October 13, 2021 • 17 mins
Co-founder of Billy Footwear, Billy Price, joins us for a special episode to celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month and independent entrepreneurship. Join us to discover how Billy and his partner, Darin Donaldson, created this stylish and universal adaptive shoe design sold worldwide!
To find out more about our guest, visit these links:
Website: https://billyfootwear.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/billyfootwear/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/billyfootwear
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:03):
Welcome to DisAbility Talks, a podcast produced by
Abilities in Motion.
I'm your host, Shelly Houser.
Join us for real conversationsand no nonsense talk from
everyday people withdisabilities, living their most
independent everyday lives.
Tune in for the latest newssurrounding disability,
accessibility and independence.
(00:23):
Where conversations aren'tdissed and stories that need to
be told aren't missed.
So let's talk.
Shelly (00:31):
Welcome to this special edition of DisAbility Talks.
October is National DisabilityEmployment Awareness Month, and
it celebrates people withdisabilities in the workplace.
It is estimated that 21% ofdisabled persons are part of the
labor workforce.
Yet 67.3% without disabilitiesare employed.
Since COVID hit employers havefound ways to make more jobs
(00:54):
productive and remote.
Many persons with disabilitieshave become entrepreneurs
creating their own destiny andemployment success.
And that's where my next guestcomes in.
As a teen, Billy suffered aspinal cord injury and became
paralyzed from the chest down,losing the ability to use his
fingers, owner Darin Donaldsonand Billy Price partnered
(01:16):
together to create a footwearcompany with a universal design
through determination and thephilosophy of inclusion Billy
and Darin created Billyfootwear.
The mission is to add value tothe lives of others and make a
difference one shoe at a time.
Thanks for being on the showtoday, Billy.
It's really a pleasure.
Billy (01:34):
Oh my absolute pleasure.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Yeah.
Shelly (01:38):
Yes.
So I've seen your footwear andit is really great.
I've actually seen it out in ourcommunity here, and it's a great
accessible concept for anyone touniversally use.
Tell us how and why you came upwith this shoe design.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I love to, um, so I'm a wheelchair user, uh, that
wasn't always the case.
Unfortunately, when I was incollege, my freshman year in
college, I fell out of a threestory window.
And then when that happened, myworld really changed.
Um, I was, uh, I was a veryactive young kid playing lots of
sports and very active in theoutdoors.
And, uh, and within an instant,all of a sudden became
(02:16):
wheelchair bound.
So a lot of things that I usedto be able to do, I could no
longer do.
And putting on shoes is one ofthose things.
So, uh, there really wasn'tanything out on the market at
that time that I could find that, uh, both had the, both the,
the fashion element as well asthe function element, because I
mean, there was stuff out there.
They had the function, but itjust looked different.
(02:38):
The last thing I want to do iswear something that looked
different.
I wanted to wear something thatwhere my mind was our way back
when like being an amblitorykid.
So because there was no solutionon the market.
Um, I teamed with Darin, who's alongtime friend and I was
throwing some ideas his way.
And, uh, cause he was working ona shoe project when I was like
throwing these ideas his way.
(02:59):
And uh, we just came up with ourown idea.
We came up with our own solutionand it was having a zipper into
a shoe.
Have it goes outside around thetoe hole, upper folds over.
So you could drop your foot inunobstructed.
Cause that was my challenge.
It was one, the hand starteddoing the laces, but to the
actual shoving my foot into ashoe.
So we felt that, uh, that typedesign had worked for me.
(03:20):
And uh, lo and behold it did.
Shelly (03:22):
Yeah.
And they're really great.
I've seen them in action for oneor two people that I know and
they work really, really wellfor them.
And it's a greater sense, Itgives them a sense of
independence and pride that theycan just put their own shoes on
and just go and they don't haveto wait and rely on somebody
else.
So that's, that's the nicething.
They're not just designed forelderly persons with maybe
arthritis or persons withdisabilities.
(03:44):
They really do work foreveryone.
And I checked out your websiteand some other pages that you're
on and social media and there'sall kinds of people that wear
them.
So tell us about who youdesigned them for.
Billy (03:56):
Yeah.
So there's a lot there.
