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REID HOFFMAN:
Welcome back to Day 2 of the Masters of Scale Course: The Mindset of Scale. Take a few moments to switch from multi-tasking to mono-tasking. Just for these 10 minutes. Okay. Here we go.
Whether you're a first-time entrepreneur looking for that big idea, a founder who needs to pivot or a scale executive looking for the next breakthrough – the mindset is the same.
To show you what I mean, I want to share a story from Sara Blakely, CEO and founder of Spanx. Sara's now a self-made billionaire. And while her product and approach might be quite different from yours, there's a lot to take from her story. We'll start the story from where she started out...
SARA BLAKELY:
I was selling fax machines door-to-door for a living.
HOFFMAN:
Door-to-door fax machine sales – not exactly disruptive tech. It was a dead-end career, and Sara knew it. She had to get out.
BLAKELY:
I literally had a moment, Reid, where I pulled off the side of the road and was like, "I'm in the wrong movie. This is not my life. Call the director or the producer. I'm not supposed to be being escorted out of buildings, and business card ripped up in my face, all day cold-calling."
HOFFMAN:
On the side of the road that night, Sara's despair led to a clarity of purpose. And that clarity became the catalyst that sparked the big idea.
BLAKELY:
And so I went home that night, and I wrote down in my journal, "I want to invent a product that I can sell to millions of people that will make them feel good." This was something that I set intention for; I had really asked the universe to give me an idea that I could bring to the world.
HOFFMAN:
Different people have different ways of expressing how ideas came to them. Sara will tell you that she asked the universe, and the universe answered. I would interpret it a bit differently. I'd say Sara kept asking the same set of interesting questions, starting with, "Is this my big idea?" And one day, inevitably, the answer was going to be "Yes."
It came to her as she was getting ready to go to a party, and found herself aggravated by her wardrobe options.
BLAKELY:
I wanted to wear my cream pants to a party, and I was a frustrated consumer that had no undergarment to wear under them that wouldn't show. So I cut the feet out of my own control-top pantyhose so I could throw them on under my pants and wear any kind of great strappy heel. And it worked beautifully – except for they rolled up my leg all night at the party, and I came home that night and I was like, "This should exist for women."
HOFFMAN:
Sara just uttered three words that flicker like a neon flashing light over a truly big idea. Those three words? "This should exist." They're your clue that you've stumbled onto something with real potential. If you feel, as a consumer, that you need it, if you can imagine a crowd of others nodding with emphatic encouragement, this just might be your idea.
And Sara had spent years scanning the horizon for that neon sign pointing to her big idea. When she saw it, she followed the sign. And you may ask yourself: How many other women had mutilated their pantyhose in exactly the same way? The answer, apparently, is: plenty.
BLAKELY:
I meet women all the time that have been cutting the feet out of their pantyhose for years trying to solve undergarment issues for themselves. And they're always like, "Why didn't I do Spanx?" And I really just think it's because I had been looking for this and was prepared in my mind to go for whatever idea presented itself.
HOFFMAN:
Sara was prepared to go for whatever idea presented itself. So when the idea struck, she was ready. All the other women who had the same thought simply went to their party and back to work the next morning, leaving the neon sign, "This should exist" behind them in the night.
This is a pivotal moment in Sara's trajectory. She calls it the moment that Spanx was born. But here's the thing: It wasn't born just because Sara came up with an idea. It was born because she decided to do something about it.
Sara could have just kept cutting the feet off pantyhose every time she had a party to attend. She could've just tolerated her makeshift contraption rolling up her legs all night. Instead, she saw an opportunity – and seized it. It started with a little reconnaissance.
BLAKELY:
I went to Neiman's and Saks and asked: "What do women wear under these white pants?" And the sales ladies would always say, "Well, we don't really know," or they'd point me in the direction of the shapewear that did exist, and it was really thick and dreadful and too much control, or not what I was looking for. And then there was regular underwear, which left a panty line that was visible – so there was this big gap.
HOFFMAN:
I want to acknowledge that women's shapewear is not exactly one of my personal areas of expertise. But every great investor spends time understanding underserved markets that are not their own.
