Sara Blakely Quotes

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Sara Blakely

Profession : Businesswoman

Birth : February 27, 1971

We don't have the luxury of time. We spend more because of how we live, but it's important to be with our family and friends.

Sara Blakely

I started thinking about joy. Everything in our society is so purposeful. Let's bring joy back to the experience.

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 think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. It is liberating. Most people attach failure to something not working out or how people perceive you. This way, it is about answering to yourself.

Sara Blakely

We can make the world a better place, one butt at a time.

Sara Blakely

Money is fun to make, fun to spend and fun to give away.

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

I took a Fear of Flying class, and I always missed the class, because I was always flying.

Sara Blakely

I cut the feet out of control top pantyhose one night, threw them on under my white pants and realized that the toning and shaping was perfect and that the hosiery material is thin enough that I could make shape wear out of it.

Sara Blakely

Trust your gut.

Sara Blakely

You've got to embrace what you don't know.

Sara Blakely

My revenue was $4 million my first year in business, off of one $20 item.

Sara Blakely

It's important to be willing to make mistakes. The worst thing that can happen is you become memorable.

Sara Blakely

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 cut the feet out of my pantyhose that one time, I saw it as my sign. I had been visualizing being self employed prior to this happening. It was my mental preparation meeting the opportunity in that moment.

Sara Blakely

Everything about my journey to get Spanx off the ground entailed me having to be a salesperson - from going to the hosiery mills to get a prototype made to calling Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. I had to position myself to get five minutes in the door with buyers.

Sara Blakely

The word 'Spanx' was funny. It made people laugh. No one ever forgot it.

Sara Blakely

Don't let what you don't know scare you, because it can become your greatest asset. And if you do things without knowing how they have always been done, you're guaranteed to do them differently.

Sara Blakely

I failed the LSAT. Basically, if I had not failed, I'd have been a lawyer and there would be no Spanx. I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. It is liberating.

Sara Blakely

I cut the feet off of a pair of panty hose and it allowed me to wear a pair of great strappy sandals. I didn't see lines but the hose rolled up at my feet - and that's how Spanx born.

Sara Blakely