Girl Boss
More than a book, this poppy colored cover adventure is a guide to anyone who is staring a business. From the get go, the founder of Nasty Gal, Sophia Amoruso voted one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in her 30s mixes her life lessons with rebellion and smart business sav.
This personal take on staring a business, is an honest tale of how one women built her e business on ebay selling vintage fashion, and became obsessed with her product. From sourcing vintage items, to negotiation on bulk items from funeral homes, to photographing modeling and styling her looks, to her cause towards customer service, there is no stopping Sophia from getting what she wants and building her 100 million dollar empire with no debt, loan, or investor.
What I personally enjoyed about the book, is the writing style. Witty personal and passionate I feel all barriers and informalities are broken and within a few pages short, I can hear and befriend Sophia. She is accessible, likeable, and honest. In a business culture where we tend not to share our failed experiences, Sophia shares her how she went into stealing, and was homeless for a while before she found her true calling as an entrepreneur. It is inspiring to go through the pages as she rises to fame, imagining her as a one-man band in a rented villa to her 350 plus employee team.
What key lessons I feel most women entrepreneurs and women in general can take form this book is really to get your hands dirty and to be savy with money. She has no shame explaining how she was horrified to find designer chairs in their new office after coming back from a once in a lifetime break from Hawaii, and how she made the office manager sell them on ebay and get more affordable chairs.
For the past 5 years, all I have been hearing from everyone I know is you should be paying yourself a better salary, you should expense the company your trips, your phone bill, your lunch, and I have chosen to completely forgo this, opting to be like Sophia when she admits not paying herself a salary for years and choosing to invest in her company and herself. Seeing that chapter on budgeting and how she chose to save her money instead of spent it, gave me a sense of relief as for the longest time, I thought that something was wrong with the way I budgeted and saw the company money, but as Sophia said, money looks so much better as zeros when I use the ATM than as a pair of shoes in my closet.
For any women wishing to start a business, or has an existing business in e – commerce, fashion, styling, buying, or for any women wishing to take control of her life, and destiny to sing the national anthem of Girl Boss, I highly recommend this fast paced, fun, and energetic book on business star ups and everything in between.