Justin Forsett CEO & Co-Founder of Hustle Clean, NFL Pro Bowl Running Back

How one NFL Pro-Bowl player went from inventing a product in a locker room to serving people in the community, and how a simple body wipe became a brand on a mission.

“Good things come to those who wait, but only the things left over by those who hustle.” – Abraham Lincoln

Justin Forsett’s journey to successful entrepreneur reads like a movie script, complete with the charismatic leader forging a career after nine years as a professional NFL player.

Justin always viewed himself as an underdog. As a seventh-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, the 5-8, 195 pound-running back was working out multiple times a day just to be able to sustain his career.

With so many periods of the day allotted to training, he didn’t always have time to shower before team meetings. Just as Gatorade helps with hydration and Muscle Milk helps with recovery, he sought something that would quickly treat hygiene.

“I wanted to come up with a solution,” said Forsett, the CEO and founder of Hustle Clean. “There was nothing in the personal care industry that speaks to the athlete.”

Justin Forsett's journey to successful entrepreneur reads like a movie script, complete with the charismatic leader forging a career after nine years as a professional NFL player. While still playing with the Seattle Seahawks, he conceptualized a body wipe - a disposable, anti-bacterial wash cloth that removed sweat and body odor.

He then commercially marketed it in 2014. Since the company landed on Shark Tank in 2018, Hustle Clean has been featured on Fox, CBS, ESPN, NBC and Cheddar. Products are now carried in over 6,000 stores nationwide including Target and over 4,100 Walmart stores.

Justin inspires the resilient and relentless to keep grinding. The thick skin he developed playing football has helped prepare him to enter a world where just 1% of venture-funded startup founders are Black.

SELECT TAKEAWAYS

• Set yourself up for success. Investing in your dream starts with investing in yourself.
• Bet on yourself. Develop a lifelong determination to achieve, lead and continue in trying times.
• Surround yourself with the right people and unleash the full potential of your greatest resource: relationships.
• Invest in “social capital”. Be kind to people, find ways to serve others and make others better around you.
• When the going gets tough, the tough keep hustling.  You simply can’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
• Focus on leaving a legacy, invest in things that matter, and set bigger goals ie: building generational wealth and closing racial wealth gaps.

CUSTOMIZED TO THESE THEMES*: Leadership, Inspiration, Motivation, Diversity, Entrepreneurship, Teamwork, Resiliency, Goal Setting, Sports, Success, Breakthrough