Poppy King - Lessons of a Lipstick Queen: Finding and Developing the Great Idea that Can Change Your Life

Dear Reader,

Ever since I started my lipstick business at the age of eighteen I have been asked one question in particular, again and againHow in the world did you do it?

I love watching peoples expressions as I tell them the answer. What began as almost a throwaway ideaI wish I could bring out my own line of lipsticksdeveloped into my career, my life, and my guiding passion. And as people listen to me explain how I accomplished this, I see them suddenly realize that they too could do the same.

In Lessons of a Lipstick Queen I have taken everything that I have learned and plotted it out to show you how you, too, have what it takes. You can find, explore, and make any idea happen. The trick is actually pretty simplegood planning mixed with self-belief. And it doesnt matter at all if you dont think you have either ability now. By the end of the book, I promise, you will have both. My goal is to help you unlock the inner entrepreneur that exists in all of us, whether you want to start something new like I did, or just become better at what you are already doing.

Yours truly,
Poppy King

HAVE YOU EVER daydreamed?

Have you ever thought about doing something different?

Have you ever thought If only or I wish?

I am sure you have. We all have. Most of us just arent conscious that were doing it. Nor are we aware that some genuinely good ideas are lurking within these throwaway thoughts.

Anyone who has seen an idea through to a reality has started right where you arejust by thinking about it. That is exactly how I began my lipstick business. Who would have imagined that a multimillion-dollar company could spring from what seemed like the small and insignificant thoughts of a schoolgirl?

LESSON 1: Everyone has ideas

In cartoons, when characters have ideas, lightbulbs appear above their heads. Eureka! This is how we think ideas should come to us. Like bolts of lightningsuddenclearvisible.

In real life, most ideas are much hazier. They ebb and flow like flotsam and jetsam, bobbing around on our stream of consciousness. And just like the junk floating around on the water, some of it floats away and some floats back. We often treat these thoughts like garbage, but they arent.

Many people will swear up and down that they are not good at coming up with ideas, when what theyre really lacking is confidence: the confidence to believe that their own ideas could be real.

Very few of us experience what weve been taught to think of as the big ideas that arrive as an epiphany and call us to immediate action. Yet all of us, every single one of us, experience the other variety: the slow, steadier, repetitive thoughts that seem insignificant. We may be reluctant to call them ideas. We may think of them more as background noise. Even at this moment, you may still be thinking, I dont have any real ideas. But if you remove some of the mystique and realize that ideas dont have to be grand to be bona fide, youll quickly see that you have just as many ideas as the next person.

There is one simple understanding that allows many people to become successful: Instead of raising the bar as to what constitutes a good idea, they lower it. They realize that ideas are not one in a million, but a dime a dozen. Everyone is forming ideas every day. That means you, too. In fact, you probably already had and acted out at least five in the last few hours:

• What to have for breakfast
• What to wear
• How to get to work
• What to do first once you get there
• What to have for lunch

It may not sound like much, yet the very same process that got you through these basics can help you achieve so much more. But first you need to realize that all the greatest ideaseven those that have changed the world as we know it, the ones that are admired and revered for centurieswere developed using the same neurons we use to decide what to have for breakfast.

I promise you, you do have ideas. Perhaps nine out of ten of them are not worth pursuing. But perhaps, just perhaps, one is.

That one could change your lifeOne changed mine.

My Story

The idea to create my own brand of lipsticks didnt come to me in a flash. My process was much, much slower and nowhere near as clear.

It all started when I was about fifteen, when every Saturday night my best friend Sarah and I would get dressed up to go out (usually to some place that involved fake ID). As you can imagine, the process always involved makeupand lots of it. It was the mideighties, after all. Were talking electric colors, shoulder pads, stirrup pants, and very big hair. With her tan skin, corkscrew curls, athletic physique, and cute little cherub nose, Sarah pulled off the look without a hitch.

Unfortunately, I cant say the same for me.

At the time I was five foot nothing, flat as a tack, pale, and bushy-haired with a European Jewish profile. I have never looked modern and have always looked more like something out of a black-and-white movie. Of course, I felt perfectly awful every Saturday night as I frantically attempted to shoehorn myself into the fashion of the day. Despite my best efforts, I could see that the whole look wasnt working. Particularly the makeup. I couldnt put my finger on exactly what was wrong, but I could see that Sarah looked good and I didnt.