Friday, April 3, 2009

Inspired by TOMS

I know I said that I would be talking about risk in my next post, but the story below spoke to me, so I had to share it. Enjoy.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

The above quote is one that copied and pasted from the TOMS SHOES website. I watched a portion of a documentary on CNBC last night entitled "The Entrepreneurs," and TOMS was one of the featured companies. I came away from the documentary inspired to pursue social entrepreneurship-a growing form of business where profit is not the only bottom line, and contributing to the betterment of society is also a major focus. I originally began watching the documentary because I am always interested in new styles of shoes, but when I realized the story behind the company, I became amazed at what they have been able to accomplish. TOMS was started by Blake Mycoskie- "Master entrepreneur, already has 4 companies under his belt when he gets his best idea yet: create a shoe company that gives a pair away for every pair sold. Using his great business sense to garner a celebrity following, Mycoskie has grown TOMS Shoes into a global brand. The company has given over 115,000 pairs of shoes to children in need."
Blake had a passion for shoes and for helping underprivileged children in Africa and Argentina. He noticed on a trip to Argentina that many children were so poor that they were unable to afford shoes, and the lack of shoes was causing many health problems for the children. He took his passions and developed a vision of how to meld the two. He was able to create a product that could be sold to people in wealthy countries and the profit margin on each pair sold could be used to buy materials to make one pair of shoes for the children in Argentina and South Africa. He not only began giving thousands of shoes to the people of those countries, but he also established the TOMS manufacturing plants in Argentina to stimulate the local economy and provide sustainable jobs.

In many ways, the TOMS model is exactly what I hope to be doing some day. I would love to be able to incorporate the challenges of running a successful business with, what I feel, is my duty to society. I believe that God has blessed me and I want to be able to pass that on to others. I don't plan to wait until I own a business to do so, but I just thought that the TOMS story is one that we can all learn from and be inspired by. I am not sure about the style of the shoes, they are a bit unique. :) However, I may consider buying a pair, knowing that a child in Africa will receive a pair as a result.

Back to the quote at the beginning of the post-I don't think Mark Twain could've said it better. I hope to incorporate his advice into my decisions in life going forward. Until next time....Enjoy the ride.