Running head: BECOMING A CRAFTSMAN 1

#Girlboss: An Exploration of Becoming a Craftsman

Name removed

Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

University of Southern California

Assignment submitted as partial fulfillment of requirements for

CMGT 501: Communication Pro-Seminar

Spring 2019
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#Girlboss: An Exploration of Becoming a Craftsman

Examining the triumphs and tribulations of prominent business professionals provides an

effective way to learn about success. Their anecdotes offer students and entrepreneurs a chance

to learn from their mistakes, analyze their decisions, and point out how events transpired. Sophia

Amoruso’s autobiography #Girlboss provides readers with the story of how she sprouted and

grew her vintage clothing company, Nasty Gal. Amoruso started Nasty Gal out of out of

boredom and the need more extra money, but quickly expanded her small eBay shop into a $200-

million-dollar retail company.

Amoruso details her life story and the growth of her company, offering plenty of insight

for capitalizing on valuable skills. Through the lens of becoming a craftsman detailed in Cal

Newport’s (2012) book So Good They Can’t Ignore You, this paper will discuss and analyze

theory around the passion mindset versus the craftsman mindset. Next, the paper describes the art

of becoming a craftsman through various researchers’ theories and the stories told by Sophia

Amoruso. In conclusion, this paper will examine a series of declining events Amoruso

encountered post-publishing her book and analyze what may have contributed to Amoruso’s

craftsman downfall.

Passion Mindset versus Craftsman Mindset

Newport (2012, p. 3-48) describes a common aphorism: follow your passion. This mantra

advises that following one’s passion will lead to an eventual career full of happiness. He

describes this as the passion hypothesis: the popular belief that a superior profession exists,

waiting to be found if one follows their passion. The passion hypothesis develops into the

passion mindset, which focuses on what the world has to offer an individual. In contrast, the

craftsman mindset focuses on what one can offer the world. He advises that successful
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occupations often have complex foundations that originate without passion, but instead grow on

building skill to develop career capital. Newport (2012) tells, “The craftsman mindset, with its

relentless focus on becoming ‘so good they can’t ignore you’ is a strategy well suited for

acquiring career capital” (p. 48). Newport (2012) argues only on a rare occasion does following

one’s passion lead to occupational bliss.

Additionally, Amoruso herself finds flaws with the passion mindset. She criticizes how

prospective employees of Nasty Gal often mistake including the passion mindset in a cover

letter. She critiques cover letters she had received that detailed how the job can service an

individual’s personal development, rather than what the individual can do for the company.

However, one might argue the creation of Nasty Gal followed the passion hypothesis to an

extent. Amoruso did not explicitly seek out a career in fashion, but fashion was part of her

passion from childhood; she recounts an experience at thirteen where she fell in love with her

first article of vintage clothing. Without following her passion for retro style, bargain shopping,

and eBay, she might not have started Nasty Gal. This argument rivals Newport’s (2012) career

advice to stay away from following a passion. Amoruso might be the unlikely circumstance

where passion meets success that Newport (2012) mentions, but he still advises against it

considering its rarity.

Nevertheless, the possibility exists that by following Newport’s (2012) theory too closely

one could miss chances of entrepreneurship creativity by trying to acquire skills deemed

important to other employers. For example, Amoruso worked at fashion outlets before creating

her company, so truthfully, she could have gained all her expertise then. Perhaps Newport might

have advised her to stay put at her retail job and work harder to develop skills directly useful to

selling unique clothing before venturing off into entrepreneurship. Instead, she chose to learn
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along with way with multiple jobs through her own trial and error—something that worked to

her advantage.

Becoming a Craftsman

Despite Amoruso’s success story stumbling upon a career correlated with her passion,

she also demonstrates ways that she adopted the craftsman mindset, and thus became a

craftsman. According to Newport (2012, p. 33-48), a craftsman is someone who builds rare but

valuable skills in order to collect significant career capital. He mentions that craftsman come to

learn the key elements of great work: creativity, a sense of social impact, and control over a

position. He also argues craftsmen know the only way to achieve such elements come from

amassing a treasured skill set unique to one’s own self and relevant to the job position he or she

wants (Newport, 2012).

The goal of a craftsman is to become so good that employers, peers, and competitors

cannot ignore you—a notion first coined by comedian Steve Martin (Newport, 2012). This

encompasses behaviors such as: branding oneself (Peters, 1997), strengthening a particular and

sought-after skillset until it differentiates one from a crowd (Newport, 2012) (Peters, 1997),

focusing on deliberate practice (Newport, 2012), paying attention to feedback (Lorsch &

Tierney, 2002) (Peters, 1997), reflecting on one’s own weaknesses (Newport, 2012), and

exuding confidence (Pfeffer, 2010).

