I'm totally stoked to announce today that HAPPY JOE has relaunched! It has been a long time preparing for a new mission but we're ready to rock-n-roll once again.
Here's the intel on what's been happening the past few years.
Our Past Operations
Back in 2015, we started our operations as a non-profit organization, offering free web tech training and mentoring to military veterans from all branches, ages, and backgrounds.
Our mission was assisting them with job placement or helping them launch their own web design businesses. Thanks to the generosity of many web tech companies and Americans, we were able to serve hundreds of veterans through our online training program and in-person events.
But two years later we discovered a more pressing issue within the military community and we needed to shift fire.
As veteran suicides started to sky rocket and mental health issues were taking a huge toll on our warriors, HAPPY JOE pivoted to a for-profit CBD company in the wellness sector.
We learned that the dangerous pharmaceutical cocktails prescribed by the Veterans Administration were partly responsible for these deaths, as well as how alternative medicines like cannabis and CBD were actually helping save lives.
Despite the huge success rate of our wellness products and them being federally legal, we couldn't survive the bureaucratic red tape and payment processing challenges.
Unfortunately we had to cease operations, losing everything we worked so hard for and the opportunity to support our veterans.
Our New Mission
As an Army Veteran and entrepreneur, I've never been able to let HAPPY JOE officially go. Helping the military community is something I'm deeply passionate about. The problem is I didn't really know what to do with the brand.
Then one day a vision came to me. Or maybe I was stoned. It doesn't matter.
For 30 years I've wanted to go back to creating unique t-shirts and other apparel. It's my first creative love and I've helped other brands make millions of dollars with my ideas. So why not do it for HAPPY JOE?
T-Shirts with a Happy Ending! 😜
At some point I found out the urban dictionary states our name as a hand job. Yeah, you can't make this shit up. But having a twisted sense of military humor, I embraced the suck and started using it as the tagline of our new mission.
The idea isn't just to have another typical military lifestyle brand, but to use our platform to do something great for our veterans, which I'll share more about in the next update.
Ultimately our mission is using profits from the sales of our products to fund wellness efforts for the military community.
This means after all expenses are paid, we'll reinvest profits into purchasing things like alternative medicine, service dogs, or adaptive gear for disabled veterans -- the stuff our government refuses to help with. And our first objective is giving away ONE MILLION DOLLARS of "goods" by the end of 2025.
It's a crazy idea and highly unconventional. Probably even stupid from a business perspective. But to me, it's the right thing to do.
Freedom is Never Free
I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for the men and women who served their country. I might not be alive if it weren't for the WWII Veterans who fought to liberate my Dutch grandparents from Nazi occupation.
So I made a promise to many of these heroes to never let people forget the cost for freedom and the sacrifices made to protect it.
HAPPY JOE is my way of expressing this gratitude towards all veterans, past and present, as well as celebrating the glorious freedom we all enjoy.
I hope you'll join me on the mission. Buy a t-shirt so we can reach that BIG goal and enjoy a happy ending together. 👍🏼👍🏼