The Kardashians are always doing something and are always in the news, particularly Kim. While she may be most known for being married to Kanye West, it is her businesses—from her perfume range to her mobile game and app—that have earned her millions of dollars.
Clearly, Kim isn’t just using her family’s wealth to fund her lifestyle. Not everybody agrees, however.
Kim’s critics call her a talentless phony. They accuse her of being a self-centered publicity hound. They say she’s only famous because of a sex tape and a her large behind, of which she seems to have zero problem showing to the universe. They put her at the center of what’s wrong with America.
As we see it, however, she is the opposite.
Kim Kardashian is what’s right with America. She is smart. She is savvy. She is hardworking. And she is very, very entrepreneurial.
How Kim Got Started
Anybody who thinks that Kim has had everything handed to her is plainly wrong.
Kim caught the entrepreneurial bug early. As a teenager, she worked in a clothing store—something she did for four years—before designing her own accessories and wares and selling them on eBay. This is not something that is taught; it takes a lot of drive, passion, and skill to go out there and make a success of any business, even if it is just selling crafts on eBay.
She used this experience to start an additional business that cleaned out and redesigned closets. She also took the clothes from her customers and re-sold them on eBay, too. This is classic e-commerce.
Sure, her father may be a famous and successful attorney (and of course, he loaned her money for her entrepreneurial ventures), but he always made sure that she signed contracts and paid the money back to him.
“That” Sex Tape
Although it was her sex tape made in 2003 that made Kim famous, she did not withdraw and go into hiding out of embarrassment. Instead, like any successful entrepreneur, she capitalized on the moment and leveraged it to make even more money.
About that—she persuaded the E! network, a network that was sceptical at first, to run her reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Over 10 seasons later, it is one of the network’s most popular shows that makes her, and the network, a boatload of money.
Despite her reality TV show roots, Kardashian says she has always considered herself a businesswoman.
“When the opportunity for our TV show came about, I wanted to do it to bring attention to our stores [DASH, which she opened with her sisters in 2006],” she told Variety. “I was thinking this might not last very long, but we’ll grow a great business and expand online. I thought it would be great press. I didn’t think it would turn into what it turned into.”
She also went on to say that it was her father, Robert Kardashian, who instilled entrepreneurship into her from a young age.
“When I turned 16, my dad made me sign a contract — he made us sign contracts for everything — that if I hit my car, I would be responsible for paying for it. I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I tapped someone. It was so not a big deal, but I had to pay for it. It was during the O.J. trial. They saw my last name and said, “Kardashian, your dad’s that lawyer?!” They sued me for a lot of money. After I paid them back, I kept on working to buy myself some clothes.”
What Can We Learn from Kim K?
It may sound obvious, but we can learn that hard work truly does pay off and that you don’t need money to make money.
Although her father did loan her money, there are plenty of funding opportunities that wannabe entrepreneurs can tap into. These can be used to launch an idea into a fruitful and successful business enterprise.
Despite the media lambasting Kim for being given everything that she has, this simply isn’t true; she worked hard from a very young age to hone her entrepreneurial skills and build several successful brands. Although she may be famous because of “that tape”, it is not the root of her success.
