Sara Blakely
Appearances
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
It was successful. I was profitable for my first month in business at Spanx. I mean, that is wild. Wild. But I also really bootstrapped. And, you know, not every business is set up that way. Sometimes you have to put way more money to get your product off the ground. But, yeah, I was profitable my first month in business at Spanx.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I did take the $5,000 that I had set aside from selling fax machines to see if I could create this idea. I chose to invest in myself and my mindset. Exactly what you started out asking me about, Megan. Find anything that helps you...
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
become more self-aware to unblock your obstacles, figure out what are your patterns, what's holding you back, what's your mindset on money, what's your mindset on success. Like a lot of people don't even realize they have not great narratives around success or around obtaining a lot of financial freedom and money for themselves for lots of different reasons.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
There's all these things that I spent a lot of time excavating and figuring out while I was floundering, right? So the one thing that I knew was like, I don't know what I'm going to do with my life, but I know I'm going to invest in myself. And that's what I spent my entire 20s doing.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
In one particular day, I pulled off the side of the road, and I remember thinking, I'm in the wrong movie. call the director, call the producer, cut. This is not my life. Let's change the movie. We're changing the narrative. I don't want to be the star of this movie anymore.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Thank you. I always tell women in particular, I said, money is really fun to make, really fun to spend, and really fun to give away. Yeah. And I think money just makes you more of who you already were. Like if you're a jerk and you get a bunch of money, you become a bigger jerk. If you were insecure and you get a bunch of money, you become more insecure.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
If you were generous, you become more generous. It kind of just holds a magnifying glass up to you, but it doesn't create something terrible that I think is really important to get clear with for each individual person. Because I do think that's a big reason also why I was able to do what I did.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I have created an entire system of good luck around me. I have a good luck backpack that I deemed in college was good luck, and it is good luck. You still have it? Oh, yeah. Well, I started Spanx with it, and I had it for the first seven years as my purse, this dirty red Eastpac backpack. That I would take on every important meeting, Megan. I landed Neiman Marcus with this thing.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And my friends, when I got my 15 minutes to go to fly to Dallas and talk to the Neiman's buyer, they were like, please don't take your red bag. Don't take that sad red bag. Buy a Prada bag. Return it the next day. Whatever you have to do, Sarah. And I was like, no, it's lucky. Anyway, now it's framed on the wall at Spanx. Oh, my gosh.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yeah, it was with me everywhere I went. I have a lucky number. And when I see it, I feel like it's a wink from the universe telling me that I'm on my path or I'll just get like a little like, it's almost like a high five. Oh, me too. That I've created from the universe. I'm with you on that. Laura Lynn. Yeah, I have this whole system. I've been doing this since I'm little.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
When I was little, I decided that the song Sarah Smile by Daryl Hall and John Oates was the universe... communicating with me and saying like, things are going to be okay. And I will hear it sometimes when I exactly need to hear it. You know, I'll just be in my car after a really hard moment, hard day, something's going on, and then it comes on and I'm like, okay. It just realigns me completely.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
So I've been doing that for a long time. As I mentioned to you, I ask for signs when I make big decisions. And I'll say it needs to be specific. You Right. Right. Exactly. I'm like, I can't be like, was that a sign or not? It needs to hit me over the head. Like that is a sign.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And then the other thing that I did that felt different at the time in 2000 was I really used feminine principles and I wanted to be guided by the divine feminine in business, which I felt had been very squashed and left behind. Right.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
So I feel like, okay, business is a very male construct. It was created by men. It was designed by men. The rules were made by men. What success is even defined as was created and agreed upon by men. So the feminine was not really in the room at all. She had the feminine energy. The feminine had no say in this.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
But women, you know, we have had a chance to play in this masculine construct arena probably in a meaningful way only in the last, like, what, 30 years?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Megan, do you know what year women were allowed to get a business loan on their own without a man co-signing or agreeing to it?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
1988.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I was a junior in high school when women were allowed to actually go into a bank and say, I'd like to bet on myself I have a business idea.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Oh, my Lord. Really? I started Spanx only 12 years after women even had the opportunity to do that. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, mind-blowing. Anyway, business is a masculine construct. I was so grateful for the masculine energy in me that was going to help me create Spanx, right? I couldn't do it without my masculine energy, but I didn't want my feminine energy to be left behind.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Because the business community had created a scenario that made that seem like a weakness, right? Like when I was using intuition or vulnerability or empathy or the things that I think are more classically assigned to feminine energy didn't feel like it was... commended in the corporate world. It didn't feel like it was rewarded. It felt a little unsafe and a little weird to bring that out.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Right.