How Failure Molded Spanx's Founder

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How did you know how to create a business from your idea?

At heart I am a salesperson, and I wanted to sell the product and let the rest work itself out. Once I started to get accounts, the business plan and infrastructure setup happened. That's why Spanx was profitable from the first month.

I think that there is a fine line between ignorance and confidence. I didn't know how to run a business and I had never taken a business course in my life. From the beginning, I had no board of advisers (BusinessWeek.com, 2/1/07) and nobody to consult on this journey except for my own gut. I am a case study of 'if you didn't know how this is done, this is how you do it.' It's interesting. Now I give speeches and I always ask: If no one showed you how to do your job, how would you be doing it? Take a moment and ask that question. Often your way is better. Maybe it's a fresh new approach. If you are doing something the way that everyone is doing it, you are not really creating change by doing it that way.

You've said that failure was a huge part of your success—how so?

Because I failed the LSAT. Basically, if I had not failed, I'd have been a lawyer and there would be no Spanx. I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. It is liberating. Most people attach failure to something not working out or how people perceive you. This way, it is about answering to yourself.

What's the best piece of business advice you ever received?

It probably came down to my father. When I was growing up, he encouraged us to fail. We'd come home from school and at dinner he'd say: 'What did you fail at today?' And if there was nothing, he'd be disappointed. It was a really interesting kind of reverse psychology. I would come home and say that I tried out for something and I was just horrible and he high-fived me.

If you had it to do over again, what, if anything, would you do differently?

Nothing. I believed in and I trusted my gut and honored it through the whole process. Our gut is a real guide and when we regret something it is usually when we are not acting in accordance with our gut feelings.

How did you maintain your confidence when doors were closed in your face, when people didn't get it and said "no" frequently?

I was my own focus group. I had already tried the product and I saw what it did for me. I knew if they said "no," I just said they didn't get it. I never second-guessed the product. Before it was actually made I did hear "no" a lot. It was very discouraging. At times I stopped out of discouragement, but I never lost confidence in the fact that it was a good idea.

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Entrepreneurship
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Perman is a staff writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.