Um, and I love that you'rebringing up the whole university
design part of it.
Um, yes, my, my story, um, andmy disability, my challenge that
was the inspiration behind thebrand, but we felt early on.
We wanted to make in order to bea business, going into a very
competitive market, as shoes arevery competitive in the market,
(04:16):
we had to do something big andwe'll want to do is we want to
take fashion and function andsmash those two together, really
in the spirit of inclusion andin the spirit of university
design we wanted to do is wewanted to create something that
everyone could enjoy andeveryone can find success with.
We wanted to be able to have it.
So someone like myself thatneeds a functional shoe could be
(04:37):
empowered, but also to be ableto sit on the shelves of major
retailers like Nordstrom orZappos or, you know, countless
others.
And like someone could just walkin there and buy a pair of shoes
because it looked, uh, on trend.
So we wanted to do somethingreally, really big in the
marketplace.
That was what we boldly set outto you.
(04:58):
Um, those that need a functionalshoe.
There's no denying that theyhave a lot of success with our
brand, but those that love aconvenient shoe.
For example, like as a parent,being able to get my
three-year-old out the doorfaster, having convenient pair
of shoes makes that a verysuccessful, um, a great way to
start off the day instead of achallenge.
So there's a lot more folks thatit's not like you need to have a
(05:20):
disability to qualify yourself,to wear our brand.
We wanted to make something thateveryone could enjoy.
Shelly (05:26):
I love the designs.
I think you have like a littleunicorn style and, but you have
ones for women that I saw lookedlike a low brown hiking shoe of
sorts, such, you know, Trek shoefor the, for the trails and, and
or everyday walking the malls.
So they look really, and thenyou have something more stylish
and hip, like more sneaker kind,but either way it's, it's
(05:48):
fashionable.
And it, it does have a lot ofdifferent styles for men and
women, young, old, the wholeconcept.
It works.
It blends really, really how dothey work over leg braces,
Billy (06:01):
Ah right.
Over leg braces.
So again, um, you know, it'sinteresting when we first
started the brand, um, we firststarted the brand.
We did a Kickstarter campaign.
That's how we entered into themarketplace.
And, uh, people started reachingout asking questions.
And one of those questions was,did these work with AFOA and I
(06:22):
had to take a pause to go toGoogle, to type in AFO.
Cause I had no idea what an AFOwas.
I just wasn't familiar with withthat acronym or what that meant.
And, uh, looking at a photographof an AFO ankle foot orthosis, a
big ridged piece of plastic, Ilooked at it like, oh my gosh, I
definitely see the challengehere because it was the same
(06:42):
challenge.
I always having, having to shoveyour foot into a shoe.
So having that zipper goingaround, having it open up so you
can drop your foot in and I'mdistracted or that brace in
unobstructed, um, you know,those that were the AFL wares,
um, you know, they were havingsuccess.
So to answer your question, yes,they do work for braces.
Um, that's not a totalguarantee.
(07:02):
Um, some, some braces are verybulky, more so than others.
So when we first started, wejust had medium with shoes and,
uh, as you've been able tocontinue to grow, we've been
able to introduce wider shoesand, uh, we now have wide kids'
shoes and, uh, coming up in thenext out month or so maybe two
(07:24):
we'll have extra wide kids'shoes.
And, uh, those are more on thehigh tops in spring of next
year.
We'll have low tops and again,medium wide and extra wide, as
well as an adults.
We have extra wide, wide adultscoming out in the next month as
well.
So all those with gradients,like making the shoes wider and
(07:46):
wider, wider, those are reallyin the spirit of making it more
AFL friendly for the orthotics,but it's taken a while for us to
get there, but it's just reallyexciting that we're finally here
to be able to offer up thosesolutions.
Shelly (07:58):
And I think it's great that you are at least listening
to your consumers and yourcustomers saying, Hey, this is
what we need.
We have to wear these AFOs andthese MAFO's but we also want to
be stylish and independent.
So kudos to you on that one.
What does it mean to you talkingabout this National Disability
Employment Awareness Month?
What does it mean to you to be aperson as an entrepreneur with a
(08:20):
disability to be successful inhaving your own company?
