Trade Tips: 10 Business TipsYou Won’t Learn in School

Helpful hints for public relations and marketing professionals.

By Nicole Hayes

According to Spanx creator and billionaire Sara Blakely.

• I love the Forbes article "10 Lessons I Learned From Sara Blakely That You Won't Hear in Business School" by Kathy Caprino.

• I’m sharing her nuggets of wisdom in case you missed the story.

Blakely believed in her idea of slimming hosiery when no one else would. With only $5,000 to launch her business, she forged ahead.

• I fully support the institutional learning that school books, classroom lectures and exams offer.

• However, there is great knowledge that can sometimes be obtained only through experiential learning.

Fail big.1

• Sara’s beloved father followed Wayne Dyer’s guidance in teaching his children the power of failing big.

• Focusing on failing big allowed Sara to understand that failure is not an outcome, but involves a lack of trying — not stretching yourself far enough out of your comfort zone.

Visualize.2

• Sara is a big fan of “visualizing” your big goal in specific, concrete ways.

• She saw herself clearly on the Oprah show 15 years before it happened.

• The rest was just “filling in the blanks” to get there.

Don’t share your fragile idea too soon.3

• Sara kept her idea of making fabulous undergarments for women under wraps for an entire year while working on the prototype.

• Only after she was 100 percent committed and ready to launch did she explain her new direction to friends.

• Sara explains that ideas are vulnerable, fragile things.

Don’t take no for an answer.4

Sara reached out to slews of manufacturers and lawyers to help her patent her idea and create a successful prototype before someone finally said YES.

NO!

Hire people you like and trust.5

• Sara hired a head of Product Development and a PR director who had been friends and supporters from the beginning.

• Neither knew anything about the functional areas they were hired to oversee, but Sara trusted they’d be fabulous at their new roles, andthey were.

You don’t have to go in order.6

• Sara tackled every development and marketing challenge as they arose, not necessarily in the "best" order.

• She landed a Neiman Marcus before figuring out how to mass produce “crotches” for the product.

You CAN figure it out.7

• Sara knew absolutely nothing about women’s undergarments, patenting a new product, manufacturing, marketing, product development, website development or online commerce. • But that didn’t stop her. She researched what she needed to, hired out what she couldn’t do and marched forward with undying commitment and energy.

• Don’t stop yourself from pursuing an idea because you don’t think you have what it takes.

You CAN build a billion dollar business.8

• With only $5,000, Sara embarked on designing a prototype, securing a manufacturer, naming the product, legally protecting her product and getting the word out to potential buyers.

• You don’t have to be rich to move forward with your fabulous new idea.

Don’t worry about the outer “stuff.”

• Sara didn’t have a formal website until she made it on Oprah and needed one.

• Anything that wasn’t essential to building the product and getting the name out there simply wasn’t a priority.

9

Breaking the mold is a good thing.

• When Sara began to research undergarments for women and how they’d been made for the last 50 years, she was astonished.

• Sara saw that the undergarment industry needed a female perspective — insights from a real woman to help shape the product development in a way that produced useful, effective and comfortable garments.

10

”“

Sara’s most important tip:

Believe in your idea, trust your instincts and don’t be afraid to fail. It took me two years from the time I had the idea for Spanx until the time I had a product in hand ready to sell into stores. I must have heard the word 'no' a thousand times. If you believe in your idea 100 percent, don’t let anyone stop you! Not being afraid to fail is a key part of the success of Spanx.

Sara Blakely’s story shows us what’s possible when we believe, when we’re resourceful beyond measure and when our passion and

commitment to something outside ourselves brings us to a calling.

This presentation was adapted from our Voice Matters Blog.

To learn more about McKinney & Associates, visit www.mckpr.com

McKinney & Associates was founded in 1990 with a commitment to social justice that has prevailed for more than 20 years. From the beginning,

McKinney passionately and skillfully practiced Public Relations with a Conscience for local, national and international organizations.

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