Billionaire Sara Blakely says she launched Spanx with just $5,000 from selling fax machines—and never took on a single investor: ‘I bet on myself’
Imagine knocking on doors to sell fax machines—then, years later, becoming a billionaire. That’s exactly what Sara Blakely did. The 54-year-old founder of Spanx recently spoke with The School of Hard Knocks, a YouTube channel focused on financial literacy and entrepreneurial content, where she talked about how she built her own company—with money she saved up from years of selling fax machines, and with no outside investors.
“I started it with five grand from selling fax machines and self-funded the entire 21 years,” Blakely, currently worth an estimated $1.3 billion, said. “I sat down with myself and I was like, you wanna spend your five grand on a vacation? Or do you wanna try to bet on yourself?”
Blakely’s journey with Spanx began in 2000 when she was 29 years old, working as a national sales trainer for Danka, an office-supply company, after spending seven years selling fax machines door-to-door. Her breakthrough moment came from personal frustration: She wanted to wear white pants but couldn’t find the right undergarment to create smooth lines beneath them. Her solution—cutting the feet off control-top pantyhose—became the foundation for what would eventually become a $1.2 billion company.
What sets Blakely apart from most entrepreneurs was her refusal to accept outside investment.
“I never had a single investor in Spanx other than me,” she said.
The Florida State University grad started Spanx while still working her day job at Danka, spending nights researching fabrics, patents, and trademark designs. She wrote her own patent application, secured the Spanx trademark for $150, and found a hosiery mill willing to produce her prototype after multiple rejections. But by disallowing outside investment, she maintained total control over her company, and its profits.
When asked about the craziest thing she did as a business owner when just starting out, Blakely said she had just secured placement for Spanx in Neiman Marcus, but after noticing she was put in a “pocket” in the store’s expansive hosiery department, she bought bins at Office Depot and placed them at every cash register throughout the store—”which is so, so not okay,” she admitted.
“Neiman Marcus has a very strict visual department, but everybody thought somebody else approved it,” she said. “So I was trying to get the product out of the sleepiest corner of the store and move it around to where the customers actually were … You do whatever it takes.”