In 2006, she founded the Sara Blakely Foundation to invest in women by supporting organizations in education, entrepreneurship, and the arts. Spanx has solved the wardrobe woes of women around the world by designing bras, underwear, leggings, and other intimate apparel in a way that has changed the way women feel about their bodies.
She debated in high school and continued to in college, where she also majored in legal communications. Eventually, when the time came for Blakely to take the LSAT, she bombed it.
Build awareness.” In 2000, The Oprah Winfrey Show shared Sara Blakely and SPANX with the world. During her interview, she told the talk show host that after a year of product development she almost gave up. In a last-ditch effort, she asked the universe for another sign to keep going.
Before Forbes named her the youngest self-made female billionaire in 2012, Blakely had plenty of failures. At first, Blakely wanted to be a lawyer — but that didn't work out. "I basically bombed the LSAT," Blakely said. Then, she tried out to be Goofy at Disney World.
Florida State UniversityClearwater High SchoolSara Blakely/Education
After taking the LSAT and scoring abysmally, Sara Blakely decides to enroll in a Blueprint LSAT class (Blueprint didn't exist at the time, but hey, as long as we're rewriting history…). She studies super hard and gets a 171!
In 2012, Blakely was crowned the youngest self-made billionaire by Forbes. Today, at 50, her net worth sits at an impressive $1.2 billion following a substantial deal with private equity giant Blackstone.
Sara Blakely, (born February 21, 1971, Clearwater, Florida, U.S.), American inventor and entrepreneur who created Spanx, a brand of body-slimming women's undergarments, and in 2012 became the world's youngest female self-made billionaire.
In October 2021, Blakely sold a majority share of Spanx to Blackstone, bringing her net worth over the $1 billion mark.
When Sara Blakely sold a majority stake in Spanx to Blackstone last week, the deal valued the shapewear company at $1.2 billion and made the founder a billionaire once more. (Her net worth had reportedly dipped into the nine digits in 2020.)
Who are the Top 10 richest people in the world?Bernard Arnault & family $158 billion.Bill Gates $129 billion.Warren Buffet $118 billion.Larry Page $111 billion.Sergey Brin $107 billion.Larry Ellison $106 billion.Steve Ballmer $91.4 billion.Mukesh Ambani $90.7 billion.More items...•
1.8 billion USD (2022)Kim Kardashian / Net worth
The journey continued earlier this year when Blakely sold a majority stake of Spanx to the global investment firm Blackstone. Blakely celebrated the sale by giving each of her employees two first-class Delta tickets to anywhere in the world, as well as a $10,000 bonus. This content is imported from instagram.
Sara Blakely grew up in Clearwater, Florida, and wanted to be a lawyer like her father. She did well in school but was a terrible test-taker and scored poorly on the LSAT multiple times. Instead, she tried stand-up comedy, then sold fax machines door-to-door for seven years before she had the idea for Spanx.
Sara Blakely. The only real failure in Blakely’s household came about by a refusal to try. Sara’s beloved father followed Wayne Dyer’s guidance in teaching his children the power of failing big. Each day, her father would ask – “So, what did you fail at today.”. And if there were no failures, Dad would be disappointed.
In 2006, she founded the Sara Blakely Foundation to invest in women by supporting organizations in education, entrepreneurship, and the arts. Spanx has solved the wardrobe woes of women around the world by designing bras, underwear, leggings, and other intimate apparel in a way that has changed the way women feel about their bodies.
Don’t let what you don’t know scare you, because it can become your greatest asset. And if you do things without knowing how they have always been done, you’re guaranteed to do them differently. Sara Blakely
Two years before I cut the feet out of my pantyhose to solve an undergarment issue [the initial inspiration for Spanx], I had literally written down in my journal, after one really bad day of selling fax machines, “I’m going to invent a product that I can sell to millions of people that will make them feel good.” I asked the universe to deliver the idea to me.
When I started my company, I’d reach out to hosiery mills—which were all run by men—asking them to manufacture Spanx. I called them all on the phone at first, and they all pretty much gave me the runaround. So I took a week off of work and drove around to all these manufacturing plants that were all mostly concentrated in North Carolina.
She’s Sara Blakely, founder of shapewear company Spanx. But before that, she was a hopeful lawyer, a Walt Disney World chipmunk character, and a door-to-door fax machine salesperson. Then she came up with an idea that changed everything. It’s an inspiring story, one that’s been told a hundred times.
For seven years, Blakely knocked on doors selling fax machines. For anyone who’s been in cold sales, they know it’s a grueling industry. She learned that people generally fall into one or two of four categories: socializers, relaters, directors and thinkers. She, a director and socializer, struggled to sell to thinkers. They wanted every piece of information before making a decision, no matter whether it was relevant to them. To her, that was a waste of time.
Robbins was a crucial element to Blakely learning that fear and discomfort and self-doubt are things that can be combated through the way we think and talk about ourselves. 5. Not knowing “how it’s supposed to be done” is a gift. Blakely never went to business school. She never took a business mastery class.
Death was her first lesson but not her last. When Blakley was 16 years old, her friend was struck and killed by a vehicle while riding a bicycle. Shortly after, her parents decided to separate and her father moved out of the family home.
Blakely’s father played an instrumental role in helping her develop an entrepreneurial spirit. He not only believed in the value of failure, but actively celebrated it. Every day after school, he asked her what she had failed at that week. “If I didn’t have [a failure], he would actually be disappointed,” Blakely says.
Blakely never went to business school. She never took a business mastery class. She never walked in the shoes of a business owner. And yet, Spanx saw its first department store shelf inside the doors of retail behemoth Neiman Marcus.
When Sara Blakely sold fax machines door-to-door, she got used to hearing "no."
Blakely doesn't have any formal business training, but she lives what she calls an "entrepreneurial life."
Sara Blakely credits her visualization practice as a top determining factor of SPANX’s success. During her copier-selling days, she began developing a very clear picture of the life she wanted. By visualizing her future, Blakely could start setting goals toward making it a reality.
One of Sara Blakely’s most endearing qualities is her positivity. From a young age, Blakely learned failure is nothing to be afraid of. She tells Times of Startups that she got a weekly dealing with failure from her father. “Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week.
Sadly, soon thereafter, Laura passed away from a horse-riding accident.
Most importantly, Blakely became razor-sharp focused on her product getting media attention. She knew she shared a target audience with entertainer Oprah Winfrey. She sent a prototype to her show with a handwritten note. The pair of SPANX caught the attention of the person who dressed the celebrity.
For as long as Blakely could remember, she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a trial attorney. She debated in high school and continued to in college, where she also majored in legal communications. Eventually, when the time came for Blakely to take the LSAT, she bombed it.
Spanx wouldn’t have existed if she didn’t fail the LSAT. “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.”.