Billy (08:25):
Well, you know, I mean the fact that I'm a business
owner and the fact that I'm anentrepreneur and the fact that
our business is doing as well asit is, the word I use quite
often is surreal.
Um, it, this was just a smalllittle side project idea between
two friends like me and Darin.
I'm just kind of throwing thisidea around and just making a go
of it.
(08:45):
Um, at the time when we startedthis thing, it was a side
hustle, Darin and I had ourfull-time jobs.
We were working, we were doingthe nine to five and then we're
working on shoes in the eveningto be able to build that this
thing.
Um, I did not grow up in anentrepreneurial family.
My family is very job-relatedDarin grew up in an
entrepreneurial family.
So he was really the one thatkind of educated me on what it
would be like to be anentrepreneur.
(09:06):
And then since like tasting thatlifestyle, um, I'm so addicted
and, uh, because you're really,you're the driver, you're the
driver trying to push this thingand build this thing up.
So the fact that I'm anentrepreneur is just absolutely
incredible.
I wouldn't trade it for theworld and to be able to have
like one in disability that, uh,inspired the brand and, um, to
(09:29):
be able to talk about it on likeplatforms like this, to be able
to share just like, you know,don't, don't give up.
I mean, it's like, it's life isa grind, but you just got to
keep moving forward the best youcan.
And, um, it really is amazingwhat come from it.
Shelly (09:42):
So that would be your best advice for anybody that
wants to start their ownbusiness and their own, that
they have their own idea thatwould be adaptive or helpful for
somebody?
Billy (09:51):
That would be part of my advice.
But another part of it is, youknow, starting a business is
tough.
I mean, it really is.
And it's just, it takes time.
It really does.
I mean, nothing's going tohappen as fast as you wanted to.
Um, likewise, I mean, like shoot, when I was going through
rehab, like in the hospital, I,I was the bullheaded guy that
was going to walk out of thehospital.
I mean, I was not going to bethe guy that was in me in the
(10:12):
wheelchair and rolling out, butit just didn't come that way.
Like, so you go down this pathof going like this to my
intention, but it's like thatthat path may have some turns
and curves and some hurdles inthe way, but so long as you
don't quit, as long as you keepmoving forward, the best you can
inch by inch, it really isamazing what you can accomplish
and really pick a good team thatreally helps too.
Shelly (10:34):
A good tribe to support you.
Billy (10:35):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I mean, to be able to have thatsupportive culture around you
for you to be able to make thosebig choices and understand that
you're going to fail, but just,don't just don't quit.
I mean, just keep moving forwardthe best he can, um, you know,
give us some time and, uh, findmentorship.
I mean, that's really what Iwould say as an entrepreneur to
be able to build up a business,find other people in the
(10:56):
industry that are doing perhapssomething similar or maybe have,
you know, built a business inthe past and kind of get their,
um, understanding on what, whatthey learned and what didn't go
so well.
And, uh, just kind of, you know,follow in their footsteps per se
.
Um, and then see what you cando.
Shelly (11:16):
In trying to bridge this month.
Entrepreneurs are persons withdisabilities that want to be
employed and, and employers thatwant to hire persons with
disabilities.
How can we bridge thatconnection?
And what would you tellemployers that want to hire
persons with disabilities, butmaybe are a little apprehensive
and struggling with learning howto become more inclusive and
(11:39):
more diverse.
I mean, what's the best adviceto help employers that are
trying to get there?
Billy (11:44):
Boy?
Great question.
Um, well that's a really greatquestion.
I, you know, I guess the bestway I can answer that is kind of
reflecting on when I got hiredthe first time I got hired to a
full-time job and, uh, I wasworking for after I graduated
college, I went to a disabilityjob fair and there was a company
(12:05):
that was, that was, there were alot of companies there, but the
company that I had my eye on wasthe Federal Aviation
Administration.
So the FAA and I went in thereand had a great conversation
with, with those at the booth.
And, um, I gave him my resumeand, you know, lo and behold,
like four months later, theygave me a call.
And, uh, I remember I went infor an interview and to ended up
(12:26):
getting the job.
But I recall like really when Iwas, when I was at work, it
really felt like I was hiredbecause I had a disability.
Like I was, I was the one beinghired to get, like, to check
that box of inclusive.
