when I look back at this moment after having this idea for a couple years, one thing that that happened so I guess serendipitously um or out of sheer grace I should say is that you know initially I thought like oh okay I can just create a makeup product that if it works for me it'll probably work for so many other people. So my why could have very easily been like, "Oh, I'll I'll solve my own problems, but I'll help so many other people, too." And I think a why like that is why so many entrepreneurs fail.

And here's what I mean by that. Because when we share a why like that with someone else, they're like, "That's great. That's so virtuous. That's awesome." And then we think it's enough. We think it's enough. If we have a why that's I'm going to help people or this or that because, you know, I did want to help people. But what happened and and I wanna I want to call this out for anyone listening because I think this is really important. Challenge yourself. Whatever you you believe your your mission or your your your personal why is for for your own company. And this isn't something that has to be part of your mission statement. I'm more talking about as a founder. your personal why for why you're doing what you're doing or perhaps why you have a big goal um that you're working on is take your why but then literally go deeper like peel peel peel back the layers and try to go deeper to the deep why beneath the why

and in my case what happened is I realized like at this one moment and this is what put me over the edge to launch everything was like I was like I don't understand this makes no sense that there are so many companies. Why do none of them work for me? And then what I realized was like, wait, I've actually never seen a model who has like bright red rosacea selling makeup products, right? And then I started thinking about growing up as as a little girl. And what I realized is every time I would see the beauty ads on on television or magazines, like I love them. I aspired to, you know, look like them. But at a real deep level, they always made me feel like I wasn't enough. And I had this big moment where I realized like, okay, I want to launch products that work. But what if what if when I launch a beauty company, what if I can actually put, you know, use real people as models and and like all different ages and

shapes and sizes and skin tones and skin challenges and and call them beautiful and mean it? And what if I could actually like like shift the definition of beauty entire inside the entire industry um for every little girl out there who's about to start doubting herself and and every grown person who still does. And it was kind of this huge crazy idea for someone that was sitting there with no money, no connections, not sure how it was even going to happen. But I got that deep deep deep deep why that was so not just painful but really meaningful purposeful for me. Um and that came early on and you know after I I jumped into entrepreneurship and you know poured every penny I had into it. I didn't know it would be three years before I could even afford to pay myself at all. I didn't know that I would get hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of nos. And I think that as founders, as entrepreneurs, as people with big dreams

on our heart, we need like a toolbox of things we can pull from that help us maintain our resiliency. And and and for me, I think one of those real important tools was was was really that that deep deep deep meaningful why where I realized, okay, what I'm doing is bigger than myself. It's not just about me, right? And and the last thing I'll say to this really quickly because I think sometimes people think their why has to be some like global grandiose, you know, thing. Sometimes your why, your deep why may have nothing to do with your actual company, but your deep why may be like, I'm going to be the first person in generations of my family to break a cycle of poverty or of lack or I'm going to be the first person that, you know, um, uh, goes for it and doesn't let self-doubt hold me back in my entire family, right? It could be there's deep wise or I want to show my children what it looks like to go after a dream.

There's a lot of different wise beneath the why, but I think identifying one of those that really truly hits home is such a key because being a founder or an entrepreneur at any stage, right? I've I've kind of seen a lot of different stages from no money, no one believes in you, you're about to go bankrupt for a few years to, you know, private equity investment and massive growth to we built to over a thousand employees. Um, and when we eventually were acquired by L'Oreal, it was it was their largest acquisition in the US in their history.

Um, and then I was part of the largest beauty company in the world as well. So, it's kind of like I've seen inside all those and they and they all come with their challenges. Um, but I think no matter what phase you're at, having that deep deep why beneath the why is super super important um to do the work for. It's worth spending the time in for sure.

It's been a journey. So, and you know, I um I've really been, it's funny because we have like mutual, you know, mutual friends and stuff, but like they're really new in my life because for almost a decade, like all I did was like work and like trying to build the company, do you know what I mean? And so, yeah,

um that's why seeing that pajama party, I was like, I've got to go. Like, I want TO BE AROUND GIRLFRIENDS. LIKE, I need to get a life because for a long time, I didn't have one. So

it's hard to have one when you're doing when when you do what you did to that level. Uh and then I mean people think it's like you know people are overnight successes but you you know you're a testament to it's that is not the case. I mean it's hard to have a social life and go to pajama parties when you are

you know you're building and grinding and hustling to create what you created. Um and it's funny because I'm not a makeup person by any stretch of the imagination, right? But I even I knew what It Cosmetics was because you guys have a concealer

and and a BB cream or is it a CC? I can't remember. Uhhuh. Is it that is it a CC cream that I use?

That is amazing. Thank you. Yeah, it's been a crazy journey and you know I I think part of it you know because like you know growing up like I had I didn't see any type of

business like monetary succ any any stuff like that before me my parents worked super hard um but you know I you know my journey was was really different like I worked as a Denny's waitress and yeah and like uh pushed grocery carts in the Safeway parking lot and all those things like and and trying to pay my way through school and stuff like that. And I I always kind of like had this like gut feeling like, okay, like I'm I'm I'm meant to to serve or give or something like I'm meant to do more than like what I'm doing right now and where I'm at.

And I I um you know, it's been a decade of like literally starting with close to nothing. And then you know, when I when I launched this idea, this this kind of dream, um I had no idea how hard it would be. like the first three years of the business uh was like hundreds of nos, like tons of rejection. Um some of it really brutal. Uh and and you know, I I thought I think so many people like have a dream and then they're like, "Oh." And then once you go after it, you're like, "Oh, this isn't happening." Like I thought it was going to happen.

And there's like right no proof around me that it's actually a good idea. And like what was I thinking? and did I list like is my gut wrong? And it was really this this crazy journey in so many ways of where it started to then building it into a a billion dollar business. And you know the thing when I um over the years um and really why I wrote this book, my first ever book, uh is really because and such a by the way such a big week right now um launch week of the book. I'm excited to share it with you and your whole community and everything. But this book is really like oh gosh it's it I' I've noticed that you always see like when you Google right you see the headlines like oh struggling waitress sells billion dollar company and I get so many DMs on Instagram from women especially saying like oh like how did you do it did you just get lucky or like did you all these things and I'm like oh wow it made me realize that so

often like we don't ever see the story behind the story of stuff And and when we don't see that, then it's like when we go through our own setbacks and our own struggles, it's like we feel alone in them or like it must be us or maybe we're not the kind of person that success happens to or whatever. And just seeing really DMs on Instagram and just getting these questions over the years, I'm like, you know what? like I I I had this moment where I realized I'm actually for the first time ever like gonna share like everything that really happened and and the book um believe it is is a story really my story of going uh from a girl who didn't believe in herself to believing in herself and like not trusting herself to like learning how to trust herself. uh doubting that she's enough to like like learning to believe she's enough. And what really inspired me to write it was was like, "Oh, yeah, it's my story, but it's also

the story of so many other women and people out there right now who are like, you know, who who have this like feeling like like, you know, they're they're they're made for more or or they have a feeling like they have more to give or whether it's like launch the podcast or or or start painting again or like write the first chapter of the book or, you know, join a dance class, whatever it is, like like they know inside they're they're created for more, but like they doubt themselves anyway. And and and when I think back on my whole journey, like why I wanted to write this book really is is for every person out there who really has is dealing with doubt in their own head. uh whether it comes from their own head or from like the people around them like other people's opinions um or just the simple fact that they're trying their dream and they're trying to build their business or they're trying

to you know get clients for their dance studio whatever it is and like the success around them isn't happening right now and it's like how do you know how do you learn to hear your own gut and and trust it? How do you learn to like break through all the noise of self-doubt and and and and really really learn to believe you are enough and to step into all that you are and all that you're called to be and and and I think that so many people give up or stay in their comfort zone and never actually um uh you know become the person they're created to be because of so many reasons, right? And it's why so many people quit. And so anyhow, this book is really for every person just on their journey who who wants like all the tips and lessons of how to do that. Um, and I really share like so many personal and professional stories, right, of learning to do that. And then I also share the stuff I still am struggling with where

it's still a work in progress. And it's just raw and emotional and vulnerable. And honestly, I'm I'm scared because I'm used to like, let me give a CEO talk in the boardroom and this is like, oh no, this is the real [ __ ] This is the real stories behind the stories that are really personal. But my prayer is just that it's not about me. And it's it's, you know, I'm donating uh the book. I'm donating 100% of the proceeds of the book. like like I'm not doing literally the only reason I'm doing this book is because for me it's the best I think best work I've ever done in my life and that I I know it's not about me and my prayers just that it helps every single person out there on their own journey of knowing they're enough and and stepping into all of who they are.

