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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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