Taking time out for TOMS Shoes

Back in February, my mother-in-law bought me my first pair of TOMs. I’d been coveting a pair for ages, but saving for our Euro-trip really cut into my shopping budget! It felt good to tell her the story of TOMs, about this guy named Blake Mycoskie who gives away a pair of shoes for every pair he sells. How that guy had become such an inspiration to me with his business and how I wanted to invest in that business by buying a pair of his shoes.

Less than a week later, I was pretty stoked when these babies showed up on my door step, right in time for my birthday

Even more special than getting my new TOMs has been what happened tonight. Getting to hear Blake speak!!!!! Blake was on campus at Ball State (where I went to college and where I also work) to speak about his adventure starting TOMs and to hear the story was just to shake your head in amazement at the successful company he’s built from the ground up in just 4 years.

I’m constantly in awe of people who find their niche in this world, who are doing EXACTLY what they are meant to do in this life, and there’s no question Blake is doing that very thing. The most fascinating aspect of his story is how quickly he made it all happen. From a trip to Argentina to unwind from a busy job in 2006, to meeting strangers in a cafe he teamed up with to give used shoes to poor kids, to deciding on that same trip there was an entrepreneurial opportunity in all of this and finding someone in Argentina to partner with him in making his first prototype for TOMs is just unbelievable. Within that very year, editors at Vogue were writing about him and Blake had the top buyer at Nordstrom’s calling him on his apartment’s cordless, desperate to buy shoes Blake couldn’t keep in stock as he worked with a handful of his friends from his home “headquarters”. It’s the business equivalent of a Cinderella story and the best part is the GOOD Blake’s doing with his company— having given away more than 400,000 pairs of shoes in the past four years.

The best take-away from Blake’s appearance? Hearing him share how passionate his customers are, how eager THEY are to share HIS story and how powerful a marketing tool that story has proven to be in spreading his message and the word about TOMs shoes. “If you’re authentic, true and honest, then people are going to respond to that,” he shared, and oh.how.I.love.those.words.

If you’ve never heard of Blake or TOMs (or if you’re a big fan who hasn’t seen this clip yet), then please check out this profile on him that recently aired on CBS Sunday Morning. (And if you don’t fall in love with him and his business over the next four minutes, well, then I will ask, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! haha)

And if you’ve never owned a pair of TOMs, well, go out and buy a pair already! And when you do, make sure to pass Blake’s story on. It’s one of the best I’ve ever heard.

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