So that was a long answer but a good one. I love you know you gave me a lot of good little nuggets to go with there. M um first of all then where is the the proceeds are you do you have a a charity that you're going to be giving

you know um two two of them but one of the big ones too is feeding America um because right now I mean wow what a year it's been for so many of us

um and there's tens of millions of families now that are food insecure and you know we're going to have a vaccine but we're still going to go through a really tough season and they're saying it could go you know well into 2021 and I think that right now um I think it's The last the last number I read was 17 million kids are food insecure just in our country right now. So, um so that's a big one. And and by the way, I was Denny I was a Denny's waitress. I know how to I know how to serve food. So now I'm just gonna live food.

I saw that. I think I also saw that you said something like you were at Denny's but you lost the job because you talked too much and gave away too much free food.

Oh my gosh. Well, here you know what's funny? Okay, this is the funny thing is I don't know if you tell I would love to hear too if you feel this same way,

but I think so many times in our lives like the setbacks we go through end up being like setups for like act right actually things were supposed to do next or walk into next. And

when I think about Denny's, so the Denny's I worked at uh which was in Pullman, Washington had a massive operational issues. Sometimes it would take like an hour for the pancakes to come out and people would get mad, right? So some people would leave and then some people would stay but then they wouldn't tip me and I'm like I have nothing to do with the pancake timing. And so what's funny is um and I'm like kind of an introvert normally and that job I actually I was like dude I'm paying I'm trying to pay my my way through school. Like I can barely afford my my tuition, my bills. I'm like, I've got to get tips. And so, um, and so I learned to talk, uh, and like, you know, just talk to people and and

kind of get them kind of like okay with the weight. Yes. Cuz it was the longest wait for the pancakes to come out. Anyways, I eventually um, yeah, got fired for talking too much, but I and by the way, the cool thing that came out of it was like I didn't know it at the time. I never knew one day I'd start a business or anything, but I had this lesson ingrained in me that like, oh, if you're operations aren't right, it can impact everything else. And I remember and like a lot of for a lot of us when we launch a business or a dream or whatever, we want to do the thing we love, but we don't want to handle the operations. We don't want to have and I just remember that lesson and I remember when we created it cosmetics I'm like okay we've got to figure out the operational infrastructure because if that's not there it's like everything else collapses even though operational infrastructure is not my passion but I

thank Denny's for that lesson for that first lesson and like it's 100% true you know I always say that too I feel like so many times when things were disappointments you know you it ends up working it does end up there like a kind of like a silver lining does happen or another opportunity arises that you never even knew existed because of that setback.

Yeah. Um, and it's a a very important real it's a really important life lesson or like an important thing to remember in those darker times when things are not working.

And it's hard, right? Because when you're in that dark moment, like I can think of so many major nos in my journey of building the company where I thought like, oh my gosh,

everything's on the line. I need this investor to say yes because I don't know how I'm going to make it if he doesn't or I am dreaming for years of being in this retailer and like they keep saying no but I need this yes and then it's like those big rejections right sometimes it's a friend rejecting us. Sometimes it's someone we're totally into that we're dating and then we're like, "Oh, so they're just not that into those things hurt." Like they hurt and they suck and they are devastating and there's a million nights I cried myself to sleep. But like, so it's hard to do it. But like when I look back at everything, I just know that's true.

That our setbacks, no matter how painful they are, really really are set up. So like if we're if we're open to uh

if you're open to that Yeah. and open to seeing the the other opportunities or the windows that are opening when the door slams on your face right?

Yeah. Yep. So a couple of different things again that we're you were saying. Um, number one that you were and you open with this in your book and I I've heard you talk about this is that you you very much uh trust your intuition and your gut and it's more that to and that um really if you can give anyone I saw you say this in the you said this in the book you your gut and intuition is more important than other people's advice which I I'm a strong believer in right but it's very difficult to some for some people to to do that, right? Because of that self-doubt, because of that fear. How did you how did you kind of hone that skill of really listening to your gut?

Yeah. Um like was there like a like a like a tipping a moment in your life or like some kind of turning point when you kind of decided to to to kind of go that way or explain that?

Yeah, I think that it's um for every person. I think it's it's a journey and I think a lot of people don't start the journey. I think that

I believe we all have an intuition like an inner knowing and I think what happens for so many of us is that you know to your point we we the the noise of self-doubt is in our own head we have other people's opinions all around us we have experts who like are credible and touted visionaries like saying how stuff should be done right in some case and there's so much we turn on the news and people are fighting. We have like there's so much everywhere that it ends up being so noisy that we almost like can't even hear our own gut anymore. And a lot of people never ever really just develop that ability to just to just get still and and hear it and uh and and and a lot of people have heard it in the past, but like it's been a long time. You know what I mean? Yes. um or they think they heard it and it turns out to be wrong and then they start doubting themselves. So for me it's been a journey. It's been a journey. And one

of the big things is when I look back because there are so many times where I doubted my doubt in my gut and I was like oh you know what like they're experts for a reason or or this person's had so much success. Let me just listen to them even though it's like not quite sitting right with me. Um, and when I look back at a lot of the mistakes I made, they were all really around times when I didn't I went against

my own gut. And so, it's really a thing I think we develop over time. Um, really by by paying attention. And I think it I think we're all born with it, though. I think we have it. And then I think our life lessons build on it. But, you know, it's like sometimes it's simple. It's like we date a dude and we're like, "Oh, he's sketchy." But we don't want to believe it

and maybe his phone did break and maybe he just fell asleep last night and I couldn't get a hold of him. He didn't disappear. He wasn't at somewhere else like Right. And we kind of know and shoot, right? We know. And we choose not to. And I think that that carries through our whole life. And you know, for for me, um, uh, getting still, it's a practice. It's a journey. It's a journey. But getting still, even five minutes a day, and that's hard. A lot of people try to get still, whether it's to meditate or in prayer or whatever it is, but when you try to get still for five minutes, no phone, no anything. Like sometimes I just go in the closet because I have two little ones to look

Yeah. Go. No. Me too. I know. I do that all the time. Yeah. And I just literally try to get still. And I'm not perfect at it because I try to hear my gut and sometimes I end up thinking of my to-do list or whatever else is going on. But I I really work on it to to to tune into that. And when I look back, you know, um there's oh gosh, so many stories uh that I share in this book, I've never shared before. But one of, you know, one of the most powerful lessons in my entire career and my life came down to a moment when we uh got one shot on QVC. And what had happened is, you know, we'd been building from our living room for three years and hearing no from everybody. And QVC said no several times. And one day I got their head guy, um, Alan Burke, who'd built this billion-dollar beauty empire, on the phone. And uh I thought for sure if he's going to give me a few seconds of his time, it's going to be a yes. And I

Well, how did you get him on the phone? How did you get him on the phone first?

