Reba McEntire Talks Tough on Business and Boots

In her 35 years in the entertainment business, Reba McEntire has learned one very important lesson that she now passes on to country music newcomers: "Never wear a new pair of shoes!"

"If you're going to wear a pair of shoes to an awards show that you haven't worn before, don't! Wear them two weeks before and break them in," Reba explains to The Boot. "That's why I have this pair of boots. I've probably had them resoled ten times. I'm getting to the point in my life where I want to be comfortable."

While Reba considers herself somewhat of a stylist, she is perhaps more concerned with being a good businesswoman.

"In the 80s, I was saying to my manager and booking agent that I only wanted one agent to deal with my career, not ten different agents, because we were getting mixed signals. Back when I didn't need to play arenas, they were booking me in arenas and the audience made it look like sound check! I said, 'This has got to stop.' So after I let my manager go and divorced my husband, I hooked up with my tour manager and made him my manager, and Narvel Blackstock and I started Starstruck Entertainment. We got a promoter and a booking agent who only dealt with me.

"Being a businesswoman is very important in this life. I look to others for inspiration. I've learned a lot from Dolly Parton, and now I'm learning from Taylor Swift." Reba went on to explain. "Taylor is a very smart old soul. She's in tune with what's supposed to be going on. She knows how to think and she has a great business sense. I like to eavesdrop on what Taylor is doing. I always learn something."

Reba shared a story on herself, remembering when hubby Narvel would ask her to do something she really didn't want to, he'd always have a witty remark back to her. "One time he wanted me to be lowered from the top of the Astrodome as my grand entrance, and I wouldn't do it. And when he was walking away, I heard him muttering to himself, 'That's OK, Garth will do it.' Today when I tell him I don't want to do something, he'll say, 'Taylor will do it!'"