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And so when I started Spanx, two guys came up to me at a cocktail party and they go, Sarah, we just read about you in the newspaper in Atlanta. Congratulations, you invented something. And I was so excited. I said, yes, I did. And one guy put his hand on my shoulder and he said, well, you know, business is war. Oh, yeah. And I said, okay.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And then the other guys started laughing, and they kind of had this little banter with each other, and they go, yep, Sarah, business is war. I hope you're ready to go to war. And I went home that night and sat on the floor of my apartment, and I just said— I'm not going to war. Like, why does it have to be war? I've no, why would anyone want to go to war? I have no desire.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I'm going to do this so differently and I may end up so unsuccessful or I may not, but I'm going to choose a different path. And everything I did, I mean, my marketing back then in 2000, I mean, I laminated a picture of my own butt before and after like, That's pretty vulnerable, Megan. I'm standing in Neiman Marcus with like the prettiest woman ever. And I'm like, here, here's my butt.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
But, you know, I always wanted to use that. And then for me, intuition always was how I made my decision. Like I would look at data. I would, half the time I didn't understand the data, but I would like absorb everything. And then I would say, I'm going to go for a drive because I knew that's where I could really connect.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
He had three daughters.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
He rejected me like a lot of the factories did, but then he brought it up over dinner and the daughter said, you know, dad, this is actually a good idea. I don't know what to wear under white pants either. You should maybe help this girl out.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I mean, I just, whatever I sold, I took the profit from that and bought my next batch of Spanx.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Mm-hmm.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And so I just used the profits from the sales and it continued to get bigger and bigger and grow in that way. But I was very scrappy, very bootstrappy. You know, I remember standing in rooms back in those days hearing how much money all the people around me had raised and thinking in moments like this. oh my God, I'm such a loser. Like I haven't raised anything.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
But then I look back on it and it just never felt right to me. I never took a business class, but I was like, why does that feel off to me? Like everybody around you saying, I raised 20, I raised 50, I raised 100 and they're all high-fiving each other and they're like, but... I tell entrepreneurs, when you do that, and there are times where you have to do that. There are certain business models.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
There are certain things that you're going to do. You are giving up a piece of something for that. You're diluting yourself. You are diluting yourself. So why are we all high-fiving you? It became like a badge of honor when I was starting Spanx. How much money did you raise? And I'd say, none. And they'd be like, oh.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
But I also felt like I was willing to grow smaller if I needed to and be very intentional and stay very focused on the consumer, which is my love. I want to make her happy. I want to make her feel better. I want to give her better options. And I'll let the chips fall where they may around me. But if I had investors, I knew that I wouldn't be able to honor my intuition. Yes.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Because intuition is not on a spreadsheet. It's very hard to explain. And it's sometimes really counterintuitive to business and the way business works.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Right.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And I went home that night and sat on the floor of my apartment and I just said, I'm not going to war. Like, why does it have to be war? Why would anyone want to go to war? I have no desire. I'm going to do this so differently.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yeah, it's both. It's both, for sure.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yeah.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Wow. So around the 16-year mark of Spanx, I brought in a few additional advisors beyond my dad, but I never had a formal board at Spanx.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yeah, I mean, you know, I would talk to my dad all the time in the business. I was very lucky that I had a parent who is incredibly strategic in his thinking. He's a lawyer, but he's very smart. And I trusted him. And that was huge for me. So he was always trying to get us to redefine failure growing up, my brother and me. And listen, my brother's four years younger than me.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
My brother invented a product in a field that he knows nothing about. And sold his business. So something happened in our house, right?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yes.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
My mom is a stay-at-home mother and an artist. And my dad was a litigator. He was a very charismatic trial attorney. And they really fostered something in our house. My brother was an accountant. who invented a machine that allowed businesses to text message their customers. And he was on the first to do that.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And I remember running around Del Mar, California, where he lived, trying to sell this little machine for him with him to sandwich shops so that- You in sales. So a customer could text before and his company was called Zingle. But I think that it paid off that my dad was encouraging us to fail because I think most children really don't want to disappoint parents.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
We want our parents to be proud of us. So we start taking less and less risk because it ensures... We're safer. Pride, yeah. Not disappointing them. And my dad flipped that narrative on its head and was like, I kind of want to be disappointed. I'm going to be disappointed if you don't fail at something.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yeah.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yes, the naming of it and everything with Spanx was fun. I took two years to come up with the name and I wrote it on like gum wrappers and rental car agreements and everything. And then it came to me across my dashboard of my car one day in traffic. I saw the word like in my mind and I pulled off the side of the road and I wrote it down.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And then as I was trademarking it on my computer, you know, I trademarked the name Spanx for $250 with my credit card. Yeah. I know. And at the last minute, I backspaced the K and the S and put an X because I did research that made up words do better for products than real words do. And they're easier to trademark. That's certainly true.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yeah, I loved hearing that story from Cassandra because she's doing really cool things and she's really successful.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
