Today’s Words of Wisdom are from Jamie Kern Lima, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of IT Cosmetics. I hope and pray that they help someone who is struggling with rejection on their big ideas and dreams right now.
In the clip, the businesswoman shares that she has experienced a great deal of rejection in the course of creating her company. It costs her nights of crying herself to sleep and lost confidence. However, Jamie soon came to realize that hearing “no” was a part of the game. “If you’re doing something novel or that’s different, that hasn’t been done before, of course, all these people that are experts aren’t going to get it right away,” she shared of her journey. Jamie also stated that her company was able to succeed “by persistence and by not letting those “no’s” destroy every ounce of confidence I had.” She added: “Every single person that told us “no” has now told us “yes.”
I can only imagine how much rejection Jamie and her team faced in trying to build this company. We all go through it. I tell people all the time, for every win I’ve had, I must have had at least 10 rejections or no response at all. Once you go through it enough, it does either one of two things: it stops you from going after what you want entirely OR you become unfazed by it. Over time, I’ve learned to chose the latter.
Rejection is a part of life, especially if you have ideas that haven’t been done before or maybe not quite in the way you’ve done them before. You’ll hear a lot of “nos” BUT if you know that you are gifted and talented, hardworking, and that you have something great to offer, you shouldn’t stop. No matter what the dream is. Don’t let rejection from others deter you or break your confidence. Not everybody’s going to get it at first. Maybe not at all. But your gift will make room for you. Keep going.
Watch Jamie’s Words of Wisdom below!
Imperfectly B 