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[00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:05.680] Hey, Entrepreneurs, it's Steph here with a special invite just for you.
[00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:10.800] Do you want to experience what it's like to be part of our Entrepreneursa League community of founders?
[00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.400] Now is your chance.
[00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:21.360] You can join me this month at one of our upcoming Entrepreneursa League info sessions where I'm going to share with you all you're going to get access to when you join the community.
[00:00:21.360 --> 00:00:27.040] Plus, I'll be giving away some big bonuses that you will only be able to get access to when you attend live.
[00:00:27.040 --> 00:00:35.600] Head over to refer.entrepanista.com forward slash info session to join us at one of our virtual info sessions this month.
[00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:40.640] That's refer.entrepranista.com forward slash info session.
[00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.560] Or head over to the show notes right now and tap the link to join us.
[00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:49.280] I can't wait to meet you there and learn more about you and your business.
[00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:56.080] Fears lie to us and they tell us, you know, that we're safe if we don't step out and they keep us stuck.
[00:00:56.080 --> 00:01:03.040] But so often, like our faith to take a risk, right, to be an entrepreneur, our faith requires courage that we don't know that we have.
[00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:04.640] And so we end up staying stuck.
[00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:14.000] And the problem with staying stuck is you then live your whole life with this longing or this ache in your gut because you know more was assigned to your name.
[00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:33.120] When Jamie Lima started experiencing rosacea at her dream job as a TV anchor and couldn't find a makeup brand with the right coverage, she decided she had to launch her own line.
[00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:39.200] After drafting a business plan on her honeymoon, she launched it cosmetics and the rest is history.
[00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:49.840] You're about to hear the incredible story of how Jamie built her brand through pure grit and perseverance and finally sold it for $1.2 billion to L'Oreal.
[00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:57.680] She also gives us a sneak peek into her new book, Believe It, How to Go From Underestimated to Unstoppable.
[00:01:58.320 --> 00:02:05.400] Coming up, Jamie shares how she overcame self-doubt and finally decided to trust the feeling in her gut.
[00:02:05.960 --> 00:02:11.480] The early days of building at Cosmetics, including a funny story about her middle name.
[00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:16.120] Jamie shares her experience raising money and the lesson she learned from it.
[00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:21.080] She shares why feedback is a gift and rejection is protection.
[00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:28.200] And finally, how she juggled running her business and becoming a mother after 10 years of infertility.
[00:02:33.640 --> 00:02:42.280] Jamie, we are so excited to sit down with you this afternoon and learn all about your entrepreneur journey.
[00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:52.200] You have had quite the ride as an entrepreneur, but I would really love to know what inspired you to launch your beauty brand.
[00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:55.320] And did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
[00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:58.440] Well, first, thank you so much for having me.
[00:02:58.440 --> 00:02:59.880] It is an honor.
[00:02:59.880 --> 00:03:04.840] And yeah, you know, I think I always felt entrepreneurial, right?
[00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:09.960] From the time I was little, I would, you know, save my Easter candy and think about could I sell this?
[00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:12.920] And just little thoughts like that that I remember.
[00:03:12.920 --> 00:03:18.040] But, you know, I actually didn't know I was going to launch at Cosmetics.
[00:03:18.040 --> 00:03:22.600] It started, and I definitely didn't know it would one day be a billion dollar company.
[00:03:22.600 --> 00:03:27.160] And the journey along the way definitely didn't look like that was what was going to happen.
[00:03:27.160 --> 00:03:36.360] But, you know, it started out of a big idea, I guess, an aha moment, a problem that I was having that I couldn't figure out how to solve.
[00:03:36.360 --> 00:04:00.320] And I think so many entrepreneurs, I should say entrepreneuristas, and also just people who start to realize or step into their purpose realize that often their purpose on how to give and serve and feel fulfilled can come from like a pain point or a painful experience or something even they made a mistake or weren't proud of or had a hard time.
[00:04:00.320 --> 00:04:10.000] And all of a sudden, later down the road, it kind of births this idea or births this purpose where you realize, wow, what I went through, I can use to help other people.
[00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:10.240] Right.
[00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:18.240] And so, you know, for me, I thought since the time I was a little girl, I was going to have my own talk show and I would watch Oprah every single day.
[00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:20.320] And I loved other people's stories.
[00:04:20.320 --> 00:04:25.840] And so, you know, fast forward to I'm an adult and I was working in what I thought was my dream job.
[00:04:25.840 --> 00:04:29.280] I was anchoring the news and I thought, you know, this is it.
[00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:32.400] And I entered a season of setback in my life.
[00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:37.520] I started getting a skin condition called rosacea, which is hereditary and there's no cure for it.
[00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:45.520] And for me, it would show up in the form of like really big, bumpy red skin all over my cheeks and nose and forehead.
[00:04:45.520 --> 00:04:53.920] And what started happening was I would be anchoring the news live and I would hear my earpiece from my producer, there's something on your face, there's something on your face, you need to wipe it off.
[00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:59.120] And I'd be live on television and I quickly realized like, oh, there's nothing I can wipe off.
[00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.200] It's that my makeup isn't working.
[00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:05.680] It's breaking up under the hot HD lights and the big red bumps are coming through everywhere.
[00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:10.080] And so it started this season of what I thought was setback in my life.
[00:05:10.080 --> 00:05:12.560] And what I mean by that is like, I thought it was my dream job.
[00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:15.440] And I was like, oh my gosh, am I going to get fired?
[00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:17.120] And I'd be anchoring the news live.
[00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:19.360] And, you know, we all have like an inner critic, right?
[00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:22.080] That in our lives, we learn how to handle.
[00:05:22.080 --> 00:05:23.520] It's a lifelong process.
[00:05:23.520 --> 00:05:28.080] But my inner critic would say things like, you know, viewers are probably changing the channel right now.
[00:05:28.080 --> 00:05:29.360] Are ratings going down?
[00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:30.200] Like all of those things.
[00:05:30.440 --> 00:05:42.040] And so it started this journey of trying every makeup product out there from the drugstores to the department stores to the pro makeup lines and nothing would work.
[00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:50.440] So, you know, maybe a lot of entrepreneurs listening can relate to this, but I had this moment where I got this gut feeling all of a sudden.
[00:05:50.440 --> 00:05:56.840] Like, what if you launch a company and figure out how to make a product that actually works for you?
[00:05:56.840 --> 00:05:59.080] It'll probably help a lot of other people.
[00:05:59.080 --> 00:06:04.760] So my gut had that feeling, but for a long time, my head talked myself out of it.
[00:06:04.760 --> 00:06:11.400] Like, I would think things like, oh, but you don't know anything about the beauty industry and you have no connections and you got no money.
[00:06:11.400 --> 00:06:13.000] And like, you know what I mean?
[00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:14.280] And you're in your dream job.
[00:06:14.280 --> 00:06:23.800] And so it was this kind of battle between this, this feeling of knowing that was strong in my gut, but didn't make any sense in my head.
[00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:31.240] And long story short, I eventually decided to trust myself, to trust that feeling in my gut.
[00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:36.520] And even though I didn't know how the heck it was going to work out, I didn't know how hard it was going to be, that was for sure.
[00:06:36.520 --> 00:06:37.800] But I made the decision to trust it.
[00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:41.480] And I think in life, those are the moments that change our lives.
[00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:43.560] Those are the moments that define our lives, right?
[00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:49.160] When we turn down the volume on our head and turn it up on our gut.
[00:06:49.160 --> 00:07:04.360] And so I made the decision to, my husband and I on our honeymoon flight to South Africa, wrote the business plan, got back, quit our jobs, took the little savings we had, which poured it into creating a first product and launched at Cosmetics.
[00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:09.560] And at that point, I had no idea it would be three years before I could afford to pay myself.
[00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:14.360] And it would be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of no's from from everyone.
[00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:32.000] But at that that was the moment i was officially an entrepreneur that's an incredible story and and certainly very inspiring how did you figure out how to create your first your first product line Yeah, well, so I got so scrappy.
[00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:43.680] And I love that you guys talk about this because a lot of times before we started recording today, we were just kind of talking about how the stuff you see on Instagram, you never see the real stories behind the stories.
[00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:48.080] Everything just looks like people have it all together and their brand just has beautiful branding.
[00:07:48.080 --> 00:07:56.480] And that's awesome, except for sometimes when you're the one that's the entrepreneur and you're going through the journey, you can feel alone in your own struggle.
[00:07:56.640 --> 00:08:11.360] It's really frankly why I wrote Believe It, my new book, because over a number of years, right after I would get these emails or these DMs and people would say like, oh my gosh, I read how you were, you know, went from Denny's waitress to billion dollar entrepreneur.
[00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:14.640] Like, did you just get lucky or did you have connections or all these things?
[00:08:14.640 --> 00:08:23.280] And what I realized is that, you know, and then they would share like maybe they're not having traction in their business and they took a chance to be an entrepreneur, but it's harder than they thought.
[00:08:23.280 --> 00:08:24.720] And maybe their gut was wrong.
[00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:36.480] And I realized like, wow, if we don't ever really share like the real stories behind the stories, people feel alone in their own struggles or their own lack of, you know, traction in their businesses.
[00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:49.520] So, you know, that's really one of the big reasons I wrote Believe It was to share like the real stories behind the stories, but also just to share the journey of my real journeys as a girl who went from not believing in herself to learning how to.
[00:08:49.520 --> 00:09:17.080] And for me, when you go from not believing in yourself to learning how, and you go, you figure out how to hear your own gut, those two things are the most powerful business tools any entrepreneursa can ever have because those are the two things that are most often why people quit, most often why people give up, most often why people end up talking themselves out of their own truth or changing course in their business to one that's less authentic because they're getting distracted by everything going on.
[00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:18.760] But anyhow, it was tough.
[00:09:18.760 --> 00:09:21.720] And in the beginning, I had to get really scrappy.
[00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:22.680] We had very little money.
[00:09:22.680 --> 00:09:30.200] So figuring out how to launch our first product and not knowing anything about the beauty industry, first of all, of course, Google was awesome.
[00:09:30.920 --> 00:09:41.880] But at that point, then it's just going, okay, well, you know, I'm going to pour every penny I have into making our first product, but how do I make sure that I'm going to find the best chemist to work with?
