397 Sara Blakely: SPANX CEO on Writing Your Billion Dollar Story

"What you don't know can be your greatest asset if you let it." - Sara Blakely If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/397 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is episode number 397 with Sarah Blakely, the founder and CEO of Spanx.

• 0:08Speaker 00

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:34Speaker 00

  Welcome everyone to a special edition of the School of Greatness podcast. We are so pumped to have Sarah Blakely in the house. Now, for those that don't know who she is, she is the founder and CEO of the intimate apparel company, Spanx. And in 2012, she was named in Time Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential People in the World list. And as of 2014, she is listed as the 93rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. She was also named the youngest self-made female billionaire in America. She has an incredible story. She was a door-to-door salesman, selling fax machines for years,

• 1:19Speaker 00

  until she decided to change the story of her life. She decided to take action on an idea she had. Yes, it was scary. Yes, she had no clue what she was going to do, but she made it work. And she shares this story throughout this entire interview, and I'm so glad she shared openly. We had an incredible time. She's also married to another guest that I've had on, Jesse Itzler, and they've been married since 2008 and have four kids together. And one of the things that I asked Sarah about her life and her experience was, how do you balance all of this? How do you balance four kids, having this incredible business, having all these obligations? How do you do it? She shares that answer. Also, what she learned from being mentored by Richard Branson early on.

• 2:05Speaker 00

  The hardest part about getting her company off the ground in the early days?

• 2:10Lewis Howes?

  Also how Sarah Gorilla marketed her first order of Spanx in Nevin Marcus. It's an incredible story about how she actually got her first orders placed in stores. We also talk about why being kind to yourself is so important. Again, with all the different obligations, how do you stay on top of it? And also stay kind to yourself. We cover all this and so much more in this episode, and I'm so pumped and excited to bring on Sarah. Make sure to share this out with your friends right now. LewisHowes.com/397. Share it on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on LinkedIn, anywhere you can. And watch the full video interview over at youtube.com/lewishouse as well.

• 2:53Lewis Howes?

  Now, without further ado, let me introduce to you the one, the only Sarah Blakely.

• 3:03Lewis Howes?

  All right, well, welcome everyone back to the School of Greatness Podcast. We have a living legend in the house, Sarah Blakely. Thank you so much for being here.

• 3:11Sara Blakely?

  Absolutely.

• 3:12Lewis Howes?

  I really appreciate it.

• 3:13Sara Blakely?

  I'm so excited to be here.

• 3:14Lewis Howes?

  I'm so pumped.

• 3:14Sara Blakely?

  I feel like I should take your order.

• 3:16Lewis Howes?

  Take my order.

• 3:17Sara Blakely?

  A side of fries with that.

• 3:18Lewis Howes?

  I always want a milkshake, so.

• 3:20Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, chocolate.

• 3:21Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh, vanilla chocolate, whatever.

• 3:23Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, whatever.

• 3:24Lewis Howes?

  I am down. I'm so glad you're here. It wasn't even six months ago when your husband was sitting right there.

• 3:30Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 3:30Lewis Howes?

  And we got to have a good conversation. He said amazing things about you. And I was like, you know, one day I want to have her on as well. And luckily you have the book, you're here.

• 3:38Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 3:39Lewis Howes?

  And we were able to make it happen. You're incredible. Publicist is so amazing, so beautiful, who's just on top of everything. Set it up for me. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for, for making this happen. And it's so good to connect.

• 3:55Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, thanks.

• 3:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and you are the, the founder of Spanx, which has blown up. It's like one of the biggest companies in the world, it seems like now, right? And you're.

• 4:04Sara Blakely?

  There's a lot of butts.

• 4:05Lewis Howes?

  Right?

• 4:06Sara Blakely?

  There's a lot of butts out there.

• 4:07Lewis Howes?

  And I know you've shared how it all started, but for those that don't know, Spanx, can you share how it all started? So we have an understanding of what it is and how you got into it.

• 4:16Sara Blakely?

  Absolutely. It actually started with my own butt because I couldn't figure out what to wear under white pants. And I'm sure you've had this problem when you're getting dressed.

• 4:25Lewis Howes?

  All the time.

• 4:26Sara Blakely?

  So what ended up happening was there was, you know, our undergarment options were no good. There was underwear that left a panty line. And then there was the girdle that was way too thick and heavy. And so then they came out with the thong, which just put underwear exactly where we've been trying to get it out of.

• 4:42Lewis Howes?

  Wedgie.

• 4:43Sara Blakely?

  And so Spanx was born out of just being a frustrated consumer. I wanted to wear my clothes. I wanted a smooth canvas. I didn't want to see lines or any kind of things going on underneath. So by taking the hosiery material, which was meant to be seen on the leg until Spanx sort of looked at it with a different lens and said, no, no, no, I want the hosiery material to actually be what I create the undergarment out of. And it was wild trying to convince the hosiery manufacturers to help me make this product with that in mind. Because for so many years, they'd been using the material to be seen on the leg.

• 5:19Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 5:20Sara Blakely?

  I said, no, it's just, it's the perfect material to create the perfect canvas for women under our clothes. And it opened up my wardrobe. It opened up so many other women's wardrobe. We could start wearing colors we didn't feel comfortable wearing. And the models get airbrushed. We get Spanx.

• 5:34Lewis Howes?

  There you go. There you go. I love it. And when was this? What year was this?

• 5:39Sara Blakely?

  This was in, well, I cut the feet out of my pantyhose in 1998.

• 5:44Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 5:45Sara Blakely?

  Yes. I was 27.

• 5:46Lewis Howes?

  18 years ago? Am I doing my math right?

• 5:48Sara Blakely?

  Yes. I was 27. And then I spent the next two years getting it made. I worked at night and on the weekends on the idea while I was selling fax machines door to door. And then the company was launched in 2000 when I was 29.

• 6:02Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 6:03Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 6:04Lewis Howes?

  Selling fax machines door to door. Where were you living?

• 6:06Sara Blakely?

  In Clearwater, Florida.

• 6:08Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 6:09Sara Blakely?

  Where I grew up.

• 6:10Lewis Howes?

  Fax machines.

• 6:11Sara Blakely?

  On Clearwater Beach.

• 6:12Lewis Howes?

  Are there even fax machines anymore around?

• 6:13Sara Blakely?

  No. I mean, thank God, I'm not still doing that. I don't know what would have happened. There are no more fax machines.

• 6:18Lewis Howes?

  Just like no one watches the movie Airplane anymore?

• 6:20Sara Blakely?

  I cannot believe, I need to know, is he the only one on the planet who's not seeing the movie Airplane? I was quoting Airplane, as soon as I put the headset on, I'm like, Stryker, you're too low. You're too low. And you just stared at me like, what is she talking about? That's it, guys.

• 6:35Lewis Howes?

  So, how long were you selling the fax machines?

• 6:37Sara Blakely?

  I sold the fax machines door to door for seven years.

• 6:40Lewis Howes?

  Seven years?

• 6:40Sara Blakely?

  Yes, I know. And before that, I wanted to be a lawyer, but I failed the LSAT, not once, but twice. And

• 6:48Lewis Howes?

  You wanted to be a lawyer, that was your dream?

• 6:49Sara Blakely?

  I wanted to be a lawyer. I was like, I'm gonna be a lawyer. My dad was a trial attorney. I used to watch him in court when I was a little girl. And I'm a terrible test taker. And so

• 6:58Lewis Howes?

  I am the worst.

• 6:59Sara Blakely?

  Are you the worst test taker?

• 7:00Lewis Howes?

  I was in the bottom four of my grade, my class, all through high school, because I could not take tests. And I always felt like the dumbest kid in the world.

• 7:09Sara Blakely?

  Isn't that, doesn't that suck?

• 7:10Lewis Howes?

  I mean, it's It was like the most insecure feeling.

• 7:13Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 7:14Lewis Howes?

  And we ranked, we had rankings on our grade cards. So I knew exactly how dumb I was.

• 7:18Sara Blakely?

  Oh, no.

• 7:19Lewis Howes?

  Always in the bottom four, I was miserable.

• 7:21Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 7:21Lewis Howes?

  Test taking, why is this so hard, test taking?

• 7:23Sara Blakely?

  I don't know. I have trouble reading and comprehending.

• 7:26Lewis Howes?

  Me too.

• 7:26Sara Blakely?

  I really do.

• 7:27Lewis Howes?

  I

• 7:28Sara Blakely?

  Like, I, those SRAs, are you too young for SRAs?

• 7:31Lewis Howes?

  What's SRAs stand for?

• 7:32Sara Blakely?

  Forget it. Oh, my gosh. I don't know. But everybody in school, I used to have to take the SRAs. And I would read the paragraph and be, I remember vividly reading it, and halfway through, I'd be like, remember what I'm reading, remember what I'm reading, remember what I'm reading. And I looked at those four questions at the bottom and be like, I don't know what I read. So I'd go back up and start over again.

• 7:51Lewis Howes?

  You're speaking, this is my life.

• 7:53Sara Blakely?

  Really?

• 7:53Lewis Howes?

  And I would just like, make stuff up constantly. Whenever I had to comprehend, I would just read the same page over and over, and I'd be daydreaming so much that I couldn't remember it as well.

• 8:02Sara Blakely?

  I either made stuff up, or I sat next to Christina.

• 8:05Lewis Howes?

  And just cheated?

• 8:05Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, she was so smart.

• 8:07Lewis Howes?

  I was the king.

• 8:07Sara Blakely?

  My best friend growing up. She ended up going to Dartmouth, and was like valedictorian or something. I'm like, I'll just sit next to Christina.

• 8:13Lewis Howes?

  Did you have Scantrons? Do you remember that? No, I'm a

• 8:17Sara Blakely?

  You're a little bit

• 8:19Sara Blakely?

  We were doing things with a number two pencil and bubbles.

• 8:22Lewis Howes?

  I did that too, yes.

• 8:23Sara Blakely?

  It's a Scantron.

• 8:24Lewis Howes?

  The Scantron is like multiple choice. It's like a long sheet with a multiple choice, all multiple choice. Did you have that? Multiple choice, we had to fill in the bubbles?

• 8:32Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 8:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, okay, that's Scantron.

