22nd March 2018

Girl Boss Reading Response 1

In the autobiography “#Girl Boss” written by Sophia Amoruso. She tells us about her life and how she started a small eBay account selling vintage clothing and now is CEO of nasty gal, a 280 million dollar company. This autobiography portrays to us that if you want something you should get up and get it. Not just sit there and expect things to happen. Sophia tells us her story about how she became a #GirlBoss by starting off with nothing and achieving what she set out to do. She did this not for herself but to show women around the world that they are capable to do whatever they set their mind to doing. This autobiography by Sophia Amoruso shows the reader that when things just don’t go your way, you can’t just sit around expecting things to happen, you gotta get up and do what is needed to be done.

The autobiography is about Sophia Amoruso life and how she managed to get to where she is today. This autobiography really opened my eyes to show me that with hard work and persistence you are capable of anything. Sophia Amoruso never came from money or went to any fancy schools. She also had no one telling her what to do, so she had to figure out life on own. It took her awhile to get the hang of life and but things began to change when she was in high school and she got diagnosed with depression and ADD. Which took a toll on her and she decided that school wasn’t for her so she got homeschooled. But not long after this, her parents ended up getting divorced which was a good thing for her because it finally gave her a chance to step out into the world. This made me think of how strong-willed she was and how she didn’t let the things in her life affect her getting in the way of her life. I know it took a lot of willpower to get on with her life as I know what its like to have my parents divorced and it’s not easy to come to terms with it. And I have family members who have suffered from depression and how hard it is to come out of it and get on with life again. After Sophia left home she had multiple jobs but they just didn’t work out. But after being fired from working at a high-end shoe store she was left with no job and an apartment she had to pay rent for. But after all this happening she got a hernia. This meant she had to find a job that had health insurance, so she could get it removed. So she found a job checking IDs in the lobby of an art school. And this meant she had a lot of free time in between people checking in and out. So this is when Nasty Gal started when she decided to open up an online eBay shop which at that time she called Nasty Gal vintage. By reading this part of the book it really opened my eyes that school is not for everyone. Even though I believe it is important to stay in school but I see how it’s not for everyone but because she worked hard and spent her time working hard she was able to own a multimillion dollar company.  And she wants to get the message across that you capable of everything you set your mind to no matter how big or small.

This autobiography really made me think about my life and how I may not always learn from my mistakes sometimes I just give up when things get tough. But I learn persistence pays off if I fail at something I don’t just give up I keep working at it and I will get it. Sophia had many setbacks in her life before she got her business to where it is today. But the thing is she never gave up and learn from them to improve them. But as her eBay business began to grow into a proper business. Not just an eBay business in her apartment. But when she finally moved it into a warehouse her workload became bigger, and she had to get an employee. One of the mistakes she made was making friends with an employee which didn’t work out for her but now she believes that making friends with her employees isn’t the answer to a successful business but at that time she thought so but now she believes otherwise. She said in the book and I quote “Your boss is not your friend, and if you’re the boss, your employees aren’t your friends.” And by not being friends with your employees she believed it improved her business. But soon after that her business got bigger and bigger and became the multi-million dollar company it is today. She had 7 years to make up for her mistakes and get to where she is today. Sophie said in her book “There are secret opportunities hidden in every failure.” Which is true every time you fail at something and get back up and try it again and again until you succeed at what you are trying to accomplish. Just like Sophie all the failures she had she kept at them until they were accomplished. And doors of opportunities opened, and they would eventually get to her where she is today. Just by learning from her failures and keeping at it until she accomplished it. Just like when she let her employees become her friends it did not work for her so she learnt from that mistake and has set herself boundaries when it comes to this. 

She also taught me that life isn’t all about money and what people think about you. But how you take life into your hands and make something for yourself. Sophia said that “no matter where you are in life, you will save a lot of time by not worrying too much about what other people think about you. The earlier in life you learn that the easier the rest of it will be.” Sophia doesn’t care what other people think she only cares about what she thinks about herself. I believe by her learning this at a young age it really boosts your self-esteem. Because most people these days care so much about what other people think of them, so they dress or act differently to fit in with other people, when it’s not who they are. And unfortunately, I am one of those people who care about what other people think of them and I shouldn’t but just do. Unfortunately, society is good and making it hard for people to love themselves and not care what others think. By marketing so many unrealistic images of how you should act or look it has effects on everyone. But by not caring what other people think of you it makes it a lot easier to get ahead in life and to step out in the world and get what you need to get done and don’t have that constant feeling of trying to impress everyone. By her doing this it went toward making her business successful with not overthinking what others think of her.  Personally, I do care what other people think of me but by reading this book it made me rethink why I really care what other people think of me and how I can change that. Sophia was lucky enough to learn to not care what others think about her at an early age which shows she is strong-willed. She also taught me about money and how “money looks better in the bank than on your feet.” Which mean that no matter what your paycheck has become with your job it could be a pay rise or a promotion. That spending money on things you don’t need in unnecessary. She did not say don’t treat yourself once in a while but to just because you have got more income you don’t need to spend more money on other things you don’t really need. But the main thing Sophia talked about is feminism. By reading this book I can see that feminism is a huge part of who she is. Sophia is a strong believer in equality in sexes and that everyone can do what they set their mind to no matter how big or how small. At the start of the book she talked about how she had no one to help her figure out life, so she had to do it on her own. But by not caring what other people say to her that Nasty Girl is unrealistic that she can’t accomplish this on her own. But now she can prove them wrong she has gone way above she ever thought that Nasty girl could go just by believing in herself. Just by taking the first few steps of getting up and believing in yourself you will get what is needed to be done by not caring what others think of you. But what you think of yourself.


I think Sophia Amoruso hard work and persistence paid off she managed to create a business with nothing and in 7 short years by the time she was 30 she had a multi-million dollar company. This shows if you set your mind to something and not give up it will pay off. I would highly recommend reading this book because she does not talk about how to create a multi-million dollar company. But about life problems that many of us face on a daily basis and how she overcame hers and how we can too. She could never have done what she did if she never looked back at the mistakes she had made and learn from them. This showed us that everyone makes mistakes and that is a part of life but by taking small steps to fix the mistakes you will learn from them. Just by believing that you can do it and nothing is too big or small. And by not caring what others think of you stand in the way of what you need to accomplish. After reading this book it really motivated me and challenged myself on how I go about my life. Because things don’t happen because you want them to. But because I choose to make things happen by working for them. Just like how Sophia Amorosa didnt sit around at let Nasty girl build around her but she got up and got this done to get to where she is today.

Join the conversation! 1 Comment

  1. Hi Heidi.
    Have a re-look at paragraph 2 – be careful of getting into a plot summary. You should include details that were significant to what you liked or learned or were challenged by, and then explain how you were impacted by these sections of the text.

    I do like how your additional paragraphs begin with what you have learned from parts of the text; you then support these points with examples. Remember to revisit the point that you are making at the end of each paragraph and consider the benefits of some of the lessons that you have learned from the text 🙂

    Reply

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