[00:09:41.880 --> 00:09:50.120] And that, you know, I'd done my research online to know enough about how okay it needs to be regulatory compliant, FDA compliant, all the things you've got to find.
[00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:53.400] But then what I realized quickly is in the beauty space, right?
[00:09:53.400 --> 00:09:58.440] This is a, and especially when I launched at Cosmetics, it's an industry of giants.
[00:09:58.680 --> 00:10:01.640] It feels almost impossible to break into.
[00:10:01.640 --> 00:10:08.840] And what I quickly learned was who a beauty company manufactures with is their most closely guarded secret.
[00:10:08.840 --> 00:10:12.440] So I was like, how do I find, you know, what year is this, Jamie?
[00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:13.240] Oh, goodness.
[00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:15.080] Let me think what year is this?
[00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:18.680] This would be 2008.
[00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:19.240] Okay.
[00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:21.960] Yeah, 2008, 2009.
[00:10:22.280 --> 00:10:27.560] So I literally walked into Sephora, which I love shop.
[00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:33.400] When I was a Denny's waitress, I would save my tip money to buy products at Sephora or the department stores.
[00:10:33.880 --> 00:10:37.960] So I made a list of every brand I loved inside Sephora.
[00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:41.320] I did the same in Ulta Beauty and in department stores.
[00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:47.840] And you guys, I literally cold called from my living room every single company, whoever I could get on the phone.
[00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:53.040] And I'd be like, Hi, I'm looking for a great manufacturer.
[00:10:53.040 --> 00:10:56.320] Can you let me know who you use or the reference?
[00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.760] And literally, everyone would either hang up or be like, I'm sorry, we don't disclose that.
[00:10:59.760 --> 00:11:01.040] Or, you know, on and on.
[00:11:01.040 --> 00:11:02.240] I got one person.
[00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:04.320] I won't share the brand, but one person.
[00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:05.600] And this girl was so sweet.
[00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:06.960] And she's like, oh, yeah.
[00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.440] And she told me who they use in New York City.
[00:11:09.520 --> 00:11:11.040] I'm like, okay, and I got the information.
[00:11:11.040 --> 00:11:14.000] And the good thing is they're not really a competitor to at cosmetics.
[00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:19.280] They're like totally different positioned brand, but she definitely shouldn't have shared that, but she did.
[00:11:19.280 --> 00:11:21.040] And it was like, okay.
[00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:30.240] And so I called the manufacturer, got a first meeting, realized that they're incredible and make products for most of the top beauty companies in the country.
[00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:32.400] And that's how I found my first manufacturer.
[00:11:32.400 --> 00:11:45.920] And then just going to trade shows and just literally trying to take it all in and do the work and stare at all the product packaging components to try and figure out who they work with because they're not allowed to tell you to see if they're legit or not.
[00:11:45.920 --> 00:11:48.560] And it was just really kind of grassroots.
[00:11:48.560 --> 00:11:59.360] And in my book, Believe It, I share like a lot of those stories that I think are important, which is, you know, even like my middle name is Marie, and I couldn't afford to hire anybody in the early years.
[00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:05.200] And so Marie, so my name is Jamie Marie Kern Lima, and Marie got her own email address.
[00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:08.480] And she was head of PR and head of customer service.
[00:12:09.680 --> 00:12:16.720] I mean, she would pitch, if this were today, Marie would email the two of you and be like, great news.
[00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:19.120] Our founder is available to be on your podcast.
[00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.320] Like Marie was like this hustler trying to get press.
[00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:27.200] And it was just really, really scrappy for the first several years.
[00:12:34.760 --> 00:12:35.960] Hi, Entrepreneurs.
[00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:37.080] It's Steph here.
[00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:43.640] As a founder, I know firsthand that building a business can feel so lonely, but it doesn't have to.
[00:12:43.640 --> 00:12:48.360] And that's why we created our Entrepreneur Founders Weekend Wealth and Wellness Retreat.
[00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:50.520] And I can't wait to meet you in person there.
[00:12:50.520 --> 00:13:04.680] So you're officially invited to join us from April 30th to May 3rd, 2026 at the stunning PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for three transformative days of connection, collaboration, and real business growth.
[00:13:04.680 --> 00:13:06.840] This isn't just another business conference.
[00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:15.240] It is a curated retreat designed to help you build authentic, lasting relationships with women who truly understand your journey.
[00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:22.040] From business panels and workshops to wellness activations and so much more, this is the room that you need to be in.
[00:13:22.040 --> 00:13:33.480] So if you are ready to invest in yourself and your business and your vision and your next level of success, head over to entrepreneursa.com forward slash foundersweekend to reserve your ticket today.
[00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:41.800] That's entrepreneur.com forward slash foundersweekend or head over to the show notes right now and tap the invitation to reserve your ticket.
[00:13:41.800 --> 00:13:43.160] I'll see you there.
[00:13:52.920 --> 00:13:56.280] At what point did you decide to raise money?
[00:13:57.480 --> 00:13:59.720] So it's so funny how that works.
[00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:05.480] We wanted to, we would, we were open from day one, but no one was interested.
[00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:09.080] And so it was, so the first few years were a challenge.
[00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:13.960] Fast forward, three years in, hundreds and hundreds of no's in.
[00:14:14.280 --> 00:14:16.160] Well, so two things.
[00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:18.640] I'll tell you two quick stories on this.
[00:14:18.640 --> 00:14:26.320] I have, there's a famous saying out there, rejection is God's protection, or some people say rejection is the universe's protection.
[00:14:26.640 --> 00:14:52.720] I would say when it comes to raising money, I think I went through a number of years where I was like, let me just raise money so I don't go bankrupt or so the business makes it or so, you know, and then, and then later there's a whole different phase of growth in a company where you're like, oh, can I take some money off the table and actually know that I'll be okay, like know that I'll at least be able to pay my own bills, like all the things, right?
[00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:57.040] And then there's, you know, there's, there's levels in the journey, right?
[00:14:57.040 --> 00:15:01.440] And so the first few years, it was like, oh, can, how are we going to stay alive?
[00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:08.560] Because, you know, a lot of people know it cosmetics today, which right now, as we're speaking together, it's the largest luxury makeup company in the country.
[00:15:08.560 --> 00:15:14.160] So it's larger than all those brands I used to save my Denny's tip money to buy in department stores.
[00:15:14.160 --> 00:15:15.280] And it's amazing.
[00:15:15.280 --> 00:15:21.840] But for a number of years, we had under a thousand dollars in our bank account and personal and company.
[00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:23.440] I mean, it was like there were years.
[00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:33.280] And, you know, anyone maybe who just needs to hear this in your community, like there's years where you go, we would go, I get $20 from the ATM and I would hit no receipt, no receipt.
[00:15:33.280 --> 00:15:37.680] I couldn't bear, I couldn't stomach to see the balance on the account.
[00:15:37.680 --> 00:15:40.560] And I didn't know how we were going to make it for a number of years.
[00:15:40.560 --> 00:15:46.640] And I had what I thought was going to be a life-changing investor moment in the journey.
[00:15:46.640 --> 00:16:00.920] And we heard from a big private equity group who's really well known for in the consumer product space for taking lots of like, you know, pre-revenue companies and making them household names that a lot of us buy at grocery stores.
[00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:06.280] And anyhow, they got their hands on our product and one of our first products, Buy by Under Eye, and they loved it.
[00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:07.000] They loved the product.
[00:16:07.160 --> 00:16:09.000] They were so excited about the brand.
[00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:10.840] And so we started taking meetings with them.
[00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:16.760] And, you know, we did several meetings and we got to the diligence phase where we show them our whole future product pipeline.
[00:16:16.760 --> 00:16:18.600] And, you know, we had, I mean, we had no money.
[00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:24.920] We were, we were tiny at the time, but I had a great presentation and we kept meeting and meeting and we got to the final phase.
[00:16:24.920 --> 00:16:28.200] And I thought they were going to invest and I thought it was going to be life-changing.
[00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:30.600] And we flew out for the final meeting.
[00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:33.160] And the head guy, I mean, they were lovely.
[00:16:33.160 --> 00:16:36.120] And he says to me, you know, we really believe in your product.
[00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:37.320] Congratulations.
[00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:38.680] But it's a no.
[00:16:38.680 --> 00:16:41.560] We're going to pass on investing in cosmetics.
[00:16:41.560 --> 00:16:43.400] And I was like three feet from him in person.
[00:16:43.400 --> 00:16:46.200] And I said, okay, can you tell me why?
[00:16:46.440 --> 00:16:49.800] And by this point, you guys, I'd heard no hundreds of times, right?
[00:16:49.800 --> 00:16:53.240] And, but I always think feedback is a gift usually.
[00:16:53.560 --> 00:16:55.560] And I'm like, can you, can you tell me why?
[00:16:55.560 --> 00:16:58.520] And he goes, do you want me to be really honest with you?
[00:16:58.520 --> 00:17:00.200] And I'm like, yes, please.
[00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:01.560] And he's like three feet from me.
[00:17:01.560 --> 00:17:08.680] And he says, I just don't think women will buy makeup from someone who looks like you with your body and your weight.
[00:17:09.320 --> 00:17:11.560] And I remember this moment.
[00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:13.000] So two things.
[00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:17.560] First, like a lifetime of body doubt, like flood in my body.
[00:17:17.560 --> 00:17:19.960] And I felt like I was staring my own fear straight in the eye.
[00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:23.400] I never actually felt mad or angry toward him.
[00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:28.760] I realized, oh, wow, you know, later, I mean, I went out in my car and cried all those things.
[00:17:28.760 --> 00:17:34.920] But two things, in that moment, when he said those words to me, I just don't think women will buy makeup from someone who looks like you with your body and your weight.
[00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:36.040] I'll never forget this.
[00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.600] And I just want to share it for every person listening.
[00:17:38.600 --> 00:17:43.480] I had this gut feeling in that moment, like this feeling that said he's wrong.
[00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:45.680] It was a feeling in my gut, right?
[00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.520] I didn't know how I was going to prove it.
[00:17:44.840 --> 00:17:48.160] I didn't know.
