I’d get kicked out of buildings all day long, people would rip up my business card in my face. It’s a humbling business to be in. But I knew I could sell and I knew I wanted to sell something I had created. I cut the feet out of those pantyhose and I knew I was on to something. This was it.

Sara Blakely is recalling her pre-Spanx years doing door-to-door sales—an experience marked by constant rejection and embarrassment (being removed from office buildings, having cards torn up). She contrasts that humbling grind with the moment of insight that led to Spanx: cutting the feet off pantyhose to create a smoother look under clothing. The quote is typically used in interviews and talks where Blakely narrates her origin story—how persistence in sales, combined with a simple DIY experiment, became the seed of a product she felt she could confidently sell because she had invented it herself.

Blakely recounts the early, rejection-filled grind that preceded Spanx’s success: being turned away, dismissed, and publicly belittled while trying to sell. The “humbling business” is sales itself—an arena where persistence is constantly tested. Against that backdrop, the turning point is intensely practical and personal: cutting the feet off pantyhose to solve a problem she felt in her own clothing. The quote highlights a classic entrepreneurial arc—resilience through rejection, confidence in one’s core skill (selling), and the catalytic moment when a simple prototype reveals product–market fit. It frames innovation as lived experience plus stubborn follow-through.