On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, sits down with Olajuwon Ajanaku, co-founder of Eastside Golf, to break down how an idea born in an apartment turned into a cultural movement. Olajuwon shares how Eastside Golf redefined what golf looks like—and who it’s for—by leading with authenticity, grit, and purpose. From sketching logos by hand to collaborating with Jordan Brand and changing lives through community programs, this episode is packed with lessons on building a brand that stands for more than just business. If you’re serious about growing something real, this is a masterclass in vision, perseverance, and impact.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's a guild and T shirt and I just have
this logo that I ironed it on, and you know,
and so many people are interested in it, but so
many people are interested in just a different way and
looking at golf and how I was looking at it
when I created the logo, this is just me. It
was let me be authentic in the game of golf.
Because to grow the game, that's what's missing, people being themselves.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
People so afraid to.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Kind of teeter the line or really push the different
agendas that they have.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
But one thing that people can't change is themselves.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So if you come into the game is yourself, the
only thing that's going to do is help the game.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Bro.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Hey, everybody, welcome to the episode of butter Nomics. I'm
your host, Brandon Butler found the CEO of Butter atl and.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Today we got missed her.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Elijahwan Ajanaku, Yes, Sir, co founder and created director for
east Side Golf in the building.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Brother, How you doing. I'm good. I'm good. I mean
thankful to having me.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
You know, Atlanta is really you know, putting on the
same as you doing, Brandon putting on. So I appreciate
you putting on for Atlanta. But I'm glad to I'm
glad to be here.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Man, And that look at Atlanta's one thing, man. I
keep on telling people, Man, the best people come out
the east Side. I don't care what nobody say. Bro,
there you goes. We got a fellow east Side east
Sider right here, which also inspired the name and everything. Man.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
But look, bro, you've been killing it. You're doing all
this amazing stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
But for those who don't know, please tell them a
little bit about what east Side Golf is and what
it stands for.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So born in Houston, Texas, no relations TIChemE a lot wrong,
but I was named after him. Moved to East Atlanta
Stone Mountain when I was two years old, started playing
golf when I was six years old. You know, middle school,
high school, grew up on the East side of Atlanta.
I grew up playing Sugar Creek Golf Course, Charlie Yates
Golf Course, Mystery Valley, south Land, all those courses on
(01:46):
the east Side, you know, as.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Much as I could money games.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But let's say, like junior times, middle school, high school,
ended up playing golf at Cedar Grove High School, you know,
graduated from Cedar Grove high school, got a golf scholarship
to Morehouse College and there twenty ten won a national
championship and Division.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Two the first and only national champions Yes, college golf
team stuff so won a national championship.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
My major was accounting, minoring finance.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
After I graduated, I turned pro and golf, you know,
did that for two years, won a couple of Mini
tour events, but it got to a point that just
couldn't afford it anymore, you know, taking her by jobs
and I was a caddyover at Druid Hills, caddy at
East Lake. I also used to wash carts at Sugar
Creek of Bowling Crust, you know, but just doing that,
I wasn't making enough money, you know. And it was
(02:36):
literally the last time me and my mom got an argument.
She was just like, yo, it's about that time you
get a job, you know. So I got away from
professional golf. It was my dream, and I started my
career in commercial finance, commercial vehicle finance. I was in
that for about ten eleven years. I financed tractors, trailers,
construction equipment. So in that for eleven years, was about
(02:57):
to become VP. I mean literally from entry level all
the way to vice president. So b, I've become VP
at thirty years old of this finance firm out of
San Diego, but my territory I was a Midwest regional
sales manager in Detroit.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So I started the company in Detroit on the East side.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Of Detroit again yeah yeah, yeah, out of my apartment
but all inough. I created the logo because I just
wanted to turn back pro and golf. You know, I
was just like, how am I going to get back
into this thing? The logo is me? You know, this
is a little bit better. Yeah, Jean sweatshirt, cuberling chain.
It's me and how I feel out on the golf
course and how I want other people to feel just
(03:34):
like themselves and play the sport that they love, whatever
that may be. So created this, showed it to my
best friend at the time. We were in the same
golf team at Morehouse, and he was just like, Yo,
you need to put down a T shirt. So I
did iron it on a guild and then went downtown Detroit.
I maybe got stopped like one hundred times in two hours,
just like who are you? What's that logo? Where can
I get it? And do you play golf? From there,
(03:55):
I knew I had something, but still didn't know what
it was. Went back to him just like bro run
with it. So I end up creating T shirts, socks,
lapel pin sweatshirts, umbrellas. The first three thousand orders I
shipped out from my apartment in Detroit myself. So from there,
I knew I had something, but still didn't know what
the regular world would think about it. But I, I mean, well,
(04:16):
really I saw what the regular world would think about it,
I didn't know what the golf world would think about it.
So I told my business partner, he's a PJ professional,
let's go down to the PGA show down in Florida.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
It's like we stole the show. We literally got our
first story out of Japan at the time, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
But all in all, I created this brand because I
was started being told no, you know, know, to my
dreams and not of the fact that I wanted to
turn back pro and golf and it was just hard.
So why not honestly create a company and turn into
an entrepreneur and fund my own dream And that's what
that's what birth east Side Golf Man.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
That's that's amazing, and we're gonna pack a lot of that.
Bro First and foremost, we got to go back to
the east Side. Yeah, like, so, yeah, we gotta go.
We got everything starts with the east Side. I keep
on telling you'll. You know what I'm saying. I grew
up over there too. I mean, obviously listeners know that
I've got a lot of friends out there, But like,
how did you even get in the first playing golf
out there? Because again, growing up, like we were just
talking about it off the microphone, like there were golf
(05:11):
courses out there. Yeah, but you know what I'm saying, Like,
I know, for me a lot of times and for
other folks, it wasn't necessarily the first thing you would
think of as a sport for a lot of people.
You know, a lot of people grew up. I grew
playing baseball out there and were playing basketball.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Right.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
We saw the golf courses out there, but even growing up,
I didn't see a lot of black folks on the
golf courses. Right, But like, how did you even first
get involved in the game.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, a friend of the family introduced me to the
Game's name was Darryl Martin. He introduced me, well, not
even introduced me, but his sons, all of us at
the same time. Jamil Martin Josh Martin introduced us all
to the game of golf. We've been playing all since
we were five, six and seven years old.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
All of us got golf scholarships.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
One I went to Moreouse College, one went to Talladega College,
and one went to Southern University, but all golf scholarships.
And we all were playing basketball prior to that. You know,
we played basketball and golf kind of growing up, so
that more of that competitive nature rubbed off on golf
and then we just continue to get better. I mean,
we were all on the same golf team at see
the Grove High School on the east side off Boulder Crest.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Road, off River Road.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, we won, well, we got We took Seedar Grove
to its first state tournament when we were there playing
on the team. So having the opportunity to first bring
golf to the east side of Atlanta authentically, and that's
what I felt that we were doing at a young age.
We were a newspapers, we were on TV, you know,
getting coverage just about organically golf, living in this different
(06:34):
sector of Atlanta and being successful at it.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So what do you remember most about that time.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Remember most honestly growing up a Sugar Creek golf course,
I used to hit balls, and I used to shut
down the golf course myself, you know, turn off the lights,
you know, cut the switch off, lock the gate behind me,
and go home. You know, I used to live when
I was at seed Grove High School, I used to
live at Saratoga Late that's right around the corner of
(07:02):
Oakville Road. I mean, you know, it's serotopical projects you
really look at it. But that's where I grew up.
And then it's crazy to grow up at a golf
course where so many honestly positive influences. You know, not
everybody I needed at the house was there all the time.
But when I go to the golf course, I'm learning
from doctors, lawyers, judges, you know, entrepreneurs, people that you know.
(07:25):
On a Wednesday at noon or at one o'clock day
out here playing golf, I'm.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You're supposed to be at work, you know what I'm saying.
I need to figure out what you do? How do
you do it?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Like?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
How are you how can you afford the time to
come out here in the middle of the week.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And play golf.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So those are the people that I used to network with,
and it's crazy all of those positive nuggets that they
would give.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You know, that's what I.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Learned from you know, definitely learn from home, but I
saw where these things could definitely definitely push me to
a different stratosphere within.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Where I live.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
So it was worth it to ask. So you you graduate,
see Grove, you go to Morehouse, you graduate more House.
I went to more House for a minute. You know
what I'm saying. I always my friends always tell me
I'm like one of the most successful Morehouse dropouts. I
did graduate from Georgia Southern, but you know I had
to get out the city though, but I got much
love for Morehouse.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I know you used to stay and Doe Boys Hall,
like you know, I know, you know, but like you
go through that and you were doing you said, corporate finance.
What I'm gonna be interested to understand is like how
did you actually even start putting the logo together? Because
you talk about the logo kind of like represents you,
which you didn't. But I didn't hear you say anything
was about you know, any of your creative interests or
(08:36):
like your design interests, and so I really again, I
think the logo is do because I remember that's the
first thing I saw, And honestly, like I was like,
if I if I started playing golf, That's how.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I'm gonna look playing golf. Like I've always had of
felt that way.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
But like, how did you even go from like zero
to one in creating the logo which I think I'll
call it the swing Man Official swing Man? Yeah, how
did y'all even create that?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
For? Like, how did you even go from zero to
one on that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Well, first, when it comes to creativity, oh man, we
can take it back to I used to go to
Stone Mountain Middle School.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, you know, all the way to Stone Mountain High School.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I did therein No wind Goes and one year off Glenwood.
I actually went to w D. Muhammett for one year. Yeah,
right near Charlie Yates Cours. So really just east side
when it really comes to the community, I've been just
all over. But my creativity, I mean, when I was
growing up, my mom didn't have a lot of money
(09:28):
for school clothes, you know, she didn't have a lot
of money for golf clubs either. Even for golf clothes.
It was tough, you know, so it had to be creative.
She could go to we can go to North Lake Mall,
get one outfit from Macy's and then the rest of
us got to come from Value Mall off Memorial Drive,
you know what I'm saying. Or the Fleet Market right
off Glenwood. It gotta come from there. You just got
(09:49):
to put it together. You go to school, you put
it together, and you know, you got the fresh kicks.
But just being creative was one thing that I had
to do. I've been designing shoe since I was seven
eight years old. I never knew what I was doing
it for. I just loved to do it.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I got a book that has like two twenty two
hundred shoe designs plus like I have a book that
has Air Force ones where I did like different stories,
different patterns and showed, you know, just telling different stories
from my pastime growing up, the things that were on
my mind, the things that I've seen, and.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You know, I had to take my mind somewhere.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It was.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I mean I remember seeing in there I call it
the dusted pollend Air Forces, oh you know, and they
just had like you know, just from my surroundings. It's polize,
you know, but just being creative and telling those stories
from where I'm from and even pushing it, even taking
it a step further. We did a collab with Jordan Brand.
I called it the Red Clay Collection, you know. And
(10:46):
the reason I called it that was because when I
was younger, my mom used to work two three jobs
and sometimes she couldn't take me to the golf course.
Now this's rarely happened, but the times that it did happen,
I had to go to the Marta bus stop, take that.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Marta over to the golf course.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Now, walking from my apartment all the way to the
Martyr bus stop, by the time I get there, it's
red clay mud all.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Over my shoes.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, But then I get on the bus, take that
all the way to the golf course. I walk eighteen
sometimes thirty six holes. By the time I get done,
it's red clay mud all over my shoes, my pants,
my face, some on my hat. But it shows grit
determination that I'm here to get it out the mud.
And we already know where that red clay mud is
originated to. So that is how I chose the story,
(11:30):
how it connected to me being a golfer and just
my pastime reality, you know, growing up in the game
of golf.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
That's dope.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
So you actually like drew it yourself, You actually like
literally sketched out yourself and.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, I'm sorry, but yeah, going to
the actual logo.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
It is me. It's just how I felt.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
I design it myself, put it on paper, and then
literally gave it to a designer for fifty dollars to edit,
just to edit and to make it look pretty right,
and by that I trademarked it, you know, so really
I could say I built the logo for like fifty bucks. Yes,
I already had the logo and it's just but I
really just went to a designer to finalize it, yeah,
(12:11):
just to tighten it up.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
So then you start making it, you literally iron it
on your first shirts and start putting on yourself. Like
what was it like? That first time you say you
wear it out? Almost one hundred people hit you up,
like how did that even feel? When you're just walking
the street, people are like stopping you and asking you,
like yo, what is that?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah? I mean it felt good.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I knew I had something, you know, I knew that
I wanted to go back to Earl or go back
to my apartment and truly put it down on paper
and really finalize how do I want this thing to look.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I mean, it's a.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Guild and T shirt and I just have this logo
that I ironed it on, and you know, and so
many people are interested in it. But so many people
are interested in just a different way of looking at
golf and how we were and how I was looking
at it when I created the logo. This is just
me at the time. It was let me be authentic.
