Sophia Amoruso
Money looks better in the bank than on your feet.Collection: Money
The best wisdom is earned through experience, particularly mistakes.Collection: Wisdom
The time making money should be greater than the time that you are spending money.Collection: Money
I would say I'm a boss who's learning, and I hope people have the patience for the fact that I'm learning along the way because that's a tough thing.Collection: Patience
Sometimes in the world, there's such pressure to follow a certain path that we forget the importance of learning as we go.
I think many people go to business school and learn ways to play it safe, ensuring that they avoid some of the pain that entrepreneurs endure while taking less calculated risks.
I think it's important that everyone understands that there's no real prescription to having an awesome life.
A great mantra to have, whether you're breaking up with your boyfriend or you lose your job, or something changes that you didn't anticipate - which is a fact of life, and very much a fact of running a business - is: 'I was OK before this, I will be OK after this.'
I can be pretty reactive, and I've learned over time to be less reactive: to stop and think before I make decisions.
Success is a scary concept because it assumes something kind of final. In the grand scheme of life, I don't think there is some ultimate success.
It's a lot of work to sell one thing on the Internet.
I've never worked in a retail store, but I did sell shoes at Gimme Shoes in San Francisco, a job I was fired from.
I think there are very few brands with a person's point of view behind them.
I don't have a lot of style icons. There are not a lot of people today who I look to.
I don't read fashion blogs all that much. I do read magazines, and I trust my friends' opinions, even though we all dress very differently.
I think I've just gotten really good at accessorizing personally. I've always been good at accessorizing other people, and intellectually, I've known how to accessorize, but I was pretty minimal personally - although I was wearing a ton of rings.
I have this arsenal of high-waisted wide-leg '70s pants and overalls. They are more roller-disco than Alexander Wang overalls.
My entire youth has been Nasty Gal. My entire future is Nasty Gal.
It's amazing how directly you can connect with people via social media.
Spell check exists for a reason.
I love mirrors.
I feel like there's so many places to shop today that just feel like an Excel spreadsheet put between four walls.
I don't want to spend too much time dwelling on what I've already done because there is still so much to do.
I'm not going to lie - it's insulting to be praised for being a 'woman' with 'no college degree.'
You don't get taken seriously by asking someone to take you seriously. You've got to show up and own it.
My first job was as a sandwich artist at Subway.
A typical day for me involves a lot of meetings.
Work hard, no matter how much recognition you get.
Creativity is incredibly important, but drive is equally so.
At the bare minimum, you need to be in your position for a year before you ask for a raise or title change.
It takes a lot more than just knowing how to put an outfit together to succeed in the fashion industry, so more power to you if this is where you want to be; just don't expect it to be an extended trip to the mall.
Some of the best things that I ever sold on Ebay, I bought on Ebay - just for way less.
My days of being the tardy employee at the record store gave me a cultural and musical understanding that was more unique than if I'd just listened to garbage-y pop on the radio my entire life.
You can't convince someone else - whether it's a potential employer, a loan officer at the car dealership, or someone you've been crushing on - that you're amazing and terrific if you don't actually think you are.
'Have you ever considered changing the name Nasty Gal?' is probably the dumbest question I've ever heard.
Selling $500 shoes when you make $12 an hour is just an awkward economic juxtaposition.
I want people to feel the freedom to be themselves.
When I was 22, I wasn't too proud to do anything. I was taking out trash, buying stinky vintage clothes, and pulling gross Kleenex out of the pockets.
If you knew what you wanted to be when you were 6 years old - great! If you have no idea what you want to be, that's OK!
Sometimes the expectation of being inspired in one specific way may close you off to the actual inspiration.
When I go through hundreds of applications from people who all have very similar-sounding experience, cover letters are the only glimpse I have into a person's personality.
As a visual person, I love a creative resume. Putting in a little effort on the design side will show that you care about making things look good.
In an ideal world, you'd never have to do things that are below your position, but this isn't an ideal world, and it's never going to be.
You are not a special snowflake.
You want to know what four words I probably hate the most? 'That's not my job.'
If this is a man's world, who cares? I'm still really glad to be a girl in it.
A big practice in chaos magic is the use of sigils, which are abstract words or symbols you create and embed with your wishes.
I can show up at a Goldman Sachs conference wearing a Judas Priest T-shirt - and I have - while everyone else is wearing the same dress.
Nothing will teach you more about perceived value than taking something with literally no value and selling it in the auction format. It teaches you the beauty and power of presentation, and how you can make magic out of nothing.
Only the paranoid survive.