So I care so deeply about how women feel, and I feel like the beauty industry and the fashion industry in particular has really focused on how we look but not how we feel. So I have wanted to advocate for women through product because I think we deserve both, right? Why does it have to be mutually exclusive?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Fair. Right? So there's been no lens of like, but wait, how am I feeling in this? Yeah. So, you know, high heels. I've been saying since I started Spanx, every time someone's like, so what's next for Sarah Blakely? I'd say, well... Someone needs to invent a comfortable high heel, okay? I would love to do that, and then I'll retire, and I would just laugh.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And after 10 years of putting it out into the universe, it never happened. And one day, I very specifically said, okay, universe, I've been saying this out loud for a long time. I still am a consumer. I haven't found any heel I want to wear that doesn't kill my foot. Am I supposed to do this? Give me a sign.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
So then the next day I flipped on the news and it was Gayle King and I was running out the door to Spanx, but I caught like two minutes of the morning news before I headed out. And she was interviewing... Christian Louboutin, which was very odd, right? Like hard news morning. And so I was like, I just asked for a sign and this is really weird. And so I paid extra attention.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And in that interview, which, you know, Gail holds up her shoe, takes it off her foot and holds it up in the air and goes, I love this shoe. It's a work of art, but I got to tell you by the end of the day, I could be crippled. And as a product person, I'm watching this, right? And all I care about is how does she feel? How does she feel? Are you happy? Do you feel good? You know,
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I'm expecting him to go, I know, I know, I'm working on it. And instead, he said, I do not want my shoe to be comfortable. Oh. If my shoe is comfortable, I take it as an insult. Oh. So I said to the universe, okay, I get it loud and clear. Thank you very much. Like, not only are they not working on it, they don't care.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
So then I set out making it. I spent the first four years quietly with two girls that make bras, which is very technical. None of us have one idea how to make a shoe, but I didn't know how to make shapewear either. And I always say to people, when you don't know how something's supposed to be done, you're insured you're going to do it differently. And that's where innovation is. So...
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Four years into it, flying over to Europe all the time, Spain, Italy. It didn't matter that I was Sarah from Spanx. Nobody cared. Half the people I cold called said, no, thank you. They told me it couldn't be done. It would be too hard. Then I worked with one factory in Italy. Six months in, they fired me. They said they don't want to deal with this anymore. And I went to another factory.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Eight months in, they fired me. So I was like, ah, and I wanted it to look exactly like a traditional stiletto. That was the mandate. That was like my goal, but exponentially more comfortable. We got it to where it was going to be four years in, and it was more comfortable, Megan, but it wasn't exponentially more comfortable.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And so I looked at my team of just two girls that I absolutely adore, and I, through tears, said... We're going to pull the plug like we tried, and it's not there. Because as someone who invents and creates products, especially if I'm going to launch a new company or brand around it, I always say I have a mental check that it needs to be 10x better than anything else out there.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Mm-hmm.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And it was maybe 4X better. But to me, that wasn't a big enough moat, and it wasn't a big enough reason for me to spend my time, energy. And if I'm going to offer something to a woman, I really want it to be radically better. Yes. And as I was leaving the factory in Italy, I said, why has this been so hard? I just want my high heel to feel like my sneaker.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And in that moment, Megan, I said, you know what? Let's try that. And the girls were like, what are you talking about? I'm like, let's just see if I can merge a sneaker with the stiletto. I want it to feel like a sneaker. I went home. I cut my sneaker in half.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I glued it to the back of my stiletto that I cut in half and hobbled around my house for a couple days just brainstorming and thinking, could this work? Would this work? Like, I know all the pain is in the ball of the foot. This feels so much more comfortable. Could I get it to look better? kind of cohesive. And that's when we pivoted. We pivoted.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Oh, now I can see your face. Hi. How are you? I'm great. You look amazing. You have one beam of light coming down across your face. You're being divinely... Oh, my God. I didn't see that. I'm being interviewed by an angel. Isn't that bizarre? That's so bizarre. What is that?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And then I spent the next four or five years trying to get that made. And I told the team, this may never get launched, or if it gets launched, it will be when I want to wear it instead of any other heel I have in my closet. And same with the girls. And that happened. That happened for me.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and it did not end up that way.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And you're right. I was open. I literally never set out to make a sneaker heel. I mean, are you kidding me? That wasn't even on my radar. But when it was done, I was like... Okay. This is wild. This is where this ended up. I wanted to solve three main things, Megan. I wanted to fix the toe squeeze. Oh, yeah.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I wanted the weight to be redistributed because since basically the 1700s when heels were, you know, they haven't changed much, Megan, since the 1700s. Right. We're just leaning forwards and then counter-correcting. Exactly. And then, of course, by adding the tread and the midsole, you get extra cushioning there.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
