Author George Johnson: “They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway”

Consistency is one. It’s something that I live by — no matter what, if I said I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna do it. Just being consistent no matter what my agenda is.

As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing George Johnson.

George Johnson grew up in Northside Richmond where he spent most of his time either on the basketball court or figuring out ways to make money without selling drugs. He became a basketball standout in Virginia, and made a name for himself when he led Eastern Mennonite University to the Elite Eight of the DIII NCAA Tournament. Since then, he has built several businesses in various sectors and enjoys being a serial entrepreneur almost as much as he enjoys being able to support many of his family members and friends. But nothing has been more challenging than the struggles he faced with some of those family members and the federal government standing behind them. Now George spends his time in Houston Texas where several of his businesses are headquartered. He has three children — two girls and one boy — and enjoys his hard-earned life of freedom.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?

I’m from the northside of Richmond, VA, which is your typical quote-unquote “hood”.You’re dealing with all the dynamics of that: poverty, street stuff, everybody abusing drugs in that environment. But I grew up with my older brother, who was a basketball star in the state of Virginia. So, I kind of followed in his footsteps, and as I evolved, basketball kept me disconnected from all the stuff going on in my neighborhood.

Even though I loved basketball, growing up I always had an entrepreneurial mindset and was always finding ways to make money. But selling drugs was never really something I had to do; it really didn’t make sense to me given the position I was in. I started seeing what it was doing to people around me, sending people to prison and those types of things, so I never got into that. But making money was still an issue, so I was always willing to try different things that were out of the “norm” for the people around me.

In the 6th grade, I asked my Home Economics teacher to teach me how to use a sewing machine and I began sewing NBA and NFL patches onto people’s clothes and stuff. I was always into getting into alternative hustles.

As time evolved and college was coming, I decided to leave my city and go to a prep school knowing that getting out of my environment and getting exposed to different things would help me. But that was really an alternative [in my community]; my mom and dad didn’t really get it, they thought something was wrong with me or that I was running away from the city. I kind of went against their will to go after a scholarship I got to go to a prep school…and from there I really evolved.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

My first memoir, Double Crossed, is coming out on February 26th. I describe it as a Cain & Abel story of the struggles I had with my family and growing up in the inner city. But, to be frank, I’m not super religious. I don’t know the bible from front to back, but one story I always knew growing up was Cain & Abel, so when I began writing this story I used that story to frame what I experienced with my two older brothers (hence the “Double”) and they crazy stuff they had done to me.

There’s a lot of stuff in the book that I want people to understand and learn from. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t share a whole lot — there’s no one person in my life who knows everything that transpired or about what I went through. I always kept it to myself and felt like I had to deal with myself, as a man. There’s stuff in the book that even my mother didn’t know that I had dealt with and handled. This book is me just putting everything on the table. There’re many different dimensions to me; I’m an employer, I’m an uncle, I’m a son, I’m a father, I interact with so many different demographics — from black to white to Hispanic — and no one group of people in my life knew everything I was going through. So this book is a really just a tell-all, and it’s really a testament to the fact that you never really know what somebody’s going through.

In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?

It would definitely be my ability to work in this middle space — I work in a corporate space, and yet, like I say in the book, I’m also interacting with guys in the hood who are selling drugs, telling me they’ve never read a book since Green Eggs & Ham and that “I’ve got the whole hood pre-ordering the book on Amazon”.

So, I feel like that’s the position I’m in in every walk of life I’m in. I can bridge this gap between people who would never find themselves in a central space, but I can still bring them to that space and make it work.

Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

My attorney told me, this round of sentencing, that I was going to prison. He felt that we had put our best foot forward, and having been an attorney for over 30 years he was pretty sure. The night before sentencing, we sat down and he told me where I’d be spending at least 18 months in federal prison. I told him that I didn’t believe that, but he said “If you don’t go to prison, I will be knocked off my feet”.

Once everything transpired and the judge gave me leniency with federal house arrest, I remember walking out of court and saying to my attorney, “You better find some way to fall on your back, cuz I didn’t see you knocked off your feet.”

That was a lonely space. I had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for someone to defend me, and he was just being honest, but with everything I was up against he was sure there was no way I was going to walk out of that courtroom.

In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? :-)

To be honest, it came down to my body of work in my community. I had a non-profit, I had about 30 kids that I was mentoring, and I had people in high-up positions speaking on my own behalf, and I had to speak for about three to five minutes about the work I had done, me as a father, me as a person … I truthfully believe that the judge knew what I was up against and the federal government’s agenda against me was wrong,

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There have been a few solid friends and family members, but the first person to come to mind is my younger cousin. She’s one of the smartest people I know. Before all this went down, she was in graduate school but had to leave because she could no longer afford it, and she came home to work for me and I took her under my wing.

While I was fighting this federal situation in Houston, she thought that she wouldn’t be able to step up and take my place to hold things down. What she has evolved into in the midst of what I had to deal with, I wouldn’t have been able to be where I’m at without her because she took what I started and turned it into something I never could’ve while fighting my sentencing for years.

It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

Summer before college, a drug transaction between two friends of mine went bad, and I was charged with setting up a king pin robbery. I was about to lose my scholarship and everything, but my friends and community members actually got on the stand, spoke on my behalf, and told the court that I didn’t know anything about the situation.

That experience showed me how quickly my life could’ve headed in a different direction…how quickly things could go left and being resilient and aware of your surroundings.

Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

1. Consistency is one. It’s something that I live by — no matter what, if I said I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna do it. Just being consistent no matter what my agenda is.
2. Faith: genuinely believing in myself and the things that I set out to do. Having faith that everything will work out.
3. Focus: the level of focus that you’re gonna have. No one should be able to reroute you on what you plan to do.
4. Accountability: if you know me in my business or personal life, accountability is something I live by. Unless I’m dead, I’m gonna do what I set out to do. Whether it’s being on time for dinner, or getting payroll on time.
5. Not holding anything back: if I have something to do, I exhaust myself trying to get everything done. If I have enough energy to sit and think about the things I should’ve done, I’m gonna get up and do it. I try to get the most out of every day.

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

“Your life could change in one year” — I’ve seen that quote evolve on each end of the spectrum. I’ve seen myself go from having $2,000 in a year, to having $500,000 in my bank account, and I’ve seen it go the other way around. Your life really could change in one year.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

It’s the same thing that I want to shine light on through my book and on my social media — the importance of seeking help for mental health, especially in my community. You don’t need to suffer alone or rely on drugs to resolve those issues. Me going to therapy, me asking people where they’re at mentally right now, those are not conversations we would have. So, these are the conversations I’m trying to have and the movement I’m trying to inspire.

Can our readers follow you on social media?

You can follow me on Instagram @2xcrossed and find my book at 2xcrossed.com/thebook

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!