Transcript

This Explains Why You Should Trust Your Gut Over the Voice of Doubt | Jamie Kern Lima

From Jamie Kern Lima · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 32 min · 18,170 words · 187 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "This Explains Why You Should Trust Your Gut Over the Voice of Doubt | Jamie Kern Lima", an episode of Jamie Kern Lima published January 21, 2026 (1 h 32 min, about 18,170 words). It mentions 5 people, works and ideas, including IT Cosmetics, QVC, Believe It, SBA, California Bank and Trust.

What this episode is about

The discussion emphasizes the importance of trusting one's gut instincts over external doubts, particularly in the context of pursuing personal ambitions despite setbacks and societal pressures. Jamie Kern Lima reflects on her journey from being a struggling news anchor with self-doubt to embracing her purpose of helping others, highlighting how resilience and a deep-seated belief in her potential fueled her determination to succeed.

Key takeaways

  • Trusting your gut is like a compass—but sometimes it points you toward the wrong destination.
  • Ego can fuel determination, but a deeper purpose lights the path to true success.
  • Money alone won’t sustain you; a compelling 'why' can carry you through 100-hour work weeks.
  • Life’s failures are merely stepping stones, revealing your hidden superpowers when you refuse to back down.
  • Changing your own world is often the first step toward changing the world around you.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: QVC, SBA, California Bank and Trust
  2. – 20:00: QVC
  3. – 30:00: IT Cosmetics
  4. – 40:00: Believe It
  5. – 50:00: Believe It
  6. – 1:00:00: IT Cosmetics
  7. – 1:10:00: Believe It
  8. – 1:20:00: Believe It
  9. – 1:30:00: Believe It
  10. – 1:31:37: QVC

Notable quotes from "This Explains Why You Should Trust Your Gut Over the Voice of Doubt | Jamie Kern Lima"

  • Dollar fairy tale. And the real of it is when we were under $1,000, I we were trying to get SBA loans from anyone that would give one. No one would give one. And they shouldn't have because it's you're trying to show a business plan for.
    about SBA · at
  • To thou $1,000, we went and spent part of it on IKEA desks to put in the living room because we had an in-person office tour with California Bank and Trust, which was the last…
    about California Bank and Trust · at
  • Got this feeling that you're supposed to be in our store and it'd be like the weirdest conversation. So anyways, I share a lot of that stuff in the book that I've never shared…
    about Believe It · at
  • In revenue and it feels good for a minute but long term I think it's one of the biggest reasons why tens of thousands of founders don't make it because they start getting…
    about IT Cosmetics · at
  • It's not going to work. you're not right for our customers. And I kept, and by the way, we talk about gut feeling. I kept having this gut feeling we're supposed to go on QVC…
    about QVC · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

Books & papers

  • Believe It — Book · Primary recommendation · 6 mentions · first at
    The speaker's book, discussed as a source of inspiration and lessons from her entrepreneurial journey.

Companies & orgs

  • IT Cosmetics — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions · first at
    The company founded by the speaker, discussed in depth regarding its founding, challenges, and success.
  • QVC — Company · Case study · 3 mentions · first at
    Key retailer that initially rejected then later accepted It Cosmetics, pivotal in the company's success.
  • SBA — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Provided a crucial loan that helped It Cosmetics stay afloat during early struggles.
  • California Bank and Trust — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    The bank that considered giving It Cosmetics an SBA loan, a pivotal moment in the company's survival.

Full transcript with timestamps

So, let's talk about the gut then because there's multiple things that you just said there that all you've led back to the gut. And in hindsight, everyone listening and watching are going well done for trusting your gut. But there are many times that

at least for me, I've trusted my gut and I was wrong and I've learned my lesson and then I move on. So, um, so I want to start with you're on you're a news anchor, you've got the blotches, nothing was working for you, you're going to try your own. A, what made you trust your gut in that sense? Because like you said, you've um, you had college debt, so you had all this stuff that stacked against you.

It's based on beauty, which for women is very emotional. Yeah. Um, so how did you keep going and like try to find the solution instead of just hide away? Like what are the things that you told yourself that pushed you to keep going and trust your gut that this was the right path for you?

I've always had this feeling deep down inside like I meant to do great things that help other people.

Um, I've always kind of just known it. even when I took the lowpaying job to learn journalism instead of like a super highpaying um you know consultant or banking job um I just felt

I just feel like if we get one life I want to like the day I die which god willing it's a long time in the future like I want to literally know there's nothing left in me that could have been used to help someone else

and you felt that even back when you were the news anchor Wow. So, I actually didn't feel like that. I do now. I feel like now my purpose of all the failures I've had, all the problems, all the health issues, my purpose now is to speak it so that it can help other people. But back but back when I started, it didn't. It was actually, if I can be so honest, it was out of pure ego. So, when people told me, "You can't do it. you're not good enough to do it. You're dumb. You're stupid. What are you doing? You're not talented. I was just

um what's it? Stubborn enough to say I can do it. I'm going to prove them wrong. And it was out of stubbornness, not out of like I want to share it with the world. That actually pushed me to then show myself what I was capable of.

You were driven by ego cuz you're like I'm going to prove them wrong. Exactly. Then I realized, wow, I'm actually actually did do it and I'm kind of capable. And so then it's like, well, if you're capable, what else can you do? And so that became the foundation of then okay I maybe I have a superpower. So if I have a superpower now how am I going to help others? So it kind of became a transition for me versus then just an initial like from the beginning. So that's why it's really impressive that you felt that even before you had

any validation that you can do it or that you you know you have the ability to do it.

Yeah. I've always had that just that feeling and it's funny that you say this. I have definitely done things for ego. I have definitely done things for ego. And most of the time when I do that, I regret it. It doesn't feel right, right? You know what I'm saying? And sometimes I do stuff on ego and it it turns out great and whatever, but it's like it doesn't compare to that feeling

of knowing you're doing something bigger than yourself. Mhm. I feel like when you spend the time to really think about your why and why you're doing it, you know, why or how it's bigger than yourself, that will sustain you through so many hard times, right? Cuz just hearing some of what you're sharing, I'm having flashbacks even to to so many of the of the hard times even even once we finally got yeses and finally we're on QVC and all of that. It's when you're putting in 100 hour weeks and when stuff doesn't go your way and all that and

when your why is bigger than yourself, it it it sometimes it's like that's the only thing that gets you through those hard times and and keeps you going because sometimes if it's just for oursel or our own ego, it's not a strong enough why. when you are so burnt out and you feel defeated and you feel like self-doubts entering your mind, it's like money isn't a strong enough why. Um because you can go get another job and get money. You know what I mean? It's like it's like really peeling back the layers on what you're doing and really getting to that that that true why that means so much to you. And for some people, it's I'm going to change this generation of my family. Where I come from is not where I'm going. I'm not going to have my children grow through what I went through, right? And that why is huge. It doesn't have to be a why to go change the outside world. It might be a why to change inside your own home.

And sometimes just like not just just not giving up and just keeping going is like is is the difference too in in making it. You know what I mean?

Oh. So, how do you do that then when you're in a moment? So, you've got your why, very strong why. You're going to impact women and how they feel about themselves. It's not just like you want to make them super glamorous. It's like you're going to change how they feel about themselves and that can lead to so many incredible things. Being a better mother, being a better wife, being a better employee, a better business owner, whatever it is. I think that can really lead to something. Um, so you've got your strong why. Now you got your strong why, but you only have $1,000 left.

Yes, I know. How do you is the why strong enough to get you through it or was there something else that you had to do to tell yourself like no keep going because that's where people go like all right look at some point if something is failing

yeah at some point you have to let it go. Yeah. So uh so two things. So for me um and this is so personal to everyone and to what they believe in. For me faith is huge in my life and I feel like I hear my faith through my gut feelings you know. I really do. And um and there were nights where I was just like, is this what we're supposed to do? That combined with really freaking hard work and like

let's just keep it really real because sometimes and I love I don't know how we're going here to Denny's and all the really real stuff. But what I love about it is, you know, if if any of your your your your you know your community has heard any of my story before, they've probably just heard the the billion dollar fairy tale. And the the real real of it is when we were under $1,000, I I we were trying to get SBA loans from anyone that would give one. No one would give one. And they shouldn't have because it's like, you know, you're trying to show a business plan for for projected sales when you don't even have any. You know, we were doing two to three orders a day on our website. Um but you know what? It it's a choice. I chose instead of having a job that paid me a salary, I chose to be an entrepreneur. And it's like, okay, but you got to hustle and you got to, you know, sometimes that's what you you have

to just do cuz you didn't take like a day off, right? You you guys you and your husband worked like a 100 hour work week, seven days a week for 10 years. And I think it, like you said, it's important to stress that.

