Natalie Massenet quotes: the fashion entrepreneur’s top quotes.
“There is no recipe for success; it is as unique as you are. If you want success, be unique.”
“It is a changing world with changing opportunities.”
“Ambition is important. Of course you can’t get anywhere without talent, but there are a lot of talented people. To succeed, you have to be the most ambitious talented person.”
“Success begins at that magical moment when you declare to yourself, your friends, and the universe that you believe you can do something different.”
“Only twice I let people talk me out of good ideas.”
“What seems like a crazy idea today eventually grows. It’s a ‘with hindsight’ thing. One day, someone will turn around and say, ‘That was genius.'”
“The important thing is knowing what you’re going to do and being an expert in what you want to do. It can be something very simple. But don’t pick an industry you have nothing to do with, and make sure you have a basic skillset or knowledge.”
“I’m a big advocate for being as knowledgeable as you can within your niche. I think whatever you do, you have to really commit to it and really throw yourself into it. As the saying goes, ‘Don’t half-ass anything. Always use your full ass.’ Research as much as possible, read up on others who have become successful doing what it is you want to do, speak to them if possible and ask for their advice, read, listen to podcasts, keep up to date with changes in your industry.”
“Embrace change. People are really scared of change, but if you don’t change in this day and age, somebody comes along and runs over you. In order to stay relevant, you have to stay open to new trends and keep educating yourself. You have to keep evolving.”
“Change is all about growth. Nothing good ever comes from being stuck in the same place and that’s the same with a business.”
“Keep up to date with latest trends; don’t be afraid to change direction if something no longer works; be prepared to take risks.”
“Focus on one thing and do it really well. If you’re good at coming up with lots of ideas, learn how to focus, do one thing really well. I’m an ideas person, and it’s dangerous. One of the drawbacks is you start a lot of things, get a lot of balls in the air and you just have to stop and refocus.”
“It’s a classic trait of entrepreneurs to be continuously coming up with ideas and often all of them may be really good and could totally take off. But, if we try and do all of those ideas, aside from ending up having a meltdown, we would probably fail to do any of these things really well.”
“I’m such a firm believer in the idea that our thoughts have a major impact on our lives and the whole idea that what you think, you become. Yes, there will be times when things get sh*tty. As Elizabeth Gilbert outs it in her recent book, Big Magic, we all have to eat a sh*t sandwich to get where we want to be. The trick is to keep your head above water and don’t let the bad moments drag you down. It’s staying positive and seeing a light at the end of what may be a ridiculously long tunnel that is going to see you through to your end goal.”
“I believe all positive things and negative things are valuable because they shape you.”
“Positivity is like a muscle: keep exercising it, and it becomes a habit.”
“Having the positive belief that it will all be okay just means that you hustle and make it work because failure is not even an option in your own mind.”
“The power of your thoughts can influence how events turn out. I’m a positive person: when bad things happen, I can see the silver lining. As a result I think I am very lucky, even though I probably have as much bad luck as anyone else, and that translates into seeing opportunity.”
“I believe that all brands will become storytellers, editors and publishers, all stores will become magazines, and all media companies will become stores. There will be too many of all of them. The strongest ones, the ones who offer the best customer experience, will survive.”
“Never forget that you only have one opportunity to make a first impression—with investors, with customers, with PR, and with marketing.”
“I think there will be an increasing convergence between content and commerce, that it will be about following consumers instead of making consumers come to you, and I am especially excited about the various platforms that will allow more and more access to customers.”
“Customers want new things, and the way that they get them isn’t written in stone.”
“Once you start a business, you have to grow it and grow with it; starting a business is not just for Christmas.”
“As an entrepreneur, what drives you has to be the good news; otherwise, you just don’t get out of bed.”
“I thrive on competition.”
“When you love something, it doesn’t feel like work.”
“Be the smartest at the table and you can wear whatever you want.”
“Point out the problems, as long as you have a solution. I don’t like critics who aren’t doers themselves.”
“Always go into meetings or negotiations with a positive attitude. Tell yourself you’re going to make this the best deal for all parties.”
“In 13 years of doing my day job, I’ve learned a few things about motivating people. It’s about setting a vision and, as long as everyone knows why they’re doing what they’re doing, you achieve that vision.”
“I don’t have a mentor in the strict definition. I take as much advice and inspiration as I can from the people I am close to.”
“I think fashion is actually very good training for being in the tech world, because it’s all about moving on to the next thing, looking for the next thing, not getting stuck in the past.”
“Part of creating the future is to follow the consumer. Women are working; we’ve moved the store to the desk. Now though, she’s is in the back of a cab with her iPhone or her iPad, she’s tweeting an outfit that her friend is wearing and desperately trying to find out where she got her shoes online.”
“Women just love to shop.”
“It’s a false assumption that people with a lot of money have a lot of free time to shop.”
“The internet is a gift to fashion.”
“My experience is in merging extraordinary creative content with innovative global commerce.”
“When I started Net-a-Porter, I knew nothing. And I was pregnant. Starting a new venture and being pregnant for the first time are pretty similar in many ways. If you knew what was going to happen to you, you wouldn’t venture down that road.”
“There’s no right time to have kids and no perfect formula. The good news is there isn’t a wrong way, either.”
“I think I’m a better mother because of work, because I’m happy. If I wasn’t working, I would just be waiting for the kids to come home every day, and living vicariously through their lives.”
“As a woman, I feel it’s important to support causes that are important to my core customer, who is also a woman, as well as causes that resonate with me personally.”
“Your biggest challenge will be life-work balance. That’s certainly turned out to be true.”
“Moving to L.A. when I was 11 was when my entrepreneurialism started because it’s the land of the American dream.”
“I graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with an English literature degree and traveled for a year before going to work.”
“I realized at a certain point that if I was going to have the kind of life that I fantasized about, I needed to get my act together.”
“I borrowed a creaky laptop from my husband, went into the web, and never came back.”
“I’m an accidental entrepreneur. I’ve taken the love of fashion from my mother, and journalism from my father.”
“Audrey Hepburn has influenced me.”
“My dad taught me never to be afraid of what’s on the other side of the mountain.”
“Work means independence. It allowed me to shape my life on so many levels.”
“I’m supporting the School for Creative Startups because the project’s ambition—to boost innovation and the culture of entrepreneurship—is something I feel strongly about.”
“My personal ambition remains the same: to be creative, to be modern, to stay one step ahead, to enjoy life.”
“I love that I love my job.”
“People ask if I walk around and pinch myself. Yes, I do.”
