Speaker 1: Roll. You sound better when you're sitting closer to the bike. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you. I just suggested to bring the large black
Speaker 1: thing closer to your mouth. Oh wait a minute, get
Speaker 1: closer to it. I am a boy, Damon, I am
Speaker 1: a boy. You are not gonna talk to me like that.
Speaker 1: We're ready, ready to go. When you guys, when you
Speaker 1: guys are okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm gonna kick
Speaker 1: this thing off. Three two one. What's going on, y'all?
Speaker 1: I'm Peanuts Tillman and as always I got my guy Roman.
Speaker 1: I am a boy, Harper women right now and this
Speaker 1: is the NFL Players Second Acts Podcast. What's up? I
Speaker 1: am a boy. Well, I thank you, Peanut. You know,
Speaker 1: for the show starter, you came at me quite aggressively
Speaker 1: and I had to just make sure you knew where
Speaker 1: I stand. Damon, thank you, sir, No worries. I'm good.
Speaker 1: And this morning we have a special guest with us.
Speaker 1: And look, this young man was a baller in the league,
Speaker 1: and not only that, but it was doing amazing things
Speaker 1: off the field. In his second act. Personally, I actually
Speaker 1: got to witness him come in and talk to a
Speaker 1: group of young starting business starters starters businesses and in
Speaker 1: the early stage investing there in Frisco, Texas. He's from Texas,
Speaker 1: I do believe so. And he is running back, former
Speaker 1: running back, now business and entrepreneur. Justin four set he
Speaker 1: was running back in the NFL for nine years, played
Speaker 1: with seven different teams. That's amazing to say. In twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: ran for more than twelve hundred yards and made a
Speaker 1: pro ball that checks a lot about this. Also was
Speaker 1: among the NFL's top one hundred players in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1: He's the co founder of Hustle Clean, a hygiene product
Speaker 1: company that was featured on Shark Tank. We're definitely gonna
Speaker 1: hear more about that. He was also on Good Morning America,
Speaker 1: The View, and Everywhere justin for set, Good morning, Welcome
Speaker 1: to the NFL Player's Second Acts podcast. Man, what an intro. Man.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you Roman Panut for having me on the show.
Speaker 1: Excited to dig end of today, Thank you, man. Appreciate it. Man.
Speaker 1: So let's get right into it. Yeah, jump in Panut,
Speaker 1: Let's go Shark Tank. Yeah, gotta Hustle Clean. Right, So
Speaker 1: you went on Shark Tank. Tell me I watched a show.
Speaker 1: I've seen it I'm not a businessman. I don't have
Speaker 1: the mindset to come up with my own invention, design whatever. Ye,
Speaker 1: So I admire everyone that goes on that show because
Speaker 1: you have to be in a different mindset to black.
Speaker 1: You know what, I think this is a great idea
Speaker 1: that some people just don't have it, don't think, and
Speaker 1: I want to get it, make a lot of money
Speaker 1: and obviously serve people with this great product. Right. So
Speaker 1: has going on Shark Tank helped you with hustle clean? Hold?
Speaker 1: Hold on? And before you answer that, I want you
Speaker 1: to tell Peanut the mindset of an entrepreneur because that's
Speaker 1: also you got to be brave to go out there
Speaker 1: and say, you know, I'm gonna do it. This is myself.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start something and and really run it to
Speaker 1: completion and um, and kind of break down to how
Speaker 1: you got into that mode or space as well mentally
Speaker 1: go ahead, oh yeah, man, um, A lot of the
Speaker 1: attributes that you see being a professional athlete or plan
Speaker 1: in sports, that's what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.
Speaker 1: So that just relentless mindset, the faith that within yourself
Speaker 1: to like to do something that, um, most people are
Speaker 1: scared to always tell people that entrepreneur who are lying
Speaker 1: chasing We're chasing something that scare most people, and but
Speaker 1: once you catch it, um, it is it is worth it, right,
Speaker 1: it is worth the journey. It is it's worth the
Speaker 1: ups and downs and um it for me to start
Speaker 1: this business while I was playing, uh, and to pursue it,
Speaker 1: it was a smooth transition because I'm used to chasing
Speaker 1: things that most people are scared of. Um and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, playing in sports, so that the mindset came
Speaker 1: natural to me. Um, That's why I fell into the
Speaker 1: entrepreneur space. I feel like God gave this to me
Speaker 1: and uh to get into Shark Take. Uh it did
Speaker 1: wonders for my business, right, not only externally in sales
Speaker 1: and awareness and distribution, but uh just internally how we
Speaker 1: operate because we didn't get a deal on the show.
Speaker 1: I joke with people all the time, that's probably the
Speaker 1: worst pitching Shark Take history. Um, why you say why
Speaker 1: you gotta why you like the champ on Harlem Nights
Speaker 1: made it so bad? It was, I mean it was
Speaker 1: a number of things. One we started off, it was hot,
Speaker 1: I mean, it came out, we took up. It was
Speaker 1: like we went over, We did a deep pass like
Speaker 1: a hail Mary. We went in. We scored right back
Speaker 1: the first couple of seconds we started. We started off
Speaker 1: the game hot. We got into the Q and A
Speaker 1: part and it was three of us at the time.
