John and Mark Cronin of John's Crazy Socks join the show today. Their company started when John was in his last year of high school and facing the reality that there is a lack of opportunities for those with disabilities. John has Down Syndrome but that has never held him back. Only 1 in 5 people with a disability is employed and since he didn't see a job he wanted he made his own.
John asked his Dad to go into business with him and started pitching ideas to Mark. One idea finally stuck - crazy socks. Within two weeks they were selling socks. Why socks? Crazy socks allow people to express and be themselves. They don't sell socks though, they sell happiness.
They overcame the hurdles of sourcing inventory in the beginning without any proof that they could in fact sell them. What shocked them was the outpouring of emotional response to their customer service. They now own the largest sock company in the world.
They talk about the important role the Special Olympics has played in their lives and still does. They like to say that without the Special Olympics there would be no John's Crazy Socks.
They now design some of their own socks such as awareness socks that celebrate causes such as Autism and Down Syndrome and raise money for them. They have made the transition from selling online to now partnering with a very large national retailer and will be selling through that channel as well later on this year. Stay tuned by following them on their socials to see just who that large retailer is and where you can additionally purchase their unique socks and spread some happy!
You won't want to miss their stories about the challenges they have faced and their resilience that comes from their strong connection to why they do what they do. Mark talks very openly about the new world of finding financing for the growth that is actually needed to turn profits and the mistakes they made along the way.
You can join dance parties with John every Tuesday at 3pm ET on their Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/johnscrazysocks and follow their social enterprise on TikTok @johnscrazysocks and on Instagram @johnscrazysocks . They also have their own podcast called The Spreading Happiness Podcast. You can buy happiness errr socks and celebrate and contribute to great causes at their website johnscrazysocks.com.
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