You freaking busted your ass. Yeah, we we did. And it was like when we finally when we were under we got down to thou $1,000, we went and spent part of it on IKEA desks to put in the living room because we had an in-person office tour with California Bank and Trust, which was the last bank that was going to consider giving us an SBA loan. And uh but that, you know, we got the last the last person said yes on the SBA loan, which kept us alive a little bit longer. We were still only doing the two to three orders a day from our website and uh and and right around that time we got a first yes finally for QVC. But we had one shot and only 10 minutes. Um uh and

and you'd been going after QVC for for a long time. Going after him for a long time and always hearing no. I I remember oh my gosh like the number of nos from everybody. And so so there is a guy named Alan Burke who was like the head of beauty at QVC and he got all of those like really high-end department store beauty brands to really want to go on QVC and all the designer brands and so he was the head of all of it and I remember one day I finally got um I think it was a call from his assistant saying he wants to have a call with you.

he's reviewed your product. And I like thought this was going to be our big break. And he he was very quick and he said, "Um, I've reviewed your product with our buyers and you're not the right fit for QVC. Uh, I'm sorry and I wish you the best of luck." And I just remember crying myself to sleep that night and just, you know, have you ever like had something happen where, you know, that goes wrong or doesn't go your way and then like the next day you wake up and you like hoped it was a dream.

Yes. And then you're like, "It wasn't." You have to relive almost. Yes. So for you in those moments you're hearing no over and over again. Most people would have stopped at number one.

Yeah. A lot of people would have stopped at number two. Majority would have stopped at number three. You kept going. This was like years and years and years of you likeounding Sephora and QVC. And so what is it? Is it just your innate ability to get back up or did you have to coach yourself in your mind to say no, you believe in this, remember your why. like what does it actually look like?

Both. I feel like when I look back on things and this is what I love. It's like even if you're in a space right now in your life where you're like this isn't where I want to be. I would just trust it because I look back at like when I was when I was a news anchor,

I would get emails that were so mean. Like, are you pregnant? Are you right? I had a news director at one of my jobs that would um just tear me to shreds um appearance-wise, stuff like that. And I I really feel like it helped make me really it helped me get really strong. So that rejection started to hurt a little less. Um but it still hurts. Um it still hurts. But resiliency is like the most important skill. I think I think what's tricky is going okay am I putting good money after bad? Right? Which is like a famous saying meaning does every sign tell me this is a bad idea and do I keep wasting my time and money? You know what I mean? That's the hardest thing to know, especially when you're building your business. And for me, the deciding factor for me was was

praying about it and realizing that I needed to keep my faith bigger than my fear because I just felt in my gut what I was doing mattered and it was needed. I think fear kills more dreams than like almost anything else. Self-doubt and fear, I think, kills more dreams than almost anything. I was um reading that famous Jay-Z quote where he says um the genius thing we did was we never gave up. And it's like, it's so true sometimes. And and what's crazy is I would have I would have saved myself so many nights of crying myself to sleep had I known what I know now, which is just that if you're doing something novel or that that that's different that hasn't been done before,

of course, all these people that are experts aren't going to get it right away because there's no it's never been done before. So there's no proof out there that tells them, "Oh yeah, this is a good idea." Oh yeah, this is going to succeed in your stores or, you know, it's never been done before. So I shouldn't have been surprised that all these people that I thought were like, you know, they would know if you know they're going to see our product and like love it right away. And the other thing I learned was by persistence and by not letting those nos destroy every ounce of of confidence I had. And Every single person that told us no has now told us yes.

But some of them told us no for years and many many many times. And here's the crazy thing and I don't know the answer to this. But what I do know, Lisa, is had I listened to any of a lot of the ways they told me to change our product or change our positioning, had I listened to that, I don't think our brand would have worked. I don't think I'd be sitting here having sold it to L'Oreal because L'Oreal has a a lot of other great brands that do what's already been done really well. They're the best at it in the world had I not done something totally different that went against what all these other experts were saying to do it. I wouldn't have created something of value that complemented their portfolio. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. I think it's like I think it's um Peter De Mendes. I think he said this the day before a breakthrough. It's just another dumb idea.

And it's like, it's so true because you're getting nos a million times. You're also telling people people are being mean. Like in my intro, I said someone said to you, you know, who's ever going to buy makeup from you? So again, that was one of the toughest things I've ever dealt with in my own head because what had happened was so so we had no money as you know, as we've covered and um this this investor who he had invested in a lot of consumer product companies. So, he had a a big um he was the head of a a big private equity firm and a lot of companies I love uh were his products that he had invested in them sold.

Okay. And uh we finally got a meeting with him and he was super interested in. So, it's someone you're super excited about, someone you're amped about, you have a lot of respect for respect. Okay. That's makes it even worse.

I know. And and and they loved our idea of what we were doing with our products of our company. I'm like, "This is amazing because if they invest in us, then um a I'm not going to we're not going to go bankrupt tomorrow and b maybe they can help us get into these these retail stores." And like I just I was so excited. And then I I'll never forget this in person. This guy was like a foot and a half from me. Um and and they said, "We're going to we've decided to pass on the investment. It's a no." And I said, "Well, can you share with me a little bit why?" Because, you know, feedback's always a gift, even when we don't want to hear it. And um and he said, "Well, do you want me to be honest with you?" And I said, "Yes." And he goes, "I'm not sure if women will buy makeup from someone who looks like you, you know, with your body and your weight." Is what he said to me. And I remember looking at him and and just

like while I tried to handle it with grace and just say, "Thank you for your, you know, thank you for your feedback." I knew so strongly in my gut in that moment. So, it was this combination of being hurt, really obviously hurt, but I just had this strong gut feeling that said he's wrong. Like, he's wrong. And sometimes you just need to like bust out Google and just inspire yourself. So, I I remember after he said that, just for myself, I would look up so many of the people I admire most who I think are just making huge changes in the world, and I would ask myself, if they changed their body, would they do better? No, like if they got all skinny or got all whatever it is, like people that change the world, what they look like, I think, is is irrelevant. I think it's how they feel. It's their heart.

It's their intentions. And and I would just, you know, fill myself up with stuff like that just to get myself back to that place of confidence again. And when we finally, so here's the thing. Uh we got to a beauty show, this big beauty show in New York City. There were 6,000 women there and they walk the show. And what happens in the show, this is how we got on QVC, by the way. If you're a brand that's had a new product launch that year, you can pay money to go there. You get a three-foot table and you demonstrate your product. And so, we had signed up to do it. And the hope by doing this is that the 6,000 women walking and testing out all the new products that one of them will, you know, um, uh, work for a department store and get you in there or one of them will or they'll vote on your product and you'll get one of the awards. And so we were there doing that and QVC had a huge booth there and uh,

you're supposed to stay. You're not allowed to leave your three-foot table. But I kept like trying to sneak away to see like if there were the buyers at the QVC booth and I'd rush back to my table and what I didn't realize is one of the women that had I've been showing the product to was a QVC show host and I didn't recognize her and at the time and I don't know if I was just spacing out or what and I you know so I was showing her the product and like telling her how much you know why it exists and why it's different and special and she said uh you know my name is Miss Lisa Mason. I'm a QVC show host and uh and I just looked at her and she goes, "I want you to know I think your concealer is really special and I think our women at home, our QVC gals, they would love this product." And um and I want you to know I just went and told the buyer, "I think we should have your product on." And I looked at

her and tears just started streaming down my face and I think I freaked her out. She's like, "Oh, sugar, I don't have any like" Like she's like, "Oh, what did I just She's like, "I don't have any power to get your I just want to let you know I did this. I believe in you." And I was like, "Thank you." And I was like, "Can I send you products?" She's like, "No, sugar, but you know, I just want to let you know I" And um so long story short, we got a meeting uh at QVC and we got a yes. Uh but what that meant was we have 10 minutes, one airing of 10 minutes. Um and you either hit their sales goal or you don't come back. Right? And what I know now that I didn't know at the time is you might have 10 minutes, but if you're live on the air and you're not hitting numbers, all of a sudden your clock will go from 10 to six. And then you're like and you can't you can't panic and you have to have fun cuz and

you can't try to sell because the second you try to sell, nothing sells. Nothing sells.

