In #GirlBoss, author Sophia Amoruso tells the story of her transformation, from high school dropout to CEO of a multi-million dollar fashion empire. Whether it's how to start a business from scratch, build a strong community, or find the right investors, Amoruso shows you what a modern woman entrepreneur needs to do.
This book is for
- Women interested in leadership and business roles;
- Anyone looking for a way to discover where their true talents lie;
- Small business owner who is looking for a more unique path to business success.
About the author
Sophia Amoruso is the founder of fashion house NasyGal, a successful e-commerce site for women's clothing, shoes and accessories.
Learn to find your passion and let it drive you towards success
Do you think that before becoming CEO Nasty Gal, the author dropped out of high school and a few years later, she spent all day rummaging through the trash, stealing, and doing mundane things to pay for her bills? bills?
Author Sophia Amoruso is truly resilient, using all of her colorful life experiences to start a successful fashion company over the past decade.
In #BossFemale, Amoruso explains how she turned her love of vintage clothing into a multi-million dollar business. You will learn how to use your creativity and entrepreneurial insights to launch and connect a great movement with young women around the world.
Through the book, you will learn:
- What does hitchhiking teach you about business;
- To be truly successful, you need to forget what school is like;
- Why working in a big bookstore can make you a big boss.
Discover your natural personality and strengths, let them guide you towards success
When you were growing up, did your parents tell you that if you fail in school, you will fail in life?
Yes, this is not true.
Some people do well in school, some don't. Either way, having a good grade is not the determining factor in whether you will achieve success in later life.
After all, there are many types of people in the world, and each person has different skills. Success means finding something you're good at and turning it into a useful skill for your career.
Once you identify your special talent, it liberates you, it helps you focus on what you like and what you are good at. In this way, you can perform to the best of your ability, and eventually, success will follow.
That is the story of Sophia Amoruso. She skillfully negotiated to buy second-hand items cheaply and resell them for a better price. This venture started out as a hobby, and when it became a craze, it challenged her to build a fashion empire of her own.
The author is simply being herself and doing what she's good at, that's what makes her successful. But she only found this path when she accepted both her strengths and her weaknesses.
Self-acceptance is extremely important – as mentioned above, everyone is different. There are extroverts and introverts, and each has a work environment that works best for them.
Extroverts thrive when they interact with others. People with this personality type are well-suited to working on Wall Street, an example of a place where you have to push, push, and scream to get to work. But this work environment can be a nightmare for introverts.
In Amoruso's case, her introverted traits were brought to life by social media. She builds an online relationship with her clients, where she can interact with people while still maintaining her own private space.
“Be yourself, because everyone else is who they are.” – Oscar Wilde
Follow a unique path, try out chores to discover what really motivates you
If you want to achieve something big, it's important to realize that no matter what your motivations are, there's no straight line to success.
And in reality, trying to follow a straight line will only limit you, as you may miss out on new things and unexpected opportunities.
Imagine an aspiring astronaut burying himself in books for years. During his first zero-gravity flight test, he discovered that he had motion sickness. Although he has spent his life cultivating his dream of becoming an astronaut, it prevents him from finding the right path that truly suits his abilities.
So, choose a more winding road knowing that you will probably have to go through many different jobs along the way. Some people disagree with this, but you will find that you yourself learn something new at every opportunity.
Despite being an anti-capitalist, Amoruso once worked at a large chain of commercial bookstores. She started off with a very bad attitude, carrying many prejudices, but it ended up being where she learned customer service skills that would be useful for her own business later on.
There are many unexpected advantages to following a unique path. In addition, an indispensable thing is failure.
Failure can happen to anyone – so fear not! Chances are, if you're not successful at something, what you're doing right now isn't fueling your inner passion.
To be successful, become an expert at what you love to do. Gather experience and try everything
When you find something you love, how do you succeed at it?
