In 2006 Blake Mycoskie was a 29 year old entrepreneur. He founded his first company when he was 19
and ten years on he was taking a break from his fourth start-up to go travelling in Argentina.
During his travels he engrossed himself in the culture. He danced the tango, played polo,
drank the wine and even wore the national shoe – the alpargata.
Later on in the trip he visited villages and poverty stricken areas and became aware that
many children lacked shoes. Being barefoot meant blisters, sores and infections. He wanted
to do something about it to help. He first thought of a shoe-based charity but
it would only last as long as there were donors. Then he thought why not use his existing entrepreneurial
talents to create a profitable business which could help provide shoes for the children.
His idea became “TOMS” which stands for “Tomorrow’s Shoes”. It’s a shoe company
that sells the alpargata shoe to US markets and beyond. For every pair sold, they donate
another pair to a child in need, one for one. He started the company with the help of his
polo teacher Alejo, who primarily helped as a translator initially, as well as allowing
the use of his family barn to work out of. After getting a local shoemaker on board and
making 250 sample pairs, Mycoskie went back to the USA.
His friends loved the shoes, bought pairs from him and put him in touch with stores
who might want to sell them. The shoe buyer at one of these stores loved them too and
TOMS now had a retail customer. It wasn’t just the shoe people loved, it was the story
behind the shoe and both could be sold. Soon big breaks came in the form of articles
in the Los Angeles Times and Vogue magazine. Orders for the shoes dramatically increased
and even celebrities such as Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson were wearing them,
creating yet more exposure. After 10,000 sales, they returned to Argentina
to give out the shoes. The next ten days they drove through the country handing over shoes
to children in locations from schools to soup kitchens.
Seeing the impact of this work and the joy on the children’s faces made Mycoskie realise
that this would become his life and he sold his other entrepreneurial endeavours. TOMS
has become a huge social as well as financial and business success. He wrote this book as
a guide on how to build something that will make a difference focusing on six keys traits.
It shows you how to earn money, achieve fulfilment and make a positive impact on the world.
1. Find your story Having a story that’s compelling helps to
attract attention from the press. It creates loyal customers who feel connected to a story
that moves them. Stories help the human mind understand, make sense of, remember and plan
our lives. This most primitive form of communication is being used today by smart companies who
tell stories on YouTube and Facebook. A story evokes emotion and emotion creates
a connection. People make their decisions based on what the facts mean to them, rather
than the facts themselves. Mycoskie used to wear odd coloured TOMS shoes
– red on the left foot and blue on the right – so that people would ask him why and he
could tell the TOMS story. To spread your message, you should commit to telling the
story at every opportunity. 2. Face your fears
Those who are successful face up to their fears and make plans to overcome them. Everyone
who succeeds battles through adversity at some point, fear and setbacks are inevitable.
Instead of focusing on the fear itself, which can grow and distort our behaviour, focus
on your actions, which is something you can control. No matter what happens, life goes
on. Everyone makes mistakes. In the beginning, there were times when TOMS
didn’t have the money to pay the bills. These were particularly scary moments. Mycoskie
dealt with the fear by surrounding himself with interns. They’re enthusiastic and so
new to everything that they don’t waste time being fearful. Surrounded by these people
gave him confidence and made him feel young, rather than old and scared.
He also read biographies. Specifically biographies about people who focused their business on
profit and a larger mission, such as Richard Branson or Howard Schultz. Learning how someone
else was doing something similar to what he wanted to do, eliminated fear.
3. Be resourceful without resources Many well known companies started out in improvised
spaces. Facebook began in Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room.
Kenneth Cole’s first shoe display was in the boot of his car.
LinkedIn began in Reid Hoffman’s living room.