So it's a very unique experience when you're in this because you're in a three-inch stiletto, but if you close your eyes, you kind of almost feel like you're flat on the ground.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And I'm able to wear it. Like I literally had to stop wearing heels. That's how painful they became for my feet. I wore them for so many years. I destroyed my feet. And I'm not the girl who can rock jeans and sneakers. I feel like I look like I did in middle school. I don't want to go out to dinner in that book, Megan.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
So I was like staring at my pointy-toed shoes and I'm like, you hurt my feet so bad.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Well, you created the antidote. I went through tons of self-doubt. Should I launch this? Is it the weirdest thing ever? You know, what's going to happen? I had all the same self-doubts I had when I started Spanx 25 years ago. Didn't matter that I already had Spanx under my belt, you know, and I had to work a lot on my own mindset around launching this.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And I always like launching something new with something that feels disruptive, right? So I knew there'd be a lot of conversation around it. And I've got many more things in the hopper. I can't wait to continue to... You're not done yet? No, no, no. I can't wait to create... I mean, in the shoe category for now, I've got many more things. But I also have a lot of other ideas outside of shoes.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
But I definitely am excited to kind of really... sink into this luxury shoe brand that's really fun to wear and stylish, but also comfortable.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I'm cheering you on too. I'm like, wait, that took like three years for my therapist to say that. You just said that in two seconds of hearing me talk about something. It's really cool.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Everybody's really good. Everybody's really good. We're in a good chapter. My kids are all good. Husband's good. I'm settled into the transition of, you know, selling the majority of Spanx. That was a really intense transition for me. I'm on the other side of it. So I'm having fun with sneaks.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I know. How old are the kids now? Tepper, my daughter, is 9. Lincoln and Charlie are 10. And Lazer is 15.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
How are those cute little munchkies?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I want to come see you guys. I'm going to be at a conference in May. So I got to get you those dates.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yes. But remember, like as soon as we hung out, we're like, oh, this is so easy.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
There is something to that, Megan, for sure. I'm a believer. And I love her. I mean, I found out. So she feels like a kindred spirit to me, for sure. When I first met her and heard her story, we have a very similar sort of... and spirituality and a mindset towards business that felt very refreshing to me. You know, because I did Spanx in the year 2000. There were very few women that I could go to.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Like, I really didn't have any, honestly. And so I was on my path, which was very much... asking the universe for signs and doing all these things that all my male counterparts literally thought I was crazy and were counting down how long I would stay in business. So I didn't really even have other female founders that were in my network that I could kind of
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
balance how I was approaching business because I was approaching it very differently than the guys that I love and adore that I got put in a business group, which by the way, I've been in the same business group. It's called YEO. Now it's called EO. They put me in a forum with 10 men, Megan. So I've been in the same forum with 10 men and me for 25 years. And we meet once a month and Wow.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And we talk about all everything going on in our personal lives and also business. So it's almost like having an informal board. And I've had to go on a vacation once a year with 10 men and me, which you can imagine the looks I've received through the years. But, you know, I say I'm like Jane Goodall.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
But instead of observing chimpanzees in their natural habitat, I get to observe men in their natural habitat. They totally forget I'm there. No. Yeah. And I'm like, what? wow, this is so different than when I hang out with my girlfriends. Oh, my gosh. You know, they say, Sarah, well, how are you going to handle that?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And I'm like, I'm going to ask the universe for a sign, and I'm going to get quiet, and I'm going to spend some time thinking this through. And they all thought I was crazy. And then Megan, within the...
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
first maybe five years Spanx was so successful like it was undeniable that something was going on and so the guys started really leaning in and going what what's happening with this girl and one by one they each privately pulled me aside and said how do you talk to the universe No. Oh, my gosh. That's so good. And what did you tell them?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I was like, well, you know, you have to ask, be specific and get quiet. Find out where you're channeled. I know where I'm channeled. I'm channeled in the car while I'm driving. Where are you channeled? And of course, they're just like... Steam's coming out of their ears. They're like, really conservative Georgia businessmen. Like, that could be the governor one day.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And they're like, okay, wait, wait, what do I do? You know, I'm like, it needs to be where you daydream. Like, where does your mind wander? And pay really close attention to when your mind wanders, what's coming. And for me, I do make decisions by very specifically asking for a sign. I've been doing that for maybe my whole life. And listening to Wayne Dyer, to get to Wayne Dyer...