[00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:54.080] I had no, I had no proof of success I had, but I felt that feeling.
[00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:58.320] And I didn't hear from him for, you know, I didn't see him again for six years.
[00:17:58.320 --> 00:18:10.960] And, but many times in the next six years, and all of us have had people look us in the eye and say, you're not enough or change who you are or, you know, or not believe in us, right?
[00:18:11.280 --> 00:18:15.440] And I just want to share this because I did a lot of things wrong building at Cosmetics.
[00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:17.200] I share a lot of those in the book.
[00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:18.160] Believe it.
[00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:35.920] But one of the things I did right was I learned how when words like that, other people's doubt about me or about what I was doing, you know, for the next six years, when I would, those words would enter my head that he said, I would literally imagine myself turning down the volume on them.
[00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:42.480] And that feeling I had, that gut feeling, that knowing that said he's wrong, I remember it like it was yesterday.
[00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:47.920] I would literally tap into that feeling and try to focus on it and magnify it in my own mind.
[00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:59.200] It was a tool that I used to try and like turn down that, that, that's what could be easily self-doubt from other people's words and turn up that intuition, that knowing.
[00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:05.680] And really quickly, so six years later, the day L'Oreal acquired a cosmetics, it was the largest U.S.
[00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:06.720] acquisition in their history.
[00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:12.400] And they made the decision because they're a public company to share the sale price, which I didn't think they were.
[00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:16.640] I didn't know until the day before that they were going to actually disclose the purchase price.
[00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:23.120] So, all of a sudden, the day that the deal is announced, it's all over the homepage of the Wall Street Journal.
[00:19:23.120 --> 00:19:24.240] It's everywhere.
[00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:27.840] And I heard from that investor for the first time in six years.
[00:19:27.840 --> 00:19:30.280] And he's like, congratulations on the L'Oreal deal.
[00:19:30.280 --> 00:19:31.320] I was wrong.
[00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:35.240] I learned it would have been the most successful investment in his firm's history.
[00:19:35.560 --> 00:19:46.360] But also, I just want to share this for anyone going through a season of rejection or hard times, or they're trying to get an investor who just said no, or they're trying to get in a retail store who just said no, or on a website that just said no.
[00:19:46.360 --> 00:19:52.360] Like, I have learned, because I have thousands of stories like this one, rejection is protection.
[00:19:52.360 --> 00:20:06.840] And I remember this moment of realizing when he reached out to me, I was like, oh my gosh, like, okay, had he believed in me at the time, I was so desperate, you guys, I probably would have given him the majority of the company for like almost no money.
[00:20:06.840 --> 00:20:12.200] But he, because he didn't believe in me, and by the way, many other people did believe in me on the journey.
[00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:16.520] But by the time we sold to L'Oreal, we were still the largest shareholders.
[00:20:16.520 --> 00:20:19.560] And I was like, thank God.
[00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:21.960] Thank God he didn't believe in me.
[00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:28.680] I mean, but when we go through those moments, they're painful, they suck, they don't make sense at the time, they feel unfair.
[00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:31.640] Like, but I don't know, I have so many stories like that.
[00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:42.520] So, but we eventually did, to answer your question about investors, we eventually did meet with, once we started doing well on QVC, we started getting inbounds from different investors.
[00:20:42.520 --> 00:20:49.320] And really quick, since this is entrepreneurship, I don't think I've ever shared this tip on a podcast before, but let me just share this before I forget.
[00:20:49.320 --> 00:21:07.720] When we started getting inbounds from lots of investors, the one thing that I am so grateful for that we did, because a lot of them coming to us, I had friends that were with them at the time or companies that were currently in their portfolio or people or or their past portfolio looked amazing.
[00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:34.880] The one thing we did right wasn't just met with these potential investors or met with their current company in their portfolios but we actually requested to talk with and meet with companies that had already exited with them and that was huge because literally almost every investor that came to us, when we met with past companies and we'd reach out to them and say, can we talk with you about your experience with this investor?
[00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:43.360] And it was shocking the number of people that were like, well, I'd love to meet with you, but we're in litigation with them, so I can't, or, you know, all of these things.
[00:21:43.360 --> 00:21:44.800] I'm just like, whoa.
[00:21:44.800 --> 00:21:55.680] And so because instead of just meeting with the investor or their current portfolio, because we requested and said, you know, we let them know we're going to reach out to some of your past, your past partners.
[00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:59.520] And because we did that, that changed everything.
[00:21:59.520 --> 00:22:03.840] We ended up going with a company called TSG Consumer Partners.
[00:22:03.840 --> 00:22:12.960] And part of why we went with them was because all of their past investments and entrepreneurs that we reached out to had amazing things to say.
[00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:20.080] And they would say things like, oh yeah, our board meetings turned into really awesome working sessions instead of like pageantry and like all the stuff.
[00:22:20.080 --> 00:22:20.960] And so like, okay.
[00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.120] And we ended up having an amazing experience.
[00:22:23.120 --> 00:22:28.560] And the people at TSG are now dear friends of me, my husband's, and we sold the L'Oreal three years ago.
[00:22:28.560 --> 00:22:31.200] So, but they're still in our lives because they're really good people.
[00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:32.480] So I just want to share that.
[00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:39.600] A lot of people get excited when it's like the first time they have money coming in or the first time someone's interested in investing.
[00:22:39.600 --> 00:22:41.920] But it is like a marriage you can't get out of.
[00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:49.440] There's no, so you got to make sure, you got to make sure, talk to people that have already exited, not people with them now.
[00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:55.440] Because when you exit with a brand, that's when you really see how people handle things legally.
[00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:00.440] If they keep their word, if they prioritize, you know, you, all those things.
[00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:01.960] And so, that was huge.
[00:22:59.840 --> 00:23:05.240] So, yeah, we eventually partnered with TSG and it was great.
[00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:13.240] But by the time we saw the Royale, you're still the largest shareholders, and it was really, it was a really cool, cool journey.
[00:23:17.080 --> 00:23:23.560] Founders are always asking us, What has been the secret to our success building multiple seven-figure businesses?
[00:23:23.560 --> 00:23:24.920] Do you want to know how?
[00:23:24.920 --> 00:23:26.600] It's our community.
[00:23:26.600 --> 00:23:34.200] We created the Entrepreneursa League for founders like you because the most successful entrepreneurs do not navigate business alone.
[00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:40.040] We navigate the challenges and opportunities with the support of people we know, love, and trust.
[00:23:40.040 --> 00:23:43.880] The relationships you build in business will be the key to your success.
[00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:46.040] Trust me, it's how we've done it.
[00:23:46.040 --> 00:23:51.720] And I'm giving you access to everything we've used to grow and scale our businesses over the past decade.
[00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:56.120] Plus, you're going to meet your new best friends in business right inside the community.
[00:23:56.120 --> 00:24:18.440] Our members have access to everything we've used to grow our businesses over the past 10 plus years, from in-person events to virtual events, business education, funding resources, office hours with myself and other top founders in your industry, press opportunities, and access to our community platform where you can instantly get all of your business questions answered.
[00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:25.240] You can join us in the community over at refer.entreprenista.com forward slash join us.
[00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:31.000] That's refer.entreprenista.com forward slash join us to join the community.
[00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:34.360] Or head to the show notes right now and tap the link to join.
[00:24:34.360 --> 00:24:36.600] I cannot wait to meet you.
[00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:45.000] Jamie, I would love to hear a little bit about your journey being a mom and also going through, you know, your fertility experience.
[00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:53.280] I have a similar story in that, you know, I went through a very complicated fertility journey and then a very complicated pregnancy journey.
[00:24:53.280 --> 00:25:01.520] And I know managing all of that while trying to run a business while still trying to put on a smile for the world is definitely not easy.
[00:25:01.520 --> 00:25:05.280] So if you can share a little bit about your experience and what got you through.
[00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:06.320] Yeah.
[00:25:06.320 --> 00:25:08.000] And thank you for asking that.
[00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:12.880] Thank you also for, I know I've read some of what you've shared also with the community and stuff.
[00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:22.560] And I think that it's brave and beautiful because I think it's just a topic that a lot of people don't share and don't and feel alone in their own journey with.
[00:25:22.560 --> 00:25:30.480] And, you know, for me, my husband and I had tried for about 10 years to have a baby and I was, you know, running this company.
[00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:32.240] We'd built it cosmetics.
[00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:43.600] It sounds like it was just a big fairy tale, but it was a crazy journey of hundreds of no's, some really crazy yeses, a lot of mistakes I made, which I talk about in the book a lot about burnout.
[00:25:43.600 --> 00:25:51.840] And I was doing 100-hour weeks and, you know, kind of became addicted to work, which probably in my journey impacted my fertility journey as well.
[00:25:51.840 --> 00:25:56.000] So I was doing all that, and we had built it cosmetics to over a thousand employees.
[00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:01.200] So I was running that company and doing 250 live shows a year on QVC and doing all that.
[00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:14.000] And then I had this other part of my life that nobody knew about, which is that I was going to these early morning, you know, fertility appointments and doing the whole thing, the shots, all of this stuff, right?
[00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.800] Egg retrieval, all of the things over and over and over.
[00:26:16.800 --> 00:26:26.080] And, you know, we had several miscarriages and had a really tough journey and um and so I was kind of doing all of that without anyone knowing at the same time.
[00:26:26.080 --> 00:26:28.320] And it was hard for me.
[00:26:28.320 --> 00:28:11.520] I think sometimes we just think like oh i'm just gonna get i'm a woman so i can carry a baby right and then all of a sudden when you know for me it felt like is my body failing me like why isn't this happening and all of these things and it's very easy to have such a range of emotions from failure to all of these things right and and so that really happened in parallel and we eventually went down a path of looking into adoption and then also surrogacy at the same time and we're like let's do both and like let's just see whatever happens first and in our journey and i was adopted myself so i've known i've always wanted to adopt and in our journey the surrogacy route happened a lot a lot quicker it happened really quick and um that alone was a really crazy experience um i was you know at the time i was doing you know the 250 live shows a year and this infomercial that was airing 24 seven so for me um and we had built i think six to seven million at cosmetics customers in the us at that point and so for me whenever i would go into a starbucks or a mall or somewhere someone would come up to me and say like i love the products or you know that kind of thing so then i had this fear about surrogacy i thought well plus plus l'oreal had announced the purchase price and so i didn't know anything about surrogacy and i was like well what if someone's gonna do it for the wrong reasons and try you know i had all these fears and you hear this stuff in the news or in crazy movies that they went away with a baby and i'll add all these fears and so and i haven't ever shared this before, but i i wanted to i share i share in the book about like the process, just for anyone interested in the process of what happened from the time we connected with the surrogacy agency through to the match call.
