#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso

Publisher: Portfolio

Format: Paperback

Rating: 4/5

Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The founder of Nasty Gal offers a sassy and irreverent manifesto for ambitious young women At seventeen, Sophia Amoruso decided to forgo continuing education to pursue a life of hitchhiking, dumpster diving, and petty thievery. Now, at twenty-nine, she is the Founder, CEO, and Creative Director of Nasty Gal, a $100+ million e-tailer that draws A-list publicity and rabid fans for its leading-edge fashion and provocative online persona. Her story is extraordinary—and only part of the appeal of #GIRLBOSS. This aspirational book doesn’t patronize young women the way many business experts do. Amoruso shows readers how to channel their passion and hard work, while keeping their insecurities from getting in the way. She offers straight talk about making your voice heard and doing meaningful work. She’s proof that you can be a huge success without giving up your spirit of adventure or distinctive style. As she writes, "I have three pieces of advice I want you to remember: Don’t ever grow up. Don’t become a bore. Don’t let The Man get to you. OK? Cool. Then let’s do this.”

I enjoyed #GIRLBOSS and learnt a lot. I feel like I definitely got where Sophia was coming from - from being introverted to wanting to mark out her own path. I'm not much of an EBAY fan or user and I don't think I'll be starting a fashion empire anytime soon but there's still heaps of useful advice in #GIRLBOSS.

The main thing I took away from it was: Be Yourself. It's all very well wanting to "lean in" but if you're not wired for the corporate, 9-6 kind of environment, then you'll probably find it quite difficult to reach the top - purely because your head and heart won't be in it. At the end of the day, there are different strokes for different folks and from what I gather, Sophia thinks it's best to figure out your strengths and what you really want from a career and then go for it 110%. 

There's also a lot on creating your own opportunities. Nobody is going to hand you anything (nothing worthwhile anyway) so you have to really hustle. I also loved everything Sophia had to say about money management. I completely agree that young people need to know the power in having savings, especially in this age of 'look at me, look at all my stuff' - this accelerated keeping up with the Jones's and throwaway fashion culture. She made a really good point saying imagine those shoes you want are actually made out of the money you're about to spend on them - is it worth it? However, there's a fine line between thrifty and stingy. Obviously, we all deserve treats within our means from time to time.

Overall, a really great book full of pearls of wisdom and relatable anecdotes. After reading it, you'll want to take the world by storm!