I tell ya, Blake Mycoskie makes this whole entrepreneurship thing look easy.  And, well, he makes this whole “changing the world” thing look easy too.  He started Toms Shoes back in 2006 and it has absolutely exploded. Now, I’m not a math whiz but I do know that 2008-2006 is 2 and that means that he has turned his little idea into quite a massive company in less than two years.  Sure, there are businesses out there that do that - mostly in the tech space - but it is decidedly rare.  To get a business flourishing in such a short amount of time takes passion, an idea whose time has come, a decent amount of luck and….most importantly….the ability to trust your gut.    Toms Shoes is truly an inspiring business.  Blake decides to head to Argentina to knock around.  He discovers this kind of shoe that many locals wear and also discovers that in the most poverty-stricken areas, many children can’t even afford a pair of shoes.  Never before having worked in the shoe business and never before really being an entrepreneur he instantly makes a decision.  He is going to have the local people in Argentina make shoes for his business.  He’s then going to sell his shoes to shops near his home in Venice, California.  And, for each pair of shoes he is going to sell, he is going to donate a pair to an impoverished community to end “shoelessness”.  Seems pretty straightforward - and, that’s why it’s brilliant.   You see, had Blake written a massive business plan, done focus groups and talked to a whole host of advisors about the right direction to go, he would still be trying to get the company off the ground.  Instead, in his gut, he knew there was a market and he knew he could make a difference.  From there, he didn’t hesitate a bit.  He was up and running almost immediately and continued to trust his gut each step of the way.  He trusted it when he decided to just ask his fashion forward friends which stores he should sell in rather than doing a full market analysis.  He trusted his gut when he decided that there were opportunities to sell these all over the world rather than just in the L.A. area.  And, now…he and his little idea has become a big idea…a world-changing idea.  An idea which has flourished into winning the “People’s Design Award”, gaining distribution in Urban Outfitters, Bloomingdale’s and a host of the trendiest shops in the U.S., Italy,  Japan, Korea, etc…So, what’s to be learned: 

1)  Your gut knows well: your gut listens to your life experience sometimes more than your head.  In other words, as you have grown you have distilled all of your experiences into patterns and those patterns have enabled you to know right from wrong, good from bad, big opportunity from bad opportunity.  So, trust it.

2)  Your gut is simple: When you get your mind too much into decisions you will complicate things.  Good businesses are simple businesses solving simple problems.  

3)  Your gut is fast: To succeed, you have to be fast.  You can’t over-analyze.  You have to make decisions quickly and move on them and your gut is a good guide in doing so.

4)  Your gut is smart: Even if you trust your gut and you make a wrong decision, it’s okay…Your gut will know quickly that you’ve made a wrong decision and you’ll be able to change and go quickly while your head is still trying to make it work.   

Mycoksie is an inspiration for so many reasons and Toms Shoes will continue to flourish, but only so long as he continues to trust his gut.   

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As I outline the “13 characteristics to successful entrepreneurs/entrepreneurship”, I’ll give you a bit of a riddle…What company am I…

• I was created in 1975 by an advertising executive
• I had only one product and it was sold for $3.95 each
• The raw goods to make the product were imported from Rosarito Beach in Baja California, Mexico
• Though the product was pretty basic, I came with a training manual
• I had a short life but made my creator a millionaire (in 1970’s dollars!)
• When my founder shared the idea for me with friends and associates, they all thought I was “stoned”
• My owner became so famous for a short time that he was featured on “Late Night With Johnny Carson”

Any guesses?Yep, “The Pet Rock”. Now, if somebody can come up with a business that made its owner wealthy with a more stupid idea…let me know. But, in the meantime, I’ll go down as saying this is quite possibly the stupidest business every created. So stupid, in fact, that it was completely brilliant.But, the real brilliance wasn’t in the idea but rather the execution. Founder Gary Dahl, knew it was stupid but also know that it would work. He imported the stones to keep his costs down (yep, the costs of rocks!!). He marketed the rocks through a massive press campaign. He invested the money well, knowing that the fad would fade quickly. And, he walked away a millionaire to once again jump back into the advertising business.Okay, so I would never propose that you should run out and start a business with a dumb idea. But, I will say that the idea isn’t as important as everybody thinks it is. If you have a brilliant idea that is poorly executed it will always do much worse than an average or even below average idea with brilliant execution. After all, the world is a really big place and there is room for all sorts of ideas. So,

• Build a great marketing plan, implement it and adjust
• Build a sales process and perfect your distribution (if you are in the ideas business…remember, ideas need distribution too)
• Create partnerships that can help you to evangelize
• Be smart about your costs
• Create a unique position in the market: in other words, do something nobody else does
• Don’t waste your time listening to non-believers; be creative in connecting with those with the capacity to believe
• Work your butt off

It’s that easy (or hard).

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Integrity: “Basing one’s actions on an internally consistent framework of principles.” Maybe it’s fitting that I’m writing this post during the lunch hour. Maybe if my stomach wasn’t screaming at me so much for some yummy food, I would be thinking about other entrepreneurs that fit the bill for integrity. But, instead, I’m sitting craving some delicious grub from Rick Bayless, owner of two very successful restaurants in Chicago, cookbook author, celeb chef with his own cooking show, etc…For those of you that don’t know Rick Bayless, here are a few tidbits: (more…)

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As my wife and I were leaving to head to OWP/P to take part in Pangea, I got a call asking “oh, what is that?” So, what is Pangea Day…well, it’s tough to say really. Pangea Day is individual and communal; it’s personal and collective; it’s mine and it’s ours. So, what is Pangea Day? Well, the only way I can answer is to tell you what Pangea Day is to me. (more…)

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Tony Hsieh has made some money…lots and lots of it in fact. He has built Zappos.com into a powerhouse with over $1 Billion in sales. He sold his first company for $265 million to Microsoft (at age 24). He was an investor in Ask Jeeves, Mongo Music and others that had very nice acquisitions. And, he works in a cubicle.

Yep, Hsieh works in a cubicle rather than a fancy corner office. He drives a Mazda rather than a Maserati. He wears jeans rather than Armani. And, he keeps his focus on business rather than flashing his wealth.

That’s all fine and good but what do we that aren’t worth a few hundred million dollars learn from him?? a lot… (more…)

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A few years ago Jeff Bezos was flying around Texas looking for a big ol’ ranch…not too uncommon for somebody with big bucks and needing something away from all the attention or Wall Street hassle. But, something strange did happen on that trip and it’s a fitting way to introduce Mr. Amazon. His helicopter crashed. Yep, a billionaire owner of one of the web’s most famous companies was brought down to earth…literally. The helicopter hit a wind, lost control and crashed into the side of a cedar tree. The chopper was destroyed and Bezos was hospitalized. So, his life flashed before his eyes, right?! And, he spent the next six months in deep reflection about “what’s the meaning of all of this??”, right?! Well, it turns out that no…in the hospital he simply said, “All I could think about was this is a silly way to die” and got back to work. (more…)

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A few years ago I sat in a small classroom in Boston awe-struck for nearly two straight hours. I’ve heard a lot of great entrepreneurs talk. I’ve watched a lot of great entrepreneurs in action and have read the stories of exponentially more. But, few have truly made the impact on my life and entrepreneurial philosophy like Yvon Chouinard. As a web entrepreneur, my life is a daily adventure…the industry simply changes so quickly. But, no matter your industry and no matter your business, if you don’t love adventure you better close up shop and walk away. (more…)

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