We were lucky to catch up with Delonso Barnes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Delonso, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Daddy Everyday came from my then 6 year old son, Kendrick. I would always help Kendrick with his homework. One day I was helping him with his homework and was having a good time with it, (no common core stuff as yet). As we were finishing up, Kendrick laid his head on my shoulder and said I like it when you help me with my homework, you are my daddy everyday. I never knew what people really meant when they said they had their light bulb moment, I knew then. Later that night I typed “Daddy Everyday” on a document, not knowing that it would be the beginning on my journey as an author and director of a fatherhood nonprofit.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After publishing my first book in 2013, Daddy Everyday: Rewriting the Black American Dad Story (First Edition), I entered the arena of public speaking and mentorship. Through my efforts, I discovered that I had a true passion for fatherhood— coming from the love and my dedication of own boys. The success of Daddy Everyday inspired me to form the non-profit organization, Daddy Everyday Inc. Through this new entrepreneurial path; I have fostered a fatherhood outreach program based in McDonough, Georgia. Daddy Everyday Inc. provides mentoring for fathers, empowering them with the necessary resources to help them engage in family strengthening events & activities. Among my areas of focus include encouraging parents and students alike to support schools and educators— teaching fathers to become proactive in their children’s education. I’m now author of a dozen books including my best selling, “Fresh Start For Dads, Reconnecting After Prison & Absenteeism. Currently, we are rolling out projects and events such as Let’s Talk Dads, Destroying The Stereotype Roundtable Discussion, Family Fun Events, Fresh Start For Dads Book Donation and a mobile app for fathers. In addition to running Daddy Everyday Inc., I have two online stores that support Daddy Everyday efforts. DaddyEverydayShop.com is my online book store for my authored books and DaddyEverydayClothingCo.com is an online clothing store specializing in hoodies for parents. Visit DaddyEveryday.org to access everything Daddy Everyday and more.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Much like everybody and just about every business, the Year 2020 was very challenging for my nonprofit. Years leading to 2020, I was doing workshops at schools and libraries and even did a series of Work/Life Balance workshops at Gatorade. The Year 2020 was going to be my breakout year filled with workshops at many schools and libraries across Georgia. 2020 started with me being featured in Target’s Black History Month campaign, Black Beyond Measure. Then in March 2020, all my workshops and plans were cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. For a couple of months I just worked my day job and decided to wait until the pandemic was over. Then I realized there has to be a way to continue my work. So I partnered with other nonprofits such as Dream Center of Henry County and focused more online engagement. So now, I have a focus on opening an office and doubling down on Daddy Everyday online presence, a kind of pandemic proof operation.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Here’s a cautionary tale of not following up on your business when you outsource. To make sure I stayed legit in this new arena as a Director of a nonprofit, I decided to use a professional for my taxes. I wasn’t really bringing in any income for the nonprofit so the tax matters was something I could have truly handled. But I had a CPA doing my family taxes and figured he could take care the Daddy Everyday Inc. tax matters. When you run a nonprofit the one form you have to file every year is Form 990. Three consecutive years of not filing this form will result in losing your tax exempt status. Well, one day I was signing up for Facebook Charities and I was rejected. In the rejection letter it mentioned check my tax exempt status with the IRS. When I called the IRS, I was told that I haven’t filed the Form 990 in more than three consecutive years and I have lost my tax exempt status. I checked my tax paperwork and indeed they were not Form 990. So I called my CPA and learned that he had passed away. Had I simply just looked at my tax paperwork every year, I would have been aware that the proper paperwork wasn’t being filed. After handling the tax paperwork myself, I had my tax exempt reinstated and I now handle my own tax matters. As Daddy Everyday grows I’m sure I will utilize a CPA again but this time I know what to look out for now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.DaddyEveryday.org
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/DaddyEveryday
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/daddyeveryday
• Linkedin: DelonsoBarnes
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/daddyeveryday24
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh0-IN1cdPLh5NVj9BEHwGg

Image Credits
Roy Cummings