Nothing sells. So, and like and it'll be at six minutes and like if it's really not doing well, it cuts to two. And what's so hard is you're live on national television and you know in the back of your head I just lost a product or I just lo like it's so much pressure. Thankfully I didn't know that part in the the first airing. But what I did know was we had 10 minutes and we had to hit a sales target or never come back. And uh we needed to uh sell over 6,000 units of our concealer in that 10-minute window. And I just felt like, okay, if women can see this live on television, how it works, like, and they can see how it will, you know, change their lives, I can show it live on TV. And I just felt like this is it. And then here's where this appearance stuff resurfaced, right?

And for any woman out there or man who struggles with like, do what I look matter? Does my weight matter? Does my size matter? Do my clothes matter? It sucks when sometimes things all around us tell us they do right and this is a moment where I had to make a decision where everything was on the line for my business and what had happened Lisa was we um had met with out there's all these outside consultants and they help a lot of people do well on television and um you know they'll give you advice like here's how you you know do your demonstrations and here's the type of models to use and here's you know what to say and lot to say. And and when I met with all the consultants, they they all told me I needed to do uh this formula to work on air, which was cast only perfect skin models, um all like the same age and skin tone and blah blah blah. And I'm like, okay, but I want to show my bright red rosacea

and show how this works for me. And I want to show real women that are different ages and have different skin problems. And I want women all across the country that have never seen a model who looks like them and skin that looks like theirs. I want to show them live why I made this product. And every single uh uh consultant said that will not work. And if they want I if I want to have any chance of succeeding in my business that I will do what they're saying, which is to do the formula, the only formula that had ever worked in beauty. And it was the most stressful probably moment of my whole career and decision of my whole career because everything was on the line.

Yeah. Break it down and then how you decided to just ignore them and do your own thing because like you said everything's on the line. What did that process look like for you where you said they're experts but I'm still not going to listen.

So I flew I was freaking out. I flew out to QVC um a week early. I love the honesty by the way. Oh my gosh, it's just it was and it's so funny. I took cuz we had no money. So I took this it was like three or four connections cuz it was the cheapest way to get to Philly. Um I got there I was in a rental car and I drove to the QVC parking lot every single day for a week and I sat there literally trying to envision what was going to happen in that 10 minutes. um almost like the way I imagine Olympic athletes envision success. And I just knew in that moment like I knew what I needed to do. I knew that if I if I went on QVC and did what everyone else had done, maybe my business would have succeeded at that time, but a it wouldn't have been authentic to who I am. I'm not a makeup artist. I don't do makeup artist looks on people. It's not why I created the brand. It's not my why. So, I would have

been putting money and fear above the why I did this. And I just remember sitting in the parking lot and knowing

I even if I try and I go out there and I show my bare face, which is the last thing I want to do on national television showing my bright red rosacea. But it wasn't about me. It was about

I wanted to shift culture and beauty. I wanted there to be models that look like real women. I imagine real women all across the country who have forgotten that they're beautiful and have forgotten that they matter. And I realize in that moment I if I don't sell and we miss the sales goal, at least for that 10 minutes, there will be women that turn their television on and they see models, aspirational models, who I'm standing on television calling beautiful that look like them. and I'm showing women with with skin problems and issues and I want them to know we're all in this together. Like we've all got this.

But it was so scary. And I remember the camera goes live, the clock's at 10 minutes. And I remember it started counting down and and I had this demonstration planned on my wrist, right, with where I put these two uh beautiful department store concealers that are top sellers and ours. And I would bend my wrist and show they start breaking up and cracking, right? And ours doesn't, which is why it would cover my rosacea. So I had this thing planned and I started doing it, but I was so stressed out. TV I'm not nervous for. It was the business, the weight of everything. and my hand was like this and I was like just shaking like shaking and I was trying to show and finally Lisa's like, "Thank you, sugar." And she shoves my hand under the the podium that we're presenting from.

And I remember um at the 10 minute mark, literally the 10-minute mark, the sold out sign came up and I just looked at Lisa and I just started crying cuz I was like,

it was like real women have spoken. I'm so glad I listened to my gut. And I think sticking with the authenticity of our brand even when everyone was saying it wasn't gonna resonate

is why I it's the only reason that we now built a billion dollar company. 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. 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. 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 into 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 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 the 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 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 [clears throat] 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.

Jamie, you got a a magazine shoot today you were saying. Tell us about what's going on over there. Yeah, you know, it's uh the book's come the book, my first ever book, Believe It, is launching in just under five weeks. We're under five weeks away. So, I feel like I'm going to blink and it's going to be here. And uh so it's probably the most vulnerable thing I've ever done where I just literally pour everything I have and all the things I wish I knew. It would have saved me a million nights crying myself to sleep and the whole journey of starting in in my living room and facing rejection for three years straight solid and building a cosmetics.

So now the fiveweek mark uh all the press starts that that it comes out when the book launches. So today is a magazine shoot all day long and uh I'll share more soon. I'll share more soon. But you know I was thinking about this and actually you know being MLK day today uh you know this morning I was uh in hair getting ready. I haven't done makeup yet in hair and I was watching uh Dr. Martin Luther King speeches some of them right which I've done my whole life. And I watched him this morning that's all about growing actually. It's all about like keeping it moving. And he talked a lot about your life's blueprint. And he was using these words long before so many other people were using them, right? And he talked about your life's blueprint about how no one else can tell you you're not worthy. And when I was thinking about this his his um his words, I was kind of having this big aha moment just to share with every

everyone in the growth day community this morning in case you go through this too. But like sometimes it's our self that's the one telling ourselves we're not worthy and on most of the time probably

most of the time most of the time and you're making up stories about other people thinking you're not worthy. Yeah.

So, you're telling yourself, "Oh, I'm not worthy." Or you're thinking, "They don't think I'm worthy." And either way, it's it's a story that's probably, you know, making you feel worse than you really need to.

Exactly. And, you know, on this uh on this day, right, I have this big magazine shoot all day. They want six different looks, all these things. First of all, I have to fight in my own head the whole imposttor syndrome which is like how is a girl like me who is a waitress at Denny's all these things doing six looks how do I even figure out what looks are that's the first thing like fashion looks right you see me I love some sweats I love some comfy sweats right so I'm like okay six looks today

does six looks mean six outfits or does that okay gota go magazine shoots are they usually like they show up with stuff and they put it on, I wander around and that's about it. I I'm really

and that's about it. I'm really I'm the worst. I I don't you know I don't do press, you know, I just I decided very early on I I didn't want to be in the PR land. So very rarely rarely rarely do I do press and every time I do I realize why I don't. It's so exhausting. I really admire people who can do days of press and they do it consistently. We take for granted. It's really exhausting. People are bossing you around all day. You're just kind of wondering when you get to sit down or get to eat,

man. And it's it's a full it's a full schedule. Everyone wants to be famous or they want days of magazine shoots and all that. And then they do their first like PR junket in in New York and you do like 16 shows in a day and at the end you're so it's a privilege and a joy and it's fun and at the same time it's work. like you you had to get up you got up what five o'clock today just to prepare and get hair and makeup and everything else getting ready.