Yeah, by obsessively sending products for two and a half years. Okay. Um LinkedIn, I would go on LinkedIn and send messages to any person that worked at QVC. It didn't matter to me what their job title was. And I try to send them product if I could get there. Um and I finally begged his assistant

uh to just set up a call with me like, "Could you just get him to review the product?" Uh, so it was a lot of that. And

I thought you were going to say that. You know what I thought was super clever before you even tell me the c tell everyone the QVC story, which I think is a very uh poignant point in like in your career or the in in at it for it cosmetics. Um, you called the uh was it Marie at Cosmetics.com. That's your middle name and you use that as your you pretend that was your PR person which is so scrappy, so clever and and gritty. I loved it. I highlighted it like really really strong.

I love that you have a highlighter in your hand right now. I'm like so excited.

I love this is my best friend by the way. This is like this highlighter lives with me.

But I So the Marie story like here's the thing. That's amazing. You know I I was like let me just share all of it because I don't want people to just go oh that's great these kind of things happen to other people. But like for me, I've can't afford to hire anyone or whatever, right? But we all go through that. And so like I share so many stories of like how did I figure this out with no money or no connections or whatever. And it's like sometimes got to do what you got to do because

I couldn't afford to hire anybody, right? My husband and I, we wrote the business plan on our honeymoon flight and, you know, both quit our jobs and thought, "Oh, we'll take our our small amount of savings, pour it into making the best product ever, hiring advisory board, and and then and then the product is going to sell." And then I didn't realize, oh, it's not that easy. And uh and didn't realize it would be three years before I could afford to pay myself. And so in those early years, like I couldn't afford to hire people who knew what they were doing in all these areas. And so, you know, you figured out that I mean, I would Google like everything FDA regulatory compliance and how to write the labels on the packaging and like like just everything. And uh and I got to the point where I'm like, "Okay, my name is Jamie Marie Kern Lima." And so Marie, which is my middle name, uh got her own

email address, right? Marieitcosmetics.com. And she became head of PR, head of customer service, like she was a hustler. And so so she would like email um you know the today show Good Morning America uh and be like great news our founder Jamie Kleim is available for an hour and and we're launching a new product like and just like so Marie was a hustler and Marie got just as many nos a lot more ignores but she hustled and she got some press. Um she got some press

for her. Yeah. And so, um, I don't know, listen, it's like, you know, the journey it's hard and and I feel like these these stories and so many of the stories I share in the book, I feel like they're so important to share because now we're sitting in this world where we like see everything on social media and a lot of times people whether they want to, you know, write a book or they or maybe they have an idea for a business or a product or something, but they're like, "Oh, they see everyone on social media like, oh, everyone's already done my idea and it looks so good like it's working so well for them and then they talk themselves out of their own purpose and their own calling and their own truth right and I think like what's so important is like oh just cuz you see in my case you if you Google you see like oh billion dollar success story whatever it's like oh no no no like here's what

really happened and if if someone's listening right now and they're going through a season of rejection and a season of disappointment and a season of setbacks. I just feel like it is so important to know that when we go through those, we're not alone. And it's no indication of the potential of your idea or your success or your dream or your calling. It's like, oh no, like like we're all in this together. This stuff happens to almost all of us, you know, and and and and here's the things I did that helped me not quit and helped me keep going and helped me believe even when other people didn't. Um and uh and so and and yeah, and my and one of my biggest um only if you want me to share it, but my the biggest uh gosh, one of the biggest lessons on just trusting your own gut versus you know what

I want you to talk about that. That's a huge the QVC story. That's the that to me was like a a major pivotal moment in your entire career. So

I just wanted to I wanted to hear first how you how you I want you to tell the you know whoever who's listening.

Yeah. A how did you finally because it wasn't like this was your first time contacting QVC. It was many many times it was no no. You were you already were told no by Sephora and by private equity people who were rude to you and I

Yeah. and your question about getting a hold of that guy. Yeah. How did you finally get in touch with him?

When we finally got through his assistant finally set up a call, I thought for sure I thought for sure I was like, "Oh my gosh, Alen Burke is getting on the phone with me. Like this is going to be like I was freaking out like pacing my office, which was our living room." And I and I remember when we finally got on the phone call and he's like, "Hello, Jamie. This is Alan Burke from QVC." And I'm like, "Okay." I'm like trying to tell myself like they'd be lucky to have us. Like I'm like, "Hi, Alan. like, "Nice to meet you." And uh and he was so kind and awesome and all those things. And he said, "Listen, we've reviewed your products uh with all the buyers here."

And it's unanimous. It's a no. Um you're not the right fit for QVC or for our customers. And I'm like, "Oh, but I am the right fit. And let me tell you why." And like I just tried again and poured my heart out. And it was a no. And so I thanked him for his time and like literally tears were streaming down my face because I didn't know at this point we're a few years in like how are we gonna make it? And that day, I remember like going to bed, crying myself to sleep. Uh, and I don't know if you've ever had this happen where you like get really bad news and then you go to bed and then you wake up the next morning and you hoped it was a dream.

Yes. Worse happen all the time. Yeah. And then it's like, oh, it wasn't. And it was like that was what it was like for three days in a row. And anyhow, we had a season of of several years of nos from everybody. the the QVC. And by the way, QVC was my dream because uh my whole life for like similar to so many of us, I had always seen magazines and commercials on TV with these um models that had perfect skin and all these things. And I never I remember growing up seeing all them and going, "Oh, I want to aspire to look like that." But then always somehow also feeling like I wasn't enough when I saw them. And I didn't put this all together until my journey of um of getting rosacea on my cheeks, which is, you know, hereditary skin condition. And and trying everything I could get my hands on and none of it working. And making that decision that you know what, I'm going to quit my job as a journalist.

And my my whole life, I've dreamed of being a talk show host and not I love other people's stories. Like not mine, other people's sto and I thought I was going to do that my whole career. And when I had this moment, like, oh, I my gut just kept telling me like, you know, you, you know, nothing's working for you. There must be so many other people out there like you who maybe have skin challenges or whatever, and they've just like given up on makeup altogether, you know, whatever. And I just that that feeling, I knew I needed to do it. And so anyhow, um, so part of my whole mission from the very beginning was to not just create a product that worked for me and that helped other people, but to create a beauty company where like all the models I use and call beautiful models and mean it are every age and every size and every skin tone and every skin challenge. And I wanted to shift culture in the beauty industry around

inclusivity. So I had this dream of QVC for that reason because it's live. It's live 247 television to 100 million homes. And I was like, "Oh, I can go on and like take my makeup off, show my bright red rosacea, and show for real how the product works, not in a magazine or TV ad where you don't even know if they're wearing the product." You know what I mean? And let me put like real women of every every age and size and, you know, skin challenge and and and and really try to shift clothes. So, I dreamed of QVC. just felt it in my gut that I was supposed to be on QVC. And so to get Alan Burke on the phone and to have him tell me, you're not the right fit for our customers or for QVC was devastating. And uh you know, and it's hard. And it's it was one of those moments for me where I had to figure out how to turn down the volume

in this case on his opinion. Yeah. And like try to just turn up the volume of my own gut that said, "Okay, cuz every time I would check in with my gut and I would hear it, it's like you're on the right track. You're supposed to be doing this." And I'm like, "Is my gut wrong?" Because no one else is believing in it. The experts that have done incredible things aren't believing in it. Right? And those are the tough moments. And I think those are the moments that make people give up, that make people quit, that make people talk themselves out of their own dreams and their own truth and never step into all that they were created to be because it's so easy and it's makes so much sense in our heads to trust the people who are experts who are telling us to do it. So anyways, I just it was a moment where and I did a lot of things wrong in my journey and I talk about so many of those in the book too. But this was one

