We recently connected with Rene Johnson and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Rene thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Our mission is to be a company/brand that establishes creative opportunity in our community and the people’s athletic brand of choice. We understand in the urban community opportunity is slim and a person’s success depends heavily on on environment, circle of friends and exposure. At Go Athletics we believe that anyone who has a goal should have an outlet to see it through.
Rene, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. Heavily involved in basketball and the pursuit of mastering the craft. Basketball was my intro into the fitness/sports performance industry. Once I put down the Basketball I still wanted to be involved with the sport so I decided to become a trainer. I knew that I could put my experience to use as well as a huge void in my community that I could partially fill. Which is that of a leader/role model for young men. After starting Go Athletics I soon realized we needed a logo and thought it would be cool to give t-shirts to all my clients. After seeing the first t-shirt I knew that a brand had been born. My thought was “if we predominantly are the leaders in sports how come we don’t own the brand endorsements.” The brand couldn’t just be like any other clothing line. It had to embody us as a community and provide meaning to our customers. I decided to ingrain positive energy and reminders to those who wear the brand. We did this in our own unique way. We put messages in the clothing written upside-down so that the person who wears it can read it. And example of this is our “Stay the course” line that’s written on a pair of our shorts. So we are a company that provides health, fitness and clothing. We also have an AAU basketball team based out of Inglewood Ca for 10U and 8U called “Team Go” we also do a free/donation based group fitness class at Rancho Cienega Park in Los Angeles as well as one-on-one training for fitness and sports performance. We are most excited about all the kids in our Basketball clinics and AAU programs because impacting the youth is the best way to create change.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Our clothing brand has had the most hurdles and lessons. Because we ingrain messages in our clothing but in a unique way it has cost me thousands of dollars in printing mistakes. As shared with you earlier our messages are written upside-down so the wearer can read it. No matter how detailed and precise we are the print companies they end up printing our messages right side-up. I have went through at least four different print companies trying to find the right quality and professionalism. You would think these companies would reimburse you for your losses but they don’t and are often unwilling to print a sample before they begin printing. We are currently still recouping from losses, but thankfully have found a great print company that has made little to no mistakes.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
There aren’t any particular videos or books that I’ve read that stick out. It’s more of a collective of books and videos. Some of the top books that have definitely helped me are. “The power of now” “Think and grow rich” “The slight edge” I watched tons of Eric Thomas, Gary Vee and the “Earn your leisure” crew. It has all added great value to me as an entrepreneur.
Contact Info:
- Website: Goathletics.us
- Instagram: Goathletics.fit
- Facebook: Goathletics.us
- Youtube: Go Athletics
- Other: Our other website is Goathletics.fit and other IG is Goathletics.us
Image Credits
Clifford William and Fil Fury