The Spanx Story: What's Underneath the Incredible Success of Sara Blakely's Billion Dollar Empire

by Charlie Wetzel, Stephanie Wetzel

What can you learn from the most successful companies in the world? The Spanx Story will help you understand and adopt the competitive strategies, workplace culture, and daily business practices that enabled entrepreneur Sara Blakely to dominate the shapewear industry and become a billionaire.

Sara Blakely had a problem. She had a beautiful pair of white designer pants hanging in her closet just calling out to her to wear them, even though they accented her least favorite feature: cellulite. After searching high and low for a solution and coming up empty, an idea was born: Spanx.

The Spanx Story chronicles Sara’s journey from long nights researching patent and trademark law, to years of cold shoulders she received from the titans of the pantyhose industry, to the cold call that led to the shelves of Nieman Marcus. It was a long road of incredible hard work and determination that led Spanx to become the iconic brand it is today.

This book educates and inspires entrepreneurs and innovators to find the problem for their solutions and persevere through all of the hard work that goes into building a billion-dollar company. Through Sara’s story, you will learn:


How to develop an idea and turn it into a business.
How to start a company with very little capital by thinking outside of the box and dedicating every spare moment to your goal.
How to recognize when it’s better to hire a CEO than to be the CEO.
And, how to stay the course and continue to believe in your idea, despite naysayers and going against an industry resistant to innovation.
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Genres: Business, Book Club, Biography

144 pages, Hardcover

Published May 26, 2020

Reviews

[Dianne Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great story and I love her product!

[Brooklyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
While I found it interesting to learn about the history of Spanx and Sara Blakely’s journey from selling fax machines to becoming the youngest female self-made billionaire, the formatting of this non-fiction wasn’t my favourite. It read very much like an overdrawn magazine article, skipping details I felt were essential, and providing more of a generalized summary. Overall opinion: the story was interesting, the formatting was difficult for me. I agree with other reviews - this felt a bit impersonal and I would prefer to read an autobiography on Sara & Spanx in the future.

[tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a woman entrepreneur myself, I really enjoy reading about Blakely’s story. This was a quick read so I enjoyed the opportunity to learn a few nuggets; however, I think I’d prefer to read an autobiography in the future. The authors did a solid job of pulling important quotes and stories from interviews. If you want to learn more about her success quickly, this is a good option. You can also listen to a few podcasts featuring her. She shares quite a bit on those too.

[Renaat Waeles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Het verhaal van Sara Blakely, een inspirerende vrouw die vanaf dag 1 haar dromen achterna joeg. Een voorbeeld voor iedereen die graag zijn leven in eigen handen wil hebben.

‘This is your world. Shape it or someone else will.’

Het boek was jammer genoeg wel zeer oppervlakkig.

[Akasha Coral · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good story but doesn't provide as much insight into what it was like for Sara after the company took off to a very successful place. It mostly becomes a puff piece for Sara after the midway through the book which was a little disappointing.

[K C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a ChatGPT book report. Facts are compiled and useful, but all things that could be found reading/watching interviews.

[Harlow]

So inspiring!

If you don’t know the story of Spanx, this is a quick read that takes you along on Sara’s journey.

[Katie Radcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for any woman with entrepreneurial aspirations. What makes Spanx founder Sara Blakely’s story so compelling isn’t just its success—it’s the surprising relatability of her journey. Far from being an unattainable outlier, Sara’s path is marked by integrity, persistence, and choices that are as repeatable as they are admirable. Her story serves as a powerful reminder that ethical ambition is not only possible, but potent. You don’t have to compromise your values or outmaneuver others to succeed. There’s room for everyone to win.

[Mati 'Matimajczyta' · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never thought that a book about tights could be so interesting and intriguing, and that this product was invented by a woman. The book is pleasantly written, optimistic, and motivational. At the same time, I have this reflection that in times when nothing was available, everything seemed possible, but now, when we have everything, we don't know what we truly need, and our imagination seems to be smaller.

[Allyson Colaco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook completed.

This felt like a longer “This is How I Built This” podcast, except it wasn’t an interview with the entrepreneur. The story of building the company Spanx is impressive and there are some interesting details I did not know, but overall, I don’t know that the material is enough for a book such as this. I would recommend a podcast or interviews with Sara Blakely rather than this book.

[Sinduja Krishna Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a simple and quick read that takes us through the Spanx story. Sara’s dedication and hard work, at the same time the importance she gives to family is unnerving. If you want a quick pick me up then this is it.

[Andres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible story of success. I didn't necessarily get inspired, but I definitely think Sara's perseverance and hard work earned her the prestige she clearly deserves.

[Christopher Benassi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story - but the author was a bit impersonal. Appreciated the opportunity to read about a successful female entrepreneur.

[Chelsea]

Very cool to learn about Sara Blakely's entrepreneurial journey!

[Julie Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, to-the-point story, quick read about the rise of Spanx. I took away a few gold nuggets of wisdom, but I would have preferred to read her autobiography of her story.

[Madeline Ahles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A car ride audio. Seeing Sara Blakely on TV, social media, and LinkedIn you know this was a hard working lady. But to hear her story of sales to a clothing empire that started with the riskay SPANX hosiery and went beyond that. A history of the company, Sara, her family and determination this is a good listen or read for young to middle aged women going after it. Takeaways we can all learn from Spanx and Sara were given after big moments in the audiobook. A person I’ve always wanted to learn more about.

[Mikayla Ockey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Great business journey.

[Andy Valadez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. What a story. Should be read by every entrepreneur and visionary.

https://www.spanxfoundation.com/

[Adelaide French · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this story! Just wished Sara herself had narrated the audiobook version

[Andrew Kang · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid book on Sarah Blakely but nothing that stands out to me.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight into the start, rise and fall of Spanx

[Shannon Eckman · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

Really wanted to find a book about Sarah Blakely but this was not it! Short read and nothing but surface level. She needs to write her own book already!

[Dominique Ritchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sara Blakely is so impressive and it’s an amazing story but i think this was very poorly written and frankly does not do her justice