Steve Jobs used a similar strategy. : In 2000, she made a splash in the fashion industry when she cut the feet out of her control top pantyhose and capitalized on the invention to launch Spanx. Now, that company has an estimated $400 million in yearly sales and Blakely, who is part owner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team, has a net worth of $1 billion, according to Forbes. Blakely revealed in a recent episode of Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman that there's one thing she does every morning to keep her creative thoughts flowing.