Jessica Simpson: How To Billionaire Boss Babe Like the Best of Them

The "Boss Babe" Formula of Success 

(The Secret Formula)

1.  Hard Work 

There are no "short-cuts" to success. Embrace hard work. 

2.  Patience 

Most people "give up" because they don't see success right away. You are not "most people." Embrace not seeing immediate results but don't lose faith. 

3.  Sacrifice

If you don't sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice.

4.  Consistency 

Showing up and applying consistent effort is what transforms average into excellence. 

5.  Discipline 

There will be days you "don't feel like it" but there is no way to be consistent without discipline.

6.  Self-Confidence 

Confidence is knowing you will be fine if "they don't like you." 

...continued from the last post.

After many trials and tribulations, Jessica becomes famous. She quickly learns that fame only leads to more trials and tribulation. Out of the frying pan, and into the fire, or so the saying goes...

Fairy Tale Wedding & "Newlyweds"

Anyone growing up in the early 00's witnessed the emergence of reality TV.  No longer did the TV audience favor well-scripted comedy or drama in a sitcom format. Instead, they wanted "real drama." Drama that mirrored the catty-gossipy-juicy situations humans tend to find themselves in? Or was it these shows that showed us how to be catty? (Life mirroring art or art mirroring life?) 

No matter, the need was there. The audience was done with "neatly wrapped" endings. It just isn't what happens in real life. 

One of the first "reality TV shows" to capitalize, or even pioneer this trend, was a show called, "Newlyweds." 

It featured Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. 

One of the more "famous" scenes of this show was Jessica's "confusion" over "Chicken of the Sea." 

“Is this chicken that I have, or is this fish?” Simpson asked then-husband Nick Lachey during the 2003 premiere episode of their reality show, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. “I know it's tuna, but it says chicken by the sea,” she continued. “Is that stupid? What is it called — chicken by the sea or in the sea?” - People Magazine

Was she playing dumb?  

Click Here to buy Jessica Simpson's "Open Book" 

Fame: 

Jessica felt her "I've arrived" moment in Los Angeles, when her and her sister stepped into a nail salon for a girl's day and looked up to an autographed headshot of "Fergie" from "The Back Eyed Peas." At that point she was still "Stacy Ferguson" from "Kids Incorporated." The first celebrity the family spotted in Los Angeles was Garth Brooks. Jessica describes her family country bumpkins compared to the savvy show business people. Her dad became her manager and they did their best at trying to "fit in" to the show business scene without looking too out of place.

Jessica's Album Debut: 

Britney Spears was first "out of the gate" with her new song "Hit Me Baby One More Time" and dance music video that premiered on Thanksgiving Day. This basically shot Britney to superstardom overnight. 

At the same time, it delayed Jessica's album. 

The record label now wanted Jessica to add dance and emulate Britney's style... just a little...given its success. In the interim, while waiting on her album's release...

Jessica falls in love at first site. 

She was at a Christmas Day parade, eighteen years old, when she spotted Nick Lachey. 

"Hello, my life" she thought when he introduced himself to her for the first time. 

She noticed that she behaved differently around him. Instead of being shy, and turning away to steal glances as she would in the past, her shyness was conquered by intrigue. Once her eyes locked on him she could not turn away.

This starts off a whirlwind relationship, which morphs into a toxic relationship that Jessica had troubles getting out of. From her descriptions, my opinion of what happened to Jessica in her teens and early twenties, Jessica developed a need to please everyone around her. She began to focus on making other people happy...even at her own expense. 

Starting with her record label. 

Ink still wet from officially signing a record deal, Tommy said to Jessica, "You have to lose fifteen pounds." On top of feeling immense pressure to lose weight, in order to develop as a teen pop star like Britney, Jessica describes an added pressure to get "abs" in order to expose her midriff. She began extreme dieting, but still wasn't happy with her progress. Abs had to be shadowed-in with makeup. Jessica, of course, was perfectly normal and beautiful this entire time. The scrutiny to create a perfect image caused her severe anxiety. 

