1. International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women's Day, is marked on March 8 every year.
2. "Undercover Billionaire: Sara Blakely Joins The Rich List Thanks To Spanx
3. In recent months four Wall Street investment banks separately valued Spanx at an average $1 billion, a sum Forbes corroborated with the help of industry analysts. Blakely owns 100% of the private company, has zero debt, has never taken outside investment and hasnt spent a nickel on advertising.
4. At 41 shes the youngest woman to join this years Worlds Billionaires list without help from a husband or an inheritance. She is part of a tiny, elite club of American women worth ten figures on their own, including Oprah Winfrey and Meg Whitman.
5. ...husband Jesse Itzler, ...regards Blakelys accomplishments with amazement and amusement. Shes 50% Lucille Ball, 50% Einstein....On the way to the Screen Actors Guild Awards one year, Blakely realized in the limo shed forgotten her jewelry at her hotel. Instead of turning back, she had her driver stop at a candy storeand accessorized her gown with stretchable candy necklaces and bracelets.
6. After getting a degree in legal communications at Florida State, Blakely twice took the LSAT exam for law school admission and twice scored abysmally. Frustrated, she drove from Clearwater to Orlando to audition for a job at Disney World. Two inches too short to fill the 5-foot-8 Goofy costume, she instead spent eight hours a day on a moving walkway buckling visitors into their seats at Epcots now closed World of Motion ride.
7. She spent the next seven years at Danka, then a $1 billion Florida-based office supply company, now part of Japanese printer giant Ricoh. It taught her the art of the cold call. They gave me a cubicle, a phone book and a territory of four zip codes in Clearwater and said, Now go sell $20,000 of fax machines a month door-to- door, she recalls.
8. she noticed that the control-top eliminated panty lines and made her tiny body look even firmer. Shed bought a new pair of cream slacks for $78 at Arden B and was keen to wear them to a party. I cut the feet off my pantyhose and wore them underneath, she says. But they rolled up my legs all night. I remember thinking, Ive got to figure out how to make this.
9. Blakely, then 27, moved to Atlanta, set aside her entire $5,000 savings and spent the next two years meticulously planning the launch of her product while working nine to five at Danka. She spent seven nights straight at the Georgia Tech library researching every hosiery patent ever filed. She visited craft stores like Michaels to find the right fabrics. She sought out hosiery mills in the Yellow Pages and started cold calling, only to be told no repeatedly. Immune to rejection thanks to years selling door-to-door, she decided just to show up.
10. To save $3,000 in legal fees she wrote her own patent from a Barnes & Noble textbook, setting aside $150 to incorporate her company, but couldnt decide on a name. After a succession of terrible ideas she settled on Spanks, substituting an x at the last minute after reading that made-up names sold better."
Undercover Billionaire: Sara Blakely Joins The Rich List Thanks To Spanx - Forbes
God bless America, American exceptionalism, and the American spirit.
And happy International Women's Day!
2. "Undercover Billionaire: Sara Blakely Joins The Rich List Thanks To Spanx
3. In recent months four Wall Street investment banks separately valued Spanx at an average $1 billion, a sum Forbes corroborated with the help of industry analysts. Blakely owns 100% of the private company, has zero debt, has never taken outside investment and hasnt spent a nickel on advertising.
4. At 41 shes the youngest woman to join this years Worlds Billionaires list without help from a husband or an inheritance. She is part of a tiny, elite club of American women worth ten figures on their own, including Oprah Winfrey and Meg Whitman.
5. ...husband Jesse Itzler, ...regards Blakelys accomplishments with amazement and amusement. Shes 50% Lucille Ball, 50% Einstein....On the way to the Screen Actors Guild Awards one year, Blakely realized in the limo shed forgotten her jewelry at her hotel. Instead of turning back, she had her driver stop at a candy storeand accessorized her gown with stretchable candy necklaces and bracelets.
6. After getting a degree in legal communications at Florida State, Blakely twice took the LSAT exam for law school admission and twice scored abysmally. Frustrated, she drove from Clearwater to Orlando to audition for a job at Disney World. Two inches too short to fill the 5-foot-8 Goofy costume, she instead spent eight hours a day on a moving walkway buckling visitors into their seats at Epcots now closed World of Motion ride.
7. She spent the next seven years at Danka, then a $1 billion Florida-based office supply company, now part of Japanese printer giant Ricoh. It taught her the art of the cold call. They gave me a cubicle, a phone book and a territory of four zip codes in Clearwater and said, Now go sell $20,000 of fax machines a month door-to- door, she recalls.
8. she noticed that the control-top eliminated panty lines and made her tiny body look even firmer. Shed bought a new pair of cream slacks for $78 at Arden B and was keen to wear them to a party. I cut the feet off my pantyhose and wore them underneath, she says. But they rolled up my legs all night. I remember thinking, Ive got to figure out how to make this.
9. Blakely, then 27, moved to Atlanta, set aside her entire $5,000 savings and spent the next two years meticulously planning the launch of her product while working nine to five at Danka. She spent seven nights straight at the Georgia Tech library researching every hosiery patent ever filed. She visited craft stores like Michaels to find the right fabrics. She sought out hosiery mills in the Yellow Pages and started cold calling, only to be told no repeatedly. Immune to rejection thanks to years selling door-to-door, she decided just to show up.
10. To save $3,000 in legal fees she wrote her own patent from a Barnes & Noble textbook, setting aside $150 to incorporate her company, but couldnt decide on a name. After a succession of terrible ideas she settled on Spanks, substituting an x at the last minute after reading that made-up names sold better."
Undercover Billionaire: Sara Blakely Joins The Rich List Thanks To Spanx - Forbes
God bless America, American exceptionalism, and the American spirit.
And happy International Women's Day!