of the things I did right where I was like, you know what, my gut is telling me to keep going and I did and we eventually were at a big beauty expo and a QVC host uh came up to the booth. there were 6,000 women there and I was demonstrating our product and she uh loved our product and and something you know she had this feeling to to come up to me and to try and give me a shot. And long story short, we got one shot on QVC and this is where one of the biggest life lessons and and business lessons in terms of trusting your gut over, you know, experts or anyone else um uh happened. And so we had one shot and 10 minutes on QVC. And here's the thing is it's a consignment deal in beauty, which what this meant. And and by the way, we were only selling uh two to three orders a day on our website at the time. And I didn't know how we were going to make it. Like had no idea how we weren't going to go bankrupt. And we got this

shot on QVC, but they ordered 6,000. we had to sell over 6,000 units of Bye-Bye Under Eye Concealer

in this 10-minute window in order to hit their sales goal uh or not come back. And I was like, "Okay." But the the challenge was we had to pay for manufacture and ship it all into them. And then if it didn't sell in that 10 minutes, we had to take it all back and not be paid for it. So everything was on the line. We didn't even have the money to do this. So, we applied for SBA loans and uh the first 22 banks said no and bank number 23 said yes and we got enough money just to cover the the order the purchase order

because that can bankrupt a company as well. People don't understand two seconds into absolutely and you know for entrepreneurs and you should never accept a purchase order you can't afford to lose ever and we couldn't afford to lose this one but we also had almost like run out of options like it was like okay we're going to just go all in and um and so knowing this and knowing it came down to this one shot on live TV in 10 minutes uh we hired these third-party consultants and all of them told me the same thing and by the way they're great and they help so many people sell well on television and they all those things they know what they're doing and we worked with them and they all told me the same thing they're like okay if you want to have a chance if you want to have a shot cuz most people when they launch on QVC it's like one time they never come back it's really hard

oh I know right people don't even understand those statistics I mean it's very very rare that people have the story that you had right where you just sell out whatever. But we'll get to that in a second. But you and that's when like companies like die on the vine right in that moment.

Yes. And I've seen it happen so many times too live and it's the most devastating thing and because it's everyone's dream you know and um and to get one shot is is even that part I mean so for us it was three years of of hustling and trying you know getting nos and so so we got this one shot and when we hired these experts they all told me the exact same thing which is you know if you want to have a shot at success here's what you need to do you need to use these type of models which were the same type of models I'd seen in commercials my whole life that made me feel like I wasn't enough and uh you know this age this you know all those things and do your cell this way and I would argue with them and say okay but like if I'm sitting at home watching this right and let's say I'm 75 years old and I'm you know have hyperpigmentation whatever it is

if I don't see anyone that looks like me instead I see someone who looks like they're 12 with pop like how do I know it's going to work for me like right and I'd be like and listen I let me just I'm going to take my own makeup off and show my rosacea on national TV and they were mortified and I'm like

because if I were at home and I had rosacea too I'd want to know what is the product going to do what does it really work like all those things and and it was so tough because they're like listen and and they wanted the best for me they were telling me the very best advice they knew and I learned a huge lesson which by the way this applies to everyone no matter what situation you are in life. When other people, even experts, even even friends, even loved ones, when they're giving you their advice and their opinion, they can mean so well, but they are only capable of giving it to you through their own lens

lens, right, of limitation, their own lens of experience. And and the other thing I've learned too, especially when it comes to experts, is even people that are like considered visionaries, and they are in so many ways. If you're doing if you're doing anything that is new or novel or different, and even if it's if you're doing something that's already been done a million times, but it's you doing it authentically, which means it's a different take on it, right? So, by definition, it's new. Anytime you do something new, most likely experts aren't going to believe it's going to be successful because and they're not going to know they're doing this, but like subconsciously they've never seen proof that it is going to be successful because it's never been done before. And so like had I learned that lesson earlier, I would have saved myself so many nights crying myself to sleep when so many of them didn't believe that this

new way of doing a beauty company would work. And so anyhow, there I was with one shot in front of me, a 10-minute window uh to either literally change my whole future or go bankrupt, which would also change my whole future.

Yeah. Right. And um it felt like way too heavy for me to handle. And I flew out to QVC a week early, a week before our one shot on air, and I had this rental car and I sat in the parking lot um all alone uh of QVC just staring at the front door watching people go in and out all day. I don't know why I parked there, but anyways, I was just there and I

Why Why did you go a week early? I it was so heavy for me that first of all I got there and I started going okay I once heard Olympic athletes in visual like visualize themselves landing the triple axle or standing on the podium. I'm like I'm going to try that. So I sat in that car and I was like envisioning the soldout sign coming up on the screen. I was envisioning real women. I sat there. I prayed. I cried. It felt so heavy. At one point I asked God to take it from me because I couldn't handle the pressure. And I wasn't scared for television. I just knew that this one shot was either going to, you know, I was

make or break. Exactly. When I would watch people go in and out of the doors, I was like,

"Okay, the next time I walk through those doors, when I walk back out, it's either going to be life-changing or it's going to be, you know, devastating." And I uh I also just needed that time to really know what to do because it's really hard when everyone else is saying one thing and our guts like oh no but that's not authentic to why you're doing what you're doing. And but like I didn't have a chance to try it both ways. And I just remember sitting in that car trying to decide, okay, do I cast all the models they're telling me to to have a shot at success or do I like risk it all and take my makeup off and show real women of all shapes and ages and sizes and skin tones and skin challenges and and I just sat there like and I knew what to do, but like it's so hard when our mind tells us one thing and our heart and our gut is telling us another thing And absolutely right. And at one point I just sat there in the car and I

had this moment where I was imagining who she is watching and you know I think of so many different types of women and the one that just would always jump out at me is like I would imagine for some reason I don't know why a single mom in Nebraska like folding laundry who is too busy to remember that she matters and that she's beautiful and and that she's worth it. All those things. And I I had this moment in that car where I was like, you know what? I would rather h if she's going to give me 5 seconds of her precious time to see me on QVC in the background of whatever she's doing. I would rather have her glance up on that television, not buy anything, and see me standing there showing women that look like her and calling them beautiful and meaning it. I'd rather do that than like sell a shitload of product and stand for nothing. You know what I mean? It was that moment

where was like I knew what I had to do. But sometimes we know and it's not easy.

Yeah. Exactly. And then we and we and then we acquies to who the expert is or who the person is we're supposed to listen to.

Yeah. And and you didn't Well, and it was, you know, I just I remember the moment. So the um the count So I was standing there. They I'm in the studio. We're about to go live and they have this big countdown clock, right? And it's at 10 minutes. And I just remember all of a sudden the cameras turn on and you see the on air thing go on and I was I was freaking shaking like a leaf like and I'm not nervous for TV. Like that's what I did for you for a living.

Yeah. It was the all the pressure and worse. And I was like And then I saw the clock go 9598 95. I was like oh and you can't you can't try to sell or nothing sells.