BLAKELY:
So I was doing two things. I was trying to determine if there was a marketplace beyond just my own thought and what I wanted, and at the same time, I was iterating the product.
HOFFMAN:
Mind you, Sara had no background in fashion design or clothes fabrication. But that didn't stop her.
BLAKELY:
I tried to make the prototypes myself. I went to fabric stores and bought elastic and tried to like paper clip it to the end, and then I tried to sew it. It was through the iteration of the prototype that I really started to love it and love what it could do for my wardrobe.
HOFFMAN:
Sara loved her handmade versions. But she quickly saw their limitations. She wanted to take it one step further, by partnering with a manufacturing plant that could produce at capacity.
And this is a critical step for anyone developing an idea. You have to surround yourself with people who can help.
Sara didn't know anyone in manufacturing. But when she reached out to find them, they instantly understood her vision, right? Not exactly.
BLAKELY:
No one took my call.
HOFFMAN:
Sara couldn't get anyone to see the genius behind her simple idea. Footless pantyhose? What's the point?
As an aside, I have a sneaking suspicion that Sara was speaking to mostly male manufacturers. If she'd been pitching other women, she may have found a willing partner more quickly – because they would've understood the problem she was trying to solve. Great ideas get passed over, because the people in charge just don't understand the issue.
BLAKELY:
I cold called all the manufacturing plants. Every single person thought this was the craziest idea.
They didn't get it, but I ended up getting one manufacturer in North Carolina that called me after I did my cold-calling rounds begging all of these people to try to make my product. He said the only reason why he gave me the chance was my enthusiasm for the idea. He still didn't think it was a good idea.
HOFFMAN:
Sara's story is one of true grit – remember, she didn't have any experience with business, or retail, or fashion. But what I want you to notice is the concrete steps first to find – and then to develop her idea. She had primed herself to be open for opportunities. And when the idea did come to her, she took it seriously. And she acted. (going back to that bias to action, we talked about yesterday).
But what came next was equally important. And it matters not just to entrepreneurs, but to scale leaders as well. Sara began the long, arduous but hopefully joyful process of iterating on the idea – and asking questions. She knew that to succeed, she had to be continually open to information and ideas – always in search of the insights and people who could help her turn her idea into a reality.
And I'm sure many of you are nodding along. But it's one thing to believe you should stay open – and quite another to actually be open. One of the things we know about changing mindset and behavior is that it doesn't happen by THINKING. It happens by DOING. That's why, in this course, I'll give you a concrete exercise, prompt or habit to adopt every day.
So today's exercise will help build your muscle for idea generation and iteration. I want you to take a piece of paper. Yes, paper – because studies show that physically writing things down can support memory. Hold the paper vertically and fold it in half, so you have 2 columns.
At the top of the first column, write "WHO". On top of the second column, write "WHERE." This will be your "Who/Where" list for idea generation. First, I want you to think about WHO can help you improve your idea? Of all the people you know: Who feeds your enthusiasm? Who helps you think better? Note: Those may not be the same people! Now think about people you DON'T know who can help you. Sara talked to department store clerks and factory owners. Who could help shape U ideas?
In the second column, I want you to write down WHERE you have your best ideas. It might be out in nature, or while driving. It might be at a cafe where you can feel the energy of people around you. It might be at a whiteboard with your team. Or it might be in the quiet of your kitchen first thing in the morning.
Wherever, whenever and however, the point is this: an idea won't come looking for you, and it won't perfect itself. You have to put yourself in spaces, places and frames of mind, where you can find and shape the idea. Once you have this "who/where" list – you have your action plan. Start talking to the people in column A and spending time with the places in Column B
In tomorrow's Daily Practice, we'll learn to interpret the one-syllable word that entrepreneurs hear most: N-O. No.
In the meantime, watch for our email with a summary of today's Daily Practice and the action you can take to deepen your learnings. They're here in the app too. But the email is specifically designed to help you remember what you heard here, after you set your phone down.
I'll see you tomorrow, for Day 3.