"I immediately went on an extremely strict diet, and started taking diet pills, which I would do for the next twenty years. It's important that I say this now, if only for my daughter, whenever she reads this: You are perfect as you are."

Listen to "Heart of Innocence" here: 

Listen to "Did You Ever Love Somebody" here: 

Jessica Simpson's Love Life:

Jessica fell hard for Nick. 

It was hard to "practice what she preached," which was abstinence before marriage. Jessica describes a strong chemistry, a charged magnetic pull, a moth-to-a-flame energy between them that felt beyond her control. Alongside this intense energy, was fear and insecurity. Nick, the leader of a popular boy band, came with a legion of women-fans who wanted him as well. The romance between Nick and Jessica started out as three hour phone calls that progressed into Jessica touring and opening for Nick's boy band, 98 degrees. (Unlike "Backstreet Boys," a band assembled by talent scouts, Nick and his younger brother Drew started this band in their hometown. They were reminiscent of the band "Boyz 2 Men.")

 When Jessica joined Nick on tour, she was "booed" by Nick's women followers. 

Afraid of losing Nick due to her vow to "wait until marriage," she gets married to him at the ripe old age of nineteen in a picturesque southern baptist wedding, complete with princess-like dress and white wedding chapel. It rained on her wedding day, which is considered good luck. 

'One time, he hugged me, and I thought I was going to burst into flames. I had to push him away, not because I didn't trust him, but because I was teetering on the edge of just giving in. Suddenly, I completely understood why my mom got married at eighteen. Her mother at least made it to twenty." pg. 126

As Jessica's popularity increases as a pop star, her marriage begins to feel the strain. Jessica's dad begins to manage Nick's career when he becomes family. Jessica and Nick jump on board a new TV concept called, "reality TV" and begin to let America into their lives as newlyweds with a show appropiately called, "Newlyweds." Cameras fill their home and space. The result is not being able to have honest discussions. Unlike most "newlyweds" they are not able to iron-out issues many people encounter early on in a marriage due to the cameras on their marriage. Resentment builds as a result. Nick starts to retaliate by going out to parties. Tabloids start to spread cheating rumors about Nick. 

The "connection" that was so instrumental in bringing the two together...has faded. 

They begin to live separate lives. Both willing to make themselves busy, unable to see each other, in order to avoid talking or working on issues in their marriage. The building tension starts to come out in the only place they are forced to be together...on the reality TV show. 

"The production assistant looked embarrassed. I realized they wanted a reaction on camera. If we can't get them to interact romantically, let's have them fight. Happy anniversary. I then had to sit through this dinner, another weird, quiet meal where they shut down the whole restaurant to film so nobody could approach us. There were so many stories about Nick at strip clubs or talking to girls that I didn't know what to believe. Did he feel caught in this marriage? He keeps putting himself into situations where he could be so easily accused of cheating? It was self-sabotage. And I was supposed to stay at home and be Betty Crocker? Nope, I was going to be Daisy Duke." ~PG 202

To take a break from all of the rumored scandalous behavior of Nick, Jessica auditions for the part of "Daisy Duke" in the Johnny Knoxville version of "Dukes of Hazard." She describes a chemistry she shared with Johnny after they meet during her audition. 