• 8:34Sara Blakely?

  And when you skipped a bubble? And then time's almost out and you realize you've just done all the wrong bubbles on the whole page? And you're like, no!

• 8:43Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, but I'm on the same page.

• 8:44Sara Blakely?

  You're bringing up a lot of, I'm remembering all this.

• 8:46Lewis Howes?

  I used to cheat because I couldn't comprehend, so I would have incredible vision. I would be like this, but I could see through and like see all this.

• 8:54Sara Blakely?

  You would sit like that, that's a dead giveaway. Like any kid in the class like this, just you knew that they were cheating.

• 9:00Lewis Howes?

  No one ever caught me, so.

• 9:01Sara Blakely?

  All right.

• 9:02Lewis Howes?

  It's how I got through school was cheating. I could not have made it through class without it.

• 9:06Sara Blakely?

  Christina.

• 9:07Lewis Howes?

  You had your girl, that's hilarious. So you were a cheater as well.

• 9:10Sara Blakely?

  Well, I'm just saying Christina sat next to me, okay?

• 9:12Lewis Howes?

  You were an innovator.

• 9:14Sara Blakely?

  I was being resourceful.

• 9:16Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, I like it.

• 9:17Sara Blakely?

  I was being really resourceful, but.

• 9:19Lewis Howes?

  So you wanted to be a lawyer, but it didn't work out?

• 9:20Sara Blakely?

  I wanted to be a lawyer, I filled the LSAT, not once, twice. So then instead of going to law school, I drove to Disney World and tried out to be goofy. But you have to be 5'8".

• 9:29Lewis Howes?

  And you're 5'6".

• 9:29Sara Blakely?

  And I'm 5'6".

• 9:30Lewis Howes?

  So you didn't wear heels?

• 9:32Sara Blakely?

  No, I didn't wear heels. I didn't wear heels, and so I was the height of a chipmunk.

• 9:38Lewis Howes?

  So you got the chipmunk?

• 9:39Sara Blakely?

  I got the chipmunk part, but I didn't end up doing it. I put people on rides in a brown polyester spacesuit at the World of Motion and Horizons at Apcot.

• 9:48Lewis Howes?

  Apcot Center.

• 9:49Sara Blakely?

  And I would see people that I hadn't seen in a while and.

• 9:52Lewis Howes?

  Come through?

• 9:52Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, I'm walking on the movie sidewalk, putting people on rides, and they'd go, hey, Blakely, is that you? Didn't you graduate from college? And my big Mickey Mouse ears said Sarah Blakely, and I'd be like, yes, get on the ride.

• 10:03Lewis Howes?

  Oh my gosh.

• 10:04Sara Blakely?

  But that's what I did, and then I sold fax machines door to door for seven years. Seven years.

• 10:08Lewis Howes?

  Did you wake up every morning and say, this is my dream to sell fax machines door to door? Were you thinking?

• 10:14Sara Blakely?

  No.

• 10:14Lewis Howes?

  What am I doing in my life?

• 10:16Sara Blakely?

  Exactly, so what happened was, a lot of people think that Spanx started when I cut the feet out of my pantyhose, but actually it started long before that. It started when I was selling fax machines door to door and getting my car, business card ripped up in my face, being escorted out of buildings all day, every day, that I woke up one day and just thought. I'm in the wrong movie. Like, how did this happen? This is not my life.

• 10:37Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 10:37Sara Blakely?

  Cut scene, director, like, call the producer. And I got out a piece of paper and I wrote down, what am I good at? And the only thing in the good column was sales. And I thought, okay, what am I gonna do with that? And I ended up writing in my journal, I'm going to invent a product and sell it to millions of people that will make them feel good. And then I asked the universe for an idea. And I was very specific. And it took two years. And I only cut the feet out of my pantyhose one time. And I was not gonna squander any idea the universe gave me because I had really asked for it. And then the minute I cut the feet out, I started trying to make it. I started looking up manufacturers on the internet.

• 11:17Lewis Howes?

  This was before Alibaba, wasn't it?

• 11:19Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 11:20Lewis Howes?

  Because I had done this, I did this about eight years ago and I used Alibaba for something and it was easy to find like a manufacturer in China and

• 11:26Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 11:26Lewis Howes?

  test different things. But how did you find a manufacturer at that time?

• 11:29Sara Blakely?

  A website called thomasregistry.com. And it lists all the manufacturers in the country based on category. And that's when I found out that a lot of hosiery and undergarments were being made in North Carolina.

• 11:41Lewis Howes?

  Oh, really?

• 11:42Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 11:42Lewis Howes?

  Oh, so you got a local?

• 11:43Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 11:43Lewis Howes?

  I mean, US, yeah.

• 11:44Sara Blakely?

  So I called and called and no one would take my call and they'd either hang up on me or say they weren't interested. So I took a week off of work and drove around in person.

• 11:54Lewis Howes?

  And just showed up and said,

• 11:56Sara Blakely?

  I just showed up.

• 11:56Lewis Howes?

  Hey, I wanna create a sample.

• 11:58Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 11:58Lewis Howes?

  Because if they weren't gonna get a big order for something, they're probably like, what's, I gotta do a little sample for you.

• 12:03Sara Blakely?

  Right.

• 12:03Lewis Howes?

  Right, yeah.

• 12:04Sara Blakely?

  I showed up with my lucky red backpack from college, always with me.

• 12:07Lewis Howes?

  You still have it?

• 12:08Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, of course. And

• 12:10Lewis Howes?

  You didn't bring it here. Come on.

• 12:12Sara Blakely?

  It's with me, it's with me in LA.

• 12:14Lewis Howes?

  Is it?

• 12:14Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 12:14Lewis Howes?

  Oh, wow.

• 12:15Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. So, um, anyway, I went into the manufacturing plants and they asked me the same three questions. And you are, let's say, Sarah Blakely? And you're with?

• 12:25Lewis Howes?

  Uh, myself.

• 12:26Sara Blakely?

  Sarah Blakely? And you're financially backed by? And I was like, Sarah Blakely? So you can imagine how those went. It was like, well, have a nice day, honey, and good luck. And, um, about, you know, a few weeks after I made all those rounds, I got a call from a guy in North Carolina who had took pity on me and said, Sarah, I've decided to make your crazy idea. I'm gonna ask him why I had the change of heart. He said, I have three daughters. Yeah, so he ran the idea by them and they're like, Dad, that sounds interesting. You gotta give that girl a chance.

• 12:58Lewis Howes?

  Amazing. So he called you back. You didn't follow up with these people?

• 13:01Sara Blakely?

  Oh, yeah, I was following up, but to no avail.

• 13:03Lewis Howes?

  But he followed up and said, we'll give it a shot. We'll make this. So what was the next step? Was he just making a sample for you or testing different models or sizes or?

• 13:12Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, so it just set up to make the garment. While I was making it with his manufacturing plant, I was also wanting to patent the idea and I was also trying to come up with the name for the invention. So I was doing those three things simultaneously, driving up on the weekends and working with Ted in the back of the manufacturing plant that I'd become very close with.

• 13:34Lewis Howes?

  Driving to North Carolina from Florida.

• 13:36Sara Blakely?

  No, from Atlanta. I was living in Atlanta at the time.

• 13:38Lewis Howes?

  What's that about? Eight hour drive, six hour drive?

• 13:40Sara Blakely?

  About four and a half, five. Yeah, it's not bad. And so, anyway, Ted, Ted became my buddy and I went to get it patented, but all the patent lawyers wanted between three and $5,000 and I had $5,000 set aside to do this.

• 13:55Lewis Howes?

  That's it, yeah.

• 13:56Sara Blakely?

  So I wrote my own patent. I went to Barnes and Noble.

• 13:59Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 14:00Sara Blakely?

  And I bought a book called Patents and Trademarks and I wrote the patent and then I called one of the patent lawyers that was the nicest to me and said, please, please, please, will you write the claims over the weekend for a discounted price? I've done all the other rest of the patent.

• 14:14Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, the legwork you'd done. You just kind of needed to button it up and sign it off.

• 14:19Sara Blakely?

  The legal part. And so he did. He actually admitted to me that when I came to visit him, he thought I'd been sent by Candid Camera. Which, let me put it in your words.

• 14:27Lewis Howes?

  I know Candid Camera. I know.

• 14:28Sara Blakely?

  He thought he was being punked.

• 14:29Lewis Howes?

  Of course, of course. Wow.

• 14:32Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, he thought he was being punked, okay? And he thought.

• 14:36Lewis Howes?

  Where's Ashton? Where's Ashton?

• 14:37Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, exactly. He thought that his friends were playing a joke on him.

• 14:42Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 14:42Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, he goes.

• 14:43Lewis Howes?

  Who's this girl?

• 14:44Sara Blakely?

  Sarah, I mean, like, you're not the typical person who walks in the door saying, I've got a product and I want to patent it. So anyway, he did that. Then at the same time, I'm trying to think of the name. I had horrible names written on scrap pieces of paper all over the place in my apartment, in my car, in rental cars on the back of like Avis agreements. And you want to hear how bad the runner-up name to Spanx was?

• 15:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 15:06Sara Blakely?

  Open Toad Delilah's.

• 15:07Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 15:08Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 15:08Lewis Howes?

  I cannot believe that was even an option.

• 15:10Sara Blakely?

  It was, it was a runner up. Like, how bad is that?

• 15:12Lewis Howes?

  Open Toad Delilah's?

• 15:14Sara Blakely?

  I so wouldn't be sitting here with you right now if I named it that.

• 15:17Lewis Howes?

  That is the horrible, yeah.

• 15:18Sara Blakely?

  It's so bad.

• 15:19Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 15:20Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. So anyway, okay.

• 15:21Lewis Howes?

  What does Spanx stand for?

• 15:23Sara Blakely?

  Well, it's all about the butt. It makes your mind wander a little bit. Nobody ever forgets it. I had no money to advertise. It was risky. It was fun. At the time, listen, now it's become a household name. But when I first invented it, I would call people and say, hi, I'm Sarah from Spanx, and they would hang up.

• 15:37Lewis Howes?

  Right. Cause I thought it was probably like a porn.

