Sometimes, life doesn’t go according to your plans. But don’t let that stop you, as something better may come along the way.
Take Sara Blakely, founder and creator of the multi-million dollar body shaping company Spanx. Before she first worked on her footless panty hose product, she was in college preparing to embark on a legal career. Unfortunately, she failed her Law School Admission Test, not once but twice. That failure forced her to abandon her legal aspirations and reconsider her options.
As Blakely said in her interview with the author of the book “The Risk Takers: 16 Women and Men Who Built Great Businesses Share Their Entrepreneurial Strategies For Success
I always fear that failure is nothing more than life’s way of nudging you and letting you know you’re off course.
When her law career went bust, she worked as a sales representative selling fax machines. Not the life she really wanted, but the job provided for her needs. It also honed her tenacity, negotiation and people skills, qualities that helped her turn her business into a huge success. Then she stumbled on a business idea that provided the opportunity to change her life:
I was envisioning a totally different life for myself. I knew I could sell, and I knew I could be self-employed, and I knew if could come up with something for the masses instead of fax machines, I could succeed.
If Blakely let the devastating blow of failing LSAT twice defeat her, she would never have become the successful entrepreneur that she is today.
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