We recently connected with Brittany Desmuke and have shared our conversation below.
Brittany , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
I hope that my legacy will be that I left this earth empty. That I fulfilled my purpose and gave everything that I could to impact the world in the way that I was destined to. That I left no idea, no vision, no dream on the table. That God was pleased with me and my children were inspired by me. I hope to have lived well enough to hear “well done.”
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
KB Christian Apparel is absolutely a God thing. In 2019, I was constantly getting a download of phrases that I’d started to jot down in my phone. Eventually, I’d conjured up a laundry list of sayings that I had no idea what to do with. It wasn’t until I opened Canva (a design website for beginners) and saw that they’d added a new t-shirt design feature that the idea finally clicked for me. These phrases were the introduction to our brand!
In addition to the phrases, God had already given me the foundational name of the business – Kingdom Builders. It wasn’t clear to me at the time why this wording was so significant but now I know that it tells the story of our brand’s purpose. Through KB Christian Apparel, my husband and I encourage other believers to pursue God’s best for their lives while being the most authentic version of themselves. God created each of us uniquely for a purpose greater than what we could ever fathom and we must all do our part, no matter how big or how small, to uplift and bring glory to the kingdom of God, i.e. be Kingdom Builders.
Although the foundation of the brand had been set in 2019, I had no idea what to do from there. Additionally, the entire world was at a stand still as we all laid witness to the global pandemic that was COVID-19.
During this time, it seemed like everyone was starting a business and for extremely good reason. So many people were losing their jobs or were transitioning to working from home, so for a large population of people, turning a hobby into a side hustle was a necessity.
And like many other people, I was no different. I worked my 9 to 5, whether on site or at home, but when I had time, I was tuned in to online coaches who mastered in using social media to brand and grow new or existing businesses. Thankfully for me, my sister-in-love introduced me to a reputable coach who had been building businesses online for years before the pandemic started; so now I not only had the building blocks of a business, I now had the proper resources to teach me how to make it grow.
For more than a year, I spent time learning, watching YouTube videos, and creating new t-shirt designs all while working full time and trying to find the proper balance between what I was doing versus what I wanted to do.
On January 25, 2021, I finally took the plunge and launched the business. I didn’t have any equipment – from t-shirts to a tripod to a proper mailing address, but I didn’t care. If I was ever going to start the business, now would be the time. I knew that I still had a lot of learning to do and a lot of hurdles to face, but I was ready for whatever.
Like most people who have ever started a business, the start was VERY slow. I’m not sure how long it took for us to get our first sale, but I was filled with sheer joy knowing that someone wanted to purchase something from our brand who wasn’t a family member.
At the end of 2021 and the start of 2022, I’d thankfully started to find my groove. I felt much more confident and comfortable posting to social media and being in front of the camera because for one, I knew that God was leading me and for two, I’d started to develop a community of like-minded believers who were being impacted not only by the messages I shared but the apparel that corresponded.
In 2022, I took the great leap of faith and left my job. Since then, I have been investing my time and attention into this brand in hopes of spreading the good news through clothing that you can be, do and have God’s very best for you. As long as you are faithful and committed to doing your part, there’s no good thing he will withhold from you.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
King Ashley Ann was the online coach that I watched. Many of her videos are available on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. She’s helped to make several millionaires across multiple business genres using her years of experience. One of the greatest takeaways that I took from her early on to help me frame my state of mind was this – “Your family and friends don’t make you rich. Strangers do.”
From this, my mindset quickly shifted because initially, it can be discouraging when family and friends don’t support you. When you come to the awareness that your family and friends may not even be your audience, they may not like what you’re selling or they possibly don’t have the money to invest in what you’re doing, it’s easier to eliminate those expectations and move on to finding the audience you were meant to reach.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Working my 9 to 5, I didn’t have a surplus of income available to pour into my business, but I was so committed to making this work that other people around me poured into my business. My husband has bought so many t-shirts, my parents gave me $500 for a heat press and one of my close friends shipped me her ring light.
You don’t need to have much to start. If you believe in what you’re doing, get creative and use what you have in your hands. I literally started with nothing and I now have my own in home studio. Over time, the things that you need will come to you, but if you wait to have it all together, you’ll never start.
Contact Info:
- Website: kbchristianapparel.com
- Instagram: KB Christian Apparel
- Facebook: KB Christian Apparel
- Youtube: KB Christian Apparel
- Other: Tik Tok – KB Christian Apparel