CAVE: PS was started in 2005, what inspired the creation of the company?
Greg: A Camosun teammate and I were hired in the summer to coach basketball camps for young kids at a Victoria Rec Centre. During one of the camps, after giving a speech on the benefits of Hard Work and following your Passion, we suddenly had the idea to turn that same message into a run of t-shirts! We were extremely ambitious and began taking pre-orders and collecting payment from our friends before the shirts were even finished. All in all, we only ordered and sold 25 shirts that summer (the summer before I came to SFU), but we felt like we were really on to something. Each summer we did larger and larger clothing orders and soon we were running our own basketball camps as well.
CAVE: The Slogan, “PS – I work harder” is something that can be carried away from sports and brought off the court into everyday life. Do you attribute Passion Sports success to the fact that you are working harder than your competition?
Greg: Great question. Even though I Work Harder originated from a sports background, it will always apply to everyday life for me. The work ethic that we learn as athletes can pay huge dividends within our professional lives as well because most of the time the guy that is willing to work the hardest for a given job, contract, or deal will be the one who gets it. I can definitely credit a good chunk of PS’s success to the work ethic that we bring to the office each day.
CAVE: You attended SFU, while competing on the Varsity Basketball team…How did you find time to build Passion Sports and what advice would you give to aspiring young entrepreneurs?
Greg: Because I didn’t have much time while going to school the majority of work was done in the summer. There would be the occasional thing that came up throughout the school year and most of the time I would put homework and studying on hold to get PS work done first. It wasn’t until I left SFU in 2009 and devoted my full energy to the company that things really started to take off.
My advice to aspiring young entrepreneurs would be for them to keep an open mind about opportunities and ideas, and trust their gut instinct.
CAVE: Not everyone is a College athlete, how does PS cater to the ‘everyday’ guy who works out 2-3x a week?
Greg: Our goal is to inspire everyone to become more ambitious. I think that everyone out there has something that they want to achieve, so if we can inspire the everyday guy to adopt an “I Work Harder” mentality then the brand has succeeded.
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