• 15:38Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, they thought I was pranking them. I'm called, I'm like, no, really? I'm Sarah and my company really is called Spanx. And I had department stores across the country that wouldn't sell it. They thought it was too risque of a name. Yep. And my mom sent her whole lunch into the wrong website when I first started. I was like, Mom, it's with an X. It's super important. It's with an X. So, yeah. Anyway, I ended up buying the word Spanx from a man who said he was holding out from the porn industry. Funny enough that you say that.

• 16:09Lewis Howes?

  I bet, yeah.

• 16:10Sara Blakely?

  I paid.

• 16:11Lewis Howes?

  Spanx with an X.

• 16:12Sara Blakely?

  I paid some money for that. But, um, anyway, yes. So.

• 16:17Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 16:17Sara Blakely?

  Named it Spanx. It came to me because I narrowed down my thinking. I knew that Kodak and Coca-Cola were the two most recognized names in the world at the time. And I thought, what do they have in common? I like to think about words and phrases a lot. They both had a strong K sound in them. And the man that created Kodak liked the K sound so much, he took a K and put it in the beginning and the end of the word and played with letters in the alphabet. So, and I also had a bunch of friends who did stand-up comedy, and it's this weird trade secret among comedians that the K sound will make your audience laugh. So I put all that together and I'm like, okay, I want my product name to have the K sound in it for good luck. And literally, Spanx came across my dashboard in my car in my mind, and I pulled off the side of the road. I wrote it down. I went home that night. I typed it in my computer for a hundred and fifty dollars with my credit card.

• 17:02Sara Blakely?

  And at the last second, I backspaced the K and the S and put in an X and hit send.

• 17:07Lewis Howes?

  So it was accident? Kind of with the X?

• 17:09Sara Blakely?

  I, no, I.

• 17:10Lewis Howes?

  You backspaced, gotcha.

• 17:11Sara Blakely?

  I backspaced because I stared at it for a while and I had done research that made up words do better for product than real words, and they're easier to trademark.

• 17:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:19Sara Blakely?

  So then, then I had the name and I had the, the, the, um, patent in the works, got my prototype. And my patent lawyer said, Sarah, I need to know what's in this garment in order to write the patent. I said, okay, no problem. We'll call Ted. So I get Ted on the phone. I'm like, Ted, can you talk to-

• 17:37Lewis Howes?

  The manufacturer?

• 17:38Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, like in the back, in the back. I'm like, Ted, can you talk to my patent lawyer? He's like, yeah. So we're all talking and he goes, I go, can you tell him what's in it? He's like, yeah, well, it's 70% nylon and 30% lacquer. And I'm like, all right. And so I'm taking notes. My patent lawyer's taking notes and that night I could not sleep. I'm up all night and the next morning I wake up, I'm like, how is there lacquer in this product?

• 18:02Lewis Howes?

  What is lacquer? Just so I'm aware-

• 18:03Sara Blakely?

  I think it's like paint thinner or something. So I called-

• 18:06Lewis Howes?

  30% paint thinner?

• 18:08Sara Blakely?

  So I called Ted. I go, Ted, can you spell lacquer? He's like, yeah, L Y C R A. I'm like, oh my God, Lycra. Okay. Got it. Do an all change on lacquer immediately.

• 18:22Lewis Howes?

  An all change.

• 18:24Sara Blakely?

  My patent lawyer was laughing. He's like, you know how fast you would have gotten a patent if you tried to make this out of paint thinner? He's like, they would be like, sure.

• 18:33Lewis Howes?

  So was it challenging to get it? Did you get it the first try?

• 18:36Sara Blakely?

  The patent? I did.

• 18:37Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Usually it takes a few turns, doesn't it?

• 18:39Sara Blakely?

  I got the patent the first try and I got the trademark name Spanx.

• 18:44Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 18:45Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 18:46Lewis Howes?

  So it didn't seem like there was that many challenges. Once you submitted it or whatever, you kind of got the things you needed in place. You got the orders in. Was there a lot of challenges after that? Once you got the patent, the trademark?

• 18:58Sara Blakely?

  That was a really hard part. It's just, I heard the word no for two years. Yeah, all the manufacturers, nobody thought it was a good idea. And also when you're just yourself trying to break into an industry like you mentioned, the manufacturers, it's not really in their best interest to slow down machines or try to give a girl with a couple grand a chance.

• 19:17Lewis Howes?

  Unless you're gonna give them a bunch of money for a big order of something. It's like, what's the point?

• 19:20Sara Blakely?

  Right. So that was the hard part. And then once I had it, I cold called Neiman Marcus and that was the first account I called on.

• 19:28Lewis Howes?

  Did you get it?

• 19:28Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 19:29Lewis Howes?

  Well, you were great at sales. So you could sell it.

• 19:32Sara Blakely?

  I was so excited. It was my moment. I flew to Dallas. I called them and said, if you give me 10 minutes of your time, I'll come and meet with you. And she said, all right.

• 19:40Lewis Howes?

  This is a buyer?

• 19:40Sara Blakely?

  Yep, the buyer. I first called the Atlanta store. They're like, girl, we can't help you. We have a buying office. I'm like, well, where is that? Give me their number. And- I went in and halfway through my pitch, I could tell I was losing her. So I said, you know what? Will you please come to the bathroom with me? And she was like so buttoned up. I mean, Neiman Marcus, like her pen matched her belt that matched her shoes. And she was like, what?

• 20:04Lewis Howes?

  Like, what am I gonna do in the bathroom?

• 20:05Sara Blakely?

  I was like, just call me to the bathroom and show you my own panty line. And I went in the stall with Spanx in my pants and without it in my pants. And she was like, oh, I totally get it. It's awesome. And I'm going to put it in seven stores.

• 20:17Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 20:18Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 20:19Lewis Howes?

  Oh man, just like that?

• 20:20Sara Blakely?

  Just like that. It was so unbelievable. I was so nervous. And then of course I had to call Sam. I'm like, in the rental car on the way back to, to, um, to the airport, I called the owner of the manufacturing plant. I'm like, Sam, Sam, it's Sarah. I need more. I just landed Neiman Marcus. And he's like, what? He was in shock. He goes, Sarah, I thought you were going to be away his birthday presents for like years. And I said, no, Neiman Marcus just bought it and I need more. And he patched me through to Ted. He goes, okay, you can need to talk to Ted.

• 20:47Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 20:47Sara Blakely?

  So Ted comes back in. He's on the phone. And I go, Ted, I need more. And he goes, I go, I just landed Neiman Marcus. He goes, well, that's great. But what you can do about the crotches?

• 20:57Lewis Howes?

  Crotches?

• 20:58Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, exactly. That's what I said. I go, what? Don't they come with crotches? We've been making them with crotches. He goes, well, yeah, but we only got one crotch machine. It's being used by somebody else.

• 21:07Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 21:08Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 21:09Lewis Howes?

  So what do you do then?

• 21:10Sara Blakely?

  So I just landed Neiman Marcus and I have no crotches.

• 21:12Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh. You got a hole in your crotches?

• 21:15Sara Blakely?

  I don't know where to go for a crotch. Do you? I mean,

• 21:18Lewis Howes?

  I don't know.

• 21:18Sara Blakely?

  Where do you go? I actually looked in the yellow pages.

• 21:21Lewis Howes?

  Crotch making machines?

• 21:22Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, I just, I looked up crotch.

• 21:24Lewis Howes?

  Machine.

• 21:25Sara Blakely?

  I looked up crotch.

• 21:26Lewis Howes?

  I don't even know how you spell crotch.

• 21:27Sara Blakely?

  Okay, listen, this is what I learned. I'm going to teach you something. Okay, so I didn't know this.

• 21:32Lewis Howes?

  What's Yellow Pages again?

• 21:33Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. Oh, my God.

• 21:34Lewis Howes?

  I'm just kidding.

• 21:34Sara Blakely?

  It's a big book. It's yellow. It's what we used to look things up. Hilarious. Um, what's Instagram? Oh, yeah.

• 21:42Lewis Howes?

  You just got on it.

• 21:42Sara Blakely?

  Okay, I just joined it seven days ago. All right. So, um, Where was, oh, crotch.

• 21:47Lewis Howes?

  Yes, crotch machine, opened it up.

• 21:49Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, so, anyway, in the Yellow Pages, it's not under crotch. So I learned there's a fancy word for crotch named gusset.

• 21:55Lewis Howes?

  Gusset?

• 21:56Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 21:56Lewis Howes?

  What?

• 21:57Sara Blakely?

  Gusset.

• 21:58Lewis Howes?

  Never heard that word.

• 21:59Sara Blakely?

  So I started calling gusset companies. They were like FedExing me crotches from all over. My roommate would come home and be like, you got another crotch in the mail. And then I ended up finding a man by the name of Gene Bobo that worked for a crotch company just 20 minutes north of where I lived in Atlanta, and he saved the day. And they made the crotches and then I could deliver Neiman Marcus.

• 22:19Lewis Howes?

  So you had the leggings, they made the crotches, and then you sewed them together? Is that's how it works?

• 22:23Sara Blakely?

  Yes, apparently, yes.

• 22:25Lewis Howes?

  Gotcha, okay. So then you had enough, how many did you print the first time?

• 22:30Sara Blakely?

  Um, 3,000.

• 22:31Lewis Howes?

  3,000?

• 22:31Sara Blakely?

  3,000 pair of the first Spanx.

• 22:34Lewis Howes?

  One, one SKU, right?

• 22:36Sara Blakely?

  Yes, one SKU, $20, one SKU.

• 22:38Lewis Howes?

  Three sizes or?

• 22:40Sara Blakely?

  Like four, four sizes, yeah. And

• 22:43Lewis Howes?

  3,000 of them?

• 22:44Sara Blakely?

  Yes, and that's what Neiman's ordered. And then I sent them to the, they sent them to the seven stores. I had no packing and shipping department, so the semi trucks were pulling up to my apartment in Atlanta and I was shipping them myself to Neiman's.

• 22:57Lewis Howes?

  This is amazing.

• 22:58Sara Blakely?

  And then I called every friend I had in those seven cities, like people I hadn't talked to in 20 years.

• 23:03Lewis Howes?

  Say, hey, go buy a few of these, go make, yeah, take your girlfriends there.

• 23:07Sara Blakely?