Welcome back to Day 2 of the Masters of Scale Course: The Mindset of Scale. Take a few moments to switch from multi-tasking to mono-tasking. Just for these 10 minutes. Okay. Here we go.
Whether you're a first-time entrepreneur looking for that big idea, a founder who needs to pivot or a scale executive looking for the next breakthrough – the mindset is the same.
To show you what I mean, I want to share a story from Sara Blakely, CEO and founder of Spanx. Sara's now a self-made billionaire. And while her product and approach might be quite different from yours, there's a lot to take from her story. We'll start the story from where she started out...
SARA BLAKELY:
I was selling fax machines door-to-door for a living.
HOFFMAN:
Door-to-door fax machine sales – not exactly disruptive tech. It was a dead-end career, and Sara knew it. She had to get out.
BLAKELY:
I literally had a moment, Reid, where I pulled off the side of the road and was like, "I'm in the wrong movie. This is not my life. Call the director or the producer. I'm not supposed to be being escorted out of buildings, and business card ripped up in my face, all day cold-calling."
HOFFMAN:
On the side of the road that night, Sara's despair led to a clarity of purpose. And that clarity became the catalyst that sparked the big idea.
BLAKELY:
And so I went home that night, and I wrote down in my journal, "I want to invent a product that I can sell to millions of people that will make them feel good." This was something that I set intention for; I had really asked the universe to give me an idea that I could bring to the world.
HOFFMAN:
Different people have different ways of expressing how ideas came to them. Sara will tell you that she asked the universe, and the universe answered. I would interpret it a bit differently. I'd say Sara kept asking the same set of interesting questions, starting with, "Is this my big idea?" And one day, inevitably, the answer was going to be "Yes."
It came to her as she was getting ready to go to a party, and found herself aggravated by her wardrobe options.
BLAKELY:
I wanted to wear my cream pants to a party, and I was a frustrated consumer that had no undergarment to wear under them that wouldn't show. So I cut the feet out of my own control-top pantyhose so I could throw them on under my pants and wear any kind of great strappy heel. And it worked beautifully – except for they rolled up my leg all night at the party, and I came home that night and I was like, "This should exist for women."
HOFFMAN:
Sara just uttered three words that flicker like a neon flashing light over a truly big idea. Those three words? "This should exist." They're your clue that you've stumbled onto something with real potential. If you feel, as a consumer, that you need it, if you can imagine a crowd of others nodding with emphatic encouragement, this just might be your idea.
And Sara had spent years scanning the horizon for that neon sign pointing to her big idea. When she saw it, she followed the sign. And you may ask yourself: How many other women had mutilated their pantyhose in exactly the same way? The answer, apparently, is: plenty.
BLAKELY:
I meet women all the time that have been cutting the feet out of their pantyhose for years trying to solve undergarment issues for themselves. And they're always like, "Why didn't I do Spanx?" And I really just think it's because I had been looking for this and was prepared in my mind to go for whatever idea presented itself.
HOFFMAN:
Sara was prepared to go for whatever idea presented itself. So when the idea struck, she was ready. All the other women who had the same thought simply went to their party and back to work the next morning, leaving the neon sign, "This should exist" behind them in the night.
This is a pivotal moment in Sara's trajectory. She calls it the moment that Spanx was born. But here's the thing: It wasn't born just because Sara came up with an idea. It was born because she decided to do something about it.
Sara could have just kept cutting the feet off pantyhose every time she had a party to attend. She could've just tolerated her makeshift contraption rolling up her legs all night. Instead, she saw an opportunity – and seized it. It started with a little reconnaissance.
BLAKELY:
I went to Neiman's and Saks and asked: "What do women wear under these white pants?" And the sales ladies would always say, "Well, we don't really know," or they'd point me in the direction of the shapewear that did exist, and it was really thick and dreadful and too much control, or not what I was looking for. And then there was regular underwear, which left a panty line that was visible – so there was this big gap.
HOFFMAN:
I want to acknowledge that women's shapewear is not exactly one of my personal areas of expertise. But every great investor spends time understanding underserved markets that are not their own.
