We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Trey Johnson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Trey below.
Trey, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.
There is a saying, “It takes a village to raise a child” and I am the product of an amazing village. Growing up my parents always instilled the importance of family to my sister, brother & I. I’ve spent countless holidays breaks traveling squad deep in a minivan going sightseeing, adventuring, and family events. I have learned that family is much bigger than those who are related to you by blood, but it also includes those who have exemplified characteristics of a family member.
Throughout my life my “family” has grown significantly. I have had mentors, coaches, teammates, friends, coworkers, peers, & many others exemplify family like characteristics towards myself. They have made sacrifices for me, given generously out of the kindness of their own hearts, prayed for me, uplifted me, walked with me through different trials & tribulations, cared for me when I was sick, and so much more. I am FOREVER grateful to EVERYONE who has impacted my journey in life. My way of showing gratitude to them is by paying that generosity forward to the next generation.
God has blessed me with a surplus, who am I to keep it all to myself? My intentions is to use everything that God has blessed me with to glorify his Kingdom and positively impact everyone I come into contact with. God gave generously. So generously that he sent his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for us. Looking at it like that, the least I could do is put on a free football camp/community fair or donate dozens of shoes to make kids smile during Christmas time or even just volunteer my time and be a listening ear to a voice that may never be heard at home.
Why be so generous? It’s what God would do and it’s what I have experienced throughout my life so why would I not give generously? Everyone who has reached success had help along the way. I just want to be that help for the next generation of folks that are on the way to their own success.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Some find my story interesting, some don’t. Either way you’ve already started reading so you might as well read some more!
I have had a plethora of different experiences, both good and bad. My life has had plenty of peaks, accomplishing my dream of playing in the NFL being a big one. My life has had plenty of valleys, depression to the point of an attempted suicide another big one. I am far from perfect and I have failed more than I have succeeded in life. This is important because if you are anything like me you can get caught up in your production or successes/failures being your value & identity. This is a lie the world has told us and we allowed ourselves to begin to believe. Believing this lie is the worst thing you can do. If you don’t remember anything from this interview please remember this, DON’T BELIEVE THE LIE!
Professionally, I am an entrepreneur…… Which really just means I am unemployed
In all seriousness, I love entrepreneurship. It’s not easy by any sense of the word but it’s better than the alternative in my opinion. I get to control my time throughout my days and everything that I do is attached to my purpose. My purpose is to mentor and lead others towards being impactful contributors to society. I do so in three main ways: Faith Finance Fitness (F Cubed), The Johnson-Braddy Foundation Inc, & insurance sales.
F Cubed is a mentorship through fitness training program where we strive to expedite our athlete’s spiritual, leadership, & athletic development. We do so through impactful training, coaching, and mentoring. Our workouts are always challenging and focused on making the athlete better in all physical attributes. We are also intentional about making it a priority to provide a space for conversation around difficult topics our youth face today. Topics like mental health, school, financial pitfalls, bullying, branding, marketing, etc. Ultimately, everything we do leads us to our main goal, cultivating impactful contributors to society.
The Johnson-Braddy Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organization that my family and I founded. Our purpose for it is to provide a safe space for neglected and underserved people to come and learn how to be successful in not only sports but life as well. Our events always have an environment that is built upon proper education, proper exposure, and proper mentality no matter the situation. We do two very public annual events in Ybor City. The Trey Johnson Football camp/community fair and The Christmas Shoppe, both in partnership with The Dreamcenter of Tampa Bay.
Finally, insurance sales. Insurance sales has a three part focus for me. One, I get to help families, individuals, and businesses protect themselves from the unfortunate events that life just seems to throw at us sometimes. This brings me joy and purpose in the mundane day to day activity of sales. The other two are simple, it’s virtual and it helps pay the bills!
Why didn’t you lead off with the insurance sales pitch Trey? To be honest, sales is great but it’s production based and like I mentioned earlier that is no longer where I find my identity. My identity is found in God and I see God move most when I am working with F Cubed and The Johnson-Braddy Foundation.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I live my life based on principles. Majority of those principles come from sayings or one liners that I have heard throughout my sports career, from my parents, in a movie, a sermon, or read in a book (The Bible) and they just stuck out to me. Some of them are funny, some are tongue twisters, some are deep, and some are just straight to the point. One thing that they all have in common is that they can apply to everyone’s life. Race, gender, color, culture, political party, or anything that separates us doesn’t matter because we are all humans that live on this floating rock we call Earth. Flat or not.
1. “Knowledge without application is useless” & “The most important step of any plan is the execution phase”.
Both of these essentially mean the same thing and are self explanatory. If your actions don’t align with your knowledge then you’re worse off than the person who doesn’t have the knowledge to begin with!
2. “Control what you can control or what you can’t control will control you”.
If you’ve played football at a high level then you have heard this one plenty of times. In football there are a lot of variables. There’s a whole other team that has their own players with minds, wills, emotions, skills, experiences, and so on. There’s referees who are strict and there are referees who let things slide. There’s tons of fans, some who are willing to disrespect you and your entire family all in the name of their team and there are fans that sit quietly and just enjoy the game. There are different injuries that you could be feeling from the previous weeks games or even emotional injuries that you’re experiencing because your family member is sick and in the hospital. I could keep going but I think you get the point, if you don’t here it is plainly. You can’t control any of the things that I just listed because they have nothing to do with you! Go ahead, read thru them again and ask yourself “Can I control that?”…….. When you attempt to do so all that happens is those uncontrollable things become magnified and begin to control your way of thinking thus controlling you. The same thing happens in life. I don’t have to make a list of all the uncontrollable variables that exist in your home, work, gym, family, church, clubs, and relationship(s), do I?
3. “Excuses are like buttholes. Everybody has one and most of the time they’re filled with crap”
This one always breaks the tension of a tough situation and puts a smirk on my face, even if it’s just for a second. There’s ALWAYS going to be a reason why something “shouldn’t” or “isn’t” going to work. Whether valid or not, it is an excuse thus making it an obstacle placed before you to keep you from accomplishing the goal that you originally set out to reach, don’t let it! Don’t spend your energy identifying problems, find the solution!
These are just a few principles that help guide my life. There are TONS more, stay tuned because there just might be a book with them all in it one day.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The Bible. Whether you believe that there is a God, isn’t a God, or even believe there are multiple gods, the Bible provides amazing life principles and lessons to stand on. If you don’t believe me just read the book of Proverbs over the course of the next month. I say month because there are 31 chapters so if you read a chapter a day it’ll take you about a month to finish it (The chapters are shorter than this interview). I know for sure that you will begin to look at the world differently because of the nuggets that you gain over that month. Here’s a quick taste:
Proverbs 4:23-24
“Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. Don’t let your mouth speak dishonestly, and don’t let your lips talk deviously.”
If you don’t have a heart you die, that’s a fact…. Be honest, when has lying actually worked in the long run? It might’ve worked in the moment or may even still be working for you. Eventually though, the truth comes out. Might as well deal with it now rather than later.
Proverbs 10:4
“Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches”
If you do nothing you accomplish nothing and ultimately will end up poor. If you do the work that is required you will eventually reach success.
Proverbs 11:14
“Without guidance, people fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance.”
Nobody can attain true success solely by themselves, we need each other.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.faithfinancefit.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alcatreyisland/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trey-johnson-a84866136/
Image Credits
Photo Credits:
Tim Mabins
Carolina Palmer
Jefferson Wooley
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
