Stefanie Johnson – “Taking a leap of faith”

Some people go through life waiting for opportunities to present themselves while other people go out and create those opportunities. Either way, life always seems to have a way of working itself out even when many of the decisions we have to make aren’t easy ones. Sometimes taking a leap of faith is exactly what we need to do.

​…. and a leap of faith is exactly what I did. By no means do I feel the need to explain myself….. rather, I want to be transparent and share with everyone how the events and decisions I have made as of lately came to fruition. It’s probably no surprise that I am now one of the newest members of the Roto Grip Womens squad! Having said that, I’d like to add that it wasn’t an easy decision for me to make. There was some anxiety, tears and sleepless nights spent wondering if I was making the right decision simply because there’s always a level of comfort when you have been with a company for so long — 9 years to be exact. It’s no different than switching jobs and starting at a new company. I’m certain that many of you reading this can certainly relate to that feeling! The decision I made was my decision and mine only. With that being said, I know it’s the right one because I followed my heart and again, decided to take a leap of faith.

Many people have asked me “what happened?” and the frank answer is, well nothing happened. Everything between myself and EBI was great — you don’t spend nearly a decade with a company and not build great relationships and friendships along the way! Which again, didn’t make my decision any easier. Simply put, the change was made because I was presented with an opportunity from Roto Grip that certainly peaked my interest and as anyone should do, I explored it further. Which leads me right to where I am today! Not only will I be competing using Roto Grip / Storm products, I will be assisting with some social media and other fun projects along the way. I don’t have a formal title necessarily other than I will be doing everything I can to put my best face forward and represent in any light that I can! So those thinking I left because of the Brunswick acquisition of EBI could not be more wrong — this was in motion much before that took place. I have much love and respect for all of those people that helped me along my journey get to where I’m at and those relationships were built based on genuine friendships, not because of what balls people were throwing. There are no hard feelings. Our world is such a small one in that we are all connected by one commonality, and that’s bowling, so it’s important for me to continue those relationships going forward.

One of the things I distinctly remember my dad sharing with me before he passed was to “do a little bit of everything” and that has stuck with me for many many years. Anyone that knows me is well aware I have my hands in many different projects quite often. I thrive off of new opportunities and always challenging myself to step outside of my comfort zone — I feel that’s truly the only way we grow as individuals by exposing ourselves to different situations and people.

Furthermore, the other wonderful opportunity that I have sought is partnering with Coolwick. I will not only be on their National Staff wearing their amazing outfits, but they will also be manufacturing my FanieHose leggings moving forward. How exciting!!! It was only right of me to not only utilize them to help grow my business, but in turn for me to do the same for them. With that said, I will also be assisting with their creative team in designing jerseys and helping with some back end website pieces. Again, completely out of my realm of anything I am used to doing, however, it’s exactly in my wheelhouse in that it’s new and exciting! And if something is exciting to you, the more prone you are to learning and excelling at it.

So I will leave you with this thought, when’s the last time you took a leap of faith? I challenge you to get out there and do something new, even if it seems to be minuscule — getting started is always the hardest part but once you do…. you’ll feel like you can do anything! Who’s ready to conquer the world with​ me? Leave your comments below, have a great day! <3