At first, times were hard, as they had little capital to begin with and struggled to find shoemakers willing to partner with them. Eventually they found a local guy that agreed, and they began to make, sell, and give away alpargatas. Slowly gained popularity day by day, TOMs got big enough where their story reached editors at the LA Times, gaining them a headlining article. After that more articles and reports about TOMs kept surfacing, and the company blew up. Once Blake had finished introducing TOMs, he used the rest of the book's chapters as a guide that gives the reader insight on how to make a good idea into a successful business.
In chapter two, "Find Your Story", Blake insists that the story of your company should be the most important aspect if you're trying to create something new, explaining how the story of your company is what really grabs the attention of your potential customers. He urges his readers to find an affinity group that encompases the problem they want to solve, which will make the story relatable, and once they've found their story they should share it with as many people as possible. Instead of badgering consumers with facts and claims about how your product is better than all the others, share something personal and it will stick with them longer. To back up his claim, he tells some stories (how ironic). One that interested me was the story of Jared Fogle, the famous spokesman for Subway who was able to lose 100 pounds in just 3 months by only eating low-fat Subway sandwiches for lunch and dinner. While I've seen Jared a million times on commercials, I never understood the significance of his ad campaign. Before Subway had even heard of Jared, they implemented an ad campaign claiming 7 of their subs had less than 6 grams of fat. To make a long story short, having Jared just tell his story during commercials worked a thousand times better than the campaign that just threw a couple numbers in your face.
