Hustle Is Only Part Of The Game
How A Self-Made Billionaire Dealt With Doubt— And You Can Too
In her 2019 Masterclass, Sara Blakely, the founder and driving force behind Spanx housing the latest innovations in shapewear for men and women, talks about why she didn’t tell her family what she was doing for almost a year.
Before starting Spanx, she sold fax machines and gathered up $5,000 of her savings to start her business.
Knowing nothing about the undergarment industry or fashion, she started to interview floor managers of manufacturing facilities and talking to the stores where women were buying. She was driven (and still is today) by purpose and passion.
Her ah-ha moment came after she went down to her local Barnes & Noble Bookstore, bought a book about patents and learned all she could until she couldn’t master the few very legal technical elements — which she then found a lawyer with a heart-of-gold to help her on discount.
She found the unmentionable part of women’s unmentionables was that men were in control over something they never had to wear. And if they did wear it, they certainly weren’t talking about it 20 years ago.
She is an expert communicator, a people connector, brave beyond measure and insanely smart.
Yet after all of that plus…after a full year of working her main job while going for her passion on the side…
…a year of research and interviews…
…late nights with fabric patterns and sketches…after countless hours of working in secret, she finally told her family what her newest endeavor was going to be.
Footless pantyhose.
The now youngest self-made female billionaire, mother of four, former door-to-door fax machines saleswoman was met with the exact reaction she expected…doubt.
What People Think Of You Is None Of Your Business
Sara Blakely knew in her bones it takes more than resilience and a thick skin to succeed. She put in the work and believed in her work.
When you have research and passion behind your words, granularity starts to set in — removing the broad strokes which are so easy for others to knock you down for.
Knowing the ins and outs of what you set out to do, and following a plan to accomplish your goals is called clarity, often overlooked nowadays in seemingly crowded markets.
Pair that clarity with action and patience for an unbreakable entrepreneur mindset.
When Sara Blakely’s husband, Jesse Itzler, talks about her in his book Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet, or in any other capacity really, you hear him talk about her eagerness to experience the world, her intellect, and her ability to sit with situations. In writing, just like in business, it’s the same: it’s not only about how thick your skin is, it’s also about how patient you are.
What would happen if you didn’t post that cute pic of you immediately on Instagram?
What if you hung on to a clever sentence for an extra 30 minutes, taking a break and coming back to it, making sure your main point or benefits to make your closing are supported by every single line?
What if you just waited for a second to sit with your decisions?
The hustle mindset is exactly that. It’s a mentality of grinding things out, always moving, always looking forward and never backward…and it’s been taken way out of context.
Persistence and grit come down to daily habits, which can range widely from reading every single day to writing down five great ideas every day…maybe it includes writing every day.
However, the ability to sit and reflect on what has worked and what has not, alongside future planning, while working toward your dream is a crucial skill requiring mastery of self.
I have not come across a small business yet who makes it to Spanx level glory while bouncing around frantically shouting out to the world every single thought they have, trying every next trend, and making decisions based on the hustle of a few versus the call of many.
But I have seen my share of them burn out.
In a room full of men and women’s underwear, the only woman in the room stood up and said…this can be done better. She hustled, daily and dutifully, for a full year in quiet patience, until she did.
The next time someone challenges your goals, dreams, or ambitions in the start-up phase, try to feel secure in your thick skin letting their comments come as simple curiosity — but have the patience to smile and say you’re working on your masterpiece.
Today’s Stats:
Days Writing: 11/60
Today’s Word Count Goal: 500
Actual Word Count: 757
Post Time: 11:10 p.m. est
Word goal from 11/1/19–12/31/19: 75,000