Josh Johnston walked into 216 Coworking in Cartersville looking like a guy who has it figured out — a growing leadership brand and a men's community nearing 50 members. By the end of the conversation with host Logan Lewis, it was clear that confidence was built on far less certainty than it appeared. Johnston founded Take a Step, a leadership platform for growth-minded young professionals, and this episode traced the arc behind it: a college baseball career erased by COVID, four years in a corporate job he hated, a single Canva graphic posted on January 1, 2023, and a family loss just three weeks before he sat down to record. What tied it together was an idea he kept returning to — every decision gets made from one of two places, faith or fear.
A Small Kid With a Big Dream, Until COVID Ended It
Johnston grew up in a faith-driven, athletic family, small for his age and, by his own admission, a big approval-seeker who didn't hit his growth spurt until high school. He earned a baseball scholarship to a small college in North Georgia, and by senior year had a real shot at a professional path. Then, 13 games into that season in March 2020, the team bus pulled off an exit and his coach announced there wouldn't be a series that weekend. "Baseball is my identity, and having that stripped away when I was expecting this to be the clear path to play professional baseball was hard, because I felt like it was completely outside of my control," he told Logan. He credits Jocko Willink's Extreme Ownership with reframing that season: "Take ownership, because it's the first step to actually being able to take action and do something different."
From a Corporate Job He Hated to a Canva Graphic on Instagram
With baseball gone, Johnston defaulted to what everyone around him was doing — corporate sales. "I spent four years working in two different jobs that I hated," he said. "I realized I am not willing to build a life based off of everyone else's definition of success when I haven't even defined it for myself." The turning point was almost absurdly small: on January 1, 2023, still working his corporate job, he designed a rough graphic in Canva and made his first post about personal growth. That single post — which he now calls the hardest part of the whole process — led to the Take a Step podcast that year, a newsletter called The Weekly Mile in 2024, and eventually a coaching partnership that let him leave corporate for good.
The Tribe: 50 Guys Now, 100 by Year's End
Take a Step has grown into a men's leadership program called the Tribe, built around a goal-setting system, monthly calls, and quarterly in-person workshops for guys in metro Atlanta. It started with ten men and has grown to nearly 50, with a goal of 100 by year's end. Johnston shared a story about a member who joined while unfulfilled at his job and nervous about starting a marketing agency: "Since joining, business has five-x'd. My wife and I get to go on a date a week when we were arguing almost every day. He'd lost like 20 pounds and he's training for an Ironman." It's the proof behind Take a Step's core message: your action produces clarity.
Faith vs. Fear, and Why 'He Is Risen' Posts Bother Him
Johnston built his own framework called STEP — strength, tribe, expertise, and praise — with praise, meaning spiritual growth, at the center. "You control the inputs, but God controls the outputs," he said, arguing that mindset lets you hold gratitude in both the highs and lows. That led to one of the episode's most pointed moments, when Johnston shared an opinion he knew would ruffle feathers: he can't stand watching people who never mention their faith suddenly flood Facebook with "He is risen" posts every Easter. "There's a difference between a believer and a follower," he said. "When your faith in Jesus becomes more about a religion than a relationship, then there's a problem." He pointed to the Gospels, noting Jesus reserved his sharpest words for the scribes and Pharisees who followed religious law without grasping its purpose.
Golden Handcuffs and a Death That Changed Everything
The heaviest part of the episode came when Johnston shared something he hadn't planned to talk about. Three weeks before recording, his father-in-law died suddenly of a heart attack at 71 — still working after 40 years at a paper mill, still talking about the retirement he kept putting off. Around the same time, Johnston's own father was diagnosed with Parkinson's, also still working after decades at the same company. Johnston recalled asking his dad years earlier if he loved his job: "Josh, working here is kind of like having golden handcuffs. They treat you really well, but you're kind of tied with what you can do." He officiated his father-in-law's funeral and closed it with a borrowed line: "Show me a person on their deathbed — money no longer matters. The only thing that matters is the people standing around that bed." It was a reminder, he said, that tomorrow isn't guaranteed.
Where to Find Take a Step Next
Beyond the Tribe, Johnston is taking Take a Step into companies and colleges, running leadership workshops for entry-level teams and student-athletes. He also just launched a free personality assessment built around the STEP framework, available at stepcheck.letstakeastep.com, that identifies how each person is uniquely wired to lead. Johnston is most active on Instagram and LinkedIn as Official Josh Johnston, and he's starting a YouTube vlog alongside the podcast. Whatever the platform, the mission stays the same: help the next generation of leaders clarify their direction and take consistent action, one step at a time.
Listen to the Full Conversation
Josh Johnston's full conversation with Logan Lewis on Your Morning Drive is packed with more than what made this recap — from his take on social media exposing people's true nature, to why he's still deciding where to put his own Take a Step tattoo. Catch the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and follow Your Morning Drive for new episodes recorded from 216 Coworking in Cartersville, Georgia.
Listen to Episode #503
Catch the full conversation with Josh Johnston on Your Morning Drive, wherever you listen.
