Sara Blakely
Sara Blakely
Sara Blakelyis an American businessperson and founder of Spanx, an American intimate apparel company with pants and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2012, Blakely was named in Time magazine's "Time 100" annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. As of 2014, she is listed as the 93rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth27 February 1971
CityClearwater, FL
CountryUnited States of America
I have this system where if I buy three or four new things, I give away three or four things. Sometimes, it's a very painful system, but shopping is even better when you know that someone else who needs it will be getting. Keep the clothing karma going, I say.
My saddlebags are why Spanx exist! Now that I have a baby I also have a muffin top.
Failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. This way, it is about answering to yourself.
With every obstacle that has happened to me in my life, my brain immediately says, ‘Where is the hidden blessing?’ In starting a business and growing a business, every day is learning how to manage obstacles.
Embrace what you don`t know
My revenue was $4 million my first year in business, off of one $20 item.
You’ve got to embrace what you don’t know.
Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' is my go-to song to pump myself up if I'm having a tough time or if I get really nervous right before a speech.
I made a conscious decision not to tell anyone in my life. Now I tell people - don't tell anyone your idea until you have invested enough of yourself in it that you are not going to turn back. When a person has an idea at that conception moment it is the most vulnerable - one negative comment could knock you off course.
Most of us want to tell our coworkers or friends, or husbands or wives, our ideas. For what reason? We want validation. But I feel ideas are most vulnerable in their infancy. Out of love and concern, friends and family give all the reasons or objections on why [you] shouldn't do it. I didn't want to risk that.
Most of the reason we don’t do things is because we’re afraid to fail. I just made a decision one day that I was not not going to do things in my life because of fear.
Ensure that you do things differently from everyone else
I'd never worked in fashion or retail. I just needed an undergarment that didn't exist.
Every time I went on stage I was so terrified I almost threw up.