A better world begins with the best you.
Welcome! This is the first of my new monthly newsletter where I'll walk through my life as an entrepreneur and share the lessons I have learned and continue to learn along the way.
It’s hard to believe how far a small idea to help improve lives can travel in 13 years. From our early days, pitching One for One in friend’s homes, to the millions of lives touched through our giving programs, TOMS has been quite the adventure.
In 2015, I officially stepped down as CEO of TOMS, marking the first time in nearly 18 years that I wasn’t actively starting or growing a company. What followed surprised me—a realization that in serving TOMS, at some point, I had stopped serving myself. Not only had I deprioritized my physical and mental health, but I had also adopted a busy-is-better mindset. Making time for family and friends proved difficult; being fully present for them proved next to impossible. Despite checking all of the boxes that I thought I needed to check to be happy, I wasn’t, and the more people I talked to, the more I realized I wasn’t alone.
As TOMS enters a new phase of impact, I’m excited to also be embarking on another mission —helping others bring their best to the world. Over the last two and a half years, I’ve been working alongside my friend and former Navy SEAL, Pat Dossett, to create Madefor. Together, along with a team of leading scientists and experts, we built Madefor—a 10 month program designed to help people connect with their best self through a series of simple challenges.
I believe that you cannot take care of others until you take care of yourself.
For the last year, Madefor has been in beta-launch and we’re thrilled to finally be able to share Madefor with you. There are so many highs and lows as an entrepreneur but it’s hard to match the high the first time your startup gets talked about in public :).
Check out our first feature in Fast Company or you can visit GetMadefor.com to learn more and sign up. Feel free to spread the word, as we’re on a big mission to make the world a better place! Also, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to follow along on my journey.
In gratitude,
#GetMadefor
Reg. Clinical Counseling-Hypnotherapist, Past-Life Regression Cert., Transpersonal Counseling, Reiki Master
4 年Thank you Blake Mycoskie for this genuine heartfelt sharing. I find that oftentimes we lose sight of the essence (or part of it) of our creative endeavors. The purity and integrity of intention often shifts with time and pressures. It takes Awareness Courage and Humility to sift through ones life and pay attention to what is in integrity and whether we are still aligned with our deepest values, in all areas of life. It's beautiful you have tapped into that and continue to serve in another way through your next layer of consciousness ???? thank you for all you and the message you spread that is so very timely. Everything is about our way of walking in Creation as this journey becomes our deepest meditation
Founder & CEO at Marea
4 年Blake, let’s connect in Jackson!
Brand Partnerships and Events | Founder at Ethical Kind
4 年Blake, thanks for sharing your learnings and wisdom. Reading your biography some years ago had sparked my journey into social entrepreneurship. I now work on my own business to support regenerative silk farming projects in India. I'm looking forward to learning more about madefor.
Entrepreneur and Community Leader
4 年Loved your book.? Very inspiring!? I bought 6 copies and gave them as Christmas gifts to friends.? Told them it was a must read.
I am incredibly interested in this. Your book changed my entire life, and has been the guiding light of our business. We would never have been able to be a force for good, rescue elephants (yep that is what we do) or start our scholarship programs in Kenya had I not, on a whim read your book and used it to roadmap everything that came afterward. I am hungry to learn more!?