This woman cut the feet off her pantyhose, and built a $1.2 billion company.

This woman cut the feet off her pantyhose, and built a $1.2 billion company. She cut the feet off her pantyhose and built a $1.2 billion company. Meet Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. For seven years, Sarah sells fax machines door to door in the Florida heat. One night before a party, she cuts the feet off her pantyhose. White pants. It works. And she can't buy it anywhere. So at 27, she takes her $5,000 of savings and starts building it from her apartment. Lawyers quoted her $3,000 for the patent, so she writes it herself from a Barnes & Noble textbook. She calls the hosiery mills, all run by men. Every single one says no. Then one calls back. He'd told his daughters, and they made him say yes. She calls it Spanx. She talks her way into 10 minutes with Neiman Marcus. And when the buyer starts drifting to the bathroom, and models the different herself. The buyer puts Spanx in seven stores on the spot. She mails a gift basket to Oprah's stylist. Quits her day job. And two weeks later, Oprah names Spanx her favorite product of the year. Sales hit $4 million in year one. And Sarah never takes a dollar from investors. In 2021, she sells Spanx to Blackstone at a $1.2 billion valuation. Until that day, she owned every share. Every employee $10,000 and two first-class tickets to anywhere on Earth.