NATE ROBINSON’S ENTREPRENEUR JOURNEY

JANUARY 15, 2021

“When I got tired of going to stores and buying Nike and Adidas and all of these other brands, I started thinking to myself, ‘they started from nothing, they started from scratch, so why can’t I start my own brand and try to do something new and different from what other people are doing?’

That was kind of the impetus behind creating my own brand, Holdat, and that’s been the fun part, just creating. Trying to figure out what people like and what they don’t like. Every day is a challenge, but it’s just so much fun creating and having the freedom to do what I want without having someone there to tell me, ‘no, you can’t do that.’ I’m able to do what I think is best and create my own vision and I will never take being my own boss for granted, ever in my life. 

My brand means a lot to me, not only because I get to be my own boss and I get to go out there and be creative without restrictions, but because of the name itself and what that word means to me. ‘Holdat’ is one of the dopest words in the world, it’s for people that are constantly told they can’t do something, and once they do accomplish their goals they can go back to those doubters and those critics and say, ‘yeah, holdat.’

But at the end of the day I don’t do this for me, I’m doing this for my kids. I’m doing it so that they can have a better life than I had growing up, so they don’t every have to worry about any of their clothes going on layaway, about when they’re going to eat next, or when mommy and daddy are coming home from work because they’ve been slaving away all day and night.

I want my kids to see all of the hard work and dedication I put in so that they try to achieve goals that can help them provide an even better life than they had for their kids. And that’s what we’re trying to do, just pay it forward. I take my hat off to my mother and my father, they instilled hard work, and grind, and dedication in us, and they taught us to never be quitters, to never give up, and to always keep fighting. Hopefully I’ve instilled the same in my kids and they can take that with them and give it to their kids too. 

Another important part of my life and my journey is positivity. I just love to have a good time, the inner child in me always wants to have fun, I always want people to be smiling, I always want people to feel positive while they’re around me. Making people laugh is one of the best gifts on earth, you don’t have to take anything from someone or ask them for something when you can make them laugh.

When you stay as positive as me and you keep it light like I do, there are always going to be people that come in and try to cast a shadow on that and you just have to let them be over there and be negative on their own, if that’s how they want to be, that’s on them. 

You can’t let what people say stick to you. I thank God that I was given the strength to deal with these types of people, you know, negative people, people that try to belittle others, people that put people down. If you’re going to have success you’re going to have to learn to withstand that shit because there are a lot of cruel people in this world that want you to feel like them, like a piece of shit, and you’ve got to decide that you’re not accepting that. Accept nothing but love and positivity.

I don’t worry about what those negative Nancy’s are saying over there, I’m over here enjoying life and I’m focused on me, my family, and what I’m doing, not what they’re doing. Life is so much better when you’re worrying about your own business and you’re in your own world.

You can’t let what other people think affect you. For me, it’s like, I know I work hard, and I know I’m a good-ass father, so beyond that, I really don’t care what anybody’s saying about me. You’re going to have to be positive around me, if not, I’m going to have to exit. 

And to have that mentality and that mindset, you can’t be afraid. And that’s an important lesson in entrepreneurship, but also in life. It’s like Kobe said, you can’t be afraid to fail. The chances are, you’re going to fail a couple of times before you get it right. You’ve got to give it your all and not be afraid to try new things and fail at those too, and eventually you’ll find your niche like I did with ‘Holdat’.

Just think about all of the big brands; Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Puma, all of these brands started somewhere, they started from scratch. And that’s what I’m doing with ‘Holdat,’ and that’s what any budding entrepreneur should realize: everybody starts somewhere. That’s the toughest part, just having the confidence to go out and actually start something and bring an idea to life. 

And I feel like there are a lot of athletes that could be doing this, starting companies and creating outside of their sport, but they just don’t realize they’ve got the skill. Hopefully the hiatus has given some guys the time to think about what they like and what their hobbies are so they can capitalize on that when they’re done playing pro ball.

My biggest advice is just try it, try getting out there because you never know, you might like it. And, hey, you might not like it, but at least if you try it you’ve got that experience with you for the rest of your life. You can’t have any regrets, if you make a mistake or you fail, at least you know you tried. At the end of the day, I don’t have any regrets, everything I’ve done was written, it was supposed to be done and all me, you, or anyone can do is try to make the best of what’s in front of us.”