You can't freak out or nothing sells. But inspired I'm like, "Okay, like this is bigger than me. I can't get in my own head. My dress was too tight that day." It was a whole Anyways, I was like, "I cannot get in my own head." And I just remember like the show go I remember the moment they pulled my bare face before a shot on national television. And I just remember this whole thing. And then I went over to all of our models who are all different ages, shapes, sizes, everything. Skin tones, skin challenges. And I I all of a sudden I remember we were at and oh and by the way if you're not doing well let's say you're like 1 minute 2 minute 3 minutes into your 10-minute segment. If you're not doing well they they know by the second if sales are happening. So your clock jumps down to two minutes and you know in your head or one minute you're like oh I just lost a product or I just lost this much

money. Right. Because they don't you they don't mess around. Um it's like you know and and

so they don't even necessarily give you the whole 10 minutes. Exactly. you know, really quickly on if you're going to like even

Yeah. And it's interesting because if you think about like Target or Walmart, like you have shelf space and if you do well, you lose your shelf space, right? And the

You spend money on those shelf spaces, don't you? Don't you spend money on the Yeah.

Um probably. Yeah. But like with with QVC, it's the same thing. It's just business, but it's more immediate literally right then and there. So all this pressurees on and I just remember praying that my clock did not jump down, right? And it's like all the minutes were going by and then and then I was showing, you know, all all of our our real women, all the models. And then I remember there was about a minute left and the host is like, "The deep shade is almost sold out. The tan shade is almost gone." I'm like, and then I remember literally there was one minute, no, one second left and the uh sold out sign came up across the screen and I was like, and literally these tear like tears started streaming down my face.

Um, they cut they cut and went right on to the next studio, whatever item was next, a Dyson vacuum or something, I don't remember. And then all of a sudden, I was just like sobbing hysterically and then my husband came rushing through the double doors of the studio and I was like I was like, "Real women have spoken." And he's like, "We're not going bankrupt." And I was like, "Oh my god."

And it was this crazy story. And you know that one airring turned into five that year and then 150 the next year and then we did over 250 shows a year for eight years and built the largest beauty brand in QVC's history and it is right now at this moment uh to this day. Yeah. Yeah. And so and and what's and I only share that because it was three years of hearing no. It was three years of of of you know even Alan Burke saying you're not the right fit for QVC and and and and so many of us get that opposition and that's what we listen to, right? And it's so it's easy and it's like

it's like Jay-Z Jay-Z said that famous quote like he said uh the genius thing we did was we didn't give up, right? And yes, so many times it comes down to that and also just figuring out how to believe um that it's possible to succeed. It's just not happening yet. Um and oh, what more Oh, go ahead. Go ahead.

Oh, no, no, go ahead. Go ahead. And then I'll I'll ask you after you said earlier about um when we were talking about how our setbacks turn into setups and like sometimes we can't see it at the time. And so, uh, one more thing just to share is, uh, uh, Alan Burke, who had said, "No, you're not the right fit." Um, after we launched on QVC, uh, oh my gosh, he ended up becoming, uh, I got to know him so well and he became like one of our greatest champions, uh, one of the best adviserss we've ever had, and then he became one of my closest mentors, and he is to this day. And he, uh, is so freaking brilliant. It's the biggest blessing. Anyways, he ended up retiring from QVC and we ended up hiring him in a paid position on our advisory board. And I had this moment where I realized, oh my gosh, the guy that rejected me is now working for me. And I was like, listen, like no one can tell you you're not the right fit. Like no

one can, right? and and and the and here and the last thing I'll say about that and this is like this is important too because even though all the years of nos hurt um Sephora rejecting me hurt Alan Burke saying you're not the right hurt

like sometimes those painful nos are like actually like serendipitous grace like in our favor right wrapped in this like package label painful rejection because what I later learned was Alan Burke was right all along. I just didn't know what I didn't know. And had he said yes to us uh when I wanted him to uh we would have failed because we did not have the infrastructure you need to support the back end of the business for an account like QVC. Uh but I didn't know what I didn't know. And similarly, you know, we didn't have the right team to be able to support an Ulta or a Sephora yet in terms of education across the country. Like we built up a team of over a thousand employees, but during the years when we were getting told no from everybody, I didn't know what I didn't know. And thank goodness we didn't get a yes sooner because we would have failed and we may not have gotten another chance. And so, you know, a lot

of full circle moments, they're so hard to see when we're in them, but when we keep going, we get to that point where we have those things happen.

Well, I was going to ask you, I was going to say, whatever happened to Alan Burke? Because why did he say did you ever my question was did he ever give you a reason why he said no? So when you did he tell you on that phone call when you spoke to him why?

He just said you're not the right fit for us. We reviewed your you know your brand or customers.

How did he know what your backend was? How would he know? Right. So you think he was just making that up because he felt silly that he said no to the

He didn't know what our backend was. He just said no. I think that he thought our packaging wasn't ready and that we weren't ready. But he didn't know our our I I think some people call it the universe, other people call it divine orchestration, other people call it God. I really believe the famous saying that things happen for us, not to us, right? So he didn't know what our operational infrastructure was. He just probably knew in his own gut to say no. You know what I mean? And that we weren't worthy or whatever. And that's why I think like sometimes things don't make sense when they happen against us. But like when we learn to trust ourselves and trust um that things are divinely orchestrated, you know, whether some people call it the universe, some people call it God.

For me, faith is a big deal. But like that I believe that, you know, have you always been very religious or or did you kind of come to it more later on in life? You know, I was so I was raised where my parents made me, keyword made, forced me to go to church every Sunday. Um, and I never connected with it growing up. Like the I didn't under like whenever the pastors would give sermons, I literally couldn't connect with any of it. I would tune it out. I would scan the church pews for boys, cute boys, and I would just like count down the minutes like hoping it would end. And you know, I always prayed and I always believed in God growing up. And then my journey was really different of God doubt. Um, a lot of God doubt. And what I mean by that is like, you know, I always wanted to um see new cultures, new experiences and new people who didn't look like me or pray like me or love like me. And I just wanted that so

badly. And so I was always, you know, uh, it's why I worked so many jobs. I was like, I got to get out and I got to get somewhere else and experience new things. And and you know, I went I went to school and then I ended up going to grad graduate school in New York City. And when I did that, I was for the first time really around so many people who had so many different faiths and a lot of people with no faith. And I was around so many science-based arguments on why God doesn't exist. And they all started to really make a lot of sense to me, right? people that believe like they don't believe in anything unless you can see it you know prove it touch it

for with faith is not required and right it really started impacting me and you know there was a season I went through I was working as a news anchor in Portland Oregon

I want to go back in time because you know I've heard you on the stages that you speak around the world talk about how you started Ed as a waitress in

Denny's and then from waitressing at Denny's pursued a dream that you had of being on television

and as a fellow former waitress. I would love to start there. Yeah. Waitress at Denny's. Um full uniform name tag to prove it.

Oh, I forgot they had uniforms. Full uniform. Uh what was your favorite thing on the menu?

Oh gosh, I love the pancakes. You know what? just like simple. Um it's so funny how our steps are ordered I think in life and so often

I remember being a waitress at Denny's. I remember feeling and and maybe um maybe someone uh listening to us can relate to this right now. You have this feeling inside of you like there's something more I'm supposed to do, but you don't know what it is yet and you doubt it might be possible. And I remember being waitress at Denny's and just feeling like I have these big dreams but not quite knowing like how do I believe I'm worthy of them yet. And um it was this big season in my life. Uh at the same time, Mel, the kitchen at the Denny's I worked at was a disaster. Like they would take an hour to get pancakes out. So I learned to talk to people so that they wouldn't leave. They often did leave. Um or they'd throw like a dime and a penny on the table and leave.

