RV: (00:06) Welcome to the influential personal brand podcast recap, special edition with our friend, Jamie Kern Lima. AJ is here with me today. She’s back. Where are you, man? Woman? You’ve been working. You’ve been mommin’ AJV: (00:22) It was a three-week podcast. RV: (00:27) It’s a great episode to be back. Jamie is a friend of ours. She was last time that we talked to her. She was, she was here in Nashville and so excited to see her book coming out. And yeah, we’re breaking down our top three takeaways, which I’m going to it only seems fitting to let one female CEO entrepreneur that I ex I respect so much kick off the the recap with to another. So what did you take away from from her? AJV: (00:59) So I, this was probably my biggest, not just my first, but my biggest takeaway from the podcast, which I thought was really great for on so many different levels, but here’s the first thing doing what hasn’t been done before. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It just means it hasn’t been done. I think so often we hear our clients talk about, well, this is what our competitors are doing. This is what the market is doing. This is what, you know, competitor research says this blah, blah, blah. And that’s what I say. Because I think it’s so often it’s why are you looking to find your uniqueness and something or someone else, and that is just counter intuitive to every single thing. That’s at the core of what makes you, you, which is no one else is you. And I love what Jamie said. And she was like, just because it hasn’t been done before. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It just means it hasn’t been done before. So why not? You, why not your company? Why not your personal brand? And she’s the best case study of that, that there is a, in the beauty industry. And I love, I love that message so much. RV: (02:16) I got goosies Vaden. That was good. That was strong, AJV: (02:20) But it’s, I it’s, we, we suffer from this challenge all the time of we say, well, everyone’s doing funnel challenges. Well, everyone’s doing courses and everyone’s doing Instagram ads. And it’s like, why do you care what anyone else is doing? So that was my biggest takeaway. Do what you do, do what you do and build it into a nine figure business. I mean, it’s kind of, well, almost 10. RV: (02:49) Yeah. I guess nine figures would be a hundred million. It’s hard to know AJV: (02:55) 199 million RV: (02:56) Sold it for a billion, which would be 10 figures. I mean, it’s hard to even count anyways. It’s a lot of zeros. It’s a lot of zeros and you know, kind of related to that, I think my big takeaway, which I think is like the, one of the central parts of her whole book, I’ve read the whole book cover to cover. It’s awesome. That’s funny. It’s, it’s inspiring. I, yeah. And I read slow it’s so I don’t read that many books every year. I try to, but it’s that doesn’t help either or I don’t stay awake very long, but it is you know, and, and she basically saying that like learn to listen to your gut, which is like, kind of what you’re talking about, your instinct. Right. And versus just what people say, Oh, it has to be this way. No one would ever buy a beauty product from someone that looks like you. What? I mean, that was crazy. Like, I can’t believe somebody said that to her AJV: (03:57) Because you’re a man women hear stuff like that all day, every day. Don’t make me go on a tangent. RV: (04:04) I believe I am. I’m not saying I, I just, I can believe that someone said it. I just saying it’s so stupid that somebody would say that it’s so mean that somebody would say that is, is, is what I’m saying, but, but anyway. AJV: (04:19) Yeah. RV: (04:19) Well, I clearly right. W tack up rack up the points for Jamie Kern, Lima. I think she got the best of that battle. But it, you know, it, it reminds me of when we met our literary agent Nina, and it was just like, you know, I just, I just felt drawn to this idea of like, this is who we’re supposed to have represent us because they had such a track record of rep representing new young business authors. And it was like, I know we’re not qualified to be with them yet. I know that, you know, like we’re not big enough or whatever, but this is, this is how I’ve, I’ve just felt so drawn to that. And over the course of our career, I feel like so many times. AJV: (05:05) But that mean to your point is that you felt this internal knowing similar to what Jamie talks about, even though that we were rejected two years and it did not make logical logical sense, but deep down you’re like, Nope, I know this is it. I know my external surroundings do not line up with what my gut is saying, but that’s what it’s saying. RV: (05:28) I feel like you do that so well, it’s one of the things I love about you is you, you have such a strong instinct about this is good. This is bad. This is fair. This is not, this will work. We can’t do this. Like I believe in