  Hi, Christina, remember me? I used to sit next to you all the time in grade school. Will you please go buy this product called Spanx? I literally called them and I said, and I'll mail you a check. So I paid all my friends and friends of friends to go buy the product.

• 23:20Lewis Howes?

  That is brilliant, actually, to get some movement.

• 23:22Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, I said, go in, I gave him a whole script. I'm like, go in and say, I've been looking for this all my life. I can't believe it's here and create all this excitement.

• 23:30Lewis Howes?

  This is amazing.

• 23:30Sara Blakely?

  And then, of course, a week later, the, I talked to the Neiman's buyer and she's like, Sarah, we are blowing out. I'm like, you don't say.

• 23:36Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 23:37Sara Blakely?

  Meanwhile, I was buying them all, yeah.

• 23:39Lewis Howes?

  Brilliant.

• 23:40Sara Blakely?

  You have to.

• 23:41Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 23:42Sara Blakely?

  You have to, you have to ensure your own success.

• 23:44Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely.

• 23:45Sara Blakely?

  So then, once I started running out of money, Oprah called and put it on as her favorite product of the year.

• 23:50Lewis Howes?

  How long was that for? Until the time was in Neiman Marcus to Oprah calling?

• 23:55Sara Blakely?

  Like a month.

• 23:57Lewis Howes?

  It just happened that quick?

• 23:58Sara Blakely?

  A month or a month and a half.

• 23:59Lewis Howes?

  How did she even hear about it in a month and a half?

• 24:00Sara Blakely?

  I sent it to her in a gift basket. And her, Andre, who dresses her, put it in her dressing room and she put them on and has basically worn them every day since.

• 24:09Lewis Howes?

  Shut up.

• 24:10Sara Blakely?

  I'm not kidding. It was so unbelievable. I had no money to advertise. In the back of my apartment, I was selling fax machines like a month before that. But I have to say, I was working every night and on the weekends for two years quietly trying to get this made.

• 24:22Lewis Howes?

  Building this thing, yeah.

• 24:23Sara Blakely?

  Building it, yeah.

• 24:24Lewis Howes?

  Did you have a relationship at this time?

• 24:27Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 24:27Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 24:28Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. My boyfriend at the time quit his job as a healthcare consultant because he started helping me ship the Spanx out all night, every night.

• 24:36Lewis Howes?

  So he was fully in support and?

• 24:37Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 24:38Lewis Howes?

  He was like, do your thing.

• 24:39Sara Blakely?

  He came on board and was on board for like the first, maybe six years of the company, six to seven years.

• 24:43Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 24:44Sara Blakely?

  He was amazing help.

• 24:46Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Um, okay. So if you would have not, if you would have not had Oprah bring this on TV.

• 24:52Sara Blakely?

  I just have to ask you, did you know what Spanx were before I came on here, to be honest?

• 24:55Lewis Howes?

  Of course. My assistant is wearing them today.

• 24:57Sara Blakely?

  All right. Okay. Good.

• 24:58Lewis Howes?

  Of course.

• 24:59Sara Blakely?

  You know I make man's Spanx.

• 25:01Lewis Howes?

  Well, I heard you. I read they used to have like a men's line now. I've never.

• 25:05Sara Blakely?

  I have a small cult following for this product.

• 25:07Lewis Howes?

  I've never bought. I mean, what is it? What are the man's, what are the manx?

• 25:11Sara Blakely?

  The manx. Okay. So it's an under, all it is is a man's undershirt. And I just saw that my husband and my brother and my dad had the same undershirt since it came out. So I researched it because I think it's interesting, things that never change.

• 25:24Lewis Howes?

  Like a white Hanes undershirt?

• 25:25Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. The man's undershirt came out in 1918. Not one thing has changed about it.

• 25:30Lewis Howes?

  No innovation to it, yeah.

• 25:30Sara Blakely?

  So I was like, oh.

• 25:31Lewis Howes?

  It's not comfortable. That's why I wear it.

• 25:32Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. And it stretches out. So I, I said, let me put a little bit of Lycra in it. I'll make it the same cotton undershirt guys are used to, but I'll make it not stretch out as easy, be a little tapered in at the waist so it looks better under. Yeah.

• 25:43Lewis Howes?

  I'm about to get it. I'll go buy them. I'll go to Niva Marcus.

• 25:45Sara Blakely?

  And then I got men's Spanx underwear that are amazing. They're just comfortable.

• 25:50Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 25:50Sara Blakely?

  We reinvented the pouch. Okay. So.

• 25:53Lewis Howes?

  I'll try them out.

• 25:54Sara Blakely?

  I'm just gonna say, the only thing, the only thing I can say is.

• 25:56Lewis Howes?

  Tell me what to get. I'll get it and I'll test it.

• 25:58Sara Blakely?

  The men that have wore it, told me it keeps the family together.

• 26:03Lewis Howes?

  Hey, I will try it. So I'm gonna go get it.

• 26:06Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 26:07Lewis Howes?

  What store is you in now? You're in every store?

• 26:08Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 26:09Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 26:09Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 26:10Lewis Howes?

  The men's store?

• 26:10Sara Blakely?

  Spanx, spanx.com, but you have to spell it with an X.

• 26:13Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 26:13Sara Blakely?

  Or you're gonna get a real treat, people.

• 26:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly. This is amazing. So would you have, um, where would you be, uh, if Oprah didn't pick it up within the first couple of months? Like if you had a year of trying to do this on your own, do you think you'd have got other press or you'd have got the money to build it?

• 26:29Sara Blakely?

  I do, because I was so determined. I mean, as soon as I got the order, I was so committed.

• 26:33Lewis Howes?

  You weren't just interested in seeing if this worked, you were committed and doing whatever it takes.

• 26:37Sara Blakely?

  I was in it to win it. You have to remember, right? I was selling fax machines, sorted or being thrown out of buildings. I had no option in my mind. I was like, I am scripting a new life for myself and...

• 26:48Lewis Howes?

  Was this movie about you that came out a year ago?

• 26:50Sara Blakely?

  Joy.

• 26:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, is that about you?

• 26:52Sara Blakely?

  My dad called me, goes, Sarah, I just saw a movie. It's basically your life, except for the dysfunctional family partner. I was like, yeah, right, Dad. Okay, sure. Yeah, but I could really relate to her.

• 27:02Lewis Howes?

  I'm sure.

• 27:03Sara Blakely?

  All the hustle and, yeah.

• 27:05Lewis Howes?

  That's crazy.

• 27:05Sara Blakely?

  But when I got Neiman Marcus, I think a lot of people think that's when you've arrived. That's when I double timed. I mean, I, I got, um, on a plane and was gone for two years straight. And I went to every department store in the country that sold Spanx, every Neiman Sachs, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's. And I would go before the store opened and do an all-store rally and tell them what my product was, explain it to them, do a demo, give out free product, and then stand there in the department for, you know, eight hours a day and tell customers what it was. Because I didn't have any money averages. I was selling it for them. But what I didn't realize I was doing was I was building a sales force, not on my payroll, because all these people started to become so...

• 27:46Lewis Howes?

  Ambassadors.

• 27:47Sara Blakely?

  Ambassadors. And they were rooting for me and they loved the product. And so that was a really important part of the formula. And then I had learned what my next products were going to be, because I was standing right there with customers and all these...

• 28:00Lewis Howes?

  They'd say what they need, what their challenge is. I can't do this, blah, blah, blah.

• 28:03Sara Blakely?

  They told me what they wanted.

• 28:04Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 28:05Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 28:05Lewis Howes?

  This is unbelievable. You were like willing to do whatever it takes, above and beyond.

• 28:09Sara Blakely?

  Totally.

• 28:11Lewis Howes?

  So when Oprah had you on, or she didn't have you on, she had the product on, you didn't go on, right?

• 28:15Sara Blakely?

  I didn't go on, but they called and they said, Sarah, it's her favorite part of the thing. She doesn't have people on this, but she loves that you're taking on this billion-dollar industry and she wants to film you. And kind of just show a little bit of B-roll. So they landed in my Atlanta and came to my apartment and they had all this official stuff and they go, we discussed on the plane, we want to film you in your headquarters.

• 28:36Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh. Headquarters is like my living room.

• 28:39Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, I'm like, you're here. I don't, you know, and then they wanted to film me having a staff meeting and I had no staff. So I called Connie.

• 28:47Lewis Howes?

  To the factory and you're like, called up Sam and.

• 28:50Sara Blakely?

  I know. Listen, I called Connie that I had met at mailboxes, etc., because she'd been FedExing pantyhose for me. And she left work and came with three other friends of mine and that was my staff meeting on the Oprah show.

• 29:01Lewis Howes?

  Amazing. What did the sales do after that?

• 29:03Sara Blakely?

  It was amazing. I mean, I went from, you know, when I saw somebody order that wasn't my mom's friend, I was dancing around my apartment and then to all of a sudden 30,000 orders. Like it was just.

• 29:15Lewis Howes?

  Was this online at the time?

• 29:16Sara Blakely?

  Yes, it was on spinks.com.

• 29:18Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 29:19Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 29:19Lewis Howes?

  30,000 came in and how, what type of time?

• 29:22Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, um, pretty quickly.

• 29:24Lewis Howes?

  Like a week?

• 29:25Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 29:26Lewis Howes?

  30,000 orders.

• 29:27Sara Blakely?

  In a week or two. Yeah, it was crazy. I was up all night, every night, shipping. I had friends coming over, helping me pack and ship them. And this is how clueless I was. I was sending everybody's product in regular mail. So then I started getting all these emails and phone calls from people going, my product never showed up and I didn't have any way to track it. I was like, oh, okay. I guess they're supposed to be tracking with this. So.

• 29:51Lewis Howes?

  FedEx and everything else. Yeah, wow.

• 29:52Sara Blakely?

  So then I, you know, that's how I did the whole thing. I stumbled through it. I always tell people, what you don't know can be your greatest asset if you let it because it ensures you're going to do it differently.

• 30:02Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely.

• 30:03Sara Blakely?

  And when I landed Neiman Marcus, all these people came up to me and said, I have been doing this for seven years, 10 years, five years. How did you land Neiman Marcus? And I said, I called them and they just looked at me and I was like, why? What do you do? They're like, well, I go to trade shows and I set up my booth and I'm waiting for the Neiman Marcus buyer to come by. And we've been doing it every year for seven years. I didn't even know there were trade shows.

