#BookSmart: Girlboss

Are you a highlighter? I'm a highlighter. Have been at least since my early teens. I have books from high school that are underlined and highlighted and littered with notes scribbled in the margins. I'm sure I believed these notes would all be highly valuable to me for years to come. But. They're inside the books. So...

Hooray for technology! When I'm reading good-old books of paper and pulp, I always have my phone by my side. (Did you know you could insert photos into your iPhone Notes?) And for books on the Kindle app, it's super easy to email yourself all those lovingly highlighted passages in one beautiful email.

And what does this all mean for you, dear reader? Well, it means I can share with you the pearls of wisdom I mine from my favorite books as I find them. Hence, the #BookSmart series. Today's installment? #Girlboss. (Yes, the title is a hashtag. Yes, that is both marketing genius and leaves me feeling slightly akin to hashtag-speak-people.) 

All of the following quotes are by Girlboss author Sofia Amoruso, except when otherwise noted. What more insight into the mind of the Girlboss? Check out the podcast, Girlboss Radio.

(One more thing - before you ask...yes, I have mixed feelings about referring to women as girls. The queen #girlboss is clearly a feminist and gets a pass on that one.)
 

First off: What's a #girlboss?

"A #girlboss is someone who's in charge of her own life. She gets what she wants because she works for it. As a #girlboss, you take control and accept responsibility. You're a fighter--you know when to throw punches and when to roll with them. Sometimes you break the rules, sometimes you follow them, but always on your own terms. You know where you're going, but can't do it without having some fun along the way. You value honesty over perfection. You ask questions. You take your life seriously. You're going to take over the world, and change it in the process. You're a badass."
 

On managing your money:

"If you learn to control your finances, you won't find yourself stuck in jobs, places, or relationships that you hate just because you can't afford to go elsewhere. Learning how to manage your money is one of the most important things you'll ever do." 

"When your time spent making money is significantly greater than your time spent spending money, you will be amazed at how much you can save without even really thinking about it."
 

On managing yourself: 

"Be a nice person at work."

"Each time you make a good decision or do something nice or take care of yourself; each time you show up to work and work hard and do your best at everything you can do, you're planting seeds for a life that you can only hope will grow beyond your wildest dreams." 

"You don't get taken seriously by asking someone to take you seriously."

"When you take care of the little things, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find out that the big things often happen much more easily." 

"When you accept yourself, it's surprising how much other people will accept you, too."

"If you're working, you're working hard, and if you're not doing that, what are you doing?" - Leandra Medine  

"I don't think you can truly know what you're made of until you are in charge of your own days." - Christine Barberich
 

On setting your intention:

"You create the world, blink by blink. It is entirely yours to discover and yours to create."

"I don't want to spend too much time dwelling on what I've already done because there is still so much to do." 

"...the more you know what you want, the less you're willing to put up with what you don't."

"...if you approach everything in your life with a certain degree of intention, you can affect the outcome. At the absolute minimum, you will affect how you feel about the outcome and that is ultimately what matters most."
 

On making stuff happen:

"You get back what you put out, so you might as well think positively, focus on visualizing what you want instead of getting distracted by what you don't want, and send the universe your good intentions do that it can send them right back." 

"Your challenge as a #girlboss is to dive headfirst into things without being too attached to the results. When your goal is to gain experience, perspective, and knowledge, failure is no longer a possibility." 

"...we choose what and how we believe, and our beliefs are tools that we then use to make things happen...or not."
 

On building a business:

"If you're dreaming big...don't be surprised if you have to start small."

"I have always viewed the business as a work in progress. I constantly tweak and move on, peeling back the layers of the onion as new ones arrive...I never just assumed that I'd done my best job the first time around." 

"When you begin with the finish line in mind, you miss all the fun stuff along the way. The better approach is to tweak and grow, tweak and grow."

"Business plans are just a starting point--the best entrepreneurs know to listen along the way and adjust things; including their business plan."

"I think that part of the reason Nasty Gal has been so successful is because my goals were never financial ones. I believed in what I was doing, and fortunately, other people believed in it as well. I cared as much about the process as I did about the results. No decision was too small." 

"...what no one seems to talk about is that business *is* creative. It's creative when I'm choosing an investor as when I'm reviewing collection samples. I have as much fun hiring people as I did with a camera in my hand." 
 

On branding and marketing:

"The DNA of a successful image, and brand, must be encrypted into its tiniest representation while gracefully telling the same story in its largest incarnation." 

"Many companies were spending millions of dollars trying to nail social media, but I just went with my instincts and treated my customers like they were my friends." 

"Rule number one?...just do a good job...I don't take it lightly when someone buys something from me. I know here are a million places where someone can buy a dress, a crop top...Rule number two: keep your promises....Rule number three: give your customers something to share."
 

On the competition:

"There's no karmic law that dictates your business will succeed if others fail, so why not just wish them well and get on with it?"

"Compete with yourself, not with others. Judge yourself in what is your personal best and you'll accomplish more than you could ever have imagined."
 

On landing a job:

"A cover letter can connect the dots between where you've been, where you are, and where you're trying to go."

"I like real words on resumes -- that means I want to read it and understand it..that makes sense and also tells me that you're able to navigate the practicalities that are necessary to bring your ideas to life. We don't need people who just have ideas; we need people who can also execute them. If you've made some shit happen, make sure your resume reflects that.."