Speaker 1: We had three partners that we have two um but
Speaker 1: we uh we got into the Q, Q and A
Speaker 1: and couldn't tell the investors the Sharks like a coherent
Speaker 1: story and around the financials and why we needed funding.
Speaker 1: And when you know one the number one rule when
Speaker 1: going into the Shark tak and when racing capital is
Speaker 1: you have to know your numbers. It is like you
Speaker 1: know it is. You have to It's not negotiable, right,
Speaker 1: You gotta be able to explain your numbers and understand that.
Speaker 1: And we were we were uh man, we were all
Speaker 1: over the place when it came to that, in that
Speaker 1: in that space. So that when after that moment, I'll
Speaker 1: never forget that ride. The ride back because when you
Speaker 1: when you on Shark take, you got to those props
Speaker 1: down in the background, you have to take that back
Speaker 1: to Hollywood or wherever you rented that place. So you
Speaker 1: get a U haul and you pack this stuff up
Speaker 1: on your own and you take it back to wherever
Speaker 1: the rental location you got the stuff from, and I
Speaker 1: would saying it was me my two business partners. I
Speaker 1: was in the middle. And that was the longest ride
Speaker 1: of my life, right because I just knew it was
Speaker 1: like worse than any fumble I've had in my career.
Speaker 1: But I had to resolve in me and the declaration
Speaker 1: inside of me that like, Okay, this won't be the
Speaker 1: end of how people see me as an entrepreneur, right
Speaker 1: but like I was gonna, I was going to rebound
Speaker 1: from from this bit of adversity and grow from it.
Speaker 1: I learn from it and how we operate and new
Speaker 1: business I was going. I was. I was just determined
Speaker 1: to make a better impression. So it didn't wonders for us,
Speaker 1: you know what, you know, Justin, I appreciate that, bro.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry you heard that piano. My son is sick,
Speaker 1: staying home from school. So I decided to be a
Speaker 1: piano guy all of a sudden, out of nowhere. Paul
Speaker 1: Josuck that the background if you heard that. But I
Speaker 1: just want all the listeners to know, Hey, look, life
Speaker 1: is real, Okay, life is real too doing all this
Speaker 1: so so justin so so you're sitting there in front
Speaker 1: of the sharks and like, this is like the dream
Speaker 1: opportunity for you, for most entrepreneurs, the dream opportunity. And
Speaker 1: so as you get told no, first of all, did
Speaker 1: you go in there thinking like, all right, I want
Speaker 1: this guy invest like I always want to know that too.
Speaker 1: Did you Who was your dream shark Lorie? Laurie Grenier? Okay?
Speaker 1: And why? Because we had heard that she was one
Speaker 1: of the investors or sharks that were really hands on
Speaker 1: and like even after the show, like she was gonna
Speaker 1: be really invested in her time and energy as well
Speaker 1: as capital. And she's like a really good fit. Six
Speaker 1: my customers are women, so um, it just made sense
Speaker 1: that Laurie using her resources and leveraging her her assets.
Speaker 1: It made sense for a great partner. And I heard
Speaker 1: you live tweeted this the episode. Yeah did what? How
Speaker 1: did that come about? It was just like, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: you get hitten, you get hit in the mouth, how
Speaker 1: are you gonna respond? Right? Are you gonna just yea,
Speaker 1: you know, allowed to cause you to soak? Are you
Speaker 1: gonna allowed to push you to success? And I was
Speaker 1: I'm not a guy that when I'm back in the corner.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm gonna I'm on flinch, like I'm I'm
Speaker 1: gonna fight. So I just I wanted to use this
Speaker 1: as an opportunity as a as a lesson not only
Speaker 1: for my team, but also everyone else that are chasing
Speaker 1: their dreams, Like this doesn't have to be the end
Speaker 1: of it. Um, just because you may have made a misstep.
Speaker 1: The only els we take our lessons in life, So
Speaker 1: donna grow from it. Now, for those that don't know,
Speaker 1: tell tell us what what hustle clean is. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: so we hadn't even got any of that. So Hustle
Speaker 1: Clean is a mission every sync right now, So I'm
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, We got you, We got you.
Speaker 1: Hustle Clean is a mission driven self care brand for
Speaker 1: the active lifestyle. So we do hygiene well unders and
Speaker 1: recovery recovery products for the everyday athlete and fitness and
Speaker 1: so our big goal is the intoxic hustle within the community,
Speaker 1: in the wonder's community. So tell me this because I
Speaker 1: thought it was hilarious because and a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't do this. You've never been in the locker room
Speaker 1: that you're kind of your mindset came from the shower piel. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. So even if our first product it's called
Speaker 1: a shower pill. So even if you look at the
Speaker 1: package here of Hustle Clean, it's shower pill on top.