• 30:26Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 30:27Sara Blakely?

  So sometimes just not knowing how it's supposed to be done, you have to have the courage though to, to say, even though I wasn't trained in this, because a lot of people think, well, I didn't go to school for this. So how could I possibly know? But you know, it's inside of you.

• 30:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. And you were willing to be creative and, and risk. You know, failure in a way that most people aren't. You put yourself out there in a major way. And you said, hey, come to the bathroom with me.

• 30:52Sara Blakely?

  Right.

• 30:52Lewis Howes?

  And I'm not gonna do anything weird. It's amazing. It's incredible story.

• 30:57Sara Blakely?

  My dad used to encourage me to fail. So at the dinner table, growing up, he would ask my brother and me what we failed at that week.

• 31:05Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 31:06Sara Blakely?

  And if we didn't have something to tell him, he'd be disappointed. And I vividly remember being a little girl and saying, I tried out for this dad and I was horrible. And he would high five me. He'd go, way to go.

• 31:16Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 31:17Sara Blakely?

  So he was reframing my definition of failure. So failure for me became about not trying, not the outcome.

• 31:25Lewis Howes?

  What was the biggest lesson he taught you? Was that it?

• 31:27Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 31:28Lewis Howes?

  And what about your mom? What's the biggest lesson she taught you?

• 31:30Sara Blakely?

  My mom is so supportive. She's the most lovely, sweetest person I've ever met in my life. And she's an artist and she's super creative. So I like to think and hope that she passed on a little bit of the creative side to me.

• 31:43Lewis Howes?

  Who would you say is more influential to you?

• 31:46Sara Blakely?

  Oh, both.

• 31:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:47Sara Blakely?

  It was such a balance.

• 31:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:48Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, I got really, a really good, my family's very supportive.

• 31:52Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm. That's amazing. So, you know, some people I hear about when they get these big orders or a lot of press for something, they're not set up or ready to take it on. And it actually kills the company because they don't have the funds to buy the product or the goods.

• 32:06Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 32:06Lewis Howes?

  But for you, that didn't happen. You were, you were set up. You were good to go or?

• 32:10Sara Blakely?

  Well, it was close. I mean, I was in my apartment and I had $5,000 that I'd started it with. So, and I stayed self-funded from the start. I still own 100% of Spanx. I never borrowed any money or went outside of.

• 32:24Lewis Howes?

  And how many employees do you have now?

• 32:25Sara Blakely?

  Over, over 200.

• 32:27Lewis Howes?

  200.

• 32:27Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 32:28Lewis Howes?

  And based in Atlanta or New York? Based in Atlanta. It's amazing. It's unbelievable. Now you have Jesse, who was in here before.

• 32:36Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 32:37Lewis Howes?

  How long you guys been married now?

• 32:38Sara Blakely?

  Eight years.

• 32:38Lewis Howes?

  Eight years. And when was Spanx started? What year?

• 32:42Sara Blakely?

  2000.

• 32:43Lewis Howes?

  2000. Okay.

• 32:44Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, we actually started our companies at the same time. We didn't know each other. He started Marquee Jet in 2000.

• 32:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:50Sara Blakely?

  And I started Spanx.

• 32:51Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 32:52Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 32:52Lewis Howes?

  And you met eight years after, because it's been 16 years since you started, right? So eight years into Spanx, you met.

• 32:59Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 33:00Lewis Howes?

  And how did that, you know, how did you know that you guys were going to be married and start this life? Because you were in another relationship before, it sounded like, correct?

• 33:08Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 33:08Lewis Howes?

  So how, how did it come about?

• 33:11Sara Blakely?

  Well, I was a customer of his and our sales rep kept saying, you have to meet the owner and founder of this company.

• 33:17Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 33:18Sara Blakely?

  They kept inviting me to things and I couldn't go. And then she said, we have a poker tournament in Vegas that you have to attend. And it's a customer appreciation. So I went and that's where we met in Vegas. So I like to say that's I met my husband in Vegas.

• 33:31Lewis Howes?

  Oh, all right. And you guys just hit it off and you just knew right then or?

• 33:36Sara Blakely?

  I pretty much knew right away.

• 33:38Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 33:38Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 33:39Lewis Howes?

  Okay. And were you out of the relationship before then or were you transitioning or was it kind of it was fading?

• 33:45Sara Blakely?

  He might, my boyfriend at the time was supposed to be with me.

• 33:48Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 33:49Sara Blakely?

  And he got sick at the last minute.

• 33:51Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 33:52Sara Blakely?

  Didn't come on the trip.

• 33:53Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 33:53Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. And so my friend Julie came in with me instead. And then I just had a feeling when I met Jesse, I was like, wow, this guy is, I just felt something like

• 34:03Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 34:03Sara Blakely?

  That that he would somehow end up in my life. And we stayed in touch casually.

• 34:08Lewis Howes?

  As friends, yeah.

• 34:08Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, for the next like six months. And then when that relationship stopped.

• 34:14Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 34:15Sara Blakely?

  Jesse called.

• 34:16Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 34:16Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 34:17Lewis Howes?

  You kind of heard about it. Okay, gotcha. Amazing. And now you guys have, you have four kids together, right?

• 34:23Sara Blakely?

  Yes, all under the age of seven.

• 34:24Lewis Howes?

  This is amazing.

• 34:25Sara Blakely?

  Three in diapers right now. I'm like, woo, what's my name? What's going on?

• 34:29Lewis Howes?

  I don't understand how you're able to, and you, and you said, you know, a joke before, you're like, if you ask me how to balance it, I'm not gonna be able to give you a good answer. But how do you, how do you like, you're, you seem so graceful right now. You're so clear and lovely.

• 34:44Sara Blakely?

  Thank you.

• 34:44Lewis Howes?

  And friendly and

• 34:45Sara Blakely?

  Thank you.

• 34:46Lewis Howes?

  Happy and joyful when you have this, you know, however big your company is, to, uh, four kids, a husband, to traveling around. You've got a book coming out right now. We're going to talk about.

• 34:56Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 34:56Lewis Howes?

  You've got, working on multiple products, different things all the time. I don't understand how you're this calm and loving, lovely and amazing.

• 35:03Sara Blakely?

  Well, thank you. I, you know, the work-life balance thing is I am a work in progress. That's my, but I don't have any wonderful advice to dispense.

• 35:12Lewis Howes?

  You're not perfect.

• 35:13Sara Blakely?

  I wish that I did, but I don't. But I will say the one thing that I feel like has helped me the most is to be kind to myself. So I realized that as a mother, I, when I became a mom, I spent a lot of mental energy beating myself up. Like feeling so guilty. And when I was working, I was beating myself up that I wasn't with the kids and mentally. And when I was with the kids, I was beating myself up with that. So I think a lot of mothers were our own worst enemy. And when I really stopped and said, I don't know how to juggle all this. Some days I feel like I'm doing it right. And some days I feel like I just want to cry. I, at least I made that change and it was a huge change for me.

• 35:54Sara Blakely?

  I just catch myself when I start doing that to myself and I just, I change it to kindness and forgiveness.

• 36:00Lewis Howes?

  As opposed to beating yourself up?

• 36:01Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, I'm just like, okay, it's all right.

• 36:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 36:03Sara Blakely?

  And, um, and then that, that helps me stay more present also.

• 36:09Lewis Howes?

  Is there a, a woman or a mother that you really admire? That you see that is doing it gracefully as well? That is a good model for you or?

• 36:18Sara Blakely?

  Um, well.

• 36:19Lewis Howes?

  Any of your friends or moms out there?

• 36:22Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. Um, I think any, any working mom. I mean, when I see working moms, any mom really, honestly. Stay at home moms. I mean, it's like, it's a full-time job, no matter how you slice it. It's really impressive. I think women are really incredible.

• 36:37Lewis Howes?

  You are.

• 36:38Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 36:38Lewis Howes?

  I don't know how you guys do it.

• 36:39Sara Blakely?

  I like to hire moms because I know that they are unbelievable at multitasking and getting multiple things done.

• 36:45Lewis Howes?

  Most of my team is women.

• 36:46Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 36:47Lewis Howes?

  One guy on my team and the rest are women.

• 36:48Sara Blakely?

  Smart man.

• 36:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Cause you guys are extremely talented. So.

• 36:52Sara Blakely?

  Thank you.

• 36:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, this is amazing.

• 36:53Sara Blakely?

  I agree.

• 36:54Lewis Howes?

  And, and what is the book? You've been working on a book for seven years. You said seven years, right?

• 36:59Sara Blakely?

  I did, it's true.

• 37:00Lewis Howes?

  You took a photo seven years ago?

• 37:02Sara Blakely?

  Seven and a half years ago.

• 37:03Lewis Howes?

  And what's the book called?

• 37:04Sara Blakely?

  It's called The Belly Art Project and I'm super excited about it. It started with my own pregnant belly. Three days before I delivered my son, I woke up in the middle of the night and just thought, oh my God, my body is amazing that it can do this, like the state that my body's in and what women's bodies can do. So I saw my belly as a canvas and thought, I want to do something artistic with my body in this moment in time. It may never be like this again. And so I wanted to turn my belly into objects. And I wrote down, three in the morning, watermelon, beach ball, basketball, Mr. Potato Head, and went back to bed. And the next day, a friend came over and painted my belly these objects. I ran around Atlanta and posed in different environments and gave them to my husband as a gift. And that's when he said, you gotta do more with this idea.

• 37:49Sara Blakely?

  And seven and a half years later, and over a hundred more women and bellies from around the world that all painted different fun objects, the book is out now.

• 37:59Lewis Howes?

  It's out.

• 37:59Sara Blakely?

  It's out.

• 38:00Lewis Howes?

  Go get the book.

• 38:01Sara Blakely?

  Because it takes so long. I mean, think about it, but it's not like I can do a casting call for nine month pregnant women. I was stalking them in airports, nail salons, other people's weddings.

• 38:10Lewis Howes?

  Finding them and then...

• 38:10Sara Blakely?

