Sara Blakely Quotes

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. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail.
Sara Blakely

Age, Failure, Dad

I have this system where if I buy three or four new things, I give away three or four things. Sometimes, it's a very painful system, but shopping is even better when you know that someone else who needs it will be getting. Keep the clothing karma going, I say.
Sara Blakely

Karma, Someone, Give

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

Mistakes, Important, Happen

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.
Sara Blakely

Strength, Greatest, Else

Don't solicit feedback on your product, idea or your business just for validation purposes. You want to tell the people who can help move your idea forward, but if you're just looking to your friend, co-worker, husband or wife for validation, be careful. It can stop a lot of multimillion-dollar ideas in their tracks in the beginning.
Sara Blakely

Business, Forward, Husband

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

Life, Yourself, Person

I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. It is liberating. Most people attach failure to something not working out or how people perceive you. This way, it is about answering to yourself.
Sara Blakely

Life, Attitude, Failure

I'll mix a lot of things. I'll wear a Temperley dress with flip flops, or I might be in head-to-toe Gucci and have on a ring that I got from a gumball machine for 50 cents.
Sara Blakely

Might, Dress, Wear

What I most identify with is effortless fashion, looking as if someone's not put a lot of effort into their look.
Sara Blakely

Someone, Fashion, Put

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

Greatest, Done, Become

Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' is my go-to song to pump myself up if I'm having a tough time or if I get really nervous right before a speech.
Sara Blakely

Time, Yourself, Before

I grew up in a house where my father encouraged my brother and me to fail. I specifically remember coming home and saying, 'Dad, Dad, I tried out for this or that and I was horrible,' and he would high-five me and say, 'Way to go.'
Sara Blakely

Home, Dad, Father

I took a Fear of Flying class, and I always missed the class, because I was always flying.
Sara Blakely

Fear, Took, Class

When I'm bored or tired of being blonde, I'll throw on a wig. It's a lot less of a permanent way to change your look, and I have about 10 - all different colors, shapes, bobs, long hair, short, feathered.
Sara Blakely

Change, Tired, Long

Every time I went on stage I was so terrified I almost threw up.
Sara Blakely

Time, Almost, Stage

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

Everything, Made, Off

Everything in our society is so purposeful.
Sara Blakely

Society, Everything, Purposeful

I aim to be pretty - I gave up dressing to be sexy in the eighties.
Sara Blakely

Sexy, Pretty, Aim

I always joke and say I want to invent a comfortable stiletto and then retire.
Sara Blakely

Joke, Invent, Retire

I couldn't figure out what to wear under my clothes. The body shapers were too thick at the time.
Sara Blakely

Time, Body, Clothes

I cut the feet off of a pair of panty hose and it allowed me to wear a pair of great strappy sandals. I didn't see lines but the hose rolled up at my feet - and that's how Spanx born.
Sara Blakely

Great, Off, Born

I cut the feet out of control top pantyhose one night, threw them on under my white pants and realized that the toning and shaping was perfect and that the hosiery material is thin enough that I could make shape wear out of it.
Sara Blakely

Control, Night, Enough

I cut the feet out of my control top pantyhose to wear under these white pants and that was the ah-ha moment that started Spanx. My own butt was my own inspiration!
Sara Blakely

Control, Moment, Started

I did not like the way I looked in a pair of white pants.
Sara Blakely

White, Pants, Pair

I didn't like the way it looked in white trousers, and I couldn't find anything to work underneath them.
Sara Blakely

Work, Find, White

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Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Businesswoman

Born: February 21, 1971

Links

Find on Amazon: Sara Blakely

Cite this Page: Citation

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