#GirlBoss

By Sophia Amoruso, Founder of Nasty Gal

I used to work in a multi-level marketing, commission-based sales job, which I did for over a year. Completely out of choice, with no regrets, despite all the bad press these types of companies normally get. The boss there was young, turned 30 just after I left, and had been running the company for over six years. He was your typical, lad-from-uni kinda guy, always going out, loved to be around people. He had his downsides as a boss, very disorganised and forgetful. If he just made better notes and to-do lists, I think that would have solved most of the issues I had with him. Overall, I really liked his aloofness, he was fun, a good guy at heart and really did care for people, wishing everyone to achieve their dreams. It really touched my heart when after a hard day selling, I returned around 10pm to the office, and he told me he’d been shopping in Waterstone’s and saw this book on the shelf, and immediately thought of me. Maybe because Sophia is a dark-haired girl, with white skin, like me, which is as far as the resemblance goes. Or maybe, my boss did actually see me as a powerful, go-getter kinda girl, who can work hard and achieve amazing success. I prefer to think it was the latter. Anyhow, he handed me the book and asked me to let him know what I thought about it.

Knowing he was the impulsive type, by next week he would have forgotten he gave it to me, I started reading it that night. Quite rightly, as he asked me the next day, during a morning meeting, what I thought about the book!

I didn’t know anything about Nasty Gal; I’d seen their billboard advertisements on the London Underground, but never bought anything, never even visited the website, didn’t even know there was a Netflix series following Amoruso’s life. She is definitely a character, I think maybe trying too hard to be “iconic”, with her edgy-ness and work-work-work attitude. So sorry to say, Sophie, you have failed to become an international icon. Nevertheless, I admire the effort and I am always up for women making their mark in this world!

Who is this book for?

Hmm, this is a tough question. She really missed the mark on setting a particular audience, so it feels noone can fully relate at all. Her background is pretty rough, bad at school, turned to stealing and becoming a street-kid. Hated being told what to do by anyone, including her employer, which meant she never had a job for longer than a few months. Found an opportunity by stealing and flogging her items on eBay. Got caught stealing and turned away from the crime-life. Turned full-time, self-employed, pawn shop buyer, eBay seller. Then worked REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hard to build a multi-millionaire brand and business.

Who relates to this? Not many, I should suspect. So her life narrative is not a common or relatable career path. Maybe it is for anyone who just needs some inspiration to start their own business, perhaps targeting for other woman scared to take the plunge?

This is who I thought the book was for when my boss handed it to me. However, upon reading it; I think not. The advice she gives is too straightforward and obvious for anyone seriously considering career change. I don’t need to read a book to know I shouldn’t have typos in my CV, or not to post negativity about my employer on social media. It really isn’t geared for giving advice to anyone actually serious in running their own business, save a few anecdotes about never quitting.

Therefore, this book is probably better suited for young girls, just about to embark on their professional careers, and add to their portfolio another type of job achievable to anyone willing to put the time in. Probably all the swearing is there to be more “hipster” and to harminise with the millennial generation

Sadly though, she actually is a millennial naysayer, thinking of them as lazy and spoiled. This is rich coming from someone who themselves turned outs to be rather entitled and callow. The chapter on how she believes luck does not exist can only be described as naive.

Whilst I never bought anything from Nasty Gal, I of course knew it existed, but never followed it closely. Little did I know, that the Nasty Gal empire fell following financial struggles as well as legal issues and layoffs. In 2015 the company filed for bankruptcy in late 2016 and was acquired for [merely] $20m, a mere fraction of Nasty Gal’s valuation just two years prior… So.

I am off to watch the Neflix original series of “Girlboss” now (which was cancelled after one season and which Fanity Fair claims to be the Netflix’s “first truly terrible show”…).

Sooo… don’t focus on the negative – go get sh** done! (And yes, remember, it is great to be an introvert!)

“I, along with countless other #GIRLBOSSes who are profiled in this book, girls who are reading this book, and the girls who are yet to become a #GIRLBOSS will do it not by whining—but by fighting. You don’t get taken seriously by asking someone to take you seriously. You’ve got to show up and own it. If this is a man’s world, who cares? I’m still really glad to be a girl in it.”