How to Trust Your Gut in Business: Stop Second-Guessing Yourself | Jamie Kern Lima

What do you do when the experts tell you one thing, but everything inside you is telling you something else?Do you trust their experience?Or do you trust yourself?In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie shares the powerful story of IT Cosmetics founder Jamie Kern Lima and the high-stakes decision that helped change the future of her company.Jamie had spent years building a beauty brand based on something she deeply believed was missing from the industry: real women, real skin, real challenges, and products that actually worked for them.Then came an opportunity that could make or break the business.Jamie was given approximately ten minutes on QVC and needed thousands of units of inventory to make it happen. She has shared that 22 banks rejected their financing requests before the 23rd, when the SBA approved the loan they needed. If those products didn't sell, Jamie and her husband would be responsible for the inventory.And then the experts told her how she should present the product.Their advice ran counter to the very thing Jamie believed made her brand different.Sitting in a rental car outside QVC, with her company's future on the line, Jamie made a decision:She would trust herself.Instead of presenting a polished version of beauty, she showed viewers her real skin and demonstrated the product on air. Her first QVC appearance became the breakthrough IT Cosmetics desperately needed, with the product selling out in roughly ten minutes.But this episode isn't really about makeup.It's about self-trust.It's about what happens when someone with more experience, more credentials, or more authority gives you advice that doesn't align with what you know about your vision, your customers, or yourself.Expert advice can be incredibly valuable.But expertise is often built on what has worked before.Your idea might be about what comes next.In This Episode:How Jamie Kern Lima turned a personal problem into the idea for IT CosmeticsWhy rejection doesn't automatically mean your idea is wrongHow to stop treating someone else's opinion as a verdictWhy expert advice should inform your decisions, not always make them for youThe danger of second-guessing yourself when someone else appears more qualifiedHow Jamie chose authenticity when conventional wisdom told her otherwiseWhy knowing your customer can sometimes matter more than following an industry formulaThe relationship between self-trust and confidenceHow to listen to advice without abandoning your own visionWhy your next brave move may require doing something that hasn't worked before because it hasn't been tried your wayYour Brave MoveThink about one decision you're facing right now.Maybe someone has told you what you should do.Maybe you've gotten advice from a mentor, consultant, colleague, family member, or industry expert.And maybe something about that advice doesn't feel right.Don't immediately dismiss the advice.But don't immediately dismiss yourself either.Ask:Is this advice based on what is right for my vision, or is it based on what has worked for someone else?Then give your own experience, intuition, and understanding of the people you serve a seat at the table.You don't need to have all the answers to trust yourself enough to ask another question.And sometimes the bravest move is deciding that the expert in the room isn't the only expert in the room.You know something too.Get Jamie Kern Lima's Books: Worthy: How to Believe You Are Enough and Transform Your LifeBelieve IT: How to Go from Underestimated to UnstoppableIf you loved this episode, text me and let me know what you though. Support the showJoin the CommunityBrave Moves is a daily confidence and personal growth podcast for ambitious women, women entrepreneurs, and leaders who are ready to overcome self-doubt, build resilience, and take bold action in business and life. Each short, practical episode blends mindset science, decision-making psychology, and real-life stories to help you strengthen your confidence, rewire negative thought patterns, and create meaningful forward momentum.If you are navigating career pivots, burnout, reinvention, or leadership growth, Brave Moves gives you the tools to think differently, act bravely, and design a future aligned with your values and vision. Because confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build, one brave move at a time.Liked this episode? Share it with your midlife woman, entrepreneur friends!Love this show? Let us know how we helped you increase your confidence by leaving a review.For more about me and what I do, check out my website.If you’re looking for support to grow your business faster, be positioned as an authority in your industry, and impact the masses, schedule a call to explore if you’d be a good fit for one of my coaching programs.Fo...