[00:28:11.520 --> 00:28:17.200] Like I went into it in disguise, like this whole thing, and just like all the steps along the way.
[00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:23.760] And we eventually were matched with a surrogate who, of course, then we shared our real names and everything.
[00:28:23.760 --> 00:28:26.640] And she's now one of dear friends in our lives.
[00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:28.880] And she has five children of her own.
[00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:31.520] And anyhow, we went through the surrogacy process together.
[00:28:31.520 --> 00:28:37.440] And I had my daughter Wonder three years ago, and then just had my son Wilder one year ago.
[00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:40.480] And our same surrogate reached back out and she was like, Do you want to do it again?
[00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:42.560] And we're like, I was like crying.
[00:28:42.560 --> 00:28:44.160] And she's amazing.
[00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:50.480] But I think that the journey, for me, anyways, taught me some of my greatest life lessons.
[00:28:50.480 --> 00:29:01.120] Like, I realized, like, and maybe I don't know if the two of you have ever felt this way, or maybe other people in your community, but I've always kind of prided myself on being independent.
[00:29:01.120 --> 00:29:02.240] And like, I got this.
[00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:04.320] Like, sometimes I'm a lone wolf.
[00:29:04.320 --> 00:29:07.200] And I always thought like my independence was a badge of honor.
[00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:09.280] And like, I grew up thinking, I don't need a man.
[00:29:09.280 --> 00:29:11.120] I don't need, I don't need to depend on anyone.
[00:29:11.120 --> 00:29:14.640] Like, I got this, like, Miss Independent, like all those things.
[00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:22.480] And I realized in this process, like, I actually had to depend on another woman to do something I couldn't do myself.
[00:29:22.800 --> 00:29:24.320] And it was really scary.
[00:29:24.320 --> 00:29:30.880] And in the journey, I realized that for me, like, my independence wasn't actually a badge of honor.
[00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:32.640] It was in my lone wolfness.
[00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:39.200] It was actually, it came from a deep-seated fear, I realized, that I'm not worthy of other people showing up for me.
[00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:47.840] And when I realized that and I went through the journey of having to truly trust another person to show up for me, it also just changed my life in a big way.
[00:29:47.840 --> 00:29:52.320] It changed how I have my friendships now, how I have my relationships now.
[00:29:52.320 --> 00:30:00.000] All of these unexpected things were impacted in my life through this journey of how we had our daughter and after 10 years of infertility.
[00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:06.840] So it was a very, very painful, very emotional journey, but I feel so blessed.
[00:30:06.840 --> 00:30:09.880] And we're still looking into adoption now and all those things.
[00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:10.760] So, yeah.
[00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:18.760] Well, thank you for being a storyteller in your experience and helping so many women by sharing your journey.
[00:30:18.760 --> 00:30:25.960] I remember when I was going through everything, I was searching on social media for other women that were going through experiences so I could learn from them.
[00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:29.800] And then when I was going through everything, I started sharing so I could help other women.
[00:30:29.800 --> 00:30:39.640] And it's this connection and community and all of us being able to share our journeys and stories of what the reality is of what we're actually going through that that's really so helpful.
[00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:45.480] So thank you for sharing and congratulations on your two beautiful little ones.
[00:30:45.480 --> 00:30:47.080] It's so, so exciting.
[00:30:47.080 --> 00:30:47.640] Thank you.
[00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:51.160] Wonder is in the temper tantrum phase all of a sudden.
[00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:53.160] So it's so funny.
[00:30:53.160 --> 00:30:57.960] I always talk about like I had this realization like, okay, I've been a mom of a billion dollar.
[00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:01.240] I've been a CEO of a billion dollar company and I've been a mom.
[00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:02.600] And being a mom is harder.
[00:31:02.600 --> 00:31:03.080] Yeah.
[00:31:03.080 --> 00:31:05.880] But also more rewarding, but definitely harder.
[00:31:05.880 --> 00:31:06.840] Definitely.
[00:31:06.840 --> 00:31:07.720] It's definitely not easy.
[00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:09.560] My little one just turned two.
[00:31:09.560 --> 00:31:12.920] So it's, you know, you know the phase.
[00:31:12.920 --> 00:31:15.240] She wants to be involved in absolutely everything.
[00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:20.920] But she actually, she, when I'm typing on the computer or I'm on Zoom, she wants to come in and start typing on the computer.
[00:31:20.920 --> 00:31:26.920] I got her own little keyboard because she's making all my typos in my emails.
[00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:28.440] So sweet.
[00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:33.240] Jamie, I would love to know what does being an entrepreneur mean to you?
[00:31:35.080 --> 00:31:40.760] I think when you're an entrepreneur, you are one of the brave ones.
[00:31:40.760 --> 00:31:49.920] I think you're one of the ones that is willing to take a risk, to step out, to step into all of who you are, right, to start that journey.
[00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:58.080] I think there are so many people out there with an idea, with a thought, with the hope, but they end up staying.
[00:31:58.400 --> 00:31:59.440] in their comfort zone.
[00:32:01.280 --> 00:32:13.440] I have a friend of mine I interviewed recently just for her book, actually, Sarah Jakes Roberts, and she said something so profound that I want to share because I think that it'll speak to entrepreneurs and how I would define them.
[00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:24.400] But she said that so often in life, like our fears lie to us and they tell us like, you know, that we're safe if we don't step out and they keep us stuck.
[00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:28.720] But so often, like our faith requires, our faith to take a risk, right?
[00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:33.280] To be an entrepreneur, our faith requires courage that we don't know that we have.
[00:32:33.280 --> 00:32:34.960] And so we end up staying stuck.
[00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:40.000] And the problem with staying stuck, which I think most people are actually stuck, right?
[00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:41.360] They're in jobs they don't love.
[00:32:41.360 --> 00:32:45.760] They're in relationships or friendships when they know they deserve better.
[00:32:45.760 --> 00:32:57.280] So the problem with staying stuck is you then live your whole life with this longing or this ache in your gut because you know more was assigned to your name.
[00:32:57.280 --> 00:33:15.360] And I think entrepreneurs are people who know that they're called to do something, know that their purpose, whether it's to give or serve or create or ideate, they know that they have that and they're actually willing to step out and take that risk of stepping out to do something about it.
[00:33:15.360 --> 00:33:18.080] And so that's how I would define them.
[00:33:18.080 --> 00:33:21.520] Well, Jamie, thank you so much for sharing your story and journey.
[00:33:21.520 --> 00:33:28.320] And I know this only touched on just a piece of all of your learnings and your new book is out.
[00:33:28.320 --> 00:33:31.160] So where can everyone find you and follow you?
[00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:33.800] And of course, buy your new book, Believe It?
[00:33:34.120 --> 00:33:35.400] Oh, thank you.
[00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:35.800] Yeah.
[00:33:36.120 --> 00:33:40.600] So I am on Instagram probably the most at Jamie Kern Lima.
[00:33:40.600 --> 00:33:45.080] And also we're doing a bunch of free gifts and fun stuff for the book too.
[00:33:45.080 --> 00:33:49.400] So the book is called Believe It, How to Go from Underestimated to Unstoppable.
[00:33:49.400 --> 00:33:51.560] And it's on believe it.com.
[00:33:51.560 --> 00:33:56.600] And so at believe it.com, there's a bunch of fun, free stuff for your community too, if they want to check it out.
[00:33:56.600 --> 00:34:04.680] And I wrote this 95-page action plan on how to implement all the lessons from the book, like real tactical lessons into your real life.
[00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:10.040] And usually like authors will often sell that as like a accompanying study guide, but I just wanted everyone to have it.
[00:34:10.040 --> 00:34:15.000] So I'm giving it for free for anyone who goes to believe it.com and just wants to start implementing all these lessons.
[00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.800] And by the way, entrepreneurs are the ones who change the world also.
[00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:22.440] So I just want to add that to my definition.
[00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:24.360] Oh my gosh, I love that so much.
[00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:30.760] Well, if you want to do more book promotion, we'd love to have you come chat with our Entrepreneursa League members too.
[00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:32.680] I know they'd love to hear from you.
[00:34:32.680 --> 00:34:34.760] And I'm sure they're all going to want to buy the book.
[00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:45.240] So so excited to share your story and thank you for all that you've done and continue to do to inspire the future generation of women leaders everywhere.
[00:34:45.240 --> 00:34:46.200] I'm Stephanie.
[00:34:46.200 --> 00:34:47.480] And I'm Courtney.
[00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:50.680] And this is the best business meeting we've ever had.
[00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:52.360] Hi, Entrepreneursas.
[00:34:52.360 --> 00:34:53.400] It's Steph here.
[00:34:53.400 --> 00:35:00.440] And I hope today's episode has left you feeling inspired and with some actionable tips that you can apply to your own business.
[00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:07.800] The way we've grown our community and resources is by sharing content like this for years and asking for help along the way.
[00:35:07.800 --> 00:35:13.320] So here's where we need your help so we can continue to make as much impact as possible together.
[00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:23.040] If you can leave us a five-star review and extra credit if you share this episode on Instagram, LinkedIn, or DM it to a founder friend who would benefit from hearing it.
[00:35:23.040 --> 00:35:30.400] Not only would it mean the world to us, but you sharing this episode is going to help someone who just may need to hear what we share today.
[00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:40.160] And you know I love nothing more than giveaways and prizes, so every month I'll be giving away a one-on-one session with me to someone who has shared the episode and left a review.
[00:35:40.160 --> 00:35:47.920] So send me a personal DM over on Instagram, I'm at Steph Jill Carton, once you've done it, so you can be entered to win.
[00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:53.680] Wishing you a productive week ahead and stay tuned for another impactful episode next week.

