Sara Blakely, founder of
Spanx, found a need for
clothing accessories that minimize undergarment lines and make women feel better
in their clothing. She used one word that I think summarizes the need the best:
“confidence.”
We all want to feel more confident, whether it is in the
corporate environment, during a sales pitch or presentation for our companies,
or on a first date. Self-confidence (self-esteem) is a multi-billion dollar
industry. Think of products such as breast implants, minoxidil, lipstick, and cologne.
I could spend two hours listing products in the category and would have barely
touched the surface.
If there is any doubt that self-confidence is a major
market, just take a look at the hundreds of pages of books available on the
subject at Amazon.com.
The opportunity that Sara discovered early in the process
was that her idea was truly original, could be patented, and she smartly kept
the idea to herself as much as possible. With a patented product in place, she
was able to expand the product into an entire brand, sometimes doing nothing
more than creating a “better” version of an existing product – a copycat model
that has created some of the greatest and most beloved companies in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment