Sophia Amoruso's Top 10 Rules For Success (@sophiaamoruso)

I really focused on images that were memorable and products that were memorable. To sell things online successfully, you have to create a feeling.

I really think the people piece of this business is like my greatest achievement.

The scariest people are the ones who say like, "I show up early, it's my biggest weakness." You're never failing, you're never making mistakes, you're just learning.

Yeah, I mean, I would like to grow with our customer.

I think anyone, if they're smart and resourceful, can like use the internet and use the resources that, you know, that they have or that they create for themselves.

And I'm the kind the person that's like, "Oh my God, opportunity, cool.

The book was successful, now what?" Got kicked off of eBay actually kind of serendipitously as I launched the website. People like want to keep control for too long and don't let other people do the job.

She's the founder of the women's fashion company Nasty Gal. Her company was named one of the fastest growing companies in America in 2012 according to Inc Magazine. In 2014, her book Girlboss was published by Portfolio. She's Sophia Amoruso and here are her top 10 rules for success.

So I was just like a total freak. I think the fact that I started with really memorable products that were visually compelling— I mean, I was on eBay, so I was selling things at auction. If I put something at auction for $9.99 that was really boring, like a white t-shirt that you could find anywhere, and I put another thing that took me the same amount of time and effort to buy, style, photograph, edit, describe, and put online that was like really cool and sculptural and weird vintage like avant-garde like '80s art mom stuff. And, you know, like it was something that was memorable. So I took— I really focused on images that were memorable and products that were memorable, and that was where Nasty Gal started. And even today, that's what makes, you know, for us on social, what makes anything that we do successful. So Nasty Gal is very much a feeling. It's a feeling, you know, to sell things online successfully, you have to create a feeling. So, you know, when I started selling on eBay, you know, the department stores that were online, the people who were treating their online stores as just another door and were dumping stuff on a model and cutting their head off and still are, are missing the point, like the opportunity that we have for storytelling online. And there's so much context that you can give a product within a photograph and with a description that, you know, I talk about exalting the details. So, I mean, I literally turned— I guess I like to say, and it's not really shit, but I turned shit into gold. I bought $5 things that weren't designer vintage, that were just vintage, that were stylish, that I put in the context of modern fashion and made something desirable. And I started the auctions at $9.99. Nasty Gal's not successful because I marked my prices up and tricked people into buying stuff that they were eventually dissatisfied with. They fought over it. The prices went crazy. That's how I built a cash positive, you know, cash flow positive business because I told a story through the photos. So it was, you know, the girl's always going somewhere. She has intent. So it's not just a model. We have to— it's so much work and it's not cheap to find girls who look like they're a person. But to tell a story with that photo and for someone who can't try that product on to look at it and say, "Oh my God, I can see myself wearing that," or— it's why people are interested in blogs and fashion bloggers. It's— I mean, it's the celebrity— it's the paparazzi culture at the same time. Like, people understand things that are kind of fed to them in a way that is, like, predigested, I guess, a little bit, for lack of a better word, which I always tried to do with the photography by putting it in the context of, like, a real girl. Which today is very much what we continue to try to do, and has become much more common.

What do you consider the thing you're most proud of in having built this company? Um, I think I'm proud of having built this company, um, without having any mercenary relationships, and without having to, you know, be friends with people that I don't like, or have investors who I know will help but actually, like, annoy the shit out of me, or, um, hire people because I know they'll get the job done, but shit, I hate being in the same room with them. Like, I really I really think the people piece of this business is like my greatest achievement and that I wanna be in the same room with people and that everyone is actually aligned on doing awesome shit. Beyond being a retailer, beyond creating content, or beyond buying stuff or designing stuff or shooting photos or whatever, there is really like a spirit inside the business and outside the business with the amazing customer that we have that is very unselfish. Spoken, that has somehow emerged and just works. And I feel very, very proud of that and very grateful to the people who continue to make that possible.

