Sara Blakely's $1 billion idea started with just $5,000 in savings and wanting to solve her own problem

Sara Blakely started her $1 billion Spanx empire with just $5,000: ‘They didn’t want to try what they called my crazy idea’

Transcript

00:00 I could not figure out what to wear under white pants.

00:03 And I had never taken a business class in my life.

00:05 I'd never worked in fashion or retail.

00:07 I was actually selling fax machines door to door

00:10 when I cut the feet out of control top pantyhose

00:13 because these pants hung in my closet for eight months.

00:16 And I recognized that there was a really big gap

00:18 between traditional underwear and the heavy duty girdle.

00:23 I just didn't want panty lines.

00:25 Actually, my inspiration was my own butt.

00:28 So that's where the idea came from.

00:30 I had $5,000 of savings set aside

00:33 from selling fax machines.

00:34 So that was what I used to start the company.

00:38 But when I was going door to door to the hosiery

00:41 manufacturers and really trying to pitch them the idea,

00:44 that was the toughest part of my journey

00:46 because it had never dawned on me as a consumer,

00:48 but everybody making our shapewear and hosiery were men.

00:52 I was breaking into a very commodity driven industry

00:55 where they didn't want to slow down the machines

00:57 and try my quirky idea or what they called my crazy idea,

01:01 especially when they found out I had $5,000.

01:03 And so I went from mill to mill.

01:06 And they would always ask me the same three questions.

01:08 They would say, and you are?

01:09 And I'd say, Sarah Blakely.

01:11 And they'd say, and you're with?

01:13 I'd say, Sarah Blakely.

01:15 They'd go, and you're financially backed by?

01:17 And I'd go, Sarah Blakely.

01:18 - Great.

01:19 - And they'd show me the door and say, no thank you.