I'd get kicked out of buildings all day long, people would rip up my business card in my face. It's a humbling business to be in. But I knew I could sell and I knew I wanted to sell something I had created. I cut the feet out of those pantyhose and I knew I was on to something. This was it.

Embrace what you don`t know

Within the first year of launching my company, Spanx, I decided to go over to England and cold-call Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Selfridges the same way I had cold-called Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's here in the United States.

Failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. This way, it is about answering to yourself.

Where I get my energy is: 'How can I make it better'?

I didn't like the way it looked in white trousers, and I couldn't find anything to work underneath them.

I aim to be pretty - I gave up dressing to be sexy in the eighties.