I mean, that's our tagline. That's how I just do it.
(12:58):
It's be authentic in the game of golf. Because to
grow the game, that's what's missing. People being themselves. People
so afraid to kind of teeter the line or really
push the different agendas that they have, you know, and
that's growing the game.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
But one thing that people can't change is themselves.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So if you come into the game is yourself, that's
the only thing that's gonna do is help the game
to grow.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Yeah, I mean again, as a person that doesn't play neat,
I need to start plays.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Look, I would go out there with you, but I
know you're gonna I know you're gonna run me out,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
But again, I think that's I think that's one of
the big things that even happens in our communities, right,
Like it seems intimidating kind of from the outside looking
in because one is the game, but also just everybody's
dressed and everybody's you know, nice and tough. Then I
understand there's you know, a level of respect for too,
but there's still the way you can do it, which
is what you all have done, which is still kind
of bring your own flavor and swag to it. Yeah,
but just saying I'm gonna do it my way, and
(13:49):
I think for a lot of folks they kind of
feel like it's so off putting, right, So, like even
even now, you just came back from the Masters, you
know what I'm saying, Like, what was that experience, like,
especially taking east Side Golf to like what's literally probably
the biggest stage in golf in the world.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You know, Yeah, an experience like no other.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I mean, I will say that it's a major in
the pro golf world. Mercedes Benz is actually one of
our partners east Side Golf I'm a Mercedes Ben's ambassador
for the USA along with my business partner, Earl Cooper.
He's a Mercedes Ben's ambassador, and I mean the partnership
is just great. Last year we took the Morehouse college
(14:26):
golf team down to the Masters. We took about eight
guys and since then we've become a lot more competitive
as far as Morehouse golf team. They won their first
college golf tournament of the year, had to be about
three to four weeks ago, so that's great helping them
to build that team. But we got to bring the
start in five down to the Masters, you know, them
to the experience.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
We put them up in their own.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
House and then Mercedes Benz Subdivision gave them on golf
cart to get to and from the riverhouse, Mercedes Ben's Riverhouse.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
We had a few that we would bring them to.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
And now we're introducing new sponsors to the coach, new
sponsors to the kids, and them even having the opportunity
for nil you know, I mean, it's so many different
levels to opportunity that we want to bring them, that
we bring Eastside Golf and that we actually bring Mercedes
Benz and another one of our partners ups, you know,
(15:22):
bringing them in another one traveling leisure, you know. And
lastly Southern Company, Georgia Power. I mean, all of these
different companies have something to offer. And the one thing
we went down there, it was more about getting introduction
into as many people as we can. There's a place
called Berkman's Place. When you're there, I mean you have
(15:44):
to have a ticket to get into Berkman's Place. But
it's crazy on how many people in there don't know
about Eastside and do know about east Side because east
Side is a growing business.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
But this is where you make the connections to get.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Onto these exclusive dry clubs, to find these sponsorships, the
nonprofit money, the grants, the people that have you know,
sometimes blank checks, that do want help and that do
want to see the game grow. At the Masters, is
so many different opportunities man. Just lastly, I would say
we threw east Side Golf had a community day that
(16:20):
we did in Augusta and it was for the city
of Augusta. And what we did we bought out the
golf course, had our partner Mercedes Benz. They helped sponsor it.
They were our main sponsor for the entire thing and
free tea times, free golf, golf balls to hit, free lessons,
food trucks, you know, dessert trucks, and then you know,
(16:42):
people can go out there. We had paying college Morales college.
People can go out and just play golf all day
for free from about nine am all the way about
six pm. You know, so a lot of times you'll
see from the community golf is an expensive sport, or
golf is something that I don't know if I could
take advantage of because I don't off after time, or
it's expensive. We do these community days to lower that
(17:05):
financial burden. So now it's a bucket of balls, isn't
fifty dollars, it's fifteen or twelve. But you wouldn't find
that out unless you go up here and actually go
to the golf course and play, you know, so showing
the people first off how the golf course is ran
and the things that it has to offer.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
But then at the end of the day, we.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Want to cut off that financial burden to get more
people out here to just try the game. And of
course they have to look good coming out there to
do that. That's usually like the first step, like for
diverse people, if you don't look good going out there
in the first place. You're not gonna feel comfortable at all,
you know. So that's when east Side golf comes in to,
where let's make sure you feel good when you go
(17:45):
out there. You fly, you are you being your best self.
So now you can just go out there and be
yourself and take advantage of the game, meet as many
people as you want to. I mean, whatever you do
in your life, golf is something that will help you
spand that network and truly expand your net worth.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Absolutely, And I mean again to your point, this stuff
is expensive, and I don't think that people even fully
understand if you've never been down to the Masters, like
how these houses work. Oh for Like this ain't something
you can just go getting on Airbnb, you know what
I'm saying, Like these really exclusive you know houses, opportunities
and stuff like that, just when you're down there, when
you were down there for the first time, because I
(18:24):
know this was your first time going down there, but
as a fellow kid from the East Side, like did
you even take a moment and it just kind of
like like damn, Like because I always think it's so
interesting to where an idea can take you. Yeah, I've
experienced myself with Butter, Like there have been moments with Butter.
I'm like, damn, Like this started as an idea and
now I'm here, Like, did you have a moment like
that the first time you were down there?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I did? I did. I never seen.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Well.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Last year I got to play augusta National Adult course,
so on that Monday it would be today. Yeah, after
the tournament, I got to play the course and it
was plush. Yeah, you know, one of the toughest golf
courses I've ever played. I think I shot seventy four
or seventy five, but it was, Uh, it was tough.
And on top of that, the most plush golf course
that I've ever seen to where I think they took
(19:07):
clippers and just yeah, just got the sence there's the
clippers and got every piece of weed up that they
could find off the golf course. It was it was
another level. You know, you can't take pictures out there.
You can definitely give your experience and give your take
on it. Walking around the clubhouse, you know, seeing the memorabilia,
seeing the different the different things that have happened over
(19:29):
the years, like they've they've built wine cellars, on the
top of the At first there were it was just
ground on some of below the actual clubhouse. They would
rebuild the same building, but then put a wine cellar
or put or put something under it so they can
just build it up, you know, but it would be
(19:49):
the same complete, same building as they had last year.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
You know. So if you don't if you know, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Type thing, if you go to the Masters, it's a
it's a different experience.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Man.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
What's been some of the most surprising things you just
experienced is like part of watching east Side Golf kind
of grow from like Nichs to be in more mainstream.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, so many more people taking a liking to golf.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I mean I see a lot of people see the
brand east Side Golf and they thinking, well, I don't
play golf, so.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I have no use for east Side Golf.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Where the brand is more of a lifestyle first golf
second approach, where we're still a golf brand. You know,
both of the founders, I'm a pro golfer and Early
is a PJ professional.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
One of the things that people I would say, see
or do they wear, Like let's say you wear Ralph Lauren,
but you don't play polo, you know. But it's the
same with us. If you see the logo, might not
play golf, but this is a brand that you can wear,
like this sweater polo that I have on prime example.
(21:07):
I remember we were in Cans, France one year. We
did a basically a teaching session on Cans, France beach,
and while we were down there, I was just like, Dn,
we keep wearing polos, we keep wearing T shirts. How
can we take it a step up and show something
to where they can feel fashionable and have that kind
of attitude moving forward with all of our products.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And that's what we came with.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Pieces like this, That's what we came with, the all
over Chino short that we have and pants that we have.
These are the different things where we're showing golf can
live in these different spaces. Golf can be the topic
of discussion and you not play. And on top of that,
you know, it's more of a when you see this logo,
let's say, and I want you to do this, I'm
(21:52):
gonna get you a sweatshirt and get you some a
pair of ye yeah yeah, go to Heartsville in the
National Airport. Just wear a sweatshirt, one time. Just wear
one time and see the reaction that you get. Yeah,
how many people have a reaction? How many people you meet,
because it's different when you wear our stuff than let's
say you have a titleist of Callaway add On.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
They know you play golf, but what is it?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Why is their reaction when you see the east Side
Golf logo?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
You know, it's a totally different reaction.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
It's a totally different way of thinking in what people
see white, black or indifferent.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah, I mean they.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Always see golf in just a different manner when they
see east Side Golf.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Oh I love it, man, I love it. So you know,
like I mentioned before, Man, I also did a level
of matriculation at more House, even though I didn't go
all the way through, but I still got mad love
got a lot of people over there. But moreuse is
definitely a part of your story. And a lot of
times when people talk about HBCUs, they talk about the
Black college experience. Now, having went to HBCU, I would
(22:48):
tell you the Black college experience. I mean, you got
to figure a lot of stuff out sometimes because everything
ain't just laid out for you. But what ends up happening,
I think is It just gives you like a different
level of grit and like the ability to kind of
like work through things like how did you know having
that experience at more House and just going through the
HBCU experience, Like, how has that helped you build east
Side Golf in what it is today?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Man, Uh, Morehouse definitely played a huge role in me
being the man that I am today, me being as
confident as I am and myself as a black man
and know that there's something there as far as what
the world hasn't seen, you know, Uh, taking into Morehouse
a black man's confidence and literally putting that on display,
(23:31):
you know, and how that looks.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
It literally looks like the logo.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
I'm out here to just be my best self and
I'm gonna do it how I feel. But I'm gonna
play really good golf all at the same time, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I mean, that's what it's about.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I remember there's a there's a program at Morehouse every
Thursday called Crown Form, Yeah, and I remember that, Yeah,
And I would honestly, I would say, uh, they always
brought in like speakers, They always brought in like influential people,
But it was more of a positive brainwashing ceremony.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It was like, you're gonna be somebody. You're gonna be.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Somebody great, You're gonna take over the world. You're gonna
continue to evolve, open your ears and be and be great.
I mean the five Pillars of Morehouse. You know, you're
gonna continue to just expand throughout the world. And that
was truly the message that they got across. And you
had to be suited up in your Morehouse college uniform
(24:24):
of course, but all of those things equaled out to,
you know, being the best man that you know how
to be. So many different examples, great examples that came
before us, Monk Luther King, you know, to be one,
Spike Lee, you know, Denzel Washington's son, you know, all
of these guys just later foundation for excellence, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And there's so many guys outside of that.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Rashawn Williams. You know, we can keep going down the list.
These guys have shown them being them best, their best selves.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
This is what the world wants to see.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
And even when people see this logo, they're like, man,
it's just an prioritize them what they're trying to do. No,
this brand is for everybody. This brand it just happens
to be a black man swinging a golf club. It's
the same as the round Florence, the white man on
a brown horse. It's the same thing here. It's just
what do we stand for? You know, we stand for
growing the game. We stand for confidence and perseverance, that grit,
(25:19):
that hustle.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
This is what the logo shows.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Along with that's what more house men actually value. You know,
those are the things that hard working, that grit. If
you don't have that, if you don't make a way
out of no way, I mean just continue, not to stop.
All of these things equal up to what east Side
Golf was made from. How I became confident enough to
(25:42):
even start this with a black man logo.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I mean it's very hard. I think we might be
the only one.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
We're all for it, and I'm all for you know,
showing everybody how we got here, but you know, truly
staying down and challenging the system on what's right and
what's wrong and standing on that. That's also something that
Moles taught me. If you're not doing that, how can
the game ever change? You're literally stepping You're creating these
things within the confines of what golf was made. Like
(26:11):
I see all these groups being made. You know, that's
a positive thing, that's always growing it. But never exclude
people from these groups. That's the ship's you're making. It
was a good of a boys club when we came
into it, and now all these groups come into it
and then they exclude people.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So now we're doing the same thing over again. You know.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
It's all about working together and making the game bigger.
