Amoruso: What millennials should know
Fareed speaks with Sophia Amoruso, founder of the online clothing store Nasty Gal, and author of #GIRLBOSS, about what advice she would give to millennials. Watch the full interview this Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on CNN
What are your pieces of advice to millennials? What do you think they need to know as they go out into the world?
So in GIRLBOSS, I say, don't act like you've arrived when you're just receiving an invitation, which I think a lot of people do. They get their first paycheck or they get their first promotion and they're like woo hoo! And maybe don't plan their finances as well as they could.
At Nasty Gal, I always socked the profits away back into the company. I paid my first employee more than I paid myself for a good while. And it was just fun for me watching the baby – the cash, you know –kind of pile up. I didn't want to do anything with it. It was just like I have a business and my very simple kind of naive idea of business at 22 years-old was you sell things for more than you buy them for, and then the company makes money.
And that is, I've now learned, a very rare thing – especially in Internet businesses – and something that the world was very surprised by. So I think there's something to learn from that.
So if you look at all those kinds of pieces of advice…and you say write thank you notes, dress well...
Oh, yes.
Don't chew gum, put your phone away during an interview. It feels like you've come to these pieces of, one might even say very traditional wisdom, the hard and long and complicated way. But what you're saying to people is sort of straighten up, smart up and...
It's actually really old-fashioned advice...
And it's only through not doing those things, or maybe thinking, maybe people don't need to do those things, and experiencing what happens when someone shows up smacking their gum or they're not wearing a bra or they lean back in their chair and have no questions when you say “do you have any questions for me.” Which, at the end of the day, is just like are you curious or not, like how interested are you in what we're doing?
And there's very conventional things in the world that I've learned very unconventionally and are important to pay attention to.
@fareedzakaria on Twitter
What a wonderful accomplished young woman. God bless her.
And of course never chew gum and put your phone away during a job interview.
Someone actually has to be told to dress well for a job interview?
That is why "they took or jobs."
No, not "God bless her." It's, "God help us."
Don't chew gum, indeed.
TYPO:
"They took our jobs," not, "...or jobs."
Nope.
Lol @ Joey, good grief! She is talking about youngsters that have NEVER been employed before! People that are upset about "our jobs being taken" are the ones that have done those jobs for years. Many of them in their 50s and 60s, that know nothing else and are not EVEN considered for hiring in most jobs that ARE available! The baby boomers remember? And there are alot of them. This country can only employ just so many walmart greeters ya know.
@ chrissy:
A youngster who has never had a job and did not learn in school that chewing gum or letting his cellphone play Calypso during an interview will cost him the job, may never become a member of the workforce.
I'm not sure that he should get a job, because those miscalculations are just signs to warn an employer of many deficiencies that will arise during the youngster's period of employment, however brief or long it may be.
I have a friend who owns a lucrative business.
He tells me that he has trouble with keeping employees because they just won't show up, and expect their job to be there after they recover from their hangover.
It isn't the pay; he pays $30/hr.
I wonder what #BOSSGIRL would say about that .
@ banasy, isn't that being a little too strict on the employees? They "show up." They just don't always feel like doing their work when management feels the workers should be there. It's not about management.
You get a lot more accomplished when you're in the mood. Maybe management needs to look in the mirror for a change: they may see poor lighting conditions, inadequate air conditioning, whatever. Who knows what grievances the aggrieved workers may face every time they go to the sweatshop.
Also:
Also: only thirty dollars an hour?
That seems to call for a work action. Strike, or at least slow down a lot.
Sweat Shops? What is that for today's youth here in the US? That the building temp isn't just perfect like mommy makes it?
I know @ Joey. The nerve of this guy only paying $30.00 an hour and then expecting his employees to show up and perform their jobs well. The audacity of some people never ceases to amaze.
Their complaint stems from the fact they cannot keep their ass out of a liquor bottle.
It's a non-union business, so that slur doesn't apply.
Nope?
Oh ok you were asking a question lol.
The chewing gum part was funny, but then she starts to talk about body language–pop crap. What a waste of an interview. There are plenty of other young innovators out there doing important work and the emphasis should be on that innovation, not whether someone converts to "capitalism".
Lol @ Joey i am not argueing your last comment.Also im not entirely sure someone who started out as a "shoplifter" should be giving employee advice either! Maybe you should re-read my post to you!
@ chrissy:
Don't you believe in Redemption for shoplifters? That young lady certainly is correct about chewing gum. Body language? I could team up with @ Rex Stock about that. Body Language is like the poor: "always with us." The Assertiveness Class stock gestures to convey power and bonding are laughably common now.
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In your name we prey (purposely misspelled, or is it?)........Amen
Was not able to get the video to play FYI