Speaker 1: So it came from that moment when a shower's optimal
Speaker 1: but not possible. Like you got guys in the locker
Speaker 1: room that was being dirty and having these deferred shower
Speaker 1: moments where you just finished up a long practice and
Speaker 1: you're gonna wait till you get home or wait hours
Speaker 1: later into shower instead of getting in right away. And
Speaker 1: they're saying they're taking a shower pill. It's like, nah,
Speaker 1: you've been staked. So we wanted to come up for
Speaker 1: a solution because there were other people that were dealing
Speaker 1: with this type of moment because of whatever reasons like time,
Speaker 1: poor individuals. They were living dynamic schedules on the goal,
Speaker 1: a lot of errands, and so we wanted to coming
Speaker 1: from the solution, and uh yeah we did. I think
Speaker 1: the linemen or probably the stinkiest people on the team,
Speaker 1: they got a lot of crevices bro that you know,
Speaker 1: I just lock our lineman. I ever have I ever
Speaker 1: smelled fuck like I have in Lineman, tell me this.
Speaker 1: So after you leave Shark Tank, when you're you're you're
Speaker 1: sitting back, you got that long card right back you
Speaker 1: and your your your partners, you're sitting there that experience.
Speaker 1: How did it help you evolve the business? Like where
Speaker 1: did you guys go from there? Like, you know what
Speaker 1: we got punched them out? What what do we have
Speaker 1: to bounce back and do? One is just like more
Speaker 1: ownership for myself And like I just retired from the
Speaker 1: game at that point, I was probably a couple of
Speaker 1: months out of retirement, so fully immersed myself in the
Speaker 1: business as CEO and running it and I just realized,
Speaker 1: like me personally, I had to have more ownership on
Speaker 1: every department that you know, whether it's marketing, finance, legal,
Speaker 1: Like I had to understand everything. I may not run
Speaker 1: the day to day on every single in every seating department,
Speaker 1: but I had to have ownership enough where I can
Speaker 1: communicate to anybody about the business. So I took accountability
Speaker 1: there and just really study learned the game, learned as
Speaker 1: much as I could. You know, I knew nothing about
Speaker 1: P and L statements and balance sheets and margin and
Speaker 1: eba duh and none of none of those things beforehand,
Speaker 1: but I just like I had to learn a new playbook.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I was literally in my mind like like
Speaker 1: something you can't show on your feet. Man, I just
Speaker 1: got that. I got I need some I need some
Speaker 1: some high high hustle clean on my feet. I got
Speaker 1: eb yeah yeah yeah. So it's basically your bottom line
Speaker 1: at the end of like you look at your profit
Speaker 1: and law statements, it's like what do you take in?
Speaker 1: What money do you take in after earnings, benefits, interest, tax, um, emortization,
Speaker 1: like all those things, like you take that into accounts,
Speaker 1: like a very bottom line. This is what you're bringing home,
Speaker 1: all right, evil though it is at the bottom cleaned
Speaker 1: up by your I see why you instead of yeah, man,
Speaker 1: i've checked my ebra thom yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: well you gotta check the bottom line. And yet hey man,
Speaker 1: look at my EBA the food that's yeah all right.
Speaker 1: So one of the I know you said, one of
Speaker 1: the most emotional um or something you're you're very proud
Speaker 1: of is the deal that you guys got when um
Speaker 1: you signed with Target. All right, talk talk talk about that,
Speaker 1: talk about like getting signed and like your first you know,
Speaker 1: first make big gig and them signing. How how was
Speaker 1: that for you? How was that feeling? Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it was amazing, Uh, because I think about at that moment,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people still doubt in the
Speaker 1: business and the idea. I mean, we had just got
Speaker 1: rejected on Shark Tank a few months earlier. Uh, there's
Speaker 1: still people like, man, why would you why would you
Speaker 1: even come up with this product, this disposable wash cloth,
Speaker 1: like you know, uh just get in the shower, Like
Speaker 1: there's no need for your product, Like it's not worth
Speaker 1: investing in. There's no retailer's gonna pick you up. And
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, on my I think it
Speaker 1: was twenty eighteen, I put in my journal, and I
Speaker 1: have a journal writing all my goals and aspirations that
Speaker 1: I have for the year. And one of my goals
Speaker 1: was to get in a big box for each oil
Speaker 1: and that big box for each other. I wanted it
Speaker 1: to be Target because they're like at the top of
Speaker 1: the top when we talk about quality in the retail service.
Speaker 1: And I wasn't going to go to the super Bowl
Speaker 1: that year because that year was in Minneapolis, and I
Speaker 1: go to super Bowl every year comote the brand because yeah,
Speaker 1: who want to be in Minneapolis in February. I was yeah,
Speaker 1: it was cold, But the NFLPA sent out an email
Speaker 1: saying that We're going to give a business tour Target,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like, Okay, this is my shot. So
Speaker 1: I got that like a week before the super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I had some friends that lived up there.
