so I’m here today to prove to you in two
words there’s no such thing as a bad
idea and that’s footless pantyhose one
of the biggest things I can say is
differentiate yourself I had always
wanted to be a lawyer and I basically
failed the LSAT when I was selling
copiers door-to-door I had a very clear
vision of what my life was going to be
like from day one I just I never tried
to hide that I was the girl in my
apartment with the red backpack close
your eyes and pretend like you have no
idea how to do your job so I have always
written my goals down about what I
wanted to achieve as soon as you can
afford to hire your weaknesses or the
things you don’t enjoy as much do it the
way it’s always been done isn’t
necessarily the way it should be done in
the next decade I do things going
worldwide she’s an American
businesswoman and entrepreneur
she’s a founder of Spanx and American
Apparel company with pants and leggings
she has an estimated net worth of 1
billion dollars
she Sara Blakely and here her top 10
rules for success and then trust your
gut it’s so important to trust your gut
you know I saw a man speak one time and
he said I’ll prove to you in four words
there’s no such thing as a bad idea and
he said Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ha
ha so I’m here today to prove to you in
two words there’s no such thing as a bad
idea and that’s footless pantyhose so no
matter what your ideas are you’re doing
something better than your competitors
that’s why you’re in business you’ve
thought of an idea that’s why you’re
here and and then be prepared for the
opportunity one of the biggest things I
can say is differentiate yourself and be
obsessive about it you know like tell
tell yourself in the mirror be able to
tell anyone
thirty seconds or less why you’re
different why what’s out there isn’t as
good and why the customer needs it
what is the benefit to the customer I
had always wanted to be a lawyer and I
basically failed the LSAT I’m a terrible
test taker and that was a devastating
moment for me but what I quickly
realized was that failure is nothing
more than life’s way of nudging you and
letting you know you’re a little bit off
course and Spanx would not exist if I
had not failed or basically found the
elf that I also was raised by my parents
my dad had this thing that he did when
we were little and it made me realize
that I’m really not afraid to fail at
all my biggest fear would be to not try
something and my dad when we were young
my brother and me we’d sit at the dining
room table at night and he would say
what did you guys fail it this week and
if we didn’t have something he’d be
basically disappointed and it was
complete reverse psychology but it was
brilliant because it caused my brother
and me to try out for things we didn’t
think we’d be good at and it made us
less fearful to go outside of our
comfort zone I visualized this for
myself when I was selling copiers
door-to-door I had a very clear vision
of what my life was going to be like and
I encourage everyone to do it take a
snap photo of what success looks like
for you are you how many employees do
you have how much are you making where
do you live what are you sitting at a
table with world leaders are you
standing on a stage in New York City
giving a speech and hold on to that that
snapshot and you will subconsciously
start to make decisions that get you
there
and so my snap photo for myself when I
was going door-to-door to sell copiers
was to be self-employed invent a product
that I could sell to lots of people and
not just one copier to each person and
create a business for myself that would
continue to fund itself if I wasn’t
present I wanted money to be generated
without me having to be there I was that
specific in my vision I think customers
want to be talked to and not talk to ad
and I think a lot of companies talk at a
customer and it’s very sort of glossy
speak and it doesn’t seem real and from
day one I just I never tried to hide
that I was the girl in my apartment with
the red backpack it’s like this is Who I
am and I find that people end up rooting
for you and opening more doors if you’re
really honest early on some people start
businesses and try to come across that
they’re much bigger than they are
because they feel like that’s the only
way they’re going to be taken seriously
but if you know your products great and
you know why you made it you don’t have
to apologize for being out of your home
or your apartment or being small I like
to say that the big secret behind
disruption is not having any idea how
it’s supposed to be done I had no idea
how it was supposed to be done and if
you have no idea how something’s
supposed to be done I guarantee you you
will end up being disruptive but the key
is you have to let it you know you have
to embrace not knowing all a lot of
times when we don’t know something
especially you know most people in
society we end up being afraid of what
we don’t know or we take that as a
negative
it can hold us back whereas if you let
what you don’t know become your greatest
asset you are bound to do things very
differently because we’re all mostly on
autopilot in life and if you think about
it we’re doing things exactly the way
somebody else showed us how to do it
everything that we’re doing is because
someone else showed us how to do it so I
like to do this mental exercise and I
tell people it’s thanks to do it too I
say close your eyes and pretend like you
have no idea how to do your job just sit
in that space for a minute what comes up
if no one has shown you how to do your
job how would you be doing it and
listening to the answers but it takes
