#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso (Portfolio; published 5/6/14)
It takes a lot of balls to be a boss. Sophia Amoruso should know. As founder and former-CEO of Nasty Gal Vintage, she made an empire out of selling what she calls “anti-fashion,” first on eBay and then on her own e-commerce site.
How did she grow from an eBay seller into a $100 million company? Marketing savvy. She would actively seek out friends of friends that seemed like they might like her clothing, and then then she would produce good content–photos, blog posts and bulletins–on a regular basis for each auction she had on her eBay site.
Other keys to her success included being a thief once or twice, not finishing college and being rebellious. I won’t go into too much detail, but I’m glad she shared the less-than-ideal parts of her story in her new book, #GIRLBOSS, because honestly, being an entrepreneur isn’t about being perfect or living life a certain way. It’s about being in control of your life and giving it 100 percent.
One of the greatest takeaways for me was how goal-focused Amoruso is, in all ways. She goes as far as setting her online passwords up to be a word or phrase that is a promise to herself or a financial goal for the company.
“Every time I go to log in anywhere, I’m subtly reminding myself of what I’m working for. This ensures that when I’m bogged down with day-to-day bureaucracy and details, I don’t lose sight of what I really want,” she writes.
This is the book you read if you want more than a typical nine-to-five work life. It’s full of catchy and inspiring business how-to nuggets.