Peters (1997) discusses a strategy to becoming a craftsman that Newport (2012) does not

explicitly mention: positioning oneself as a brand. Peters (1997) discusses the importance of

branding oneself, the strategy of standing out with exceptional personal and professional value.

Peters (1997) and Newport (2012) would both agree that a crucial ingredient for building a

strong brand is acquiring expertise of a worthwhile skillset. Although everyone has a chance to
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differentiate themselves from the crowd, only those who outperform their categories distinguish

themselves from others. Considering Amoruso’s lack of business expertise or education, she

knew she had to prove herself as a competent businessperson in a world she had no experience

in. In order to stand out, she branded herself differently from the other sellers, as a unique anti-

fashion website with a mixture of old and new. By Peters’ (1997) theory, Amoruso used self-

branding to embrace her unprecedented combination of hyper-aware personality and vintage-

based creativity, and channeled that into differentiation.

Not only did she stand out with her unique style, but with her assembling skillset. She

practiced her craft of vintage shopping, photography, packaging, and creating social buzz more

than any other seller competing in her arena. Peters (1997) argues, “Everything you do — and

everything you choose not to do — communicates the value and character of the brand. From

the way you handle phone conversations to the email messages you send, to the way you

conduct business in a meeting is part of the larger message you’re sending about your brand”

(para. 27). Amoruso exemplified this by meticulously tending to details during the packing

and shipping process, responding to every message by customers, and stressing over perfect

product descriptions. She demonstrates, “No decision was too small. Whether it was the word

choice in a product description or the expression on a model’s face, I treated everything with the

utmost care” (Amoruso, 2015, p. 101). She dedicated herself to hard work in order to give

herself, and her brand the best chance at succeeding.

Newport (2012) and Amoruso both understand the only way to acquire a particular skill

set is through practice. Both authors mentioned the 10,000-hour rule—or the idea that one

reaches expertise after 10,000 hours of practicing something. However, Newport (2012) pushes

this notion further explaining regular practice will only plateau one’s ability to improve. He
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argues the key to practice is deliberate practice—or working on weaknesses rather than

continuing to improve strengths. Amoruso recounts that she put in over 10,000 hours of work but

also depicts many instances where she implemented deliberate practice. She spent time

researching business advice and she was conscientious about packing each article of clothing to

perfection to appear as a professional business. In reality, she knew nothing about business

education and she worked alone in her room by herself. Her attention to detail through each

process of photoshoots, editing content, and fixing unflattering thumbnail pictures exemplifies

deliberate practice. Her extra effort proved she strived to become a craftsman and stand out from

her competition. Amoruso explains, “Instead of spending my time trolling [the competition] and

obsessing about what other sellers were doing, I focused on making my store as unique as

possible” (Amoruso, 2015, p. 38). In turn, she realized her customers were willing to pay more at

her online shop than they were elsewhere—a pivotal sign that she started developing unique and

valuable skills.

A crucial component of deliberate practice is inviting honest feedback to one’s

performance even when it hurts (Lorsch & Tierney, 2002). Lorsch & Tierney (2002) reveal

humans do not naturally seek feedback on their performances. They state, “We all want to

protect ourselves, to solicit only those perspectives that reinforce our positive self-image” (para.

26). Criticism is uncomfortable, but ultimately useful to one’s own growth and development

(Peters, 1997). Amoruso knew the importance of feedback, which she immediately received

depending if an outfit sold or not. If an item was not received well by her followers, she paid

attention and moved on without repeating the same mistake. She listened to her customers

behaviors and comments and heeded their feedback.

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Receiving critique from others help people identify their weaknesses, and understanding

one’s own weakness is the first step of deliberate practice (Newport, 2012). In the beginning of

her book, Amoruso annotated that she stepped down as CEO because she needed a stronger team

leader. She explains her strengths always prevailed with the customer, exemplified when she

tells she preferred speaking directly to her buyers rather than to her own executives. Amoruso’s

ability to self-reflect and set aside her ego by appointing a new CEO proves she knows how to

digest her own weaknesses and correct them. She also mentioned she communicates better online

than in person. For instance, she started the company because she thought she would not have to

talk to people with an online shop, but quickly learned the contrary. This initial assumption

circles back to her lack of business academia. She explains, “I felt like a fraud for a long time, as

if there were no way in hell I was qualified. Who gave this freak the keys?” (Amoruso, 2015, p.