And, uh, but it was interestingas, as time went by when, when
(12:48):
people would see me, theyweren't seeing the disability
anymore because I wasperforming, I was performing, I
was actually getting theassignments done that was adding
value to the company.
And then it got to the pointwhere people were coming to me
for advice, or like just asking,um, you know, I'd worked on
something and like, okay, maybethey're struggling with their
project.
And they would ask for myguidance, like maybe some sort
(13:10):
of suggestion.
So being in the workforce, eventhough I had a disability over
time, I was being, you know,approached for my skillset, not
because I had a disability.
So I would say that when I firstentered the marketplace, I like
ad at that job.
Um, I was able to offer morethan I think some people would
(13:33):
give me credit initially, butunfortunately I had to kind of
prove myself to be able to dothat.
So I would say as an employer, Iwould just like, remind you guys
is like, just because someonehas a disability doesn't mean
they can't add value.
I mean, when someone with adisability has a tremendous
amount of value to add to abusiness, a great perspective, a
different perspective anddifferent way of looking at
(13:53):
things.
So I would say that when itcomes to building a team, it's
important to have an inclusiveteam with multiple backgrounds
to be able to really, you know,grow this thing, whatever that
thing may be, because when wehave different types of
conversations that arecontributing, I think we're
stronger for it.
Shelly (14:12):
I agree.
I think we're natural bornproblem solvers when we have a
disability.
So we're used to looking at aproblem from a different, unique
lens every day of the weekanyway, so like it or not.
So finally, yeah, yeah.
Right, exactly.
So your shoes are soldeverywhere and I was wondering
(14:32):
if you could tell us just someof the places that you partner
with that sell your shoes and doyou ship your shoes
internationally?
Billy (14:41):
Wow.
Well, yes.
Uh, we, we definitely shipinternational.
Um, so the, the role of deck ofbusinesses, so the business, the
list of businesses that wepartner with is definitely grown
over the years when we firstentered the marketplace, it was
in August of 2017.
And, uh, that was for back toschool.
And we started with Zappos andNordstrom.
(15:02):
And, uh, from there, uh, we'veexpanded into Shields and Von
Marc who are in the Midwest.
Um, there's lots of independentretail partners like mom and pop
type stores throughout theUnited States.
We've also partnered with anumber of organizations or
number of, uh, brick and mortarstores outside the U S.
(15:22):
So there's quite a few stores upin Canada.
Um, this year we also partnerwith some stores down in Mexico.
We also have a number of storesover in Europe, which is just
really exciting, um, Australiaand New Zealand, even in South
America.
So our small little brand hasreally grown tremendously.
And in addition to that, we haveour own website.
(15:43):
We have our own website,Billyfootwear.com, all of our
stores, all of our, um, thestores that are carrying the
shoes.
They don't carry the fullselection.
I mean, we have toddler kids,men's women's.
So depending on what store likeeach store kind of caters to a
particular audience, more sothan others.
So some of our kids' stores,some are adult stores, depending
on what store it is, they'll becarrying a different, um, set of
(16:05):
skews or whatnot.
But, uh, but it's been reallyexciting to be able to provide
this as solution is footwear, anew emerging brand to all these
places.
And it's just been generating alot, a lot of buzz.
Shelly (16:18):
Are you on any other social media platforms?
Billy (16:21):
We are.
So we do a lot of engagementthrough Facebook, a lot of
engagement through Instagram,um, as well as YouTube.
So all of those channels are onthe grill and it's been great
because a lot of that trafficcomes organically.
A lot of, a lot of folks see thebrand through those channels,
and then they forward those totheir friends, um, which, you
know, continues to propagatelike one our mission, but also
(16:43):
just brand awareness.
Shelly (16:44):
Well, thank you so much, really for educating us and
talking to us about nationaldisability employment month and
showing us where we can buy yourshoes internationally.
Billy (16:53):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
Shelly (16:55):
We do have a international audience that
listens to us worldwide andthank you to those listeners
that listen to us in Australia,New Zealand, the country of
Jersey, all over Europe and allover Asia.
Don't forget to hit that likeand subscribe button and join us
next week for another regularepisode of Disability Talks.
