Profile: Sarah Blakely

Girdles, corsets, and painfully tight metal underwire bras have been the ‘solution’ to women’s shapewear since the dark ages and have plagued women for decades, which is how the youngest female self-made billionaire Sara Blakely found her inspiration to create the national brand and shapewear revolution that is Spanx - answering the prayers of women all around the world. Her brand has revolutionized an industry and completely changed the way women get dressed. Known for its smarter and much more comfortable undergarments for women, creating the ideal no show look under any clothes. Blakely was chosen as Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world and has been featured on the cover of Forbes magazine. But apart from being a successful woman Blakely is incredibly insightful and has taught women everywhere, including myself, some extremely important lessons in how to become an entrepreneur. Read ahead to answer the pressing questions of, just how did Blakely build her billion-dollar company from the ground up with just five grand in the bank? And how did Blakely utilize her failures to propel her into becoming an inspiration to women everywhere?

Chances are you’ve seen Sara Blakely flashing her Spanx on QVC, judging inventions on ABC's American Inventor, or gossiping with Richard Branson atop a hot air balloon at 10,000 feet on Fox's The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best. But Blakely’s childhood wasn’t all flashing lights. Born in Clearwater, Florida Blakely’s first and only goal for as long as she could remember was to follow in her father’s footsteps, of becoming a trial attorney. She debated all throughout high school and college in order to achieve the said dream, majoring in legal communications at Florida State University. Although, when the time came for Blakely to take the LSAT she completely bombed it. Blakely wasn’t going to let that deter her however, she signed up for an LSAT prep course, studied her butt off, took the test again, and did one point worse. “In my mind, the universe was now telling me to drive to Disney World and audition for the role of Goofy,” Blakely said. That’s how she decided to respond to her defeat. When the time came for Blakely to audition for Goofy she was told she was too short to wear the costume and was made a chipmunk instead. Blakely tired of her job and decided to return home with her mother, lacking a complete sense of direction for her life, she got a job selling fax machines door to door. She worked every day from 8 am to 9 pm, “Most doors were slammed in my face. I saw my business card ripped up at least once a week, and I even had a few police escorts out of buildings,” she recalls. Despite it all, Blakely never gave into drowning in the misery of her job, she decided to instead focus on what she was good at, selling and decided she wanted to create and sell something that she actually cared about it. “In the hopes of looking better in my fitted white pants, I cut the feet out of a pair of pantyhose and substituted them for my underwear,” she said. “This allowed me to benefit from the slimming effects of the pantyhose’s ‘control top’ while allowing my feet to go bare in my cute sandals. The moment I saw how good my butt looked, I was like, ‘Thank you, God, this is my opportunity!’” And with that came the birth of Spanx, and along with it the birth of a multimillion-dollar company.

Success, however, did not come easy or quickly to Blakely. Soon after creating Spanx, she moved to Atlanta where she met with several manufacturers in hopes of making a deal. Her luck struck when she met with Sam Kaplan, owner of Highland Mills, initially not seeing any promise in Blakely’s idea. Kaplan decided to ask his daughters if they’d be interested in such a product and both immediately loved the idea, shortly after Kaplan agreed to do business with Blakely. However the fight was still not over, now came the problem of getting Spanx into department stores, worried that they’d drop the product if they didn’t sell Blakely called up every person she knew asking them to purchase Spanx. She would then mail them a reimbursement check. She kept her day job for two years while struggling to make a name for Spanx and get them into stores. Only quitting it once Oprah named Spanx one of her must-have favorite items in the year 2000. The originally one-product wonder has now become a favorite to millions, including nearly every single Hollywood actress, leading Spanx to become a billion-dollar powerhouse. Annual revenues reaching 250 million dollars every year, Blakely remaining the sole owner, never having to formally advertise or take any outside investments.

Blakely credits much of her success to her father, who often encouraged his children to fail. “We’d sit around the dinner table and he’d ask, ‘What did you guys fail at this week?’ If we had nothing to tell him, he’d be disappointed,” she said. “He knew that many people become paralyzed by the fear of failure. My father wanted us to try everything and feel free to push the envelope. His attitude taught me to define failure as not trying something I want to do instead of not achieving the right outcome.” Blakely strongly believes that behind every failure is a lesson or a chance to grow. That one’s success is not measured in dollars but measured in failures. Blakely shares her lessons on success in the talk she gave with the Nordic Business Forum. Here she underscores the importance of creativity, working past the fear of failure, the importance of recording one’s ideas, always staying true to one’s self, and finally always asking ‘why’ in order to challenge the norm and to continue progressing. “Everybody has a multimillion-dollar idea inside them,” says Blakely. “Edison said, ‘Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.’ The same holds true for innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship.” Blakely gives women the opportunity to believe in themselves, giving them the idea that they can and will accomplish anything that they set their minds to. Above all else Blakely wants a woman to always feel and look her best.

Sara Blakely’s philanthropy does not stop at her good advice, however. Blakely constantly gives back, having found the Sara Blakely Foundation which helps women in education, issuing and training them to become entrepreneurs. Moreover, she funds scholarships for young females in Africa at the Community and Individual Development Association City Campus. While Blakely may be a billionaire businesswoman, she still drives a white Toyota minivan, volunteers at her son’s school, and meets up with her girlfriends for margaritas after work stating, "I feel like money makes you more of who you already are," she told Forbes in 2012, after making the billionaire list for the first time. "If you’re an asshole, you become a bigger asshole. If you’re nice, you become nicer. Money is fun to make, fun to spend, and fun to give away." Blakely is a woman that works to promote other women alike. Knowing how hard it is to be a successful woman in society today she bestows the wisdom she has gained from creating a multimillion-dollar company on her own to others. In hopes that they will find that multimillion-dollar idea inside themselves and bring it to light.

Sara Blakely’s story shows us what’s possible if we believe in ourselves, when we’re resourceful beyond measure, and when our passion and commitment to something leads us to our calling. What are you most afraid of failing? Jump headfirst into it. What do you imagine yourself doing in 10 years’ time? Visualize it and it will come to fruition. How many times have you been told ‘no’? Get told ‘no’ 100 more times and you’re in the right direction. No matter who you are or where you come from if you believe in your idea, trust your instincts and aren’t afraid to fail, no one can stop you.

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