I mean, we're clothing brand. All we want to do
is make people feel comfortable out on the golf course
and truly grow the game.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
It's uh.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I mean, it's a quest that we're all here for
and we're and we're just here for people to take
advantage of it and use this game as a tool.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
So that's amazing, manute. You know, and I think again,
when you look back, I always say like there's just
inflection points in any business, in any journey. I can
think about times where I'm like, yeah, well I might
not have known it in that moment. That was one
of the things to help Butter get to wear is right.
I know for you, one of the things was the
first time you saw Chris Paul, you know, rocking it
on TV right, Like, what was that moment?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Like that was great. I remember Chris Paul used to
be the head of MBPA.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
That is when the Kenosha, Wisconsin event happened.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I can't breathe.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
NBA went on a boycott and prior to that, that's
when they went into the bubble. Actually, that was in
twenty twenty and we me, Earl and our photographer were
up in Wisconsin actually at the time, at Whistling Straits
Golf Course and we walked into the pro shop, well
really just to check in, and here's Chris Paul on
(27:43):
the screen on CNN with our sweatshirt on. He had
the hat, sweatshirt, socks, and I remember he had some
de Or Jordan's on, you know, so fly as ever
as always Chris Paul, but he had that on. And
it's so crazy at that event and at that time
of protesting, he had on east Side Golf because that's
what we stand for, you know. And it's not only
(28:06):
what we stand for. We only we also stand for
like style and confidence and other things. But at that moment,
I'm glad we got to be at the forefront of that.
So many people googled us and yo, what's your what's
your evaluation, what's your you know, trying to find out
who we were at the time, and to have Chris
Paul on TV, on a grant, a national stage to
(28:29):
show these are the things or really the value one
of the values that east Side Golf has that I mean,
it helped helped us tremendously and we've been following that
actually continuously for the past four or five years.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Yeah, I was, and I always think those moments are
interesting too, especially because you are running the business right, Like,
could you see the moment when it was like, oh, shoot,
he's on here.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Now all of a sudden, yeah, the clicks yeah yeah,
yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And also the tick on and the click on the
website definitely went up.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
You know a lot of people were googling black Man, gold.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Chain, Swinging Golf Club. Didn't had no idea who east
Side Golf was. And that was a great time for
the business, you know, just growing it literally out of
my apartment and having that great determination. I mean, I'm
me having two jobs at one point and this being
one of them, you know, I mean I wouldn't have
had it any other way. I'm glad we get to
show golf in just a different stance, man is what
(29:25):
this is what the community needs.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
And like not just him, but obviously there's been tons
of people that have also just showed support of getting involved,
you know, DJ Khaled, CCS, Matthew. But Barack Obama, Yes, bro,
come on now tell me that.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
You gotta tell me that story. You got to tell
me to Barack Obama in side golf story.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, he's a fan of the brand, loves a brand,
he wears it often. Somebody took a picture. Excuse me,
BARACKA I'm so sorry, mister Obama. Somebody took a picture
of his locker and he had all east Side Golf
in his locker. Just opened it a little bit. So
he had a vest and a hat. But he wears
I hear all the time east Side Golf and also
(30:02):
with a secret service around them. They are very familiar
with east Side Golf and they tell me that they
see it as well. So it started off with him
just loving the game. Yeah, and you know, us hitting
on things that matter to us and showing, like I
said before, a different way of approaching golf. If we
can make you feel comfortable first out on the golf course,
(30:23):
then all of a sudden, you know what, let me
pick up a golf club at least, let me try
it at least because you feel good first.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And that's what I feel like.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
We really pushed mister Obama back on the golf course
a lot more because of it.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
That's amazing, bro. I'm just saying, like, it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
I mean, I can't think of a you know, outside
like a Tiger Woods or somebody, you know what I mean.
It's hard to even thinking like a bigger moment for
somebody to be kind of associated with the brand and
just showing love for it. Absolutely, it's got to be
a good feeling. Now you've done a lot of stuff
you've been working with like Nike, Jordan Mercedes. I think
you said you're on your thirteenth pair of you know,
Jordan's that you've been working on with them. Like what
(30:57):
kind of makes a good partnership for you and east
Side Golf Because I think what's also always unique is
it's unique when you're able to kind of retain what's
important to you when these brands come in, they're not
just kind of dictating me. You're saying, no, this is
what we stand for. This was important but like, what
do you look for in a good partnership?
Speaker 1 (31:11):
So yeah, being great partners with Nike now it's been great,
you know, talking about the stories, you know, and how
they would impact actually the game of golf. That's been
the most important thing. I mean, it went from our
first shoe to actually showing the logo to the second
five that talked about the red Clay collection.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Yeah, let me just show a little diagram really quick.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
So first shoe right here, and then second is the dirt,
which is more of the red clay, and then third
is the grass which is on top of the dirt,
which is our nineteen sixty one collection which we did
three shoes on. And then on the grass we brought everyone,
which is our Everyone's game, which is our Nike Airmax
and actually Victory, and then from there we're just gonna
go a little bit higher.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
So that's how really.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
The the story of the shoes came about. It's truly
my story, you know, it's truly the story of how
we want golf to be for somebody's game and for
them being introduced to it. It's the transcendence of just
being a beginner to Dang, now I'm pretty good at golf.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Dang. Now I got all the Nikes and the Jordan's
that east.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Side Golf collaborated on, and you know, I'll have the
Nikes moving forward that east Side Golf will work with
Nike on, you know, and showing that at the end
of the day, these different stories will live for so long.
It's they've just never been told in this way, you know.
You it's so hard to build culture before and it's
(32:44):
we haven't really seen it as much, but before us,
it was so hard to build culture into golf. And
what I mean by culture is just non tradition. Yeah,
if it's non tradition, then it's culture. That's as simple
as that. You can look however you want, you can
be whoever you are. But once we included non tradition,
you know, it's been so many different companies have never
(33:05):
been able to touch golf that now find a way into it.
You know, so many companies have been wanted to be
into culture, but then they're in the golf and just
haven't been able to find.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
That way in the culture, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
But through east Side Golf they've able to find both,
you know, from us being founders, us talking as diverse
man us being entrepreneurs or us being athletes. You know,
we can speak to whichever one you know. But then
on top of that run running a business and it's
a it's a totally different growth strategy.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
You know.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
At the end of the day, we have to think
about being true to ourselves and not going along with
just the status quote about everything has been going. If
we do that, the game will just never grow. That's
why we've come with the community days. That's why we
helped Morehouse College, That's why we collaborated with State Farm
to build our first collegiate event. You know, our Invitational
(34:02):
is at Liberty National in New York every year. And
doing collaborations with just so many people, so many different
brands to just grow the game. This is I mean,
this is what it's about. This is what it's about.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
I love the definition of cultures being like non traditional
Like what I always what I always say for culture
is people like us do things like this. Yes, And
I think it's kind of a very similar thing, right
Like people like us we do things. We were gonna
show up, We're gonna put our own, our own flavor
on swag on it. But there's but you can still
show respect to the game and do all that, but
you see it all across not just sports but everywhere. Right,
(34:45):
that's how culture shows up and I love that now.
But at the same time you talk about being true,
have there have been moments when you've kind of had
to say no based on how you feel about you know,
your beliefs. So like culture when it comes to what
you're brilliant, and not just necessarily with like your partners,
but just in general, like is if there's any situations where,
like you know what, that just might not be the
right kind of fit for us because this is what
we stand for.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, some I can't speak about. Some I can't speak about,
but some I when it comes to saying no, hmm,
it's yeah, yeah, yeah, I will just say this, people
(35:26):
that we have told no to sometimes I have a
limited scope of how they see things. And that's not
how we got here, you know, it was this this
one way of thinking. Or there might be I would say,
middleman that think that just because they have like a
book of business or they have like these things going on,
(35:48):
that we're just supposed to say yes to whatever that
they say, or even like some people think.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
We owe them. I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
You know, I was in my apartment on my last
know where to be found, you know, so you know,
and it's I mean, it's and unfortunately people are gonna hate,
you know people, it's just everywhere, you know, but it's
just it's unfortunate. But at the end of the day,
I wish to see success for all of these brands
(36:15):
like this is this is what's going to continue to
elevate all of us all what is it?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
All ships?
Speaker 1 (36:23):
There we go, there we go. So that's what I
believe in. That's what we believe in at east Side.
And if us telling them no, you know, really you know,
misguides them to feel like they just need to go
left where we're going right and they just want nothing
to do.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
With this, you know, please, yeah, go do your thing.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
But at the end of the day, were we want
to see success throughout golf and throughout Black Golf.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
It's here for the taking for all of us.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
You don't have to choose, don't have to do anything
in particular, but it's just about us working as one
and sometimes you know, working in different silos, but truly
growing about it a way of growing the game to
where we could take advantage of it. This isn't about
building or excluding people from the game. That's how we
(37:11):
got here, to build these groups and to do this anyway.
You know, man, that's how so many people feel left
out because now they got to pay to be in
a group. But we haven't even hit the golf course yet,
you know. So it's about working together as a team,
you know, working together as people and not really putting
emotions behind. And know it's just like, let's work for
the right opportunity to work together. You know, let's take
(37:33):
our time and like us, you know, it didn't work
for maybe a couple of months. You know, let's try
to figure it out and then here we are. You know,
it just takes time to work together. Man, let's just
figure it out.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
And typically when it happens, it happens at the right time,
that is when it was supposed to happen.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Always.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
One thing I'll tell you all the time is a
win for me is not a loss for you. And
I know we kind of experienced some stuff and we
designed the shoot for four fourty like people were had
some feelings and I said, well it's fine, it's art. Yeah,
you have every right to have your perspective on it.
But like this, what this is not doing. It's not
taking away opportunities from other people. If anything, it's important
to support these moments when people like us get a
(38:10):
chance to get on because that opens the door for
more people to get a hold. I've never been a
person to come through a door and close the door
behind me a lot, oh for sure. And I don't know.
I don't know why people sometimes feel like, you know, again,
a win for you is a loss for them. It's like, no, bro, like,
come on into you know. There's plenty out here for everybody, believe.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
It or not.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Oh, absolutely absolutely, and I'm all open to it. You
know how many people have you know, pushed towards opportunities
and don't want anything for it. Don't even have to
say anything about it. I feel good that they're winning.
There's so many different opportunities that I'm going for that
they might not not have the opportunity for. But there's
opportunity that's coming to me that other people are taking
(38:50):
advantage of, and I love to see it. That's what's
growing the game at the end of the day, that's
what helps you at the end of the day. Just
people looking out for people, and I mean the world.
I mean it's I'm not taking all the opportunities over here.
I mean, it's just about let's work together as a
team and let's grow. Man.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I'm here, I'm here for it. Yeah. Man, that's see.
If I told y'all, man, best people come from the
east Side. Man. So so let me ask you.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
I know one of the things that one of your
ultimate goals is the term prow again. But you also
got this amazing brand that you're building. Like, just what
a success look like for you now?
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (39:26):
Is it getting to a certain amount of revenue? Is
it purely back to go and pro?
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Like? What are you? What do you kind of define
success for you now? Based on everything you've accomplished. For me,
it's been a balancing act.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
I'm a me being creative director for east Side Golf
also founder of east.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Side Golf, but then also a pro golfer.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
It's a balancing act only because I had to at
one point designed up until like right now we're designing
summer and fall twenty twenty six, you know, So I
had to get so far ahead so then I have
more time on the back end to practice.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
I don't work all day like I used to. You know.
Now I get out and I hit balls.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
I get to practice a few phone calls during the day.
But this is the time that I get to dedicate
to myself. This is the reason that I started the brand.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
You know.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
I don't, honestly, you know, feel like I'm truly successful
until I win a golf tournament Like that is the
one thing that's been on my mind. I'll do whatever
it takes for our brand to be successful, you know.
And honestly, with east Side Golf, it's not about me,
you know, I'll say when I started to fine true
success with east.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Side Golf, it started to be about everybody else.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
When I started to really focus and every time we
have a partnership, the first question that I asked is
what's the give back?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Don't I don't let anybody from the team speak. It's me.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
I say, what is the giveback that we're doing for
either the community or mora else college or any other
college that you guys at, me your system that you
work with. And we'll start there and then we'll expand
the partnership. Cause that used to be me eighteen years ago.