Music (17:34):
[inaudible]
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of
DisAbilityTalks.
Want to keep the conversationgoing?
Then visit our website atabilitiesinmotion.org or connect
with us on social media.
And remember don't dis myability.
Welcome to DisAbility Talks, a podcast produced by
Abilities in Motion.
I'm your host, Shelly Houser.
Join us for real conversationsand no nonsense talk from
everyday people withdisabilities, living their most
independent everyday lives.
Tune in for the latest newssurrounding disability,
accessibility and independence.
(00:23):
Where conversations aren'tdissed and stories that need to
be told aren't missed.
So let's talk.
Shelly (00:31):
Welcome to this special edition of DisAbility Talks.
October is National DisabilityEmployment Awareness Month, and
it celebrates people withdisabilities in the workplace.
It is estimated that 21% ofdisabled persons are part of the
labor workforce.
Yet 67.3% without disabilitiesare employed.
Since COVID hit employers havefound ways to make more jobs
(00:54):
productive and remote.
Many persons with disabilitieshave become entrepreneurs
creating their own destiny andemployment success.
And that's where my next guestcomes in.
As a teen, Billy suffered aspinal cord injury and became
paralyzed from the chest down,losing the ability to use his
fingers, owner Darin Donaldsonand Billy Price partnered
(01:16):
together to create a footwearcompany with a universal design
through determination and thephilosophy of inclusion Billy
and Darin created Billyfootwear.
The mission is to add value tothe lives of others and make a
difference one shoe at a time.
Thanks for being on the showtoday, Billy.
It's really a pleasure.
Billy (01:34):
Oh my absolute pleasure.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Yeah.
Shelly (01:38):
Yes.
So I've seen your footwear andit is really great.
I've actually seen it out in ourcommunity here, and it's a great
accessible concept for anyone touniversally use.
Tell us how and why you came upwith this shoe design.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I love to, um, so I'm a wheelchair user, uh, that
wasn't always the case.
Unfortunately, when I was incollege, my freshman year in
college, I fell out of a threestory window.
And then when that happened, myworld really changed.
Um, I was, uh, I was a veryactive young kid playing lots of
sports and very active in theoutdoors.
And, uh, and within an instant,all of a sudden became
(02:16):
wheelchair bound.
So a lot of things that I usedto be able to do, I could no
longer do.
And putting on shoes is one ofthose things.
So, uh, there really wasn'tanything out on the market at
that time that I could find that, uh, both had the, both the,
the fashion element as well asthe function element, because I
mean, there was stuff out there.
They had the function, but itjust looked different.
(02:38):
The last thing I want to do iswear something that looked
different.
I wanted to wear something thatwhere my mind was our way back
when like being an amblitorykid.
So because there was no solutionon the market.
Um, I teamed with Darin, who's alongtime friend and I was
throwing some ideas his way.
And, uh, cause he was working ona shoe project when I was like
throwing these ideas his way.
(02:59):
And uh, we just came up with ourown idea.
We came up with our own solutionand it was having a zipper into
a shoe.
Have it goes outside around thetoe hole, upper folds over.
So you could drop your foot inunobstructed.
Cause that was my challenge.
It was one, the hand starteddoing the laces, but to the
actual shoving my foot into ashoe.
So we felt that, uh, that typedesign had worked for me.
(03:20):
And uh, lo and behold it did.
Shelly (03:22):
Yeah.
And they're really great.
I've seen them in action for oneor two people that I know and
they work really, really wellfor them.
And it's a greater sense, Itgives them a sense of
independence and pride that theycan just put their own shoes on
and just go and they don't haveto wait and rely on somebody
else.
So that's, that's the nicething.
They're not just designed forelderly persons with maybe
arthritis or persons withdisabilities.
(03:44):
They really do work foreveryone.
And I checked out your websiteand some other pages that you're
on and social media and there'sall kinds of people that wear
them.
So tell us about who youdesigned them for.
Billy (03:56):
Yeah.
So there's a lot there.
Um, and I love that you'rebringing up the whole university
design part of it.
Um, yes, my, my story, um, andmy disability, my challenge that
was the inspiration behind thebrand, but we felt early on.
