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The Legendary Story Of Spanx, The Youngest Self-Made Richest Woman In The World

2014/2/13 16:14:00 176

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The World'S Youngest Self-Made Rich Woman Spanx

Sarah Blakley (Sara Blakely) was exposed to the upper body and stood at the conference table.

It was a Monday morning, at the headquarters of the underwear company Spanx in Atlanta. Its founder just attended the product research and development conference, and suddenly went out five minutes later.

After a minute, she returned to the conference room wearing only a gray brown lace bra, black trousers and cream colored slope, with a target= "_blank" href= "http://www.91se91.com/" > shoes > /a. She adjusted her costume before the dress mirror and complained loudly about the gold clasp on the early sample.

Will they make a target= "_blank" href= "http://www.91se91.com/" > dress > /a "?" her chief executive, Laurie Ann Goldman (Laurie Ann Goldman), a lady wearing a leopard print dress, charming, charming and outstanding, helped her to get a bra buckle.

this conference room looks like a boudoir designed by Willy Wanka Wonka (Willy and chocolate factory): here is a boudoir chewing gum with a dog's checked fabric on it, which is located in Willy.

Although I myself and her five colleagues were present, Blakley was still free to take off her bra and change to another suit, and there was no shame in it.

In the past ten years, in order to control every detail of this new type of female "a target=" _blank "href=" http://www.91se91.com/ "dress less than /a" -- the body sculpting underwear, she has never been reluctant to face the public with a half naked image.

Everything in the company started with the magic product she invented and sold everywhere in her apartment.

Less than P, nowadays, Spanx's position in the underwear industry is comparable to that of Kleenex (Kleenex) in the field of tissues.

The company's annual revenue is slightly below $250 million, and its net profit margin is about 20%. In recent months, four Wall Street investment banks have assessed Spanx separately, with an average valuation of up to $1 billion. The Forbes reporter confirmed the data with the help of industry analysts.

Blakley, a wholly owned company that has not yet been listed, has no debts, has never received external investment, and has not paid a cent of advertising.

This year, she is only 41 years old. She has landed on the list of the world's richest men without her husband's help or inheritance. She is the youngest self-made billionaire.

The number of American women who earn ten figure family by their own strength is very few, and they are all the best. Besides brek, they include Oprah Winfery (Oprah Winfrey) and Meg Whitman (Meg Whitman).

from Betty Glebo (Betty Grable) to Kim Kardashian (Kim Kardashian), many women boldly use their natural advantages to get ahead and become rich.

Like Blakley, it is necessary to overcome three kinds of phobia - fear of heights, fear of flying and stage fright.

Blakley said she was always on business.

She feels dizzy when she is in a tall building. (when she lives on the 37 floor of an apartment building in Manhattan), she often cries when she flies to the air.

Without iPod, she would not go on the plane at all, because every time she took off, she had to listen to Mark Knopfler's song What It Is to relieve her nervousness. (Mark)

"My palms are full of sweat, panic, and heartbeat."

Blakley said.

She occasionally sends the word "I" to "Ah", which must have been brought up in Florida.

For a while, she had to summon up the courage to show up 6 to 12 times a month on QVC TV shopping channel to promote her products. Now Spanx is quite well-known, and these kinds of errands usually only need once a month, but it can last several hours every time.

Blakley had practiced a single crosstalk in his early years to exercise her own ability to overcome her nervousness and anxiety, and occasionally she would perform on stage.

"Every time I came to the stage, I was so frightened that I almost vomited," she recalls. "I just understood why people call the actors' lounge" greenroom "(look green is green and nausea).

Spanx was originally a woman's one-man show.

At the beginning of her career, Blakley used a folding table to promote her new invention in the lobby of Neiman Markus (Neiman Marcus) in the boutique department store. Beside her, there was a huge contrast picture of the front and rear buttocks: on the side of the picture, she wore white trousers, and her bikini shorts were clearly visible and embarrassing. On the other side, she was wearing Spanx $30 body pants (Wow, completely removed the embarrassment).

Less than P, over the past few years, Spanx has been selling underwear and maintaining its leading position relative to several imitative manufacturers. It no longer depends on the face of Bob cherry and other body parts.

The company is now run by a team of 125 people, of whom only 16 men sell 200 products through Spanx, including 1.15 000 department stores, boutiques and online shopping centers in 40 countries.

