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NEW YORK — That Agile Innovation Series focuses on why organizations must constantly evolve and innovate with an agile mindset to remain viable in today’s dynamic world. Throughout the series, Trey Holder, accelerate360’s chief business officer and president of distribution and logistics, explores the current business environment through interviews with leaders in a variety of fields.
Justin Forsett
Professional athletes must be agile within their sport, but also within their long-term career planning. Holder sat down with former Pro Bowl running back and cofounder and chief executive officer of Hustle Clean Justin Forsett to learn more about how he has diversified his skill set and built a business after his football career ended. Although Justin had an amazing track record on the field, he was cut twice within the first year of his NFL career and learned early football will not last forever. Determined not to be a statistic of unemployed former players, Justin teamed up with past teammates Wale Forrester and Wendell Hunter to found Hustle Clean, a mission-driven, Black-owned business committed to empowering the pursuit of greatness.
Here are the highlights from Trey’s discussion with Justin:
HOLDER: How did you manage to create a new business while playing professional football?
FORSETT: During an off-season a couple of my former teammates and I were training at Cal and brainstorming business ideas around convenience and hygiene. We ended up coming up with our first concept, called ShowerPill, a disposable washcloth, antibacterial wipe that removes dirt, sweat and body odor – something we wanted and needed a solution for. We ended up putting that on the marketplace, essentially building on Amazon, growing it year over year while I was in the NFL, later evolving that business into Hustle Clean. When retired from the game, I fully invested myself into the business as cofounder and CEO. We’ve been hitting the ground running since.
HOLDER: You’ve used your platform to promote on a variety of platforms, including “Shark Tank.” What was that like?
FORSETT: (laughing) Well, I like to say we probably had one of the worst pitches in the history of “Shark Tank.” But it was a great lesson for us and provided a great value for the company internally and externally. Internally, we learned to talk about the culture we wanted to create and run the business. Externally, we learned how to become obsessed with our customers to learn their needs in a much deeper way. After “Shark Tank” we landed on “Good Morning America” and secured distribution in Target and other locations, which meant continued growth and change.
HOLDER: How did you navigate change while being in business with friends?
FORSETT: As friends and business partners we had to learn to navigate change by breaking what Patrick Lencioni calls “artificial harmony,” or a lack of healthy conflict. I believe we exuded that when we first started our business. We had harmony but it was artificial because everyone was afraid to bring conflict to the relationship we fostered for a very long time. But if you’re not addressing the elephant in the room, it’s going to be detrimental to the business and your relationships. “Shark Tank” helped us shatter our artificial harmony, and now we live in an atmosphere and culture of transparency and vulnerability where we embrace good, healthy conflict, and it’s done wonders.
HOLDER: What do you consider to be the three greatest traits of a culture inside of an organization for them to really drive their business forward?
FORSETT: First, you need a healthy obsession with getting the work done — an extraordinary effort and work ethic within the culture. Next, accountability is key. The terrible teams I’ve been on lacked accountability, and the successful teams embraced it. Finally, there has to be a level of service that’s intertwined with the first two traits. If you’re going to lead well in a business, and if you’re going to equip your employees and partners to lead well, you have to find a way in which you’re serving each other. You must adopt an identity and culture that it’s not about me, but we.
HOLDER: What’s new with Hustle Clean?
FORSETT: Along with continued innovation, we’ve explored new marketing channels to engage with our customers such as a presence at Coachella. We’ve also grown our retail distribution into REI and will launch at Dick’s Sporting Goods soon. The synergy and alignment with what we do and who we serve is very exciting!
This transcript was lightly edited for brevity for Chain Drug Review.
Watch the full interview here: YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOKWBngiBE
