From the Archive: Sara Blakely on Fear, Failure, and the First Big Win

What It Covers

Sara Blakely shares how she built Spanx from $5,000 savings while selling fax machines, using cold calling skills, reframing failure through her father's teachings, and creating the Belly Art Project to empower women.

Key Questions Answered

• •Reframing Failure: Blakely's father asked "what did you fail at this week" at dinner, teaching her that failure means not trying due to fear, not the outcome itself. This mindset enabled her to cold call manufacturers, stand-up comedy venues, and department store buyers without fear of rejection or embarrassment stopping her progress.
• •Cold Calling Technique: When cold calling for seven years selling fax machines door-to-door, Blakely used self-deprecation and vulnerability in the first 15-30 seconds to connect with prospects. She would say "I'm so uncomfortable right now, I know you don't want me here" which humanized the interaction and increased her success rate significantly.
• •Product Development Without Capital: Blakely started Spanx with $5,000, worked nights and weekends for two years before quitting her job, only left after landing Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue accounts, wrote her own patent, and reinvested every sale into more inventory rather than raising venture capital, maintaining 100% ownership for sixteen years.
• •Protecting Ideas in Infancy: Blakely told no friends or family about Spanx for one full year, only sharing with patent attorneys and manufacturers who could help. She avoided inviting ego into the process by not defending or explaining the idea, spending that energy pursuing it instead, which prevented well-meaning criticism from killing the concept.
• •Strategic Word Choice for Sales: Blakely used "invent" instead of "design" and emphasized "patent pending" to make Spanx more newsworthy without advertising budget. She learned from stand-up comedy that changing one word could mean the difference between audience laughter or silence, applying this precision to all business communications and product naming decisions.