Yeah, we had hair at five. Had to get up at four to shower. All that stuff got to you. And you know here's the thing is like what a blessing, what a gift that I get to spread the word about the book. Like that's what really drives me, right? But what I'm realizing and Brendan listening to MLK's speech this morning, uh Dr. Martin Luther King's speech talking about telling ourselves we're not worthy or or having other people tell you you're not worthy. Exactly what you said. I this is a day that the old me, the me that for decades has done lots of different things. And I'm working still, as you know, I'm a lifetime student, still working to grow out of this. Uh the old me for sure would have let my inner credit take over all day and just powered through hoping like, does this outfit fit? is am I are they thinking I really should be in this shoot. Are they regretting doing a story on all those things we tell ourselves,

right? It doesn't have to be a magazine shoot. It could just be hopping on Zoom for something at work or you know how many times you know that we get an invite to a high school reunion. Brendan, I don't know if you'll relate to this, but you coach so many people that I think you'll understand this at such a deep level. we get an invite to a high school reunion or something like that. So many of us the first thing we think of is oh when I show up how much weight have I gained how much all these things right to the point where we don't even enjoy it and

I remember a quote will you will you remind us all just if you remember it there's a quote you said and I saved it because I look at it often and it said something about um I'll paraphrase and then maybe you'll you'll remember it exactly but you can accomplish all these things and the worst thing that could possibly happen is you get to the end of your life and you look back and you're like, hm, I forgot to enjoy it.

I forgot to enjoy it. Enjoy it. Worse, imagine looking in the mirror. You're, you know, you're 80, 90, 100 years old and you had longevity, but you look in the mirror and you and you just go, I you never felt it. You never enjoyed it. You never took the time to be there. Um, and I also think, you know, coming back to your high school reunion idea or the magazine shoot or all of you who are walking in to do, you know, networking in a Zoom room or when we come back to regular life and we're hanging out with people here again. I love this thing. I I it's not from me. I I can't remember who said it, but I love it. Love it. Love it.

It's there's two kinds of people in the world. One walks into the room and goes, "Here I am." And the other person walks in the room and goes, "Oh, there you are. M

and they're they're excited to see you. They're excited to acknowledge you, to validate you, to welcome you, to make sure that you feel at home.

Yeah. Yeah. And those are the people that we want to be in our lives. Those are the that's being the role model, but it's also being, you know, less ego driven instead of being so concerned what do I look like, who am I like, what's going on here? I just I I've always the way I got over myself because everyone still knows and grow. I'm a dork. I love geeking out on personal development. I love books. I love to write. I'm more of a like even though I teach and I'm, you know, millions and millions of hours of video by now, I generally mostly enjoy being alone dorking out about my ideas, drawing up, creating ideas and charts and everything everywhere. And so when I go to talk with people, often I want to share that with them. And I have to I have all these ideas and I know there's lots of people ideas. I just want to talk ideas.

But the best thing I ever did to get over myself and be comfortable with other people is instead ask them about their ideas.

Ask if if you walk into your high school networking, you know, gym and you walk in, instead be like, hey, ask people, hey, how you doing? Hey, what do you think of all this?

One of my favorite questions. What do you think of all this? Oh, you know, I love the punch bowl. Or look at this. Or hey, this is happening. I love that we're together. Hey, how you been? Just acknowledging and appreciating other people is such a lost art

because we tend to have agendas because we tend to want to project something. And here's the number one thing. Most people really believe the idea they only have 10 seconds to make a first impression or they only have 30 seconds to say it, right? And I'm like, nothing in life that matters, nothing in life that matters is judged in 30 seconds. In other words, give yourself time to build a relationship. Give yourself time to enjoy that moment. She was like, "Well, you have seven minutes on that major show." I'm like, "There's going to be a hundred other shows in your future.

Some shows you're going to do are an hourong podcast. Some shows you're going to do are in person." And so, I'm just here to say enjoy it, but also make it about other people. Ask them, validate them, and you'll feel better. you know, of course, when we talked about the other day about reading customer letters on QVC, right? It was a whole thing in the green room of of of putting into practice the idea. Uh that I think exactly to your point, it's like, oh, this isn't about me. It's about something so much bigger, right? And I think that's huge. And I was going to ask you actually because I think this lifelong journey for so many people of of overcoming our inner critic, right?

And even even going to a whole new transcending the whole new thing and going, "Oh, who's my inner champion? Can I wake that person up?" Right? Can I wake up my inner champion? And and so many of us are like, "Oh, you know, inner champion, maybe you haven't heard your inner champion ever um or in a long time." And so, you know, Brendan, coaching millions of people like you have, I'm so fascinated to hear for you like if you also or or I should say because I think this is universal. I think this happens to everyone, but when you're in a moment where you're doing something and all of a sudden that inner crit, you hear that inner critic, right? How do you turn down the volume on that? What do you do to go to silence your inner critic or handle your inner critic or overcome your inner critic and and then swap it to your inner champion or what are your tools? Because I I feel like no matter what we're doing in life, where we're at

in life, what our situation is inside our own family, inside our our jobs, inside our hopes and dreams, it's just this it's the biggest obstacle I think for so many of us.

Yeah. I think one you have to realize that replacing the inner critic in the moment is super hard and so you have to think of everything you're doing is like there's the pre-work there's the actual in the moment flow work and then there's the postwork. The pre-work is okay before the inner cricket has to start. You start your morning by tapping into your authentic self, meditating, feeling, thinking about who you are, what's important to you, your morning routine of intention setting, your morning routine of purpose statements, your morning routine of filling your head with good thoughts, your morning routine of of acknowledging your strength to show up another day, your day of gratitude for appreciating that you have these opportunities.

Meaning you got to start the day the growth day starts with selft talk and the selft talk you have to condition the positive voice inside your inner champion

you have to amplify that turn it up and talk to it every morning and every day if you ever want that to be louder than the critic what most people do is they bumble through the day a doubt comes up they hear it they go is that true they start amplifying that thing because there's no other voices your job is to find your authentic voice you acknowledge ing aware, compassionate, loving self voice.

Give that so much volume so many times that that's just a that station's louder.

That station is louder because you're on that station more. So now when the other one starts interfering and coming in, you can go, oh, what is it saying here? And it's almost always the inner critic is really a doubtful voice.

Yeah, it's almost always a doubtful voice. It I doubt my capability. I doubt who I am. I doubt I'm capable. I'm worthy. I doubt myself. And doubt doesn't mean stop or shut down. Doubt means oh, this is a signal to be more present and intentional. Oh, I'm not. This isn't to question myself and my capabilities. It's going, oh, hey, I don't know if I can do this. Let me pay attention. Doubt's a great signal to pay attention and to engage the best of who we are. It's like, oh, those butterflies, that's saying, oh, let's let's align here. Let's get focus here. Let's bring some attention to this. So, first don't think that that voice will ever go away. It's going to be there. It's always going to pop up.

But don't think it's a negative thing telling you you're terrible. It's saying pay attention. And then also up the station on that authentic acknowledging, loving self-t talk each day. The affirmative side of who you are. Listen to that so often and give yourself that blessing so often. Because some of you, it's not going to be your spouse who's going to acknowledge you or validate you. Some of you, it's not going to be your parents or your sisters or your brothers or the people in your industry. They're all going to doubt you or judge you or push you. So, you've got to affirm yourself. You You've got to tap into that truth, that knowing, that beauty, that soul, that spirit, that authenticity that says, "Ah, right. I do deserve to have a good day today. I do have good intentions for today. Let me let me listen to that part of me more often." And that conditioning of positive affirming selft talk starts

becoming a part of real confidence right conditioned selft talk becomes confident capability. M so good. You know, I'm looking at so many of your comments right now and so many people are saying this is so timely. I needed to hear this right now because you know I uh one of the things I love about this is when we talk about even conditioning and starting our day that way of positive selft talk a I hope the growth day and morning show is a big part of that of just hearing that you know inspiration like all of us coming together and growing. Um uh but you know one one person also Sarah just commented that uh that you know the inner critic always comes back right and you're saying yeah it always comes back uh and and here's the thing is

I feel like our inner critic uh can get so loud and I feel like so many of us know when we're hearing it when we're hearing that inner critic a we would never say those things to another human being and b when we're saying them about ourselves we kind of still know in big part We know they're not true, but it but somehow we still we still it's so easy to believe it. It's easy to know we're made for more. We're created for more. We have more to give, more to offer, more to serve, more inside of us than we're expressing or giving or living right now. And yet, it's so easy to still doubt it anyways, right? What if the inner critic was an inner guide?

