The American woman decided to hide her stomach and earned a billion on slimming underwear
'13.12.2017'
ForumDaily Woman
Sarah Blakely is the founder of Spanx. Her life is the embodiment of the American dream. Before creating her own business, Sarah worked as a fax seller. In 2000, she invested the accumulated $ 5000 into the development of slimming clothes for women. And over the next 13 years, she created a business whose value today is estimated at a billion dollars! Blakely is the first woman in the world to make her first billion back in 41 a year.
FACT: When Sarah Blakely, 2000-year-old 29, searched for a solicitor in the summer to patent the inventive pantyhose she invented, the lawyers took her for a madman. One of the lawyers even decided that he was filmed with a hidden camera, so frightened by the pressure of a businesswoman from Atlanta. Sarah did not despair and wrote a patent application herself. Today, she created the brand goods Spanx successfully sold in 11 500 stores in 40 countries of the world. And on the basis of 2012, the American Forbes call her youngest billionaire woman in the world who has made her fortune on her own, and included the 100 list of the most influential women of the planet.
Sarah did not grow up in the richest family - her father was a lawyer, and her mother was an artist. After graduating from college, Blakely wanted to go in the footsteps of her father, but she failed the law school exams twice. But it turned out to be even better - at first, the girl worked at the Disneyland as a barker, and three months later she got a job at a fax company, where she worked for seven years!
Blakely very quickly became one of the best agents in a gigantic corporation and conducted training workshops for company employees all over the USA.
It was at that time that her future gradually emerged. The fact is that in her performances, Sarah wanted to look spectacular, but she did not always succeed. One day she decided to wear slimming tights under white pants, but then she realized that, for example, sandals with such underwear would not be worn.
Then Sarah cut off the pantyhose foot, but then discovered that the rest of them tilted constantly upward. The girl wonders why all the corrective underwear is so uncomfortable and unaesthetic? But there was no mystery in this - it was just made by men who did not even think to take into account all the most important details of such underwear.
Then Blakely realized that she had to create her own prototype of comfortable and beautiful slimming tights. But it turned out to be not so easy to realize your idea. Sarah phoned many factories throughout the country, personally visited some of them, but everywhere she heard no. And only when the co-owner of one of the factories called her and asked him to make a trial batch of corrective tights, because his daughter had asked for this, the matter moved.
Sarah patented the invention, came up with a trademark Spanx and opened a company.
When the first product appeared on the shelves of shops, Sarah went to the trick and asked her friends to go to the malls and loudly demand from the saleswomen brand clothes Spanx.
If this was not enough, she entered stores and arbitrarily rearranged Spanx closer to the checkout.
This success came to Blakely after Oprah Winfrey herself in the show on the air called the new slimming tights one of the most revolutionary products of the year! Since then, sales have jumped, the company has a website and Sarah even took part in a reality show Rebel billionairewhich also influenced success. Since then, Sarah traveled a lot, performed and advertised her goods herself.
With Oprah, Winfrey Saru has such a rare quality as demanding altruism. Blakely was never shy about mobilizing the talents of loved ones. Her mother-artist made drawings for the patent. Sarah used grandma as a model and critic. A friend who had no experience, no suitable education, Blakely was made director of product development. Another friend became a PR manager Spanx - not because I was engaged in communications before, but because I fell in love with a product and could only talk about it for hours.
CEO for Spanx Blakely at all recruited in the laundry shop. It turned out to be a top manager Coca-Cola Laurie Ann Goldman, who without hesitation left the transnational corporation for the startup Sarah. In 2005, Blakely thanked Oprah Winfrey, donating $ 1 million in Oprah Winfrey Foundation.
Today, Sarah’s fortune reaches exactly one billion dollars, and in 2015, she entered 100’s list of the most influential women.
The businesswoman happily speaks on television and gives a lot of advice to those who are not as lucky as she is. She proved by her example that you need to rejoice at major failures, because Sarah’s father used to ask her daily question “What did you not succeed in today?”, And this gave her the motivation to correct everything the next day.
“Every horrible thing that happens to you is a hidden gift that leads you to something better. I began to write them in my notebook. I always had a notebook from the very beginning Spanxand she is still always with me. I have about 20 notebooks on my shelf. I write down all the terrible things that happened to me because it has already become a game. ”
Sarah’s personal life is also in order - in 2008, she married Jesse Itzler, a businessman who owns several holding companies and shares of popular brands. Now spouses are parents of three children.
