Sara Blakely - Self Made Entrepreneurship

In this class: content about entrepreneurship
American accent / sotaque americano

Vocabulary list:

  • A million dollar idea: uma grande idéia, uma idéia que vale 1 milhão de dólares.
  • Entrepreneur / Entrepreneurship: empreendedor(a) / empreendedorismo.
  • USD 5,000 set aside in savings: USD 5.000 guardados/economizados.
  • Compliment: elogio.
  • Come up with: inventar algo, trazer uma solução
  • Brand new: completamente novo, novinho em folha.
  • Actually: na verdade
  • Build awareness: criar / construir o reconhecimento da marca
  • Be willing to: estar disposto a algo
  • Vulnerable: vulnerável

Now, watch the video:

We recommend you watch the video at least twice.

In the first time, pay attention to the use of the vocabulary presented above.

Before playing it for the second time, take a look at the questions below. After watching it, try to answer them correctly. 

1. Sara mentions she started the company Spanx because:
(a) she had USD 5,000 in savings
(b) she wanted to develop a new bra
(c) she was a frustrated consumer
(d) she is a self-made entrepreneur

2. According to Sara, when people say that your idea is not a great idea, that means:
(a) you’ve come up with something brand new
(b) they want to give you a compliment
(c) you need to make a complement to your product
(d) that your product is a waste of time.

3. What was her job before founding Spanx?
(a) She sold candies door-to-door
(b) She was a fashion designer
(c) She was an actress
(d) She sold fax machines

4. What are the three tips that she gives for entrepreneurs to focus in the beginning of their journeys?
(a) Make it, Sell it, Build Awareness
(b) Have an Idea, Find an Investor, Sell it
(c) Find an Investor, Make it, Sell it
(d) Build awareness, Find an Investor, Just do it

Check the answers at the bottom of the page.

Practice Your Listening Comprehension and Writing

Have you ever thought about starting a business? What kind of business would you like to to have?

24 respostas para “Sara Blakely Teaches Entrepreneurship”

  1. I never thought about having a business, I think I didn’t born to be an entrepreneur I fell that it is not my style. Although, I need to say her speech is exciting and really gives the idea that we can!

    Responda

    1. Hello Jenifer,
      Sara is very inspiring, right? I’m a huge fan!!

      Don’t worry about this, each person has his/her own preferences, and it is totally fine. There is no right or wrong! 🙂

      PS: I think I wasn’t born…

      Responda

  2. What a Woman? I have thought about starting a business and I want to mix two things the first one is related to my professional skills that are electrical engineering the other one is related to sustainability, veganism, which are things I believe the society needs.

    Responda

    1. Hello Jessica,
      Sara is amazing, right?
      Nice!! The areas you’ve mentioned are very important to our society and I’m sure there are a lot of opportunities to seek. 🙂

      Responda

  3. I’ve already thought about building a nacional logistics company from scratch, but , nowadays I think different, I prefer to try to be an executive in a multinational company and maybe work in another country.

    Responda

    1. Thank you for your comment, Bruno.
      Life is really full of choices and there is no right or wrong when it comes to decide being an executive or and entrepreneur.
      It is just important to make a thorough analysis of the potential scenarios before making a decision.

      Responda

    1. That’s great Geraldo!

      Just a quick tip: instead of “type” you can use the word “methodology”.

      For exemple: I like this methodology to improve my listening.

      Responda

  6. Hello Ho and Augusto!
    No, I never thought about having my own business, I was not born with this gift of entrepreneurship. However, I believe that there may be a way to develop the entrepreneurial spirit as well.

    Responda

  8. Hello Ro and Augusto!

    Have you ever thought about starting a business? What kind of business would you like to to have?

    Yes, I already thought, in fact, I think about it every day of my life.
    I believe that the best way for you to grow in life and be successful is to work with what you like and have your own business doing what you like is fantastic.

    Responda

  9. Yes, I have ever thought about starting a business. Three friends and I tried to create a social network aimed at artists in general. But after a year, it didn’t work out very well.
    By the way, I got the four quiz questions right 🙂

    Responda

  10. Hi Ho and Augusto,
    I worked at a big company more than 30 years and always loved my job. I never tought about having my own business. But I think we can never say “I will never do that”, because you can change you mind or an opportunity can arise, so you have to be open to new possibilities.

    Responda

  12. Hello, Ho and Augusto!
    I loved the video! Sara’s story teaches us that to achieve a goal in our lives, we need to be courageous, and, above all, resilient, because there will always have people to discourage us to make our dreams come true.

    Responda

  14. Hi Augusto and Ho!
    This video is very motivating. I already thought about opening a finance consultancy,
    but because of the pandemic I had to postpone it to the next year.

    Responda

  15. Hello everyone!
    My dad was a entrepreneur, I always think about. He tryed help me some times, but i always had fear.
    Now, I’m in the last year of college, and if I don’t find a job, maybe I’ll try open my office.

    Responda

    1. Hi Jaqueline,

      Welcome to the platform!

      Just some minor corrections:
      – was AN entrepreneur (before vowels, we use “an” instead of “a”.
      – tried to help em.

      Which course are you taking in college? I am sure you’re going to do well!

      Responda

  16. I admire people like Sara. A really good idea that will change not only your life.
    I´m not sure if I would be a good entrepreneur because it´s demand a lot of things.

    Responda

  17. Yes, I had some ideas about to be an entrepreneur, but I choose the traditional way to study, work in big companies, learn and practice as much as I can. I thought it could be extremely useful one day, in terms of avoiding mistakes I saw happened before. One idea I had is to run a oil change for cars. I worked as a franchise consultant in this area for more than 10 years, and it can be very useful, because I saw many good practices, how some of the best players work, and I also could develop new ideas to improve the business and the customer experience. Maybe one day… thank you!

    Responda

  18. I’ve never thought about a concrete business but I always think what can I do to help others. I’ve been working in the International Arena since 1999, but always in the public or private area, also in an International Organisms. In other words, I always work for somebody.
    But in the last few months I was thinking about helping the society, especially in this period of pandemic. Many persons have been faced very difficult issues that affected a lot their minds. So I realized that I already started my own iniciative by giving them “Coaching sessions”. Something that I really love to!
    I realized that many persons like my advice, as a mentor. And because I love to do this, I’ve been learning in many courses about this wonderful subject since many years ago (courses like Emotional Inteligence, Neurolinguistic Programming, Coaching and many tools that persons could used to overcome their problems).
    With my last course that show me new tools for Coaching, I’ve been started my firsts Coachees because I believe that nobody, just the person, know the best way to change the current situation, and the Coacher is there to show the tools and to show the coachee the stregthens and the inner power that he/she has to move on! I really love when that happens!! Everything is based in the person not something that comes outside and I love to empower them! I practice this kind of behavior with my team in all the projects that I’ve being managing.

    Thank you so much for bring us this subject Ho!

    Responda

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List of Listening Classes:

Answers:
1-c / 2-a / 3-d / 4-a