I used to be writing community, looking for an opportunity,
looking for an internship, looking for something that I could
that could help me grow as a person. So now
(41:07):
I'm in this position, why not give back and be
intentional on every single partnership and everything that we do.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
So I think that's important.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
And again, like when you've got it out the mud,
as you say, like, I feel the same way about
a lot of things. And that's why I think a
lot of what you can also define your success by
is when you look back to the number of people
that you've put on and put in positions, even if
it wasn't at that moment it was you open the
door for him. Like one of my favorite stories I
always kind of tells, I had this kid that used
to work for me when I first started butter and
(41:36):
you know, he came from Deloitt. He's also at the Moorhouse,
and funny enough, the reason why I hired him when
I saw his resume come through was because he went
to Morehouse and I was like, look, bro, he was
working as an accountant actually at Deloitte and he wanted
to get into the agency space. And I remember telling him,
I say, look, man, I'm in this position now because
no bs, like a black woman opened the door for
(41:56):
me and got me in here and got me me
my first agency. And then I've thrown that now to
a senior vice president and I told him, I said,
and I said, I feel like, if I don't give
you this opportunity, you're probably not going to get it
from somebody else anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
And you know, yeah, that's hell.
Speaker 4 (42:11):
He has a little nepotism if you want to kind
of call it that, because I feel like he deserved it.
He was an any and you know, the agency world
is very weird where if you don't come from it's
hard to get in. It's like how do you go
from account into creative? But you know what open the
door for him? And I just had lunch with that
brother like a week or two ago. Man, now he's
about to become like a director almost a VP level
at another agency. And I mean that was like seven
years ago.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (42:32):
And I think that's why it's so important, right, Like
you got to look back at all and I can
tell it all the time. I can look back to
so many people that I know that in one way
or another, I opened the door for him. I gave
me the first opportunity. I hired because I ain't got
to go to where and watch my back, you know
what I mean? And I think I feel like it's
the same way for you. There's been people over the
years where again, whether it's through the community work you're doing,
the youth work you're doing, just the stuff you've probably
(42:54):
touched with the.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
East Side, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (42:57):
There's a lot of people and that's what allows you
to continue to kind of do this work, is right.
You also are bringing people up with you for people
that are trying to build something and making sure that
(43:18):
kind of ties back into culture. Like what are some
of the biggest things you've just learned on this journey,
Like what would you kind of give advice to for
a person that it's like, you know what that story
inspires me. I have an idea that I'm trying to
get out and put into the world, Like, what's some
advice you would give to them?
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yeah, you have to have that purpose. What is your
purpose for starting this? That purpose has to be something
that can help the world, that can help people around you,
or just help your community. You know, if you can
have that at the forefront, you can get there because
I'm gonna tell you what, everything leading up to it
is gonna be hard. Yeah, it's gonna be hard. Sometimes
(43:53):
damn near impossible. You can be like, I don't know
how I'm gonna get past this this thing and just
continue on. But if you keep on the forefront that
the purpose for this, like for me, was a term
pro But then also I want people to take.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Advantage of this game and use it as a tool.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So many people from our community that you know, they're trying,
I don't care what they do. They're trying to figure
out what they want to do with their life. They're
trying to figure out where they want to go or
trying to get that first start.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
But not even knowing that golf is that one thing
that can help them.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
I don't care what you do, you know, So definitely
use golf as a tool because at the end of
the day, I truly do see golf being something that
can raise the Black economy, that can raise Atlini economy
if we use it the correct way. And I would say,
work hard, man, this is I know a lot of
people say, man, I do work hard. I work I mean, yeah, yeah,
(44:46):
there's working hard, and then there's also working smart and hard.
So definitely putting in systems, Definitely trying things and learning
from them. You're not taking any al's. Yeah, you're going
to spend some money and they not work all the way.
But what did you learn and what do we do
from here moving forward? You know, fool me once, shame
on you, fool me twice, you know, so you get
(45:07):
a chance to learn. You know, take out a line
of credit if you need to, you know. I mean
when I started the brand, I emptied my four OL
one k empty the savings, maxed out the credit cards,
and sold all my cryptocurrencies and all inventory with it.
So being able to better on yourself is something else,
you know. And all I did was flip flip flip.
(45:27):
I did like one hundred thousand my first year, you know,
and just from there we've built it into a what
an eight figure pran now, you know. And it's it's
just step by step, man, I mean, and it's not
giving up and truly fulfilling it. I'll tell you one
thing that truly does work. Whatever you want to do
at the at the end of it, it's a goal,
(45:48):
but it takes steps to get to that goal. Of course,
that's rhetorical, But what's not is each step is a
different length. So like some some steps that might take
you a week, some steps are three months, some steps
are five years. But once you take that step and
you completed it and that's what you need to get
to the next thing, that's all it takes. But like
(46:09):
I said, it's been a long road, Like, yeah, it's
been six years that I've been that I since I've
created the brand, but I've been playing since I was six.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Yeah, you know, it took a lot.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Of understanding the game, understanding myself, understanding what I want
to change, and understanding what golf needs to see and
how that can truly affect the world. And I've truly
put that all into east Side, I feel from every aspect,
whether that's diversity, opening community or legitimately signing you know,
PGA tour athletes, you know dp World Tour athletes, and
(46:42):
truly getting our words out there of being authentic.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
So hey man, look, one of my favorite things I
always say is one day, one day's look like it
all happened overnight.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Yeah, and yeah I get that people like it's like, bro,
if you only knew you only knew you only knew.
Speaker 4 (46:58):
Like I said, you talk about out you know, emptying
out bank accounts and four one k's.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
You know. I remember that I had one of my
business man.
Speaker 4 (47:05):
I pulled up to the title palm place and I
was like, I was like, man, I gotta I gotta
make payroll, you know, like even if if not for me,
it's for the people, because I don't know, it's just
something about I know when you're building it and you have,
you know, people that rely on you, Like I've always
pride in saying like, you know, you're putting your livelihood
in my hands a little bit too, you know what
I mean. Like you know, at a certain point, you
(47:26):
have employees, you got insurance and all this stuff. It's like, man,
we got we got the first baby that came out
of here. You know what I'm saying, Like I take
pride in those kind of things, knowing that like people
believe in what I'm doing enough to tie their family's
livelihood to it. And I think again, it's the same
thing with that whole ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Man. So look, before we got out of here, bro,
like last question for you is.
Speaker 4 (47:44):
Just what is you know, just for the culture, what
is the dream moment freeside golf that hasn't happened yet.
Like my guess is it's got something to do with like,
you know, either you winning the tournament or like a
professional win the tournament or the Master's like rocking the gear,
But like what is that dream moment for you and
the brand that just hasn't happened yet.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Dream moment, I would say definitely one of our pro
golfers winning the Masters, that would be dope. Another one
would be me winning a pro golf tournament, you know,
just in general, that would mean the incomplete circle.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Has been overcome.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
I've never seen a person because they wanted to play
a sport they started a company.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
I've never seen that before.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
So and that was That's literally my track into what
I'm trying to do, hiring more employees and giving more
opportunities as well. We have twenty employees now office in
Flat Iron, New York, and I mean that's what they
work out of. Me and our head of design work
here and we work from the golf course, gathering spots
(48:48):
sometimes we work just out of different spaces that we
feel comfortable and then we can get that design or
from you know, and then i'd say golf course, you know,
maybe build an east Side golf country club or east
Side Golf club, east Side Golf club.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
Maybe here in Atlanta, you never know.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
But having the opportunity to work with Mayor Andre on
it and uh and and figuring something out but or
wherever it may be, I would say, lastly, truly growing
the game to a point where we're recognized and have
validity in the game of golf in just the world
of sports as well. I mean, so many other people
(49:27):
like Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, the list goes on, Jason Tatum.
They wear east Side Golf, you know, and because they
see the value in the game and they see what
we're trying to do. As far as just spread the
game to so many more people. Trey Young another one.
He loves, loves the game, loves east Side and and yeah, man,
I mean, man, you have more collaborations on the way,
(49:50):
you know, more opportunities on the way, and you never know,
you're gonna you're gonna see some stuff pop up pretty
soon that's gonna really excite and really push the golf
world in a different way.
Speaker 4 (49:59):
Hey, brother, Will again, congratulations on everything that you have accomplished.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
It's amazing.
Speaker 4 (50:04):
But again, like I said, that there's something that starts
an idea, yeah, you know in your apartment or even
even not being beyond that, Like I said, going back
to the sketches and all the kind of stuff is
thrown to something that's impacted and inspired so many people.
I can't wait to see, you know, where y'all go next,
what happens here, you know, with one of your biggest fans, bro, And.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
I will say, we do have our first brick and
mortar that's opening in July at Detroit Airport. So it's crazy.
I started the brand in Detroit right out of my apartment.
And I I gotta tell this quick story. Oh yeah,
just really quick, man. They probably gonna get upset, but
I'll tell it anyway. There was one point I had
(50:45):
a mentor and I lived in Detroit at the time,
and I was in finance as a regional sales manager.
They owned a bank, you know, like president, you know
at one point and you know, starting this brand. You know,
if I'm in finance and let's say you own a
bank and I come to you and say, hey, man,
I want to start this clothing brand. As a president
(51:06):
of a bank and a guy that does numbers, he's
going to say, yeah, you know that point five of
a percent creating a clothing brand, it only workser point
five percent out of one hundred percent at the time.
That's not great odds. So why are you throwing your
life away trying to do this clothing brand?
Speaker 2 (51:22):
You know?
Speaker 1 (51:22):
And I'm just like, nah, this is something I truly
want to do. This is something I really want to
push for. And they hit me with the yeah, just
go ahead and go to dtw the Detroit Airport, his
twelve hundred dollars, just go home, Just go home, you know.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
And it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Now I took that twelve hundred dollars, bought inventory with it,
paid them back, and now for that same airport that
I was supposed to leave, I have a store opening
at so truly that that inspiration for me and that
drive comes from me wanting what I can see is
that professional golf and for people to take advantage of
(52:00):
the game. And I wasn't gonna let anything stop me.
I mean, eviction notice on my crib, eight hundred dollars
a month in unemployment checks, I still got the check
stubs on my refrigerator from twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
You know, and nothing's going to stop you.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
If you have that mentality, you can have that drive,
nothing is going to stop you. And people real truly
just surround you that have that same mentality and that
just want to see you win and that want to
see the game be different and because because that's what
it needs at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (52:31):
So, man, I thought I was inspiring, brother, you would
he inspired me stuff because look, and I definitely have
again experienced a lot of those similar things, man, And
I hope that people are really hearing what you're saying
with this because there's so much there's so many nuggets
and like, so many truths in these stories, and I
think people need to hear this because again, we only
see the end result a lot of times, and everybody
(52:52):
thinks it sees everybody thinks entrepreneurship is just going and
hanging out.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
And you know, just you know, tax right off.
Speaker 4 (52:58):
So you do this and it's like d bro, you
got to put in the work and even when you win,
and there's still more work to be done, like wait,
if you really want to make like you know, again,
there's moments where you definitely get to enjoy it and
understand that part. But again it's worked. But the ability
to do something that you were passionate about, that you
care about, and then also using that to help, you know,
uplift other people, uplift the game, as I think, is
(53:18):
truly amazing. So again, congratulations on every day accomplished. Before
we get out of here, for those that don't know,
where can they get them some Eastside Golf at how
can they support y'all?
Speaker 2 (53:28):
How can they get involved? Like give them all the things?
Speaker 4 (53:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (53:30):
Yeah, you can buy east Side Golf at eastside goolf
dot com or our Instagram at east Side Golf, our
Twitter or x at east Side Golf. And then we
also have a story Eastside Golf Japan eastside goolf JP
dot com as well, So but eastside goolf dot com.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
Go on there.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
You can download our app Eastside Golf as well, and
you can buy as much merch so you can fit
into the cart. And also we'll we'll post a promo
code on here so you guys can come on here
watching at the end of the show, definitely he'll post
the promo codesh we can get you got some some
pieces for the love so I got you.
Speaker 4 (54:07):
Thank I love it man, well Elija want to get man.
Congratulations with everything and that's the pod man.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
We out.
Speaker 4 (54:13):
You've been listening to button Nomics and Omi your host
Brandon Butler, got comments, feedback?
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Want to be on the show.
Speaker 4 (54:19):
Send us an email today at hello at butternomics dot com.
Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by
Ksey Pegram, with marketing support from Queen and Nikki.
