This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kim Gravel, founder of Belle by Kim Gravel, and Love Who You Are. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I was 19 when I won the Miss Georgia pageant. Even more exciting than the crown was the $100,000 salary that came with it.
This was back in 1991, so that was serious money. For the first time, I felt like I was being paid not just for the task I was doing but for my talent.
Since I was little, I knew that I wanted to be paid for the value I brought. My first job was washing hair at a salon. I was making something like $3 an hour, but I knew I was providing more value than I was being paid for. I wasn’t just washing hair: I was talking to the ladies about their families and their churches, giving them one-on-one attention.
After my year as Miss Georgia, I was hired as a Goodwill Ambassador to Japan. That came with a nice paycheck, too. I realized that if I got lots of bookings like that, I could make as much as I wanted. I started to develop my speaking and performing skills. I realized my value was whatever price tag I put on it.
That realization helped me become a multimillionaire.
I landed a reality TV show while I had an infant
A few years later, I was married to my husband, Travis. We had an infant and a 2-year-old, and I was bored to death as a stay-at-home mom. I knew my most important job was being a mother, but I wanted more. I needed a sense of purpose.
I Googled reality TV shows and found a contact for a producer. I remember sitting at home, no makeup and no bra, with spit-up on my shirt as I reached out to him. That led to a reality TV show about coaching pageants. It got picked up by Lifetime, and I was so proud to be a stay-at-home mom who had landed a television show.
When the show was canceled 18 months later, I was devastated. I didn’t know that would be the turning point in my life.
I love running my company
At the time, I wasn’t thinking about myself as an entrepreneur. I just thought I had a slick mouth and a big personality, and I knew how to use them.
After the show was canceled, I whined to my parents, who told me to cut it out and put on my big girl panties. My mom had an idea for soft jeans that wouldn’t stretch out throughout the day. I started trying to make her vision come to life, and 18 months later, I was selling them on QVC.
Today, I’ve created two of QVC’s most successful brands. Over the last seven years, I’ve sold over $1 billion in clothing, and last year the company did $283 million in sales. I love that I run the company, and my husband is the chief financial officer. I’m not licensing my name or brand; I’m making decisions and developing this company.
Failure has helped me learn
The beautiful thing about being successful and having financial wealth is what you can do with it. Travis and I have built outdoor classrooms and have redone a girls’ locker room for our local schools. We also started a nonprofit to teach girls about entrepreneurship.
I grew up middle class, but my dad, a banker, was cheaper than dirt. He taught us to save 70% of our money and live and give with the remaining 30%.
In some ways, I’m still cheaper than dirt. If our family goes out to dinner, we drink water or get one soda to share. My 16-year-old got a hand-me-down car when he got his license: a 2014 Nissan Rogue. I try to be like the millionaire next door.
Throughout my life, I’ve learned more from my failures than I have from my successes. If my show hadn’t been canceled, I wouldn’t have started making products.
I want my sons to experience failure, but I’m worried that they’re part of a generation that doesn’t know how to fail well. I don’t want them to experience serious failures, like mental health issues or financial scams. But if they don’t make the sports team, I’m not the parent calling the school to express outrage. Failure is our friend in finances, romance, and life. It’s where we learn.
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