And the inner critic was just saying to you, "Hey, right now you've got your station turned on to me." The inner critic, the, you know, the low station, the the self-doubt station.

Yeah. And you, instead of going, "Oh, that critic's so scary." And let me find all the reason to criticize me, it's like, "Oh, the inner critic is actually calling you to summon the better part of you. It's saying, hey, you're listening to the lowly insecurities right now. Let me amplify those insecurities." So you're aware that you're listening to them, dummy. What you need to do right now is search the restation. I am guiding you with all this blaring noise to summon a higher part of you.

The inner critic is summoning the higher part of you. Not shutting you down. It's summoning you. It's not going to go away. There's always going to be that part of you going, "Hey,

dummy, you're smarter. You're better. You're a let me let me let me judge you just enough that you get edgy and you go no I'm better than this and you show up it's egging you on to show up better not shut down soon as you get that oh I'm being egged on like a good friend because listen the inner critic is you

and that's a good friend to you saying hey I'm going to bug you just enough I'm going to shame you just enough I'm going to doubt you just enough until you finally go f no let's go I'm going to try to piss you off that's what the inner critic is going to do. They're going to they're they're there to amplify you to go, "No, no, I am better than this." It is actually summoning strength. And if you can hear that, instead of being diminished, be called.

When crisis doesn't diminish you, when conflict doesn't diminish you, when fear doesn't diminish you, but rather you sense it as a calling to rise to something to a higher standard to serve. This is why today we celebrate Martin Luther King.

Dr. Martin Luther King had the same challenges so many people did. What he did was he said, "I have a dream. I I'm going to rise up. I'm going to learn to do all of these things that he didn't know how to do to lead an incredible movement that we still celebrate today." You have to think about like, whoa, that's 60 years later. We're still celebrating this person. Why? because all those calls, all those judgments, all that hate, he said, "I'm not going to let the darkness shut me down because it is only light and love that will lift us up. So, I'm going to I'm going to amplify those. You can hit me with all the hate you want, but I'm going to activate love."

That's the change. It's not an adishment, but a calling to rise above it. That's that's a mindset shift that now helps us activate. I hope that helps everybody. So good, you guys. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Uh, so many comments. So many comments.

I appreciate each of you and uh, thank you for cheering me and Jamie on in this growth day morning show. This is new for us, too. We've both had doubts. We had, our first couple days were technologically challenged on both sides. You know, I still think I look so goofy with these white things hanging in my ear. I still got this camera taped up with this blue tape over here. Jamie's got hers.

So, we're still figuring it out, but we feel like, okay, so what? We're not doing it perfectly. We are called to serve. Stop worrying if you show up perfectly or you look perfect. Show up to serve. And enough times doing that, you're recognized.

So good what you said and and I always, you know, one of the things I think about a lot is we all face opposition, right? Sometimes it is our inner critic, but we also all have a calling. And I think that so many times I I believe always your calling is stronger than your opposition, but so much of life comes down to which one we listen to. And you know, you talk about, you know, Dr. Martin Luther King and and I think obviously so much opposition, you know, during his time and obviously his calling was so much bigger, right?

And and that's what he listened to. And I think that I don't know I just keep going back to those words you shared earlier too about walking into a room and instead of saying here I am saying here you are right. I think that's when we make it not about us and it's something so much bigger than us. For me I think that's I mean in my journey that's you know how I've one of my one of my best strategies for overcoming that inner critic because for me that inner critic is there every single day. every single day. I even doubted even though I've gone on national television thousands of times in no makeup. This is my first first Growth Day morning show in no makeup. And I had a moment where I'm like, but it's like, oh, no, no, no.

The only way to have authentic human connection is to fully show up as ourselves. The only way to serve is to not worry about stuff like that that literally doesn't matter, right? And so, it's kind of growth in progress, growth in process, I think, for so many of us. And some of the tips you shared on how how you frame in your own mind that inner critic. I've never heard that before. That's so powerful. That's so powerful. As if it's the station summoning you to get so angry that you're like, "F that." And you transcend it. Huge.

It's your best friend egging you on saying, "Oh, it's it's like if your best friend was like, oh yeah, you suck." and you're like, you know, it's it's just like if you ever saw people playing sports and you're playing basketball with someone, the crap talking is done to summon a higher level of game.

They've actually measured this in communication studies, in sports, less crap talk tends to lead to less incredible performance. And it's not because we're being we're not diminishing each other. We're egging each other on to play at a higher level. Now, I know there's lots of judgment about even that in sports, but I think my point is recognizing that all your inner fears aren't meant to shut you down. They're meant to help you pay attention. You know, you were talking about resistance and all the resistance. And I hope everybody, by the way, uh spend some time today watching some, you know, speeches from Dr. Martin Luther King. Um, if you haven't read the autobiography, the official biographies or any of his collected works of speeches, I I can't even imagine this day, you know, for the last 23 years this year now, I read his speeches. I have a big uh book that my dad gave me that I just read his speeches and it's

so so powerful to see what he was willing and not just him the entire Southern Christian Leadership Conference and so many other great leaders of that time trying to really speak up for something and he said you know if I if if our main question is who are you serving and he said that if we aren't if if we aren't willing to speak up for what is right, then we're we're not living life. And and so many of his great quotes that everyone will share on the internet today, I'm sure, just remind us, stand for something. Even if you are scared, stand for something.

You're not doing a magazine shoot today. You're standing for something today. You're standing for a message.

Yeah. We aren't worried about our insecurities of, you know, I'm like, is my kettle bell in the shot today? I hope not. You know, I don't even care. It's like we stand for something at growth day. We stand for the belief, that you can grow, that you can change, that you can have better days, that you can shift your attitude. We we stand for something. So, we're not trying to make everything pretty. You're going to stand for something today. And everyone needs to realize what do you stand for today? What is it that you stand for? And the less you ask yourself that, the more the insecurity voice just fills it in. Oh, you aren't intentional enough to stand for something. Let me just fill it in with some noise here.

Yeah, that's what happens. I would say your negative selft talk is because you haven't filled in the void.

Yeah. So good. You got to work on this. Look at this. I got this. I pulled this off the desk. This is a a a calendar of affirmations from Hay House. Uh this is Louise Haye. I hope you all read You Can Heal Your Life from Louise Haye. Louise Haye and Wayne Dyer. uh who were like some who really made and rounded out Hay House with Reed Tracy as CEO um that a whole book of affirmations. I I've been doing personal development for 20 years professionally. I still read my affirmations

and I read them out loud because I want that voice to be activated. I would love for you all in your morning routine to read out your Bible verses or read out your favorite motivational quotes or read out that part of that spiritual text that you love. Read something out like activate the voice. You've been given voice. If you have the blessing of speaking, you've been given voice. Activate that in a positive affirming way and it becomes a language pattern in your head

that's louder than the insecure quiet things. You know what I mean? you know, talk about some of the struggles that you've had with anxiety, with self-doubt. We've all been there. The biggest enemy is between our ears, imposttor syndrome. I still struggle with that. I don't think it ever goes away. You talk about uh body doubt and god doubt. I have never heard god doubt though. What is that?

Yeah. You know, I think um my my whole journey really is figuring all of that out. And I think, you know, for me, I know a lot of people, you know, I when I built It Cosmetics, right, we we started in our living room and uh and my whole journey was just filled with nos. Sometimes you'll see a founder launch an idea or a product or whatever and it will get hot right away. And uh and that wasn't my experience. Um, my journey was was uh was and and by the way, to answer your question, figuring out how to overcome not just self-doubt and body doubt, but God doubt was critical. Um, in in my journey of of of starting with literally no money in my living room, building a billion-dollar company. Um because it was really a journey of so much rejection and and hearing so many nos along the way and and learning how to well first of all I prayed like crazy but I also doubted God exists a lot in my life and I really learned in my

journey how to turn down the noise and the volume on self-doubt and other people's opinions. Um, for me when I pray and I I I just get this gut feeling like I I think I've never heard God talk. But but for me, um, in my own personal faith, um, I I believe, you know, God talks to me through my intuition. I think when I get a really strong gut feeling, I've learned to trust it. And I and for me, it's really been a big journey of keeping my faith bigger than my fear. Um, and you know, so you know, I go there like in in my new book, Believe It, I go there. When when I built a company of over a thousand employees, you have to be so professional and respectful and um [snorts] and I intentionally hire teams of every different faith, of no faith, of, you know, I I believe that not just our teams, but our boardrooms should look like our customers do. And our customers at cosmetics are every person.