As your tip is if it's your fault. Uhhuh. But it's so funny how, you know, years later when I ended up launching my own business, I'm like, "Oh, I've got to get the operations right or nothing else matters." You know, it's just those little things we learn along the way. Um, but yeah, after after that, I I um I thought my whole life I would I would have a talk show. I watched Oprah in my living room growing up. So, I thought for sure I would share other people's stories with the world. So, I went into uh you know, did all the jobs, saved up all my money to to pay through uh pay for school and and um push grocery carts in the grocery parking lot, sliced meat in the deli, all those fun jobs, and then found myself in my what I thought was my dream job working in TV news. And I thought, "This is it, right?" And what I didn't realize was I was about to enter this huge season of setback in my

life, um of self-doubt. Uh I have a skin condition called rosacea. And for me, it started getting really red, really bumpy. Uh, and I would be anchoring the news live thinking like, you know, okay, this is it. This is it. And I started hearing in my earpiece uh from my producer, there's something on your face. There's something on your face. You need to wipe it off. You need to, and I was live on television, right? And I would glance down during the commercial break and I saw, oh, the makeup is breaking up on my face and these big red bumps are coming through.

And it started this season that felt like setback. Um, but so often in life, the the seasons that feel like setbacks are actually setups for what we're called to do.

Okay, stop right there. Did you hear that? The seasons of your life that are setbacks are often setups for what you're called to do. I want to just make sure everybody heard that. And I want to take a a highlighter and also highlight something that you said about being a waitress at Denny's and it's this. You said our steps are ordered.

Mhm. So, can you explain what that means particularly to somebody who's listening?

Yeah. Who may feel like I know I'm meant for something greater. Yes. Why the hell am I at this step and this does not feel like it is like on the path of where I'm supposed to go? So what do you mean by the fact that our steps are ordered?

Yeah. I believe you know everything in life y is happening for us even when it doesn't make sense.

Um can we just what do you mean happening for us? So to somebody that's like really in it Jamie.

Yes. Yes. What does that mean? Let me frame it around our topic of purpose. Right. So often people feel empty because they feel like, "Oh, my purpose needs to be some job. It needs to be my job or it needs to be this this grand thing I haven't figured out yet." But for those of us that have accomplished a goal we always dreamed of, we get to it and we're like, "Oh, this isn't it." Right? It's never, in my opinion, purpose is never this this big goal necessarily. Purpose is so often when we're able to serve the person we once were or serve in a way for something we've gone through. And here's what I mean. Uh I think our purpose can be like, "Oh, wow. I went through a really freaking hard season in my life and I now am actually realizing I'm born to be a generational cycle breaker in my family." Mhm.

That is an incredible purpose, right? Purpose can be like, "Oh, I've been having a hard season for a long time." And when I actually just take a minute and say hi to someone else who's lonely, maybe it's like in the in the coffee line at Starbucks, maybe it's the the the neighbor down the street, whatever it is, you feel in your gut a sense of fulfillment, like a sense of alignment when you're doing something in your purpose. And I think that the big mistake people make is they think it's this end goal, right? A lot of times when people uh hear my story and they hear the oh Denny's waitress builds billion-dollar company, they think my purpose was to be some big entrepreneur.

It wasn't. It wasn't. What was it? In the journey of how I did it, I took this massive risk, right? Taking my makeup off on national television when I was told not to. um and and being brave enough to be seen and helping other women realize uh that they're worthy and enough exactly as they are, seeing them as who they are. To me, that is my purpose. And in doing that, um it just a byproduct of that with it cosmetics is we built a company with millions and millions and millions and millions of customers. Uh and what's wild is 5% of our customers actually have skin issues like I do. 95% don't.

It's just that they felt seen and connected with something that spoke to their soul. Right? For me, being willing to say, "Here I am exactly as I am, no makeup, and you know, all my skin issues." Um, I think people connected with that that feeling of of, "Oh, I'm enough exactly as I am." You know what else I think is a really important part of your story? It is waitressing.

Yeah. It's pushing carts in a supermarket. Yeah. It's working in the back house of a restaurant. That's my story, too. Helping my best friend on her paper route. Uh busing tables. And I think when you work in retail or you work in a service job.

Yeah. And you feel at times invisible, you start to realize how important it is to treat everybody with respect and kindness. Yes,

that there is no work that is beneath you. And when you can bring that level of service to the job that you have right now, even if you hate it, even if treat people treat you like garbage, even if the the the the back of the house is not getting those pancakes out on time and people are angry, if you can bring a sense of grace and service and just humility to those roles, I think it changes how you show up when things start working out because you don't ever forget what it's like to be treated like [ __ ]

Yes. Because somebody was mad that their pancakes weren't out on time. Yes. Yes. And also, you and I have had this experience where we've truly gotten to see and be almost every type of person in every type of environment. And so now it's like whether it's me building a business or you building one of the top shows in the world, one of the top shows in the world. Um, I feel part of that was like, oh, we understand who who's listening and watching you right now. I understand who real people are who built, you know, who who bought my products and and and so when you mentioned steps are ordered. It's like, you know, no matter where you are in your life right now, what you're going through, I believe every piece of it, whether it's, oh, someone just, you know, cut me off in a parking lot and screamed at me or, oh, whatever it might be you're going through, all of those things are happening for you. I believe

so that you're amassing this toolbox of understanding uh and getting strong enough and equipped enough for the purpose you step into.

Amazing. So, professor of purpose Jamie Kern Lima right there. That's your takeaway number one. The steps are ordered. Believe in that.

And this moment is helping you. It's giving you something. So, that is one major tool that you used along the way. Let's go back to that moment because I think you were 28 years old, right? when you're sitting on television in Seattle.

Yeah. You are a local news anchor. You're living the dream. You're on your way and you are now starting to have this nightmare happen.

Yes. Where your rosacea is breaking through on camera in front of everybody. The makeup that they put on you.

Yes. And you've got people in your ear telling you there's something wrong with your face.

Yes. and you're realizing, "Holy cow, the makeup that they've put on my face cannot cover the rosacea and the skin issues that I have." So, what do you do in that moment?

Well, the first thing I did was start freaking out, right? And I like literally I started entering this season of self-doubt where I would be live on the air uh anchoring the news, thinking thoughts in my head like, "Oh, am I going to get fired? Are viewers changing the channel right now? Like, am I costing the the company ratings?" Right. So, it was this

Could you feel those moments when you could feel like the makeup not kind of like disappearing? Like there were moments when I used to be a commentator for CNN, I was premenopausal where I could feel the hot flash coming.

Yeah. I didn't feel it until they set it in my ear and in my earpiece. And then what would start to happen was I would get so nervous and stressed out because I kept trying to cover it um during commercial breaks. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. So I what I remember is like anchoring the news live and and you're and sometimes you have to be happy tell this happy story or or you're serious telling and I just remember my heart beating in my ears hoping people weren't turning the you know changing the channel and and it started this this thing where I you know would spend what you know it's funny I was I was um

anchoring the news and people think when you're doing that you must have all this money but you really don't get paid much at all and I I took my little paycheck that I had and started spending it on um department store makeup professional artistry, makeup, drugstore. I couldn't find anything that worked. And I had this idea one day like, "Oh, if I can't find anything that works for me, uh there's probably a whole lot of other people out there that feel like makeup doesn't work for them." And it was sort of this idea where I was like, if I could figure out how to make something that worked for me, um it help a whole lot of people. And that was my my knowing or this this this gut feeling, but then my head Mel was like, "Oh, but you got no money. You got no connections. you know, no one in the beauty industry, you're unqualified. So, I sat in this place, right? And I just want to, we're talking about purpose. I

had this gut feeling like I was supposed to go for this thing, but then my head was like, "Oh, but here's all the reasons why you're not qualified to do it. Plus, you're in your dream job, right?" And I sat between those two. And it wasn't until I had this big big aha moment of why I needed to do it that pushed me over the edge.