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
I started listening to him when I was 16 years old. And what happened was I was in high school, Clearwater High. Grew up on Clearwater Beach, Florida. And I had a very serious sort of tragedy happen to a friend of mine in front of me. So we were riding bikes. She was run over and killed by a car in front of me. which was obviously very jarring and very upsetting and horrific.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And then at about the same time, my dad left home and my parents separated. And when my dad moved out, he handed me the cassette tape series by Wayne Dyer.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Yeah, he practiced for like 20 years listening to... everybody's issues. And he said he just saw a theme and could really understand the human psyche after all those years. And he started writing books about mindset.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And in those cassette tapes, he was teaching manifesting what you want, law of attraction, not fearing failure, not caring what other people think about you to the detriment of you honoring your own authentic self. And I think I always tell everybody there's always a hidden blessing in the darkest times. And And my hidden blessing was that I was willing to listen to it, right?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Because I think if you handed a 16-year-old at Clearwater High, this middle-aged bald man with a bushy mustache that said how to be a no-limit person, and you weren't broken, you probably would have chucked it in the bottom of your closet. But instead, I put it in my boom box. I hit play.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And I sat there and I cried because I thought, I have just spent 16 years in school being taught what to think and no one has ever taught me how to think. The light bulbs went off and I was like, wait, I can train my thoughts. I can train my brain. I can curate how I respond to all this stuff coming at me. It was fascinating to me. So then I just became so hungry for it.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And there were always these cassette tapes in my car. No one wanted to be stuck in my car after a party, Megan. No one. They were like— Just you and Wayne Dyer. They were like, everyone else is listening to Bon Jovi and Madonna, and you get in my car after a party?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
You're 100% right. It 100% changed the trajectory of my life. I remember, you know, I sold fax machines door to door for seven years. And after one day of cold calling all day in the same zip codes, you know, I'd get... out of my car and I'd walk up and down small businesses like a pawn shop in this place and that place trying to sell them a fax machine, right?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
So people are kicking me out of their buildings. They're ripping up my business card at least once a week. And in one particular day, I pulled off the side of the road and I remember thinking, I'm in the wrong movie. Like, call the director, call the producer, cut. This is not my life. And I drove home and I wrote in my journal, what are you good at, Sarah? Like, what are you good at?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Like, how are we going to curate a new life? Like, let's change the movie. We're changing the narrative. I don't want to be the star of this movie anymore. And I wrote sales. It was like the only thing really I could think of that I was really good at. And I asked myself a really important question. I think most people... you know, would have said, okay, what are you good at?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
What are your strengths? Sales. Well, if I had left it there, Megan, I am sure that I would have gone out and got another sales job. But instead, I asked myself, why? I go, why are you good in sales? Why do you like sales? What is it about sales?
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And then, because I asked that second layer of questioning, I wrote, I really like giving something to someone that improves their life or that makes their job easier, where I can sell them something that they get excited about.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
And the minute I had that epiphany, I wrote in my journal that night, I'm going to invent my own product that I can sell to millions of people that will make them feel good. Stop. Yes. And then it happened. Well, it happened two years later, but I set the intention. Like the soundbite in the media for 25 years is Sarah cut the feet out of her pantyhose to solve this undergarment issue and voila.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
But I had been doing so much mindset work and I set the intention for the idea to come to me two years prior.
Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
Business Is Not a Battlefield with SPANX’s Sara Blakely
Right. And then two years later, I cut the feet out of control top panties to wear under my cream and white pants and to a party. And I was like, well, maybe that's the idea I asked for. I don't want to squander it. I told the universe I wouldn't squander any idea presented to me.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And it is our human nature that the minute we have an idea, we tell our friend, our coworker, our wife, our husband, boyfriend, girlfriend. And in those moments out of love and care and all the right intentions half the time, the person might say something that completely squashes it or makes you not pursue it.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
So I didn't want to tell my family and friends, and I have very supportive family and friends, but I didn't want ego to have to get involved too early on in the process. I wanted to spend my time pursuing it and not defending it. So at night and on the weekends for two years, I would sell fax machines during the day. And then at night I would stay up and I was working on the patent.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And I was, you know, doing all my research and driving, taking vacation days to drive to North Carolina where the manufacturing plants were and begging them to help make the first prototype. But that is really why. And I have to say, I mean, everybody in their life has a million dollar, even a billion dollar idea. I mean, we do. I haven't had mine yet. Yeah. Well, you do.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And I feel like recognizing it is a big one. And then also, you know, holding it sacred for me. And I'm glad I did because I sat my family down a year later and all they knew was Sarah's working on some crazy idea. And a year later, I sat him down and I said, OK, guys, are you ready? It's footless pantyhose. Yeah.