John here. I am the Co-founder and Chief Happiness Officer at John’s Crazy Socks. People ask what I do so I thought I would share some of the things I do at work. It is Friday, so let me tell you about this week.

Some people think that because I have Down syndrome I do not do much at work. They are wrong. I have Down syndrome, but Down syndrome never holds me back. I do videos, give tours, pick orders, do interviews, give speeches, design socks, make home deliveries, meet with visitors and help pick out the socks we sell. My Dad says I am the hardest working man in the sock business.

This week, I did not do any traveling so I was in the office every day. Some weeks, my Dad and I travel to give speeches. I love doing speaking engagements and I love to travel, but this week we were home all week.

I come to work with my parents and we get here by 9 o’clock. My Dad is my Co-Founder and my Mom is the Mama Bear. She works with customer service, our custom socks and handles our donation requests. If you call the office, you may speak to my Mom. I love her. She is stunning and beautiful.

I started each day by putting in my contact lenses and hearing aids. I have my own office; my colleagues call it the John Cave. Each day, I work with the Sock Wranglers and help pick some orders. Sometimes I do gift wrapping, but there was no gift wrapping this week. Each week, we have six work groups come into our warehouse and I meet with them to say hello and thank them. We also had two tours this week and I gave the tours and then met with the students to answer questions. I did two home deliveries. If we get an order between our office and home, I do a home delivery on the way home from work.

My Dad and I recorded our podcast, The Spreading Happiness Podcast with John and Mark. It is a half hour where we share what’s on my mind, tell some jokes, share good news and stories about other entrepreneurs with a differing ability and I give an update on my love life.  It is great fun. We also appeared on two other podcasts as guests. Would you like us to be a guest on your podcast?

On Tuesday afternoon, I hosted my online Dance Party. That is so much fun. And Thursday night, my Dad and I did our Facebook Live show, The Spreading Happiness Show. We made our picks for this week’s NFL playoff games. Don’t bet on my picks, hold onto your money. I made a bunch of TikTok videos with Stephanie and made some videos with my Dad for our Charity Fundraising Program.  And I started the week by making a video for the GiGi’s Playhouse Long Island fundraiser.

My Dad and I spoke at three events this week here on Long Island: the Rotary Club, a Transition Fair and we hosted a group from the Entrepreneur’s Organization. We give a different talk for each type of group. I love dong speaking engagements. We have spoken to big companies like Microsoft, EY, IBM, and Bank of America. We have been keynote speakers for conferences and have spoken at a lot of colleges and universities like Stanford, Vanderbilt, the University of Houston, Holy Cross, Hofstra and some colleges overseas like Trinity College in Dublin (my Dad went there for his junior year of college).  This week, I helped my Dad make arrangements for trips to Florida and South Carolina. Maybe I can speak at your company or organization?

I also go to meetings like our weekly staff meeting and our weekly marketing meeting. I also did a virtual meeting with the CEO Commission for Disability Employment.

I am so happy because I get to do so many things. I love my business. But I have fun outside of work too. Thursday night, I had Special Olympics basketball practice. And tonight, I am going to see Funny Girl on Broadway with my Mom, and then my Dad will meet us and we will spend Saturday in New York City. Sunday morning, I have Special Olympics snowshoe practice and then we are going to watch the football games.

I hope this lets you know what I do at John’s Crazy Socks. What is always most important is showing what people with differing abilities, people like me, can do and spreading happiness. And I thank you, because when you buy our socks, you make all this possible.