  Finding them. I'd read about them in the press and then start calling them and say, please, would you be in this book? And then each woman that you photograph, I'm like, okay, now we have nine women. I can't do a book with nine. All right, let's find a 10th. Then I'd be 10 and be like, we need another one, you know? And so when was it enough? And we have one man in the book who painted his belly. And I bet for all the money, you couldn't guess who the man is.

• 38:33Lewis Howes?

  Is it a celebrity?

• 38:34Sara Blakely?

  Yes, he's famous. He's the only man in the book with his belly painted.

• 38:39Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Does he play a sport?

• 38:42Sara Blakely?

  No. He's over 80.

• 38:47Lewis Howes?

  Larry King?

• 38:48Sara Blakely?

  No, that's a good guess.

• 38:49Lewis Howes?

  He's been on the show, that's why I thought Larry King. But, uh, huh, over 80, Stan Lee?

• 38:53Sara Blakely?

  No.

• 38:54Lewis Howes?

  I don't know anyone else who's over 80 that it's a famous dude. I don't know.

• 38:58Sara Blakely?

  The most unlikely person maybe that you could guess. His name starts with a W.

• 39:04Lewis Howes?

  Wes Welker.

• 39:06Sara Blakely?

  Who's that?

• 39:07Lewis Howes?

  Wes Welker? No, Les Welker is what I'm thinking. Who's the guy who owns Victoria's Secret?

• 39:12Sara Blakely?

  Oh, Les Wexner?

• 39:13Lewis Howes?

  Les Wexner. I had the football player.

• 39:15Sara Blakely?

  You totally botched that. I'm glad I said, who is that?

• 39:18Lewis Howes?

  I had the football player. Wes Welker is the football player.

• 39:21Sara Blakely?

  All right, all right.

• 39:22Lewis Howes?

  But I'm from Columbus where Victoria's Secret and Limited is at.

• 39:24Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 39:25Lewis Howes?

  So that's what I'm thinking of.

• 39:26Sara Blakely?

  All right.

• 39:26Lewis Howes?

  Les Wexner, right?

• 39:27Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 39:28Lewis Howes?

  I don't know. Who is it?

• 39:29Sara Blakely?

  Warren Buffett.

• 39:30Lewis Howes?

  Warren Buffett? No way. You got him to do it?

• 39:32Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 39:33Lewis Howes?

  You painted his belly?

• 39:34Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 39:34Lewis Howes?

  That's worth buying the book just for that.

• 39:36Sara Blakely?

  I know. You have to see it. He's such an amazing trooper. He's so generous with his spirit and everything. And he sat next to me at a lunch and I said, he said, what are you up to? And I said, here are the pictures. And he laughed for a minute straight and said, I want to be in the book.

• 39:50Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 39:50Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 39:51Lewis Howes?

  He painted, what is it painted?

• 39:52Sara Blakely?

  So we were on a plane to Omaha to paint Warren Buffett's belly. We were freaking out. I was so nervous and so excited. And then we were all rehearsing, like, how do you ask Warren to take his clothes off? Like, do you ease into it? Do you say, hey, do you make small talk? And he came in and he was just such a good sport.

• 40:07Lewis Howes?

  His shirt off?

• 40:08Sara Blakely?

  Took his dress shirt off and said, he chose the yo-yo. So we painted a yo-yo on his belly.

• 40:12Lewis Howes?

  That's amazing.

• 40:13Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. All for the cause. So 100% of the book proceeds goes to Every Mother Counts and gives back to Christie Turlington's foundation. She's doing amazing work. My foundation's about empowering women, but this creative idea felt much more in line with pregnancy and childbirth. So I wanted to gift the money to a foundation that was much more like on the ground, knowing exactly how to make a difference for maternal health.

• 40:36Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 40:37Sara Blakely?

  And, you know, every two minutes, a woman dies in childbirth on the planet. So this book hopefully will help make childbirth safe for women everywhere.

• 40:49Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 40:50Sara Blakely?

  So you gotta get the book. It's a beautiful coffee table book, or it's a cool shower gift. I'm hoping, I also sell a belly painting kit. And I'm hoping, yeah, I'm hoping women will do it at showers. Like, paint the, paint the girl's belly at the shower.

• 41:03Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 41:03Sara Blakely?

  You know, have fun with it. Post your pictures. Belly Art Project.

• 41:06Lewis Howes?

  BellyArtProject.com or dot org?

• 41:08Sara Blakely?

  Dot org.

• 41:09Lewis Howes?

  Dot org.

• 41:10Sara Blakely?

  And you can get the big limited edition book, the coffee table book at spanx.com. You can also get the belly painting kit at spanx.com. And the smaller book that's $29.99 is at Amazon and Barnes and Noble and everywhere.

• 41:23Lewis Howes?

  Belly Art Project. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm excited. Make sure you guys pick it up.

• 41:27Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 41:27Lewis Howes?

  What's the thing you are most proud of that a lot of people maybe don't know about you?

• 41:32Sara Blakely?

  Um.

• 41:36Sara Blakely?

  What a good daughter and granddaughter I've been. Like, it's always been such a priority to me to take really good care of my mom and my grandma and be close. And, you know, I, I think just, you said what people don't know about me, so I was trying to think about it, but I'm most proud of the fact that, um, that I was able to, to achieve this in a really, um, kind way, you know, that I can look at myself in the mirror and just, I am where I am and I feel really good about it, really good about myself. I didn't feel like I had to compromise. You know, when I first started Spanx, I was at a cocktail party and three guys came up to me and they said, Sarah, we heard you

• 42:17Sara Blakely?

  just started your, a, a business and invented something. And I said, yes. And they go, you know, business is war.

• 42:25Sara Blakely?

  And I just looked at them and, and, and then one guy, you know, pat me on the back and he said, yeah, I hope you're up for it. I hope you're ready for war.

• 42:32Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 42:32Sara Blakely?

  And I went home that night in my apartment and I sat down on the floor and I literally started crying. And I remember thinking, I don't want to go to war. Like, why does it have to be war? I want to go about this in a completely different way. And so the whole journey of Spanx, I really took a feminine approach to it. I mean, I, I def, I didn't know business. I'd never taken a business class. I didn't have a business plan. I didn't go out and raise VC. So I trusted my gut. I stuck with intuition. I, you know, just did things what felt very, yeah. I think traditional business has been very male energy. And so I wanted to see what would happen if I took a very feminine energy approach.

• 43:12Lewis Howes?

  How have you handled, you know, kind of the recognition, the, I guess, the fame of the business you've built? I think the, I don't know, that's the actual stat, but you're like one of the only self-made billionaire women. I think that's like the line or something. You're one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine. How, how have you handled the exposure and the awareness and the, all the things that come to you?

• 43:36Sara Blakely?

  I believe money just makes you more of who you already were. So if you were kind, you're going to be kinder. If you're a jerk, become a bigger jerk.

• 43:44Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 43:45Sara Blakely?

  You know, insecure, you become more insecure. I see it as a magnifying glass, like, you know, money. So money didn't change me. It doesn't feel weird to me to, to, you know, for me, it was really about, I was so inspired to make a product that was gonna make a difference and make people feel good. And especially women, I feel like the industry had stopped caring about how we felt in our clothing. And I was really, I wanted to take that angle of like, no, I do believe we can feel good and look good at the same time.

• 44:13Lewis Howes?

  It doesn't have to be like uncomfortable.

• 44:15Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, it doesn't have to be a compromise, you know? Yeah.

• 44:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's cool. What's your biggest fear right now?

• 44:21Sara Blakely?

  Losing someone I love. What's your biggest fear? Am I allowed to interview you?

• 44:26Lewis Howes?

  You can ask me anything you want. Um, you know, it's interesting that you say that because it hasn't really been a fear of mine until recently, because I'm just like, I have so many good friends and people that I've met over the last few years, especially with the podcast, that have all these great relationships. And I'm like, gosh, at some point, like, it's either me or someone else, you know, I'm not sure who it's gonna be. Something's bound to happen to someone I know, just because of the odds, you know, so. And I don't want it to happen either, you know?

• 44:56Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 44:57Lewis Howes?

  So, yeah, I don't wanna say it's a big fear, just like, I feel like it's gonna happen at some point. Like, it's just like a feeling, and I don't want it to be someone really close to me, you know? It's scary.

• 45:07Sara Blakely?

  I've had a lot of loss.

• 45:08Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 45:09Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, a lot of loss.

• 45:10Lewis Howes?

  A lot of people close to you? Really?

• 45:12Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. By the time I was thirty-one, I'd lost eleven different people close to me from separate tragedies.

• 45:18Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 45:19Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. So I've been, you know, dropped to my knees many times in life by grief. I mean, just, ugh, it's like unbearably painful. But I will say that, you know, going through that, I always think there's a hidden blessing in everything that we go through in life. And one of the blessings was that facing my own mortality at a really young age.

• 45:41Sara Blakely?

  Had all these hidden gifts, you know, I use mortality and sort of the insignificance of all of this in a positive way, you know, it doesn't, you know, just how temporary this all is to fuel me and to say, what, why would I ever not do this? What? Because I'm afraid that person, that person's not going to remember me five minutes after I make a fool of myself anyway. Like, let's do this. We're all here for just a short period of time. So it freed me up in a way that I think most people in the natural course of life, you know, maybe starts to think about in their 40s when they might lose a parent or a grandparent or something. So, yeah, really.

• 46:19Lewis Howes?

  How do you get through a challenging loss like that? Like, what's your process?

• 46:24Sara Blakely?

  Oh, my gosh. I, one day at a time. I mean, it is just one day at a time. Yeah. It was really, my best friend, she died in a tragedy and I was her roommate and I started Spanx in her bedroom.

• 46:38Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 46:39Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, I've, I've never really talked about that, but yes, Spanx headquarters was in Laura's bedroom. And so, that's pretty cool. I feel like I had a.

• 46:49Lewis Howes?

  Piece of her in the company.

• 46:50Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. And she was always really so supportive of me.

• 46:54Lewis Howes?

  Were you guys roommates or was this?

• 46:55Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, we were roommates.

• 46:57Lewis Howes?

  Oh, wow. She passed away when you were, when you were living together?

• 46:59Sara Blakely?

  Yep. She was riding a horse and was hit by a car on the horse.

• 47:03Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 47:04Sara Blakely?

