If you’re not getting knocked down, then you’re not trying hard enough. Tom Austin is a seasoned entrepreneur and currently partner in several technology start-ups. He is the CEO of Confidently, a personal, pocket-sized, confidence coach developed by a team of PhDs with decades of experience coaching elite performers.
Part of Tom’s track record was becoming Co-Founder of AND 1, a well-known, global basketball apparel brand. He was instrumental in evolving the AND 1 business strategy and brand for nearly a decade and built AND 1’s footwear department from basically zero sales to just north of $200,000,000 annually! These days he is currently writing screenplays, advising start-ups, and consulting.
Let’s dive right in and learn Tom’s top lessons from the rise and fall of And1.
Things you will learn in this episode:
[00:01 – 08:54] Opening Segment
- I introduce today’s guest, Tom Austin
- Bio
- Be sure to check out guestio.com and start booking
- Tom gives some background on his story
- Growing up in New England
- Parents
- Growing up with a love for sports
- A push towards education
- Always wanted to play in the NBA
- College experience
[08:55 – 33:19] Lessons from the Rise and Fall of And1
- Tom talks about what he learned in his time in And1
- Teamwork – The importance of team alignment
- Competition – You will experience setbacks – learn from them
- The value of practice and breaking things down
- How Tom defines success
- Am I and my family healthy and happy?
- What am I doing that is a net positive?
- The And1 timeline and experience
- Tom talks about his transition into finance and entrepreneurship
- Networking within sports and athletics
- Going into a business partnership
- Pivoting into the And1 business model
- The beginning stages of And1
- Expectation vs. reality
- Transitioning into basketball niche apparel
- Starting with t-shirts and pitching them to retailers
- Landing a meaning with Footlocker
- Always willing to learn
- When And1 started to catch on
- Going all in
- Getting a $600,000 order
- The start of the Street Ball line – playing to endorsements
- Finding your flavor
- The fall of And1 and its lessons
- Getting worn down on work
- The issues in HR, systems, and market changes
- Maintaining your infrastructure
- A word from our sponsor
[33:20 – 40:09] Access to Your Own Person Performance Coach
- Tom talks about his next steps after And1 ended
- Getting back into a centered state
- Going back to grad school
- Getting into filmmaking
- Tom shares about his newest business – Confidently
- Coaching from sports psychologists
- Giving people their own personal performance coach
- Lessons people can learn from accessing the app
- Getting excited about the team and the domain area
- Seeing everything come together
[40:10 – 50:34] Closing Segment
- Where to learn more about Tom’s
- Links below
- Why people don’t build relationships
- Depends on where you’re at
- Strong and weak ties
- The difficulties of finding a deeply trusted person
- Questions to ask yourself
- Who you know or what you know?
- It depends on where you’re at and what you do
- RaNDoM RoUnD
- How to engage with Tom
- Links below
- Final words
Tweetable Quotes:
“Having a team and being able to work and win together and having a common purpose, in what’s called alignment in the teamwork literature… All the teamwork related stuff is definitely number one.” – Tom Austin
“You’re gonna get knocked on your butt, things aren’t always gonna go your way. So you got to learn from each thing – look at each set back as a learning opportunity.” – Tom Austin
“If I’m not getting knocked down, then I’m not trying hard enough.” – Tom Austin
Connect with Tom on LinkedIn. Go check out https://getconfidently.com/ and get your own pocket coach.
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