Believe It: Thriving Together - Empowering Military Spouses Through Entrepreneurship and Inspiration

[00:00:00] Alison: Hello. Hello. And welcome back to the show today. I wanted to share with you a book that I just finished listening to. It's called Believe It by Jamie Kern Lima. And I don't know if you heard about, or if you're familiar with it cosmetics, I'm not super into makeup straight up honest with you. I don't really wear, I don't wear makeup at all unless it's a special occasion.

[00:00:26] Alison: So it's not really my area of expertise. But anyways, It Cosmetics, Jamie Kurt Lima is the founder and CEO of It Cosmetics and It Cosmetics was sold, or I'm sorry, it was acquired by L'Oreal for 1. 2 billion, with a B, billion dollars in cash back 2016 and I remember it was, I can't, it's like one of the largest Acquisitions and like history history.

[00:00:56] Alison: So I remember hearing about it and then I remember hearing stories of like, from a Denny's waitress to selling her company for 1. 2 billion. And it's like, you hear things like that and you're like, wow, must be nice for them. Right? I mean, you kind of, you kind of get a little snarky, maybe, maybe not, but I think most of us are like, oh, well, you know, must be nice.

[00:01:22] Alison: But so I, so I was kind of intrigued. , I heard her on another podcast and I was like, okay, I think I'm going, I want to read her book. So I bought her book a really long time ago, like a year sitting on my bookshelf. And, , I think I've told you before, I love personal development. , I love growing my brain.

[00:01:46] Alison: I love exposing myself to mentors who I might not have the opportunity to meet in person, but can, share their knowledge, right, by listening to a podcast or listening, to a book on Audible or whatever. So, I finally, I finally decided, like, you know what, I really do want to read that, but I'm not going to actually sit down and read that.

[00:02:06] Alison: So let me get it on Audible. So I got on Audible, and I actually listened to it really fast because I was, Well, the book is like eight hours long, I think to listen to, but I don't remember why I was in the car a lot or, , walking a lot. I don't know. But anyways, it didn't take me that long to get through it, but it was very, very interesting to hear the story from her from the jump.

[00:02:27] Alison: So, you know, you hear on the news media from a Denny's waitress to selling a business for 1. 2 billion. And that's really, That's, that's part of the story. Those are soundbites of the story, but that's not really the whole story. She goes from the, from the beginning and tells the story you know, basically her life story, how it started where she went.

[00:02:52] Alison: So she was actually on a reality show. She was on the very first season of Big Brother, which is interesting. And I, I didn't, I think I remember, I don't, I never, I've never been a huge reality TV person, so I didn't, I didn't watch that. But any who, so she did, so she was on reality TV and she, she just, okay, let me pause for a second.

[00:03:16] Alison: So when I'm telling you guys about these books that I've read instead of going back through, like I have in the past where I'm like going through the book and really like laying everything out nice and neatly, I'm just going, I just sit down and. Really, like, make bullet points of what stuck out to me.

[00:03:35] Alison: And then that's what I share with you guys just to in the, in the interest of time and time both in, in telling to you and in the time it takes me to research and set all that stuff up. So my biggest takeaways that I got from this was that, okay, so again, I've said it a couple of times already. The news was like, Denny's from Denny's waitress to a billion dollar sale.

[00:03:58] Alison: But in reality, She had been a Denny's waitress, , back when she was going to school and, you know, hustling and trying to make all this stuff happen. And she went to college in Washington state and then she was working in news for a while and she thought she wanted to be a TV anchor and eventually have her own show.

[00:04:18] Alison: And then. And through all of that, through her TV stuff that she was doing, she was having a really hard time. She's got rosacea, which is a skin where your skin gets really red and you kind of get patchy. And she was having a really hard time finding makeup that would look good on camera, that didn't get cakey, that didn't crack, and things like that.

[00:04:38] Alison: So that was kind of the impetus for her starting. line and she's like, I've got to find something that would will work for people like me. Right. And at the time, back in, 2010 ish timeframe, the beauty industry was very you're looking at airbrushed perfect models and that was kind of the, the visual that everybody got.

[00:05:03] Alison: There really wasn't like it is now where you see people that have different skin disorders. You see people of every skin tone. You see people of every age. It's, you know, it's, it didn't use to be like that. And honestly Jamie was really one of the proponents of that, of changing the way that the beauty industry looks or that the, the image that the beauty industry portrays for consumers.

[00:05:30] Alison: So So her company that she started, she started in her house. So this is, I think if you are an entrepreneur, if you have your own business, you've got a side hustle, you've got something that you just can't let go. It's like, tickling your brain all the time. Like I really should do this. I should try this.