"I smiled at him and started to worry. I felt a force drawing us together. I wondered why I was open to this. I was already living in a distrustful situation with Nick, and now I was afraid I couldn't trust myself." (Jessica describing how she felt after a hug from Johnny Knoxville on set of "Dukes of Hazard" pg. 203)

Jessica starts an "emotional affair" with Johnny. They were both married at the time, but seemingly unhappy in their marriages. They bonded over drinks at bars after shooting scenes for the movie. Jessica felt heard and seen by Johnny, in contrast to how she felt with Nick, who mostly ignored her at this point in their failing marriage. By the end of shooting "Dukes of Hazard" it was clear to Jessica that she got married too soon, and that Nick expected her to remain the young "innocent" girl he married. Even though she was maturing and learning how to conduct herself as a woman. These were changes that Nick wasn't keeping up with. She asks Nick to go into marriage therapy with her. Nick shows up for the first session, and doesn't show for the next...this triggers Jessica to write songs about Johnny Knoxville. She then sends them to him and asks for his opinion. As much as she wants to end the "emotional affair" with Johnny, but can't bring herself to do it...it feels like "a crutch." In order to deal with feeling ignored in her marriage, Jessica flirts with Johnny. She recognizes that Johnny is not willing to leave his partner at that time. She forces herself to get rid of thinking or communicating with Johnny in order to focus on fixing her situation with Nick. 

It becomes clear to Jessica that there is no way to fix her marriage. 

By their third wedding anniversary  they are barely speaking to each other. Nick starts acting as if he hates her instead of displaying his usual quiet discontent towards the situation. In the mind of Jessica Simpson, is a scarred memory of him coming home drunk and saying that she has no friends, instead she has people who she pays to stay around her, and that includes her own parents. There is a line from her journal that she would return to at the point that she decided to finally announce her separation from Nick Lachey.

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." PG. 231

Deep down, Jessica felt there was a life that was waiting for her, and all she needed to do was muster up her bravery. She owed it to all the people waiting in her "future life," on the other end of her fear, to "move on" from this toxic relationship with Nick. 

Two days before Thanksgiving, she finally asked Nick for a divorce. 

Nick releases a solo album around this time and writes a song called, "What's Left of Me." 

The video and song describe the relationship with Jessica from Nick's perspective. Behind-the-Scenes of this divorce, Nick asks for a lot of money. To Jessica, it seems he made himself out to be "the victim" and her out to be "the bad guy." Jessica tells her dad (her manager) to give him what he wants. She promises that she will make the money later...and she does. 

Jessica's Clothing Empire: 

With the help of her mom, Jessica develops a fashion brand around the name, "Jessica Simpson." The dream of Jessica's mom was to become a fashion designer. She would design Jessica's outfits early on and noticed girls would frequently ask about the clothing Jessica would wear. They decided to "cut out the middle man" and appraoch Vince Camuto, the creator of the footwear brand "Nine West" to strike a licensing deal, in which he paid Jessica 15 million for the master lisence. His vision was to create a lifestyle empire around Jessica's fanbase and "American Sweetheart" image. He built a flagship store at Macy's in Herald Square, New York. They also built her brand inside the southern clothing store, Dillards. 

They started the "Jessica Simpson" clothing line with a pair of red high-heeled cowboy boots that cost around $69. The shoes sold out immediately. They decided to invest $50 million in wholesale goods, in order to expand into more areas such as sportswear, handbags, accessories and denim. Jessica and her mom hired designers for every category. Jessica's success is a mixture of having a fashion-savvy mom, paired with her own intuition about what people will realistically wear. 

The grand message in Jessica's memoir is that out of her adversity came many great opportunities. Every one of her bigger failures were viewed more like, "lessons" which helped Jessica grow into a powerful woman. Yes, towards the end of the book, it seemed like a drinking problem emerged, but even this Jessica conquers as she decided to delve into her journals and become introspective. Ultimately, Jessica succeeded at everything she attempted in life, including creating a successful clothing line (where many celebrities fail) because she did not let ego get in the way. For those looking to find inspiration in "how to be a boss babe," I suggest reading the book on your own. 

I'll leave you guys with this quote from Pg.259 

"You need to nurture your dream the way you would a best friend or child, and you need someone you can trust on board with you....you have been listening to me talk, so I want to hear from you. Press pause for a second on your life and ask yourself, 'What is my calling? What makes me feel passionate?'"