Okay. So, what is the aha moment? Yes. So, so, so I realized one day I'm like, "This makes no sense. There are thousands of makeup companies out there. How does nothing work for me?" Right? Then I had this moment where I realized I've never seen a model with bright red, bumpy skin saying, you know, selling makeup and like you always see these photoshopped airbrushed models. And I realized, Mel, like, wow, my whole life I've actually loved those beauty commercials, and I love seeing the magazines and and I always aspired to look like them, but but deep down inside, they always made me feel like I wasn't enough.

And I had this moment. I was literally on the news set when this happened where I was like, "Wait a minute. What if it's not just about launching a makeup product?" Like, like, "What if I could actually figure out how to do it?" Which I had no idea how and I had no money, but it's like, "What if I could actually launch a product that works for me?" And what if I actually put real people as models? Like every age, shape, size, skin tone, skin challenge. What if I use them as models, call them beautiful, and mean it for every little kid out there who's about to start doubting themselves and and and every grown woman who still does. And that deep source of pain from from from how I was feeling not enough and what could I do about it? That in my opinion is one of the strongest ways to find your purpose. It's it's what has just destroyed you or hurt you that you've maybe made it through.

Yeah. And how can you now use that making it through to help someone who's going through it?

Okay. That's like a mic drop moment from our professor of purpose Jamie Karn Lima. So again, I like to unpack these things to make sure this is a this is a I always say this is not just a listening podcast. It's a doing podcast.

And I want to make sure nobody's left behind. Yes. And there was billions of dollars worth of wisdom that you just dropped. And so I want to try to unpack it for anybody that is listening to this and you have this sense that you're made for more. So, one of the things that I heard is look in your life and see what problems or frustrations or things that you're struggling with that feel like a setback. And Jamie gave you the example of the rosacea on her skin and her inability to find something that actually could help her solve this issue of being able to cover it up so that she could do her dream job. And that setback is a setup for something new. and then get out of your own sort of selfish or self-loathing or the self- excuses and the self-pity and remind yourself that there are 8 billion people on this planet now. There are other people that are dealing with this.

Yeah. And that if you can figure out how to put your energy into making this better for yourself and you bring other people into the fold with you, you now have something that's worth working on

because it helps you and it's going to help other people. I just love um the story about QVC, your first time going on QVC

and because this is the ultimate story of of following your heart and following your gut and and doing and staying true to yourself. I feel like that's thrown around all the time. Stay true to yourself. Every time I ask someone, what's your best advice? Stay true to yourself. But this exemplifies, this is textbook stay true to yourself. I would love for you to share that story.

Yeah, I think that we all kind of know or believe these things like, oh, I need to be true to myself, right? But then when it comes to real life and how we show up and how we decide what to do when everything's on the line, that's when it gets really tough to not just like know our values or know what we believe in, but then to actually live them. And I talk a lot in the book about how while authenticity alone doesn't automatically guarantee success, inauthenticity guarantees failure. And I I saw that now play out over a decade in the tens of thousands of entrepreneurs I've had the blessing of meeting and very few ever make it. I think it's how Oprah has made it. I nobody was ever like her or or is ever like her. and to to reveal all the parts that normally people would hide. That's how we create connection. That's our superpower. And you know, I um after three years of hearing no from everyone. I mean, I I

Angie in every ounce of my being, I kept feeling in my gut like, okay, I created this great product with it cosmetics. I it works for me and I have hereditary rosacea. Nothing else would work. And I just kept feeling in my gut like I need to not just launch this product but also show on real women every age uh size, skin challenge, skin tone like like show real people using this and show how it works. And I kept having this vision when I launched the company. It was even before YouTube was doing this. So no one was doing this. All we saw was these ads on television in commercials where it was usually uh somebody with the same skin tone. They always were like the same age and flawless skin and you never saw anybody with, you know, that loo that looked like you and like me, you know what I mean? You just never did.

And so I had this vision, oh my gosh, if I can create a product that works and like try to shift culture however I possibly can in the beauty industry of what how they define beauty. Um, like that was my deep deep mission, right, for for every because because growing up when I'd see those ads, I always loved them. I always aspired to look like that, but deep down inside, right? They always made me feel not enough in this in this weird way. So, I was like, "Oh my gosh, if I can create a company whose mission is so much bigger than me, and I could try to shift culture in the beauty industry and how they define beauty uh and change those images for every little girl out there who's about to start doubting herself and every adult who who still does." And so, this big vision and then all of a sudden for three years, everyone's telling me it's not going to work. Everyone's saying no. And when a

retailer says no to you, what they're saying is I don't think that we can make money from you

is what they're saying. I we we we don't believe in what you're doing or that it will sell or that it will work. And so three years of that goes on, including, you know, years of hearing no from QVC. And uh it's a it's a crazy wild story I share in the book of how we eventually got a yes to get one shot on QVC. Now, QVC is a live television channel broadcast to 100 million homes. And uh and when you go live, you have this big sales goal each minute that you're live. Uh and if you're not hitting your sales goal, they pull you off, right? And anyhow, after years of rejection, I got one shot, one yes, big yes to get one chance live on QVC to sell our concealer. And uh we were only selling two to three orders a day on our website, barely in business. And I learned, Angie, that I would need to um to hit their sales goal in the 10-minute window. I would need to sell over 6,000 units of our concealer. Um and I also

learned the deal was going to be consignment, meaning I had to figure out how to make all the product, pay for it, ship it in, and then get my one big shot on air for 10 minutes, and if it didn't sell, it would all come back to me, which means we'd be out of business. Um, so it was a big risk and uh we got we applied for SBA loan just to because we had no money. We had literally no money left. We were down to well under $1,000. So we got 22 banks said no and the 23rd bank uh said yes just to fund the inventory for that one order um for QVC for that one chance in 10 minutes. So basically everything was on the line. I um I flew out to QVC a week before the airing and I sat in their parking lot in this rental car all alone and I just like stared at the front of the building knowing the next time I walked in there.

Uh my whole life was going to change or I would be bankrupt. And here's where the struggle came is, you know, we hired thirdparty consultants who are amazing. They they help a lot of people succeed on selling in television or selling their products in stores. And they all told me the same thing. They said, "If you want a chance at at succeeding, here's what you need to do. You need to go on the air in your 10 minutes, use this type of model." And all the models look like they're 12 and they were all the same skin tone with flawless skin.

And I'm like, listen, like, what if I just take my makeup off and show my bright red rosacea and show the world how this product works? And what if I put real women of every age and shape and size and skin tone and skin challenge and and I would argue and I say because if I'm sitting at home watching, how do I know something's going to work for me if I don't see it on someone who looks like me? Like to me it was so common sense and they were mortified and they they Here's the thing, they wanted me to win. And they were giving me the best advice they knew how on on what they said is the only way people will buy a product from something from from uh they would say uh these unattainable images of aspiration that no one can possibly look like but that is what sells product and I'm like so it's tough. So, I sat in that rental car knowing that everything was on the line, knowing I had one shot and um and it's,

you know, my gut was telling me one thing, right? And experts were telling me another. And these are the moments that define our lives is when we learn to a hear ourselves, hear our gut, and then make the decision to trust it. And it's not always easy, right? And I I sat in that rental car uh every day for a week, and I just, you know, I prayed, I cried. Um, but I also imagine who that woman was watching on the other end. And I don't know why, but I kept imagining a single mom in Nebraska folding laundry who was like too busy to remember that she mattered and that she was beautiful.