this, I don’t believe in that. And you have such a clear instinct. I always tell AJC, sees the world in black and white. It helps me. Cause I always am like living in this world of gray and, and she’s like, boom, boom. And that’s that’s instinct. And you just don’t hear enough about that. Anyways. That was my first big takeaway is, you know, follow the gut, follow the gut. AJV: (06:02) Yeah, I am. And I think it’s not just follow your gut. It’s follow it. Even when the surroundings around you don’t line up and it’s, it’s being in touch with your instincts, RV: (06:13) If it’s strong enough. Like if it’s that strong. Yeah. AJV: (06:16) Yeah. Okay. My second one that was very long. So my second one, RV: (06:21) You interrupted me. So that doesn’t count AJV: (06:24) Is I love this. She said you cannot fake authenticity, authenticity doesn’t guarantee success, but in authenticity guarantees, failure might drop. That is so good. That is such a reminder to all of us where it’s like, no one said authenticity is going to make you successful. But what you can guarantee is that inauthenticity being fake, bending the truth that will guarantee failure at some point. And that is just so solid and so good. And just to that, it’s like, it’s why fake authenticity specifically to building a personal brand, right? You’re, you’re, you’re building your entire business off of you, your uniqueness, what you believe in, why wouldn’t it be authentically true and authentically you, this is your opportunity to share your thoughts and your mission and your values with the world to share your unique message, to help people all around the world. AJV: (07:32) Why wouldn’t you want it to be authentically you? Why do you think you need to have certain clothes or certain photo shoots? And, you know, just all of those things that I think are just so amazing. And I love Jamie story. And although she didn’t share tons of this on the podcast interview, but it’s like, it was her authenticity on QVC that sold out the products, right? She probably could have gone up there with the exact same product and not did what she did and had models come in and dah, dah, dah, and it may not have sold out. We don’t know it was her authenticity, her truth that sold a billion dollar business. That, and I love that because it would’ve been really easy to do it the way the industry does it the way her competitors did it, the way that even people like QVC were suggesting that she should do it. RV: (08:25) And I think, I think that authenticity is going to translate into a lot of book sales. Like she’s she does the same thing. It’s just part of what she does is just, she just shares her heart. And that is so powerful and it’s exhausting to not be used. So I, I love that too. That’s a big, a big takeaways. Even if you win, you’re going to burn out. If you’re, if you’re in authentic, you can’t really, when you, you, you, you can, it guarantees failure. So my second takeaway was that when she, the, she drew a line in the sand where she said, I would rather have women not buy anything, but see someone who looks like them, then I would have them buy a bunch of stuff from, from women who are, are unattainable, that unattainable aspiration of, of beauty and what she did right there in that story was she drew a line in the sand that said, I am about mission over money. RV: (09:27) And that is something that we’re always talking about. It’s in our mantra, we have a thing called a mantra at brand builders group that we read about, we read every month internally. And we say, we are about mission over money, just because something will make money. Doesn’t mean you should do it. Like, it’s it. Money is just one scorecard. It’s not bad. There’s not anything wrong with money, but it’s like, it takes so much passion and heart and belief and conviction to say, it’s about mission. And I’m going to, I’m going to follow that. And that was that’s what broke through the noise. That’s how she broke through the wall. That was huge for me. Yeah. AJV: (10:04) And second that, I second that and so here’s my third one is I love this so much because it speaks to what I think we all should be doing is she was, she said that, listen, I’m going to use myself as the case study for my own products. I ha I stand behind my product so much. I will be the case study. I will go out there with no makeup on, because I know my product works. I stay in behind what I have created and I stayed behind what it does a hundred percent. So I’m not going to use all these people who already have perfect skin and perfect complexions because they’re 19 years old. I know I’m going out there. I’m going to go out there raw with no makeup. And I don’t want to show what my product does. And it’s like, you should be able to stand behind your product and your services, a hundred percent conviction, and that it doesn’t make your product or service. AJV: (10:58) Perfect. Nobody’s trying to attain perfection here. But what I’m saying is that you should believe in it a hundred percent if you’re dedicating your life and your career to it. