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How entrepreneur Sara Blakely's dad taught her not to fear failure

Every night around the dinner table, Sara Blakely's father asked one question... and if she didn't have an answer, he'd be disappointed.
/ Source: TODAY

​Parents rejoice in their children's successes, but often shy away from discussing failure. Self-made billionaire Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx intimate apparel, says her father's focus on failure actually helped her become the success she is today.

Every night, Blakely says, her father would ask her and her brother what they had failed at that day. If she didn't have anything to report, he'd be disappointed. A particularly spectacular failure would merit a fatherly high-five.

Blakely says she learned from her dad that failure Isn't so scary, as long as you're trying something new. That childhood lesson would come in handy when her idea for Spanx, now a household name, was rejected by almost every manufacturer she met with over a period of two years.

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Blakely, now a mom of four, says she'd like to see more parents learn from her father's example. Watch the video to hear it from the entrepreneur herself.

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