Every person, every age and shape and skin tone and gender identity and and and faith and and background. And so I, you know, I really intentionally hired a team that way. And so my personal faith wasn't something I talked openly about very much in the whole journey. And so, but I I think for me it's like the espresso inside the latte. It's like if you don't have it, it's not the same uh in my journey. Like I talk about that really openly a lot, Nicole. And I think that I really think it's important we share like the real stories behind the stories if we're ever going to really grow together. And you know, I was raised uh going to church every Sunday, but I didn't connect with faith. I would just sit through church and scan the pews looking for cute boys, like counting down the minutes until the sermon was over. And so most of my life while I was in a family that had faith, I I always I would pray. But the truth

is I would kind of like doubt that God was real. And and one of the the stories I talk about in the book um uh is is the journey of God doubt. And and there was a moment in my life where um where uh I was having a really tough time. It was actually in news. I was in news at the time and um and it was the first time in my life I was dealing with anxiety and all these things. And anyways, I um a therapist said to me when I was saying to her, you know, I don't I don't even know if God's real. I'm doubting he exists. I found out I was adopted, so I didn't I was like, I don't know where I come from. And anyways, long story short, she said to me, uh well, what makes you think God can't handle your doubt? And I'm like, what do you mean?

And she goes, tell him you doubt him and ask him to prove you wrong. Um I was like okay. So this started like a decadel long journey of every time I'd pray about I'd be praying for a friend's health or something and at the end I would say by the way God like literally in the middle of my prayer like silently but I'd be like I'm doubting you exist so if you could please prove me wrong beyond a shadow of a doubt I'd be so grateful. Thank you. Amen. Um, and I share in the book just some of the crazy crazy crazy stories of what happened and some of them even with investors, potential investors with with retailers who had said no to our product for so many years like calling me out of the blue saying, uh, I don't know why, but like uh I was praying last night and I got this feeling that you're supposed to be in our store and it'd be like the weirdest conversation. So anyways, I share a lot of that stuff in the book

that I've never shared before because I think these real these are real conversations. A lot of times, you know, you look on social media, you see founders, entrepreneurs, you can read business tips all day long. Uh but at the end of the day, as you mentioned in the beginning of this, I really believe for every one of us, every founder listening right now, every person who's going to be part of this or watch the replay, us living up to our potential, us stepping into our calling, us becoming the person we're born to be. Um it's not business tips you can find anywhere. It's about figuring out the game in our own head of overcoming that self-doubt and all the other forms of doubt in our life. Um, in order to to truly become the person we're born to be. [snorts]

It's about telling that mean girl or that mean guy inside your head to take several seats. Uh, you call it an inner critic. Do you think she ever really goes away?

No. I think I I think that inner critic um can get so loud and I think that so often and especially as women, right? You look at a lot of the research out there that shows that we'll often make decisions by consensus, right? Like you'll see, you know, even from the time we're little kids, you know, you'll ask an opinion and and uh and we do this still as adults, uh ask an opinion and typically women will go, "Oh, you know," and they'll they'll take a survey. friends or family or and and then we have our own inner critic and what I think happens to a lot of us is we start to confuse that inner critic or that inner self-doubt or other people's opinions uh with our own truth with our own knowing that we all have we all I believe we all have a knowing and I believe our gut is always more strong you know stronger than anyone else's advice um but I think what happens so often is that inner critic gets so loud

and and and we don't learn how to literally like when like when I hear my own inner critic and I don't think it ever goes away. Um I I imagine myself turning down the volume and replacing thoughts with something that I know is true or that I just want to decide is true anyway and um and that's more, you know, more empowering. And I think, you know, you know, I started at Cosmetics in in our living room um close to no money and and I poured every penny I had into the business and I thought, okay, if we can create just a great product that really works, it's just going to sell. And uh and then as so many founders have also shared this experience, I was like, oh, it's not that easy. you can have an amazing product and you know I really did a lot of work on um and I talk about this and believe it a lot about not just figuring out the why for my brand but peeling back the layers on it going really

really deep to the why beneath the why that helps you know because that's what really gives you the strength to keep going when you get knocked down and I had done all those things but what I wasn't ready for was or I guess I should should say wasn't ready it was going to happen was just how much rejection would happen along the way. And when people tell us no or or a lot of other words, right? Like like when people literally look us in the in the eye and say like, you know, you're not the right fit for us or our customers, you're not right for our stores. Um uh it's not just a no right now. It's just it it's a real no like like you're you're you're not the right and you just hear people or or change who you are to fit in or change your packaging or change this or change that. I think often when we get rejection, it can actually be helpful.

Like there's parts of it. There's other people's advice, experts advice that could be really helpful in forms of rejection. But if we don't learn how to get still and hear, turn down our own inner critic, turn down the part of us that wants to replay the rejection over and over, if we don't learn how to get still and turn down the volume on that, and really check in with our gut and go, "Okay, this retailer just told me change my packaging to this or that this isn't right or whatever. Does that feel right to me? Does that advice feel right to me?" Right? I'm telling you, like had I not learned to do that, I would have never built a billion-dollar company because on the journey of building a cosmetics, the first three years were hundreds and hundreds of nos. Like all all of the retailers I love and and and shop at my whole life and like I would save my tip money as a waitress at Denny's to like buy a MAC lipstick or

Lancome eyeliner from these beautiful stores. I love these stores and they were all telling me no that that I needed to change who I was or change our packaging or our packaging was too accessible. it needed to be way h, you know, way more luxurious or uh uh I was using real uh people as models and you know I like I and at the time when I launched at cosmetics it wasn't really being done and I had a lot of retailers say people will not buy makeup from images that look like them like they need like like for for uh and they would explain this to me in detail. They would say things to me like, um, you need to have an unattainable image of beauty that someone could never hope to achieve for them to buy your product. And I'm like, okay. Or maybe people are sick and tired of seeing people that don't look like them, you know, cuz for me, I have rosacea, bright red, bumpy everywhere on my cheeks and my nose and my forehead,

and I couldn't find makeup that worked for me, right? My whole company started with a problem I didn't know how to solve. and and I realized, oh, I've never seen any models, but, you know, selling makeup that look like me, that have skin challenges and and then I would try all the products and they wouldn't work. And so, I just kind of like had this gut feeling, well, you know, if I, you know, am this age or size or skin tone or the skin challenge or whatever it is, and I don't see someone who is showing me the product works for them, how do I know it works for me? It was just intuitive to me, but it it wasn't being done. And they all told me like, if literally if you want to get in our stores, you know, here's what you need to do. And those are the moments, Nicole, that define our lives when our gut tells us one thing, but like in my case, I had no money. I was didn't know if we were going to like for

three years, I didn't know how we were going to stay in business, right? and and I made the decision to listen to my gut and to not change what it was telling me about what to do with our brand. Uh and that is I believe like critical [snorts] to ever building anything that lasts or anything that matters. when you change who you are authentically and I'm I even when it comes to your product or your positioning or you know your vision when you start changing that because you want to get into a store or or get onto someone's site who's huge or you know whatever it is um it's a short-term pop in in revenue and it feels good for a minute but long term I think I think um I think it's one of the biggest reasons why tens of thousands of founders don't make it because they start getting distracted by what everyone else tells them is right for their brand or is hot or is going to make them money uh and

they dilute their own authentic secret sauce and at the end of the day you can't fake authenticity and customers are smart and they know it and over time it never works when you when you go against what you authentically know for your brand.