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:05.680] Hey, Entrepreneurs, it's Steph here with a special invite just for you.
[00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:10.800] Do you want to experience what it's like to be part of our Entrepreneursa League community of founders?
[00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.400] Now is your chance.
[00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:21.360] You can join me this month at one of our upcoming Entrepreneursa League info sessions where I'm going to share with you all you're going to get access to when you join the community.
[00:00:21.360 --> 00:00:27.040] Plus, I'll be giving away some big bonuses that you will only be able to get access to when you attend live.
[00:00:27.040 --> 00:00:35.600] Head over to refer.entrepanista.com forward slash info session to join us at one of our virtual info sessions this month.
[00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:40.640] That's refer.entrepranista.com forward slash info session.
[00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.560] Or head over to the show notes right now and tap the link to join us.
[00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:49.280] I can't wait to meet you there and learn more about you and your business.
[00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:56.080] Fears lie to us and they tell us, you know, that we're safe if we don't step out and they keep us stuck.
[00:00:56.080 --> 00:01:03.040] But so often, like our faith to take a risk, right, to be an entrepreneur, our faith requires courage that we don't know that we have.
[00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:04.640] And so we end up staying stuck.
[00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:14.000] And the problem with staying stuck is you then live your whole life with this longing or this ache in your gut because you know more was assigned to your name.
[00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:33.120] When Jamie Lima started experiencing rosacea at her dream job as a TV anchor and couldn't find a makeup brand with the right coverage, she decided she had to launch her own line.
[00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:39.200] After drafting a business plan on her honeymoon, she launched it cosmetics and the rest is history.
[00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:49.840] You're about to hear the incredible story of how Jamie built her brand through pure grit and perseverance and finally sold it for $1.2 billion to L'Oreal.
[00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:57.680] She also gives us a sneak peek into her new book, Believe It, How to Go From Underestimated to Unstoppable.
[00:01:58.320 --> 00:02:05.400] Coming up, Jamie shares how she overcame self-doubt and finally decided to trust the feeling in her gut.
[00:02:05.960 --> 00:02:11.480] The early days of building at Cosmetics, including a funny story about her middle name.
[00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:16.120] Jamie shares her experience raising money and the lesson she learned from it.
[00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:21.080] She shares why feedback is a gift and rejection is protection.
[00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:28.200] And finally, how she juggled running her business and becoming a mother after 10 years of infertility.
[00:02:33.640 --> 00:02:42.280] Jamie, we are so excited to sit down with you this afternoon and learn all about your entrepreneur journey.
[00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:52.200] You have had quite the ride as an entrepreneur, but I would really love to know what inspired you to launch your beauty brand.
[00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:55.320] And did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
[00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:58.440] Well, first, thank you so much for having me.
[00:02:58.440 --> 00:02:59.880] It is an honor.
[00:02:59.880 --> 00:03:04.840] And yeah, you know, I think I always felt entrepreneurial, right?
[00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:09.960] From the time I was little, I would, you know, save my Easter candy and think about could I sell this?
[00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:12.920] And just little thoughts like that that I remember.
[00:03:12.920 --> 00:03:18.040] But, you know, I actually didn't know I was going to launch at Cosmetics.
[00:03:18.040 --> 00:03:22.600] It started, and I definitely didn't know it would one day be a billion dollar company.
[00:03:22.600 --> 00:03:27.160] And the journey along the way definitely didn't look like that was what was going to happen.
[00:03:27.160 --> 00:03:36.360] But, you know, it started out of a big idea, I guess, an aha moment, a problem that I was having that I couldn't figure out how to solve.
[00:03:36.360 --> 00:04:00.320] And I think so many entrepreneurs, I should say entrepreneuristas, and also just people who start to realize or step into their purpose realize that often their purpose on how to give and serve and feel fulfilled can come from like a pain point or a painful experience or something even they made a mistake or weren't proud of or had a hard time.
[00:04:00.320 --> 00:04:10.000] And all of a sudden, later down the road, it kind of births this idea or births this purpose where you realize, wow, what I went through, I can use to help other people.
[00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:10.240] Right.
[00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:18.240] And so, you know, for me, I thought since the time I was a little girl, I was going to have my own talk show and I would watch Oprah every single day.
[00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:20.320] And I loved other people's stories.
[00:04:20.320 --> 00:04:25.840] And so, you know, fast forward to I'm an adult and I was working in what I thought was my dream job.
[00:04:25.840 --> 00:04:29.280] I was anchoring the news and I thought, you know, this is it.
[00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:32.400] And I entered a season of setback in my life.
[00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:37.520] I started getting a skin condition called rosacea, which is hereditary and there's no cure for it.
[00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:45.520] And for me, it would show up in the form of like really big, bumpy red skin all over my cheeks and nose and forehead.
[00:04:45.520 --> 00:04:53.920] And what started happening was I would be anchoring the news live and I would hear my earpiece from my producer, there's something on your face, there's something on your face, you need to wipe it off.
[00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:59.120] And I'd be live on television and I quickly realized like, oh, there's nothing I can wipe off.
[00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.200] It's that my makeup isn't working.
[00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:05.680] It's breaking up under the hot HD lights and the big red bumps are coming through everywhere.
[00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:10.080] And so it started this season of what I thought was setback in my life.
[00:05:10.080 --> 00:05:12.560] And what I mean by that is like, I thought it was my dream job.
[00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:15.440] And I was like, oh my gosh, am I going to get fired?
[00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:17.120] And I'd be anchoring the news live.
[00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:19.360] And, you know, we all have like an inner critic, right?
[00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:22.080] That in our lives, we learn how to handle.
[00:05:22.080 --> 00:05:23.520] It's a lifelong process.
[00:05:23.520 --> 00:05:28.080] But my inner critic would say things like, you know, viewers are probably changing the channel right now.
[00:05:28.080 --> 00:05:29.360] Are ratings going down?
[00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:30.200] Like all of those things.
[00:05:30.440 --> 00:05:42.040] And so it started this journey of trying every makeup product out there from the drugstores to the department stores to the pro makeup lines and nothing would work.
[00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:50.440] So, you know, maybe a lot of entrepreneurs listening can relate to this, but I had this moment where I got this gut feeling all of a sudden.
[00:05:50.440 --> 00:05:56.840] Like, what if you launch a company and figure out how to make a product that actually works for you?
[00:05:56.840 --> 00:05:59.080] It'll probably help a lot of other people.
[00:05:59.080 --> 00:06:04.760] So my gut had that feeling, but for a long time, my head talked myself out of it.
[00:06:04.760 --> 00:06:11.400] Like, I would think things like, oh, but you don't know anything about the beauty industry and you have no connections and you got no money.
[00:06:11.400 --> 00:06:13.000] And like, you know what I mean?
[00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:14.280] And you're in your dream job.
[00:06:14.280 --> 00:06:23.800] And so it was this kind of battle between this, this feeling of knowing that was strong in my gut, but didn't make any sense in my head.
[00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:31.240] And long story short, I eventually decided to trust myself, to trust that feeling in my gut.
[00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:36.520] And even though I didn't know how the heck it was going to work out, I didn't know how hard it was going to be, that was for sure.
[00:06:36.520 --> 00:06:37.800] But I made the decision to trust it.
[00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:41.480] And I think in life, those are the moments that change our lives.
[00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:43.560] Those are the moments that define our lives, right?
[00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:49.160] When we turn down the volume on our head and turn it up on our gut.
[00:06:49.160 --> 00:07:04.360] And so I made the decision to, my husband and I on our honeymoon flight to South Africa, wrote the business plan, got back, quit our jobs, took the little savings we had, which poured it into creating a first product and launched at Cosmetics.
[00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:09.560] And at that point, I had no idea it would be three years before I could afford to pay myself.
[00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:14.360] And it would be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of no's from from everyone.
[00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:32.000] But at that that was the moment i was officially an entrepreneur that's an incredible story and and certainly very inspiring how did you figure out how to create your first your first product line Yeah, well, so I got so scrappy.
[00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:43.680] And I love that you guys talk about this because a lot of times before we started recording today, we were just kind of talking about how the stuff you see on Instagram, you never see the real stories behind the stories.
[00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:48.080] Everything just looks like people have it all together and their brand just has beautiful branding.
[00:07:48.080 --> 00:07:56.480] And that's awesome, except for sometimes when you're the one that's the entrepreneur and you're going through the journey, you can feel alone in your own struggle.
[00:07:56.640 --> 00:08:11.360] It's really frankly why I wrote Believe It, my new book, because over a number of years, right after I would get these emails or these DMs and people would say like, oh my gosh, I read how you were, you know, went from Denny's waitress to billion dollar entrepreneur.
[00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:14.640] Like, did you just get lucky or did you have connections or all these things?
[00:08:14.640 --> 00:08:23.280] And what I realized is that, you know, and then they would share like maybe they're not having traction in their business and they took a chance to be an entrepreneur, but it's harder than they thought.
[00:08:23.280 --> 00:08:24.720] And maybe their gut was wrong.
[00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:36.480] And I realized like, wow, if we don't ever really share like the real stories behind the stories, people feel alone in their own struggles or their own lack of, you know, traction in their businesses.
[00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:49.520] So, you know, that's really one of the big reasons I wrote Believe It was to share like the real stories behind the stories, but also just to share the journey of my real journeys as a girl who went from not believing in herself to learning how to.
[00:08:49.520 --> 00:09:17.080] And for me, when you go from not believing in yourself to learning how, and you go, you figure out how to hear your own gut, those two things are the most powerful business tools any entrepreneursa can ever have because those are the two things that are most often why people quit, most often why people give up, most often why people end up talking themselves out of their own truth or changing course in their business to one that's less authentic because they're getting distracted by everything going on.
[00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:18.760] But anyhow, it was tough.
[00:09:18.760 --> 00:09:21.720] And in the beginning, I had to get really scrappy.
[00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:22.680] We had very little money.
[00:09:22.680 --> 00:09:30.200] So figuring out how to launch our first product and not knowing anything about the beauty industry, first of all, of course, Google was awesome.
[00:09:30.920 --> 00:09:41.880] But at that point, then it's just going, okay, well, you know, I'm going to pour every penny I have into making our first product, but how do I make sure that I'm going to find the best chemist to work with?
