In 2007, Kris Jenner, then a Los Angeles-area mother of six children, marched into the office of radio host Ryan Seacrest to pitch her idea for a reality show based on her family.
Jenner thought her large brood of kids — whose ages ranged from 7 to 26 at the time — would have massive appeal.
"Everybody thinks that they could create a bunch of drama in their lives, but it's something that I felt I didn't even have to think about. It would be natural," Jenner told The New York Times in 2015.
She was right. The first episode of "Keeping Up with Kardashians" debuted months later, on Oct. 14, 2007.
The show is now in its 17th season — and Jenner, who also serves as manager (or "momager") to all six of her children, has helped her kids launch their own separate careers and businesses.
Eldest daughter Kourtney Kardashian has a lifestyle website called Poosh; Kim Kardashian West has a slew of businesses including a beauty line and shapewear company; Khloe Kardashian has her own jeans business called Good American; Rob Kardashian has his own sock line, Arthur George; Kendall Jenner is a fashion model; and youngest child Kylie Jenner became the world's youngest billionaire in 2019 thanks to her cosmetics line, Kylie Cosmetics.
In an interview with her daughter Kourtney on Poosh.com on "How to be a good boss," Jenner said her general motto in life is that, "If someone says 'No,' you are talking to the wrong person."
"I think there are so many times in my life that I have taken 'no' for an answer and regretted it later, and I think the older you get, the more experienced you become in life."
Jenner, 63, said one of her keys to success has been her morning routine. "I have this routine in the morning, and I think as human beings we thrive off a routine. I think a routine is very important to have some kind of ritual that you either do at the beginning of the day or at the end of the day," she said.
On most days, Jenner said that she wakes up at around 4:30 a.m. or 5:30 a.m, and the first thing she does is have coffee and check her emails "real quick" before hopping on the treadmill. "If I can be on that treadmill for 45 minutes to an hour, it's golden," she said.
She also turns on the news while she does her cardio to help her catch up with what's going on in the world. After that, she lifts a few weights and then hops in the shower to jumpstart her day at around 7 a.m.
"Being a boss and being in charge is a very brave thing to do. Some days, I wake up and I think about the meetings I'm going to have or the experience that I am about to have or what I need to do that day, whether it's firing someone or hiring someone or creating something new," Jenner said. "It's sometimes very scary to step up."
But she said she truly believes that "anything is possible" and while it may take "a lot of work to get to the 'yes'" — the commitment is worth it.
When asked what career advice she would give her younger self, Jenner said she wouldn't change anything about her story because she started her career as a mom.
"My career was being a mom, and I wouldn't change that for anything in the world. But what I would tell [others] is to really truly find something that you really love to do and figure out how to make that into an amazing career because that is going to be so easy. When you try to fit into a mold that you don't really belong in and that you really don't love or appreciate and you're not passionate about it, it is going to be harder to excel."
Finally, Jenner advised young people to keep a pad and pen by their bed, because she said she gets all her best ideas in the middle of the night.
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