Do you think intuition is grossly misunderstood and underrated? I think it's misunderstood because I think that we have so much noise around us. I believe Gary, like every person listening, whether they're 12 years old or 112 years old, I think I think we all have intuition, like a knowing inside of us, then I think our knowing is always right. I think our knowing is I'm sorry, finish.

No, no. I was gonna say I think our knowing is more powerful even than anyone else's advice. But I think that we have so much noise around us from other people's opinions to our own self-doubt,

right, that it gets so loud we start to not even be able to hear our own intuition anymore. So most people haven't even heard their own intuition in a long time or they don't know how.

I would tell you that I couldn't applaud that POV more. It is my belief that my happiness which matters to me the most and then comma my success which I have pride in my professional life is 100% predicated on my inability to compromise my intuition. I believe intuition is uncomfortably misunderstood. I believe that a students and very narrow uh kind of rigid thinkers which most people are have demonized intuition.

I think intuition is looked upon as careless and is positioned as silly or flaky or whatever else you want to call it. And I will tell you that it is basically something that I've started exploring with myself and I believe it is a category of information that I will talk a lot more about because basically everything good that I've decided that has gone on to be very very good has been far more based on intuition than anything else. I you know I have the exact same experiences like like how I broke through this crazy crowded beauty space and and built something that ended up passing all of the the companies I used to save my tip money as a Denny's waitress to buy in department stores was literally figuring out how to hear my own intuition and then trust it. That's the other part of it, right? And like I love that you're talking about this. And by the way, for so many people, that's how they hear God or their faith,

whatever faith they practice, right? Or or even the universe, they hear it through their own intuition. And um I think it's like I think it's your superpower. That's what I think. Um, I think that it's literally the one thing that changes everything that if I were an entrepreneur or even just someone that wanted to go after a dream or I mean that's the biggest thing I would focus on is how do I tune into and hear my own gut and how do I differentiate that from all the noise around me or other people?

What what is your intuition? Funny. Uh, I do say that a lot. I I just realized what is your intuition on the other ingredient needed for this to actually work which is the ability to be comfortable with failure because I'll tell you the reason I'm in love with my intuition is a couple reasons. One, humility. My intuition has been the driver of so much success. It has also led to many failures.

It is my capacity to be comfortable in my micro failure that has allowed me to continuously trust my intuition. thoughts.

Yeah, thoughts are, okay, I'm gonna say something you might freak out over or disagree.

I'm really excited. I think I think every time your intuition leads you to a failure, I don't think it's a failure. I think it's part of your your your uh destiny and your destinous journey, where you had to build that muscle.

So, can I stop you because I don't think that's crazy at all. I actually it makes me want to ask you something else. Do you believe that your optimism in your blood and soul is also an required ingredient to make what we're talking about here work? Because what I'm thinking about is the people on the other side, right? And now we're listening to two successful people talking about intuition and they're basically saying, "Fuck these two." Like, "Okay, good." But like, you guys got lucky. And I know that I know a million people that have quoteunquote got lucky in different levels of success financially um but have happiness of their journey, but it is ingredients.

It's a it's a concoction. It is not a straight like it's kind of like diseases, right? It's never like oh pepper. No, it's like for example with COVID I hear like it's this thing and then the zinc can get in. It's mixtures, right? HIV, right? It was a cocktail. I'm listening carefully to you. We went intuition. Now what I want to know we then we went with capacity to be comfortable with failure aka humility.

Now I'm asking you because your answer is like no no no Gary let me send you a different way and I'm with you on this. I actually I view them as micro failures but to your point life is so serendipitous you just don't know

you know but I but I'm fascinated by your next the next statement which looks like this. Do you believe that your optimism allows this all to work? Because if you are looking at losses as in well this was meant to be part of my journey and this scar is actually attractive because that's how I think about it. I think about all those losses as scars and like that scar giving you character and that's attractive. Do you believe that optimism was an incredibly big factor and ingredient in your success?

I think optimism is great. I think though that knowing why we're doing what we're doing, listening to our gut, and going after our calling, like literally living our calling. I think that's the victory.

Hold on. Hold on, though. Here's here's an interesting question. Every human needs levels of affirmation along the way to sustain that,

right? And so in the beginning where you're not seeing those results for many and I you might have you know I've always seen results pretty quickly in my good calls. So I I always try to think about someone who's not seeing it. So because they don't have optimism they have delusion and they think they're going to be you know Beyonce when they can't sing right. Do do you feel like the you know believing in your calling gets affirmed along the way?

What do you rely on in that beginning? Don't you think blind faith is actually completely grounded in optimism?

I mean, for me, my faith is a huge part of my of my life. I I'm gonna take religion as faith out on the I'm saying I'm I was, you know, I'm just thinking about you, young you, in this moment and I'm really fascinated by it. I'm meant to do this because what you're talking about is what I love, which is the journey.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to get into your Go ahead, please. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say I don't think the victory is the outcome, right? I don't think the victory Listen, I know I know how accomplished you are and everything. I know you're going to have the New York Jets one day. I know all that, but I don't think that's the victory. I think the victory is is is the journey of actually like stepping into all of who you are and not talking yourself out of your own truth. And what I mean by that is this journey of that we're talking about, right? of course optimism, of course, uh resiliency to get back up every time you're knocked down, of course all those things. But I think that so many people listening right now, if they don't ever learn to get still and hear their own truth and hear their own intuition, I think what's going to happen, and this is what happens to most people, is they end up

uh staying in their comfort zone. They end up uh uh putting other their own immediate failures on a pedestal or other people's opinions or self-doubt, they end up talking themselves out of their own truth and then they end up never actually becoming the person they're born to be. So for me, I don't think like the fact that I was able to build a billion dollar company is the victory. I think the moment of me knowing this is what I'm supposed to do and trusting it even when it doesn't make sense. Um, and I'll give you one example, okay, of of this. So, and maybe this will this will make sense because optimism of course is important and I know what you're saying,

but I think the biggest thing is learning how to hear yourself and trust yourself. I really believe that. Um there was a moment

how do you how do you define that that as a term because I view that as self-belief and confidence and optimism. I'm just I think that you're such a you know very quickly I'm like oh she okay this is this is my sister like literally within the first three seconds you're like oh I see oh I see. So what I'm trying to do and I apologize because I want I'm hoping a different voice might do this for the listener. I'm trying to figure out what words you use to quantify. I fully agree with you everything you're saying. I I'm wondering if you view optimism as so I think optimism similar to what we were talking about earlier sometimes gets pegged as delusion.

Yeah. And I've been thinking, you see where I'm going? Because I could almost feel you doing that right now. And I'm like, I get you sister because like like this isn't why I like it's so word smithing matters, right? Like for example, hustle has gotten demonized as like burnout. So I no longer use it

because I don't need it. You know what I'm going to call it? Work ethic. Call it what you want. Here's what I can tell you. for all the belief you had and all the love you had in doing what you were doing, I'm a pretty confident based on your outcome that there was a lot of work ethic there. And so, whatever you want to call it, and sometimes I just think about I know the word hustle triggers people, so I use the word work ethic now because I don't want to ever not let anybody who cares to listen to me not realize that if you don't put in the work, it is impossible. Thoughts on that? [snorts]

Yeah, I agree with that. And I just had a big aha moment that what you're saying is optimism. I a billion percent agree with and I I I'm thinking of that right now as belief. Um same thing. Yep. And now I'm right there with you. Like here's the thing when when and then I want to share one quick story with you too that I hopefully someone listening right now maybe needs to hear. But I mean when I look back it's like when people are like oh how did you start with close to nothing and build a billion dollar company? It's like, yeah, I got, you know, I got back up every time I got knocked down and I followed my gut and I worked really, really hard.

Uh, but I do think that one of the most important things I did was just like how to build a billion dollar company from nothing. Like I think one of the most important things is making that decision to believe that you can.

