The author is the founder and CEO of the huge online clothing site Nasty Gal. She went from practically homeless to a millionaire businesswoman in less than 7 years and all before she was 30. Her story is 100% fascinating.
"I never intended to be a role model, but there are parts of my story, and the lessons I've learned from it, that I want to share. In the same way that for the past 7 years people have projected themselves into the looks I've sold through Nasty Gal, I want you to be able to use #GIRLBOSS to project yourself into an awesome life where you can do whatever you want. This book will teach you how to learn from your own mistakes and from other people's (like mine). It will teach you when to quit and when to ask for more. It will teach you to ask questions and take nothing at face value, to know when to follow the rules and when to rewrite them. It will help you to identify your weaknesses and to play your strengths. It will show you that there's a certain amount of irony to life. For example, I started an online business so I could work from home. . . alone. Now I speak to more people in one workday than I used to in an entire month. But I'm not complaining."
The entire thing is GOLD and I am asking you, actually beeeeegging you, to read it.
I HAVE to write down all the things I love from this book somewhere so I can remember them forever and ever, and I figured this is a good place to do it since I have no journal. And I don't know, maybe don't read the stuff below, it's not like it's going to ruin the book for you or anything, it may even get your really excited to read it (I also realize that most people have probably already read this because I'm really behind when it comes to hearing about cool things- ie: We just got Spotify last month), but if you want to read the whole thing knowing absolutely nothing STOP HERE. BUT, if you are being honest with yourself and don't think you'll ever read it, at least read these bits (ok maybe I wrote down half the book) - I promise it'll stick with you.
>> "So you want to be a #GIRLBOSS? I'm going to start by telling you two things. First: That's great! You've already taken the first step toward an awesome life by simply wanting one. Second: That's the only step that's going to be easy. See, here's the thing about being a #GIRLBOSS- it's not easy. It takes a lot of hard work to get there, and then once you arrive, it takes even more hard work to stay there. But then, who's scared of hard work? I'm not, and I'm sure you aren't either. Or, if you are, I'm sure this book will change your mind so by the end of the last chapter you'll be practically screaming, "Where is some work!?! I want some work and I want to do it now!"
>> "I tried the obvious route of hourly jobs and community college, and it just never worked for me. I'd been told for so long that the path to success was paved with a series of boxes you check off, starting with getting a degree and getting a job, and as I kept trying and failing at these, it sometimes seemed that I was destined for a life in the loser lane. But I always suspected that I was destined for, and that I was capable of, something bigger. That something turned out to be Nasty Gal, but you know what? I didn't find Nasty Gal, I created it."
>> "I'm not going to lie- it's insulting to be praised for being a woman with no college degree. But then, I'm aware that this is also to my advantage: I can just show up to a meeting and blow people away just by being my street-educated self. I, along with countless other #GIRLLBOSSes who are profiled in this book, girls who are reading this book, and the girls who are yet to become a #GIRLBOSS will do it not by whining- but by fighting. You don't get taken seriously by asking someone to take you seriously. You've got to show up and own it. If this is a man's world, who cares? I'm still really glad to be a girl in it."
>> "I think I always saw the world in a different way. My mom says that when I was five, I got a red string and ran across the playground with it trailing after me. All of the other kids asked what it was, and I told them that it was a kite. Soon everyone had red strings, and we all ran together, our kites high in the sky. If I, and this book. have anything to prove, it's that when you believe in yourself, other people will believe in you, too."
>> "I didn't know it at the time, but what I was doing here included two keys to running a successful business: knowing your customer and knowing how to get free marketing. I also responded to every single comment that anyone left on my page. It just seemed like the polite thing to do. Many companies were spending millions of dollars trying to nail social media, but I just went with my instincts and treated my customers like they were my friends. Even with no manager watching to give me a gold star, it was important to do my best. If you believe that what you're doing will have positive results, it will- even if it's not immediately obvious. When you hold yourself to the same standard in your work that you do as a friend, girlfriend, student, or otherwise, it pays off."
