Image from styleXstyle.com

I decided to download Nasty Gal creator Sophia Amoruso‘s book #GirlBoss yesterday afternoon because I’m feeling in need of a little push/gut check/inspiration? Not sure. I’m stuck in this I’m not making enough money…why am I not making enough money?…how can I turn all the hours of work I do into more money rut, which is less of a rut of more of a fact that I can’t seem to get over. If you read this blog and/or are my husband then this is not news. I talk about it a lot lately.

So time to stop talking and start reading a Kindle book during the hour that I’m too frustrated to keep working! Enter Sophia Amoruso, the shop-lifter turned fashion empire owner who started it all from a $600 room she rented in Northern California.

That is the front page of Nastygal.com. I covet every single thing on that models body including her teeth, so Sophia clearly knows what she’s doing.

I read half of the book last night which, to me, is a story about a creative genius that finally buckled down and used her excellent instincts about style and consumption to out-relate her competition. She had a point of view and she packaged it perfectly. She also worked her little ass off, which I so respect.

But one thing struck me, and it’s ironically the last thing I wanted to hear.

It’s not about the money. 

 

Sophia says it a few times in the book. At first it’s related to the fact that money never meant much to her; she just considered it a means to living and eating. Ergo: she didn’t need much to survive and didn’t spend much in the early phases of the business. But I really started listening (and grimacing) when she talked about not obsessing over how to make the most money fast but rather how to build the best product and service possible. I grimaced because it sounds better than what I really did which was roll my eyes and throw my Kindle on the couch, and because wildly successful people are always telling you not the worry about the money. They say it’s about the passion, the obsession, the costumer and the attention to detail. They say that if you worry about building the perfect business for the broadest consumer, you’ll fail. They say to do what you do best and go as slow as it takes to hone your craft perfectly. Don’t write what they want; write what you want, as it applies to me.

I know they’re right. I know that the more time I spend trying to think about how I can write X more freelance articles a month to make Y more cash, I’m taking away from the bigger ideas and projects that are my real passion.

Ugh I hate knowing that, but true is true.

So for the next few months I’ll try to go it Sophia style. Unfortunately that will not mean purchasing the 37 fringe vests and red studded ankle booties from her website that I want so bad it hurts my heart. But it will mean keeping my head out of my bank account (slash everyone elses) and onto my latest blank page.

Thank you Sophia. I was going to visit your store on Melrose this afternoon to remind myself to keep on working, but I think I’ll just keep on working instead.