Kim Kardashian's 3 rules for succeeding in business

Say what you will about Kim Kardashian, but there's no denying the reality TV star is also a savvy businesswoman.

The 34-year-old is an executive producer on her family's hit, long-running reality show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," which was recently renewed at E! for a reported $100 million for the next four years.

Kim also has a super successful video game app, product endorsement deals, a selfie book, and nearly 31 million Instagram followers tracking her every move.

According to Forbes, Kardashian earned $28 million in 2014 alone and was recently named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people of 2015.

But Kardashian, 34, works hard for her money.

In a new interview with Variety, Kardashian reveals her three rules for succeeding in business:

1. "You have to be organized. It might be really simple, but if you're not fully organized, it becomes a huge problem."
2. "Not being lazy. The reality is people don't want to get up and work. It sounds crazy, but I see it all the time."
3. "If you find something you're really passionate about, figure out a way to make that your job. Then you'll be happy. If you aren't doing what you want to do, you'll be frustrated."

Despite her reality TV 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 tells 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."

Kardashian tells Variety it was her father, the late attorney Robert Kardashian, who instilled a business sense in 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.

After working in stores, Kim soon discovered a whole new world of online shopping - and selling.

"I discovered eBay and I loved shopping. I had to be on a budget. I didn't have credit cards. How do I figure out how to make this a business? I remember I bought these Manolo Blahnik shoes that were $700. He [Kim's late father, Robert] let me buy five pairs. I had to pay him back plus interest. I sold every pair on eBay for $2,500. I became so obsessed with seeing that return, I would sell off the things I wouldn't be wearing."

Kardashian explains that she made such a profit off of the shoes because she had a good eye for trends and what people would want to buy.

"They were these Manolo Blahniks that Jennifer Lopez had worn in her first or second video," Kardashian explains. "Everyone had to have them. I called at the right time and the girl at the store had five pairs and I took them."

From there, Kardashian created a business of cleaning out her celebrity friends' closets and selling the goods on eBay, while taking a cut of the profit.

Kardashian even spun that infamous 2007 sex tape into a reported $5 million deal that still swells her bank account to this day. After Kardashian's nude Paper magazine cover piqued interest in November, Vivid Entertainment president Steve Hirsch told TMZ the reality star would rake in $55,000 for that week alone.

Later in 2007, Kim pivoted the press surrounding the tape into an E! reality show about her family, and the Kardashian brand was built.

In a biography of Kim Kardashian by Martha Stewart for last month's Time Magazine '100 Most Influential People' list, Stewart wrote: "She [Kim] and her famous, entrepreneurial siblings-shepherded by a savvy, tireless matriarch-have also expanded the very definition of family."

"Kim comes across as an enviable big sister in a clan where everyone seems to love one another, wrote Stewart. "Where does Kim go from here? There seem to be very few barriers to further explosive success."

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