Episode 112 Sophia Amoruso

Summary

• Sophia Amoruso is the founder and Executive Chairman of Nasty Gal, a global online destination for new and vintage clothing, shoes and accessories.
• She was named the fastest growing retailer in 2012 by Ink Magazine, with an 11,200 percent threeyear growth rate.
• She is an author, with her book #girlboss becoming a New York Times bestseller published in 15 countries.
• She also founded the #girlbossfoundation, which awards financial grants to women in the world of design, fashion and music.
• She shared a funny story of accidentally pooping her pants in high school, and other anecdotes such as having three related poodles, living on a street called Orange Blossom twice, loving karaoke, and being a big supporter of reality TV.
• Sophia Amoruso started her business by selling vintage clothing on eBay.
• She had never worked in a clothing store before and eBay was not her intention to get into the fashion industry.
• She was 22 and working at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco when she got the idea.
• She was getting friend requests on Myspace from eBay sellers and noticed the prices vintage pieces were fetching.
• She bought eBay for Dummies and had a friend model for free.
• She knew where to find vintage clothing as she had spent her youth in thrift stores.
• She found estate sales through Craig’s List and the newspaper and would line up early to be the first in.
• She knew how to take pictures and used eBay to get a read on what people liked.
• Sophia Amoruso learned quickly what was working and what wasn't when selling items on eBay and tweaked her approach with every auction.
• She optimized thumbnails and titles to make items stand out, and used bright images to show the silhouette of the item.
• She learned about perceived value and how to make throwaway items worth more.
• She used her mother's writing skills and her own voice to write persuasive copy.
• She was inspired by the movie Girl Boss Guerrilla and the genre of Japanese Pinky films.
• Her favorite book to gift to others is The Richest Man in Babylon, a parable written 100 years ago with advice that still holds true today.
• She admires Rainer Maria Roka's On Love.
• Sophia Amoruso has been building her business for almost a decade. She reads nonfiction books to learn practical skills and relaxes by watching reality TV, hanging out with her three poodle siblings, and crying for five minutes when overwhelmed. The business name Nasty Gal was inspired by an album by Betty Davis. She left eBay to promote her own website and had to buy the URL from a porn company. She believes in committing to promises and willing things into happening.
• Sophia Amoruso started selling on eBay and made $7,000 in the first year
• She put up a domain for her website, Nasty Gal Vintage, and left feedback for her customers on eBay with the URL
• eBay suspended her for sending traffic off their website
• Editors heard about the website launch and did coverage of it
• The website sold out instantly with 150 orders
• Kelly Ripa's stylist called asking for a vintage jacket in extra small
• Editors followed her on Myspace and talked about the launch
• Sophia suggests testing the product before launching and presenting it well
• She recommends Squarespace for website design and marketplaces like 99designs for illustrations
• Sophia Amoruso discussed the challenges of scaling an ecommerce business, such as infrastructure and people.
• She discussed the importance of having tools that everyone can rally around to keep the brand aesthetic and spirit consistent.
• She mentioned the need for a brand bible and filters to make decisions about the brand voice, how to take pictures, and the guardrails that people can explore within.
• She also mentioned the importance of having conversations about the brand that are not based on personal taste or ego.
• She recommended the book Venture Deals: Be Smarter than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist and the handbook for New Employees from the software company Valve.
• Tim Ferriss and Sophia Amoruso discuss the Valve Employee Handbook, which is a free PDF with great illustrations that lays out the basic ground rules for working within an unusual culture.
• They also discuss absurd things they have done, such as Sophia Amoruso's #girlbus tour.
• Tim Ferriss shares his experience with managing people and his difficulty with providing praise.
• Sophia Amoruso shares that she has had executive coaches and is aware of her shortcomings as a manager and leader.
• She admires Natalie Massenet, founder of NetaPorter, and Mickey Drexler, CEO of J. Crew, as role models.
• Mickey Drexler, CEO of J. Crew, gave Sophia Amoruso advice to stay CEO.
• Sophia struggles with not having enough time for everyone she wants to spend time with.
• She is driven and has stepped out of the CEO role, but is still involved as Chairman.
• Key inflection points for Nasty Gal include launching an eBay store, selling a Chanel jacket for over $1,000, launching the website and selling out overnight, hiring her first employee, buying items from trade shows, raising $50 million from Index Ventures, and four pages in Forbes in 2012.
• Sophia Amoruso was introduced to Forbes through a friend of a friend.
• She hired a PR consultant to help her with the media.
• She learned to be careful with what she says and to not say anything if she has nothing to say.
• Tim Ferriss advised to always do fact check corrections via email and not phone.
• Sophia Amoruso learned that the media always wants something to talk about and can skew things for their own benefit.
• She also learned to stomach the occasional negative comment for the journalist's credibility.
• When asked what makes her happiest, Sophia Amoruso said running down a trail in the forest.
• She struggles with depression and anxiety and has been in and out of therapy her whole life.
• She has tried antidepressants and alcohol can help, but she is laying off the booze now.
• Sophia Amoruso likes white wine, particularly Gewürztraminer from Clif Family Winery
• She believes success is not a destination, but rather a journey
• Her favorite movie is The Color of Pomegranates by Sergei Parajanov
• She is world class at playing catch and has catlike reflexes
• Common misconceptions about her include that she is egotistical
• Sophia Amoruso was surprised when people told her she was not as egotistical as they thought she would be.
• When asked what she would put on a billboard, she said she would put nothing on it and put it everywhere.
• She discussed the back story of her campaign "Stop Telling Women to Smile".
• She stepped down from her role as CEO of Nasty Gal to focus on the creative part of the business.
• Her morning routine includes exercise and breakfast.
• Sophia Amoruso wakes up and takes her Invisalign out of her mouth. She has botoxed her jaw to reduce clenching. She drinks coffee with heavy cream and sometimes eats rolled oats with honey, milk, salt, and raisins; a pancake made of egg whites and rolled oats; or a white smoothie with apple, Greek yoghurt, and cinnamon. She sometimes works out, and if she could only choose a couple of exercises for the rest of her life, they would be elliptical and glute exercises.
• Sophia Amoruso recommends dead lifts, lunges, squat jumps, and shoulder presses as exercises for a big butt.
• Her advice to her 30yearold self is that the hustle never ends.
• She is looking forward to a trip to Tokyo in the next twelve months.
• She recommends people compliment someone today and be nice.
• People can learn more about her at nastygal.com, Instagram, Twitter, and Snap Chat (sophia_amoruso).
• Her podcast, Girl Boss Radio, is launching next month and her book, Girl Boss, has 835 reviews on Amazon with 70% five stars.