>> By the age of twenty-three, life felt surreal. At that moment, I was watching my eBay auctions close, totaling $2500. I was making more in a week than I'd ever had in a month at my hourly jobs. While my mother was writing me long emails imploring me to return to community college, all I had to do was look at my burgeoning bank balance to think that maybe this time she had it wrong."
>> "What I know now is that nothing is universally boring- what's boring to you could be totally engaging to someone else. If you're bored and hating it, it's a big sign that you're most likely just in the wrong place. There are some folks who just straight up hate work, no matter what kind of work it is. This book just isn't for those people. Unless you're born the child of a billionaire, work is something we all have to do. So make it something you enjoy, because bored is not a #GIRLBOSS's natural state. At all."
>> "My biggest weakness as an employee (and also as a friend) was my incurable inability to be on time. Time may be the one thing in the world I can't negotiate, no matter how hard I've tried. It plagues me to this day. Sometimes being late is unavoidable, but being repeatedly, predictably late is a wonderful way to let your boss know that you just don't care about your job. No one wants to hire, or continue to employ, someone who blatantly doesn't care."
>> "What all of my jobs taught me is that you have to be willing to tolerate some things you don't like- at least for a while. This is what my parents' generation would call 'character building', but I prefer to call it '#GIRLBOSS training'. I didn't expect to love any of these jobs, but I learned a lot because I worked hard and grew to love things about them. Admittedly, some were way below anyone's intelligence level. But no matter what, I approached them with a sense of tourism and experimentation. Rather than being tied to how it all worked out, I felt like I was just going to see where things went. When you approach everything as if it's a big, fun experiment, then it's not that big of a deal if things don't work out. If the plan changes, that can be even better. There are secret opportunities inside every failure, which I'll get into in another chapter, but start looking now- they are everywhere!"
>> "It's unfortunate that school is so often regarded as a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. And if it doesn't fit, you're treated as if there is something wrong with you; so it is you, not the system, which is failing. Now, I'm not trying to give every slacker a free pass to cut class and head straight to Burger King, but I do think we should acknowledge that school isn't for everyone. So, #GIRLBOSS, if you suck at school, don't let it kill your spirit. It does not mean that you are stupid and worthless, or that you are never going to succeed at anything. It just means that your talents lie elsewhere, so take the opportunity to seek out what you are good at, and find a place where you can flourish. Once you do, you're going to kill it."
>> "When you treat your possessions as emblems of your hard work, they inherit a meaning that transcends the objects themselves."
>> "There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no independence quite so important, as living within your means." -Calvin Coolidge
>> " Learning how to manage your money is one of the most important things you'll ever do. Being in a good spot financially can open so many doors. Being in a bad spot can slam them in your face. And being broke gets old, so start making smart decisions now to avoid paying for stupid ones later."
FAVORITE STORY >> "I was nineteen and at the mall buying a bra at Victoria's Secret because while it's possible to dumpster-dive for food and trawl the Salvation Army for clothes, even a freegan knows to invest in new underwear. At the register, the salesperson asked me if I wanted to sign up for a Victoria's Secret card and I said yes. I thought I was signing up for a rewards program, where I'd earn points toward a free bra or something. What I failed to realize at that moment was that I had unknowingly been bestowed my very first credit card. Because I moved so much, I rarely had a steady address, causing bills to miss me as I jumped from state to state. By the time my $28 lingerie charge caught up with me, my credit was wrecked, and I had learned the hard way that you can ruin your credit in one seemingly responsible afternoon, but rebuilding it takes years."
