Today we’d like to introduce you to Archie Craft.
Hi Archie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am Archie D. Craft, Jr. and I was introduced to golf as a sophomore in HS by my Head Football Coach at Houston James Madison HS, Coach Ray Seals. Coach convinced me that this new game would be a great concentration sport for quarterbacks. I was a 3 sport athlete, football player, basketball player and baseball player but had never been introduced to golf until Coach Seals spoke to me. Needless to say I was one of the few football players that took coach up on his invitation, which was an amazing and life altering decision I made. I’m still thanking God! Anyway, I was able to play golf sophomore year, Junior year, and senior year and then I went to Langston University and HBCU in Langston, Oklahoma and had the opportunity to join their golf team as well! Played football (quarterback) and golf for 4 years at Langston, while also being Student Body President my senior year! IT was a great experience, our team wasn’t that good, but we competed and loved the sport.
Upon graduating from college, I returned back to Houston and began working as a teacher and football coach. A couple of years later I was able to transfer to James Madison where I had started and coached football, basketball, and yes GOLF! That was another great accomplishment. I did that for 2 years before a promotional opportunity came and I moved on. Some years later, I ended up at a charter school as the athletic director and Head football and PE coach. It just so happened that I was teaching Golf to the young people in my classes and began to start putting together actual lessons on how to do it. I did that for about 3 or 4 years before I met Mr. Cliff or Coach Cliff, an after-school program entrepreneur that teaches chess. Mr. Cliff coerced me and pleaded with me to begin teaching golf in the after-school setting, he told me, “Craft I have never seen a golf program in the after-school setting, you definitely need to try it”. I will never forget that. I put him off for about a year, but he kept at it, and I’m forever thankful he did!
I wrote up the curriculum and founded Little Birdies Mobile Golf Academy at one school a sister from church allowed me to pilot it at one of her campuses and I did Little Birdies for 2 hours and made more money and more of an IMPACT in 2 hours that what I was doing in 8 hours teaching and 12 hours coaching on the school campuses. So, in 2014, I stepped out on Faith, walked in Faith and officially founded the company and walked away from my job! That was in November, I didn’t even wait until the semester was over, I was just that excited, anxious, lead! And the rest is history, still going strong 7 years later. It’ll be 8 in June!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definitely not a smooth road, I remember trying to convince my wife that I was being led to start my business. I was making good money as a coach and teacher, but in my mind, it had taken me away from my family for so long that I was getting tired quicker than I should have. But she eventually found the Faith to get on-board. But not only that, I had to tap into my retirement to get started, which was a bit more than I wanted to, but I don’t regret it. And then the naysayers or confused people that didn’t understand walking away from a good paying job to follow a passion. Finding coaches is and has been a challenge, but God makes a way.
Other, than that, it was easy. My contracts began coming in since I had been in the school district for over 11 years, so those connections panned out and allowed me to expand!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Little Birdies Golf Academy (LBMGA) is an innovative new series of mobile classes/lessons targeted at supplementing the in-class learning for youth ages 4 – 17 years of age, with systemic STEM lessons as well as Character Ed/Life Skill lessons all through the historic and life-long game of Golf. Our mission is to impact the lives of these precious Little Birdies by exposing them to a game that they would not readily participate in all while teaching and modeling key character lessons that will improve him/her as a whole. Our young people have so much hidden talent within them that any amount of persistent empowering has the potential to unlock unforeseen treasures.
Our curriculum is comprised of lessons that compliment TEKS objectives in literacy, numeracy, and Social Emotional learning all while having FUN teaching the concepts and intricacies of the whole game of golf, everything from the history of the game, to the scoring, to the full-swing, to putting, chipping, bunker-play all while incorporating math and science skills and key character traits in every lesson needed for the game of golf as well as life. Discipline, Integrity, Focus, Perseverance, Goal-Setting, Humility, and Respect are character traits that we value deeply at LBMGA and believe are universal in the lives of successful individuals; our staff of golf instructors instills these traits in our Little Birdies throughout the academy. Every practice has the perfect combination providing exercise both to the body as well as the mind.
Our Vision is to introduce over 5,000 young people to the game of golf in Houston, Tx by 2023 and from there set up franchises throughout the nation, impacting over 10,000 by 2025. We also want to host Little Birdie titled Junior golf tournaments for all the Little Birdies to compete in.
What sets up apart is we are mobile and bring everything to the lesson/class which means we come to you and meet you and we have qualified golf instructors that work for our program. We have developed a curriculum that I am proud of that we can teach at local parks, school campuses, churches and community centers. Not only that we have began to write our children’s books, we published our first book 2 years ago based on our logoed character “Kirby Birdie”. Super proud how the kids respond to him and the book and just our classes in general.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I am a Spiritual person, a Youth Pastor as well, so I love studying the Bible. Business wise, I really enjoy the Eric Thomas podcast, watching Shark Tank, and the Book Traction by Gino Wickman and Double your Success by the Carter brothers have been pillars in my Business success thus far!
Contact Info:
- Email: a.craft@littlebirdiesgolf.com
- Website: www.littlebirdiesgolf.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/littlebirdiesgolf
- Facebook: www.Facebook.com/littlebirdiesgolfacademy
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/lilbirdiesgolf
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/mfEm7ZcCXWs