We wanted to make in order to bea business, going into a very
competitive market, as shoes arevery competitive in the market,
(04:16):
we had to do something big andwe'll want to do is we want to
take fashion and function andsmash those two together, really
in the spirit of inclusion andin the spirit of university
design we wanted to do is wewanted to create something that
everyone could enjoy andeveryone can find success with.
We wanted to be able to have it.
So someone like myself thatneeds a functional shoe could be
(04:37):
empowered, but also to be ableto sit on the shelves of major
retailers like Nordstrom orZappos or, you know, countless
others.
And like someone could just walkin there and buy a pair of shoes
because it looked, uh, on trend.
So we wanted to do somethingreally, really big in the
marketplace.
That was what we boldly set outto you.
(04:58):
Um, those that need a functionalshoe.
There's no denying that theyhave a lot of success with our
brand, but those that love aconvenient shoe.
For example, like as a parent,being able to get my
three-year-old out the doorfaster, having convenient pair
of shoes makes that a verysuccessful, um, a great way to
start off the day instead of achallenge.
So there's a lot more folks thatit's not like you need to have a
(05:20):
disability to qualify yourself,to wear our brand.
We wanted to make something thateveryone could enjoy.
Shelly (05:26):
I love the designs.
I think you have like a littleunicorn style and, but you have
ones for women that I saw lookedlike a low brown hiking shoe of
sorts, such, you know, Trek shoefor the, for the trails and, and
or everyday walking the malls.
So they look really, and thenyou have something more stylish
and hip, like more sneaker kind,but either way it's, it's
(05:48):
fashionable.
And it, it does have a lot ofdifferent styles for men and
women, young, old, the wholeconcept.
It works.
It blends really, really how dothey work over leg braces,
Billy (06:01):
Ah right.
Over leg braces.
So again, um, you know, it'sinteresting when we first
started the brand, um, we firststarted the brand.
We did a Kickstarter campaign.
That's how we entered into themarketplace.
And, uh, people started reachingout asking questions.
And one of those questions was,did these work with AFOA and I
(06:22):
had to take a pause to go toGoogle, to type in AFO.
Cause I had no idea what an AFOwas.
I just wasn't familiar with withthat acronym or what that meant.
And, uh, looking at a photographof an AFO ankle foot orthosis, a
big ridged piece of plastic, Ilooked at it like, oh my gosh, I
definitely see the challengehere because it was the same
(06:42):
challenge.
I always having, having to shoveyour foot into a shoe.
So having that zipper goingaround, having it open up so you
can drop your foot in and I'mdistracted or that brace in
unobstructed, um, you know,those that were the AFL wares,
um, you know, they were havingsuccess.
So to answer your question, yes,they do work for braces.
Um, that's not a totalguarantee.
(07:02):
Um, some, some braces are verybulky, more so than others.
So when we first started, wejust had medium with shoes and,
uh, as you've been able tocontinue to grow, we've been
able to introduce wider shoesand, uh, we now have wide kids'
shoes and, uh, coming up in thenext out month or so maybe two
(07:24):
we'll have extra wide kids'shoes.
And, uh, those are more on thehigh tops in spring of next
year.
We'll have low tops and again,medium wide and extra wide, as
well as an adults.
We have extra wide, wide adultscoming out in the next month as
well.
So all those with gradients,like making the shoes wider and
(07:46):
wider, wider, those are reallyin the spirit of making it more
AFL friendly for the orthotics,but it's taken a while for us to
get there, but it's just reallyexciting that we're finally here
to be able to offer up thosesolutions.
Shelly (07:58):
And I think it's great that you are at least listening
to your consumers and yourcustomers saying, Hey, this is
what we need.
We have to wear these AFOs andthese MAFO's but we also want to
be stylish and independent.
So kudos to you on that one.
What does it mean to you talkingabout this National Disability
Employment Awareness Month?
What does it mean to you to be aperson as an entrepreneur with a
(08:20):
disability to be successful inhaving your own company?
Billy (08:25):
Well, you know, I mean the fact that I'm a business
owner and the fact that I'm anentrepreneur and the fact that
our business is doing as well asit is, the word I use quite
often is surreal.
Um, it, this was just a smalllittle side project idea between
two friends like me and Darin.
