I love to read about successful women entrepreneurs.

Jamie Kern Lima was the owner of ‘it cosmetics’. She sold this company for over a 1 billion dollars to makeup giant L’Oréal. You would think that is the whole story – because really, who does that? But the story instead is about the grit it takes and the self-doubt that needed to be conquered before she could trust herself.

This book is a quick read and reads like a conversation. By the end of it, I felt like I had just had coffee with a friend! Her level of honesty and vulnerability about herself, her family, and her business is a refreshing change.

Here are a few lessons and aha moments I had while reading:

• “Don’t take criticism from someone you would not take advice from.”
• “Something has to give – the things we focus on come at the price of other things we can’t give our focus to” That had me asking what in my life has to give?
• She had many question about her path into one of the world’s most competitive, cutthroat (and lucrative) industries. With $1000 in the bank and after being turned down by 23 banks for a loan, well, you can kind of get it why that might happen 🙂 Her response: “Energy is contagious and even though you can’t control how other people show up, you can control who you let others impact yours.”
• Like most successful entrepreneurs, her success did not come easily or overnight or on a silver platter. It was a grind. She believed, above all, she would champion women and that all women were beautiful. That purpose kept her steady and focused, feeling that her biggest competitor was her need to avoid getting distracted from her purpose. She kind of sums it up with, “you might be tempted to underestimate me, but let me save you some time… don’t.”

If you need a good sit down with a motivating and purpose-driven friend who tells it like it is, then this is the book you want to read next.

*This is an unsolicited review. There are no incentives attached to this.