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And, I mean, they were like, so, sweetie, if it's such a good idea, why hasn't anybody else created it? And then someone else in my family was like, well, honey, you know, and even if this is a good idea, the big guys are just going to knock you off in the first six months and you will have spent your savings on this.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And if I had heard those things in the moment that I had it, I probably would still be selling fax machines or something like it. So I really believe that. I believe that you've got to really protect it. Now, it didn't mean I didn't tell people that would help me pursue it. I was telling lawyers, having them help me try to write the patent. I was cold calling manufacturers and talking to them.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I just didn't seek out people simply for validation. Until I knew I'd put enough of my own sweat equity into this idea that no matter what the validation came back as, I wouldn't waver.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I mean, you've got to create your own hype.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
For sure. It's reminding me. I mean, for the first four years of Spanx, I wore a black T-shirt with SPANX ironed onto it that I went to one of those T-shirt shops and took a white letter and ironed on Spanx. and cream pants, but I was the advertisement. So I wore that everywhere I went.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And then when I got a chance to sell it in Neiman Marcus, I would bring my friends to the store to act like excited customers. And they would stand around my display table and go up. Every time we'd like cue it, we'd like customer coming. And this like really fancy lady, you know, perfectly dressed would be walking up and my friends would all go, tell me more. What is this?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I can't believe I'm just finding out about this. And it would always cause the customer to go, what, you know, what's happening?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Yeah. So when I first landed, Neiman Marcus was my first account. And two things about that that are just something that I reflect back on. One is everybody in the industry after I landed Neiman's came up to me and said, how in the world did you land Neiman Marcus? And I would look at them and I'd say, I called them. what do you do?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And they'd say, oh my God, we go to trade shows and we set up a booth and we've been doing it for seven years. And everybody says around year six or seven that you get a chance with Neiman's. I didn't even know there were trade shows.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
So I often say what you don't know can be your greatest asset if you let it, if you're not intimidated by the self-talk of, I have no idea what I'm doing and that shuts you down. So if you can power through the, I have no idea what I'm doing and actually see it as a positive and go, That means I'm going to do it different. And that's where you break real ground.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
It takes a lot of courage and a lot of willingness to look stupid and potentially fall on your face. But that's where the magic is. So anyway, I got a chance to go and cold call Neiman Marcus. I flew on a plane from Atlanta, where I live, to Dallas. And I met with the buyer, and she was impeccably dressed. I'm in the intimidating Neiman's headquarters. I had my lucky red backpack from college.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I had the prototype in a Ziploc bag from my kitchen and a color copy of the packaging that I had created on my friend's computer. Halfway through my pitch, I was telling her what it is, and I could tell I was losing her. After seven years of cold calling and trying to sell things to people, you get really good at reading nonverbals. And I always say nonverbals tell you way more than the verbal.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
When people sit there and shake their head and say, I love it, and I'll call you tomorrow, you're like, oh my God, mayday. That's when you pull the shoe and say, I've got to try everything. And so she was kind of doing that. She was like, okay, thanks. And I just stopped and said, you know what, Diane, will you come to the bathroom with me? And she literally was like, excuse me?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I'm like, I know it's a little weird, but can you just follow me to the bathroom and I'm going to actually show you what my product can do. I'm going to go in the stall. And she was like, oh, okay. And she walked down the hall and I went in the stall and I put it on under my white pants and I came out.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
So I showed her before and then I showed her with the product on and she just sat there and she goes, I get it. It's brilliant. And I'm going to try it in seven stores. And I was like, that deserves a round of applause.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I mean, I would say to add to that, I recognize that the two biggest fears that we all have as human beings are basically the fear of public speaking and the fear of being embarrassed. And so I want that to lose its power over me. So I will intentionally embarrass myself. Or I will intentionally find scenarios where I'm not good at something. And then I go through it.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And it usually ends up making me laugh. Or if something ridiculous happens to me, I immediately want to share it with people. Because then I start to find that it loses its power over me. And then you also find that when these things happen, if you can make somebody else laugh or smile, then it wasn't all in vain.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And that's where real human vulnerability and connection happens, especially even with your customers. So I learned that from selling fax machines. I mean, anytime I tried to act perfect or put on the perfect pitch, I got kicked out time and time again. If I walked in and was like, look, I'm nervous. It's hard for me to walk through your door. I'm sorry. I know there's no soliciting sign.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I mean, I would get farther with that. But just calling out the humanness and the real of what we're all dealing with and not being afraid of it. So we do that at Spanx too. We have oops meetings at Spanx where we have the whole company get together and we stand up and we share what we've failed at or an oops or a mistake that we made and everybody claps and it's just like diffuses it.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Yeah. Oh, great. Okay.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
