How’d She Do It? Sophia Amoruso

Self-proclaimed #GirlBoss Sophia Amoruso is nothing short of bad-ass! The Nasty Gal founder went from college dropout to the CEO of a multi-million dollar company. If you haven’t read her memoir #GirlBoss yet, then definitely pick it up on your next book store trip. Today, we’re sharing how Sophia Amoruso grew her company to the empire it is today. Let her story inspire you to make your next life move! Time is of the essence, ladies.

Sophia Before Nasty Gal

Originally from San Diego, California, Sophia Amoruso lived life on the wild side. She dropped out of college, hitchhiked through the West coast and made a living through stealing and dumpster diving. In 2003 while in Portland, she got caught stealing and vowed to end that lifestyle then and there. Sophia had a passion for thrift store shopping. She loved all of the amazing pieces one could find when going vintage. This passion is what sparked the idea for her eBay store Nasty Gal Vintage.

Nasty Gal Vintage

In 2006, 22-year old Sophia launched eBay store Nasty Gal Vintage. Sophia would sell clothing and accessories that she found in the thrift shops. She sold vintage and designer pieces as she found them. Sophia ran the show and worked solo. She styled, photographed, captioned, and shipped the products herself.

She took a photography class during her brief college stint to learn the art of taking pictures, this allowed her to style models effectively. By taking classes to better her store, Sophia was investing in herself. This is an important factor when working for yourself. In 2008, Sophia and Nasty Gal Vintage were kicked off eBay for posting hyperlinks in customer feedback forums. This lead to Sophia setting up her own site Nasty Gal.

Multi-million Dollar Nasty Gal

Nasty Gal launched as its own website in 2008 and quickly became a hit with young women on social media. In fact, Nasty Gal revenues increased from $223,000 in 2008 to nearly $23 million in 2011. In just 3 years, Sophia turned Nasty Gal into an empire. She immediately hired professionals to help grow Nasty Gal the right way.

Since then, Sophia has been coined as the “Cinderella of tech” by the New York Times and was named in Inc. Magazine’s 30 under 30 list in 2013. Nasty Gal has five million visits a month and has sold goods to more than 350,000 customers in 60 countries. Half of the site’s orders are from repeat customers. One quarter of its 250,000 customers visit NastyGal.com once a day for at least seven minutes. The top 10% of visitors hit the site more than 100 times a month. Those are insane numbers when it comes to websites!

Related: Becoming a GirlBoss: Signs You’re Ready to Start a Business

Sophia proves that you don’t have to come from a wealthy background, or have a college education to start a business and succeed. With hard work, determination, and faith, success is possible for anyone willing to go after it! What do you think of Sophia’s story? Have you read #GirlBoss? Have you been to the Nasty Gal shop on Melrose? We want to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment below to share!

-The CGS Team

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