Sara Blakely
My first account was Neiman Marcus. I cold-called them just like I had cold-called businesses when I was selling fax machines for seven years.
Within the first year of launching my company, Spanx, I decided to go over to England and cold-call Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Selfridges the same way I had cold-called Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's here in the United States.
I aim to be pretty - I gave up dressing to be sexy in the eighties.
I've always leaned toward a feminine, funky style, even in business settings. I used to paint my nails blue in 1993, before it was mainstream.
My saddlebags are why Spanx exist! Now that I have a baby I also have a muffin top.
I always joke and say I want to invent a comfortable stiletto and then retire.
I'll mix a lot of things. I'll wear a Temperley dress with flip flops, or I might be in head-to-toe Gucci and have on a ring that I got from a gumball machine for 50 cents.
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.
What I most identify with is effortless fashion, looking as if someone's not put a lot of effort into their look.
Having a mental snapshot of where you are, where you are going, and what you are moving toward is incredibly powerful.Collection: Motivational
Embrace what you don't know, especially in the beginning, because what you don't know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else.Collection: Inspirational
You’ve got to visualize where you’re headed and be very clear about it. Take a polaroid picture of where you’re going to be in a few years.Collection: Years
Failure is not the outcome - failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail.Collection: Inspiration
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.Collection: Blessing
Where I get my energy is: 'How can I make it better'?Collection: Energy
The smartest thing I ever did was to hire my weakness.Collection: Weakness
My advice for an entrepreneur just starting out is to differentiate yourself. Why are you different? What’s important about you? Why does the customer need you?Collection: Entrepreneur
Ensure that you do things differently from everyone elseCollection: Female
Whatever you can think, you can create; just have a very clear vision... Once you have your snapshot, work on filling in the blanks to get to that place.Collection: Thinking
When I was growing up, my dad would encourage my brother and I to fail. We would be sitting at the dinner table and he would ask, 'So what did you guys fail at this week?' If we didn't have something to contribute, he would be disappointed. When I did fail at something, he'd high-five me. What I didn't realize at the time was that he was completely reframing my definition of failure at a young age. To me, failure means not trying; failure isn't the outcome. If I have to look at myself in the mirror and say, 'I didn't try that because I was scared,' that is failure.Collection: Success
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.Collection: Decision
I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course.Collection: Thinking
Instead of failure being the outcome, failure became not trying. And it forced me at a young age to want to push myself so much further out of my comfort zone.Collection: Trying
I feel that women have been neglected, unnecessarily neglected and mistreated personally by the fashion industry and shapewear in that entire category was a definite place that we were neglected.Collection: Fashion
I would say where I feel like I'm struggling the most in learning and giving myself permission to fail is in finding the balance in life. There are different aspects to women: there's the mother, there's the working woman, there's the wife, the friend, the sister, the daughter and so just figuring that all out. I continue to want to try new things and give myself permission to not be great at it.Collection: Daughter
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.Collection: Husband
Failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. This way, it is about answering to yourself.Collection: Trying
What you don’t know can be your greatest asset.Collection: Assets
I pledge to invest in women because I believe it offers one of the greatest returns on investment. I am committed to the belief that we would all be in a much better place if half the human race (women) were empowered to prosper, invent, be educated, start their own businesses, run for office essentially be given the chance to soar.Collection: Running
When I was a child, my father used to encourage my brother and me to fail. At the dinner table, instead of asking about the best part of our day, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn't have something to tell him, he would be disappointed. When we shared whatever failure we'd endured, he'd high-five us and say, 'Way to go!' The gift my father gave us by doing this was redefining what failure truly meant.Collection: Motivational
I didn't want women to walk out of the dressing rooms feeling depressed and wanting a cocktail.Collection: Inspirational
There is a hidden blessing in the most traumatic things we go through in our lives. My brain always goes to, 'Where is the hidden blessing? What is my gift?'Collection: Motivational
Failures are life's way of nudging you and letting you know you are off course. Trying new things and not being afraid to fail along the way are more important than what you learn in school.Collection: Motivational
You’ve got to embrace what you don’t know.Collection: Embrace
Failure to me became not trying versus not succeedingCollection: Trying
If somebody can do something 80 percent as good as you think you would have done it yourself, then you've got to let it go.Collection: Inspiring
Perseverance is the key to starting a successful business.Collection: Perseverance
Courage is doing something despite the fear, and I've worked hard on being a courageous person.Collection: Courageous
Ideas, even million-dollar ones, are most vulnerable in their infancy; don't share them with too many people. However, don't hide your plan from people who can help you move it forward.Collection: Moving
Don't let what you don't know scare you, because it can become your greatest asset.Collection: Scare
Don't be intimidated by what you don't know.Collection: Inspirational
When something I can't control happens, I ask myself : where is the hidden gift, where is the positive in this?Collection: Happens
Embrace what you don`t knowCollection: Motivational
I knew that I wanted to start my own business. I knew that I wanted to work for myself. I was no stranger to the word no. You just have to keep going.Collection: Stranger
Embrace what you don’t know, especially in the beginning, because what you don’t know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else.Collection: Startup
Within the first year of launching my company, Spanx, I decided to go over to England and cold-call Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Selfridges the same way I had cold-called Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale’s here in the United States.Collection: Firsts