[00:09:41.880 --> 00:09:50.120] And that, you know, I'd done my research online to know enough about how okay it needs to be regulatory compliant, FDA compliant, all the things you've got to find.
[00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:53.400] But then what I realized quickly is in the beauty space, right?
[00:09:53.400 --> 00:09:58.440] This is a, and especially when I launched at Cosmetics, it's an industry of giants.
[00:09:58.680 --> 00:10:01.640] It feels almost impossible to break into.
[00:10:01.640 --> 00:10:08.840] And what I quickly learned was who a beauty company manufactures with is their most closely guarded secret.
[00:10:08.840 --> 00:10:12.440] So I was like, how do I find, you know, what year is this, Jamie?
[00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:13.240] Oh, goodness.
[00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:15.080] Let me think what year is this?
[00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:18.680] This would be 2008.
[00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:19.240] Okay.
[00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:21.960] Yeah, 2008, 2009.
[00:10:22.280 --> 00:10:27.560] So I literally walked into Sephora, which I love shop.
[00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:33.400] When I was a Denny's waitress, I would save my tip money to buy products at Sephora or the department stores.
[00:10:33.880 --> 00:10:37.960] So I made a list of every brand I loved inside Sephora.
[00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:41.320] I did the same in Ulta Beauty and in department stores.
[00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:47.840] And you guys, I literally cold called from my living room every single company, whoever I could get on the phone.
[00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:53.040] And I'd be like, Hi, I'm looking for a great manufacturer.
[00:10:53.040 --> 00:10:56.320] Can you let me know who you use or the reference?
[00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.760] And literally, everyone would either hang up or be like, I'm sorry, we don't disclose that.
[00:10:59.760 --> 00:11:01.040] Or, you know, on and on.
[00:11:01.040 --> 00:11:02.240] I got one person.
[00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:04.320] I won't share the brand, but one person.
[00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:05.600] And this girl was so sweet.
[00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:06.960] And she's like, oh, yeah.
[00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.440] And she told me who they use in New York City.
[00:11:09.520 --> 00:11:11.040] I'm like, okay, and I got the information.
[00:11:11.040 --> 00:11:14.000] And the good thing is they're not really a competitor to at cosmetics.
[00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:19.280] They're like totally different positioned brand, but she definitely shouldn't have shared that, but she did.
[00:11:19.280 --> 00:11:21.040] And it was like, okay.
[00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:30.240] And so I called the manufacturer, got a first meeting, realized that they're incredible and make products for most of the top beauty companies in the country.
[00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:32.400] And that's how I found my first manufacturer.
[00:11:32.400 --> 00:11:45.920] And then just going to trade shows and just literally trying to take it all in and do the work and stare at all the product packaging components to try and figure out who they work with because they're not allowed to tell you to see if they're legit or not.
[00:11:45.920 --> 00:11:48.560] And it was just really kind of grassroots.
[00:11:48.560 --> 00:11:59.360] And in my book, Believe It, I share like a lot of those stories that I think are important, which is, you know, even like my middle name is Marie, and I couldn't afford to hire anybody in the early years.
[00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:05.200] And so Marie, so my name is Jamie Marie Kern Lima, and Marie got her own email address.
[00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:08.480] And she was head of PR and head of customer service.
[00:12:09.680 --> 00:12:16.720] I mean, she would pitch, if this were today, Marie would email the two of you and be like, great news.
[00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:19.120] Our founder is available to be on your podcast.
[00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.320] Like Marie was like this hustler trying to get press.
[00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:27.200] And it was just really, really scrappy for the first several years.
[00:12:34.760 --> 00:12:35.960] Hi, Entrepreneurs.
[00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:37.080] It's Steph here.
[00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:43.640] As a founder, I know firsthand that building a business can feel so lonely, but it doesn't have to.
[00:12:43.640 --> 00:12:48.360] And that's why we created our Entrepreneur Founders Weekend Wealth and Wellness Retreat.
[00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:50.520] And I can't wait to meet you in person there.
[00:12:50.520 --> 00:13:04.680] So you're officially invited to join us from April 30th to May 3rd, 2026 at the stunning PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for three transformative days of connection, collaboration, and real business growth.
[00:13:04.680 --> 00:13:06.840] This isn't just another business conference.
[00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:15.240] It is a curated retreat designed to help you build authentic, lasting relationships with women who truly understand your journey.
[00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:22.040] From business panels and workshops to wellness activations and so much more, this is the room that you need to be in.
[00:13:22.040 --> 00:13:33.480] So if you are ready to invest in yourself and your business and your vision and your next level of success, head over to entrepreneursa.com forward slash foundersweekend to reserve your ticket today.
[00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:41.800] That's entrepreneur.com forward slash foundersweekend or head over to the show notes right now and tap the invitation to reserve your ticket.
[00:13:41.800 --> 00:13:43.160] I'll see you there.
[00:13:52.920 --> 00:13:56.280] At what point did you decide to raise money?
[00:13:57.480 --> 00:13:59.720] So it's so funny how that works.
[00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:05.480] We wanted to, we would, we were open from day one, but no one was interested.
[00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:09.080] And so it was, so the first few years were a challenge.
[00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:13.960] Fast forward, three years in, hundreds and hundreds of no's in.
[00:14:14.280 --> 00:14:16.160] Well, so two things.
[00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:18.640] I'll tell you two quick stories on this.
[00:14:18.640 --> 00:14:26.320] I have, there's a famous saying out there, rejection is God's protection, or some people say rejection is the universe's protection.
[00:14:26.640 --> 00:14:52.720] I would say when it comes to raising money, I think I went through a number of years where I was like, let me just raise money so I don't go bankrupt or so the business makes it or so, you know, and then, and then later there's a whole different phase of growth in a company where you're like, oh, can I take some money off the table and actually know that I'll be okay, like know that I'll at least be able to pay my own bills, like all the things, right?
[00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:57.040] And then there's, you know, there's, there's levels in the journey, right?
[00:14:57.040 --> 00:15:01.440] And so the first few years, it was like, oh, can, how are we going to stay alive?
[00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:08.560] Because, you know, a lot of people know it cosmetics today, which right now, as we're speaking together, it's the largest luxury makeup company in the country.
[00:15:08.560 --> 00:15:14.160] So it's larger than all those brands I used to save my Denny's tip money to buy in department stores.
[00:15:14.160 --> 00:15:15.280] And it's amazing.
[00:15:15.280 --> 00:15:21.840] But for a number of years, we had under a thousand dollars in our bank account and personal and company.
[00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:23.440] I mean, it was like there were years.
[00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:33.280] And, you know, anyone maybe who just needs to hear this in your community, like there's years where you go, we would go, I get $20 from the ATM and I would hit no receipt, no receipt.
[00:15:33.280 --> 00:15:37.680] I couldn't bear, I couldn't stomach to see the balance on the account.
[00:15:37.680 --> 00:15:40.560] And I didn't know how we were going to make it for a number of years.
[00:15:40.560 --> 00:15:46.640] And I had what I thought was going to be a life-changing investor moment in the journey.
[00:15:46.640 --> 00:16:00.920] And we heard from a big private equity group who's really well known for in the consumer product space for taking lots of like, you know, pre-revenue companies and making them household names that a lot of us buy at grocery stores.
[00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:06.280] And anyhow, they got their hands on our product and one of our first products, Buy by Under Eye, and they loved it.
[00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:07.000] They loved the product.
[00:16:07.160 --> 00:16:09.000] They were so excited about the brand.
[00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:10.840] And so we started taking meetings with them.
[00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:16.760] And, you know, we did several meetings and we got to the diligence phase where we show them our whole future product pipeline.
[00:16:16.760 --> 00:16:18.600] And, you know, we had, I mean, we had no money.
[00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:24.920] We were, we were tiny at the time, but I had a great presentation and we kept meeting and meeting and we got to the final phase.
[00:16:24.920 --> 00:16:28.200] And I thought they were going to invest and I thought it was going to be life-changing.
[00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:30.600] And we flew out for the final meeting.
[00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:33.160] And the head guy, I mean, they were lovely.
[00:16:33.160 --> 00:16:36.120] And he says to me, you know, we really believe in your product.
[00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:37.320] Congratulations.
[00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:38.680] But it's a no.
[00:16:38.680 --> 00:16:41.560] We're going to pass on investing in cosmetics.
[00:16:41.560 --> 00:16:43.400] And I was like three feet from him in person.
[00:16:43.400 --> 00:16:46.200] And I said, okay, can you tell me why?
[00:16:46.440 --> 00:16:49.800] And by this point, you guys, I'd heard no hundreds of times, right?
[00:16:49.800 --> 00:16:53.240] And, but I always think feedback is a gift usually.
[00:16:53.560 --> 00:16:55.560] And I'm like, can you, can you tell me why?
[00:16:55.560 --> 00:16:58.520] And he goes, do you want me to be really honest with you?
[00:16:58.520 --> 00:17:00.200] And I'm like, yes, please.
[00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:01.560] And he's like three feet from me.
[00:17:01.560 --> 00:17:08.680] And he says, I just don't think women will buy makeup from someone who looks like you with your body and your weight.
[00:17:09.320 --> 00:17:11.560] And I remember this moment.
[00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:13.000] So two things.
[00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:17.560] First, like a lifetime of body doubt, like flood in my body.
[00:17:17.560 --> 00:17:19.960] And I felt like I was staring my own fear straight in the eye.
[00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:23.400] I never actually felt mad or angry toward him.
[00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:28.760] I realized, oh, wow, you know, later, I mean, I went out in my car and cried all those things.
[00:17:28.760 --> 00:17:34.920] But two things, in that moment, when he said those words to me, I just don't think women will buy makeup from someone who looks like you with your body and your weight.
[00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:36.040] I'll never forget this.
[00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.600] And I just want to share it for every person listening.
[00:17:38.600 --> 00:17:43.480] I had this gut feeling in that moment, like this feeling that said he's wrong.
[00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:45.680] It was a feeling in my gut, right?
[00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.520] I didn't know how I was going to prove it.
[00:17:44.840 --> 00:17:48.160] I didn't know.