Speaker 2 (54:28):
Music provided by mister Hanky.
Speaker 4 (54:30):
If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button and never
missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot at l. Listen
to button Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
It's a guild and T shirt and I just have
this logo that I ironed it on, and you know,
and so many people are interested in it, but so
many people are interested in just a different way and
looking at golf and how I was looking at it
when I created the logo, this is just me. It
was let me be authentic in the game of golf.
Because to grow the game, that's what's missing, people being themselves.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
People so afraid to.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Kind of teeter the line or really push the different
agendas that they have.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
But one thing that people can't change is themselves.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So if you come into the game is yourself, the
only thing that's going to do is help the game.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Bro.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Hey, everybody, welcome to the episode of butter Nomics. I'm
your host, Brandon Butler found the CEO of Butter atl and.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Today we got missed her.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Elijahwan Ajanaku, Yes, Sir, co founder and created director for
east Side Golf in the building.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Brother, How you doing. I'm good. I'm good. I mean
thankful to having me.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
You know, Atlanta is really you know, putting on the
same as you doing, Brandon putting on. So I appreciate
you putting on for Atlanta. But I'm glad to I'm
glad to be here.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Man, And that look at Atlanta's one thing, man. I
keep on telling people, Man, the best people come out
the east Side. I don't care what nobody say. Bro,
there you goes. We got a fellow east Side east
Sider right here, which also inspired the name and everything. Man.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
But look, bro, you've been killing it. You're doing all
this amazing stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
But for those who don't know, please tell them a
little bit about what east Side Golf is and what
it stands for.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So born in Houston, Texas, no relations TIChemE a lot wrong,
but I was named after him. Moved to East Atlanta
Stone Mountain when I was two years old, started playing
golf when I was six years old. You know, middle school,
high school, grew up on the East side of Atlanta.
I grew up playing Sugar Creek Golf Course, Charlie Yates
Golf Course, Mystery Valley, south Land, all those courses on
(01:46):
the east Side, you know, as.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Much as I could money games.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But let's say, like junior times, middle school, high school,
ended up playing golf at Cedar Grove High School, you know,
graduated from Cedar Grove high school, got a golf scholarship
to Morehouse College and there twenty ten won a national
championship and Division.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Two the first and only national champions Yes, college golf
team stuff so won a national championship.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
My major was accounting, minoring finance.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
After I graduated, I turned pro and golf, you know,
did that for two years, won a couple of Mini
tour events, but it got to a point that just
couldn't afford it anymore, you know, taking her by jobs
and I was a caddyover at Druid Hills, caddy at
East Lake. I also used to wash carts at Sugar
Creek of Bowling Crust, you know, but just doing that,
I wasn't making enough money, you know. And it was
(02:36):
literally the last time me and my mom got an argument.
She was just like, yo, it's about that time you
get a job, you know. So I got away from
professional golf. It was my dream, and I started my
career in commercial finance, commercial vehicle finance. I was in
that for about ten eleven years. I financed tractors, trailers,
construction equipment. So in that for eleven years, was about
(02:57):
to become VP. I mean literally from entry level all
the way to vice president. So b, I've become VP
at thirty years old of this finance firm out of
San Diego, but my territory I was a Midwest regional
sales manager in Detroit.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So I started the company in Detroit on the East side.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Of Detroit again yeah yeah, yeah, out of my apartment
but all inough. I created the logo because I just
wanted to turn back pro and golf. You know, I
was just like, how am I going to get back
into this thing? The logo is me? You know, this
is a little bit better. Yeah, Jean sweatshirt, cuberling chain.
It's me and how I feel out on the golf
course and how I want other people to feel just
(03:34):
like themselves and play the sport that they love, whatever
that may be. So created this, showed it to my
best friend at the time. We were in the same
golf team at Morehouse, and he was just like, Yo,
you need to put down a T shirt. So I
did iron it on a guild and then went downtown Detroit.
I maybe got stopped like one hundred times in two hours,
just like who are you? What's that logo? Where can
I get it? And do you play golf? From there,
(03:55):
I knew I had something, but still didn't know what
it was. Went back to him just like bro run
with it. So I end up creating T shirts, socks,
lapel pin sweatshirts, umbrellas. The first three thousand orders I
shipped out from my apartment in Detroit myself. So from there,
I knew I had something, but still didn't know what
the regular world would think about it. But I, I mean, well,
(04:16):
really I saw what the regular world would think about it,
I didn't know what the golf world would think about it.
So I told my business partner, he's a PJ professional,
let's go down to the PGA show down in Florida.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
It's like we stole the show. We literally got our
first story out of Japan at the time, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
But all in all, I created this brand because I
was started being told no, you know, know, to my
dreams and not of the fact that I wanted to
turn back pro and golf and it was just hard.
So why not honestly create a company and turn into
an entrepreneur and fund my own dream And that's what
that's what birth east Side Golf Man.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
That's that's amazing, and we're gonna pack a lot of that.
Bro First and foremost, we got to go back to
the east Side. Yeah, like, so, yeah, we gotta go.
We got everything starts with the east Side. I keep
on telling you'll. You know what I'm saying. I grew
up over there too. I mean, obviously listeners know that
I've got a lot of friends out there, But like,
how did you even get in the first playing golf
out there? Because again, growing up, like we were just
talking about it off the microphone, like there were golf
(05:11):
courses out there. Yeah, but you know what I'm saying, Like,
I know, for me a lot of times and for
other folks, it wasn't necessarily the first thing you would
think of as a sport for a lot of people.
You know, a lot of people grew up. I grew
playing baseball out there and were playing basketball.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Right.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
We saw the golf courses out there, but even growing up,
I didn't see a lot of black folks on the
golf courses. Right, But like, how did you even first
get involved in the game.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, a friend of the family introduced me to the
Game's name was Darryl Martin. He introduced me, well, not
even introduced me, but his sons, all of us at
the same time. Jamil Martin Josh Martin introduced us all
to the game of golf. We've been playing all since
we were five, six and seven years old.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
All of us got golf scholarships.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
One I went to Moreouse College, one went to Talladega College,
and one went to Southern University, but all golf scholarships.
And we all were playing basketball prior to that. You know,
we played basketball and golf kind of growing up, so
that more of that competitive nature rubbed off on golf
and then we just continue to get better. I mean,
we were all on the same golf team at see
the Grove High School on the east side off Boulder Crest.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Road, off River Road.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, we won, well, we got We took Seedar Grove
to its first state tournament when we were there playing
on the team. So having the opportunity to first bring
golf to the east side of Atlanta authentically, and that's
what I felt that we were doing at a young age.
We were a newspapers, we were on TV, you know,
getting coverage just about organically golf, living in this different
(06:34):
sector of Atlanta and being successful at it.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So what do you remember most about that time.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Remember most honestly growing up a Sugar Creek golf course,
I used to hit balls, and I used to shut
down the golf course myself, you know, turn off the lights,
you know, cut the switch off, lock the gate behind me,
and go home. You know, I used to live when
I was at seed Grove High School, I used to
live at Saratoga Late that's right around the corner of
(07:02):
Oakville Road. I mean, you know, it's serotopical projects you
really look at it. But that's where I grew up.
And then it's crazy to grow up at a golf
course where so many honestly positive influences. You know, not
everybody I needed at the house was there all the time.
But when I go to the golf course, I'm learning
from doctors, lawyers, judges, you know, entrepreneurs, people that you know.
(07:25):
On a Wednesday at noon or at one o'clock day
out here playing golf, I'm.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You're supposed to be at work, you know what I'm saying.
I need to figure out what you do? How do
you do it?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Like?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
How are you how can you afford the time to
come out here in the middle of the week.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And play golf.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So those are the people that I used to network with,
and it's crazy all of those positive nuggets that they
would give.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You know, that's what I.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Learned from you know, definitely learn from home, but I
saw where these things could definitely definitely push me to
a different stratosphere within.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Where I live.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
So it was worth it to ask. So you you graduate,
see Grove, you go to Morehouse, you graduate more House.
I went to more House for a minute. You know
what I'm saying. I always my friends always tell me
I'm like one of the most successful Morehouse dropouts. I
did graduate from Georgia Southern, but you know I had
to get out the city though, but I got much
love for Morehouse.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I know you used to stay and Doe Boys Hall,
like you know, I know, you know, but like you
go through that and you were doing you said, corporate finance.
What I'm gonna be interested to understand is like how
did you actually even start putting the logo together? Because
you talk about the logo kind of like represents you,
which you didn't. But I didn't hear you say anything
was about you know, any of your creative interests or
(08:36):
like your design interests, and so I really again, I
think the logo is do because I remember that's the
first thing I saw, And honestly, like I was like,
if I if I started playing golf, That's how.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I'm gonna look playing golf. Like I've always had of
felt that way.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
But like, how did you even go from like zero
to one in creating the logo which I think I'll
call it the swing Man Official swing Man? Yeah, how
did y'all even create that?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
For? Like, how did you even go from zero to
one on that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Well, first, when it comes to creativity, oh man, we
can take it back to I used to go to
Stone Mountain Middle School.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, you know, all the way to Stone Mountain High School.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I did therein No wind Goes and one year off Glenwood.
I actually went to w D. Muhammett for one year. Yeah,
right near Charlie Yates Cours. So really just east side
when it really comes to the community, I've been just
all over. But my creativity, I mean, when I was
growing up, my mom didn't have a lot of money
(09:28):
for school clothes, you know, she didn't have a lot
of money for golf clubs either. Even for golf clothes.
It was tough, you know, so it had to be creative.
She could go to we can go to North Lake Mall,
get one outfit from Macy's and then the rest of
us got to come from Value Mall off Memorial Drive,
you know what I'm saying. Or the Fleet Market right
off Glenwood. It gotta come from there. You just got
(09:49):
to put it together. You go to school, you put
it together, and you know, you got the fresh kicks.
But just being creative was one thing that I had
to do. I've been designing shoe since I was seven
eight years old. I never knew what I was doing
it for. I just loved to do it.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I got a book that has like two twenty two
hundred shoe designs plus like I have a book that
has Air Force ones where I did like different stories,
different patterns and showed, you know, just telling different stories
from my pastime growing up, the things that were on
my mind, the things that I've seen, and.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You know, I had to take my mind somewhere.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It was.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I mean I remember seeing in there I call it
the dusted pollend Air Forces, oh you know, and they
just had like you know, just from my surroundings. It's polize,
you know, but just being creative and telling those stories
from where I'm from and even pushing it, even taking
it a step further. We did a collab with Jordan Brand.
I called it the Red Clay Collection, you know. And
(10:46):
the reason I called it that was because when I
was younger, my mom used to work two three jobs
and sometimes she couldn't take me to the golf course.
Now this's rarely happened, but the times that it did happen,
I had to go to the Marta bus stop, take that.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Marta over to the golf course.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Now, walking from my apartment all the way to the
Martyr bus stop, by the time I get there, it's
red clay mud all.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Over my shoes.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, But then I get on the bus, take that
all the way to the golf course. I walk eighteen
sometimes thirty six holes. By the time I get done,
it's red clay mud all over my shoes, my pants,
my face, some on my hat. But it shows grit
determination that I'm here to get it out the mud.
And we already know where that red clay mud is
originated to. So that is how I chose the story,
(11:30):
how it connected to me being a golfer and just
my pastime reality, you know, growing up in the game
of golf.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
That's dope.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
So you actually like drew it yourself, You actually like
literally sketched out yourself and.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, I'm sorry, but yeah, going to
the actual logo.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
It is me. It's just how I felt.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
I design it myself, put it on paper, and then
literally gave it to a designer for fifty dollars to edit,
just to edit and to make it look pretty right,
and by that I trademarked it, you know, so really
I could say I built the logo for like fifty bucks. Yes,
I already had the logo and it's just but I
really just went to a designer to finalize it, yeah,
(12:11):
just to tighten it up.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
So then you start making it, you literally iron it
on your first shirts and start putting on yourself. Like
what was it like? That first time you say you
wear it out? Almost one hundred people hit you up,
like how did that even feel? When you're just walking
the street, people are like stopping you and asking you,
like yo, what is that?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah? I mean it felt good.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I knew I had something, you know, I knew that
I wanted to go back to Earl or go back
to my apartment and truly put it down on paper
and really finalize how do I want this thing to look.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I mean, it's a.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Guild and T shirt and I just have this logo
that I ironed it on, and you know, and so
many people are interested in it. But so many people
are interested in just a different way of looking at
golf and how we were and how I was looking
at it when I created the logo. This is just
me at the time. It was let me be authentic.
