The Founder of Girlboss Talks About Starting From Scratch after Facing Burnout
From Nasty Gal to Girlboss, Sophia Amoruso told us what went wrong, and how she’s completely changed the way she works and lives. Rebecca Muller, Editorial Fellow at Thrive Global
Recalling the anxieties she faced as a young entrepreneur, Amoruso says she struggled to listen to her gut. “I didn’t know the difference between my anxiety and my intuition,” she says. “It’s really hard to decode those things.” She says the mere process of figuring out the right thing to do was all-consuming, and it took its toll on her well-being. Amoruso says at Girlboss, she now takes time to invest in self-care, prioritizing dinner at home, walking meetings, and even using an Invisalign treatment to improve her smile. “I’ve learned it’s about the little things,” Amoruso says. “They make me work better.”
The Nasty Gal to Girlboss success story is proof that it is possible to reinvent your career and start fresh, but Amoruso says the process isn’t as glamorous as people often suspect: “I encourage people to try things out for size, pursue the side hustle and engage in the freelance economy, but we also have to take a step back. I was very lucky to have a platform when I started my second business. Not everyone knows the exact direction they want to go in, so that could take trying things out for size, and apprenticing, starting a side hustle.” Amoruso notes that many entrepreneurs do not realize the pay cut that comes with starting anew, and that’s something she had to learn on her own journey.