We all have lots of shoes in our closet; OK I鈥檓 speaking love a woman. Men perhaps not so much. Either way I鈥檒l never seem at or even wear shoes the same way behind watching Blake Mycoskie up close and in person tell the TOMS Shoes story on campus recently.
Shoe giver Blake Mycoskie with Little LU
If you have read my posts you understand I almost often go to hear speakers on campus if for no other reason than to give my opinion and observations. And not to minimize any of our other speakers except I have to say this one truly hit it out of the park. Any student (and really anyone for that matter) who had the opportunity to hear Mycoskie speak cannot help but be impressed inspired and motivated by what they heard.
Mycoskie is a smart innovative passionate yet down-to-earth young man who has achieved so much in so little time. You couldn鈥檛 have asked for a better representative for the Dialogues of Innovation Speaker Series. During his easy and breezy delivery he told endearing stories about how TOMS Shoes came to be and gave solid opinion sprinkled with a can-do philosophy on what he鈥檚 learned from the experience. 鈥淢aking a difference鈥?and 鈥渃hanging the world鈥?are phrases we hear all as well often but Mycoskie created a 鈥渕agical鈥?deal model that does just that.聽 The TOMS Shoes tagline is 鈥渃hanging a life begins with a single step鈥?and giving 600000 pairs of shoes to children in need is a lot of steps.
If you didn鈥檛 get a opportunity to escort here are just some of Mycoskie鈥檚 鈥渁ha鈥?moments from his truly amazing journey.
Speaking of amazing he was in season 7 of the Amazing Race and was just 4 minutes shy of winning the $1 million prize.While on vacation in Argentina he was shocked to hear that many children couldn鈥檛 join academy since of they didn鈥檛 have shoes so he went on a shoe-giving mission. He couldn鈥檛 trust how excited the kids were to get the shoes. 鈥淚t filled me up mentally and spiritually.鈥滺e had a little help from his (girl) friends: He had no connections in retail but he knew that all his girlfriends spent a 鈥渄isproportionate amount of time buying shoes鈥漚nd so he asked for their advice.On his first experience dealing with stores and buyers on Rodeo Drive 鈥淚 felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman I got no love or respect鈥?鈥?and he had even shaved for the occasion.The power of the press 鈥?He was on the cover of the calendar section of the L.A. Times and sold 2200 pairs of shoes that day; and 10000 pairs were sold on the heels (pardon the pun) of an article in Vogue THE fashion magazine (and he gave away those 10000 in less than 5 months).His initial headquarters included one cordless phone (with a battery that kept dying) and 3 interns in his 1100-square-foot apartment in Venice Calif. He now has 73 employees (20+ who were interns at one time) sells shoes in 16 countries in Europe and in Asia (including South Korea which buys the most and has the largest sales); and has factories in Argentina China and Ethiopia.Seeing his mom lovingly placing shoes on a child鈥檚 foot during his first shoe giveaway was the life changer for him. 鈥淚t blew me away.鈥漇tar power: Celebrities started wearing the shoes 鈥?Hanson鈥檚 fans walked barefoot for a mile before a concert in Chicago in chilly November to promote the shoes!Things he learned: 1) Sustainability 鈥?instead of becoming a non-profit organization and depleting his resources he invested the cash the business made back into TOMS and didn鈥檛 have to invest another penny; 2) Life Philosophy 鈥?giving feels really good and is a good business and life strategy; 3) Customers are the greatest marketers especially when you make them a part of your story.Other factoids: The corporation was named TOMS because his original name 鈥淭omorrow鈥?didn鈥檛 fit on the back tag of the shoe; their largest distributor is Nordstrom鈥檚; the only online site that carries the shoes is the TOMS website; shoes are given away in 21 countries including Ethiopia; and there are 1200 high school and university clubs. (And I know that Annie Weaver and several students left the AG and headed straight to their computer to sign Lynn up for a club!)聽
Anyway it took me awhile to boil down his talk to these few nuggets but you get the picture. So I guess the only thing left for me to do is to run out to Nordstrom鈥檚 and get a pair 鈥?so TOMS can give a pair. To steal from another successful marketing campaign: A pair of TOMS shoes 鈥?$45; knowing a child will get a pair of shoes because of your purchase 鈥?priceless. And that simply is what it鈥檚 all about.
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