Tory Burch's Top 10 Rules For Success (@toryburch )

Believe in what you're going to do and don't read anything that's negative. I find that whenever I don't follow my instinct, that's when things can go wrong. And I really felt that number one, we found a spot in New York that was budget-friendly.

It's never easy to find a great team, although a team makes all the difference.

It's really about just figuring out the balance. I'm actually a very shy person, so to do PR and be shy is a challenge.

With social media, transparency is super important and being authentic.

Every decision we make is thinking about how it will affect our company 5 and 10 years from now. Even if you don't start out in the perfect job, whatever you do is going to shape and enrich your perspective.

Timing, perseverance, and 10 years of really hard work will eventually make you look like an overnight success.

She's an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She's the chairman, CEO, and designer of Tory Burch LLC. She has an estimated net worth of $1 billion. She's Tory Burch, and here are her top 10 rules for success.

When I started the company, my parents said, thicken your skin. This is gonna be, if it takes off, it's gonna be hard at times, and you're gonna have to listen, or not listen to the negativity, and think of it as noise, and really just Believe in what you're going to do, and don't read anything that's negative, and just believe in yourself.

How do you know, specifically for your company, when it's right to enter a market? How do you personally make that decision?

Well, I think it's right when you're right. And I think that it's— when I talk to entrepreneurs, I always say, when you enter the market, Make sure you have a unique concept and idea. And I always look at the market, and if you're missing something, that's a pretty good judge of it. And I think it's about instinct, and I find that whenever I don't follow my instinct, that's when things can go wrong. But I think it's— listen, when 2011 happened, I knew that wasn't the right time. So I think you have to really have a very focused business plan. And you have to really believe in it and be passionate about it. But I think there's never really a wrong time. It's all about you and what you're ready for.

Opening a store on your first day that you launch a brand is a huge risk. Why did you choose to start that way?

Well, I was warned against it over and over again. And I really felt that number one, we found a spot in New York that was budget friendly. And it was basically— it was very little money. And we felt, or I felt, that I wanted to create an environment. And retail at the time was minimalist. It was very stark and clean. And we thought it would be interesting to be inspired by David— I was very inspired by David Hicks in the beginning. And this idea of coming into a welcoming and warm environment, having couches for boyfriends or husbands or children, and making it accessible and friendly, but also interesting. And so it was a way to show who we were immediately when you walked in. And it was everything. We launched with, I think, 12 categories, which also people thought was was ridiculous. And it was a lot of going to China. I set up an office from the beginning and convincing factories to work with us and taking a shot on us because making 20 and 50 pieces of something was essentially losing money for them. So when we ended up getting that done, the store was the best place to really house that and show it and speak to our customer.

You know, I would say it's never easy to find a great team, although a team makes all the difference. I've never been one— I guess I've always been one to look for people that I think are more talented than me, and I've never been one to be scared of that. And I think that's a very good thing to remember as you start to work, because if you surround yourself with stellar people, it just makes things possible. And that's what I've done. My whole career, I've surrounded myself with people that I think are brilliant.

Well, I always sort of— test my boys and say, okay, I can be a stay-at-home mom, what do you think? They're like, no, no, no, we don't want that. So I think that's kind of funny in a way, but I think my boys know they're my first priority, and I think it's about how being a mother to me is the gift of the world to me, but also being able to have a company like this as well. So I think it's really about just figuring out the balance, and it's always going to be a balance. In my opinion, having it all and what all these people are talking about now is a very individual question. I don't think that having it all means everything to the same person, so you have to figure out what having it all is for you. I certainly had to give certain things up, things that I didn't mind giving up, but my family and my work came first, and that sort of Finding that balance. But I also looked at PR differently when I was doing PR because I was— I'm actually a very shy person, so to do PR and be shy is a challenge. So I had to think creatively. It really, on some levels, is what has helped build our business— PR, marketing, and social media. We've never advertised. We didn't have the budget, but we've never advertised until our first ad this month— or the last month with Estée Lauder, but I think it's really about nuance and that was what I learned is sort of how to create a story and embrace storytelling. We were talking about it a little earlier and I think story, there is a class that I was just telling Imran about, the power of storytelling at Stanford, and it's extraordinary when you look at business and the way story has really affected and help build businesses. And really, that's where PR comes in and marketing and social media now, the last 6 or so years.