I'm just kind of throwing thisidea around and just making a go
of it.
(08:45):
Um, at the time when we startedthis thing, it was a side
hustle, Darin and I had ourfull-time jobs.
We were working, we were doingthe nine to five and then we're
working on shoes in the eveningto be able to build that this
thing.
Um, I did not grow up in anentrepreneurial family.
My family is very job-relatedDarin grew up in an
entrepreneurial family.
So he was really the one thatkind of educated me on what it
would be like to be anentrepreneur.
(09:06):
And then since like tasting thatlifestyle, um, I'm so addicted
and, uh, because you're really,you're the driver, you're the
driver trying to push this thingand build this thing up.
So the fact that I'm anentrepreneur is just absolutely
incredible.
I wouldn't trade it for theworld and to be able to have
like one in disability that, uh,inspired the brand and, um, to
(09:29):
be able to talk about it on likeplatforms like this, to be able
to share just like, you know,don't, don't give up.
I mean, it's like, it's life isa grind, but you just got to
keep moving forward the best youcan.
And, um, it really is amazingwhat come from it.
Shelly (09:42):
So that would be your best advice for anybody that
wants to start their ownbusiness and their own, that
they have their own idea thatwould be adaptive or helpful for
somebody?
Billy (09:51):
That would be part of my advice.
But another part of it is, youknow, starting a business is
tough.
I mean, it really is.
And it's just, it takes time.
It really does.
I mean, nothing's going tohappen as fast as you wanted to.
Um, likewise, I mean, like shoot, when I was going through
rehab, like in the hospital, I,I was the bullheaded guy that
was going to walk out of thehospital.
I mean, I was not going to bethe guy that was in me in the
(10:12):
wheelchair and rolling out, butit just didn't come that way.
Like, so you go down this pathof going like this to my
intention, but it's like thatthat path may have some turns
and curves and some hurdles inthe way, but so long as you
don't quit, as long as you keepmoving forward, the best you can
inch by inch, it really isamazing what you can accomplish
and really pick a good team thatreally helps too.
Shelly (10:34):
A good tribe to support you.
Billy (10:35):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I mean, to be able to have thatsupportive culture around you
for you to be able to make thosebig choices and understand that
you're going to fail, but just,don't just don't quit.
I mean, just keep moving forwardthe best he can, um, you know,
give us some time and, uh, findmentorship.
I mean, that's really what Iwould say as an entrepreneur to
be able to build up a business,find other people in the
(10:56):
industry that are doing perhapssomething similar or maybe have,
you know, built a business inthe past and kind of get their,
um, understanding on what, whatthey learned and what didn't go
so well.
And, uh, just kind of, you know,follow in their footsteps per se
.
Um, and then see what you cando.
Shelly (11:16):
In trying to bridge this month.
Entrepreneurs are persons withdisabilities that want to be
employed and, and employers thatwant to hire persons with
disabilities.
How can we bridge thatconnection?
And what would you tellemployers that want to hire
persons with disabilities, butmaybe are a little apprehensive
and struggling with learning howto become more inclusive and
(11:39):
more diverse.
I mean, what's the best adviceto help employers that are
trying to get there?
Billy (11:44):
Boy?
Great question.
Um, well that's a really greatquestion.
I, you know, I guess the bestway I can answer that is kind of
reflecting on when I got hiredthe first time I got hired to a
full-time job and, uh, I wasworking for after I graduated
college, I went to a disabilityjob fair and there was a company
(12:05):
that was, that was, there were alot of companies there, but the
company that I had my eye on wasthe Federal Aviation
Administration.
So the FAA and I went in thereand had a great conversation
with, with those at the booth.
And, um, I gave him my resumeand, you know, lo and behold,
like four months later, theygave me a call.
And, uh, I remember I went infor an interview and to ended up
(12:26):
getting the job.
But I recall like really when Iwas, when I was at work, it
really felt like I was hiredbecause I had a disability.
Like I was, I was the one beinghired to get, like, to check
that box of inclusive.
And, uh, but it was interestingas, as time went by when, when
(12:48):
people would see me, theyweren't seeing the disability
anymore because I wasperforming, I was performing, I
was actually getting theassignments done that was adding
value to the company.