Speaker 1: I stayed on their couch for at the super Bowl
Speaker 1: and I went to the tour packed my product in
Speaker 1: a backpack. After we took the tour, I pitched to
Speaker 1: the buyer of the personal category and literally a few
Speaker 1: months later, were a few weeks later, actually got in
Speaker 1: touch with her offline. She's like, I think it's a
Speaker 1: valuable product, valuable product for our category. Let me can
Speaker 1: take you to the right people. Three months later, I'm
Speaker 1: in store in a five hundred store test. Three months
Speaker 1: out of that, after that, I'm full changed. So I'm
Speaker 1: in every single Target store across the country and the
Speaker 1: business turns around just like that, And we offer to
Speaker 1: the races and we got we got, we got word
Speaker 1: and it was a blessing. Damn. So did you take
Speaker 1: the experiences that you learned from failing on Shark Tank
Speaker 1: like that that lesson did you take all that, like
Speaker 1: knowing the numbers and everything. So when you went for
Speaker 1: the pitching with that buyer, because I'm sure she he
Speaker 1: or sheet they they probably asked you some of the
Speaker 1: similar questions though right it was it's a little bit different,
Speaker 1: but you definitely have to have your numbers. You gotta know. Um,
Speaker 1: just like the value proposition of the business, like what
Speaker 1: are you offering? H kind of sales do you think
Speaker 1: you're gonna provide? What kind of incremental sales you think
Speaker 1: you can provide to the category? Why should it? It's
Speaker 1: like it's like taking somebody spotting the roster in order
Speaker 1: to go into the store. Somebody has to someone has
Speaker 1: to go, like you if you got to have a
Speaker 1: product on the product on the shelf, somebody is losing
Speaker 1: a job, somebody is losing space on the shelf. So
Speaker 1: you have to pitching and position yourself in a way
Speaker 1: that's like, oh, this is unique. This is going to
Speaker 1: bring value to the category or the take to the team.
Speaker 1: And they saw it, they saw the vision, and we're
Speaker 1: able to sell that. So um, it was an emotional time,
Speaker 1: Like I was probably more emotional on that day than
Speaker 1: I was on my draft day. Um, I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: is that comparable to like, man, when you get it,
Speaker 1: like you finally get that email saying like this is it.
Speaker 1: First of all, congratulations because yeah, it's huge to hear
Speaker 1: that story to be kicked out and you all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, it's just the way God works and you connect, like, man,
Speaker 1: this is in my this is in my journal. I've
Speaker 1: been talking about this. The NFL talks about you know,
Speaker 1: they send out this email, You're gonna have a chance
Speaker 1: to meet with somebody maybe possible to target. You're like, dude,
Speaker 1: I'm sleeping on couches, Like that's the mindset of an
Speaker 1: entrepreneur too. It's like you're willing to do whatever it
Speaker 1: takes until the goal is met. And so and you know,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, you nail down your elevator
Speaker 1: pitch because you got to have that ready to go
Speaker 1: at all times. And you get in. And I never
Speaker 1: heard anybody mention or talk about that. I don't think
Speaker 1: most of our listeners actually think about when you get
Speaker 1: on the shelf, somebody else is going off, and so
Speaker 1: how do you stay up there? And because everybody always
Speaker 1: talks about getting to the top, and we're always so
Speaker 1: focused about the person or the company in front of us.
Speaker 1: We never worry about the one behind us. And that's
Speaker 1: the one, the most dangerous one, because they're the one
Speaker 1: that's gonna catch you and pass you up. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: It's about continue to add value. It's about building relationship
Speaker 1: with the buyer and even though you know some of
Speaker 1: them may change it every once in a while and
Speaker 1: maybe a coaching change, but it's just continue to show
Speaker 1: your value and show up at every every single eating,
Speaker 1: every single calendar, because it's like a it is not
Speaker 1: a it's not like a full ride like it's it's
Speaker 1: like year to year. Like you you're not promised a
Speaker 1: four year uh situation with with the retailer. You have
Speaker 1: to prove yourself, you know, on a quarterly basis, on
Speaker 1: a yearly basis. And we've been able to do that
Speaker 1: by our the positioning, the offering that we have, the
Speaker 1: packaging that we have, the mission that we have, and
Speaker 1: just build a good report with with the store. So
Speaker 1: we've been in there five years now, Blasts. We just
Speaker 1: introduced a new ups and Ups and Salt minal mineral
Speaker 1: leaf soap that just went in the stores and Target
Speaker 1: stores all across the country, and they've been a valued
Speaker 1: partner since that day. It's kind of It's kind of
Speaker 1: funny though, that you say, you take somebody off the shelf, right,
Speaker 1: So we all can attest to this, right, we all
Speaker 1: got drafted. There were fifty three men on the roster
Speaker 1: before we got there. They draft seven to ten players
Speaker 1: a year, you know, rookies that they draft, plus you
Speaker 1: bring in a couple of undrafted free agents, and then
Speaker 1: you're a third string, second string. Ultimately, you want to
Speaker 1: be a first string. You know what I'm saying. You
Speaker 1: want to be a number one. You want to start.
