Book description
In 2006, while travelling in Argentina, young entrepreneur Blake
Mycoskie encountered children too poor to afford shoes, who developed
injuries on their feet that often led to serious health problems.
Blake knew he wanted to help, but rather than start a charity, he went
against conventional wisdom and created a for profit business
to help the children who he met. With the help of a local shoemaker,
Blake struck out to merge activism and fashion in the form of a local
canvas shoe worn by farmers and gauchos alike, called the
alpargata. Blake called his creation TOMS Shoes (which stands
for "Tomorrow's Shoes") and promised to give a pair of new
shoes to a child in need for every pair that he sold. Starting with
only two hundred pairs of handmade shoes, optimism, and
entrepreneurial charisma, Blake successfully launched TOMS into the
high fashion world. They can now be seen adorning the feet of
celebrities such as Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson, and Tobey
Maguire.
Blake's mission is to prove that you can achieve financial success
and make the world a better place at the same time. In this book, he
shares the six counterintuitive principles that have guided the growth
of TOMS for the past three years:
Make business personal
Be resourceful without resources
Reverse retirement
Keep it simple
Stay humble
Give more, advertise less
The result is an inspiring account of a young man whose
entrepreneurial spirit was able to affect change in the world, and a
call to others to be inspired to do the same.
As part of the One for One initiative, Random House will provide a
new book to a child in need with every copy of Start Something That
Matters purchased.
Blake has created five businesses since graduating from college,
among them a national college campus laundry service, and an online
driver's education school that featured hybrid cars. You can read more
about TOMS shoes on their website, TOMSshoes. com; Blake Mycoskie also
maintains a blog, blakemycoskie. blogspot. com.