  In Chapel Hill. A 92-year-old man said he never saw her or the horse when he came around the corner.

• 47:08Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh. So sad.

• 47:11Sara Blakely?

  So, and she was so awesome. But anyway, I, yeah, many, many different things like that have happened.

• 47:18Lewis Howes?

  11 different.

• 47:19Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, I've lost very close people in my life. And, um.

• 47:24Lewis Howes?

  Well, you've, you've come out in an amazing way and been such an inspiration to so many people. So it's made you better. It sounds like the experiences you've learned from it sounds like so.

• 47:34Sara Blakely?

  Thank you.

• 47:35Lewis Howes?

  What, speaking of learning from lessons, you've been around a lot of incredible entrepreneurs. And I know you did a reality show with Richard Branson. This is 10, 12 years ago, you said?

• 47:44Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 47:45Lewis Howes?

  What was that like and what's been a big lesson you've learned from him? And what was the show and what'd you learn?

• 47:50Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, the show was called The Rebel Billionaire and it was the Apprentice version, Richard Branson's version of that. They were looking for 16 entrepreneurs. So I'm like, hey, I'm an entrepreneur. I want to do this and I really wanted to meet Richard. I sort of had set intentions out there that I was gonna manifest him becoming a friend in my life. So when I heard about the show, I was like, oh, this is interesting. This might be how this happens. So I applied for it and it was wild.

• 48:17Lewis Howes?

  And how big was Spanx at the time? Was it really well known? Was it like just kind of?

• 48:21Sara Blakely?

  It was pretty, I mean, it was four years in. It was doing great.

• 48:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, multiple seven figures in sales a year.

• 48:26Sara Blakely?

  My lawyers begged me not to do it. They're like, what are you doing? You own this company, you're gonna do a reality show. I was like, I just want to know Richard. I just feel like this is a chance. So, um, so, yeah. And all the business challenges took place around the world in different cities. And instead of, if you didn't win the business challenge, going into a boardroom to get fired, you had to do a crazy stunt, like a world record breaking stunt. Cause Richard is obviously like a huge adrenaline junkie guy. So in addition to being an amazing entrepreneur. And the very first day of filming, I had to climb the side of a hot air balloon at 9,000 feet in the air on a dangling rope ladder and have tea, climb to the top and have tea on top of the balloon with Richard.

• 49:06Lewis Howes?

  It's insane.

• 49:07Sara Blakely?

  It's insane.

• 49:08Lewis Howes?

  So what did you guys talk about on the top?

• 49:09Sara Blakely?

  Oh, my God, talked about like, how do we get down? And that's what he said, you climb back down. I was like, what? I didn't think about that. It was so scary.

• 49:17Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 49:18Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, so it took me 48 minutes to climb to the top. It's at the height of a 17 story building and the dangling rope ladder was just like hanging out into the abyss of nothingness, wasn't anchored to anything. So I'm like climbing it and.

• 49:32Lewis Howes?

  And there's cameras up there?

• 49:33Sara Blakely?

  That was the first day of filming. So two months later, I know.

• 49:37Lewis Howes?

  And there's cameras up there?

• 49:38Sara Blakely?

  Yes. I mean, helicopters circling. Probably, probably. I had to do all these crazy stunts. The next stunt I had to do is I had to jump off the side of the Victoria Falls Gorge in Africa on a, with a bungee cord attached to me. And my guy on my team was dangling on a wire, on a crane. Ten feet out from the cliff and each person had to come up and stand there and you couldn't run and jump and you had to stand still and jump and if he caught you, you were okay and they'd put you back on the cliff and if not, you fell 385 feet on a bungee cord. And so I am beyond terrified of heights. It's like one of my, I'm so afraid of heights. I

• 50:19Sara Blakely?

  cry on airplanes still during takeoff a lot of times and I was one of the only people to make the jump. Richard didn't make the jump. All these other guys that were like amazing athletes didn't make the jump. And I like to talk about this because I always talk about aiming high and the importance of aiming high in life and then I think all of us, we don't aim high enough. And so watch where you're aiming. And that, that saying, you know, if you shoot for the moon, if you miss, you're at least with the stars. And afterwards, everyone was like, Sarah, how did you make that jump? You're literally like the only contestant. Look at you. I said, well, I was aimed at the pulley six feet above his head. Where were you aiming? And I aimed, I didn't even look at him. I aimed six feet above his head

• 51:03Sara Blakely?

  and I landed at his waist and he caught me and everybody else was aiming at his face and landed at his feet and missed.

• 51:10Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 51:11Sara Blakely?

  So it was like a really just poignant example of the importance of aiming high.

• 51:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, in all areas of life.

• 51:18Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 51:19Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 51:20Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 51:21Lewis Howes?

  This is fascinating. So what was the biggest lesson you learned from?

• 51:22Sara Blakely?

  From Richard? Richard is really, first of all, he's such a bias for action. It's fun to watch him have, he doesn't think things through to the point, you know, I mean, it's unbelievable. He has an idea and before you're even done saying, well, wait, writing it on the napkin, he's doing it.

• 51:40Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 51:41Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. He doesn't sleep much. He requires almost no sleep.

• 51:43Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 51:44Sara Blakely?

  And he's always got a notebook with him, writing ideas. He delegates, he's really good at delegating. He's very good at empowering the people around him. And he didn't ask us to do any business challenge, any crazy challenge that he didn't do himself first.

• 51:59Lewis Howes?

  He was doing it with you or he'd already done it?

• 52:01Sara Blakely?

  He did each one that we did himself also.

• 52:04Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 52:05Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 52:06Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Would you say he's the most inspiring entrepreneur you know, or?

• 52:10Sara Blakely?

  Probably. I mean, he's just, yeah. He's so, he's so much fun. He's a multi-billionaire that still lives his life like he has twenty dollars in his pocket.

• 52:19Lewis Howes?

  What does that mean? What do you mean?

• 52:20Sara Blakely?

  It means he's up for anything. He, there's no entourage about him. He's not afraid of anything, you know? Sometimes I've seen some people become a little bit more

• 52:30Lewis Howes?

  Reserved.

• 52:30Sara Blakely?

  Reserved, or, you know, careful. And

• 52:34Lewis Howes?

  He still takes risks.

• 52:35Sara Blakely?

  Oh, yeah.

• 52:36Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing. Have you been to his island many times?

• 52:38Sara Blakely?

  I have. Yep. Necker Island.

• 52:39Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 52:40Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 52:40Lewis Howes?

  Amazing. I'm curious, what is more challenging for you, running a billion dollar brand, or being a mom and a wife?

• 52:51Sara Blakely?

  Being a mom, because it's a moving target. Like what worked yesterday doesn't work today. I'm like, wait, that worked on you yesterday.

• 53:00Lewis Howes?

  Just wait till our teenagers, right?

• 53:01Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, it's the most humbling thing. I mean, I feel like I gave birth to, you know, four teachers, to me. I mean, your children are here to teach you. I'm a believer in that, too. So I'm a student right now, and it's fascinating.

• 53:16Lewis Howes?

  So being a mom, more challenging than running a business for you?

• 53:19Sara Blakely?

  Yes. Being a mom, and, you know, running the business and the brand just required a lot of hustle, just a tremendous amount of hustle. I always say that, you know, anybody you think is really, really lucky, there's a lot of sweat behind that luck, you know?

• 53:38Lewis Howes?

  Amazing. Final few questions. I really appreciate this. I wish I could talk to you forever, but I know you gotta get back to things.

• 53:47Lewis Howes?

  What are you most grateful for in your life recently?

• 53:49Sara Blakely?

  My children. That's easy.

• 53:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 53:52Sara Blakely?

  My four children.

• 53:53Lewis Howes?

  I think every mom has to say that, right? Or it's just like?

• 53:55Sara Blakely?

  I mean, it's true. It's really how I feel. I'm also really grateful for being a woman born in the right country at the right time. I had nothing to do with that, and I'm very grateful. And I wake up all the time thinking of that. You know, my mom, we're only twenty-one difference in age, twenty-one years. My mom, her choices were so much more limited, and what was expected of her, or what her opportunities were. So, I mean, if you think about how long we've been on the planet, some people think a couple thousand years, some people think a couple million. Anyway, it's a long time. And by just twenty years in the right country, I feel like I was born and had the opportunity for Spanx.

• 54:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:38Sara Blakely?

  You know, to fulfill a potential or something inside of me as a woman that was in me. And so I'm grateful for that.

• 54:45Lewis Howes?

  That's amazing. Yeah, it's amazing. Uh, this is something called, uh, the three truths question that I ask everyone at the end.

• 54:52Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 54:53Lewis Howes?

  So if, uh, this was the, uh, the last day, many, many years from now for you. And it's your last day and you've achieved.

• 54:59Sara Blakely?

  I have no idea why, but mustard came into my mind.

• 55:02Lewis Howes?

  Okay, perfect. We'll see if that's a part of it.

• 55:04Sara Blakely?

  Okay. I don't know. I just thought I would share that with you. I was like, I want mustard.

• 55:10Lewis Howes?

  Is that like a mom thing after you have kids?

• 55:12Sara Blakely?

  I don't know. Maybe it makes everything. Just put mustard on it.

• 55:15Lewis Howes?

  Perfect.

• 55:16Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 55:16Lewis Howes?

  I actually don't like.

• 55:17Sara Blakely?

  The last one on the planet.

• 55:18Lewis Howes?

  No, you're not the last one on the planet. No, no. This is, this is, uh, the last day for you many years from now. So.

• 55:23Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 55:24Lewis Howes?

  It's the, it's the last day. Uh, you've achieved everything you want.

• 55:28Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 55:28Lewis Howes?

  Everything in your business, your family, everything you want, you've, you've got. But for whatever reason, everything you've created has been erased. Your books, your projects, your companies, it's all been gone. And your whole family and friends are there and they say, we don't have anything to remember you by. So can you write down on a piece of paper and a pen, the three things you know to be true about the lessons you've learned in life that you would pass on to us? So three truths.

• 55:56Sara Blakely?

  This is so heavy and intense.

• 55:59Lewis Howes?

  You can make it light. You can make it like, and be simple.

• 56:01Sara Blakely?

  Oh my God, wait.