Retailers around the world scramble for opportunities to cooperate. Goldman said: "in the international market, we have just started warming up."

Spanx sends nine product catalogues to 6 million consumers every year. Blakley still likes to put on the cover only with Spanx, but she knows Goldman, who is 49 years old, will not agree too much.

"I'm interested in doing everything," Blakley said. "Company colleagues have to pull me back."

It was Goldman who created the first business plan for Spanx, even though Blakley opposed it at the time and thought it would hinder innovation.

Blakley acted slightly impulsively, and prudent Goldman was her good partner.

P Jesse her husband Jesse Itzler (Jesse) will only encourage her impulse.

At the age of 43, he is a rapper from Long Island, New York. He and his wife are keen on starting businesses and have been involved in the creation of several start-ups, including the Marquis Jet of the retail business aircraft.

When I met him at his office in midtown, Manhattan, he hurried down the stairs with his belt around his head, and his golden curly hair was dripping with sweat.

He had just done a high-intensity aerobic exercise with a seal commando. He hired the soldier to stay with him for a month with Blakley. He used to rent home from his office, but he could not help but grab the steering wheel to drive himself.

An all-around seals will be more cost-effective.

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Blakley was surprised at the achievement of it, and laughed.

"Half of her is Lucille Bauer (Lucille Ball, the late famous comedians), the other half is Einstein, and I still have a pile of Sara's performance on my cell phone."

He jokes that he refers to Blakley's "happy moments" here.

"This interesting thing happens every day."

Recent examples: mistakenly wearing two different shoes, a red Christian Louboutn, and a light colored boot, had to limp up to the blooming DELL department store.

The most legendary: when attending a Screen Actors Guild Awards awards ceremony, Blakley found herself in the limousine and left her jewelry in the hotel. But she did not hurry to turn back. Instead, she told the driver to stop by a candy store, and then bought a candy chain and bracelet with good extension to decorate her dress.

Spanx fans often recognize her in the streets, shops or airports, eager to show her loyalty.

"Some women will open their coats and show her the Spanx underwear directly," said Ed. "Think about it. She has done so successfully. She is the best."

Blakley was not an early ambition to be an inventor, but she really had a good idea of selling goods.

Her parents were personal injury lawyers and artists. When she was born in Clearwater, Florida, she was always looking for opportunities to make money.

Every Halloween, she will set up a "haunted house" to collect fees for neighbors who want to go in and explore. By using Tom Soya's tricks, she can also pack herbicides and other things into some kind of competition, and induce her friends to help her finish the chores.

In the girlhood, she was a popular cheerleader and the champion of the debate team (when she had no stage fright), and the people who could do all two things at the same time were really rare.

however, the sunny childhood soon ended with a series of tragedies.

Riding a bicycle wandering around a dead alleyway near her home, her best friend died under her eyes.

"I think if you see death at the age of 16, you will inevitably feel a sense of urgency in life," she said. "I think that my life is limited. I often think about this problem, and I think it is inspiring, because your destiny may come to an end at any time."

In the same year, Blakley's parents separated. It was not long before two boys who had attended the formal dance with her were killed.

She seeks comfort through her father's Wayne Dyer speech tapes. The inspirational master's series of speech on how to break through self limits has ten tapes, all of which are remembered in Wayne Dale's mind.

The teaching of DELL's self actualization and elimination of misunderstandings impressed her deeply, so that she rushed to the principal's office and suggested that the school tape be classified as a compulsory course in Clearwater high school.

Friends are not waiting to see her change.

"Before that, everyone would rush to take me home at the end of the party," recalls brerecrey. "But no one was willing to share the car with me later. They would say," no! She will force us to listen to those broken things about encouragement! "/p.

P, 1990, when she started her career, she opened a nursery at Hilton Hotel beach in Clearwater, and spent 8 dollars on each child for a few hours to catch up with the sunbathing parents.

She had just graduated from high school and had no experience and no cardiopulmonary resuscitation training.

For three summers, she was lucky enough to escape supervision until she tried to rob customers from other hotel summer camps.

20 year old brek, wearing the first business suit bought from Casual Corner, went to discuss the matter with the general manager of Hilton Hotel, which turned out to be a question of his qualifications.

"Without exaggeration, he escorted me out of the hotel."

Blakley recalls.

After P received a degree in judicial communication from Florida State University, Blakley took the LSAT exam for the two time, trying to get into law school, but his two performance was pretty bad.