asking those questions asking why and
spending that time in that space to say
is there a better way what why has a bra
always been made this way or why why is
it this way
and so for me my
not knowing was really a great asset for
me if you write your goals down it makes
all the difference Harvard did a study
in 1973 they took the graduating class
and asked how many of them had goals 100
percent of them had goals well they
asked how many had written down their
goals upon graduation only 5% of the
class had in 1993 20 years later they
followed up with the class they found
that the 5% that had written down their
goals 20 years prior upon graduating
were worth more financially than the
other 95% of the class put together so I
have always written my goals down about
what I wanted to achieve and I really
attribute a lot to that I always say as
soon as you can afford to hire your
weaknesses or the things you don’t enjoy
as much do it and anytime that you can
delegate and clone yourself kind of and
try to get some additional support it’s
a praise moment in a small business you
know I hired my day to day CEO about two
years into stardom Spanx and up until
that point you know when you have no
money or every department so I got to
learn very quickly what I’m really
better at what I’m not as good at what I
enjoy doing what I don’t enjoy doing and
I couldn’t wait to hire someone to do
fill in my weaknesses and just focus on
my strengths Spanx is in all the top
retail stores I meet people all the time
that say how in the world did you get
into Neiman’s and Saks and I say I
called them and they just look at me
they said well didn’t you go to trade
shows up and going to trade shows for
seven years hoping that a Neiman’s buyer
walks by I didn’t know enough to do that
and it ended up being a blessing so I
always encourage people to think outside
of the box the way it’s always been done
isn’t necessarily the way it should be
done and oftentimes what’s inside of you
is a better way of going about it in the
next decade I see things going worldwide
everywhere No
but left behind it’s going to be all
over the world and it will become a
aspirational brand that transcends
categories we’re already transcending
age we’re now into men so I really see
there’s so many things we can improve
upon or make better and that’s the true
inspiration behind the brands bank thank
you so much for watching I made this
video because you’re vana Milanovic
asked me to so there’s a famous
entrepreneur that you want me to profile
next leave it in the comments below and
I’ll see what I can do I’d also love to
know which of the top ten rules is going
to have the biggest impact on your life
for your business leave it in the
comments and I’ll join the discussion
thank you so much for watching continue
to believe and I’ll see you soon
words there’s no such thing as a bad
idea and that’s footless pantyhose one
of the biggest things I can say is
differentiate yourself I had always
wanted to be a lawyer and I basically
failed the LSAT when I was selling
copiers door-to-door I had a very clear
vision of what my life was going to be
like from day one I just I never tried
to hide that I was the girl in my
apartment with the red backpack close
your eyes and pretend like you have no
idea how to do your job so I have always
written my goals down about what I
wanted to achieve as soon as you can
afford to hire your weaknesses or the
things you don’t enjoy as much do it the
way it’s always been done isn’t
necessarily the way it should be done in
the next decade I do things going
worldwide she’s an American
businesswoman and entrepreneur
she’s a founder of Spanx and American
Apparel company with pants and leggings
she has an estimated net worth of 1
billion dollars
she Sara Blakely and here her top 10
rules for success and then trust your
gut it’s so important to trust your gut
you know I saw a man speak one time and
he said I’ll prove to you in four words
there’s no such thing as a bad idea and
he said Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ha
ha so I’m here today to prove to you in
two words there’s no such thing as a bad
idea and that’s footless pantyhose so no
matter what your ideas are you’re doing
something better than your competitors
that’s why you’re in business you’ve
thought of an idea that’s why you’re
here and and then be prepared for the
opportunity one of the biggest things I
can say is differentiate yourself and be
obsessive about it you know like tell
tell yourself in the mirror be able to
tell anyone
thirty seconds or less why you’re
different why what’s out there isn’t as
good and why the customer needs it
what is the benefit to the customer I
had always wanted to be a lawyer and I
basically failed the LSAT I’m a terrible
test taker and that was a devastating
moment for me but what I quickly
realized was that failure is nothing
more than life’s way of nudging you and
letting you know you’re a little bit off
course and Spanx would not exist if I
had not failed or basically found the
elf that I also was raised by my parents
my dad had this thing that he did when
we were little and it made me realize
that I’m really not afraid to fail at
all my biggest fear would be to not try
something and my dad when we were young
my brother and me we’d sit at the dining
room table at night and he would say
what did you guys fail it this week and
if we didn’t have something he’d be
basically disappointed and it was
complete reverse psychology but it was
brilliant because it caused my brother
and me to try out for things we didn’t
think we’d be good at and it made us
less fearful to go outside of our
