It’s with great pleasure that I announce another self-made female billionaire, Sara Blakely.
In recent blog posts, I have mentioned other female self-made billionaires, Rihanna, the singer, actress, fashion designer, and businesswoman, and Whitney Wolfe Herd the founder of Bumble.
These are women who had risen to the top by their smarts and tenacity, unlike the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates who became billionaires by marrying the right guy.
This new crop of billionaires had the support of their teams and family members, but they were the spearhead of the ventures and they made the whole operation a success, even when few people believed in them.
Sara Blakely founded Spanx Inc. in 2000 with $5,000 of her personal savings earned from selling fax machines door-to-door. Today, She just struck a deal with Blackstone Inc. that values the company at $1.2 billion.
How many of us, have to courage to dream and work on an idea, while working a full-time job, develop that idea and make it a multi-billion-dollar business. Very few of us, and that’s why I think that billionaires deserve every million they have because they have the courage and stamina that millions of people lack.
There are millions of warehouse workers, but there is only one Jeff Bezos with the vision to create an Amazon. There are millions of engineers, but there is only one Elon Musk with the vision to create SpaceX and Tesla.
This is a really important moment in time for female entrepreneurs. Sara Blakely started Spanx with no business experience, at times Sara Blakely didn’t have the money to pay the rent, sometimes, she didn’t have the money to buy a proper meal, she didn’t have an ivy league education, no connections, no capital, yet she made work for her.
Sara Blakely used bold marketing moves, during the company’s early days. She spent all her rent buying airplane tickets to showcase her products in front of possible clients. She would model her own undergarments because she didn’t have the money to pay a model. Sara Blakely was an early pioneer of shapewear, a category that is increasingly competitive. She risked everything she had and she won big.