• 56:01Lewis Howes?

  And this is off the cuff. So again, three lessons that you would pass on to your friends, family and the world. It can be anything you want. You can say, eat mustard as number one, but.

• 56:12Sara Blakely?

  Mustard makes everything taste good. Um, okay.

• 56:16Lewis Howes?

  Three truths.

• 56:16Sara Blakely?

  Geez.

• 56:19Sara Blakely?

  The more you experience in life, the more you'll have to offer others. So experience everything, anything and everything. Don't hold yourself back. Um, smile and be kind. And don't take it all too seriously. Remember to laugh along the way.

• 56:36Lewis Howes?

  Those are great.

• 56:37Sara Blakely?

  Is that okay?

• 56:38Lewis Howes?

  That doesn't have to be heavy, right?

• 56:39Sara Blakely?

  And use and pack mustard.

• 56:42Lewis Howes?

  I like it. Before I ask the the final question.

• 56:46Sara Blakely?

  Oh, my gosh, there's another one after that?

• 56:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, before I ask the final question, I want to I want to know, is there ever a question you wish people would ask you? That they don't ask?

• 56:57Sara Blakely?

  No, I think you did a pretty good job.

• 56:58Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 56:59Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 57:00Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 57:01Sara Blakely?

  How about that question for you?

• 57:05Lewis Howes?

  I'll tell you off camera.

• 57:06Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 57:07Lewis Howes?

  I have to think about it. I don't know. I'm so focused on you right now.

• 57:12Lewis Howes?

  Again, before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you, Sarah, for being an incredible inspiration in the world, for being a a leader for women, where I think a lot of women didn't have a lot of great leaders before you came around. And you've really stepped up to show people what's possible to have it all in all areas of life. Family, relationships, career, business, friendships, your health. And it's you're an amazing example for so many people. And your generosity and your sweetness and your kindness is even more refreshing because of what you've created. You're still a genuine, kind, caring, loving person. So I want to acknowledge you for the incredible gifts you are.

• 57:56Sara Blakely?

  Thank you. That was so nice.

• 57:58Lewis Howes?

  Of course, you're welcome.

• 57:59Sara Blakely?

  I really appreciate that. I took that in.

• 58:02Lewis Howes?

  Good.

• 58:02Sara Blakely?

  Yeah, thank you.

• 58:04Lewis Howes?

  Make sure everyone follows you on Instagram and you're gonna do a giveaway.

• 58:07Sara Blakely?

  Please. Yes, I am going to do a giveaway. I just joined Instagram.

• 58:10Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 58:11Sara Blakely?

  Okay, so I ran around the airport asking people to follow me.

• 58:15Lewis Howes?

  There you go. You're like hustling just like you were with.

• 58:18Sara Blakely?

  I can't help myself. I'm like, hi, I'm Sarah. I just joined Instagram. Everyone in the terminal is like, who cares? It's funny, but um, yeah.

• 58:25Lewis Howes?

  So we're gonna do a challenge.

• 58:26Sara Blakely?

  By follower, yes.

• 58:26Lewis Howes?

  You're gonna you're gonna give away.

• 58:28Sara Blakely?

  I'm gonna give away, I'm gonna give away 20 belly books.

• 58:31Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 58:31Sara Blakely?

  Amazing. And I'm also gonna give away 20 Spanx leggings, our faux leather leggings.

• 58:36Lewis Howes?

  They're new, hot, sexy.

• 58:38Sara Blakely?

  Keep them in stock.

• 58:39Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 58:39Sara Blakely?

  We have black gunmetal and wine color faux leather leggings that make you look fab. And I'm gonna give 20 of those away to anybody who follows me on Instagram.

• 58:49Lewis Howes?

  Follow you're Sarah Blakely on Instagram.

• 58:51Sara Blakely?

  I'm at Sarah Blakely.

• 58:52Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 58:53Sara Blakely?

  Yep.

• 58:53Lewis Howes?

  So we gotta follow you and they have to, what do they have to do?

• 58:55Sara Blakely?

  And then if they hashtag, they write something inspiring.

• 59:00Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 59:00Sara Blakely?

  In the message.

• 59:01Lewis Howes?

  On their photo, yep.

• 59:01Sara Blakely?

  On their photo. And then they hashtag.

• 59:06Lewis Howes?

  School of Greatness.

• 59:07Sara Blakely?

  The School of Greatness.

• 59:07Lewis Howes?

  Yes, School of Greatness.

• 59:08Sara Blakely?

  And then I'm gonna pick people.

• 59:09Lewis Howes?

  Okay, cool.

• 59:10Sara Blakely?

  If they have the hashtag, the School of Greatness.

• 59:11Lewis Howes?

  So you gotta follow Sarah, then you have to use the hashtag #schoolofgreatness.

• 59:15Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 59:15Lewis Howes?

  And then tag you as well, so they can see that photo. I think we should add that.

• 59:19Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 59:19Lewis Howes?

  Tag Sarah's name in that photo.

• 59:22Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 59:22Lewis Howes?

  They'll understand it. I know you're...

• 59:23Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 59:24Lewis Howes?

  You're still trying to figure it out, but trust me, people understand. If you're on Instagram, take a photo of some inspiring message. Use the hashtag #schoolofgreatness and tag Sarah as well.

• 59:33Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 59:34Lewis Howes?

  And you'll choose...

• 59:35Sara Blakely?

  And I'll be sending you leggings and books. I'm gonna just pick people at random.

• 59:38Lewis Howes?

  You'll DM them.

• 59:39Sara Blakely?

  I so appreciate the follow. Yep.

• 59:40Lewis Howes?

  You'll DM them if you choose them.

• 59:42Sara Blakely?

  We'll get their info.

• 59:42Lewis Howes?

  And you'll get the info. There you go. 20 books, 20 leggings.

• 59:45Sara Blakely?

  And I'm sending you man Spanx.

• 59:46Lewis Howes?

  I'm in. I'll try one.

• 59:47Sara Blakely?

  You'll love them.

• 59:48Lewis Howes?

  I'll take a photo and post it and tag you. Maybe I'll win some more.

• 59:51Sara Blakely?

  And I got bras. Bra-lleluia for the ladies that work with you.

• 59:54Lewis Howes?

  Bra-lleluia?

• 59:54Sara Blakely?

  Yeah.

• 59:55Lewis Howes?

  All right.

• 59:55Sara Blakely?

  We invented a bra that was so comfortable, women sing when they put it on. So we named it Bra-lleluia.

• 1:00:00Lewis Howes?

  I like that. I like that. Okay, perfect. Tiff, you down? Okay, awesome. Is there anything else that we can do to support you before the final question? Because I still haven't asked you yet.

• 1:00:10Sara Blakely?

  There's a fi...

• 1:00:11Lewis Howes?

  I haven't asked it yet. I haven't asked it yet. I just keep promoting you. So what else can we do to support you? Go buy Spanx.

• 1:00:18Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 1:00:18Lewis Howes?

  Buy the book.

• 1:00:19Sara Blakely?

  Yes.

• 1:00:19Lewis Howes?

  Follow you on Instagram.

• 1:00:20Sara Blakely?

  Because I give back to help women. So the more Spanx that are bought, the more I can do to help. It's all full circle.

• 1:00:26Lewis Howes?

  There you go.

• 1:00:26Sara Blakely?

  It's like a full circle thing here.

• 1:00:28Lewis Howes?

  I like it.

• 1:00:29Sara Blakely?

  Yeah. No, I think you did a great job. Thank you. And the Belly Book, The Belly Art Project, buy them for everybody you know. It's all for... I mean, it's a gift that gives back.

• 1:00:37Lewis Howes?

  You give it all away.

• 1:00:37Sara Blakely?

  100% is going to help moms, indeed.

• 1:00:40Lewis Howes?

  There you go. Love it. Okay, this is the final question.

• 1:00:42Sara Blakely?

  Okay.

• 1:00:43Lewis Howes?

  Sarah Blakely, what is your definition of greatness?

• 1:00:47Sara Blakely?

  My definition of greatness would be going for it no matter what, despite fear, and making the absolute most of the life that you are given, because it's not a dress rehearsal.

• 1:01:03Lewis Howes?

  Sarah Blakely, thank you so much. That was amazing.

• 1:01:06Sara Blakely?

  Absolutely.

• 1:01:07Lewis Howes?

  Appreciate it.

• 1:01:09Speaker 00

  We are so blessed and grateful to have had Sarah come in the Greatness Studio. I'm so thankful. She had incredible insights to share with me that I learned a ton and I hope you learned during this session just as much as I did as well for yourself. Again, what an inspiration. Someone who is up to big things, someone who wasn't living the life she wanted in a lot of areas of her life and decided to take a change, decided to step up and do something different, decided to understand she was afraid of something, but did it anyways. You know, this isn't someone who had it all handed to her. This isn't someone who had everything. It took her years to figure things out and then she decided to make a change. So if you are in a place right now where you think, well,

• 1:01:54Speaker 00

  she has it all. She's got this billion dollar brand and business and has the family and the kids. She didn't have it all at one point. She decided to take action. She decided to make a change. She decided to move towards her fears. So use Sarah's story as an example of inspiration on how to make a change in your life. Maybe you've been doing something for five to 10 years. It's not too late to make a change and decide to write a new story for your life moving forward. You are in control of the movie you're playing right now. What is going to be the next scene? I hope you guys enjoyed this. If you did, make sure to share it with your friends.

• 1:02:36Speaker 00

  Again, lewishouse.com/397. Connect with Sarah all over the place on social media. She's on Instagram now, so go follow her. Make sure to follow through on the challenge so you can get your pair of Spanx as well and get connected with Sarah. And if you enjoyed this, then let me know if you enjoyed this type of interview with this type of human being. Share with me over on Twitter, on Instagram, tag me @lewishouse and let me know if you like this type of interview. And if this is your first time here, thank you so much for being here. We do this every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We bring on the top leaders, world-class athletes, inspiring authors and individuals in the world who are making a difference and transforming their

• 1:03:19Speaker 00

  lives and other people's lives in the process. So make sure to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, over on Stitcher and SoundCloud and share this with your friends. Thank you guys so much for being here and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.

• 1:04:01Speaker 00

  You