Blake mycoskie quotes

The greatest competitive advantage is to allow your employees to be part of something. Something bigger than what you're doing.

My goal was to go back to Argentina, and give them all-all the shoes-away. Not just to give them away, but to place them on each child's foot.

I think once you start traveling, you don’t stop

Who is Tom? There is no Tom. If we sell a pair of shoes today, we give away a pair of shoes tomorrow. Originally we thought of "Tomorrow's Shoes," but I could only fit "TOMS" on the label. I had no idea everybody would want to meet him. There is no Tom; it's an idea for a better tomorrow.

I don't get jet lagged that much. I'm so used to traveling and being in different places every day that I can sleep anywhere.

Giving builds loyal customers and turns those customers into supporters...You can find passion and profit and meaning all at once, right now.

Simplicity is simple. Perhaps this sounds redundant. But it's true, and it's important.

One day, when I own a house, I'll keep a library full of books. Books are different from other possessions-they're more like friends.

The most important step of all is the first step. Start something.

The more you give, the more you live.

When you don't know the rules, you break them all. It's hard to take big risks when you know the history of an industry and what has worked and what didn't.

If you organize your life around your passion, you can turn your passion into your story and then turn your story into something bigger - something that matters.

[People] had never heard about someone giving something away every time they sold something.

Be tenacious. One thing that has allowed me to have some level of success is that I am fine with cold-calling people. It doesn't scare me to call someone who has no idea who I am and say I'd love to take you to lunch.

When you incorporate giving into your business in an authentic and transparent way, your customers become your best marketers.

TOMS is no longer a shoe company... we're a one-for-one company.

[Our employees] do it not because we pay them more, but because they want to be part of something.

With technology today, companies are less in control of their brand

Exercise your purchasing power as a consumer, volunteer and bring joy to those in need, and share your experiences, tell your stories, and inspire others along the way.

What got us to where we are today is not going to get us to where we need to go tomorrow.

Giving does not just feel good, but it's really, really good for business, and it's good for your personal brand.

If you just go out and try to make money by starting a business, you're going to come up with something that's just like what everyone else has done. But if you look at the world and see opportunities that can be taken more seriously, then you come up with a great idea.

People always ask me, when I had the idea for TOMS, did it change my life? As romantic and noble as it is, no it did not change my life. But when I went to Argentina on that first shoe-drop, it did change my life.

Setbacks and fear are inevitable. The thing that distinguishes the ultimate successes from the ultimate failures is this: What do you do with them?

When you incorporate giving into your business, you attract the most amazing partners.

I am a big believer in the value of traveling while you are young. The experiences you have in other countries can inspire greatness.

I surround myself with inspirational quotations.

Instead of squirreling away your earnings early in your career, spend on experiences that will enrich your life - like diving with great white sharks. It can expose you to influential people who could open doors for you.

A leader can create a company, but a community creates a movement.

A good story transcends boundaries, breaks barriers and opens doors.

The most important step of all is the first step. Start something! What if that idea you have in the back of your head is a really good one, one that might end up helping tens of thousands of people? You owe it to the world ot act. Or maybe it will help only a few people: The same advice applies. If you don't do it, you are missing out on something big, and so are the people who could have been helped.

Your backpack is a part of your identity as a student.

Stories are the most primitive and purest form of communication.

When you're buying a pair of TOMS, if you don't feel like you're part of a community, then I've failed.

The most important things are actually the easiest to obtain: great friends, good food, and a decent bottle of wine.

Almost every morning I write in my journal. I've been keeping it for a long time - I've filled more than 50 books. I write about what's going on in my personal and spiritual life or what's going on at work. It helps me keep things in perspective, especially when things get crazy or I get stressed or we have obstacles.

When people start serving together, they forgot about all their stress, [...] all their own problems. They start focusing on someone else's.

The goal isn't how much money you make, but how much you help people.

Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.… If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually,’ just do it and correct course along the way.

When you have a memorable story about who you are and what your mission is, your success no longer depends on how experienced you are or how many degrees you have or who you know. A good story transcends boundaries, breaks barriers, and opens doors.

Facts are neutral until human beings add their own meaning to those facts. People make their decisions based on what the facts mean to them, not on the facts themselves. The meaning they add to facts depends on their current story … facts are not terribly useful to influencing others. People don’t need new facts—they need a new story.

Complicated lives and heaps of possessions don’t necessarily bring happiness; in fact, they can bring the opposite.

Giving is what fuels us. Giving is our future.

If whatever you do helps just one person, you've done something wonderful.

I surround myself with inspirational quotations. This easy-to-follow piece of advice has played a huge role in my being able to get past my own fears and insecurities throughout my entrepreneurial career.

No matter how convenient it is for us to reach out to people remotely, sometimes the most important task is to show up in person.

TOMS didn't have to focus on advertising, but on giving in a way that's sustainable.

Make the most out of every single day you have on earth and be thankful for them.

I don't think college is for everyone. School is awesome, but for me, I was learning a lot more outside the classroom in the real world than I was in school.

Allow your team to incorporate giving into their life through their job. Not only do employees stay around a lot longer, they do a lot more good.

We believe Skype in the Classroom will be a milestone in inspiring the next generation of social entrepreneurs and we can't wait to connect students with TOMS partners.

Giving feels good, but it's also good for the bottom line. Charity is a viable growth strategy for a lot of companies. Our customers get excited to be a part of what we're doing. If you ask anyone wearing Toms how they first heard about us, most won't mention an advertisement; they'll say a friend told them our story.

Vogue Magazine does something really interesting here: They make it look like I know exactly what I'm doing. Because Vogue made it look like I knew exactly what I'm doing, stores from all over started calling.

Keep it simple: own as little as you can get away with, schedule everything, keep a notebook, don't let technology enslave you.

I did what I think a lot of entrepreneurs do. I started putting up a lot of ads on Craigslist for interns.