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If we can put a man on the moon, we can make pantyhose comfortable.
Sara Blakely -
Failure to me became not trying versus not succeeding
Sara Blakely
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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.
Sara Blakely -
When I was 7, I came up with the idea of 'charm socks.' My mom would take me to buy bags of plastic charms, we would sew them on frilly white socks, and I sold them at school.
Sara Blakely -
My saddlebags are why Spanx exist! Now that I have a baby I also have a muffin top.
Sara Blakely -
Don't solicit feedback on your product, idea or your business just for validation purposes. You want to tell the people who can help move your idea forward, but if you're just looking to your friend, co-worker, husband or wife for validation, be careful. It can stop a lot of multimillion-dollar ideas in their tracks in the beginning.
Sara Blakely -
Shapewear is the canvas and the clothes are the art.
Sara Blakely -
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.
Sara Blakely
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You’ve got to embrace what you don’t know.
Sara Blakely -
I'm obsessed with the customer. I am the customer. I really don't think you can go wrong if you don't take your eye off of that. Serving the customer. How does she feel? I feel like the fashion industry has cared a lot about how we look but not about how we feel.
Sara Blakely -
I think very early on in life we all learn what we're good at and what we're not good at, and we stay where it's safe.
Sara Blakely -
My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn't have something, he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail.
Sara Blakely -
I didn't want women to walk out of the dressing rooms feeling depressed and wanting a cocktail.
Sara Blakely -
I got a call from the Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah had chosen Spanx as one of her favorite products in 2000. I had boxes of product in my apartment and I had two weeks notice that she was going to say she loved it on TV and I had no shipping department.
Sara Blakely
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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.
Sara Blakely -
I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course.
Sara Blakely -
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.
Sara Blakely -
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.
Sara Blakely -
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.
Sara Blakely -
The word 'Spanx' was funny. It made people laugh. No one ever forgot it.
Sara Blakely
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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.
Sara Blakely -
I'd get kicked out of buildings all day long, people would rip up my business card in my face. It's a humbling business to be in. But I knew I could sell and I knew I wanted to sell something I had created. I cut the feet out of those pantyhose and I knew I was on to something. This was it.
Sara Blakely -
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.
Sara Blakely -
I grew up in a house where my father encouraged my brother and me to fail. I specifically remember coming home and saying, 'Dad, Dad, I tried out for this or that and I was horrible,' and he would high-five me and say, 'Way to go.'
Sara Blakely