[00:05:51] Alison: I should make this business or whatever. You really should read this book or listen to the book on Audible. And the trials and tribulations that she goes through because what you hear in the media is Denny's waitress to one selling her business for 1. 2 billion. What they don't tell you about are the six years that she was the founder and CEO and working her little tail feathers off and being told no after no, after no, after no, after no, after no, after no, after no, over and over and over and over and over again from all the big beauty brands.

[00:06:25] Alison: And she was determined that her product. was important and that women needed this. And she believed so deeply in what she was doing that she was able to continue to push through the no, after no, after no, after no, after no. And she really goes through that whole time in the building of the business and how difficult that was.

[00:06:50] Alison: to continue to push forward. But she had this really deep seated belief that this is something that was important, that this need this, her products needed to be put out and that people needed this stuff. And, and as she's being told no by Ulta and she's being told no by Sephora and she's being told no by QVC and, and all of these big beauty brands, she's still building a small following of people that get their hands on our products.

[00:07:12] Alison: And they're like, Oh my gosh, this is amazing. But it's really, it was really like a grassroots. thing. And if you want to grow and get as much exposure as you possibly can, you really need to get into those big brands. But they just kept saying no after no, after no, after no. So finally she gets a big break with QVC and she starts doing in person, you know, we're all familiar with QVC, right?

[00:07:35] Alison: The home shopping network or well, it's not the home shopping. What does QVC even stand for? I have no idea, but like, it's like the home shopping network. It's just not the home shopping network. It's called QVC. I remember my Nana used to, oh my gosh, we used to show up at her house and be like, what is that?

[00:07:52] Alison: She's like, Oh, I got it off the QVC. And like, she, she loved shopping. Oh my gosh. On the TV, which is really funny anyway. Okay. So she got her really her big break. On QVC, she, she they had her come on and do a live presentation and she talks about the risk with that because the way that QVC works is that you have to actually have physical product in their warehouse so that when people, when you get your, what it was like a 10 minute slot, I think, or something like that, they're not very long.

[00:08:25] Alison: They're pretty short quick little snips that you get. So you gotta, you gotta get out there and sell, sell, sell. And you have to have all the products so that they can then ship those products to the consumer right away. So it was a really big gamble for her to and she talks about, you know, taking out a small business loan and basically maxing themselves out as much as they possibly could to get this product to go on QVC.

[00:08:48] Alison: And long story short, she's, they sell out quickly and then she just keeps going back and back and back and back. But what she talks about in, and that's really how they were able to scale that business is because they were on QVC so often. But what she talks about is how hard that season was of.

[00:09:07] Alison: showing up to QVC and putting out the, doing the demonstrations. Cause she was always there in person and and over and over and over. I can't remember what she said, but she, she did like, it was like hundreds of shows a year. And that's a lot because it wasn't. They actually moved from California over to, I think they're in like New Jersey or something.

[00:09:28] Alison: The QVC headquarters where they film stuff. I can't remember, but they moved there just to make it easier to be able to be available, to be on the show, to get the word out. And it's just the hustle and man did she hustle and had. Such a strong belief in what she was doing. And really that is the only way that she was able to continue through the hard times and the no, after no, after no.

[00:09:54] Alison: And she's really generous with sharing the low who's. And I think again, If you are an entrepreneur, you have your own business, you really can relate. Like it's really hard. And I know that I've, there's a couple of male spouses that I follow that sell products that they hand make on spousely and things like that.

[00:10:13] Alison: And, and the summer months are really hard because people aren't, they're not thinking about it, right? They're on vacation. They're, you know, consumed with kids being home and things like that. And, and it's just really chaotic. And so it's a really, slow time for a lot of businesses. And that can be really hard to weather those different seasons.

[00:10:34] Alison: And so I think that listening to her story and that, you know, if you have that conviction, not everybody's going to be selling a business for a billion dollars, you know, six years later, but the possibility is there for you if you have a really strong belief and in what you do. So there's that part of it.

[00:10:53] Alison: And then one of the other things that after she kind of told her story and she's got a lot of personal stuff that she shares in there too, that was happening at the same time, you know, infertility issues and finding out as a 27 year old adult that she was adopted. I mean just a lot of stuff going on on top of trying to build and scale this business.

[00:11:13] Alison: But one of the things that she really emphasizes that she has done from the jump with her business is women need to support other women. And. she kind of dives into a little bit of the, the psyche that I think we all have. And that's a scarcity mindset, right? There's not a lot of women CEOs. So if you get to that spot and here comes another woman, it's like, Ooh, there's not enough room for both of us because we have this.