Frustrated, she drove from Clearwater to Orlando for a job in the local Disney park.

She wanted to play Goofy, but the uniform of the role required the actor to be 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 meters) tall, and she was two inches behind. The result was such a job: the World of Motion in the Carter Park was closed now, and stood on the mobile aisle for 8 hours every day to help the tourists fasten their seat belts.

"I think I didn't want to face the reality at that time, because I grew up feeling that I would become a lawyer," Blakley said. When she was a child, she liked to see her father in the court. "But it didn't work. On the first day of Disney's work, I saw snow white smoking while I was resting."

after three months of Disney's hard work, Blakley applied for another job according to an advertisement she saw on a notice board.

She spent the next 7 years at Danka, a $1 billion Florida office appliance company, but now bought by Ricoh, a Japanese printer giant.

This experience taught her the art of telemarketing.

"They gave me a checker room, a telephone directory, designated four postal districts in Clearwater, and said to me," now you sell one by one, and you need to sell a fax machine worth 20 thousand dollars in a month. "

She recalls.

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Blakley discovered that she was faced with the experience of being escorted from the office building.

"There are even people who tear away my card face to face because I am too active in marketing."

However, with her approachable charm, beautiful face and skilled debate skills, she became a national sales trainer of Danka at the age of 25.

Like P, and many other start-ups, the creation of Spanx stems from the solution to a vexing problem.

Whether in Disney or Danka, he has to wear pantyhose, but they are uncomfortable and old.

"This is Florida, the weather is so hot, and I have to move the fax machine."

She said.

Wearing toe sandals or short heels is particularly uncomfortable with panty hose feet.

But she noticed that the waist and hip design of pantyhose removed the possibility of underwear lines and made her petite look even more upright.

At that time, she bought a milky white trousers from the Arden B women's clothing store for 78 dollars and wanted to wear it to the party.

"I cut off the toe of a pantyhose and then put it under my trousers," she said. "The stocking legs rolled up all night.

I remember thinking at that time, "I have to figure out how to solve this problem."

I've never worked in fashion or retail. I just need a kind of underwear, but it doesn't exist yet.

"P", when he was 27 years old, he moved to Atlanta and took out all the savings of $5000. In the next two years, he worked hard to plan his products for Danka's nine to five job.

She spent seven nights in the library of Georgia Polytechnic University, studying all the stockings that had been patented. She also visited craft shops like Michaels to find suitable fabrics. She found a phone call from the yellow pages for stocking factories, calling each other to ask for OEM, which was rejected repeatedly.

However, many years of door-to-door marketing experience has long denied her immunity, so she decided to visit.

In the Acme-McCrary stockings factory in Ashe borough, North Carolina, she was rejected again, but two weeks later the manager called her again.

The manager said that her daughters felt that Blakley's invention should not be missed. Today, the Spanx products are manufactured in 15 countries, including Thailand, Israel and Honduras, but cotton crotch is still hand sewn in North Carolina.

in order to save $3000 in attorney fees, she bought textbooks from Bano's Barnes &Noble bookstore, wrote her own patent application, and then spent $150 to set up a company.

The name of the company also annoyed her for a while. After trying a few bad ideas, she decided to take the name of Spanks, but at the end of the moment, she changed "KS" to "X", because she read a saying: the product name created is more conducive to promoting sales.

The word "Spanx" is very interesting, "she said." it makes people laugh and never forget.

In the summer of 2000, she spent a lot of time in front of her friend's computer and worked hard to design product packaging.

She chose cherry red, and then with the help of a graphic artist, she created a golden hair cartoon model with long ponytail and named it Sunny - this is Blakley's comic portrayal.

In the autumn of the same year, Neiman Markus flew to Dallas to meet with the purchasing staff of P.

Neiman Markus, the current CEO of Karen Katz, was the chief executive of the department store in charge of all the high-end chain stores. She also remembered that Blakley had seen sales in a conference room in.

"Sara is committed to solving an ancient problem in modern ways."

Katz said.

She also adds that the obvious charm of brek and the unusual background stories are also helpful.

"We were fascinated from the very beginning."

After taking Neman, Blakley persuaded the top department stores such as DELL, Sax and Podolf Goodman to give her a chance.

when breik worked in Danka during the day and kept the sideline as a top secret, all night, she was busy ordering Spanx products into the white envelopes bought from Office Depot.