Speaker 1: So we're taking somebody off that shelf, right, I think
Speaker 1: that's comparable. So when you yeah, I'm I tell people
Speaker 1: I'm greedy. Greed is good. I mean I saw the
Speaker 1: movie Wall Street and Gordon Gecko or Greco he used
Speaker 1: to say it, man, greed is good. Rome. Let's let's
Speaker 1: let's create something. We literally just admitted that neither one
Speaker 1: of us have. Right now, you can do it. You
Speaker 1: cannot tell me you not you're you're not inspired. No,
Speaker 1: I'm inspired. I'm inspired inspired. That's why I would love
Speaker 1: to maybe invest all right here, here we go. I
Speaker 1: got another question with Justin so in a documentary Life
Speaker 1: After You were on that. I thought it was a
Speaker 1: great episode. You said you tried to leverage the NFL
Speaker 1: shield as much as possible when starting out with shower Field. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you use teammates, the facility, the locker room, team, photographers,
Speaker 1: all those things to spread the word about it. Do
Speaker 1: you think, in your personal opinion, guys in the NFL
Speaker 1: leverage the NFL brand enough for their own personal game. Uh.
Speaker 1: I don't think as much as they can. I think
Speaker 1: some do, But I mean the NFL gets a lot
Speaker 1: out of us, right, They get a ton out of us,
Speaker 1: And I think that more players, um, they have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to to use that shield to propel them into
Speaker 1: the next season or chapter in life. But for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: maybe they are uncomfortable with with doing so. Are you
Speaker 1: know the whole adage of thinking or the mindset of
Speaker 1: thinking that if you're not one hundred percent focus on football,
Speaker 1: you're being distracted. Yea. So they don't. They don't want to,
Speaker 1: They don't want to come off that way. But for me,
Speaker 1: I wanted to build something. I was fired two times
Speaker 1: in my first season in the NFL, and my third
Speaker 1: year when I came up with the business idea with
Speaker 1: my teammates, we uh, that Sports Illustrated article came out
Speaker 1: about going broke, and you know that whole number about
Speaker 1: eighty percent of players bankrupt after divorced or depressed two
Speaker 1: years after playing, which may or may not be true,
Speaker 1: but that was kind of a joke to my system,
Speaker 1: Like I wanted to not be in that number, and
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna allow anything to stand in my way.
Speaker 1: Like for me, I'm an undersized running back. I'm five
Speaker 1: eight hundred ninety five pounds, you know, and I was
Speaker 1: able to go up against giants every Sunday and live
Speaker 1: out my dream playing on the NFL in the NFL
Speaker 1: in the same thing entrepreneurship, Like I'm gonna I wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna allow anything to stand in my way. I don't care.
Speaker 1: I may not have the experience, i may not have
Speaker 1: the team, but I'm gonna make sure that at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, win the right position, the best
Speaker 1: position possible to be successful. And I was going to
Speaker 1: leverage whatever I had. So that was my mindset. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so you started this business while you were playing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, And so what would your message be to
Speaker 1: current players about how important it is to possibly start
Speaker 1: working towards their post career lives or whatever their goals
Speaker 1: or aspirations maybe wild playing. I would say, if your
Speaker 1: current player, the transition starts now. I don't care if
Speaker 1: your first year or year in your twelfth year in
Speaker 1: the NFL. The transition starts now. So start investing in
Speaker 1: your future, start fingering out things like what you're interested in,
Speaker 1: your passions, and a lot of people think I don't
Speaker 1: have enough time now on the entrepreneurs side, like I'll
Speaker 1: do this every single day, Like I wish I had
Speaker 1: the time that I had in the NFL. Like I'm
Speaker 1: more busy now than I ever was playing football. And
Speaker 1: you and the NFL guys, your schedule, you got an
Speaker 1: off day built in, You have rest periods throughout the
Speaker 1: day that's built in. I don't have any of that,
Speaker 1: Like I have to be intentional about getting time time
Speaker 1: off myself. So just use that to your advantage. Start
Speaker 1: thinking about your future because it's gonna make their transition
Speaker 1: a lot more smooth. So what kind of what kind
Speaker 1: of boss are you? I'm I can be very demanding,
Speaker 1: but my approach is because I expect the level of excellency,
Speaker 1: right because of my background. But I'm like, if you
Speaker 1: want to football terms, I'm a Tony Dungee guy. Like
Speaker 1: I'm I care more about the men and women themselves
Speaker 1: than their actual product productivity. Now, you got to produce
Speaker 1: in order to be on the team, right, that's a
Speaker 1: that's a non negotiable. But I'm trying to figure out
Speaker 1: ways in which I can help you reach your goals.
