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Meet Josh Jogwe of EZ Buckets Basketball in OC

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Jogwe.

Josh, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started my love for business and entrepreneurship at a young age I was inspired by my dad. He was a professor of statistics as well as consultant and just overall international businessman. We would watch Shark Tank and I was amazed by the inventions that people would come up with and he would always instill in me the idea that I could create something like that too.

Professional Career:
Well, my actual job I am a Financial Advisor for a large financial firm called Prudential. Our headquarters is based in Newark, New Jersey but I work for our Orange County office. I help individuals improve their financial future by helping them manage assets and liabilities, create comprehensive plans, investment strategies, and teach them about financial wellness. I really love helping people with their finances as money is such an integral part to not only those individual’s lives but also their family as well. Helping a client understand that they are not diversified enough in their portfolio and reassuring them that with some guidance they will be ready for retirement brings me a lot of joy.

I started in this job/industry as a result of a group from college. I helped start his club at my alma mater UCI called the UCI Black Gentleman’s Club and it was basically a development/networking group for African American males on our campus where we’d talk about pressing social issues, connect but also bring in speakers from different industries. One event we brought in a Financial Advisor his name was Jacob Williams and I was really impressed by what he said/did so I kept in contact with him and he helped me get an interview and so to this day here I am!

Businesses:
I like keeping busy so as many of my friends know I’m constantly on the move. I started my basketball training organization EZ Buckets Basketball my senior year of college. I started in this industry working under my HS trainer Taku and just learning/honing my craft everyday. I learned how to run workouts, network with other coaches, players and then used my marketing skills I learned from college and my resources to market myself across many social media platforms. I ran Facebook ads, craigslist ads, used personal referrals, made my own website, business cards, and created professional training videos.

I run about ten workouts a week from varying levels of players. I also am the Head Trainer for a 12u travel ball team called the Santa Ana Aztecs. Furthermore, I have been selected as a top 50 trainer in OC and was chosen to run camps for Ballislife All American Jr Camp, LA Clippers, EBC West, Enes Kanter (center for the Boston Celtics), Raya Foundation, City of Santa Ana.

In addition, I then decided I wanted to create clothing as well to help further promote my brand. It was around the time of the World Cup and people were so proud to show off their home country and so I wanted to create something to capture that pride. For example, I am so proud of both my Nigerian and Mexican heritage so I know personally I’d like to show that affiliation. So I created custom track pants/shorts that I’d embroider but also would add a flag patch of the country/countries that represented the client best.

I used my network to get models for the pants, photographers, shoot locations as well as inspiration for designs/colorways. I started with a few shoots to get content and then slowly started rolling out more and more pictures/clothing and people started gravitating towards it.

Writing:
Last but not least, I enjoy writing and putting out my ideas to the world and family/friends. My senior year of college I self-published my first book on Amazon called “From Intern to Full-TIme”. It is a book that helps college students learn about how to get an internship but most importantly how to leverage that internship to secure a full-time job for after college because in today’s day and age nothing is guaranteed. I also write weekly LinkedIn articles as well as small excerpts. I plan on writing my next book within the year and it will be something related to either entrepreneurship for minorities or personal finance for minorities.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Oh of course not. But that’s part of the beauty.. the journey… the struggle. I mean it’s not the end of the road I’m not totally where I want to be but I’d definitely say I’m on the right path.

I’d say that to begin with one of the struggles I’ve had for both of my passions finance and basketball is networking. For EZ Buckets I mean there is a ton of basketball trainers so why would players want to work with me? So I had to grind and perfect my craft. I had to have some social proof.

I watched hours of youtube vids on how to make my own website because I didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars to someone to do it for me. First one I made was a wordpress site and honestly it wasn’t that great. I decided to upgrade and I went with a shopify site because I also wanted the ability to process payments as well as have easy customization from both my laptop and mobile phone.

But before starting my own brand I learned the art of networking with trainers/coaches and running drills from my HS trainer Taku Muradzikwa. He let me work under him when I was still in HS and gave me the beginner clients and allowed me some structure but also freedom to implement my own ideas. It gave me the confidence to see I could do things on my own.