BLAKELY:
So I was doing two things. I was trying to determine if there was a marketplace beyond just my own thought and what I wanted, and at the same time, I was iterating the product.
HOFFMAN:
Mind you, Sara had no background in fashion design or clothes fabrication. But that didn't stop her.
BLAKELY:
I tried to make the prototypes myself. I went to fabric stores and bought elastic and tried to like paper clip it to the end, and then I tried to sew it. It was through the iteration of the prototype that I really started to love it and love what it could do for my wardrobe.
HOFFMAN:
Sara loved her handmade versions. But she quickly saw their limitations. She wanted to take it one step further, by partnering with a manufacturing plant that could produce at capacity.
And this is a critical step for anyone developing an idea. You have to surround yourself with people who can help.
Sara didn't know anyone in manufacturing. But when she reached out to find them, they instantly understood her vision, right? Not exactly.
BLAKELY:
No one took my call.
HOFFMAN:
Sara couldn't get anyone to see the genius behind her simple idea. Footless pantyhose? What's the point?
As an aside, I have a sneaking suspicion that Sara was speaking to mostly male manufacturers. If she'd been pitching other women, she may have found a willing partner more quickly – because they would've understood the problem she was trying to solve. Great ideas get passed over, because the people in charge just don't understand the issue.
BLAKELY:
I cold called all the manufacturing plants. Every single person thought this was the craziest idea.
They didn't get it, but I ended up getting one manufacturer in North Carolina that called me after I did my cold-calling rounds begging all of these people to try to make my product. He said the only reason why he gave me the chance was my enthusiasm for the idea. He still didn't think it was a good idea.
HOFFMAN:
Sara's story is one of true grit – remember, she didn't have any experience with business, or retail, or fashion. But what I want you to notice is the concrete steps first to find – and then to develop her idea. She had primed herself to be open for opportunities. And when the idea did come to her, she took it seriously. And she acted. (going back to that bias to action, we talked about yesterday).
But what came next was equally important. And it matters not just to entrepreneurs, but to scale leaders as well. Sara began the long, arduous but hopefully joyful process of iterating on the idea – and asking questions. She knew that to succeed, she had to be continually open to information and ideas – always in search of the insights and people who could help her turn her idea into a reality.
And I'm sure many of you are nodding along. But it's one thing to believe you should stay open – and quite another to actually be open. One of the things we know about changing mindset and behavior is that it doesn't happen by THINKING. It happens by DOING. That's why, in this course, I'll give you a concrete exercise, prompt or habit to adopt every day.
So today's exercise will help build your muscle for idea generation and iteration. I want you to take a piece of paper. Yes, paper – because studies show that physically writing things down can support memory. Hold the paper vertically and fold it in half, so you have 2 columns.
At the top of the first column, write "WHO". On top of the second column, write "WHERE." This will be your "Who/Where" list for idea generation. First, I want you to think about WHO can help you improve your idea? Of all the people you know: Who feeds your enthusiasm? Who helps you think better? Note: Those may not be the same people! Now think about people you DON'T know who can help you. Sara talked to department store clerks and factory owners. Who could help shape U ideas?
In the second column, I want you to write down WHERE you have your best ideas. It might be out in nature, or while driving. It might be at a cafe where you can feel the energy of people around you. It might be at a whiteboard with your team. Or it might be in the quiet of your kitchen first thing in the morning.
Wherever, whenever and however, the point is this: an idea won't come looking for you, and it won't perfect itself. You have to put yourself in spaces, places and frames of mind, where you can find and shape the idea. Once you have this "who/where" list – you have your action plan. Start talking to the people in column A and spending time with the places in Column B
In tomorrow's Daily Practice, we'll learn to interpret the one-syllable word that entrepreneurs hear most: N-O. No.
In the meantime, watch for our email with a summary of today's Daily Practice and the action you can take to deepen your learnings. They're here in the app too. But the email is specifically designed to help you remember what you heard here, after you set your phone down.
I'll see you tomorrow, for Day 3.
Masters of Scale App
The Masters of Scale Courses app offers curated courses, each centered on a 10-minute Daily Practice, to help you build and cultivate your entrepreneurial mindset.