Start becoming an expert in your field, and learn everything you can. If you are pursuing a career in business, the best way to gain expertise is through experience.
For Amoruso, this meant building her business from scratch.
At the starting point, she did everything: buy clothes, pack them, and ship them to customers. What is certain is that she knows the whole business, inside and out.
And when the items do not sell, she will adjust the advertising method, through changing the text and images on her website. By adapting quickly, she accumulates a wealth of experience and knowledge about what her clients really want.
She chooses to be close to her clients, choosing models with cool looks, dressing them up in special outfits that she knows her clients will enjoy and want to emulate. In the end, customers not only responded to her products but also recommended them to others, creating a strong community.
This approach has given her business a huge advantage over similar stores on eBay, many of which use unflattering images and misleading marketing tactics. So when she switched from eBay to her own site, she still received interest from the community.
And their loyalty doesn't stop there. Her clients love Nasty Gal and they share it with their friends. This word-of-mouth marketing tactic helps Amoruso grow its customer base.
By working hard and accumulating experience, the author has developed a deep vision into what the client needs. But what really makes her successful is using all of her expertise to build a loyal and influential community.
“You won't be taken seriously by asking others to do it. You must show and possess respect. ”
Ask questions and you will get answers, be creative and break some rules, but don't break the law
No question is stupid. But there are questions that go unanswered because they were never asked.
So if you want to do something, start asking questions about it.
Think of it this way: If you don't tell people what you want, you'll never get it.
Very simple! You must voice your dreams and hopes if you want people to help you achieve them.
Amoruso learned this one day she was caught in a heavy rainstorm. Even though she didn't have a dime, she got home by holding out her thumb to catch a Greyhound bus. The driver stopped and let her go for free.
This lesson seemed to bring her a ray of light: Ask, and you will get many things.
Another important aspect of getting what you want is trusting your intuition. It means knowing which rules can be broken.
After all, to build a successful business, you need to be creative and break some rules. It is not to divide the world into black and white, but in gray.
Being flexible in your thinking will also keep you from worrying as much about what you're doing right. Instead, breaking some rules, breaking the fence and doing something new is a great idea.
However, not all rules are breakable. Amoruso learned this when she was arrested for stealing.
After paying a fine to stay out of jail, she was humiliated for what she did. She realized that the only rule that could be broken was casual with something like wearing a pair of shoes from last year to a fashion party.
So when it comes to breaking the rules, don't waste your time breaking the law, unless you feel like taking a lesson in prison.
You can't control what other people think of you, so ignore it. Think positive and focus on your goals
So we've learned that some rules are breakable, and others are not. But there is also a golden rule: Treat others as you would treat yourself.
Basically, this means that if you give positivity to the world, you will get it in return.
And what's more, by focusing on what you like rather than what you don't, you release energy that you can then pour into your passions.
Amoruso almost ignored this advice when her friend copied the entire NastyGal website and tried to get it past hers. If the author thinks about the problem a lot and gets angry about it, it may only serve to empower a competitor who has taken advantage of the opportunity to rob customers.
The authors didn't care. She wasted no time plotting revenge, instead spending time on herself and her business.
As Amoruso learned, don't worry about what other people think or do. If you spend time on the things that haunt you, you will neglect your inner innovation and creativity.
The family name is painful for the author. She is always paralyzed by fear of what others think of her. So she left school very early. Eventually, she realized that worrying about what other people thought of her was a waste of time and energy.
So focus and ignore the noise around, create your own signs. Those are the words that encode your goals. To create your own signature, jot down your goal with a word or phrase and chop, omit or combine any letters you want until you have an image that no one else can. understand.
Privacy codes can empower you to think positively about your dreams and motivate yourself.
Now that you know how to stay positive and be yourself, how do you apply these skills to your business goals? The next chapter will show you that.
Make yourself stand out by connecting your business with your passions
As children, creativity came from paint sets, crayons and paper costumes. But as adults, we learn how to solve problems creatively as well.