My husband has been running every day on this island and says a bird attacks him. So I'm on the walk with him where his jog got this because I don't believe him. Honey, where? How bad can it be? Come on. How are you going to get past this walking spot? He's fine. I see him and he's fine. See, the bird's there. He's not going to bother you, Jess. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I was so petrified. I did it when I was selling fax machines door to door. And I just I have this thing where I don't if something terrifies me or if I think I would never do that. And the answer is because I'm scared. It kind of becomes something I really want to try to do. And that was one of those things. And I just did open mic mostly around.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I did it around the country for two years while I was a trainer for the company that I worked for. But it was terrifying. I mean, I was so nervous and I wasn't that good. So.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Oh, you have a clip? Which clip is it? Is it of the balloon?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I'd rather run for 20 hours. That was so intense. There were so many things about that, but it took me 48 minutes to climb. It was a dangling rope ladder, so there was nothing anchoring it. So I spent the first 25 minutes of the climb just flailing around in the air. And then the last 20 minutes, I kept saying, just get to the balloon, get to the balloon.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
But once I got to the balloon, the balloon was hot. And the rope was very taut against the balloon, so I had nowhere to put my fingers anymore around the rungs of the ladder. So I'd use my fingertips. And then once I did the little T thing and was like, woo, that was great, I started bawling because I realized I had to climb down. Oh, my gosh. I was like, wait, how do we get down?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
So we had to go back down the ladder. It sounds horrific. Yeah.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Listen, I'm here, and what an experience.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Yeah, because we're on autopilot as human beings. I mean, think about it. Almost every single thing that we do, someone taught us how to do it or we observed how it was done. And so I like the space of closing your eyes and saying, if no one showed you how to do this, how would you do it? Like, would you be doing it differently? And oftentimes you will. And the answer or the vision comes to you.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And then that's a real nugget for yourself.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I'm going to Switzerland on Friday. Which sounds very fabulous.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
How do I feel when I'm in the Giving Pledge room? Super humbled and, you know, kind of like, how did I get in this room? Pinch me kind of feeling.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I mean, I'm a frustrated beautician, so I might have my own salon, or I was someone who did everyone's hair for prom, and I always liked doing makeovers and things like that.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Oh, gosh. Theme song for my life.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Mine is... Baby Got Back.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I mean, this is so weird, but I can vibrate my eyes. What? What does that even mean? What did you say? I can vibrate my eyes.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I can vibrate my eyes. And the weird thing is, Charlie just looked up at me and vibrated his eyes the other day. Our little boy. So apparently it's genetic.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
pet peeve oh i know what yours is oh this is like the newlywake you know what do you think mine is well i mean you're probably about to answer something different but running water absolutely absolutely don't get me started on running water yeah did anyone notice the clock is now going the opposite direction what a little confused okay um my pet peeve is when the windshield wipers are going more than they need to that's a fair that's a fair one
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Well, growing up, my celebrity crush was Gene Wilder.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I'm sorry. What was it? Okay. Okay. Yes. So listen, all you have to do, I'm going to give away some awesome Spanx products. Okay. Yes. Yes. And for the guys out there that are like, look, you've got a wife, a daughter, a sister, a mother. They're going to love you for this. And I also happen to make man Spanx. So you can buy yourself something too. Okay. Jesse, my underwear.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Well, not my underwear, but the underwear that I make for Spanx is his favorite underwear.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
So all you have to do is get out your phones and go to Instagram and follow at Sarah Blakely. And that's S-A-R-A without an H. At Sarah Blakely. And then in the last post, which actually was his last man standing post, just put hashtag hypergrowth. And I'm going to pick 20 of you at random, and I'm going to send you some awesome Spanx leggings.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And if you're a guy and you don't want leggings, you want something else, I'm happy to send that to you. But we have a cult following for our faux leather leggings. People love them. You'll love them. Hold on.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Thank you.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Thank you, guys.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Yes, that's definitely true. Not much sleep. Not a lot of sleep.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Yes, I win last wife standing. I didn't sleep for 35 hours, so I was supporting him. And it's really challenging. I said at one point I had a breakdown, I think at like 4 in the morning, where I just started crying because I said marriage is hard when you have to really support each other's dreams, and especially if you have to watch the person you love suffer.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And Jesse had a pep talk with me before, and he said no matter what, Tell me I look good. Tell me I look strong. Don't pull me out of the race.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
That's true. But it was really a wild experience of just human spirit. You know, what we all have inside of us, that grit and determination. And there were 112 of really intensely impressive ultra runners there. And, wow, I was just blown away by mindset, really. Because I asked Jesse after this. I mean, Jesse's 51.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
So I said, honey, even though you didn't get the last man standing, you definitely won the oldest man standing. Because he was 10 to 20 years older than every other racer in this race. And so I said to him, I was so curious because I knew mindset. I'm a huge believer in mindset. And I said, what was your mindset and what were you thinking during the race?