Apple started in Steve Job’s family garage. Lack of resources is not a reason to avoid
starting a company. It often inspires a competitive edge and creativity. If you have little money
it becomes part of your company’s DNA so that when you expand you keep that efficiency
and frugality to stay successful. Develop a presence where it’s free – utilise
social media. It’s a great equaliser of companies, regardless of how many resources
the companies have. When TOMS first started instead of renting
expensive office space, Mycoskie became friendly with staff at a coffee shop he used to go
into in LA. They let him start receiving his mail there and just like that, TOMS had an
address on Hollywood Boulevard, which would help them get taken more seriously.
4. Keep it simple In design, simplicity rules. The iPod when
launched was more expensive than competitor’s products, lacked a radio receiver and made
replacing the battery difficult. It succeeded because of its simple design and ease of use
due to it being less complicated. TOMS shoes are based on the alpargata, which
have been around for over 100 years and are simply a piece of canvas around the foot attached
to the sole. This simplicity gives TOMS a blank canvas allowing them to create different
designs and special editions with celebrity partners such as Charlize Theron.
5. Build trust There are two fundamental aspects of trust
for a business. Internal trust that you build within the organisation and external trust
that you build with your customers and third parties.
Trust between employer and employee is the cornerstone of your business and your future.
A leaders job is to motivate the staff and anyone else they’re in a position to influence.
The better the employees feel, the better the business performs. Trust rather than authoritarianism
allows knowledge and valuable contributions to come from anywhere in the business instead
of just from the executives at the top. Powerlessness is the ultimate de-motivator. Giving away
autonomy and giving the employee more responsibility empowers employees, making the organisation
run more smoothly and leaves more time to spend on other issues.
Leaders who use qualities such as empathy, awareness and listening to people can be inspiring.
They create loyal employees who are attached to the company. A leader can create a company
but a community creates a movement. Admit your own mistakes. Everyone makes them
and if you admit them and work through them, you can treat them as an opportunity to build
more trust. TOMS once accidently created 6,000 shoes with
too much fabric. They were fine at first but after a few weeks of wear, they became slippy.
No customers complained but TOMS recalled the shoes at great cost. In the long run it
showed they stood behind what they made and gained a great deal of trust.
If you lose the trust of your customers, you lose everything. You can build this trust
by creating a powerful promise for the customer. Brands have built reputations by offering
lifetime guarantees of their products, often replacing products with no questions asked.
This wins loyalty and trusting these guarantees will encourage the customer to invest further.
At TOMS a lady emailed saying she needed two different sized shoes for a medical condition
she had with her foot, but couldn’t afford two pairs. TOMS staff spoke to warehouse staff,
had a custom pair made and shipped and the lady wrote back thrilled. A potentially irate
customer had been turned into a potential evangelist for the brand.
6. Giving is good business Giving is good in two ways because it helps
people and it makes money. When giving is incorporated into the business model, customers
help market a product by telling people about it and the story behind it.
Giving helps the giver as well as the recipient. It will help you get through a bad day. You’ll
love talking about your job and you’ll love your job itself a little bit more.
If a business is doing good, customers have greater reason to care about the work. It
not only creates loyal customers, it retains the most amazing employees who want to be
part of the story. It also helps to attract great partners. Businesses
want to partner with other businesses that are doing something good. TOMS has worked
with Microsoft, Facebook and YouTube among others.
Social and economic priorities are merging in business. Profit-only focus risks alienating
customers and not attracting the best talent. However, it is important to give more than
money. Being actively involved in giving is more fulfilling. Giving only money means you
often don’t see its results or know exactly where it goes.
Blake Mycoskie’s company TOMS Shoes gave its one millionth pair of shoes to a child
in 2010. In 2011, they moved into vision, creating one for one eyewear, providing eye
treatment, eye surgery or glasses for every pair purchased.
His goal has evolved from creating a profitable company that helps relieve pain and suffering
for children without shoes, into influencing other people to go out in the world and have
a positive impact themselves. By showing everything he’s learnt at TOMS,
he hopes to encourage others to have the confidence to start something that matters.