And when you combine creativity with work, you can make yourself stand out.
Innovative approach to business based on questioning everything; and in doing so, you create more options for your business. Accepting the status quo will only limit you.
For example, NastyGal does not pay attention to fashion standards such as the model must be thin, flat chest. The company makes a difference by using different body shapes and marketing its products to women with curves.
This approach is not just a creative option, for NastyGal it is a smart business decision that generates great revenue.
However, creative people sometimes get caught up in the imaginary aspects of their work and overlook the actual business side. It is important to balance the two.
While the author loves to think about the fonts on her website and the photos she uses to showcase her products, she also puts a lot of energy and care into attracting and retaining customers.
She always considers the shopping experience from the customer's point of view, while ensuring its aesthetic matches and is unique on the website. Through it, she connects the business side and more creativity.
Creative people can be especially effective in marketing, so think about focusing your energies here. It's a way to tap into the inner artist and develop your work.
Some people think that just because they're a stylist (or some other creative type) they can't be an entrepreneur. Thinking this way will turn everything into negativity and failure.
Find like-minded investors and colleagues to help make your dreams come true
As a trader, it is important for you to find the right teammates – employees and investors. But how?
The right teammate is someone who is honest, hard-working, and loyal.
The author learned this during the special Black Friday sale, when the warehouse manager of NastyGal left the warehouse in staggered strides.
Several staff members quickly jumped in to help. They box, fulfill orders, and make sure the whole operation runs smoothly. They went beyond the initial requirements of the job to make sure the company didn't miss a single customer order during a critical moment.
For the CEO, having such an employee is a dream come true. Knowing that you can count on your employees makes things easier.
And in the meantime, as you and your team work hard, make sure your investors are backing your efforts.
Investors are there to help you develop your dreams, not to impose on you. Like Amoruso's personal experiences, some investors can mistreat her. Eg. One potential investor asked senior executives to be male because they suspected the author, a woman, would have trouble managing money.
Narrow thinking is completely out of sync with a place like NastyGal. Especially when it was built by a woman who has never even raised a business loan.
In the end, the author found investors who understood that she was trying to create a trend, not just a website for women to waste money on.
It is important that you stick to your principles, not compromise just for financial gain. That may be an attractive thing in the short term, but in the long run it will cause big problems.
In business and in life, there is nothing cooler than confidence. Wear it with pride
Do you know how some people shine? It's all about confidence, when you feel good about your appearance, you become even better.
This is true both on a personal and corporate level. If you know that your business speaks for itself, you'll likely feel comfortable and confident going your own way.
Otherwise, you will be distracted by emerging trends in the industry.
With NastyGal, the author learned that representing a business is like a girl who can talk to anyone, including strangers. Being able to appear “cold,” not as friendly as some competitors do, is more than lacking confidence.
And as we all know, you can't buy confidence. Sure, great outfits help, but only you can show it off.
It means listening when others speak and courageously voicing your opinion.
It also means knowing when to delegate a decision to someone with more experience or expertise. Never insist that you know everything. Instead, remain confident and humble.
If you implement these suggestions, you will become more attractive to the people you meet. And it's even better if you pair it with a gorgeous dress.
“You don't have a choice between intelligence and charm. You must have both. Remember, you have to own both.”
Last words
The main message of the book is
Being a successful businessman isn't about doing well in school, it's about finding what you truly love and letting your passion guide you. So if you want to be successful, ask yourself what you want, find a way to connect with the right side of the business for you with your own creative talents. The most important thing is to be confident!
Give advice:
Make a mark, or a small word that encodes your goal
Are you losing sight of your target and need some energy to get back on track? Write down your dream in a word or phrase, then cut it out, remove a part, or combine it with whatever you want until it becomes a symbol for no one but you. understandable. Personal Code – this little thing will give you the strength to stay motivated and think positive about your dreams.