She is a gold medal customer service in 7 days and 24 hours. Even in the bathtub or bed, she never forget to answer the phone.

Her boyfriend also resigned from work, responsible for delivery and handling matters.

because of the inability to pay for advertising, brek is making up for marketing and public relations skills.

She tore the reporters' way of contact from the magazine and called them.

She volunteered for the morning staff meeting at the department store to show the salesmen why Spanx should be sold with women's clothing and footwear rather than stacked in the apparently stocking area.

If it doesn't work, she will even do it herself. Once she bought shelves from Taghit, hung some red Spanx products on shelves, and placed them near a cash register in Neman.

"All the employees thought someone else agreed to me," I did until my little action was taken by CCTV. "

She smiled and recalled.

by sending samples to Andre Walker Walker, which is responsible for Oprah Winfery for a long time, her small means ushered in the development of the business field. "Andre"

Volcker noticed that Oprah wearing Spanx underwear looked as if he had lost 10 pounds.

In November 2000, Oprah introduced Spanx to her loyal audiences in her annual favorite product show, calling it her favorite product of the year.

When Oprah's Harpo Productions called Blakley to tell him about this, he reminded her to make preparations for the company's website, because the order volume would undoubtedly increase after the broadcast, and Spanx didn't have its own website in.

"We found a colorful package and scanned it into the computer," Blakley said. "I only spent $18 a month on the operation of the considerable network business."

Two weeks before the broadcast, she quit her job in Danka.

From the first day of creation, Spanx was profitable, earning $4 million in the first year, and further increasing to second US dollars in the second year.

in the next two years, Blakley traveled around for business demonstrations, or showed up in local media.

In 2001, she signed a coveted agreement with the TV shopping channel QVC. QVC had rejected her, but a Forbes report changed them. This article entitled "Footless and Fancy-Free", published in April 2, 2001, described Blakley as "an entrepreneur created by accident" and said she reinvented the tight fitting.

Spanx high-end (wave road), low-end (QVC) two ways to walk at the same time, how effective the strategy? Women scramble for the product.

"at that time, Sara was busy displaying his hip to sell products."

Goldman said.

Her office is adjacent to Blakley, arranged like a high-end living room in the upper east side of Manhattan, with velvet furniture and Louis Weedon marked leather suitcase.

Goldman worked for Coca-Cola for ten years, and was responsible for the company's franchise in 54 countries. She joined Spanx in 2002, initially as a consultant, and later became CEO.

She was the fifth employee of Spanx, whose office was the kitchen of Blakley's apartment in dikit, but she knew that this situation would change soon.

"I want to operate Spanx like a listed company from the beginning. I think we should let Ernst & Young do auditing. They usually do not serve our small companies, but I say we will always get bigger.

Our IT department is also such a high starting point.

Goldman P started to make the company on the road of specialization. Meanwhile, Blakley discovered a public relations opportunity that he could not afford to miss.

After six rounds of audition, she successfully participated in Richard Branson's reality show "Rebel Billionaire", which was broadcast on Fawkes TV in 2004.

Her lawyers (and her father) pleaded with her not to take part, but Blakley said she wanted to meet Branson, a virgin tycoon, to learn from him.

Branson sees her actions as another sign of her desire to expose opportunities.

"She was quite successful at that time and was wisely aware that the program could help further."

He said.

Blakley handed Spanx to Goldman for three months, and she passed one challenge after another, shocked her team members and program crew.

"My role is like this: a first episode will collapse because of fear of heights, and then lose the sense of a girl."

She said.

Branson, fearless and fearless, climbed the side of the balloon which was moving 8000 feet above the height, and conquered the rope ladder equivalent to the height of 17 stories.

If she hadn't forgotten to call the Guinness Committee, this feat would make her the world record holder.

"Sara finally took the second place," Branson said. "The only reason I didn't give her the first prize was that she had been quite successful and didn't need me to help."

Instead, Branson opened a cheque for $750 thousand from her pocket and asked her to create a fund.

So far, Blakley and Spanx have donated $17 million 500 thousand to charities, mainly to help girls and women, including university scholarships in South Africa, to provide homes for single mothers and their families through Habitat for Humanity, and to allocate funds to female entrepreneurs to help them achieve success.

"P," "is my wife not beautiful?" cried Alex, in a Atlanta restaurant, and reached out to the table and touched her thigh.

He has just come from New York and plans to stay here for a day to see Blakley giving an inspiring speech to some unemployed women.