Speaker 1: How can I provide value? Because I believe I'm not
Speaker 1: here just to consume or just to be transactional or
Speaker 1: to make a lot of money. I want to help
Speaker 1: you get to wherever you're trying to go. It may
Speaker 1: not be here for the rest of your your career,
Speaker 1: but I want to have that positive impact where you
Speaker 1: can say, man, I enjoyed my time at Hustle Clean.
Speaker 1: I enjoy working for Justin. He changed my life. And
Speaker 1: about how many employees do you you currently have right now?
Speaker 1: It's smart? Were eight eight man team, eight man team. Okay,
Speaker 1: So what kind of growing pains you have, you know,
Speaker 1: going through and learning the business world as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1: I you know, I've been around you, Justin In this setting,
Speaker 1: and I think you handled yourself professionally. I mean, you
Speaker 1: come across as a guy that's all, no nonsense. You
Speaker 1: know your business, you know your worth, and the fact
Speaker 1: that you have this football background. Man, you come in
Speaker 1: with like you got shoulder pads on. You own your
Speaker 1: own space. So, like, could you maybe talk to me
Speaker 1: just about the part of learning this side of it.
Speaker 1: You talked about it a little bit earlier that you said, like,
Speaker 1: you know, after we failed this one, I had to
Speaker 1: be more involved. Talk about the other things that you've learned.
Speaker 1: Now that you've got more involved. Yeah, I think like
Speaker 1: in order to lead well, you must read like great
Speaker 1: leaders read, and I had to become a student of
Speaker 1: the game or just like learning books, like if you
Speaker 1: see behind me. I got all of my books back
Speaker 1: here from some amazing authors, amazing entrepreneurs that have been
Speaker 1: there and done that. Right, I'm trying to surround myself
Speaker 1: around people that have done some of the things I
Speaker 1: want to accomplish, great mentors and advisors within the business
Speaker 1: that's been you know, very important for my growth, and
Speaker 1: just really understanding the consumer package good industry, which is
Speaker 1: the industry I'm in. Because again when I got in
Speaker 1: a hut. No different in football. When I got in
Speaker 1: a huddle with Paid Manning, he would give me three things.
Speaker 1: In every single huddle, he would give me warning, he
Speaker 1: would give me encouragement, and he would give me instruction.
Speaker 1: And every single huddle he would give me a form
Speaker 1: of all those things. So I have to have that
Speaker 1: in my entrepreneur journey. I need people to give me warning.
Speaker 1: I need people to encourage me along the way. I
Speaker 1: need people to give me instruction and guidance so I
Speaker 1: can avoid some hurdles and obstacles that are avoidable. And
Speaker 1: I had to have that Rob and I start putting
Speaker 1: pieces in place so I have that good support system
Speaker 1: and that good huddle. In my entrepreneur journey, sole reading,
Speaker 1: uh learning as much as I can listen to the podcast.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah. That that has kind of been like part
Speaker 1: of the growing process for me because I knew nothing.
Speaker 1: It was. It was like literally from zero um to
Speaker 1: to get this business growing. Yeah, I'm I'm big into reading.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get Rona read a little bit more.
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a guy of quotes and yes it's amazing.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you that is a hidden talent for
Speaker 1: pe nut Tillman that you really knows. No, he has
Speaker 1: quotes like he has like a thousand quotes. I mean
Speaker 1: I have just I have quotes, and I have quotes
Speaker 1: on my phone. I'm all about just staying you either
Speaker 1: green and grown or ripe and rotten. And I want
Speaker 1: to be green. I want to continue to grow and
Speaker 1: learn and challenge myself, push myself. All right, tell us
Speaker 1: about the two initials you have with hustle clean uh,
Speaker 1: shower to the people in free play. Yeah. UM. A
Speaker 1: lot of companies, especially in this day and age, a
Speaker 1: lot of companies have a mission. But we like to
Speaker 1: say we're a mission that just happens to be a company.
Speaker 1: Like we felt like we have this u to really
Speaker 1: truly impact impact lives and change lives for the better
Speaker 1: around us and in our communities and uh. And because
Speaker 1: of that, we not only invest in the quality of
Speaker 1: our goods, we invest in the quality of the people
Speaker 1: around us. And we have that we do that by
Speaker 1: shower to the people are disposable wash spoth Anti back
Speaker 1: to your child attes that the shower peel product, those
Speaker 1: products we send out to communities that lack access the
Speaker 1: clean water so they use that when a time of
Speaker 1: disaster or time for relief. We sent product to Flint,
Speaker 1: Michigan and their water crisis when their kids and mothers
Speaker 1: and elderly couldn't get into the water and use the water.
Speaker 1: We've been to Uganda with John Hopkins House, but that
Speaker 1: we've been to put Puerto Rico after her came Aria.
