In 2005 I was driving down the freeway and a highly negative bumper sticker caught my eye. I can’t exactly remember the content but it was something very ignorant or derogatory toward another human being. As my heart pumped, my reaction was to speed up and flip this person the bird. The outcome of this story could be very different had not I refrained….Instead I thought long and hard for the rest of my six hour drive from the Bay Area to the Eastern Sierras about the connection of all things and how we have a tremendous impact on one another. It was a very unique time for me as I was going through a divorce and searching for something greater. I got it on that drive and the idea of World Minded came to me. The concept of creating a company that displays only positive messages snowballed and soon the idea of t-shirts came along as the perfect canvass to display those messages.

Let me back-up even further than 2005. At a very young age a seed was planted in me by my mother that I was destined to do something positive for the world. She was one of the most selfless people I had ever met and I feel blessed to have been raised by her. She passed away from cancer in 1997 and I spent those eight years pondering what it was I am supposed to do for the world.

Since the first t-shirt was produced a slight internal conflict sparked in me. I was learning to worry about profit and loss, manufacturing costs, sales and customer satisfaction while my real intention with World Minded was to inspire people to care for others and the planet as my mother had taught me. So I felt somewhat torn for the next eight years between the intention and striving to increase revenue. I always felt partial to one side of the business/organization over the other…

Here’s the big deep breath moment of this story. ..After taking a year off from the business, I am finally steering this ship in the direction that felt closest to my heart. A lot has changed since I printed my first tee. The love of my life came into my life and we married and had three beautiful children. Between the building a family and building a clothing brand, I exhausted myself and decided to choose being home with my kids instead of traveling and selling tees. Stopping production, canceling store orders and parting ways with reps was hard and a blow to my ego and it took me a year to sort through it. FYI, my wife and business partner Karla was ecstatic about this change from the get go. A few years ago she politely pointed out that I was grumpy and stressed out frequently. 

I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to all the World Minded supporters who purchased our products and spread the message about our ethical brand. “So now what” you may be asking? My vision for the last several years was an online magazine, newspaper, blog, etc. that portrays only the great things that people are doing. Negative media (such as that pivotal bumper sticker I mentioned in the beginning) is a huge overlooked issue in my mind. I have seen countless examples in my life that we become what we think about and if all we see is negativity; where does that leave us?

Inspiration is everywhere and being World Minded is recognizing that everything is connected and our impact significant. So I am still a salesman but not selling organic cotton, made in the USA t-shirts but selling inspiration. More like a promoter than a salesman and the new site will be promoting remarkable people, impactful organizations, ethical businesses, inspirational events and positive ideologies. If you, anyone you know or company you work for is doing great things for the world, please email me at charles@worldminded .com. We would love to promote it because I know people will be inspired by your story! Thanks again for all the support the past nine years and please stayed tuned as this new evolution of World Minded continues to unfold….

About Charles Perry

Charles is a bit of a renaissance man, a citizen of the planet, a building inspector by trade, devoted father & husband and one of the funniest people he knows. He is deeply passionate about peace, social justice and respect and equality for all living creatures. Charles thought up the World Minded ideology several years ago and has made it his goal to inspire people around the world to care for themselves, others and the planet we share by exposing what’s right in the world. He resides in the Eastern Sierras and loves life in the mountains, but longs for the beach because of some ridiculous “grass is always greener” notion.

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