A girl boss is someone who, I guess, takes charge of her own life. So it's a girl boss or a guy boss. It's someone who knows their weaknesses and knows what their strengths are and knows how to play to their strengths. I think there's a lot of people out there, and I've interviewed a lot of them, who— my favorite interview question is, "Name your biggest strength and your biggest weakness, or what do you have to work on?" And the scariest people are the ones who say, like, "I show up early. It's my biggest weakness," or, like, "I work too much. It's my biggest weakness." And, you know, everybody has things that they can improve upon, and I think a world where everybody is more aware of that is a good one and a place where people can be empowered to make choices in their life rather than throw themselves into places that they may not inherently be successful because the world has sold them some story of what they should be doing. So I guess a girl boss is someone who's in choice. I think it's important that everybody, like, takes risks, and if, if it doesn't work, you don't do it again and you try something different. And in that respect, like, you're never, you're never failing. You're never making mistakes, you're just learning, and then I think you're totally winning. But Girlboss is about being the boss of your own life and not necessarily listening to the world or what the world tells you you have to have or the resources you need to be an entrepreneur or to run a business. You don't have to have the pedigree education. I dropped out of community college, you know, and if you're confident in yourself other people will believe in you as well.

Yeah, I mean, I would like to grow with our customer. You know, I think, you know, protecting the brand is really important because what's made us successful, I want to honor at every opportunity in the future. And I think it's what's going to make us successful in the future. How we do that will be different. It won't be as like haphazard or cute or, you know, whatever as it has been in the past. But I think, like, what's worked about building the business to this date, you know, in some way we have to find a way to extend into, you know, growing the business in the future. And it's important that we don't alienate our customer, you know. And that's a difficult thing, you know, in America as a corporation, you know, to continue to stay friends with our customer, which we always have been. It's a very high priority of mine, but it's really hard to control all the moving pieces of a business with, you know, close to 300 employees and buying, you know, thousands of, you know, I don't even know if it's tens of thousands or whatever SKUs, you know, throughout the year, making sure that's all right and every person who answers the phone is, you know, doing a good job and no customer feels like they're wrapped up in some really big machine, you know, and on some level, a big company, you know, that's what it is. But I think there are ways of humanizing that at every opportunity, and that's something that I'm interested in.

I think anyone, if they're smart and resourceful, can like use the internet and use the resources that, you know, that they have or that they create for themselves to do great things, whatever the magnitude of greatness is for you. You know, just because I'm on a stage or because I have a platform and wrote a book doesn't mean that your level of greatness is like any less than mine. And I think that's important for people to understand because we live in a culture where celebrities are idolized and I talk in Girlboss about being your own idol and competing with yourself. And I do my best work when I compete with myself. So yeah, that guy.

Looking back, what would you tell 22-year-old Safiya who's just started this store and you have no idea that it's gonna become what it has become, what would you tell her to sort of, yeah, I mean, what lessons would you give her? I would say focus. So I think there's, I think I enjoy having a lot of ideas, but when you have a business plan, which I never did, it forces you to say, okay, this is what we're here to do. And I'm the kind of person that's like, oh my God, opportunity, cool. The book was successful, now what? What am I gonna do with, you know, what am I gonna do with Girlboss? Like there's more people more people coming out for a paperback than there was when the book originally, you know, was published. So that means something. So cool. Is it a conference? I don't know. So that's like, that's just what I do. But when you have a team that's trying to just like accomplish the task at hand, it's like, it's not super helpful. It's probably distracting. So it's, I don't know, it's something that I don't know. Focus. Focus. No, and then yeah, just have that— what's the center of the universe? You know, for Nasty Gal, it's like we could become a content business. We could do all these things that will probably, you know, it's like just getting the job done that we have today is a challenge enough, so.

I started an eBay store when I was 22 years old selling vintage clothing out of like a hut in Walnut Creek. And whatever, it was like a one-woman show. And from there, launched NastyGal.com. Got kind of fed up with eBay a little bit. Got kicked off of eBay actually kind of serendipitously as I launched the website. So I never really had an option to go back. And from there, hired my first employee. She did the things that I didn't absolutely have to do. And then she trained the first person to do each of the individual things that she was doing, and I kept doing my thing, and now we are like 300+ people, $100 million in revenue. I mean, it's a far— it's far from eBay.

Yes.

I think it's just, you know, know what you're good at and hire around your weaknesses, and don't be afraid to trust people. Don't be, you know, check in along the way, but I think one kind of rookie mistake is that people want to keep control for too long and don't let other people do the job so that they can do a different job. I think it's really important in the beginning to do the job and know how everything is done. I mean, I can talk about shipping zones and UPS negotiations because in the beginning I did that. And I never did it to the extent that our what our VP of supply chain is doing today. But it's not something that I'm completely stupid to. So I think just having a general grasp on every part of the business is something that anyone who's starting a business should do.

That's great.

Thank you so much for watching. I made this video because Suchitra asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know which of Sophia's top 10 rules meant the most to you? Leave it in the comments. I'll join the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.