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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

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Sara Blakely
Age: 53
Born: 1971
Born: February 27
Businessperson
Businesswoman
Patron Of The Arts
Stand-Up Comedian
Clearwater
Florida
States
Decided
Firsts
Cold
First
Called
Years
Company
Nichols
Way
Call
Marcus
Year
Harvey
Within
Launching
United
England

More quotes by Sara Blakely

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Most of us want to tell our coworkers or friends, or husbands or wives, our ideas. For what reason? We want validation. But I feel ideas are most vulnerable in their infancy. Out of love and concern, friends and family give all the reasons or objections on why [you] shouldn't do it. I didn't want to risk that.
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Failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. This way, it is about answering to yourself.
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Where I get my energy is: 'How can I make it better'?
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What I most identify with is effortless fashion, looking as if someone's not put a lot of effort into their look.
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I made a conscious decision not to tell anyone in my life. Now I tell people - don't tell anyone your idea until you have invested enough of yourself in it that you are not going to turn back. When a person has an idea at that conception moment it is the most vulnerable - one negative comment could knock you off course.
Sara Blakely
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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.
Sara Blakely
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The thing about fashion - it's like ducks going quack, quack quack. It's being dictated from above, and it just makes me want to rebel against it.
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I took a Fear of Flying class, and I always missed the class, because I was always flying.
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There is a hidden blessing in the most traumatic things we go through in our lives. My brain always goes to, 'Where is the hidden blessing? What is my gift?'
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If somebody can do something 80 percent as good as you think you would have done it yourself, then you've got to let it go.
Sara Blakely
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Ensure that you do things differently from everyone else
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Don't let what you don't know scare you, because it can become your greatest asset.
Sara Blakely
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When I was 7, I came up with the idea of 'charm socks.' My mom would take me to buy bags of plastic charms, we would sew them on frilly white socks, and I sold them at school.
Sara Blakely
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My saddlebags are why Spanx exist! Now that I have a baby I also have a muffin top.
Sara Blakely
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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.
Sara Blakely
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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
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Ideas, even million-dollar ones, are most vulnerable in their infancy don't share them with too many people. However, don't hide your plan from people who can help you move it forward.
Sara Blakely
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Everything in our society is so purposeful.
Sara Blakely
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Having a mental snapshot of where you are, where you are going, and what you are moving toward is incredibly powerful.
Sara Blakely
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My revenue was $4 million my first year in business, off of one $20 item.
Sara Blakely