Book Review: "Start Something That Matters" by Blake Mycoskie

“Start Something That Matters.” It sounds cliché, but it is a goal that many of us aspire to. We all secretly long to have a career with purpose and with meaning. We all want to be successful, while helping others in the process. Blake Mycoskie, a 29-year-old motivated Texan took a risk while on a trip to Argentina in 2006 and started a business that mattered.  It was the alpargata—an Argentine canvas slipper-like shoe that would later morph into TOMS—a fashion forward, for-profit business, that gives each a pair of shoes away to a child in need for every pair of TOMS shoes sold. TOMS proudly donated their millionth pair of shoes to children in need last Sep. 2010.

Mycoskie’s best-selling book, “Start Something That Matters” recounts his journey to launch his for-profit business, TOMS, which stands for “tomorrows shoes” stemming from “Shoes for a Better Tomorrow”. His story proves that it is possible to combine business and philanthropy by donating one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased. His raw account of his journey is just one example of a successful business venture that started with one simple idea.

Chapter one follows his trip to Argentina resulting in an epiphany to create TOMS after discovering the alpargata shoe.  Shortly after, he coincidentally met an American woman in a café who was volunteering with a small group of people on a shoe drive. A light bulb went off and TOMS shoes was created.

It all began with 250 sample shoes stuffed into three duffel bags and an idea that would become a successful business platform and cultural phenomenon in the United States.

Mycoskie’s Venice apartment quickly transformed into his office upon his return from Argentina and within a short time, American Rag picked up the line prompting Booth Moore, a fashion writer for the Los Angeles Times to feature TOMS. The article was a turning point for TOMS—racking in 2,200 orders by the end of that same day.

“That was the good news,” Mycoskie wrote, “The bad news was that we had only about 160 pairs of shoes left sitting in my apartment.”

Soon, Vogue, Time, People, O, Elle and Teen Vogue were featuring TOMS and their retail customer base was expanding beyond American Rag to Nordstrom, Whole Foods and Urban Outfitters.

TOMS sold 10,000 pairs of shoes that first summer in 2006—all out of Mycoskie’s Venice apartment. The company was comprised of three interns picked up off Craigslist and Mr. Mycoskie at that time.

The key to TOMS success, Mycoskie attributes to simplicity and its story. He lays out six simple guidelines to help his readers to “Start (and sustain) Something that Matters” based on the principles TOMS was founded on.

Each Chapter to follow is titled after the six guidelines and provides excellent examples of company’s that have been successful in living out the principle.  The first Chapter is titled, “Find You Story” and the last Chapter, “Giving is Good Business.”

“A good story transcends boundaries, breaks barriers, and opens doors,” Mycoskie wrote. The heartwarming (and heartbreaking) TOMS story evokes emotions among its customers and enables customers to feel that they are making a difference in the world by purchasing TOMS shoes.

Mycoskie emphasizes using ideas that come from supporters through an anecdote about Pepperdine University’s TOMS Club and its formation of a students barefoot walk on campus to raise awareness of what it feels like to not have shoes.

“We thought it was a terrific idea, and soon TOMS launched an official company program called One Day Without Shoes (ODWS), which takes place every April.” Mycoskie wrote. “We ask our customers and fans to go barefoot for one day—just as the students at Pepperdine did.”

In 2010, more than 250,000 people around the world participated in ODWS—a program that Pepperdine helped to pioneer.

Chapters to follow include “Face your Fears”, “Be Resourceful Without Resources”, “Keep it Simple”, “Build Trust”, and finally “Giving is Good Business”.

Mycoskie uses examples of advertising campaigns and inspirational company’s that model after his business ethics such as Subway’s “Jared”, AT&T partnership with TOMS, Method, Netflix, Chipotle, Charity: Water, Southwest Airlines and his mother Pam’s book “Butter Busters”.

His guidelines are applicable to both personal and business life—emphasizing simplicity over and over again through anecdotes including his own life simplification by moving out of his Venice “bachelor pad” to a 200 square-foot sailboat. By de-cluttering your life, he argues, your mind will de-clutter too.

The book ends with a call to action to his readers to give back. Whether it is by “Starting Something That Matters” or volunteering at a local homeless shelter. Mycoskie’s goal in writing the book was to, “influence other people to go out into the world and have a positive impact” and claims that the success of the book will be measured by the number of people it inspires and the number of letters they receive.

If readers are like me, who feel inspired to purchase a pair of TOMS and “Start Something That Matters” after reading his book, I am guessing that millions of letters have poured into Mycoskie’s houseboat by now.

Mycoskie profoundly stated in the beginning of the book to “Love your work, work for what you love, and change the world—all at the same time.”

After reading this book, I feel inspired to love my work, work for what I love, and to change the world—all at the same time. Well-done Mycoskie.