Sara Blakely Quotes

“Embrace what you don't know, especially in the beginning, because what you don't know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else.”

“Failure is not the outcome – failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail.”

“You've got to visualize where you're headed and be very clear about it. Take a polaroid picture of where you're going to be in a few years.”

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

“Most of the reasons we don't do things is because we're afraid to fail. I just made a decision one day that I was not going to do things in my life because of fear.”

“Instead of failure being the outcome, failure became not trying. And it forced me at a young age to want to push myself so much further out of my comfort zone.”

“When something I can't control happens, I ask myself; where is the hidden gift? Where is the positive in this?”

“Don't be intimidated by what you don't know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.”

“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.”

“I had to position myself to get five minutes in the door with buyers.”

“My first account was Neiman Marcus. I cold-called them just like I had cold-called businesses when I was selling fax machines for seven years.”

“Right when I was running out of friends and money, Oprah called. She chose it as her favorite product of the year.”

“At SPANX — we invent. We hold so many patents here. We are constantly inventing and creating brand-new products that have never been done before. What got me to start SPANX was being a frustrated consumer. Why I'm still doing it almost 20 years later is because I think there is so much opportunity to make things better for women.”

“Since I was a little girl I have always known I would help women. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would have started with their butts.”

“I've operated the business off of intuition the whole time. Business is a very masculine construct. Women have only recently been allowed to play in this arena. When I started Spanx 21 years ago, I had people tell me, 'It's great you started a business. But business is war. I hope you're ready.' Why does it have to be war? I operated this business with intuition, vulnerability, and empathy. I had no interest in going to war.”

“If you can create a culture where your employees are not terrified to fail or make a mistake, then they're going to be highly productive and more innovative. I'm curious about the things that hold power over us. And one is fear of embarrassment. We all have that. But if I embarrass myself, then it loses its power over me.”

“Don't ever underestimate the importance of storytelling. You are your greatest competitive advantage.”