138). However, she never let her lack of education stop her from continuing to persevere and

build Nasty Gal. Her level of self-awareness and ability to change helped her thrive in a winner-

take-all market (Newport, 2012). She chose to learn expertise through experience, summarizing

that the development of Nasty Gal became her formal education. Eventually, big brands like

Jeffrey Campbell and Sam Edelman could no longer ignore her and her undeniable craftsman

skill, but instead wanted to join her.

Part of strengthening one’s own weakness comes with exuding confidence, even when

situations feel shaky (Pfeffer, 2010). One major element that Newport (2012) fails to mention in

becoming a craftsman encircles the need for confidence. He neglects to acknowledge how self-

confidence leads to power and influence amongst others—something fully necessary when

differentiating oneself from others in craftsmanship. One could argue that subordinates will fail

to follow or pay attention to someone who does not have confidence in themselves, as it weakens
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ethos. Pfeffer (2010) explains a determinant way to assimilate power and influence comes from

projecting self-confidence and self-assurance, especially in situations when one feels like an

outsider. Amoruso mentions how she questioned her own competence sometimes, but never let it

show in front of the people she led. She believed in the need for deep rooted, honest confidence

to succeed.

Along with this confidence comes a sense of personal power. Pfeffer (2010) and Lingo

and McGinn (2007) both agree that power stems from energy, focus, tolerating conflict, and self-

confidence. Amoruso demonstrates how she has managed all of these elements. She brought

enough energy to work daily afterhours even when exhausted. She stayed focused on her bigger

goals without getting distracted by negative comments or competitors. She learned to deal with

firing employees and accepting difficult conversations with frenemies. Ultimately, she executed

real confidence and power by knowing her strengths and weaknesses and capitalizing on both.

One of her most admirable examples comes when she learned not to be shy about asking

questions to other executives. She often felt belittled in a room asking to clarify concepts she is

unsure of, but ultimately, she realizes she’s making the decision to embody a real CEO by

exploring what she does not know, instead of just acting like a CEO pretending to know

everything. This signals self-security, and thus personal power, because she exposed her

weaknesses to others and accepted their unsolicited responses for the sake of Nasty Gal’s health.

Amoruso exemplifies true confidence and personal power comes when one can stand up amid

negative attention, knowing it is the only way to grow personally and professionally.

Amoruso’s Craftsman Decline

Amoruso’s book was published in 2015 when Nasty Gal was thriving. In the book, she

fails to mention substantial business failures or challenges that the company encountered.
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However, after researching her life post-publishing the book, one might notice her company had

a rapid decline. Cao (2018) wrote an article for The Observer on the decline of Nasty Gal after

an interview with Amoruso. The article mentioned shortly after 2015, Amoruso filed for Chapter

11 bankruptcy, sold her company, and faced multiple lawsuits—quite the contrast from the uphill

trajectory Amoruso predicted at the end of her book. In the article, Amoruso contradicts her state

of mind in #Girlboss and explains she was naïve, but pitted the blame on her investors for trying

to grow the company too quickly. She questioned why investors gave $40 million to someone,

she tells, did not know how to create a PowerPoint presentation. However, she later mentions she

was not void of responsibility, but holds herself accountable for Nasty Gals’ decline (Cao, 2018).

This exemplifies how Amoruso acquired craftsmanship for a short amount of time, but

failed to continue developing skill. Newport (2012) does not discuss the importance of

continuous growth past when a level of craftsmanship has been acquired. His theory insinuates

that once invaluable skills accrue, happiness and further success will follow–which is untrue not

only in Amoruso’s story, but in general occupational life as well. Although one may not know

exactly what contributed to Amoruso’s public decline, one might speculate she got too

comfortable at the top and stopped her hard work ethic she had at the company’s inception.

However, Newport’s (2012) theory rationalizes one possible reason for her decline:

Amoruso gained too much control without enough career capital to back it up. In other words,

she accepted too much on her plate without having the skill to sustain new growth. Newport

(2012) clarifies this as a trap to prospective success. In Cao’s (2018) article, Amoruso clearly

explains she was not equipped or ready to handle such fast growth, but she did not know that at

the time. She fell for the trap Newport warns of, eventually leading to the decline of her
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craftsmanship in the retail industry. In turn, Nasty Gal sold for $20 million, which was one tenth

of the company’s peak value (Schaefer, 2017).

Despite Nasty Gal’s deterioration, Amoruso had already transitioned into re-branding her

fame through #Girlboss, a best-seller on the NY Times list. Peters (1997) expresses the

importance of marketing one’s own self as a brand, which Amoruso strived for with #Girlboss.