Speaker 1: We just sent about two hundred thouars worth the product
Speaker 1: to Ukraine for the refugees in Poland. So we do
Speaker 1: a lot of good there just with the product, and
Speaker 1: we're blessed to be able to have that type of
Speaker 1: impact with the physical good. And then a free play
Speaker 1: is our charity that we have. Me and my partner
Speaker 1: started alongside this business to provide scholarships to use sports
Speaker 1: athletes that have been priced out. As I have five
Speaker 1: kids right now, most of them are in sports, and
Speaker 1: I have, you know, uh seen a lot of like
Speaker 1: single parent homesh just like struggling to provide registration, travel
Speaker 1: equipment as those things are skyrocketing. And I don't think
Speaker 1: and we don't think that kids should be priced out
Speaker 1: of sports if they want to play, because there's so
Speaker 1: many benefits that you get from it. So we were
Speaker 1: sure that we put the bill. We provide money, um
Speaker 1: and uh and mentorship to to use sports athletes in
Speaker 1: that way. Hey, shout out to your your wife. You
Speaker 1: got five kids here and running the business. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: pup were crazy. We stopped that four We stopped. We Yeah,
Speaker 1: the physically stuck up on me. If surprise, that's what
Speaker 1: that baby name me in surprise? Mommy, why am I
Speaker 1: such a surprise? Ask your dad? Yeah, right now, we're
Speaker 1: gonna take a We're gonna take a quick break and
Speaker 1: we'll be back with Justin for set. What was your
Speaker 1: welcome to the NFL moment? Oh? Like, which guy rock
Speaker 1: your world? Um man? I would say doing back back then,
Speaker 1: we were doing a lot of running backs linebackers doing
Speaker 1: those one on one pass pro drills with the garbage
Speaker 1: cans and you're just running full speed ten yards apart
Speaker 1: and just running into each other. And I was really
Speaker 1: good at the drill like I was. That was probably
Speaker 1: the best. Like if there was an elite part of
Speaker 1: my game pass protection? Was it? Right? Just but people
Speaker 1: would try to run me over because I was smaller. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was smaller, but I had leverage and I was strong, right,
Speaker 1: Uh So Leroy Hills, a linebacker, went to Clempson. He
Speaker 1: was a veteran and he had the big old helmet
Speaker 1: and horse collar. Uh we're years this, this is two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight, two thousand and eight. When I'm gonna
Speaker 1: see how Seahawks and uh man, when I when I
Speaker 1: passed protected him and those garbagekins, I was just like, wow,
Speaker 1: there was a there was a tingle from my light
Speaker 1: from the top of my head all the way down
Speaker 1: to my my spine right when I, uh, when I
Speaker 1: would have to block him. And because he was just
Speaker 1: a load. He was about two thirty uh two forty
Speaker 1: and h he was one of the old school linebackers
Speaker 1: that was just gonna like just go downhill every single snap.
Speaker 1: So that was that was that was a moment for him.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come off buckle, none of that. No, no,
Speaker 1: But it instantly put me in prayer, like you just
Speaker 1: like I went in and we collided and I was like, okay, God,
Speaker 1: I feel your presence here. I feel that shoven to
Speaker 1: old I felt numb me in my spirit. Do you
Speaker 1: know how hard somebody got to hit you. As soon
Speaker 1: as it hits you, you you start praying. Yeah, man, in facts.
Speaker 1: So justin have you ever said a custo word? Maybe
Speaker 1: when I was younger, when I was a kid, I'm
Speaker 1: sure of it. Okay. Marshawn Lynch says he's never heard
Speaker 1: you said a custo word, and so not an adulthood
Speaker 1: but yeah, okay, okay. So so that means you must
Speaker 1: have found your faith. At what point did you find
Speaker 1: your faith? Like? How did that give me a little rundown?
Speaker 1: A quick synopsis of that, because I loved hearing that,
Speaker 1: because everybody that's they know that time when they found Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, I was twelve years old. I'm a PK.
Speaker 1: I'm a preacher's kid. I always hurt about Uh, this
Speaker 1: guy Jesus that wanted to come in and change your
Speaker 1: life had to plan a purpose for you. And I
Speaker 1: was at a point where even as a as a kid,
Speaker 1: I was a middle child, never really felt like I
Speaker 1: got the bass star was wanted at times. If I'm honest,
Speaker 1: and I was just like, man, I want to see
Speaker 1: what this is like, right, If the creator of the
Speaker 1: universe has a plan and purpose and wants to use me,
Speaker 1: I want to see I want to test it in
Speaker 1: My life has been changed since that's what's so awesome
Speaker 1: at twelve, that's what's beautiful. Okay, I got the next one.
Speaker 1: You're all right? Yep, Who's And this is the question
Speaker 1: we asked all the time. I can't wait to hear
Speaker 1: from yours. Who's on your personal mount brushmore to have
Speaker 1: that affected your life in a positive way, your mentor
Speaker 1: like leader, you got any more any you could be wrong,
Speaker 1: you can take it, could be dead. Four. You only
Speaker 1: get four parents excluded. Are only get four? You only
Speaker 1: get four? You know what you do. Yeah, we don't
Speaker 1: give rules, but we just let you know you only
Speaker 1: get four. I'm gonna do mine without parents because I
Speaker 1: feel like that's a giving. Um. I'm gonna due. I'm
Speaker 1: going to do Wow, my high school coach, Mike Barber.