Yes. And for me that that's optimism exactly what you're saying and I and I guess I call it belief. So yeah, a million% with that. Um, and one more thing just on maybe people listening to us right now that are like, "Oh, Gary, like Jamie, I, you know, I trust my gut sometimes and it's wrong or I tried it once and it didn't work or I don't know how, you know, don't know how to hear my own intuition." I just want to say I think that it is a muscle that we can all build. And I think people have to give themselves grace, right? It's almost, it reminds me of like when you start to meditate, a lot of people try it and they can't do it. they're like they go through their to-do list in their head the whole time they're trying to meditate or but you have to like give yourself grace and start and you know what I would say uh whether it's entrepreneurs or someone who's 14 years old and out there dating right now I

would say when you start to look back at your experiences and think about moments when you had a gut feeling and you didn't follow it like we've all dated like a sketchy guy or like or had a and like you're like you know his phone didn't really just dis like shut off for three days or he didn't lose the phone he like you know and then you kind of make that decision of like okay

talk talk to me about I mean we are really vibing here I actually want to talk to you offline because I just have had the thought um talk to like I'm sorry to interrupt but I'm so excited

right insecurity right because you're like to me like thinking to my girlfriends friends that were girls that were dating guys that I knew what the guys were doing which was they were praying on my friends insecurities and sometimes brilliant, beautiful girls and I'm like this sucks.

Yeah, this woman, it really triggered something in me. This woman, I'm thinking about four or five friends through the last 20 years. This woman is subjectively and if we had a hundred people ask is a million miles better than this man. This man has figured out the cheat code that if he makes her feel insecure, he has the leverage. Thoughts?

Yep. I think that happens every single day. And I think that we uh we look for people that um treat us how we believe we deserve to be treated like like we find partners.

So So you go you go with cool before you worry about jerk off Johnny. This is a big game of your own lack of self-love towards you.

It's your own lack of self-love because here's the thing and I don't know your friend so I'll just say this. I I'll make a general statement.

You you'll appreciate this. This was mainly 17 to 25 years old because you see that so commonly there. I mean in later stages, you know, people are in really deep relationships and you're in different parts of your life. When you're going through high school and college, you're spending so much time with people, you get better reads to the cle the cleanness of the data is like, oh, this is really up. When you're older, you're running in different circles, you don't really get to see it as easily,

right? And I think that whether you know, no matter your age, this is what I believe. I think that when someone's treating us like crap and we stay with them, I think it's because it's we deep down inside don't believe we deserve better yet. And here's the thing for for people like that that are dating your friend who's totally screwing them over, right? If you were to bring the the best, most amazing, beautifully like kind person into their space, that same girl would probably put them in the friend zone.

I couldn't agree more. Yeah. Because they couldn't believe. Yeah. It's what they're and and also people value different things through their life. You know, one of the things, you know, right now we live through a generation desperately interested in blaming social media for lack of accountability. They're just pointing fingers,

right? Like it if you are in a good place with yourself and your perspective is strong around gratitude, an anonymous person's negative comment is not going to ruin your day.

Yeah. And I think when it does, I think that's what's so tough, right? That's when it's a reminder to ourselves like, "Oh yeah, we have some more work to do." Um, one of the things I talk about in my book, Believe It, is just that ability to learn to turn down the volume uh on certain things and turn up the volume on other things. Like one one example, um, we were three years into building the company, right? I was hearing no from everyone, Gary. Like from all the retailers I dreamed of carrying our products that I used to shop in, right?

I would save my tip money like I mentioned as a Denny's waitress and buy products at the department stores or

in what and what and J what what what year was this? Uh so so we launched 2007 uh like I quit my job 2007 I wrote the business plan on my honeymoon flight to South Africa with my husband. Not the most romantic way to kick off a marriage. And we both got back uh quit our jobs dove all in. I thought Gary maybe so many entrepreneurs listening. I thought, "Oh, if I just pour everything I have and actually create a product that works, like it's just going to sell. If it's that good, it's just going to sell." Uh, and then I didn't realize it would be the hard. I mean, I've had a lot of jobs in in my life, but being an entrepreneur is by far.

Well, you especially also built that brand different than building a brand today where you can use Shopify and social media to build it. You had to get a yes from Sephora, Ulta, you know, Walmart, Walgreens, and you know, Macy, whoever it was. And that is difficult when you're innovating the way you did. Do you know that my whole life is no? Do you know Vayner Media? A lot of people listening don't know this. Most brands don't want to say yes to Vayner Media. We don't want to do a commercial and then go to sleep. Like, we don't want to take 12 weeks to do the perfect commercial and then do print ads that look like it or banner ads or digital programmatic. My whole life building Vayner Media is no. Everything I do as Gary Vee is easy. I just do it with the audience. But Vayner Media is exactly I know what you're living through because when you innovate and you're doing something different and you don't look

the part, you didn't work at Proctor and Gamble for 13 years. Yeah. Like what's this Washington State thing? Like they you know you know what it is.

Well and it's wild because I would go in and start you know I would pitch the product and you know we were staying alive uh on social media. So we were getting, you know, people were were writing just blogs at that point and we were selling like one to three orders a day on our website and people were were spreading the word. That was the only way we we barely stayed alive. But all the retailers exactly what you said and by the way I've learned this like when you're doing something that's authentic or that is different. But even if it's just authentic to you even in a crowded industry by definition it's novel. By definition it's never been done before.

And I really believe looking back now at this journey and and and and everything I believe that like even v even a lot of visionaries touted visionaries I think they can't imagine anything being successful unless subconsciously they have they have proof in the back that they've already seen it and it's already worked. So it's like of course so many people are going to say no to your dream or doubt your dream if they've never seen it done before. And we had three years of every single beauty retailer saying no you're not the right fit. Uh it's not going to work. you're not right for our customers. And I kept, and by the way, we talk about gut feeling. I kept having this gut feeling we're supposed to go on QVC because then I could actually like show my bright red rosacea and prove live that our product works, unlike the photoshopped ads on TV. And this is just something to share for someone who might need to hear this

right now who's having a gut feeling, but they feel like they're wrong. Like I kept having this feeling and every time I would do a meeting with QVC, it would be a no. every phone call I'd finally get like I got their head guy Alan Burke on the phone. Um he's like a legend. He's responsible for building this billion-dollar uh beauty empire on QVC and I finally got him on a call and I thought for sure it was going to be a yes and because if he is taking his precious time and it was about a minute into the call and he said, "I just need to let you know we've reviewed your product with all the buyers. It's unanimous. It's a no. You're not the right fit for QVC." And of course I like poured my heart out. I'm like, "Oh, but I am the right fit." And then I, you know, we were down under $1,000 in our bank account at that point. So I remember like crying myself to sleep.

And long story short, a year later when I finally did get a yes to go on QVC, um, I took this big risk that that I was advised not to by consultants and I put real women of all shapes and sizes and skin tones and skin challenges and I showed my own bare face and all the things that had never been done before.

We sold out at the 10-minute mark. I was crying on national television because it's live. QVC is live to a 100 million homes.

You knew you knew the truth and your heart would win, not you know, students telling you what to do.

Yeah. You know, and and listen, it was a big risk, but I feel like I know this lesson that like I know this and now I've seen it play out with thousands of entrepreneurs over the years, but you I know that authenticity alone doesn't guarantee success, but in authenticity guarantee.

[screaming] Every single one of us has had someone tell us we're not enough.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "This Explains Why You Should Trust Your Gut Over the Voice of Doubt | Jamie Kern Lima"?

Jamie Kern Lima (Guest), Lisa Mason (Guest).

What is "This Explains Why You Should Trust Your Gut Over the Voice of Doubt | Jamie Kern Lima" about?

The discussion emphasizes the importance of trusting one's gut instincts over external doubts, particularly in the context of pursuing personal ambitions despite setbacks and societal pressures. Jamie Kern Lima reflects on her journey from being a struggling news anchor with self-doubt to embracing her purpose of helping others, highlighting how resilience and a deep-seated belief in her…

What is mentioned in this Jamie Kern Lima episode?

5 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including IT Cosmetics, QVC, Believe It, SBA, California Bank and Trust. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "This Explains Why You Should Trust Your Gut Over the Voice of Doubt | Jamie Kern Lima"?

The episode runs 1 h 32 min; the transcript is about 18,170 words in 187 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 January 24, 2026.