Start Something That Matters

Zusatztext A creative and open-hearted business model for our times. The Wall Street Journal Informationen zum Autor Blake Mycoskie Klappentext The incredible story of the man behind TOMS Shoes and One for One, the revolutionary business model that marries fun, profit, and social good "A creative and open-hearted business model for our times."-The Wall Street Journal Why this book is for you: • You're ready to make a difference in the world-through your own start-up business, a nonprofit organization, or a new project that you create within your current job. • You want to love your work, work for what you love, and have a positive impact on the world-all at the same time. • You're inspired by charity: water, method, and FEED Projects and want to learn how these organizations got their start. • You're curious about how someone who never made a pair of shoes, attended fashion school, or worked in retail created one of the fastest-growing footwear companies in the world by giving shoes away. • You're looking for a new model of success to share with your children, students, co-workers, and members of your community. You're ready to start something that matters. With every book you purchase, a new book will be provided to a child in need. One for One.(TM) Chapter 1 one the TOMS story Be the change you want to see in the world. -MAHATMA GANDHI In 2006 I took some time off from work to travel to Argentina. I was twenty-nine years old and running my fourth entrepreneurial start-up: an online driver-education program for teens that used only hybrid vehicles and wove environmental education into our curriculum-earth- friendly innovations that set us apart from the competition. We were at a crucial moment in the business's development-revenue was growing, and so were the demands on our small staff-but I had promised myself a vacation and wasn't going to back out. For years I've believed that it's critical for my soul to take a vacation, no matter how busy I am. Argentina was one of the countries my sister, Paige, and I had sprinted through in 2002 while we were competing on the CBS reality program The Amazing Race. (As fate would have it, after thirty-one days of racing around the world, we lost the million- dollar prize by just four minutes; it's still one of the greatest disappointments of my life.) When I returned to Argentina, my main mission was to lose myself in its culture. I spent my days learning the national dance (the tango), playing the national sport (polo), and, of course, drinking the national wine (Malbec). I also got used to wearing the national shoe: the alpargata, a soft, casual canvas shoe worn by almost everyone in the country, from polo players to farmers to students. I saw this incredibly versatile shoe everywhere: in the cities, on the farms, in the nightclubs. An idea began to form in the back of my mind: Maybe the alpargata would have some market appeal in the United States. But as with many half-formed ideas that came to me, I tabled it for the moment. My time in Argentina was supposed to be about fun, not work. Toward the end of my trip, I met an American woman in a café who was volunteering with a small group of people on a shoe drive-a new concept to me. She explained that many kids lacked shoes, even in relatively well-developed countries like Argentina, an absence that didn't just complicate every aspect of their lives but also exposed them to a wide range of diseases. Her organization collected shoes from donors and gave them to kids in need-but ironically the donations that supplied the organization were also its Achilles' heel. Their complete dependence on donations meant that they had little control over their supply of shoes. And even when donations did come in sufficient quantities, they were often not in the correct sizes, which meant that many of the children were still left b...

ldquo;A creative and open-hearted business model for our times.”—The Wall Street Journal

Autorentext

Blake Mycoskie

Klappentext

The incredible story of the man behind TOMS Shoes and One for One, the revolutionary business model that marries fun, profit, and social good "A creative and open-hearted business model for our times."-The Wall Street Journal Why this book is for you: • You're ready to make a difference in the world-through your own start-up business, a nonprofit organization, or a new project that you create within your current job. • You want to love your work, work for what you love, and have a positive impact on the world-all at the same time. • You're inspired by charity: water, method, and FEED Projects and want to learn how these organizations got their start. • You're curious about how someone who never made a pair of shoes, attended fashion school, or worked in retail created one of the fastest-growing footwear companies in the world by giving shoes away. • You're looking for a new model of success to share with your children, students, co-workers, and members of your community. You're ready to start something that matters. With every book you purchase, a new book will be provided to a child in need. One for One.(TM)

Leseprobe
Chapter 1

one

the TOMS story

Be the change you want to see in the world.

-MAHATMA GANDHI

In 2006 I took some time off from work to travel to Argentina. I was twenty-nine years old and running my fourth entrepreneurial start-up: an online driver-education program for teens that used only hybrid vehicles and wove environmental education into our curriculum-earth- friendly innovations that set us apart from the competition.

We were at a crucial moment in the business's development-revenue was growing, and so were the demands on our small staff-but I had promised myself a vacation and wasn't going to back out. For years I've believed that it's critical for my soul to take a vacation, no matter how busy I am. Argentina was one of the countries my sister, Paige, and I had sprinted through in 2002 while we were competing on the CBS reality program The Amazing Race. (As fate would have it, after thirty-one days of racing around the world, we lost the million- dollar prize by just four minutes; it's still one of the greatest disappointments of my life.)

When I returned to Argentina, my main mission was to lose myself in its culture. I spent my days learning the national dance (the tango), playing the national sport (polo), and, of course, drinking the national wine (Malbec).

I also got used to wearing the national shoe: the alpargata, a soft, casual canvas shoe worn by almost everyone in the country, from polo players to farmers to students. I saw this incredibly versatile shoe everywhere: in the cities, on the farms, in the nightclubs. An idea began to form in the back of my mind: Maybe the alpargata would have some market appeal in the United States. But as with many half-formed ideas that came to me, I tabled it for the moment. My time in Argentina was supposed to be about fun, not work.

Toward the end of my trip, I met an American woman in a café who was volunteering with a small group of people on a shoe drive-a new concept to me. She explained that many kids lacked shoes, even in relatively well-developed countries like Argentina, an absence that didn't just complicate every aspect of their lives but also exposed them to a wide range of diseases. Her organization collected shoes from donors and gave them to kids in need-but ironically the donations that supplied the organization were also its Achilles' heel. Their complete dependence on donations meant that they had little control over their supply of shoes. And even when donations did come in sufficient quantities, they were often not in the correct sizes, which meant that many of the children were still left barefoot after the shoe drop-offs. It was heartbreaking.

I spent a few days traveli…