And I just kept imagining like if she was going to turn on her television for a few seconds and I was going to be blessed with a few seconds of her time. Like it came down to this moment where I realized I'd rather have her see me showing women who look like her, calling them beautiful and meaning it even if she buys nothing. I'd rather do that than than than sell a ton of product and stand for nothing. Um and so I knew what I had to do, but it didn't mean it was easy. And I I remember walking into PVC studios and um for that one shot that 10 minutes and I when we went live so so I remember standing there in the studio there's this giant countdown clock on the floor that started at the 10-minute mark. I was sweating so much and I'm not nervous for television but it was that everything was on the line and I was shaking. I remember like hoping my Spanx caught all my sweat because I was like I

can't be sweating through a dress on national television. I was freaking out. Um, but I remember the clock started and I remember the moment my barefaced before shot came up on national television and I walked over to all the models that I chose as real women, all ages, all shapes, all sizes, all skin tones, all skin challenges. And I remember there was about a minute left in the um this the presentation and the host says, "The tan shade's almost gone. The deep shade's almost sold out." And I was like and then I remember at the 10-minute mark the huge sold out sign came up across the screen. I start crying on actual television. I remember they cut and then they went to like the next item which is like Dyson vacuum or Vitamix or Apple iPhone or something and my husband comes rushing through the double doors of the studio and I'm like real women has spoken and I'm like crying and he's LIKE WE'RE NOT GOING

BANKRUPT and this was like guy such a guy and but that one airing Andy turned into um five that year 101 the next year. Anyways, for for eight years straight, uh I did 250 live shows a year on QVC and we built the largest beauty brand in QVC's history. It is right now at this very moment.

But I only share that because it was three years of them saying no. And so like no one, whoever's listening and needs to hear this today, no one can tell you how big your dream can be. No one can tell you you're not enough. And and when people reject you and they literally look you in the eye and tell you they don't think you're going to make it or you're not the right fit or you're not this enough or that enough. Like those are the moments we don't we don't quit. We don't give up. You know, maybe we cry a little bit, but those are the moments where we listen to our gut and we stay authentic and we keep going.

And people who do that are the ones who are able to build something that lasts or that matters or that that we, you know, makes a a contribution to the world. And I believe every one of us have that inside of us, right? And our life comes down to if we listen to our calling or if we listen to our opposition.

How did you get over that frustration? Because so many of us deal with that on our journey.

And it's hard, right? I think all the frustration made me strong enough to carry the weight of success when I finally got it.

And I think a lot of people think, oh, if I just had my dreams come true right now, all my problems would be solved. But like, you just have new problems. I remember John like going, "Oh my gosh, okay, so many people I think will connect with this out there." I was like, "If I could just hire if I could afford to hire anybody, I would have so much help and my life will be so much better." And then I learned once we could afford to hire people. Oh, it's awesome. They're experts and I'm not. This is great. But now I have a new job of managing everybody, right? And we grew the business to over a thousand employees. And so, you know, you as you grow and grow and grow on your journey, you have more you have different challenges. And I really believe and and this is this is what I'd say to everyone frustrated right now. And this would have been hard for me to say in the moment, right? These are lessons I've

learned. And this is really why I wrote this book to share them all. I to save people nights crying themselves asleep, at least a few to to save people from making a lot of the mistakes I made and hopefully take shortcuts, right, to some of the successes they're hoping for. uh personally and professionally is really why why I wrote the book. But I think that I created an imaginary toolbox in my head and I would pull from it when I needed to. Um and I would pull tools and sometimes they're simple like a quote from Jay-Z who says the genius thing we did was we didn't we didn't give up.

Right? The genius thing we did was we didn't give up. It's like oh okay. Sometimes it's that simple. I would pull from this imaginary toolbox when I would be frustrated. Nothing's going right. Right. And and every time I do that, I'd be like, "Okay." And and and again, for me, not giving up came down to checking in with my gut and saying, "Okay, God, I see no proof around me. I see these people I I adore, these people that are experts that I am honored to have a meeting with them, right? All these people are telling me I'm not on the right track and I don't even see proof of sales online more than two to three orders a like there is no proof around me. Right. And for me that's where faith comes in. Right. And checking in with your gut. I mean faith by by definition is believing things you you don't have proof of. Right. Right. So it's like aligning with that that trust that knowing that gut for me is how you

decide do I keep going? Um, and I think that's really important. And I also think it's perspective. So, you know, when I talk about the toolbox, I would think like, okay, I'm going to choose to believe. I'm going to choose to believe that all of these setbacks around me are just making me stronger to be able one day to carry the weight of my dreams coming true, the weight of the success when it finally happens. It comes, in my opinion, it comes down to mindset. because I think there are probably so many people out there that might have way better products than I created. I mean, that's I mean, I probably would never think that. I'm a little biased. I love, but you know what I'm saying? Or maybe and there's definitely a million people out there way smarter than me that have created beauty companies. But it's like what's that differentiator from people that actually make it? I think it comes down to, of course,

working really, really hard. Of course, and this is a big one. This one eliminates most people is not quitting. Not giving up every time you get knocked down when your gut says you're on the right track, right? Not quitting. But for me, the single biggest thing I think we did right and starting with close to nothing, building a billion dollar business is like making the decision to believe that we could. I think that is so important and learning how learning how to truly just make that decision to believe that you can because it's really hard, you know. Listen, I have a lot of friends and family I love dearly. Like with all my heart, I know they love me.

But like again, like I don't think any of the any of them understand when when the first several years of the business, especially when we had no success, why I felt like it was the right thing for me to be doing. why I gave up my career in television. That was my life dream to go to to to not pay myself for years, eat Costco, hot dogs and and just believe it was going to happen, right? So, just learning learning to really figure out how to do those things, I think, for everybody is so important. And and let's get really real. I was blessed to start this business with my husband. But for many of my friends and for many other entrepreneurs I know uh and many other people I know sometimes you also have to to you you have to protect who you turn the volume up on and who you turn the volume down and sometimes it's our friends or our family or other people's opinions. Sometimes it's our own partner, right? Sometimes it's our own

partner. So, this can be a challenge for people to navigate when they have a calling on their heart and they know they want to maybe leave that secure, safe job with great benefits. Um, and listen, this is hard to do. It's hard to do, but I believe when we stay in our comfort zone because it's very easy to get talked into it. It's what's safe. It's what's often guaranteed. It's what makes everyone around us feel comfy. But when we stay in our comfort zone, I think that it comes at the price of chipping away at our soul. And I think and why I wrote this book, if people truly learn how to tune into their their and trust themselves and believe in themselves and believe they're enough, especially women, right? If we don't do those things, we risk never becoming the person we were born to be. So, this book is all about stepping into becoming the person you're born to be and how to do it. Ladies and gentlemen, rock this

house and welcome to the stage K Leam Karn Lemos. Every single one of us has had someone tell us we're not enough. Every single one of us has had someone say words to us that

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "7 Ways to Trust Your Gut in Business & Life | Jamie Kern Lima"?

Jamie Kern Lima (Guest), Nathan (Guest).

What is "7 Ways to Trust Your Gut in Business & Life | Jamie Kern Lima" about?

Jamie Kern Lima shares her journey from aspiring television news anchor to successful entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of trusting one's instincts in navigating career paths. She discusses her transition sparked by personal challenges, including a skin condition, which led her to create It Cosmetics, highlighting that recognizing when to pursue new dreams can be as crucial as the pursuit…

What is mentioned in this Jamie Kern Lima episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including IT Cosmetics, Jamie Kern Lima, QVC, Bye-Bye Under Eye Concealer, Alan Burke, L'Oreal. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "7 Ways to Trust Your Gut in Business & Life | Jamie Kern Lima"?

The episode runs 1 h 28 min; the transcript is about 17,348 words in 177 timestamped sections.

More from Jamie Kern Lima

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 12, 2026.