And then it got to the pointwhere people were coming to me
for advice, or like just asking,um, you know, I'd worked on
something and like, okay, maybethey're struggling with their
project.
And they would ask for myguidance, like maybe some sort
(13:10):
of suggestion.
So being in the workforce, eventhough I had a disability over
time, I was being, you know,approached for my skillset, not
because I had a disability.
So I would say that when I firstentered the marketplace, I like
ad at that job.
Um, I was able to offer morethan I think some people would
(13:33):
give me credit initially, butunfortunately I had to kind of
prove myself to be able to dothat.
So I would say as an employer, Iwould just like, remind you guys
is like, just because someonehas a disability doesn't mean
they can't add value.
I mean, when someone with adisability has a tremendous
amount of value to add to abusiness, a great perspective, a
different perspective anddifferent way of looking at
(13:53):
things.
So I would say that when itcomes to building a team, it's
important to have an inclusiveteam with multiple backgrounds
to be able to really, you know,grow this thing, whatever that
thing may be, because when wehave different types of
conversations that arecontributing, I think we're
stronger for it.
Shelly (14:12):
I agree.
I think we're natural bornproblem solvers when we have a
disability.
So we're used to looking at aproblem from a different, unique
lens every day of the weekanyway, so like it or not.
So finally, yeah, yeah.
Right, exactly.
So your shoes are soldeverywhere and I was wondering
(14:32):
if you could tell us just someof the places that you partner
with that sell your shoes and doyou ship your shoes
internationally?
Billy (14:41):
Wow.
Well, yes.
Uh, we, we definitely shipinternational.
Um, so the, the role of deck ofbusinesses, so the business, the
list of businesses that wepartner with is definitely grown
over the years when we firstentered the marketplace, it was
in August of 2017.
And, uh, that was for back toschool.
And we started with Zappos andNordstrom.
(15:02):
And, uh, from there, uh, we'veexpanded into Shields and Von
Marc who are in the Midwest.
Um, there's lots of independentretail partners like mom and pop
type stores throughout theUnited States.
We've also partnered with anumber of organizations or
number of, uh, brick and mortarstores outside the U S.
(15:22):
So there's quite a few stores upin Canada.
Um, this year we also partnerwith some stores down in Mexico.
We also have a number of storesover in Europe, which is just
really exciting, um, Australiaand New Zealand, even in South
America.
So our small little brand hasreally grown tremendously.
And in addition to that, we haveour own website.
(15:43):
We have our own website,Billyfootwear.com, all of our
stores, all of our, um, thestores that are carrying the
shoes.
They don't carry the fullselection.
I mean, we have toddler kids,men's women's.
So depending on what store likeeach store kind of caters to a
particular audience, more sothan others.
So some of our kids' stores,some are adult stores, depending
on what store it is, they'll becarrying a different, um, set of
(16:05):
skews or whatnot.
But, uh, but it's been reallyexciting to be able to provide
this as solution is footwear, anew emerging brand to all these
places.
And it's just been generating alot, a lot of buzz.
Shelly (16:18):
Are you on any other social media platforms?
Billy (16:21):
We are.
So we do a lot of engagementthrough Facebook, a lot of
engagement through Instagram,um, as well as YouTube.
So all of those channels are onthe grill and it's been great
because a lot of that trafficcomes organically.
A lot of, a lot of folks see thebrand through those channels,
and then they forward those totheir friends, um, which, you
know, continues to propagatelike one our mission, but also
(16:43):
just brand awareness.
Shelly (16:44):
Well, thank you so much, really for educating us and
talking to us about nationaldisability employment month and
showing us where we can buy yourshoes internationally.
Billy (16:53):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
Shelly (16:55):
We do have a international audience that
listens to us worldwide andthank you to those listeners
that listen to us in Australia,New Zealand, the country of
Jersey, all over Europe and allover Asia.
Don't forget to hit that likeand subscribe button and join us
next week for another regularepisode of Disability Talks.
Music (17:34):
[inaudible]
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of
DisAbilityTalks.
Want to keep the conversationgoing?
Then visit our website atabilitiesinmotion.org or connect
with us on social media.
And remember don't dis myability.
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