comfort zone I visualized this for
myself when I was selling copiers
door-to-door I had a very clear vision
of what my life was going to be like and
I encourage everyone to do it take a
snap photo of what success looks like
for you are you how many employees do
you have how much are you making where
do you live what are you sitting at a
table with world leaders are you
standing on a stage in New York City
giving a speech and hold on to that that
snapshot and you will subconsciously
start to make decisions that get you
there
and so my snap photo for myself when I
was going door-to-door to sell copiers
was to be self-employed invent a product
that I could sell to lots of people and
not just one copier to each person and
create a business for myself that would
continue to fund itself if I wasn’t
present I wanted money to be generated
without me having to be there I was that
specific in my vision I think customers
want to be talked to and not talk to ad
and I think a lot of companies talk at a
customer and it’s very sort of glossy
speak and it doesn’t seem real and from
day one I just I never tried to hide
that I was the girl in my apartment with
the red backpack it’s like this is Who I
am and I find that people end up rooting
for you and opening more doors if you’re
really honest early on some people start
businesses and try to come across that
they’re much bigger than they are
because they feel like that’s the only
way they’re going to be taken seriously
but if you know your products great and
you know why you made it you don’t have
to apologize for being out of your home
or your apartment or being small I like
to say that the big secret behind
disruption is not having any idea how
it’s supposed to be done I had no idea
how it was supposed to be done and if
you have no idea how something’s
supposed to be done I guarantee you you
will end up being disruptive but the key
is you have to let it you know you have
to embrace not knowing all a lot of
times when we don’t know something
especially you know most people in
society we end up being afraid of what
we don’t know or we take that as a
negative
it can hold us back whereas if you let
what you don’t know become your greatest
asset you are bound to do things very
differently because we’re all mostly on
autopilot in life and if you think about
it we’re doing things exactly the way
somebody else showed us how to do it
everything that we’re doing is because
someone else showed us how to do it so I
like to do this mental exercise and I
tell people it’s thanks to do it too I
say close your eyes and pretend like you
have no idea how to do your job just sit
in that space for a minute what comes up
if no one has shown you how to do your
job how would you be doing it and
listening to the answers but it takes
asking those questions asking why and
spending that time in that space to say
is there a better way what why has a bra
always been made this way or why why is
it this way
and so for me my
not knowing was really a great asset for
me if you write your goals down it makes
all the difference Harvard did a study
in 1973 they took the graduating class
and asked how many of them had goals 100
percent of them had goals well they
asked how many had written down their
goals upon graduation only 5% of the
class had in 1993 20 years later they
followed up with the class they found
that the 5% that had written down their
goals 20 years prior upon graduating
were worth more financially than the
other 95% of the class put together so I
have always written my goals down about
what I wanted to achieve and I really
attribute a lot to that I always say as
soon as you can afford to hire your
weaknesses or the things you don’t enjoy
as much do it and anytime that you can
delegate and clone yourself kind of and
try to get some additional support it’s
a praise moment in a small business you
know I hired my day to day CEO about two
years into stardom Spanx and up until
that point you know when you have no
money or every department so I got to
learn very quickly what I’m really
better at what I’m not as good at what I
enjoy doing what I don’t enjoy doing and
I couldn’t wait to hire someone to do
fill in my weaknesses and just focus on
my strengths Spanx is in all the top
retail stores I meet people all the time
that say how in the world did you get
into Neiman’s and Saks and I say I
called them and they just look at me
they said well didn’t you go to trade
shows up and going to trade shows for
seven years hoping that a Neiman’s buyer
walks by I didn’t know enough to do that
and it ended up being a blessing so I
always encourage people to think outside
of the box the way it’s always been done
isn’t necessarily the way it should be
done and oftentimes what’s inside of you
is a better way of going about it in the
next decade I see things going worldwide
everywhere No
but left behind it’s going to be all
over the world and it will become a
aspirational brand that transcends
categories we’re already transcending
age we’re now into men so I really see
there’s so many things we can improve
upon or make better and that’s the true
inspiration behind the brands bank thank
you so much for watching I made this
video because you’re vana Milanovic
asked me to so there’s a famous
entrepreneur that you want me to profile
next leave it in the comments below and
I’ll see what I can do I’d also love to
know which of the top ten rules is going
to have the biggest impact on your life
for your business leave it in the
comments and I’ll join the discussion
thank you so much for watching continue
to believe and I’ll see you soon
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