[00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:54.080] I had no, I had no proof of success I had, but I felt that feeling.
[00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:58.320] And I didn't hear from him for, you know, I didn't see him again for six years.
[00:17:58.320 --> 00:18:10.960] And, but many times in the next six years, and all of us have had people look us in the eye and say, you're not enough or change who you are or, you know, or not believe in us, right?
[00:18:11.280 --> 00:18:15.440] And I just want to share this because I did a lot of things wrong building at Cosmetics.
[00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:17.200] I share a lot of those in the book.
[00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:18.160] Believe it.
[00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:35.920] But one of the things I did right was I learned how when words like that, other people's doubt about me or about what I was doing, you know, for the next six years, when I would, those words would enter my head that he said, I would literally imagine myself turning down the volume on them.
[00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:42.480] And that feeling I had, that gut feeling, that knowing that said he's wrong, I remember it like it was yesterday.
[00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:47.920] I would literally tap into that feeling and try to focus on it and magnify it in my own mind.
[00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:59.200] It was a tool that I used to try and like turn down that, that, that's what could be easily self-doubt from other people's words and turn up that intuition, that knowing.
[00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:05.680] And really quickly, so six years later, the day L'Oreal acquired a cosmetics, it was the largest U.S.
[00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:06.720] acquisition in their history.
[00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:12.400] And they made the decision because they're a public company to share the sale price, which I didn't think they were.
[00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:16.640] I didn't know until the day before that they were going to actually disclose the purchase price.
[00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:23.120] So, all of a sudden, the day that the deal is announced, it's all over the homepage of the Wall Street Journal.
[00:19:23.120 --> 00:19:24.240] It's everywhere.
[00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:27.840] And I heard from that investor for the first time in six years.
[00:19:27.840 --> 00:19:30.280] And he's like, congratulations on the L'Oreal deal.
[00:19:30.280 --> 00:19:31.320] I was wrong.
[00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:35.240] I learned it would have been the most successful investment in his firm's history.
[00:19:35.560 --> 00:19:46.360] But also, I just want to share this for anyone going through a season of rejection or hard times, or they're trying to get an investor who just said no, or they're trying to get in a retail store who just said no, or on a website that just said no.
[00:19:46.360 --> 00:19:52.360] Like, I have learned, because I have thousands of stories like this one, rejection is protection.
[00:19:52.360 --> 00:20:06.840] And I remember this moment of realizing when he reached out to me, I was like, oh my gosh, like, okay, had he believed in me at the time, I was so desperate, you guys, I probably would have given him the majority of the company for like almost no money.
[00:20:06.840 --> 00:20:12.200] But he, because he didn't believe in me, and by the way, many other people did believe in me on the journey.
[00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:16.520] But by the time we sold to L'Oreal, we were still the largest shareholders.
[00:20:16.520 --> 00:20:19.560] And I was like, thank God.
[00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:21.960] Thank God he didn't believe in me.
[00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:28.680] I mean, but when we go through those moments, they're painful, they suck, they don't make sense at the time, they feel unfair.
[00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:31.640] Like, but I don't know, I have so many stories like that.
[00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:42.520] So, but we eventually did, to answer your question about investors, we eventually did meet with, once we started doing well on QVC, we started getting inbounds from different investors.
[00:20:42.520 --> 00:20:49.320] And really quick, since this is entrepreneurship, I don't think I've ever shared this tip on a podcast before, but let me just share this before I forget.
[00:20:49.320 --> 00:21:07.720] When we started getting inbounds from lots of investors, the one thing that I am so grateful for that we did, because a lot of them coming to us, I had friends that were with them at the time or companies that were currently in their portfolio or people or or their past portfolio looked amazing.
[00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:34.880] The one thing we did right wasn't just met with these potential investors or met with their current company in their portfolios but we actually requested to talk with and meet with companies that had already exited with them and that was huge because literally almost every investor that came to us, when we met with past companies and we'd reach out to them and say, can we talk with you about your experience with this investor?
[00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:43.360] And it was shocking the number of people that were like, well, I'd love to meet with you, but we're in litigation with them, so I can't, or, you know, all of these things.
[00:21:43.360 --> 00:21:44.800] I'm just like, whoa.
[00:21:44.800 --> 00:21:55.680] And so because instead of just meeting with the investor or their current portfolio, because we requested and said, you know, we let them know we're going to reach out to some of your past, your past partners.
[00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:59.520] And because we did that, that changed everything.
[00:21:59.520 --> 00:22:03.840] We ended up going with a company called TSG Consumer Partners.
[00:22:03.840 --> 00:22:12.960] And part of why we went with them was because all of their past investments and entrepreneurs that we reached out to had amazing things to say.
[00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:20.080] And they would say things like, oh yeah, our board meetings turned into really awesome working sessions instead of like pageantry and like all the stuff.
[00:22:20.080 --> 00:22:20.960] And so like, okay.
[00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.120] And we ended up having an amazing experience.
[00:22:23.120 --> 00:22:28.560] And the people at TSG are now dear friends of me, my husband's, and we sold the L'Oreal three years ago.
[00:22:28.560 --> 00:22:31.200] So, but they're still in our lives because they're really good people.
[00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:32.480] So I just want to share that.
[00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:39.600] A lot of people get excited when it's like the first time they have money coming in or the first time someone's interested in investing.
[00:22:39.600 --> 00:22:41.920] But it is like a marriage you can't get out of.
[00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:49.440] There's no, so you got to make sure, you got to make sure, talk to people that have already exited, not people with them now.
[00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:55.440] Because when you exit with a brand, that's when you really see how people handle things legally.
[00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:00.440] If they keep their word, if they prioritize, you know, you, all those things.
[00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:01.960] And so, that was huge.
[00:22:59.840 --> 00:23:05.240] So, yeah, we eventually partnered with TSG and it was great.
[00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:13.240] But by the time we saw the Royale, you're still the largest shareholders, and it was really, it was a really cool, cool journey.
[00:23:17.080 --> 00:23:23.560] Founders are always asking us, What has been the secret to our success building multiple seven-figure businesses?
[00:23:23.560 --> 00:23:24.920] Do you want to know how?
[00:23:24.920 --> 00:23:26.600] It's our community.
[00:23:26.600 --> 00:23:34.200] We created the Entrepreneursa League for founders like you because the most successful entrepreneurs do not navigate business alone.
[00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:40.040] We navigate the challenges and opportunities with the support of people we know, love, and trust.
[00:23:40.040 --> 00:23:43.880] The relationships you build in business will be the key to your success.
[00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:46.040] Trust me, it's how we've done it.
[00:23:46.040 --> 00:23:51.720] And I'm giving you access to everything we've used to grow and scale our businesses over the past decade.
[00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:56.120] Plus, you're going to meet your new best friends in business right inside the community.
[00:23:56.120 --> 00:24:18.440] Our members have access to everything we've used to grow our businesses over the past 10 plus years, from in-person events to virtual events, business education, funding resources, office hours with myself and other top founders in your industry, press opportunities, and access to our community platform where you can instantly get all of your business questions answered.
[00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:25.240] You can join us in the community over at refer.entreprenista.com forward slash join us.
[00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:31.000] That's refer.entreprenista.com forward slash join us to join the community.
[00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:34.360] Or head to the show notes right now and tap the link to join.
[00:24:34.360 --> 00:24:36.600] I cannot wait to meet you.
[00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:45.000] Jamie, I would love to hear a little bit about your journey being a mom and also going through, you know, your fertility experience.
[00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:53.280] I have a similar story in that, you know, I went through a very complicated fertility journey and then a very complicated pregnancy journey.
[00:24:53.280 --> 00:25:01.520] And I know managing all of that while trying to run a business while still trying to put on a smile for the world is definitely not easy.
[00:25:01.520 --> 00:25:05.280] So if you can share a little bit about your experience and what got you through.
[00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:06.320] Yeah.
[00:25:06.320 --> 00:25:08.000] And thank you for asking that.
[00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:12.880] Thank you also for, I know I've read some of what you've shared also with the community and stuff.
[00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:22.560] And I think that it's brave and beautiful because I think it's just a topic that a lot of people don't share and don't and feel alone in their own journey with.
[00:25:22.560 --> 00:25:30.480] And, you know, for me, my husband and I had tried for about 10 years to have a baby and I was, you know, running this company.
[00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:32.240] We'd built it cosmetics.
[00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:43.600] It sounds like it was just a big fairy tale, but it was a crazy journey of hundreds of no's, some really crazy yeses, a lot of mistakes I made, which I talk about in the book a lot about burnout.
[00:25:43.600 --> 00:25:51.840] And I was doing 100-hour weeks and, you know, kind of became addicted to work, which probably in my journey impacted my fertility journey as well.
[00:25:51.840 --> 00:25:56.000] So I was doing all that, and we had built it cosmetics to over a thousand employees.
[00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:01.200] So I was running that company and doing 250 live shows a year on QVC and doing all that.
[00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:14.000] And then I had this other part of my life that nobody knew about, which is that I was going to these early morning, you know, fertility appointments and doing the whole thing, the shots, all of this stuff, right?
[00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.800] Egg retrieval, all of the things over and over and over.
[00:26:16.800 --> 00:26:26.080] And, you know, we had several miscarriages and had a really tough journey and um and so I was kind of doing all of that without anyone knowing at the same time.
[00:26:26.080 --> 00:26:28.320] And it was hard for me.
[00:26:28.320 --> 00:28:11.520] I think sometimes we just think like oh i'm just gonna get i'm a woman so i can carry a baby right and then all of a sudden when you know for me it felt like is my body failing me like why isn't this happening and all of these things and it's very easy to have such a range of emotions from failure to all of these things right and and so that really happened in parallel and we eventually went down a path of looking into adoption and then also surrogacy at the same time and we're like let's do both and like let's just see whatever happens first and in our journey and i was adopted myself so i've known i've always wanted to adopt and in our journey the surrogacy route happened a lot a lot quicker it happened really quick and um that alone was a really crazy experience um i was you know at the time i was doing you know the 250 live shows a year and this infomercial that was airing 24 seven so for me um and we had built i think six to seven million at cosmetics customers in the us at that point and so for me whenever i would go into a starbucks or a mall or somewhere someone would come up to me and say like i love the products or you know that kind of thing so then i had this fear about surrogacy i thought well plus plus l'oreal had announced the purchase price and so i didn't know anything about surrogacy and i was like well what if someone's gonna do it for the wrong reasons and try you know i had all these fears and you hear this stuff in the news or in crazy movies that they went away with a baby and i'll add all these fears and so and i haven't ever shared this before, but i i wanted to i share i share in the book about like the process, just for anyone interested in the process of what happened from the time we connected with the surrogacy agency through to the match call.