>> "When people write about Nasty Gal, the articles almost always note how I built the company with no debt, because that's a pretty unusual feat in the business world. And yes, once I finally got a job and started working for my money, I was extremely responsible with it. But what these stories usually leave out is that it wasn't by choice that I built that company debt-free. It simply wasn't an option, because no one would even give me a credit card, never mind a business loan. This was frustrating; however, it was also a blessing in disguise. As I had no financial cushion to support me while the business ramped up, I had to bust my a** and make it profitable from day one. In the end, this meant that I grew Nasty Gal to $28 million in revenue without borrowing a dime."
>> "Bills, sadly, are not an ignore-it-and-it-goes-away problem. If you've been getting an overdue notice from the cable company every two weeks for the past three months, and all of a sudden it stops coming, that does not mean they've gotten over you and moved on to someone else. Big companies are like the mob- they never forget, they never give up, and they always get their money. Get them before they get you: Pay up, and pay one time."
>> "Cash is king- it's so simple, yet so difficult for a lot of people to understand: Do not spend more money than you have. Sadly, doing that is not the norm for a lot of people, but also a signifier of success."
>> "In 2010, after Nasty Gal moved off eBay and was a full-fledged business, I had almost $1 million cash in the bank. When sales spiked around the holiday season, I kept taking screenshots every time the account balance would go up, because I never knew if I'd see more money than that in one place, at one time, ever again. I wanted to remember when that many zeros looked like, forever."
>> "Another big no-no is increasing your spending as soon as your income increases. I have always been careful to avoid this pitfall. For a long time I was so focused on growing the business that spending money on myself didn't even cross my mind. Even if I had wanted to drop $500 on a pair of shoes, I was just too busy. #GIRLBOSS, when your time spent making money is significantly greater than your time spent spending money, you will be amazed at how much you can save without really thinking about it."
>> "If you're tempted to buy something, just imagine that those new shoes were actually made out of crisp $20 bills. Do those $20 bills look good getting dirty on the sidewalks? No, they do not. That's because money looks better in the bank than on your feet."
FAVORITE STORY >> "Don't live like a CEO when you're still a sandwich artist. The first car I bought after the Volvo wasn't a Porsche- it was a used Nissan Murano. I loved this car. I put half down (around $10,000), financed the rest with an 11 percent interest rate (my first loan!) and was so excited about the horrible deal I had just gotten that I hugged the car salesman when he handed me the keys. I paid if off in full within the next year. Last year I decided it was time for an upgrade. When I went to buy the Porsche, I was ready to splurge. But me being me, I wanted to again put half down. The dealership, however, put a kind in my well-laid plans for a financially responsible splurge. They wouldn't give me a loan or lease. Who would have guessed that Porsche had stingier financing than Nissan? And, as it turned out, even though I was now running my own company and had enough money to put down a hefty deposit, my credit was still only mediocre. It was a WTF moment that drove home to me how screwy the credit system is. I was reminded again that the common way is not always the best way. Therefore, I paid cash for that Porsche. A #GIRLBOSS has gotta do what a #GIRLBOSS has gotta do. This time, when I got my keys, nobody got a hug. And no, it wasn't because I was bitter about the financing. It's that buying the Porsche, in all of it's German-engineered perfection, just wasn't as special. Nothing will ever compare to the first time I bought myself a car, because it simply can't be done again."
>> "We control our thoughts and our thoughts control our lives. This is an extremely simple, totally straightforward concept, but for a lot of people, it's so alien that it might as well be magic."
>> "Each time you make a good decision or do something nice or take care of yourself; each time you show up to work and work hard and do your best at everything you can do, you're planting seeds for a life that you only hope will grow beyond your wildest dreams. Take care of the little things- even the little things that you hate- and treat them as promises to your own future. Soon you'll see that fortune favors the bold who get sh*t done."
>> "It all goes back to the read string of my imaginary kite- if you believe something, other people will believe it, too. You can't convince someone else- whether it's a potential employers, a loan officer at the car dealership, or someone you've been crushing on- that you're amazing and terrific if you don't actually think you are. This isn't the false confidence that comes from getting a bunch of "likes" on your Instagram selfies, but a deep-down, unshakeable self-confidence that persists even when things aren't going all that great."