I mean, that's our tagline. That's how I just do it.
(12:58):
It's be authentic in the game of golf. Because to
grow the game, that's what's missing. People being themselves. People
so afraid to kind of teeter the line or really
push the different agendas that they have, you know, and
that's growing the game.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
But one thing that people can't change is themselves.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So if you come into the game is yourself, that's
the only thing that's gonna do is help the game
to grow.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Yeah, I mean again, as a person that doesn't play neat,
I need to start plays.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Look, I would go out there with you, but I
know you're gonna I know you're gonna run me out,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
But again, I think that's I think that's one of
the big things that even happens in our communities, right,
Like it seems intimidating kind of from the outside looking
in because one is the game, but also just everybody's
dressed and everybody's you know, nice and tough. Then I
understand there's you know, a level of respect for too,
but there's still the way you can do it, which
is what you all have done, which is still kind
of bring your own flavor and swag to it. Yeah,
but just saying I'm gonna do it my way, and
(13:49):
I think for a lot of folks they kind of
feel like it's so off putting, right, So, like even
even now, you just came back from the Masters, you
know what I'm saying, Like, what was that experience, like,
especially taking east Side Golf to like what's literally probably
the biggest stage in golf in the world.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You know, Yeah, an experience like no other.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I mean, I will say that it's a major in
the pro golf world. Mercedes Benz is actually one of
our partners east Side Golf I'm a Mercedes Ben's ambassador
for the USA along with my business partner, Earl Cooper.
He's a Mercedes Ben's ambassador, and I mean the partnership
is just great. Last year we took the Morehouse college
(14:26):
golf team down to the Masters. We took about eight
guys and since then we've become a lot more competitive
as far as Morehouse golf team. They won their first
college golf tournament of the year, had to be about
three to four weeks ago, so that's great helping them
to build that team. But we got to bring the
start in five down to the Masters, you know, them
to the experience.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
We put them up in their own.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
House and then Mercedes Benz Subdivision gave them on golf
cart to get to and from the riverhouse, Mercedes Ben's Riverhouse.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
We had a few that we would bring them to.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
And now we're introducing new sponsors to the coach, new
sponsors to the kids, and them even having the opportunity
for nil you know, I mean, it's so many different
levels to opportunity that we want to bring them, that
we bring Eastside Golf and that we actually bring Mercedes
Benz and another one of our partners ups, you know,
(15:22):
bringing them in another one traveling leisure, you know. And
lastly Southern Company, Georgia Power. I mean, all of these
different companies have something to offer. And the one thing
we went down there, it was more about getting introduction
into as many people as we can. There's a place
called Berkman's Place. When you're there, I mean you have
(15:44):
to have a ticket to get into Berkman's Place. But
it's crazy on how many people in there don't know
about Eastside and do know about east Side because east
Side is a growing business.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
But this is where you make the connections to get.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Onto these exclusive dry clubs, to find these sponsorships, the
nonprofit money, the grants, the people that have you know,
sometimes blank checks, that do want help and that do
want to see the game grow. At the Masters, is
so many different opportunities man. Just lastly, I would say
we threw east Side Golf had a community day that
(16:20):
we did in Augusta and it was for the city
of Augusta. And what we did we bought out the
golf course, had our partner Mercedes Benz. They helped sponsor it.
They were our main sponsor for the entire thing and
free tea times, free golf, golf balls to hit, free lessons,
food trucks, you know, dessert trucks, and then you know,
(16:42):
people can go out there. We had paying college Morales college.
People can go out and just play golf all day
for free from about nine am all the way about
six pm. You know, so a lot of times you'll
see from the community golf is an expensive sport, or
golf is something that I don't know if I could
take advantage of because I don't off after time, or
it's expensive. We do these community days to lower that
(17:05):
financial burden. So now it's a bucket of balls, isn't
fifty dollars, it's fifteen or twelve. But you wouldn't find
that out unless you go up here and actually go
to the golf course and play, you know, so showing
the people first off how the golf course is ran
and the things that it has to offer.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
But then at the end of the day, we.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Want to cut off that financial burden to get more
people out here to just try the game. And of
course they have to look good coming out there to
do that. That's usually like the first step, like for
diverse people, if you don't look good going out there
in the first place. You're not gonna feel comfortable at all,
you know. So that's when east Side golf comes in to,
where let's make sure you feel good when you go
(17:45):
out there. You fly, you are you being your best self.
So now you can just go out there and be
yourself and take advantage of the game, meet as many
people as you want to. I mean, whatever you do
in your life, golf is something that will help you
spand that network and truly expand your net worth.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Absolutely, And I mean again to your point, this stuff
is expensive, and I don't think that people even fully
understand if you've never been down to the Masters, like
how these houses work. Oh for Like this ain't something
you can just go getting on Airbnb, you know what
I'm saying, Like these really exclusive you know houses, opportunities
and stuff like that, just when you're down there, when
you were down there for the first time, because I
(18:24):
know this was your first time going down there, but
as a fellow kid from the East Side, like did
you even take a moment and it just kind of
like like damn, Like because I always think it's so
interesting to where an idea can take you. Yeah, I've
experienced myself with Butter, Like there have been moments with Butter.
I'm like, damn, Like this started as an idea and
now I'm here, Like, did you have a moment like
that the first time you were down there?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I did? I did. I never seen.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Well.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Last year I got to play augusta National Adult course,
so on that Monday it would be today. Yeah, after
the tournament, I got to play the course and it
was plush. Yeah, you know, one of the toughest golf
courses I've ever played. I think I shot seventy four
or seventy five, but it was, Uh, it was tough.
And on top of that, the most plush golf course
that I've ever seen to where I think they took
(19:07):
clippers and just yeah, just got the sence there's the
clippers and got every piece of weed up that they
could find off the golf course. It was it was
another level. You know, you can't take pictures out there.
You can definitely give your experience and give your take
on it. Walking around the clubhouse, you know, seeing the memorabilia,
seeing the different the different things that have happened over
(19:29):
the years, like they've they've built wine cellars, on the
top of the At first there were it was just
ground on some of below the actual clubhouse. They would
rebuild the same building, but then put a wine cellar
or put or put something under it so they can
just build it up, you know, but it would be
(19:49):
the same complete, same building as they had last year.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
You know. So if you don't if you know, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Type thing, if you go to the Masters, it's a
it's a different experience.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Man.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
What's been some of the most surprising things you just
experienced is like part of watching east Side Golf kind
of grow from like Nichs to be in more mainstream.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, so many more people taking a liking to golf.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I mean I see a lot of people see the
brand east Side Golf and they thinking, well, I don't
play golf, so.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I have no use for east Side Golf.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Where the brand is more of a lifestyle first golf
second approach, where we're still a golf brand. You know,
both of the founders, I'm a pro golfer and Early
is a PJ professional.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
One of the things that people I would say, see
or do they wear, Like let's say you wear Ralph Lauren,
but you don't play polo, you know. But it's the
same with us. If you see the logo, might not
play golf, but this is a brand that you can wear,
like this sweater polo that I have on prime example.
(21:07):
I remember we were in Cans, France one year. We
did a basically a teaching session on Cans, France beach,
and while we were down there, I was just like, Dn,
we keep wearing polos, we keep wearing T shirts. How
can we take it a step up and show something
to where they can feel fashionable and have that kind
of attitude moving forward with all of our products.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And that's what we came with.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Pieces like this, That's what we came with, the all
over Chino short that we have and pants that we have.
These are the different things where we're showing golf can
live in these different spaces. Golf can be the topic
of discussion and you not play. And on top of that,
you know, it's more of a when you see this logo,
let's say, and I want you to do this, I'm
(21:52):
gonna get you a sweatshirt and get you some a
pair of ye yeah yeah, go to Heartsville in the
National Airport. Just wear a sweatshirt, one time. Just wear
one time and see the reaction that you get. Yeah,
how many people have a reaction? How many people you meet,
because it's different when you wear our stuff than let's
say you have a titleist of Callaway add On.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
They know you play golf, but what is it?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Why is their reaction when you see the east Side
Golf logo?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
You know, it's a totally different reaction.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
It's a totally different way of thinking in what people
see white, black or indifferent.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah, I mean they.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Always see golf in just a different manner when they
see east Side Golf.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Oh I love it, man, I love it. So you know,
like I mentioned before, Man, I also did a level
of matriculation at more House, even though I didn't go
all the way through, but I still got mad love
got a lot of people over there. But moreuse is
definitely a part of your story. And a lot of
times when people talk about HBCUs, they talk about the
Black college experience. Now, having went to HBCU, I would
(22:48):
tell you the Black college experience. I mean, you got
to figure a lot of stuff out sometimes because everything
ain't just laid out for you. But what ends up happening,
I think is It just gives you like a different
level of grit and like the ability to kind of
like work through things like how did you know having
that experience at more House and just going through the
HBCU experience, Like, how has that helped you build east
Side Golf in what it is today?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Man, Uh, Morehouse definitely played a huge role in me
being the man that I am today, me being as
confident as I am and myself as a black man
and know that there's something there as far as what
the world hasn't seen, you know, Uh, taking into Morehouse
a black man's confidence and literally putting that on display,
(23:31):
you know, and how that looks.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
It literally looks like the logo.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
I'm out here to just be my best self and
I'm gonna do it how I feel. But I'm gonna
play really good golf all at the same time, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I mean, that's what it's about.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I remember there's a there's a program at Morehouse every
Thursday called Crown Form, Yeah, and I remember that, Yeah,
And I would honestly, I would say, uh, they always
brought in like speakers, They always brought in like influential people,
But it was more of a positive brainwashing ceremony.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It was like, you're gonna be somebody. You're gonna be.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Somebody great, You're gonna take over the world. You're gonna
continue to evolve, open your ears and be and be great.
I mean the five Pillars of Morehouse. You know, you're
gonna continue to just expand throughout the world. And that
was truly the message that they got across. And you
had to be suited up in your Morehouse college uniform
(24:24):
of course, but all of those things equaled out to,
you know, being the best man that you know how
to be. So many different examples, great examples that came
before us, Monk Luther King, you know, to be one,
Spike Lee, you know, Denzel Washington's son, you know, all
of these guys just later foundation for excellence, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And there's so many guys outside of that.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Rashawn Williams. You know, we can keep going down the list.
These guys have shown them being them best, their best selves.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
This is what the world wants to see.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
And even when people see this logo, they're like, man,
it's just an prioritize them what they're trying to do. No,
this brand is for everybody. This brand it just happens
to be a black man swinging a golf club. It's
the same as the round Florence, the white man on
a brown horse. It's the same thing here. It's just
what do we stand for? You know, we stand for
growing the game. We stand for confidence and perseverance, that grit,
(25:19):
that hustle.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
This is what the logo shows.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Along with that's what more house men actually value. You know,
those are the things that hard working, that grit. If
you don't have that, if you don't make a way
out of no way, I mean just continue, not to stop.
All of these things equal up to what east Side
Golf was made from. How I became confident enough to
(25:42):
even start this with a black man logo.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I mean it's very hard. I think we might be
the only one.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
We're all for it, and I'm all for you know,
showing everybody how we got here, but you know, truly
staying down and challenging the system on what's right and
what's wrong and standing on that. That's also something that
Moles taught me. If you're not doing that, how can
the game ever change? You're literally stepping You're creating these
things within the confines of what golf was made. Like
(26:11):
I see all these groups being made. You know, that's
a positive thing, that's always growing it. But never exclude
people from these groups. That's the ship's you're making. It
was a good of a boys club when we came
into it, and now all these groups come into it
and then they exclude people.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So now we're doing the same thing over again. You know.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
It's all about working together and making the game bigger.
I mean, we're clothing brand. All we want to do
is make people feel comfortable out on the golf course
and truly grow the game.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
It's uh.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I mean, it's a quest that we're all here for
and we're and we're just here for people to take
advantage of it and use this game as a tool.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
So that's amazing, manute. You know, and I think again,
when you look back, I always say like there's just
inflection points in any business, in any journey. I can
think about times where I'm like, yeah, well I might
not have known it in that moment. That was one
of the things to help Butter get to wear is right.
