Sophia Amoruso founded Nasty Gal in 2006 reselling vintage clothing on eBay — teaching herself photography, copywriting, and customer service through pure trial and error, with no business degree or industry connections to tell her what "couldn't" be done.

How she built it from nothing:

• Scoured thrift stores for underpriced vintage pieces
• Styled and photographed everything herself on a mannequin in her apartment
• Wrote product descriptions with real personality instead of generic retail copy
• Treated every buyer interaction as a relationship, not just a transaction

Within a few years the eBay store had a devoted following, and she made the leap to a standalone website — a move most people around her thought was premature.

The takeaway: credentials and industry pedigree matter far less than most people assume. Obsessive attention to the actual product and customer experience matters more.