I was invited to be a trainer for the Ballislife Jr. All American Camp which included the top 500 middle school players in the country. I was chosen as a top trainer in OC. After that doors started opening. I was selected as a trainer for the LA Clippers training camp, started running my own camps and this past summer even ran a camp with Enes Kanter (center for the Boston Celtics). I began also documenting all my progress/workouts with videos and pictures.

Additionally, I made a LinkedIn Business page, Yelp page, IG page, VImeo channel, Facebook Business page, I started with a few clients from personal referrals, Craigslist ads (worked extremely well), then IG marketing. Now clients come to me instead of vice versa it feels great.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the EZ Buckets Basketball story. Tell us more about the business.
EZ Buckets Basketball is a training/development organization that helps players take their game to the next level as well as prepare them for college. I do this by providing a myriad of drills and skills for different positions, beach workouts, strength/conditioning and agility work. In addition, I teach my players about budgeting, what it takes to get to college, the SAT, GPA info, AP Classes, majors in college and more.

In addition, what differentiates my company is that not only do I provide training but I also provide experiences/real connections. I’ve worked tirelessly to create connections with individuals from many top travel programs, universities, college coaches and more. So I take my team/trainees to games as well as college practices and tours.

This gives them a sense of inspiration/purpose plus gives them a better chance of getting looked at.

So I’d say in a nutshell I specialize by helping my clients expand their life/college options and that can be either though basketball and expanding their offensive skill set or simply introducing them to the idea that they can go to college. This is what I’m most proud of,

Financial Advising:
I specialize in working with young professionals as well individuals who are getting closer to nearing retirement. I help clients with their asset allocations, making sure there are no gaps in their financial plan, and helping them to mitigate risk in volatile markets.

I work especially well with my younger clients because I understand their goals and aspirations. Ultimately. I’d like to help manage the money of professional athletes and help them with their finances. Then I’d like to start an academy that players would get training one day but the next day would learn about saving, entrepreneurship, how bank accounts work, debt, and personal finance. Then from there the pro players I work with could come back and speak to the younger players about their experiences and how money management/knowledge is so important.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’d say luck has played a small role but good luck is when preparation meets opportunity. I worked extremely hard so that when the right opportunity presented itself I’d be ready and so that being said I’m still waiting for more!

However, nobody is successful without help along the way. Even the greatest achievers have had mentors. I’d like to shout out just a couple that have helped me get to this spot:

My mom Margarita thank you for always believing in me and supporting me when I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with my studies. Even when we lost dad you were a steady rock for all of us and I’m so happy to be your son. I’d also like to thank my brother Nnamdi from giving me different social perspectives and supporting my ideas in multiple ways. To Leon & Pearl Raya from the Aztecs and Raya Foundation thank you for always providing me with avenues to impact the local Santa Ana community, as well as always picking me and Nnamdi up for games, helping my sister at La Verne and more. To my old trainer Taku Muradzikwa thank you for teaching the art of training and the business side of it and instilling confidence in me that I am qualified. To my college mentor Fred Lipscomb thank you for always giving such great advice and being a good counselor/listener and guide. To my pru family thank you Jimmy Lee and Jacob WIlliams for helping me navigate my start in the financial industry and providing me with day to day opportunities to succeed in my career. To Bruce Le thank you for helping me with sales verbage/mentality your passion & techniques have helped take my game to the next level. To Delvin Joyce thank you for helping me see the bigger picture of why we do what we do and creative ways to expand my business on a bigger scale. To my uncle Jesus thank you for showing the ins and outs of how business people act, where they go, how they dress and being so supportive. To my college guys thank you for supporting and helping me with shoots, promotion, video and laughs over the years (1030 house boys & E’s). To my close friends Kiona, Vince, Marquise, Mylen, Sehun and many more thanks for always listening, giving suggestions, and supporting no matter what. To Mr. Babs thank you for showing the struggle/hunger for success from a salesman perspective and helping me see ways to put myself in positions to succeed.

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Sehun Han, Eduardo Ponce, Garrett Niida

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