It’s possible I figured out what I wanted to do by people telling me I couldn’t or shouldn’t do it. It’s really astounding how discouraging people can be, especially if it’s something that seems particularly risky. But, you know, risk can be thrilling. I’ve often made hard career choices based on how scared I was of the opportunity. When the stakes are high—I’m talking cataclysmic-level change, success or failure—sometimes you just have to jump, screaming the whole fucking way. I don’t know if there is any greater feeling then proving you are your own biggest advocate. And all that noise out there is seriously just bullshit.
My mom is the hardest worker I know. She taught me that showing up is the most important part of any role. And, of course, my team inspires me hourly! It is because of them that I read a lot and never, ever take anything for granted. Simply by being so smart and curious, they inspire me to be an excellent editor, a courageous leader, and someone who motivates them to create cool and special stuff. When you’re collaborating with other people, it’s important to know what you don’t know and to find the best person in that area to teach you. Be a leader even in teams of one because in the beginning, there’s a lot of that! You have to listen, really listen, and root for other people’s success. That’s a big one. Because it won’t always be you, but eventually, it will be.
For me, creativity isn’t just in my work—it’s how I think and live my life. It’s not necessarily about always creating something new, but simply having the space and freedom to let something special happen. It’s how I bring beauty and joy into my surroundings and my relationships. I like to be challenged; seeing or reading something that opens my eyes or gives me chills is the whole point of everything. My advice to aspiring #GIRLBOSSes: As hard as it is, stop caring so much about what other people think. Find a way to hear what you want. Recognize what is your dream. And then put everything you have into that: your work, the relationships you surround yourself with, the food you put in your body. Everything you have control over in your world should feed that dream and make you feel like a #GIRLBOSS!
9
Taking Care of (Your) Business
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
—Abraham Lincoln
I never started a business. I started an eBay store, and ended up with a business. I never would have done it had I known it was going to become this big. I was twenty-two and, like most twenty-two-year-olds, I was looking for a way to pay my rent and buy my Starbucks chai. Had someone shown me the future of where Nasty Gal would be in 2014, I would have gasped in revulsion, thinking, Oh, hell no, that is way too much work. The name of the company alone should clue you in to this fact—who would have thought that a company called Nasty Gal could be so successful? I sure as shit never intended to be saying those two words all day, every day, seven years later.
There are different kinds of entrepreneurs. There are the ones who start a business because they’re educated and choose to, and the ones who do it because it is really the only option. I definitely fall into the latter category. I considered myself completely unemployable, and wanted to give one last shot at my ideal of being “jobless.” And boy, did being jobless work for me.
Nasty Gal would have surely failed had it been my goal to grow a business to the size that I have today. When you begin with the finish line in mind, you miss all the fun stuff along the way. The better approach is to tweak and grow, tweak and grow. I call it the incremental potential. In e-commerce, you have to get everything right—from the marketing to the product descriptions to the checkout process. Because I started small, I think I inherently did that from the beginning. Customer service was my number one priority. A lot of people run their businesses like their customers are dummies. This is a mistake. If you’re just out to take their money, they know it. But if you genuinely care about what you’re doing, they will respond. I knew my customers and knew what they liked, because I was my customer. And rather than dictating what I thought my customers should buy and wear, I listened instead. If I bought something and they hated it, I moved on. Rather than force my idea of what Nasty Gal should be on my customers, I let them tell me along the way.
Nasty Gal felt like the best-dressed girl’s best-kept secret—except that it was a secret she really wanted to share. As I mentioned earlier, one key to running a successful business is to know how to get free marketing. Rule number one? That’s simple. Just do a good job. Through the styling, photography, and voice of the brand, Nasty Gal was an exciting place to shop, but if our customers weren’t equally as stoked when they were holding one of our products in their hands, then that excitement lived and died on the Internet. I don’t take it lightly when someone buys something from me. I know there are a million places where people can buy a dress, a crop top, or a pair of shoes, so I want to make sure that if someone is buying it from Nasty Gal, she feels like it’s worth it. We’re dressing girls for the best years of their lives, so whether you drop $300 or shop the sale section, I want you to look and feel like a million bucks.
Rule number two: Keep your promises. When girls bought something from Nasty Gal, what they got in the mail was just as amazing as what they’d seen online. Customers became not only loyal, but also evangelical. They came back again and again, and shared their excitement with their friends—frequently on the Internet. It was the kind of natural word of mouth that can’t be bought.
Rule number three: Give your customers something to share. Social media is built on sharing, and Nasty Gal was giving girls something amazing to share each and every day. Whether it was a crazy vintage piece, a quote, or a behind-the-scenes photo, we have always worked hard to create the best and most compelling images, words, and content for our customers.
At most companies the person manning the Twitter and Facebook accounts is far from the top of the food chain. But at Nasty Gal, even though I’m not always composing every tweet, I still read every comment. If our customers are unhappy about something, I hear it first. At other businesses, it might take months for customer feedback to filter up to the CEO, if at all. Social media allows me to have my ear to the ground even when I’m out pounding the pavement. When Nasty Gal joined Snapchat, it meant that I joined Snapchat. I sent out a few Snaps, and our customers responded in force. There’s nothing more thrilling than sending private texts directly to a customer and seeing what she has to say in response.
Call me crazy, but I truly believe that Nasty Gal is a feeling. And though our community lives in many different places, it’s that feeling that unifies our customers and makes us about much more than selling clothes.
The Incremental Potential
Author Malcolm Gladwell believes that one can be an expert at something after putting in ten thousand hours of practice. Needless to say, my ten thousand hours are far behind me. Had I waited to finish a business plan, or waited for investors to validate my idea, my ten-thousand-hour clock might never have begun. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not knocking business plans. What I intend to illustrate is that just going for it can be much more rewarding. Business plans are just a starting point—the best entrepreneurs know to listen along the way and adjust things, including their business plan. This advice applies to life as well, dear #GIRLBOSS. Turn on the jets and ready, set, . . . listen.