Creativity and the Undercover Billionaire, Sara Blakely
Creativity and the Undercover Billionaire, Sara Blakely
The word creative, as defined by Merriam-Webster is: marked by the ability to create: given to creating. Imaginative. Quite a succinct explanation for a word that can encompass so much profound discovery. In our text, we learn that creativity is the ability to generate original ideas or solve problems in novel ways (Feldman, 2011). A simple sentence that describes Sara Blakely, the person I have chosen to focus my paper on to a tee. You might be asking, who is Sara Blakely? In fact, not many know her by name. Many women are familiar with the company she founded, Spanx, which revolutionized slimming products for women and has spawned many copy cats. Everyone should know her as the youngest, self-made female billionaire, yes, I said BILLIONAIRE, named by Forbes Magazine in the March, 2012 edition.
Blakely’s story begins the same as so many young, eager entrepreneurs with a vision. She knew she had a revolutionary idea; she just had to figure out how to make it work. A sales trainer by day who had never taken a business class and with no working knowledge of the women’s undergarment business, she started her journey. Blakely began slowly by reading books on trademarks at night and researching pantyhose and undergarment patents. Initially, she consulted with several lawyers who thought her idea was so crazy that they were being filmed for an episode of Candid Camera (Blakely, 2011). She eventually wrote the patents herself and had a lawyer help her write the claims. Her patent was approved and she successfully trademarked the name Spanx. Her next step was to find a manufacturer to create her products. She took a week off from work and drove around North Carolina begging mill owners to help make her idea. Once again, she hit a brick wall. Most of the manufacturers wanted to know who she worked for and who she was financially backed by. When she explained that she was trying to start her
The word creative, as defined by Merriam-Webster is: marked by the ability to create: given to creating. Imaginative. Quite a succinct explanation for a word that can encompass so much profound discovery. In our text, we learn that creativity is the ability to generate original ideas or solve problems in novel ways (Feldman, 2011). A simple sentence that describes Sara Blakely, the person I have chosen to focus my paper on to a tee. You might be asking, who is Sara Blakely? In fact, not many know her by name. Many women are familiar with the company she founded, Spanx, which revolutionized slimming products for women and has spawned many copy cats. Everyone should know her as the youngest, self-made female billionaire, yes, I said BILLIONAIRE, named by Forbes Magazine in the March, 2012 edition.
Blakely’s story begins the same as so many young, eager entrepreneurs with a vision. She knew she had a revolutionary idea; she just had to figure out how to make it work. A sales trainer by day who had never taken a business class and with no working knowledge of the women’s undergarment business, she started her journey. Blakely began slowly by reading books on trademarks at night and researching pantyhose and undergarment patents. Initially, she consulted with several lawyers who thought her idea was so crazy that they were being filmed for an episode of Candid Camera (Blakely, 2011). She eventually wrote the patents herself and had a lawyer help her write the claims. Her patent was approved and she successfully trademarked the name Spanx. Her next step was to find a manufacturer to create her products. She took a week off from work and drove around North Carolina begging mill owners to help make her idea. Once again, she hit a brick wall. Most of the manufacturers wanted to know who she worked for and who she was financially backed by. When she explained that she was trying to start her
References: Feldman, Robert S. Essentials of Understanding Psychology. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print. Blakely, Sara. "SPANX -Sara 's Story." SPANX -. N.p., 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. "The Creative Personality." Psychology Today. N.p., 13 June 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. O 'Connor, Clare. "Undercover Billionaire: Sara Blakely Joins The Rich List Thanks To Spanx." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 07 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.