#GirlBoss is the autobiographical book by Sophia Amoruso, fashun mogul & the entrepreneur extraordinaire founder of Nasty Gal. I'm not much for the fashion world but I do partake in girl power business-oriented literature so I figured what the hey.
Speaking of #GirlBosses. elle.com
The Good
The book is actually well written to begin with. When a book
has you sneaking every spare minute, even on the supermarket queue (where I was
buying vegan, wholesome goods and definitely not Oreos), to read that one extra
page, the book is well written. The tone that comes through the entire thing is
refreshing honesty. Sophia isn’t looking to sell you her story as an ideal,
she’s honestly sharing what has happened, what and how she’s thought and you
can tell that she’s being real. Most of us make a point of not reading
biographical books like this because the angle is always “started from the
bottom, now I’m here. Marvel at my success and make me richer by buying this
book. Did I mention that I’m successful? Because I am. Like, SUPER successful”.
Where Sophia is coming from is she started from the bottom, and this is how she
clawed, bled and climbed each torturous step, with little emphasis on the whole
I’M WINNING thing.
The story will kick you in the butt. And I have a narrow
butt so I most certainly felt it. You’re going to want to put more effort into
your *insert side hustle, main hustle, or current project here* with immediate
effect and a zeal that only Santa’s overworked and underpaid elves can muster.
The first I should say half of the book is a study in what dedication and being
ready to do the dirty work will get you. Trust and believe, you shall be
inspired.
Like this, but with everyone in heels. peopleinspirepeople
The thought process Sophia has is brought out very clearly
in the book. The reader is able to look at how this successful entrepreneur
reasons things out, compared to how you yourself think. Some things that seem
obvious had actually never occurred to me: a shoplifter that steals books to
resell on eBay isn’t a new concept, but the fact that Sophia would first check
what books were Amazon bestsellers to know what would sell off eBay had me like
“whaaaaaa?”. That concept can, I believe, be filed under Market Research,
demonstrated in the most basic, non-jargon way and applied to real life, albeit
in a situation that’s less than favourable.
It’s a great book to sit down with before you start on a new
project, or if you have a backlog of things you’re meant to be doing (throws
shade at myself) ‘cause for me at least, it presents a new angle to look at
things, specifically creative ideas with practical benefits.
The Bad
The book could have ended sooner. By Chapter 5, aptly titled
“Money Looks Better in Your Bank than On Your Feet”, I was still nodding
vigorously every 3 sentences, like the rave Chihuahua of your dreams. With
concrete references to real life situations and decisions, the story being told
felt accessible and to the point: I got the book to learn how she got her
success & parlay the applicable lessons to my own situation.
Chapter 6, not so much. Here the book veers into Sophia’s
personal philosophies & ‘harnessing the magic of the universe’ wahala. I
didn’t get it and I didn’t want to. I’m not saying it was a bad thing, I’m
saying it wasn’t for me. The rest of the book going forward has a lot more
content I’m sure will resonate personally with a lot of readers but I am not
the target audience: being a fashion rebel outsider, basic information about
the job search and a personal story about a photography project involving a
church and so on. I was briefly back in for chapter 9, which focused on the
business aspect again, branding, customer service and so on, but stayed firmly
#Nope to the end.
The Ugly
Pretty much covered in the mystical magic stuff. I get that
the book is about Sophia and her journey, and this was part of it: I’m not
knocking it, by all means do you. Having said that, I could have done without
it.
Final Verdict
4 out of 5 stars.
Highly recommend, not just for female entrepreneurs but for everyone
looking to get a fresh perspective/bounce out of a professional slump/finally
finish that book about roguishly handsome pirate Carlos Raul sweeping the innocent
chambermaid off her feet with...a magic horse...or his hair powers.
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