We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cordarryl Franklin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cordarryl below.
Cordarryl , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
So I came up with the name of C4 NXT LVL, by C4 being my nickname. C standing as an acronym for my actual name Cordarryl, and 4 for being my favorite basketball number. With C4 being an actual bomb, it was only fitting that I added the next level part. The same way C4 blows up debris into the Next level, is the same way my company blows the athletes I train, skills into the NXT LVL.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Well I started my basketball training business back in 2019. I started the business as way of giving back to the game I love so dearly. Through this training, I’m able to provide mentorship, and teach the athletes discipline. A couple of different things that go further than just basketball. Along side my basketball training business, I established a Youth Club Basketball organization, as well as a small athletic clothing line. My club/AAU basketball organization is already on its way. We currently play in different leagues and tournaments in the Dallas area. We’ll be going state to state, playing more here soon. The clothing line on the other hand, will be dropping this summer. I’m excited to say, we have a lot of new innovative cool looks coming. So stay tuned. With my basketball training program, we provide top tier skills training for each athlete. Not only do we train youth, we train adult/pro level players as well. At NXT LVL, we pay attention to detail, and we cater to each players skill-set, whether they’re beginner, intermediate or advanced. We do video analysis, for each athlete, so they can track the progress they’ve made over time. We support our athletes at their games, to not only cheer them on, but to give them feed back on how they performed. At all cost, we try to give our athletes the best feedback, to help them improve. I’m proud to say, that I’ve trained and coached, quite a few of the up and coming elite ball players in the area. I believe I taught the discipline and concentration that comes with this sport, as well as teaching them how to have fun with it, which is the most important part. At C4 NXT LVL, the motto is, we get results, because we make you better.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think what helped build my reputation within the market I’m in, is consistency. From the moment I started my training business, I’ve had this mentality that I have to outwork my competition. In order for my business to thrive, I have to be willing to put in more work, train in tough conditions, ect, to be successful. I think my hard work, has paid off a lot. I went from being known locally, to people watching me through my social media accounts, in other countries. I’m starting to get offers, to come train and do basketball workshops in these countries as well. It shows that my consistent work ethic, will keep opening doors for me. That should be a lesson to anyone, consistency will get you noticed, you can’t be lazy. Also, I do want to say, we’ll definitely be doing workshops and camps abroad, here very soon.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I can say, a very touchy story, that illustrates my resilience on my journey would be, the time I had to sleep out of my car for 6 months. The time was June 2019-February 2020. I won’t stay on the subject too long, because it’s still very touchy to me. I still remember everything so vivid from back then. I slept out of my 2003 “Money Green” Ford Taurus, to lay the foundation to my business. I use to park in Wal-Mart parking lots, because of the lighting in the lot, could keep me safe in a way. I had a few McKinney Police officers, that use to check on me, when they seen my car. I appreciate them for that. I use to take showers at my friends homes, or at the local gym I use to work out of, in order to keep clean. It’s only a few select friends that knew about my situation, I was too embarrassed to let anyone else know. They helped when they could, as well. Of course none of my clients knew of the situation. My parents and my siblings didn’t even know. I felt it was a journey God intended for me to take, to test my heart in this. I developed scoliosis in my back, from sleeping in that car, for those months. Man, you talk about a toll it took on my mind. I shed a few tears in that Ford Taurus. Through it all, I learned a valuable lesson, on being consistent, and not paying attention to what you’re going through. More so, paying attention and knowing what’s coming down the line. Pain don’t last always.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://msha.ke/c4nxtlvltraining/
- Instagram: @c4nxtlevel
- Facebook: Facebook.com/c4nxtlvl
Image Credits
IG Account: @metroprepleague Facebook Account: @Cdf Israel