I think you might agree that we learn more from our failures than our successes.

Okay.

Well, there's been so many challenges that we've had. And I think, I think, you know, one thing I talk to my team a lot about is During those challenges, you have to really be a leader, and you have to lead with conviction. So the toughest times, which I've been through many, I mean, I can just say one time we were changing systems and we didn't back up anything properly. It was maybe 6 years ago. It was a huge mistake. So it was when social media was really taking off. We were just starting Twitter and everything. But it was maybe a 6-month problem. And we had to make the decision to be authentic and really talk about it with our customer, or not. And the great thing is, with social media, transparency is super important and being authentic. And just in general, that's how our company's set up. But to have— so we decided to do that. It took us maybe 8 months to get out of a really bad place of going to New Jersey, packing up boxes ourselves. Everyone on our team— I'm sure some people over there including myself, on Sunday nights at 2 in the morning would be packing and shipping boxes. And we had no visibility, so that was a perfect, but that said, we learned from it. We now have really good systems going in, working with SAP, which is a lot of fun. And so there's been so many, but I think it's really learning from the problems and mistakes is really the telling part, is how you go forward.

How do you, A, manage that kind of growth, A, do it in a way that still kind of keeps your brand interesting so it's not ubiquitous.

Yeah, and that's when you think of the 111 stores, it's in 55 countries. So really, that's— I think we're very careful about being everywhere, and that's really important. And I think we are interested in really having an authentic relationship with our customer. And it's never about just growth for growth's sake. We always look at who's buying e-commerce and where they're from. We look at who's in our stores, who's in our Miami stores. That's why we started to open stores in Brazil, is that we start to really feel when there's a need in different countries. And that's where we are. We just recently signed Paris, which is really exciting. And as an American designer, We wanted to treat Paris very carefully because you don't want to just go in with a big opening. And we wanted to learn the market and see what would resonate there. So each place we go, we want to be respectful. We want to learn the cultures and see, really understand the women that are there. And the Middle East is a great market for us. And so I'm not sure if I'm answering your question, but I think it's very strategic growth. It's obviously been so enormous, but it really has been restrained. We could be much bigger, and we're not interested. We're very careful about where we open and adjacencies, and we really want to protect the integrity of the brand. Every decision we make is thinking about how it will affect our company 5 and 10 years from now. Even if you don't start out in the perfect job, Whatever you do is going to shape and enrich your perspective. Pay attention and be open to the experience, and you will always take something away from it. And that is something that each job that I had was a building block to finding my passion.

Being an entrepreneur isn't just a job title. It isn't just about starting a company. It's about a state of mind. It's about seeing connections others can't. Seizing opportunities others won't, and forging new directions that others haven't. It's about being entrepreneurial wherever you are and in whatever you do. It's about having the courage to give into a passion for an idea that makes your heart race. And if it doesn't scare you, the idea isn't big enough. Here's what I've learned: we may live in an age of instant messaging, instant gratification, and Instagram. But there is no way to short-circuit the path to success. It takes hard work, tenacity, and a lot of patience. There are many things you can do overnight. You can write a decent paper, you can put finishing touches on a fashion show.

I hear you can even have a pretty good time at Rogers Pub.

But there is no such thing as an overnight success. It is a myth that glosses over what being an entrepreneur is all about. As Biz Stone, one of the founders of Twitter, has put it, "Timing, perseverance, and 10 years of really hard work will eventually make you look like an overnight success." Thank you so much for watching.

I made this video because Jovana Milanović 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 the top 10 rules, which of the clips hit you the hardest, is gonna have the biggest impact on you. Leave it in the comments below and I'll join in the discussion. And my personal goal on the channel is to get to 1 million subscribers, so anything you can think of to share the video, tell friends about it, tweet it out, I'd really deeply appreciate it. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.