We caught up with the brilliant and insightful John DiDonato a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

John, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I have been in manufacturing since the early 1980’s. I began my journey by working alongside Motorola engineers as they were in the process of designing the first cellular telephone. I had a small shop in south Florida and those engineers would task me with making components for their prototypes. This went on for many years and eventually turned into some production work in addition to prototypes. In the 1990’s, the manufacturing began moving overseas and I, along with many others across the US, began losing work to Asia. I pivoted from making electronic components and began printing. As business increased, I moved to a larger building and began hiring employees. I found that many of the young people that applied for the jobs I had to offer were struggling. They were in survival mode and not in the mindset of looking for ways to thrive in life. If they did not go to college, they were left to believe the only employment opportunities for them were fast food type jobs that were traditionally starter jobs for teenagers. This hit me hard and I found myself thinking about how I could help change that. I determined that I could hire these young people and teach them manufacturing skills and keep those jobs right here in the US. Profit was not my motivation so it was easier to make that choice. As the young people I hired began to thrive, I starting to think about the environments in which they grew up. Many were from underserved communities and unless they found someone to give them an opportunity, they had very little to look forward to. That is when I decided that a portion of the profits generated from the printing company can be used to help support these underserved communities. I found a great partner in the Boys and Girls clubs of America. They are a great organization that helps thousands of these kids and I am humbled to be able to do my part to help them in their mission.
I wanted to to be all in and in 2017, I changed the name of the company from Plastic Card Factory to K12 Print as it is Kindergarten through 12 grade kids we help.
I like to look at this as an engine. Young people who work at K12 Print do the printing, packaging, bookkeeping, customer service, etc… and generated the funds that then go to organizations like the Boys and Girls club to promote better opportunity for those that come after them. We feed the engine via our e-commerce print store and the result is good paying jobs and giving back to our community.
It has grown and changed over the years but that is the story on how I decided to make K12 Print the company it is today.

John, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am John DiDonato, Founder and CEO of K12 Print INC.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Although I have had to pivot many times in business, the biggest one was getting into the printing industry. Before that I had. a laser shop and was making parts for large companies. They came to me because lasers were new technology at the time and not many people had them. I figured out how to cut the polycarbonate lenses for pagers and cellphones without burning the edges. In addition to cutting the lenses, they asked if I could print on them too. I lined up a local printing company who began printing the lenses. The problem was that they were scratching them. So, I decided to buy a small screen print machine which I had shipped in overnight via Fedex. That is when I began printing and kept the entire process of making the lenses in house.

I began making the lenses for the initial Panasonic production run and soon after that, they decided to take that work overseas to China.

So I pivoted. I began making more items such as instrument panels and membrane switches which required printing. As that work followed suit and was sent overseas, I started making plastic cards. That was the beginning of journey into becoming primarily a printing company. I began making millions of plastic cards and now have branched off into apparel printing and decorating.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

My business is predominately Ecommerce. We drive traffic to our site and from there, customers can use our online design tool and place the order themselves. We also have a strong customer service department. We found that many customers would like some reassurance when it comes to printing custom products. They are not designers by trade and can be somewhat hesitant to design something themselves without a professional helping them. To solve that problem, we have a graphics department. The pros of selling direct though our website is control. We have control over the customer experience and can make changes based upon the feedback we receive.
The cons are the cost of constant programming to keep up with the latest technologies. The rise in SAAS has helped reduce these costs and keep them manageable.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.k12print.com
• Instagram: @k12print
• Facebook: facebook.com/k12print
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/16239745/
• Twitter: @k12_print
• Youtube: youtube.com/@k12printinc