"Channeling Oprah": Shark Tank's Jamie Kern Lima reveals how she visualized the "sold-out" sign while starting her cosmetic business

Shark Tank mentor Jamie Kern Lima, in discussions with The School of Greatness podcast host Lewis Howes, shared her cosmetics business and how it was featured on QVC. The video is titled How to Silence the NOs and Trust Your Knowing.

Talking about the opportunity she and her team had to get featured on QVC, Jamie mentioned visualizing the "sold-out" sign while starting her business. Before that, she mentioned what she went through and how she was feeling before her big moment.

"I sat there and I prayed and I cried, and it felt really heavy to be honest because I didn't...it's a big moment because it was like, "Okay, I'm not nervous for TV," but it was like...it felt like everything was on the line and I tried to imagine who my customer was, who was watching, like, why am I doing what I'm doing. All these things. I remember at one point, channeling Oprah."

Shark Tank investor Jamie Kern Lima recalls "Channeling Oprah" while she faced a huge opportunity

Shark Tank mentor Jamie mentioned an opportunity she and her team had from QVC. She mentioned hiring "consultants" and:

"This is where everything I believed in, like, was put on the line, and they're awesome and they help a lot of people. Right. So, they're...they help people sell in QVC and retail stores and..."

The host asked if they offered Jamie a "different strategy", and she didn't want to do so. She agreed, and continued:

"Right. Exactly. They all said this is what you need to do....exactly because that's what had always been done and that's what it always worked. So they wanted the best for me, like, they were smart and wanting me to win, and they're like, "Okay. Here's what you need to do you know, use models of perfect skin...all this, and I would say, "Okay, but like, that's not why I created this, and what if...I...what if...and this was pre-YouTube exploding, so."

Shark Tank's mentor further stated that her idea was for her to go on air and take her makeup off on live television and show off her Rosacea. Additionally, she suggested having models of "different ages," "sizes," "skin challenges," and "skin tones."

When the consultants were in disagreement with her, Jamie asked if she was one of the customers sitting at home:

"And I'm watching, and I don't...I don't see someone that looks like me; how do I know the product is going to work for me."

She mentioned facing hardships and feeling torn between her "gut" telling one thing and experts telling her "another" thing.

Further, the Shark Tank mentor shared an interesting incident. She recalled flying a week before airing, and she rented a car and sat in the QVC parking lot for a week. She mentioned watching the "front door" and visualizing how it could either "make it or break it" moment.

"I was like, "Okay, I remember this time when Oprah was obsessed with the colour purple. She told the story on her show, and she wanted it so bad that it consumed her, and she ran around a track and just saying "I surrender all," and asked God to take it from her because she just couldn't carry it herself."

Trying something similar to Oprah, Jamie also "literally sang, "I surrender all" and cried." Further, she mentioned how Olympians "imagine" what would happen, so similarly, she imagined a "sold out" sign coming on the screen. She did all that while sitting in her car.

"And so it was this moment where I just kind of knew, but sometimes we know what the right thing is, but it's also the hard thing, and it's scary," shared the Shark Tank mentor.

To learn more about what Jamie did further and how she and her team did with the QVC opportunity, can head to her YouTube channel (Jamie Kern Lima) and watch the episode.

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Fans can catch Jamie Kern Lima on the currently streaming Shark Tank Season 18 on ABC Network.

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