The couple had six apartments, two in Atlanta, an apartment in the upper west side of Manhattan, a summer house in Connecticut, and a house near the Breton house in California. Recently, they bought a place in Clearwater.

One of them usually has a two year old son, lazle, whose son's name comes from the great grandfather who was born in Broolyn.

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Less than six years ago, Blakley and P met the Marquis Jet company for the NetJets flight time of the business jet giant.

She has been a rapper in Losangeles for several years (the representative is "Shake It Like a White Girl"), and has written many sports songs, including the battle songs of New York, Nicks Go New York Go.

In 2006, he planned to organize a Celebrity Poker Tournament. A sales representative suggested that he invite Blakley, who was already quite successful. He had overcome the fear of flying with the financial resources of private aircraft.

She has never heard of Spanx before. She used Google to search Blakley's picture and thought, "yes, she can come and give priority to the invitation."

Although they were in love at that time, the experience made two people feel good about each other.

In 2008, they married in Florida Bocca Grande (Boca Grande), and Blakley invited the early employees of Spanx.

"There are both successful and" rogue rascals "at the wedding.

He said.

Weeks before the wedding of P L, Blakley suddenly had some panic.

She took up the two person's favorite restaurant on the west side and told him a secret that only her immediate family knew before: how rich she is.

"She said to me," I'm not sure you know exactly how successful Spanx and myself are.

Blakley told him that the company's annual revenue was no longer millions of dollars, but hundreds of millions of dollars.

As a result, she cried, "I am so happy for her."

Less than P, he is not poor.

In 2010, he sold Marquis to NetJets's Berkshire Hathaway, but the price was not disclosed.

Through his business incubation and marketing company 100 Mile Group, ezzle holds the popular coconut juice brand Zico (Coca-Cola also owns 20% shares), low calorie vodka brand Voli and "instant mouth" as the selling point of the caffeine energy buccal brand Sheets.

Investors in these projects include basketball superstar Lebron James and supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

Blakley's view of personal wealth is unique.

"I think wealth can strengthen your own characteristics."

When she said this, she was sitting behind a table with a mirror in the luxury office of Atlanta, stirring a bowl of soup bought from the takeaway. She was sleepless last night because of the flu suddenly.

"If you are a bastard, it will become a worse bastard; if you are a good person, you will get better.

It's fun to make money, spend money, and get money for charity.

The most interesting thing is: in her favorite Japanese style steak house in Atlanta, pay for all the diners, and "do good things without leaving a name"; or participate in a charity auction with ED zrer to bid for the "experience" of Paris fashion week or Sundance Film Festival.

In the first year of "P", Spanx's performance has reached a new height, and now it is preparing to expand.

Sales in the international market now account for 15% of the company's total revenue, while Goldman hopes to double the ratio in three years.

She has invested a lot of time in many Asian countries, hoping to lay the foundation for Spanx's future expansion, though the people in these countries do not seem to be as sophisticated as the westerners.

She and Blakley also plan to set up stores, start from Atlanta, and then gradually spread to the whole world.

They are pushing up the lower price sub line brand Assets and adding new categories of products, including swimsuits, sportswear and men's underwear, because consumers want to have more choices, while Yummie Tummie, Dr. Rey Shapewear, Skweez Couture and Body Wrap and other competitors are pouring into the booming body sculpting underwear market. Vitoria's Secret and Mei Dengfeng and other underwear tycoons are also unwilling to lag behind.

Spanx is often the most expensive brand on a body fitted underwear shelf, but this does not affect sales.

"If your product is good enough, then how much money do you want to sell," said Noah Urubel Wrubel, chief executive of BareNecessities.com, "as a retailer, I am not interested in price war. Anyone can make a cheaper product." (Noah)

Blakley P has the ability to make Spanx grow according to plan, but she and Goldman may start to consider going public or introducing external capital to accelerate expansion.

"From the day of entrepreneurship, people in the investment field often come into contact with us, but I have never seriously considered it," Blakley said. "Now I may really think about it. This is the first time."

When p went to Spanx shop opened in blooming DELL last spring, the elevator there often made Blakley's eyes wet.

"But I have to sell myself."

She was limping in two different shoes, saying she was greeting the salesmen and recognizing her shoppers - she had been on television for years - a close.

"5000 dollars," looking back about the history of entrepreneurship ten years ago, she said, "it's a real investment."