[00:11:41] Alison: You know, there's only so many seats at the table, but there can be a lot of seats at the table and there's a lot of space for everybody. And we've talked about, I've talked about this before on the show as well. There's a lot of military spouse podcasts, which is so interesting to me because like I've said before, when I started the show, I couldn't find any.

[00:11:59] Alison: I Googled and I, nothing was coming up or, or the ones that came up, they hadn't put out an episode in years. So like the, the show was done, or there was one that was a decent size, but it was in Australia. I couldn't find anything. Right. And then I get in the space and there are everywhere. And so you could get into that.

[00:12:15] Alison: Oh, well, I'm going to protect, you know, cause this is, this is, we're in the same space. Like we're competing for the same people, but here's the thing. There is plenty of room for everybody because. You are not for everybody. I am not for everybody and the, what I talk about and how I talk about it is completely different from how this other person that has their own podcast that's for military spouses, what topics they talk about and how they, how they talk about it.

[00:12:44] Alison: There's, there's someone for everybody, right? That's, that's one of the biggest things that I took from all of my time and training that I have in the fitness industry. It was one of the best things that I was told. And it was as I was going through my yoga certifications and I was terrified like part of the, so I'm certified through yoga fit and part of their pipeline is that you have to take the level one and then you have to do eight weeks or eight sessions.

[00:13:16] Alison: I can't remember what it was. I think it was eight weeks of of yoga classes that are free. So you're offering them to the community. And what it is is it's number one, it's giving back to the community. And then number two, it's helping you push you right out of your comfort zone. You got to get up there, you got to do it.

[00:13:33] Alison: And and then you're, you're giving back to the community. So in your and building up your confidence as well as an instructor. So I remember. I had taken the level one and I was taking all of these other trainings because I wanted to be, I wanted the trauma yoga certification and I was taking it and I kept, we would, you know, go around and introduce yourself and whatnot.

[00:13:56] Alison: And I would, that was one of the things that I would always say is that I haven't taught yet. I'm a little nervous. And it is such a beautiful community. The, what I was part of anyways. And one of the best things that someone said is that, You are not going to be for everybody and the people that are supposed to come to your class will be there and the people that are not supposed to come to your class will find somewhere else to go and you just need to be okay with that.

[00:14:24] Alison: And so I just tell myself that over and over again, I am not for everybody. And that's okay, right? And you are not for everybody, and that's okay. And it's something that I tell my daughters too especially when we're transitioning into a new school and they're finding friends and whatnot, is I'm like, some people are not your people, and that's okay.

[00:14:45] Alison: Right. You don't have to be friends with everybody. You're going to find your people. There's going to be people that are not your people and that's okay. It's okay. Right. So I think that I really loved that section of the book where she was talking about how we really need to do better as as women to lift each other up and support each other 

[00:15:04] Alison: and she was talking about, you know, giving compliments freely. And that's something that I've really tried to embrace. In recent, in, in the last few years, I really try, especially with my daughters now, I am very aware that they are watching your kids who they're watching everything that you do and how you treat people and how you,

[00:15:37] Alison: So, make sure you're showing what you would be proud of them emulating, right? And One of the things is you have compliments freely. So if I see somebody and I really like their shirt, I'm like, I really like your shirt or Oh my gosh, your purse is so cool. Or Oh my gosh, I love your hair. Like they've got crazy, crazy color hair.

[00:15:58] Alison: There was a lady yesterday, she had like red. I went on a field trip with Savannah yesterday to this like science thing and one of the one of the volunteers at the place that we went to had all this like red tinsel in her hair and the way like the sun, it just looks so cool. And I'm like, your hair looks awesome.

[00:16:17] Alison: So just little things like that, but the, but the thing that you need to keep in mind is that it needs to be genuine, right? Like we're not just going around. To giving compliments to give a compliment like it's something that's genuine and I think that that's really important. Okay, so that so give compliments freely and genuinely is one of the other things that I really liked from the book so that's about it It was I really enjoyed reading it.

[00:16:42] Alison: She, she, if you get it on audible, she actually reads the book, which I prefer. I really look for books like that where the book is read by the author. I just feel like it gives it a little bit of a different vibe. I have a really hard time listening to books that are read by a narrator. That's not the the actual author.

[00:17:01] Alison: So she reads it. And again, I think if you are an entrepreneur, you're trying to grow a business, you have a business. I think that it is a fantastic read to just give you some insight into how hard it is. It is really hard, but it is also incredibly rewarding. And there, it's worth, it is worth what you have to go through, but it's not sunshine and roses.

[00:17:26] Alison: It's not from a Denny's waitress to a billion dollar sale. There was a lot of years and a lot of grind in there, and that's just something to keep in mind. So that's it for today. I will be sharing with you my next read coming soon.