I know for you, one of the things was the
first time you saw Chris Paul, you know, rocking it
on TV right, Like, what was that moment?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Like that was great. I remember Chris Paul used to
be the head of MBPA.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
That is when the Kenosha, Wisconsin event happened.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I can't breathe.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
NBA went on a boycott and prior to that, that's
when they went into the bubble. Actually, that was in
twenty twenty and we me, Earl and our photographer were
up in Wisconsin actually at the time, at Whistling Straits
Golf Course and we walked into the pro shop, well
really just to check in, and here's Chris Paul on
(27:43):
the screen on CNN with our sweatshirt on. He had
the hat, sweatshirt, socks, and I remember he had some
de Or Jordan's on, you know, so fly as ever
as always Chris Paul, but he had that on. And
it's so crazy at that event and at that time
of protesting, he had on east Side Golf because that's
what we stand for, you know. And it's not only
(28:06):
what we stand for. We only we also stand for
like style and confidence and other things. But at that moment,
I'm glad we got to be at the forefront of that.
So many people googled us and yo, what's your what's
your evaluation, what's your you know, trying to find out
who we were at the time, and to have Chris
Paul on TV, on a grant, a national stage to
(28:29):
show these are the things or really the value one
of the values that east Side Golf has that I mean,
it helped helped us tremendously and we've been following that
actually continuously for the past four or five years.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Yeah, I was, and I always think those moments are
interesting too, especially because you are running the business right, Like,
could you see the moment when it was like, oh, shoot,
he's on here.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Now all of a sudden, yeah, the clicks yeah yeah,
yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And also the tick on and the click on the
website definitely went up.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
You know a lot of people were googling black Man, gold.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Chain, Swinging Golf Club. Didn't had no idea who east
Side Golf was. And that was a great time for
the business, you know, just growing it literally out of
my apartment and having that great determination. I mean, I'm
me having two jobs at one point and this being
one of them, you know, I mean I wouldn't have
had it any other way. I'm glad we get to
show golf in just a different stance, man is what
(29:25):
this is what the community needs.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
And like not just him, but obviously there's been tons
of people that have also just showed support of getting involved,
you know, DJ Khaled, CCS, Matthew. But Barack Obama, Yes, bro,
come on now tell me that.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
You gotta tell me that story. You got to tell
me to Barack Obama in side golf story.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, he's a fan of the brand, loves a brand,
he wears it often. Somebody took a picture. Excuse me,
BARACKA I'm so sorry, mister Obama. Somebody took a picture
of his locker and he had all east Side Golf
in his locker. Just opened it a little bit. So
he had a vest and a hat. But he wears
I hear all the time east Side Golf and also
(30:02):
with a secret service around them. They are very familiar
with east Side Golf and they tell me that they
see it as well. So it started off with him
just loving the game. Yeah, and you know, us hitting
on things that matter to us and showing, like I
said before, a different way of approaching golf. If we
can make you feel comfortable first out on the golf course,
(30:23):
then all of a sudden, you know what, let me
pick up a golf club at least, let me try
it at least because you feel good first.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And that's what I feel like.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
We really pushed mister Obama back on the golf course
a lot more because of it.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
That's amazing, bro. I'm just saying, like, it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
I mean, I can't think of a you know, outside
like a Tiger Woods or somebody, you know what I mean.
It's hard to even thinking like a bigger moment for
somebody to be kind of associated with the brand and
just showing love for it. Absolutely, it's got to be
a good feeling. Now you've done a lot of stuff
you've been working with like Nike, Jordan Mercedes. I think
you said you're on your thirteenth pair of you know,
Jordan's that you've been working on with them. Like what
(30:57):
kind of makes a good partnership for you and east
Side Golf Because I think what's also always unique is
it's unique when you're able to kind of retain what's
important to you when these brands come in, they're not
just kind of dictating me. You're saying, no, this is
what we stand for. This was important but like, what
do you look for in a good partnership?
Speaker 1 (31:11):
So yeah, being great partners with Nike now it's been great,
you know, talking about the stories, you know, and how
they would impact actually the game of golf. That's been
the most important thing. I mean, it went from our
first shoe to actually showing the logo to the second
five that talked about the red Clay collection.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Yeah, let me just show a little diagram really quick.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
So first shoe right here, and then second is the dirt,
which is more of the red clay, and then third
is the grass which is on top of the dirt,
which is our nineteen sixty one collection which we did
three shoes on. And then on the grass we brought everyone,
which is our Everyone's game, which is our Nike Airmax
and actually Victory, and then from there we're just gonna
go a little bit higher.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
So that's how really.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
The the story of the shoes came about. It's truly
my story, you know, it's truly the story of how
we want golf to be for somebody's game and for
them being introduced to it. It's the transcendence of just
being a beginner to Dang, now I'm pretty good at golf.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Dang. Now I got all the Nikes and the Jordan's
that east.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Side Golf collaborated on, and you know, I'll have the
Nikes moving forward that east Side Golf will work with
Nike on, you know, and showing that at the end
of the day, these different stories will live for so long.
It's they've just never been told in this way, you know.
You it's so hard to build culture before and it's
(32:44):
we haven't really seen it as much, but before us,
it was so hard to build culture into golf. And
what I mean by culture is just non tradition. Yeah,
if it's non tradition, then it's culture. That's as simple
as that. You can look however you want, you can
be whoever you are. But once we included non tradition,
you know, it's been so many different companies have never
(33:05):
been able to touch golf that now find a way into it.
You know, so many companies have been wanted to be
into culture, but then they're in the golf and just
haven't been able to find.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
That way in the culture, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
But through east Side Golf they've able to find both,
you know, from us being founders, us talking as diverse
man us being entrepreneurs or us being athletes. You know,
we can speak to whichever one you know. But then
on top of that run running a business and it's
a it's a totally different growth strategy.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
You know.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
At the end of the day, we have to think
about being true to ourselves and not going along with
just the status quote about everything has been going. If
we do that, the game will just never grow. That's
why we've come with the community days. That's why we
helped Morehouse College, That's why we collaborated with State Farm
to build our first collegiate event. You know, our Invitational
(34:02):
is at Liberty National in New York every year. And
doing collaborations with just so many people, so many different
brands to just grow the game. This is I mean,
this is what it's about. This is what it's about.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
I love the definition of cultures being like non traditional
Like what I always what I always say for culture
is people like us do things like this. Yes, And
I think it's kind of a very similar thing, right
Like people like us we do things. We were gonna
show up, We're gonna put our own, our own flavor
on swag on it. But there's but you can still
show respect to the game and do all that, but
you see it all across not just sports but everywhere. Right,
(34:45):
that's how culture shows up and I love that now.
But at the same time you talk about being true,
have there have been moments when you've kind of had
to say no based on how you feel about you know,
your beliefs. So like culture when it comes to what
you're brilliant, and not just necessarily with like your partners,
but just in general, like is if there's any situations where,
like you know what, that just might not be the
right kind of fit for us because this is what
we stand for.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, some I can't speak about. Some I can't speak about,
but some I when it comes to saying no, hmm,
it's yeah, yeah, yeah, I will just say this, people
(35:26):
that we have told no to sometimes I have a
limited scope of how they see things. And that's not
how we got here, you know, it was this this
one way of thinking. Or there might be I would say,
middleman that think that just because they have like a
book of business or they have like these things going on,
(35:48):
that we're just supposed to say yes to whatever that
they say, or even like some people think.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
We owe them. I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
You know, I was in my apartment on my last
know where to be found, you know, so you know,
and it's I mean, it's and unfortunately people are gonna hate,
you know people, it's just everywhere, you know, but it's
just it's unfortunate. But at the end of the day,
I wish to see success for all of these brands
(36:15):
like this is this is what's going to continue to
elevate all of us all what is it?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
All ships?
Speaker 1 (36:23):
There we go, there we go. So that's what I
believe in. That's what we believe in at east Side.
And if us telling them no, you know, really you know,
misguides them to feel like they just need to go
left where we're going right and they just want nothing
to do.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
With this, you know, please, yeah, go do your thing.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
But at the end of the day, were we want
to see success throughout golf and throughout Black Golf.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
It's here for the taking for all of us.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
You don't have to choose, don't have to do anything
in particular, but it's just about us working as one
and sometimes you know, working in different silos, but truly
growing about it a way of growing the game to
where we could take advantage of it. This isn't about
building or excluding people from the game. That's how we
(37:11):
got here, to build these groups and to do this anyway.
You know, man, that's how so many people feel left
out because now they got to pay to be in
a group. But we haven't even hit the golf course yet,
you know. So it's about working together as a team,
you know, working together as people and not really putting
emotions behind. And know it's just like, let's work for
the right opportunity to work together. You know, let's take
(37:33):
our time and like us, you know, it didn't work
for maybe a couple of months. You know, let's try
to figure it out and then here we are. You know,
it just takes time to work together. Man, let's just
figure it out.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
And typically when it happens, it happens at the right time,
that is when it was supposed to happen.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Always.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
One thing I'll tell you all the time is a
win for me is not a loss for you. And
I know we kind of experienced some stuff and we
designed the shoot for four fourty like people were had
some feelings and I said, well it's fine, it's art. Yeah,
you have every right to have your perspective on it.
But like this, what this is not doing. It's not
taking away opportunities from other people. If anything, it's important
to support these moments when people like us get a
(38:10):
chance to get on because that opens the door for
more people to get a hold. I've never been a
person to come through a door and close the door
behind me a lot, oh for sure. And I don't know.
I don't know why people sometimes feel like, you know, again,
a win for you is a loss for them. It's like, no, bro, like,
come on into you know. There's plenty out here for everybody, believe.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
It or not.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Oh, absolutely absolutely, and I'm all open to it. You
know how many people have you know, pushed towards opportunities
and don't want anything for it. Don't even have to
say anything about it. I feel good that they're winning.
There's so many different opportunities that I'm going for that
they might not not have the opportunity for. But there's
opportunity that's coming to me that other people are taking
(38:50):
advantage of, and I love to see it. That's what's
growing the game at the end of the day, that's
what helps you at the end of the day. Just
people looking out for people, and I mean the world.
I mean it's I'm not taking all the opportunities over here.
I mean, it's just about let's work together as a
team and let's grow. Man.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I'm here, I'm here for it. Yeah. Man, that's see.
If I told y'all, man, best people come from the
east Side. Man. So so let me ask you.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
I know one of the things that one of your
ultimate goals is the term prow again. But you also
got this amazing brand that you're building. Like, just what
a success look like for you now?
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (39:26):
Is it getting to a certain amount of revenue? Is
it purely back to go and pro?
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Like? What are you? What do you kind of define
success for you now? Based on everything you've accomplished. For me,
it's been a balancing act.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
I'm a me being creative director for east Side Golf
also founder of east.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Side Golf, but then also a pro golfer.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
It's a balancing act only because I had to at
one point designed up until like right now we're designing
summer and fall twenty twenty six, you know, So I
had to get so far ahead so then I have
more time on the back end to practice.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
I don't work all day like I used to. You know.
Now I get out and I hit balls.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
I get to practice a few phone calls during the day.
But this is the time that I get to dedicate
to myself. This is the reason that I started the brand.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
You know.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
I don't, honestly, you know, feel like I'm truly successful
until I win a golf tournament Like that is the
one thing that's been on my mind. I'll do whatever
it takes for our brand to be successful, you know.
And honestly, with east Side Golf, it's not about me,
you know, I'll say when I started to fine true
success with east.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Side Golf, it started to be about everybody else.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
When I started to really focus and every time we
have a partnership, the first question that I asked is
what's the give back?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Don't I don't let anybody from the team speak. It's me.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
I say, what is the giveback that we're doing for
either the community or mora else college or any other
college that you guys at, me your system that you
work with. And we'll start there and then we'll expand
the partnership. Cause that used to be me eighteen years ago.