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And he looked at me with laser focus after it. And he said, I was saying repeatedly to myself, I push my body and my body responds. And boy, did it ever. I mean, because his knees, his ankles, I mean, the rest of his body really, I mean, was shutting down. But his mindset was there. And that pushed him. I would say, I mean, at mile 47, I thought you were done. I love you, but I really did.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I was, like, so worried. And then, like, you know, you just can't ever doubt the mindset. If the mindset of the person's in the right place, then they just go way beyond what you expect.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And if any of you guys want to be super entertained and inspired, it's on my Instagram page at Sarah Blakely. And it's in one of those, you know, I put it in a permanent circle in the bar below the descriptor of my name. And it's called The Last Man Standing. And it's really, it is very...
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Yeah, definitely mindset. I mean, I sold fax machines door to door for seven years after graduating from college. And I, you know, for 20 years, Spanx is going to be 20. I started it in the year 2000. The soundbite in the media has been, Sarah cut the feet out of pantyhose and solved an undergarment issue, and now Spanx is here.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And while that is true, there was so much more about the behind the scenes of why this happened. And people have asked me, can I have 10 minutes, 15 minutes of your time? I want to pick your brain on how Spanx started. But the real answer is it started way before I cut the feet out of my pantyhose.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And it started when I was much younger, and I had a series of kind of tragic events happen to me when I was in high school. And it led me to Wayne Dyer, who is a motivational, inspirational speaker. He passed away about two years ago. But I got exposed to him, and I listened to his cassette tapes over and over and over again.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
To the point that I had his one series called How to Be a No Limit Person memorized. All ten cassette tapes front and back.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
That's funny because in high school, no one wanted to get stuck in my car. After a party, they're like, she's going to make you listen to this shit.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
So, but then fast forward, you know, I think it was 10 to 15 years after high school that I ended up on the cover of Forbes. And the texts I got in my phone were so funny. I mean, literally all my friends were like, damn, should have listened to that shit. So... So I'm a big believer in it.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Life has a weird way of giving you these experiences because when I started Spanx, the combination of the amount of rejection I had had was perfect to start a company because I was told no every day for two years. The idea is no good. No, thank you. We don't want to help you. We think this is stupid, whatever. And it didn't really faze me.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I learned early on about manifesting law of attraction, not caring what other people think about you, which is a really big one for an entrepreneur or, you know, in life really. And I'm a work in progress on that. There are times where I do care and I check myself and say, you know, let's work on this. But it's very freeing to not care what other people think.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
You'll take more risks to not really focus on the outcome and be so afraid to fail. So all of that is a big part of my journey and Spanx for sure. So I think mindset is, I work on it daily.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
That really came from a gut feeling. I really honor my gut and intuition a lot and still do through the journey that I'm on. But when I cut the feet out of my pantyhose and started Spanx, I had actually asked for the idea two years prior. So I was selling fax machines. I had one really bad day. I'd been kicked out of an office again.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
I mean, I got usually business cards ripped up in my face about once or twice a week. I got escorted out of buildings all the time. And this day was just hard. I mean, I'm seven years into 100% cold calling. to sell people a fax machine. And I pulled over and I said, I'm in the wrong movie. How did this happen? Call the director, call the producer. This is not my life.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
Like I'm redirecting my life. And I went home and I wrote down a list of what I'm good at in the positive column and strengths. And I saw sales and I thought, okay, well, what is it about sales that I'm good at? And it led me to the fact that I like to offer people things that they may not know they need and then really makes a difference for them.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And I wrote down in my journal that night, I'm going to invent a product that I can sell to millions of people that will make them feel good. And then I looked up in the air in my apartment and I said, I'm ready for the idea. If you give it to me, I won't squander it.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And then the writing comedy for two years while I was doing that helped me do all the writing for Spanx and the marketing. And Spanx didn't advertise for 16 years. We became a household name and a household brand around the world without ever advertising.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And two years later, I cut the feet out of control top pantyhose one night to wear white pants to a party and not have a panty line or anything show. Because, guys, you're out there in the audience. I don't know how many of you struggle with what to wear under white pants. Yeah. But it's a legit problem that we have.
Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Confidence Classic: Why Your Mindset Is The KEY To Success! With Sara Blakley & Jesse Itzler
And so I cut the feet out of my pantyhose one time and I thought this could be the idea because I had already set the intention for the idea to show up. But as soon as I started on the path of it, I thought, okay, I don't want to tell anybody my idea because I feel that ideas are the most vulnerable in the moment that you have them.