We were lucky to catch up with Robert Neal recently and have shared our conversation below.
Robert, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
My mission is to keep kids out of the streets and away from the violence and drugs. The reason this mission is so important to me is due to the time I served in prison for my past. I saw individuals int here with so much talent, that now due to incarceration, will be lost to the world. My goal is to prevent kids from making life altering mistakes by trying to “fit in” to the gang life, street activity and violence that is in today’s society. Rather than watch their talent go to waste I want to create a safe space for individuals to grow and develop their skills with people that want to see them succeed.
Robert, 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?
My name is Robb Neal and I got into the fitness industry through my passion for healthy living. I created this business because of the great need in my local community, and almost every major city, for kids to have a safe environment to stay out of the dangers of the “street life.” In the Columbus, Ohio area especially we have young teens stealing cars and involved in gangs. My goal is to provide a supportive and safe environment that allows them to learn about benefits of being healthy, how to maintain their physical fitness and even teaches sport specific training. We currently are selling retail fitness clothing in order to reach our goal of $50,000 in revenue so that we can begin to build our facility. We currently press all of our t-shirts locally and, for our more specific fitness clothing, we use the same manufacturers that all other major retail brands use. Right now we have t-shirts, hat, tank tops and sports bras. And coming soon shorts, yoga pants and much more. All of our profits get reinvested into the business in order to hit that goal of $50,000 and build this facility! We also accept donations or any other help we can get in order to prevent one kid from making a life altering decision.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
When I was in college, at Ohio University, I got injured playing hockey. I lost my sense of purpose and brotherhood but quickly found that in a fraternity. Though I worked a job during college, school and fraternity life is expensive, and I made a decision that greatly impacted my life. That decision left me incarcerated for 33 months and a permanent spot on my record. However, while incarcerated I saw a different side of society and that is what has caused me to stop at nothing to help kids stay out of the system. I saw so much lost talent because of one bad decision. So many athletes, artist, potential engineers, that had so much potential to be successful but fell short, mostly due to a lack of support on the street. That has to change. What drives me is preventing any more loss of talent or potential because of a lack of support. I want to create that supportive and safe environment so people, kids especially, don’t have to go through what I went through.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think my truth, and my passion have help me build this reputation. I was able to create a business that doesn’t feel like work. Something that gives back to a community that feels like they have no help. We’ve been in business since September 2022 and have grown to be a respected brand with cause that people can get behind and support. I think my passion and drive to help these kids has become infectious and people want to be involved. 
Contact Info:
- Website: Theworkhousecompany.com
- Instagram: Theworkhousecompany
- Facebook: Theworkhousecompany