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. It doesn’t mean your business is perfect. We all have flaws. We all have ears. That’s not what I’m saying here is that you believe in it so much that you’re like, Nope, me, I’ll be the case study. I know this works because it changed my life. It changed in her case her complexion, which improved self confidence and all these other things. But you’ve gotta be able to stand up and say, Nope, I’ll be the case study. That is how much I believe in this. Not saying that it’s perfect and without flaw, but you just have that much conviction in it. Yep. RV: (11:43) That’s so good. That’s so good. For me, the, the, the last takeaway is, you know, the book is called, believe it. And her whole thing is about believing yourself. And how do you believe in yourself? And, and, and, and I love it. It’s upstairs. We got to both upstairs. I think yours is in your bathroom and the mindset and the bed, the the but, but, but here’s the thing, what I love is she talks about belief and authenticity and passion. And then she also talks about work. Not just, I sat in a room and, and I didn’t manifest this by like, it wasn’t like, you know, just sit around and think good thoughts. She did a thousand live shows 1000. She, she had one year, I think, where she said she did like 300 shows in a year. That’s like almost every single day, she sleeping at QVC. RV: (12:44) They were doing 90 hour work weeks for 10 years. Like, I just, I love that because it’s both right. Is it like, is it mindset or is it work ethic? Yes, it is both. It is belief. It is passionate. It’s vulnerability, it’s authenticity, and it is freaking work. And, and you just don’t hear that enough about like, it’s work a thousand live show. I mean, that is a thousand. We, you know, we always heard from Eric Chester or one of my mentors, the difference between a good speaker and a great speaker is 1000 presentations. She’s done a thousand. She has been hustling and pitching and fighting. And so it’s like, while you’re, while you’re waiting to believe in yourself, work like you, you may or may not believe in yourself, but you can start working right away. Like you can start taking action, no matter how you feel like you can just go. And if you do that, you build this momentum and then you get some wins and you start to believe and you go, gosh, maybe this could work or Whoa, that didn’t work. But I think I could try this. And then it’s like the, the, the work leads to the belief, right? And the belief leads to the work. But if, if you don’t have the belief, it’s not going to stop you from doing the work. So just work, just go, just follow that instance. AJV: (14:09) But yeah, to that is, you’ve got to have something that you believe in enough where it no longer even feels like work. It’s just what you do. It’s who you are. It’s a part of your mission. It’s that mission. And it’s like, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a 90 hour work week, to be honest, I don’t want one. I’m not citizen, RV: (14:31) But AJV: (14:31) I think it comes back to it’s like, but is it because it feels like work? Or is it because you’re so tied to the mission of it? It no longer feels like work. It feels like your calling. It feels like your purpose, your mission. And I think that’s, that’s an important distinction of this too. This just work. Wasn’t just building a company. This was a mission. This one is a changed in industry. And I think that too is really important to recognize where definitely I definitely can’t sit here and say, I encourage you to work 90 hours, but I could definitely sit here and say, but if it doesn’t feel like work, if it’s a part of who you are and what you feel called to do, you should do it 24 hours a day. RV: (15:09) And you’re not going to just believe your way there. That’s that’s my thing is like, believe it is the part of it, but work, it is work. It is the other part of it. Right? You can’t just believe it and not work. In fact, the fact that you do the work is evidence of the belief you’re working in the direction of the thing that you say you care about. Like, you can sit and go, Oh, I really care about this thing. But if there’s no effort behind it, it’s like, you don’t really, if you believe it, and it’s your mission, then you’re, you’re, you’re going behind it. Who cares? How many hours? There’s action. There’s action to support that belief. And yeah. So I just love it. Super power. AJV: (15:51) Yeah, it was. It’s a great interview. You should listen to the whole thing. You should go buy the book, read the book and give her some love. RV: (15:57) Check it out. Jamie Kern, Lima, everybody on the influential personal brand podcast. That’s the recap edition. We’ll catch you next time. Stick around.