Cao (2018) reports that she established #Girlboss as a media brand, starting with the

autobiography and moving into #Girlboss Radio, and eventually a series about her life titled

#Girlboss, acquired by Netflix. Amoruso’s confidence to continue building a brand despite her

public decline proves she has what it takes to move forward after failures. Unfortunately,

Amoruso did not make it to the craftsman level in the media hemisphere that she made it to in

retail; Netflix canceled her show after one season (Bradley, 2017). One explanation is that she

did not listen to the market of her brand (Peters, 1997). In particular, Amoruso launched her

media company at the same time critics associated her name with pseudo-feminism—which

describes a woman who brands herself as a feminist but does not act accordingly—after public

lawsuits accused her of firing pregnant employees at Nasty Gal (Schaefer, 2017). Perhaps if she

started her media company later on when she re-branded her self-image, she might have found

success with it. Most recently, she started #Girlboss events, leading workshops empowering

business women to develop craftsman skills and start their own companies (Bahler, 2019).

Amoruso showed she knows how to fail, but seems to know better how to pick herself back up

and try again with something new.

The most predominant takeaway from Sophia Amoruso’s rollercoaster story of success

and failure is that once one has reached a craftsman level, one cannot stop, one cannot slow

down, and one cannot assume he or she has passed the trouble. Newport (2012) forgets to
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mention the importance of further growth once one has reached expertise. However, Lorsch and

Tierney (2002) do mention that with rewards and accomplishment come further responsibility,

faster paced work, and the demand for more attention. One can only speculate that Amoruso got

ahead of herself, taking on future investors as her company peaked, moving fast as her book

skyrocketed, and maybe letting her ego got the best of her.

Achieving a level of craftsmanship is extremely difficult, constituting hours of deliberate

practice, self-scrutiny and examination, appreciation for feedback, and internalizing a rock-solid

confidence—but remaining a craftsman is even harder. Contrary to what many might believe, the

top of the occupational ladder is not a time for personal vacations and relaxation, but rather a

moment for self-reflection and dedication, choosing to double the hard work, and triple the

hours. Perhaps this constitutes an area for new research—not how craftsmen make it to the top,

but how they remain at the top.

In conclusion, Amoruso’s book #Girlboss talks about a lot of what to do, but disregards

many accounts of what not to do. However, though a critical lens, one can read the book

questioning Amoruso’s naïve attitude toward success in her younger years. What Amoruso has

exemplified well is the will and ability to persist through failure with new ideas and new

ventures, despite the unfavorable attention. The brand #Girlboss is so closely associated with

Sophia Amoruso the person, it seems she will continue to press on to keep her fame, and

#Girlboss alive. Provided that she internalizes Newport’s (2012) advice and regains

craftsmanship during her next venture, she may make it back to the top of the corporate ladder

again.
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References

Amoruso, S. (2015). #Girlboss. New York, New York: Penguin Random House.

Bahler, K. (2019, January 30). As CEO of Nasty Gal, Sophia Amoruso failed spectacularly. Now

she’s turning failure into a movement. Money Magazine. Retrieved from

http://money.com/money/longform/sophia-amoruso-girlboss-interview/

Bradley, L (2017, June 26). Was Girlboss Netflix’s first truly terrible show? Vanity Fair.

Retrieved from https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/06/girlboss-netflix-

canceled-one-season

Cao, S. (2018, October 2). A conversation with Sophia Amoruso, the ‘Girlboss’ founder of Nasty

Gal. The Observer. Retrieved from https://observer.com/2018/10/sophia-amoruso-

girlboss-nasty-gal/

Lingo, L. L., & McGinn, K. (2007). Power and influence: Achieving your objectives in

organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School

Lorsch, J. W. & Tierney, T. J. (2002). Aligning your star: Build a life not a resume. Boston,

MA: Harvard Business School.

Newport, C. (2012). So good they can’t ignore you: Why skills trump passion in the quest for

work you love. London: Hachette Book Group.

Peters, T. (1997, August 31). The brand called you. Fast Company. Retrieved from

http://www.fastcompany.com/28905/brand-called-you

Pfeffer, J. (2010). Power: Why some people have it—and others don’t. New York: Harper

Collins.
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Schaefer, K. (2017, April 26). What comes after scandal and scathing reviews? Sophia Amoruso

is finding out. Vanity Fair. Retrieved from

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/04/sophia-amoruso-girlboss-netflix-nasty-gal