>> "While I truly believe that you must have intentions to fulfill your dreams, I also think you have to leave room for the universe to have its way and play around a big. Don't get so focused on one particular opportunity that you're blind to other ones that come up. If you think about one thing, and talk about it all the time, you're being too obsessive. You might ruin it. If you let yourself meander a bit, then the right things and the right people fall into place. Some things are worth fighting for- don't get me wrong, I'm definitely a fighter- but I really think that what is right should be easy. My dad has always said that the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and it's so true. If something's not working out, but you keep hammering at it in the exact same way, go after something else for a while. That's not giving up, that's just letting the universe have its way."
>> "I also think you can end up ignoring, and even losing, the positive things in your life by focusing too much on the negative. That's a huge drain, as well as a waste of time. When you think about people, you give them power."
>> "I decided then that I don't want to spend time thinking about things that I don't want to have a place in my life. You have to kick someone out of your head as forcefully as you'd kick someone out of your house if you didn't want them to be there. Naturally, every boyfriend comes with an ex-girlfriend, every business comes with competitors, but it is entirely up to you to decide how much time you spend thinking about them. Frankly, even if that girl your boyfriend used to make out with suddenly gets hit by a car (like you're secretly hoping she will), who cares? You're still you. The same goes for business: There's no karmic law that dictates your business will succeed if others fail, so why not just wish them well and get on with it?"
>> "Focus on the positive things in your life and you'll be shocked at how many more positive things start happening. But before you start to think you just got lucky, remember that it's magic, and you made it yourself."
>> "No matter where you are in life, you'll save a lot of time by not worrying too much about what other people think about you. The earlier in your life that you can learn that, the earlier the rest of it will be. You is who you is, so get used to it."
>> "I didn't know anybody to turn to for business advice, and because of this, people ask me all the time how I figured it out. Well, I figured it out by doing what I think is one of the best strategies for learning anything anywhere: I Googled it. There is a whole wide world of free education out there for anyone who wishes to take advantage of it. Granted, a book might cost you $13, but that's pennies compared with college tuition. When I needed to know what kinds of shelving to buy for the warefouse, I Google-image searched 'warehouse shelving' and spent an afternoon looking at pictures of shelves until I figured out which ones would be best for our needs."
>> "All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA." -Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn
>> "What are the chances? That's a good question. More than a half-million new businesses are started per month in the United States alone, but 80% of them will fail within the first year and a half. So what are the chances that mine would still be alive and thriving seven years later? ... I have a tattoo that reads "1%"... It's a reminder of how unlikely it was that I'd ever find myself seated in the corner office."
>> "In a 2011 Ted Talk in San Francisco, author and speaker Mel Robbins talked about how the chances that you are you are about 1 in 400 trillion. (Yes, that's a four hundred followed by twelve zeros.) This takes into account the change of your parents meeting out of all the people on the planet, the chance of them reproducing, the change of you being born at the exact moment that you were, and every other wildly improbable factor that goes into each individual person. The whole point of her crazy calculation was that we should take the sheer improbability of our own existence as a kick in the butt to get out of bed in the morning. If you hear this fact as discouraging- that you're only one in billions- then flip the script. You are one in billions! Someone has to succeed, so it might as well be you."
>> " I didn't stick around high school long enough to be voted "Most Likely to" anything, especially since my Subway polo, Dickies, and I looked about as far away from Most Likely to Succeed as you could possibly get. Anyone looking for a sure bet, in business or in life, would have never put their money on me. But that didn't dissuade me from betting on myself. In the end I beat the odds. Now, whenever I'm faced with improbably situations, I remind myself that if I really want something badly enough, I have it within myself to make it happen."
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Wow! So inspirational. Thanks for sharing. Now I'm gonna have to buy this book!
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