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New Year's is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.

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As Zappos was growing, it was also losing more money, and we also need more money for inventory.

And so all of this was happening at a bad time in terms of the.com crash back in 2000, so it was pretty much impossible to raise money from anyone.

You could not get an outside investment?

No, and also even if someone wanted to invest in an internet company, the last thing they wanted to do was invest in an online shoe company, because no one would ever buy shoes online.

Brom and PR, it's how I built this, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built.

I'm Guy Ross, and on today's show, how old-school mail order catalogs inspired Tony Shea to build one of the world's biggest online shoe retailers.

You know it as Zappos, and it's worth billions.

I remember that you only have four pairs of shoes, is that right?

Yeah, roughly maybe, maybe fewer now.

Wow, but what kind of shoes you're wearing now?

Right now I'm wearing black A6, and then I have a pair of footballs that I wear, and that's where they want me to.

I'm actually not passionate about shoes at all. I'm passionate about customer service and company culture, so I can talk forever about those two things, but I can't say anything about shoes.

Okay, so as you just heard, one of the most successful shoe salesmen in the world doesn't care about shoes.

And also, he's really quiet. He's an introvert.

Right, definitely.

So how do you cope with it? I mean, you have a huge company, when you've got to talk to lots of people and inspire them, how do you find the energy to do that?

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