Speaker 1: I'm going to say she's I'm going to say my wife,
Speaker 1: good pick um, cool points. I'm going to say, uh,
Speaker 1: she changed my life. I'm gonna say Gary Kubiak offensive coordinator, Yeah,
Speaker 1: was her coach? Was your head coach too? Yeah? He
Speaker 1: was my head coach in Houston and then office coordinator
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. He's the reason why I got to Baltimore
Speaker 1: and had that that year because years in Baltimore. Um,
Speaker 1: and then I'm going to say, I'm gonna say Francis
Speaker 1: chan oh yeah, oh yeah, yep, I'm gonna say those
Speaker 1: short guy yeah, San Francisco. Yeah yeah, I remember we
Speaker 1: uh Roome pl. Yeah, he was at Pola. Yeah, very
Speaker 1: very powerful speaker. That's actually where I'm at Rome. We met,
Speaker 1: we at pl That's actually where we met. That's actually
Speaker 1: I was in your group my first year in the league.
Speaker 1: I was in your group. Yeah, early on. I remember
Speaker 1: being and I break our group together. Yeah. PO Man.
Speaker 1: That was for those that don't know. PO was a
Speaker 1: a Christian fellowship organization that would bring in multiple football
Speaker 1: players current uh former retired and it was just this
Speaker 1: amazing prayer, celebration singing. It was like church for two days.
Speaker 1: Justin right now. I want you to fill in the blank.
Speaker 1: Right now, my life is oh, my life is purposeful.
Speaker 1: We haven't had that answer. I like that one how
Speaker 1: so explained. I'm just like in a season of life,
Speaker 1: but I'm truly fulfilled. I feel like a lot of
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people that are successful but
Speaker 1: not a success. I'm feeling like I'm a success right
Speaker 1: now in this season of life of just like not
Speaker 1: everything is going right, not everything is you know, perfect,
Speaker 1: but I'm just operating in this journey like embracing every
Speaker 1: single moment, and I feel like I'm doing what God
Speaker 1: has called me to do. Man. I gotta use that, bro,
Speaker 1: like because I think that's where I'm at. Like, I
Speaker 1: don't think I'm like killing it, but I am successful,
Speaker 1: you know. And it's just sometimes you need to appreciate
Speaker 1: that part of the journey right like where you're literally
Speaker 1: at right now, and just continue to just put those
Speaker 1: good days in front of you and just keep stacking
Speaker 1: them and eventually you're gonna look at the back you
Speaker 1: don't get out the end of the tunnel and just
Speaker 1: be like, oh I did do that, Yeah, I did
Speaker 1: do that. Just to man. I appreciate it. Man, I
Speaker 1: appreciate that you poured into us today and to our
Speaker 1: listeners about your journey, what it's like to be a
Speaker 1: modern day young black entrepreneur in this space. And I
Speaker 1: mean hustle clean, bro. I mean you literally took the
Speaker 1: idea that we all joked about in every shower pill
Speaker 1: and turned it into a business. I think it's outstanding.
Speaker 1: That's dope. It sounds amazing. Yeah, to think about all
Speaker 1: the little things and sayings that we all have in
Speaker 1: our everyday walks of life. How do we turn that
Speaker 1: into a monetary business or into somewhere where we can
Speaker 1: actually help and like you're doing right now giving back
Speaker 1: with you or two um with what is it? Shower
Speaker 1: to the people and free play. So uh, not only
Speaker 1: taking your success but also helping others and live their
Speaker 1: lives as well. So I appreciate you, justin for lest
Speaker 1: I appreciate you man, thank you for hopping on. I
Speaker 1: feel like you should. You make me feel good about
Speaker 1: myself normal I talked to Rome. I just feel like
Speaker 1: down wall that you make me feel good about myself.
Speaker 1: So I'm am I need to start messing with you.
Speaker 1: Moh man. It's how I feel. The positive vibe hit
Speaker 1: me up now. It well, the only thing, the biggest
Speaker 1: thing with me and Peanut justin. I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1: Use that. You know Peanuts like sometimes he wants to
Speaker 1: jump off the cliff and I'm like, Bro, I'll jump
Speaker 1: with you. You You know what I mean, I'm about in
Speaker 1: the same place I don't even know, like so I
Speaker 1: like to buy it. That's where we're at. Bro, well
Speaker 1: here here we go man. Thank you again, Thank you
Speaker 1: coming bro. Thank you to the listeners for tuning in.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you to spread the word and
Speaker 1: to give us a rating all positives please, I'm begging
Speaker 1: for it, a review, and the following Apple podcast to
Speaker 1: our Heart radio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in again to the NFL players
Speaker 1: Second Acts podcast. Just some young entrepreneurs trying to come
Speaker 1: up like I got. Just check us out.