Have you ever put on a pair of Spanx, and thought, what a great invention?  They are a wardrobe staple along with some others in this post. 

Do you know the name behind Spanx and how she became a self-made billionaire? She created a brand of not only Spanx leggings and undergarments but a brand that provides to the community. The Giving Pledge, created by Melinda and Bill Gates, is where billionaires publicly commit to giving away half their wealth for a charitable cause. Sarah Blakely, the founder of Spanx, is the first female billionaire to join, but that’s only one part of what makes her so inspiring.

In a public letter posted on The Giving Pledge website, she stated, “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! I pledge to invest in women because I believe it offers one of the greatest returns on investment.” Check it out here.

Before I was even aware of this pledge, she had been my number one girl crush by far. Through reading her story, she has given me so much inspiration and motivation for my career. The story behind how she created her brand Spanx is like no others. If I could pick one person in the world to meet, it would be Sarah Blakely. I have read every article and know her entire story, from start to finish.

How she went from idea to billions

I come up with a new invention or idea daily. I’m always looking into why things exist and how they started. I had an idea and began searching for ways to create a patent. I found an article about Sarah Blakely and how she wrote her own patent. As I kept reading more and more articles, I knew she was someone I wanted to learn everything there was to know about her. She’s not only my girl crush, but she also became someone who continues to inspire me. Here’s why.

She believed in herself and her idea. She didn’t let self-doubt stop her in the process. 

Everyone has ideas, but only some people execute them. It takes a lot of courage, grit, and hard work to go from concept to finished product. At the time, she worked in sales selling fax machines. After buying a pair of white pants that cost a lot of money not to wear, she decided to cut the feet from a pair of pantyhose. It sparked the idea to develop a product that would do just that. She continued working 9-5 in sales and spent her free time creating what is now known as Spanx.

The word no didn’t stop her.

After researching hosiery, she began cold calling hosiery manufacturers. Hearing no over and over again didn’t stop her. It made her more aggressive in her search. She drove there and didn’t stop until someone agreed to create her product.

She did things her way.

She says her lack of knowledge led her to make the decisions she made. Two things have always stood out about her story. The first is how she got Neimans to be the first retailer to sell her product. She called headquarters, got the appointment, and flew to Dallas to meet with the buyers. When she saw she was losing focus, she went into the bathroom and put on her product.

The second, she self-promoted. Once Spanx was in stores, she blended in as an employee and moved the display to the front of the store. She paid friends to go to the store and buy her product. She sent a couple to Oprah, and just as she thought she was losing money and friends, Oprah called and decided to put Spanx on the list of her favorite items. 

Entrepreneur mindset and raised for success

That’s a little snippet of how she took her personal savings of five thousand dollars and turned herself into a self-made billionaire. Even from a young age, she had an entrepreneurial mindset. Her first “business” offered a babysitting service to local hotel guests; she charged eight dollars an hour while parents could layout by the pool, but, the best part, the hotel had no idea. Her unofficial kids’ club lasted for three years ending in her being escorted off the property.

Her parents raised her to have resilience, grit, perseverance, and the power of failure. At the dinner table, her dad talked about both achievements and failures. Instilling a growth mindset in our kids is essential, and Sara is an excellent example of why.

Life takeaways

Use daily mantras and take every opportunity to listen to motivational speakers. She began using mantras at a young age finding inspiration through motivational speakers. She listened to daily audios from Wayne Dyer, How to be a no-limit person.

Make decisions based on your intuition and gut feeling. Your intuition is powerful, but first, you must learn to trust it. Sara made a gut decision to keep her ideas to herself. She didn’t want to have to explain her why to others who may shoot it down.

Prevent having naysayers from the start. Don’t seek validation. If you start defending why you believe in something, you will doubt your idea. Sara knew that people would say things like it’s such a good idea; why hasn’t it been done yet. If she had allowed these words to sink in, she would have never become a self-made billionaire. When we tell others what we are doing, it’s a way to seek validation. Believe in yourself.

Everyone has feminine energy! If you read this post, I talk about how we all have feminine and masculine energy, regardless of gender. She believes in the power of feminine energy and says, “Society hasn’t equated femininity with power, but I think it’s very powerful. It’s an energy thing. We all have feminine energy—it’s not a gender thing.”

Don’t be afraid to fail. It’s such an important lesson to teach our kids. Praising the effort, as she also says. I’m a big believer in praising effort vs. the child.

Put the work in to get what you want. Sarah Blakely is a self-made billionaire for a reason. She put a lot of time, energy, and hyper-focus to get where she is today. She dedicated her time to 9-5 selling fax machines and all her free time devoted to learning the industry.

Think outside of the box. Of course, there are ways of doing things. But who says you have to follow the same steps? As Sarah Blakely says, “What you don’t know can be your greatest asset.” This is so true and is the biggest reason she had success. Getting your product into retailers comes with a “specific process.” So they say. Who says you can’t call a large retailer like Neiman Marcus and request a meeting? Who says you have to first go to a trade show? The good news, she didn’t know what the process was. So, she did it the only way she knew.

Bring out the rebel in you and have courage! There is so much about her story that makes me laugh and, at the same time, makes me love her even more. Once her product was in Neimans, she began moving her products to the front of the store without asking. I remember reading an article and how she said she blended in as a store employee. Amazing!

Don’t take yourself too seriously. In this article written in Forbes, Sarah Blakely’s husband describes her as 50% Einstein and 50% Lucille Ball. He talks about having a list of Sara-isms moments. He says it so well, “She the best, man.”

You need to sleep. Most CEOs say they sacrifice their sleep for success. That’s not how Sara rolls. Her husband told Success.com, “Who goes to bed at 9:30 in Vegas?” Both she and I are on the same page. Sleep is so crucial for your well-being and ultimate success in life.

Always be authentic, and be you! Sara’s authenticity is contagious. Her posts about motherhood are actual. They don’t paint a perfect picture because there is no perfect picture. Life as a mom has super highs and super lows. It’s the nature of the experience of being a parent.

This post was so much fun to write. I could write for hours about Sara Blakely. She is such a badass in every way possible and is a true inspiration. There are so many lessons to learn from her story. Her authenticity shines a light of amazingness around her. Every time I wear a pair of Spanx leggings, I’m inspired.

When you heard the word failure, what comes to mind? Do you think you need to fail to succeed? Do you have a favorite from her brand Spanx leggings or undergarments?

Fun fact: Michael Jordan was cut from the high school basketball team, and became one of the greatest basketball players in the world.

xoxo ♥

Sketched by a HAUTEmess