Don't act like you've arrived when you're just receiving the invitation.
— Sophia Amoruso
My parents taught me the value of money and working hard. And I kind of got that in me intuitively.
I was terrified and confused every day of my life until I started Nasty Gal, and for a good while after as well.
I am still a lover of paper books. One of my first jobs was in a bookstore, and I still like to be able to write in a margin and feel the paper. Once inside of a digital device, I end up losing things.
It's important that people are open. Some people say, 'I'm going to be a doctor,' and they're a really good doctor. But for the rest of us, it's a big question mark. Just giving yourself a break, letting yourself try new things, and when something doesn't work out, moving along... it's all we can really do.
If you look at my Instagram, girls are just beating down my door for tips or a job or mentorship. I can't hire every single one of them. My story is one thing that gives them hope. It's an unconventional story with anecdotes, commonsense advice and a big dose of permission to figure things out for yourself.
You are not a special snowflake.
I don't lead with an iron fist. I don't yell at people. I have a way of making my opinion clear.
Making small talk about what someone is wearing is just another form of unsolicited feedback.
Creativity and business acumen don't always go hand in hand.
I had 60,000 friends on MySpace.
I'm a capitalist, I'm a CEO, I run a big business, I'm an employer.
The modern girl is less concerned with everything being a brand name.
EBay gave me the framework to discover I was an e-commerce entrepreneur. I touched everything, from shipping to logistics.
I've never seen someone work for a salary.
It's the beauty of the Web. You can pretend to be anything you want. But people figure out pretty quick if you don't live up to it.
There's no 'Chutes and Ladders' in life.
Every other fashion brand out there - including those that I call 'competitors' - are run by mostly old white men, and the customer knows it.
Music is such a big part of my life.
I wrote '#GIRLBOSS' while running a $100 million-plus revenue business.
When you owe money to people, you're always going to owe money to people, so you should take care of it as soon as possible. It doesn't go away just because you ignore it.
Everyone is told to go to high school and get good grades and go to college and get good grades and then get a job and then get a better job. There's no one really telling a story about how they totally blew it, and they figured it out.
Every woman who has a business book has a platform. For the most part, they're either a television personality or someone who had the perfect pedigree and worked their way up the career ladder.
Failure is your invention.
Don't you dare alter your inner freak.
I've been wondering for a while now if the CEO role is one that I want - and the one that I'm best at.
I'm really good at hiring good people.
It was my full intent as a teenager to smash capitalism and eat dumpster food.
I've probably spent more time than any other brand reading every last comment. To listen to people the way you're able to online is very powerful.
Nothing will teach you more about perceived value than taking something with literally no value and selling it in the auction format. It teaches you the beauty and power of presentation, and how you can make magic out of nothing.
The first thing I ever sold online was stolen.
My philosophy is that you sell things for more than you bought them.
Only the paranoid survive.
I learned the hard way that taking shortcuts and living for free is not really living free.
You can work for other people and still be a #GIRLBOSS; it's more about a state of mind and knowing yourself well enough to know when you're making decisions for yourself or because the world expects them of you. And guess what? It's okay to do that sometimes, too.
I work in silence.
I didn't buy the Porsche for status. I hate that, and it's actually kind of goofy now because in L.A., a Porsche is like a Honda. It was just that I could pay that much money for a car and drive it off the lot.
There are a lot of parents who've come to me and said about their daughters, 'Oh my God, she's 21, she's totally flailing. Your story gives me hope.' I put my mom through that.
My favorite magazine is the 'Harvard Business Review.' If someone sat across from me in a restaurant and didn't know me, that might surprise them.
I have three pieces of advice I want you to remember: Don't ever grow up. Don't become a bore. Don't let The Man get to you.
A lot of people in my generation don't seem to get that you have to work your way up. I don't care if filing invoices is beneath you. If you don't do it, who do you think is going to? Your boss? Nope. That's why she hired you.
I want to give other creatives the opportunity to find the entrepreneur inside themselves and teach them how to build their own platform.
It was easy for me in my bathrobe to provide really great customer service. As an introvert, it's really much easier to do than when standing in a retail store.
Getting fired was always a big deal to me. It's a bit like having someone break up with you.
I built a huge profitable business with no debt.
Lots of people are going to sell clothes online. But not a lot of people have built a brand, a living, breathing brand that people feel like they're part of.
Everyone does a style book, and I wanted to write a business book for people that didn't think they would like a business book.
I make money, and I don't need money.
A lot of young people who I employ expect a raise after three months or expect not to have to put in more work than what's in their job description.