[00:28:11.520 --> 00:28:17.200] Like I went into it in disguise, like this whole thing, and just like all the steps along the way.
[00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:23.760] And we eventually were matched with a surrogate who, of course, then we shared our real names and everything.
[00:28:23.760 --> 00:28:26.640] And she's now one of dear friends in our lives.
[00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:28.880] And she has five children of her own.
[00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:31.520] And anyhow, we went through the surrogacy process together.
[00:28:31.520 --> 00:28:37.440] And I had my daughter Wonder three years ago, and then just had my son Wilder one year ago.
[00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:40.480] And our same surrogate reached back out and she was like, Do you want to do it again?
[00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:42.560] And we're like, I was like crying.
[00:28:42.560 --> 00:28:44.160] And she's amazing.
[00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:50.480] But I think that the journey, for me, anyways, taught me some of my greatest life lessons.
[00:28:50.480 --> 00:29:01.120] Like, I realized, like, and maybe I don't know if the two of you have ever felt this way, or maybe other people in your community, but I've always kind of prided myself on being independent.
[00:29:01.120 --> 00:29:02.240] And like, I got this.
[00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:04.320] Like, sometimes I'm a lone wolf.
[00:29:04.320 --> 00:29:07.200] And I always thought like my independence was a badge of honor.
[00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:09.280] And like, I grew up thinking, I don't need a man.
[00:29:09.280 --> 00:29:11.120] I don't need, I don't need to depend on anyone.
[00:29:11.120 --> 00:29:14.640] Like, I got this, like, Miss Independent, like all those things.
[00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:22.480] And I realized in this process, like, I actually had to depend on another woman to do something I couldn't do myself.
[00:29:22.800 --> 00:29:24.320] And it was really scary.
[00:29:24.320 --> 00:29:30.880] And in the journey, I realized that for me, like, my independence wasn't actually a badge of honor.
[00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:32.640] It was in my lone wolfness.
[00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:39.200] It was actually, it came from a deep-seated fear, I realized, that I'm not worthy of other people showing up for me.
[00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:47.840] And when I realized that and I went through the journey of having to truly trust another person to show up for me, it also just changed my life in a big way.
[00:29:47.840 --> 00:29:52.320] It changed how I have my friendships now, how I have my relationships now.
[00:29:52.320 --> 00:30:00.000] All of these unexpected things were impacted in my life through this journey of how we had our daughter and after 10 years of infertility.
[00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:06.840] So it was a very, very painful, very emotional journey, but I feel so blessed.
[00:30:06.840 --> 00:30:09.880] And we're still looking into adoption now and all those things.
[00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:10.760] So, yeah.
[00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:18.760] Well, thank you for being a storyteller in your experience and helping so many women by sharing your journey.
[00:30:18.760 --> 00:30:25.960] I remember when I was going through everything, I was searching on social media for other women that were going through experiences so I could learn from them.
[00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:29.800] And then when I was going through everything, I started sharing so I could help other women.
[00:30:29.800 --> 00:30:39.640] And it's this connection and community and all of us being able to share our journeys and stories of what the reality is of what we're actually going through that that's really so helpful.
[00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:45.480] So thank you for sharing and congratulations on your two beautiful little ones.
[00:30:45.480 --> 00:30:47.080] It's so, so exciting.
[00:30:47.080 --> 00:30:47.640] Thank you.
[00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:51.160] Wonder is in the temper tantrum phase all of a sudden.
[00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:53.160] So it's so funny.
[00:30:53.160 --> 00:30:57.960] I always talk about like I had this realization like, okay, I've been a mom of a billion dollar.
[00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:01.240] I've been a CEO of a billion dollar company and I've been a mom.
[00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:02.600] And being a mom is harder.
[00:31:02.600 --> 00:31:03.080] Yeah.
[00:31:03.080 --> 00:31:05.880] But also more rewarding, but definitely harder.
[00:31:05.880 --> 00:31:06.840] Definitely.
[00:31:06.840 --> 00:31:07.720] It's definitely not easy.
[00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:09.560] My little one just turned two.
[00:31:09.560 --> 00:31:12.920] So it's, you know, you know the phase.
[00:31:12.920 --> 00:31:15.240] She wants to be involved in absolutely everything.
[00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:20.920] But she actually, she, when I'm typing on the computer or I'm on Zoom, she wants to come in and start typing on the computer.
[00:31:20.920 --> 00:31:26.920] I got her own little keyboard because she's making all my typos in my emails.
[00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:28.440] So sweet.
[00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:33.240] Jamie, I would love to know what does being an entrepreneur mean to you?
[00:31:35.080 --> 00:31:40.760] I think when you're an entrepreneur, you are one of the brave ones.
[00:31:40.760 --> 00:31:49.920] I think you're one of the ones that is willing to take a risk, to step out, to step into all of who you are, right, to start that journey.
[00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:58.080] I think there are so many people out there with an idea, with a thought, with the hope, but they end up staying.
[00:31:58.400 --> 00:31:59.440] in their comfort zone.
[00:32:01.280 --> 00:32:13.440] I have a friend of mine I interviewed recently just for her book, actually, Sarah Jakes Roberts, and she said something so profound that I want to share because I think that it'll speak to entrepreneurs and how I would define them.
[00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:24.400] But she said that so often in life, like our fears lie to us and they tell us like, you know, that we're safe if we don't step out and they keep us stuck.
[00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:28.720] But so often, like our faith requires, our faith to take a risk, right?
[00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:33.280] To be an entrepreneur, our faith requires courage that we don't know that we have.
[00:32:33.280 --> 00:32:34.960] And so we end up staying stuck.
[00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:40.000] And the problem with staying stuck, which I think most people are actually stuck, right?
[00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:41.360] They're in jobs they don't love.
[00:32:41.360 --> 00:32:45.760] They're in relationships or friendships when they know they deserve better.
[00:32:45.760 --> 00:32:57.280] So the problem with staying stuck is you then live your whole life with this longing or this ache in your gut because you know more was assigned to your name.
[00:32:57.280 --> 00:33:15.360] And I think entrepreneurs are people who know that they're called to do something, know that their purpose, whether it's to give or serve or create or ideate, they know that they have that and they're actually willing to step out and take that risk of stepping out to do something about it.
[00:33:15.360 --> 00:33:18.080] And so that's how I would define them.
[00:33:18.080 --> 00:33:21.520] Well, Jamie, thank you so much for sharing your story and journey.
[00:33:21.520 --> 00:33:28.320] And I know this only touched on just a piece of all of your learnings and your new book is out.
[00:33:28.320 --> 00:33:31.160] So where can everyone find you and follow you?
[00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:33.800] And of course, buy your new book, Believe It?
[00:33:34.120 --> 00:33:35.400] Oh, thank you.
[00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:35.800] Yeah.
[00:33:36.120 --> 00:33:40.600] So I am on Instagram probably the most at Jamie Kern Lima.
[00:33:40.600 --> 00:33:45.080] And also we're doing a bunch of free gifts and fun stuff for the book too.
[00:33:45.080 --> 00:33:49.400] So the book is called Believe It, How to Go from Underestimated to Unstoppable.
[00:33:49.400 --> 00:33:51.560] And it's on believe it.com.
[00:33:51.560 --> 00:33:56.600] And so at believe it.com, there's a bunch of fun, free stuff for your community too, if they want to check it out.
[00:33:56.600 --> 00:34:04.680] And I wrote this 95-page action plan on how to implement all the lessons from the book, like real tactical lessons into your real life.
[00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:10.040] And usually like authors will often sell that as like a accompanying study guide, but I just wanted everyone to have it.
[00:34:10.040 --> 00:34:15.000] So I'm giving it for free for anyone who goes to believe it.com and just wants to start implementing all these lessons.
[00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.800] And by the way, entrepreneurs are the ones who change the world also.
[00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:22.440] So I just want to add that to my definition.
[00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:24.360] Oh my gosh, I love that so much.
[00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:30.760] Well, if you want to do more book promotion, we'd love to have you come chat with our Entrepreneursa League members too.
[00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:32.680] I know they'd love to hear from you.
[00:34:32.680 --> 00:34:34.760] And I'm sure they're all going to want to buy the book.
[00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:45.240] So so excited to share your story and thank you for all that you've done and continue to do to inspire the future generation of women leaders everywhere.
[00:34:45.240 --> 00:34:46.200] I'm Stephanie.
[00:34:46.200 --> 00:34:47.480] And I'm Courtney.
[00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:50.680] And this is the best business meeting we've ever had.
[00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:52.360] Hi, Entrepreneursas.
[00:34:52.360 --> 00:34:53.400] It's Steph here.
[00:34:53.400 --> 00:35:00.440] And I hope today's episode has left you feeling inspired and with some actionable tips that you can apply to your own business.
[00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:07.800] The way we've grown our community and resources is by sharing content like this for years and asking for help along the way.
[00:35:07.800 --> 00:35:13.320] So here's where we need your help so we can continue to make as much impact as possible together.
[00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:23.040] If you can leave us a five-star review and extra credit if you share this episode on Instagram, LinkedIn, or DM it to a founder friend who would benefit from hearing it.
[00:35:23.040 --> 00:35:30.400] Not only would it mean the world to us, but you sharing this episode is going to help someone who just may need to hear what we share today.
[00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:40.160] And you know I love nothing more than giveaways and prizes, so every month I'll be giving away a one-on-one session with me to someone who has shared the episode and left a review.
[00:35:40.160 --> 00:35:47.920] So send me a personal DM over on Instagram, I'm at Steph Jill Carton, once you've done it, so you can be entered to win.
[00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:53.680] Wishing you a productive week ahead and stay tuned for another impactful episode next week.