I used to be writing community, looking for an opportunity,
looking for an internship, looking for something that I could
that could help me grow as a person. So now
(41:07):
I'm in this position, why not give back and be
intentional on every single partnership and everything that we do.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
So I think that's important.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
And again, like when you've got it out the mud,
as you say, like, I feel the same way about
a lot of things. And that's why I think a
lot of what you can also define your success by
is when you look back to the number of people
that you've put on and put in positions, even if
it wasn't at that moment it was you open the
door for him. Like one of my favorite stories I
always kind of tells, I had this kid that used
to work for me when I first started butter and
(41:36):
you know, he came from Deloitt. He's also at the Moorhouse,
and funny enough, the reason why I hired him when
I saw his resume come through was because he went
to Morehouse and I was like, look, bro, he was
working as an accountant actually at Deloitte and he wanted
to get into the agency space. And I remember telling him,
I say, look, man, I'm in this position now because
no bs, like a black woman opened the door for
(41:56):
me and got me in here and got me me
my first agency. And then I've thrown that now to
a senior vice president and I told him, I said,
and I said, I feel like, if I don't give
you this opportunity, you're probably not going to get it
from somebody else anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
And you know, yeah, that's hell.
Speaker 4 (42:11):
He has a little nepotism if you want to kind
of call it that, because I feel like he deserved it.
He was an any and you know, the agency world
is very weird where if you don't come from it's
hard to get in. It's like how do you go
from account into creative? But you know what open the
door for him? And I just had lunch with that
brother like a week or two ago. Man, now he's
about to become like a director almost a VP level
at another agency. And I mean that was like seven
years ago.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (42:32):
And I think that's why it's so important, right, Like
you got to look back at all and I can
tell it all the time. I can look back to
so many people that I know that in one way
or another, I opened the door for him. I gave
me the first opportunity. I hired because I ain't got
to go to where and watch my back, you know
what I mean? And I think I feel like it's
the same way for you. There's been people over the
years where again, whether it's through the community work you're doing,
the youth work you're doing, just the stuff you've probably
(42:54):
touched with the.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
East Side, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (42:57):
There's a lot of people and that's what allows you
to continue to kind of do this work, is right.
You also are bringing people up with you for people
that are trying to build something and making sure that
(43:18):
kind of ties back into culture. Like what are some
of the biggest things you've just learned on this journey,
Like what would you kind of give advice to for
a person that it's like, you know what that story
inspires me. I have an idea that I'm trying to
get out and put into the world, Like, what's some
advice you would give to them?
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yeah, you have to have that purpose. What is your
purpose for starting this? That purpose has to be something
that can help the world, that can help people around you,
or just help your community. You know, if you can
have that at the forefront, you can get there because
I'm gonna tell you what, everything leading up to it
is gonna be hard. Yeah, it's gonna be hard. Sometimes
(43:53):
damn near impossible. You can be like, I don't know
how I'm gonna get past this this thing and just
continue on. But if you keep on the forefront that
the purpose for this, like for me, was a term
pro But then also I want people to take.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Advantage of this game and use it as a tool.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So many people from our community that you know, they're trying,
I don't care what they do. They're trying to figure
out what they want to do with their life. They're
trying to figure out where they want to go or
trying to get that first start.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
But not even knowing that golf is that one thing
that can help them.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
I don't care what you do, you know, So definitely
use golf as a tool because at the end of
the day, I truly do see golf being something that
can raise the Black economy, that can raise Atlini economy
if we use it the correct way. And I would say,
work hard, man, this is I know a lot of
people say, man, I do work hard. I work I mean, yeah, yeah,
(44:46):
there's working hard, and then there's also working smart and hard.
So definitely putting in systems, Definitely trying things and learning
from them. You're not taking any al's. Yeah, you're going
to spend some money and they not work all the way.
But what did you learn and what do we do
from here moving forward? You know, fool me once, shame
on you, fool me twice, you know, so you get
(45:07):
a chance to learn. You know, take out a line
of credit if you need to, you know. I mean
when I started the brand, I emptied my four OL
one k empty the savings, maxed out the credit cards,
and sold all my cryptocurrencies and all inventory with it.
So being able to better on yourself is something else,
you know. And all I did was flip flip flip.
(45:27):
I did like one hundred thousand my first year, you know,
and just from there we've built it into a what
an eight figure pran now, you know. And it's it's
just step by step, man, I mean, and it's not
giving up and truly fulfilling it. I'll tell you one
thing that truly does work. Whatever you want to do
at the at the end of it, it's a goal,
(45:48):
but it takes steps to get to that goal. Of course,
that's rhetorical, But what's not is each step is a
different length. So like some some steps that might take
you a week, some steps are three months, some steps
are five years. But once you take that step and
you completed it and that's what you need to get
to the next thing, that's all it takes. But like
(46:09):
I said, it's been a long road, Like, yeah, it's
been six years that I've been that I since I've
created the brand, but I've been playing since I was six.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Yeah, you know, it took a lot.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Of understanding the game, understanding myself, understanding what I want
to change, and understanding what golf needs to see and
how that can truly affect the world. And I've truly
put that all into east Side, I feel from every aspect,
whether that's diversity, opening community or legitimately signing you know,
PGA tour athletes, you know dp World Tour athletes, and
(46:42):
truly getting our words out there of being authentic.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
So hey man, look, one of my favorite things I
always say is one day, one day's look like it
all happened overnight.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Yeah, and yeah I get that people like it's like, bro,
if you only knew you only knew you only knew.
Speaker 4 (46:58):
Like I said, you talk about out you know, emptying
out bank accounts and four one k's.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
You know. I remember that I had one of my
business man.
Speaker 4 (47:05):
I pulled up to the title palm place and I
was like, I was like, man, I gotta I gotta
make payroll, you know, like even if if not for me,
it's for the people, because I don't know, it's just
something about I know when you're building it and you have,
you know, people that rely on you, Like I've always
pride in saying like, you know, you're putting your livelihood
in my hands a little bit too, you know what
I mean. Like you know, at a certain point, you
(47:26):
have employees, you got insurance and all this stuff. It's like, man,
we got we got the first baby that came out
of here. You know what I'm saying, Like I take
pride in those kind of things, knowing that like people
believe in what I'm doing enough to tie their family's
livelihood to it. And I think again, it's the same
thing with that whole ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Man. So look, before we got out of here, bro,
like last question for you is.
Speaker 4 (47:44):
Just what is you know, just for the culture, what
is the dream moment freeside golf that hasn't happened yet.
Like my guess is it's got something to do with like,
you know, either you winning the tournament or like a
professional win the tournament or the Master's like rocking the gear,
But like what is that dream moment for you and
the brand that just hasn't happened yet.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Dream moment, I would say definitely one of our pro
golfers winning the Masters, that would be dope. Another one
would be me winning a pro golf tournament, you know,
just in general, that would mean the incomplete circle.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Has been overcome.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
I've never seen a person because they wanted to play
a sport they started a company.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
I've never seen that before.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
So and that was That's literally my track into what
I'm trying to do, hiring more employees and giving more
opportunities as well. We have twenty employees now office in
Flat Iron, New York, and I mean that's what they
work out of. Me and our head of design work
here and we work from the golf course, gathering spots
(48:48):
sometimes we work just out of different spaces that we
feel comfortable and then we can get that design or
from you know, and then i'd say golf course, you know,
maybe build an east Side golf country club or east
Side Golf club, east Side Golf club.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
Maybe here in Atlanta, you never know.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
But having the opportunity to work with Mayor Andre on
it and uh and and figuring something out but or
wherever it may be, I would say, lastly, truly growing
the game to a point where we're recognized and have
validity in the game of golf in just the world
of sports as well. I mean, so many other people
(49:27):
like Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, the list goes on, Jason Tatum.
They wear east Side Golf, you know, and because they
see the value in the game and they see what
we're trying to do. As far as just spread the
game to so many more people. Trey Young another one.
He loves, loves the game, loves east Side and and yeah, man,
I mean, man, you have more collaborations on the way,
(49:50):
you know, more opportunities on the way, and you never know,
you're gonna you're gonna see some stuff pop up pretty
soon that's gonna really excite and really push the golf
world in a different way.
Speaker 4 (49:59):
Hey, brother, Will again, congratulations on everything that you have accomplished.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
It's amazing.
Speaker 4 (50:04):
But again, like I said, that there's something that starts
an idea, yeah, you know in your apartment or even
even not being beyond that, Like I said, going back
to the sketches and all the kind of stuff is
thrown to something that's impacted and inspired so many people.
I can't wait to see, you know, where y'all go next,
what happens here, you know, with one of your biggest fans, bro, And.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
I will say, we do have our first brick and
mortar that's opening in July at Detroit Airport. So it's crazy.
I started the brand in Detroit right out of my apartment.
And I I gotta tell this quick story. Oh yeah,
just really quick, man. They probably gonna get upset, but
I'll tell it anyway. There was one point I had
(50:45):
a mentor and I lived in Detroit at the time,
and I was in finance as a regional sales manager.
They owned a bank, you know, like president, you know
at one point and you know, starting this brand. You know,
if I'm in finance and let's say you own a
bank and I come to you and say, hey, man,
I want to start this clothing brand. As a president
(51:06):
of a bank and a guy that does numbers, he's
going to say, yeah, you know that point five of
a percent creating a clothing brand, it only workser point
five percent out of one hundred percent at the time.
That's not great odds. So why are you throwing your
life away trying to do this clothing brand?
Speaker 2 (51:22):
You know?
Speaker 1 (51:22):
And I'm just like, nah, this is something I truly
want to do. This is something I really want to
push for. And they hit me with the yeah, just
go ahead and go to dtw the Detroit Airport, his
twelve hundred dollars, just go home, Just go home, you know.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
And it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Now I took that twelve hundred dollars, bought inventory with it,
paid them back, and now for that same airport that
I was supposed to leave, I have a store opening
at so truly that that inspiration for me and that
drive comes from me wanting what I can see is
that professional golf and for people to take advantage of
(52:00):
the game. And I wasn't gonna let anything stop me.
I mean, eviction notice on my crib, eight hundred dollars
a month in unemployment checks, I still got the check
stubs on my refrigerator from twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
You know, and nothing's going to stop you.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
If you have that mentality, you can have that drive,
nothing is going to stop you. And people real truly
just surround you that have that same mentality and that
just want to see you win and that want to
see the game be different and because because that's what
it needs at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (52:31):
So, man, I thought I was inspiring, brother, you would
he inspired me stuff because look, and I definitely have
again experienced a lot of those similar things, man, And
I hope that people are really hearing what you're saying
with this because there's so much there's so many nuggets
and like, so many truths in these stories, and I
think people need to hear this because again, we only
see the end result a lot of times, and everybody
(52:52):
thinks it sees everybody thinks entrepreneurship is just going and
hanging out.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
And you know, just you know, tax right off.
Speaker 4 (52:58):
So you do this and it's like d bro, you
got to put in the work and even when you win,
and there's still more work to be done, like wait,
if you really want to make like you know, again,
there's moments where you definitely get to enjoy it and
understand that part. But again it's worked. But the ability
to do something that you were passionate about, that you
care about, and then also using that to help, you know,
uplift other people, uplift the game, as I think, is
(53:18):
truly amazing. So again, congratulations on every day accomplished. Before
we get out of here, for those that don't know,
where can they get them some Eastside Golf at how
can they support y'all?
Speaker 2 (53:28):
How can they get involved? Like give them all the things?
Speaker 4 (53:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (53:30):
Yeah, you can buy east Side Golf at eastside goolf
dot com or our Instagram at east Side Golf, our
Twitter or x at east Side Golf. And then we
also have a story Eastside Golf Japan eastside goolf JP
dot com as well, So but eastside goolf dot com.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
Go on there.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
You can download our app Eastside Golf as well, and
you can buy as much merch so you can fit
into the cart. And also we'll we'll post a promo
code on here so you guys can come on here
watching at the end of the show, definitely he'll post
the promo codesh we can get you got some some
pieces for the love so I got you.
Speaker 4 (54:07):
Thank I love it man, well Elija want to get man.
Congratulations with everything and that's the pod man.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
We out.
Speaker 4 (54:13):
You've been listening to button Nomics and Omi your host
Brandon Butler, got comments, feedback?
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Want to be on the show.
Speaker 4 (54:19):
Send us an email today at hello at butternomics dot com.
Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by
Ksey Pegram, with marketing support from Queen and Nikki.
Speaker 2 (54:28):
Music provided by mister Hanky.
Speaker 4 (54:30):
If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button and never
missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot at l. Listen
to button Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Brandon Butler
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Iâm Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and Iâm so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood youâre able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and lifeâs ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them weâve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I donât take it for granted â click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I canât wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com