I'm obsessed with the customer. I am the customer. I really don't think you can go wrong if you don't take your eye off of that. Serving the customer. How does she feel? I feel like the fashion industry has cared a lot about how we look but not about how we feel.

Sara Blakely

My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn't have something, he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail.

Sara Blakely

growing-up dad birthday

Don't be intimidated by what you don't know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.

Sara Blakely

inspiring positive inspirational

Embrace what you don't know, especially in the beginning, because what you don't know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else.

Sara Blakely

business inspiring inspirational

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

Sara Blakely

attitude people thinking

The smartest thing I ever did was to hire my weakness.

Sara Blakely

weakness

You’ve got to visualize where you’re headed and be very clear about it. Take a polaroid picture of where you’re going to be in a few years.

Sara Blakely

polaroids clear years

When I was growing up, my dad would encourage my brother and I to fail. We would be sitting at the dinner table and he would ask, 'So what did you guys fail at this week?' If we didn't have something to contribute, he would be disappointed. When I did fail at something, he'd high-five me. What I didn't realize at the time was that he was completely reframing my definition of failure at a young age. To me, failure means not trying; failure isn't the outcome. If I have to look at myself in the mirror and say, 'I didn't try that because I was scared,' that is failure.

Sara Blakely

growing-up brother success

I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course.

Sara Blakely

perceive way thinking

My advice for an entrepreneur just starting out is to differentiate yourself. Why are you different? What’s important about you? Why does the customer need you?

Sara Blakely

entrepreneur important advice

Failure is not the outcome - failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail.

Sara Blakely

resilience inspiration trying

Ensure that you do things differently from everyone else

Sara Blakely

powerful-women empowering-women female

Ideas, even million-dollar ones, are most vulnerable in their infancy; don't share them with too many people. However, don't hide your plan from people who can help you move it forward.

Sara Blakely

people ideas moving

Having a mental snapshot of where you are, where you are going, and what you are moving toward is incredibly powerful.

Sara Blakely

powerful motivational moving

Instead of failure being the outcome, failure became not trying. And it forced me at a young age to want to push myself so much further out of my comfort zone.

Sara Blakely

age want trying

I made a conscious decision not to tell anyone in my life. Now I tell people - don't tell anyone your idea until you have invested enough of yourself in it that you are not going to turn back. When a person has an idea at that conception moment it is the most vulnerable - one negative comment could knock you off course.

Sara Blakely

inspirational people ideas

Most of us want to tell our coworkers or friends, or husbands or wives, our ideas. For what reason? We want validation. But I feel ideas are most vulnerable in their infancy. Out of love and concern, friends and family give all the reasons or objections on why [you] shouldn't do it. I didn't want to risk that.

Sara Blakely

validation husband ideas

I'd get kicked out of buildings all day long, people would rip up my business card in my face. It's a humbling business to be in. But I knew I could sell and I knew I wanted to sell something I had created. I cut the feet out of those pantyhose and I knew I was on to something. This was it.

Sara Blakely

rip cutting feet

Perseverance is the key to starting a successful business.

Sara Blakely

perseverance keys successful

The thought of my mortality - I think about it a lot. I find it motivating. It can be any time that your number's up.

Sara Blakely

mortality numbers thinking

With every obstacle that has happened to me in my life, my brain immediately says, ‘Where is the hidden blessing?’ In starting a business and growing a business, every day is learning how to manage obstacles.

Sara Blakely

growing blessing brain