How did you actually start?

I started JBF while I was still working as a PCT (Patient Care Technician) in the hospital. In that role, you get the nitty gritty of what’s really going on in the hospital, clinic or whichever facility that you’re in and you come encountered with a lot of different situations that tests your flexibility for both physically and mentally. To be honest, back then I was more heavier than what I am now and my scrubs didn’t always fit me the way I wanted or, needed them to fit in order for me to do my part on the job and feel comfortable while doing it. They were always botched up in the thigh area, sliding down when I bent down, when I raised my arms my shirt would come up, it just was completely uncomfortable. The scrubs I liked were either to expensive, wasn’t my length, or they were unavailable. Going through this was a lot and I knew something had to change so, I started playing with some ideas that I had. I began thinking about what my ideal scrub would looked like and what a comfortable scrub feels like to me.

What was the process of going from idea to execution?

Now the hard part, execution. Oh goodness, this part I feel like was and will forever be the hardest part coming into business for me personally. I didn’t know anything about business nether-less knew anything about finding a manufacturer to bring this idea to life. Trying to find the manufacturer led me to take risk that didn’t go through the way I intended them to go. There were certain licensing that I had to get before putting my business out there that I had no clue that I needed. I mean of course I knew people that had businesses but at the same time everybody wants money…right? Everybody wants to make a quick dollar right? And why not charge for information? Yeah and that wasn’t an option for me because I didn’t have the extra money to be spending on all this information that was free if I just did my own research and then on the backend, I was getting low on the money that I need for my supply and licensing sooo it was back to the basics. YouTube, reading, prayer, YouTube, reading and prayer…that was my routine and just reading the Word of God to get more wisdom on whatever it was that I needed. This process was soooo long but, I learned a lot.

When it came to testing out different manufacturers, yes I ran into a lot SCAMMERS! And I’m just being honest because you don’t find the right one at the beginning. Just like everything else…you gotta weed out all the bad ones to get to the good. I lost some money but I gained some as well, I cried tears but I also jumped for Joy when I made my first $100 off an order so you just gotta know that it’s business and it takes work to develop the endurance to win!

Walk us through some of the main steps that allowed you to launch your business?

Desire. Desire is the first step because you have to know why you are doing what you are doing. What is your “Why”? Because your “Why” is what you will have to keep as a reminder yourself to get through steps 2, 3 and 4. For instance, my “why” consists of freedom. Freedom to do whatever whenever. If I wanna take the day off I can. If I wanna pick up and drop my child off to school everyday of the week I can. If I want to attend every baseball, basketball or football game to support my son I can. If I wanna take my son and I on a vacation for a week or two I can! And I don’t have to answer to nobody nor put in for the PTO for my vacation to be approved. If I’m in service and the pastor says we need 1 million dollars to finance this project for the Kingdom of God, I want to be the one to raise my hand and send the payment right then and there…why? Because I believe I am and I want to be a walking distribution center for the kingdom of God! It’s a DESIRE. My desires stirs up the fire in me build billion dollar brands!

Speak. Speaking follows desires because whatever you desire you begin to speak. Matthew 12:34 NLT version says “…for whatever is in your heart determines what you say” so if I desire to have financial freedom I’m confessing “I’m out of debt and every need is met!” If I desire to be rich I’m confessing “Money flows to me liberally!” If I desire for my business to be a multi-billion dollar brand I’m confessing “Just by Faith is known across the world and people from all over are purchasing from my site! In the name of Jesus, I’m selling out of every bit of inventory that I have on hand!”

Mark 11:22-24 NLT says if I have faith in God, speak what I want, believe for it…I can have it! So that’s a biblical principle to get me what I “DESIRE”. You see how step one and two tie together? I began speaking my end result which was what I wanted.

Believing. You have to believe in what you say, what the Word of God says and Gods ability to do whatever it is that you’re asking for. Don’t speak anything that you first don’t desire nor believe that can or will happen. Anything can happen. If you don’t believe nothing else, believe that! Anything can happen. Doesn’t matter how crazy your dream, goals or plans are…anything can happen. It starts first with with believing. Believing in your ability to do whatever it is you set your mind too. Believing that God can do the exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you could ever ask, think, imagine, dream of or, hope for in your life! For example, my desire is to be featured in Forbes, I confess (speak) it all the time and I believe it because I envision it all the time and I know it will happen. So, you have to make the decision that you’re going to believe in whatever you’re bringing forth out of your mouth will happen. That’s it.

Manifesting. Ok, so we have the desire, we’re putting in the atmosphere by speaking it, we believing that whatever we say is going to happen, now the manifestation. This part may seem that’ll it’ll tarry (take too long) but I always go to scripture when things like this tend to happen. Habakkuk 2:3 says “…the vision is for an appointed time…though it tarries, wait for it because it will surely come, it will not tarry” meaning it may seem long in coming but it’ll happen when it’s suppose to happen! Not when you think you’ve reached the top or whatever…just be patient but still prepare because it’s coming. Things are still happening for Just By Faith. Ambassadors are wanting to work with me. New opportunities are reaching out for collaborations…all before I hit the million dollar mark but, that doesn’t change my desire, my speech, my belief or my manifestation time. All I know is, JBF is a billion-dollar brand and I will have my feature in Forbes magazine.

Tell it to us as a story – you had the idea, then what happened?

How the idea came about was when me and the Lord were having a conversation and I just asked Him “What he’d have me to do?” What was my purpose? I told Him what I wanted to do in my life and I actually started going down a list of things that I was good at. Basically doing a process of elimination with my skills and in the mist of me saying how much I enjoyed working in healthcare and how I also like fashion, He said “Scrubs…comfortable, affordable and fashionable. Fit for every size, shape and job description. This business will be debt free. It’s going to take Faith to fund it and its going to take Faith to build it.”

From there I began researching. How do I start a scrub business? Watched a couple YouTube videos about how other women started their scrub lines. Sketched out a few ideas and sent them to family. I was on Google for for hours at a time just researching and researching, trying to find the right manufacturer. Before I actually found my current manufacture I had tested out like two of them and I was losing money because they had no clue what I wanted so I started to feel a little discouraged. I cried when I lost my first $1,200 but that didn’t stop me from taking a chance on this manufacture because again…I believed in my end result. To give you a little back story on that, I actually was in my car worshipping and thanking the Lord for what’s to come. After that I clocked into work, saw my first patient and because of how I introduced myself is what drew him to me.

He said “Is there anything you do besides working at the hospital?” I replied “Yes, I have a scrub line but you know…still trying to get it up and running.” At the time I was sooo shameful because I had literally just got my money taken from me and the samples I had received were crappy looking. So, I’m pretty sure he could tell I didn’t want to talk about it but I still engaged in the conversation. He then said “Well who are you working with? Are you overseas or …” I said “Umm, I worked with China and somewhere in Amer…” The man jumped up and said “Oh no! No! No! Don’t do any work with China. All they do is take your money! Here, here’s mine. They do awesome work and they make my yoga pants. I’m not sure if they can help you but it’s worth a shot. Just tell them I sent you!” I literally cried! I was so happy. Y’all, my face lit up with JOY! I didn’t think it would go the way it did but God literally showed up for me and my manufacturer is definitely favorable I can tell you that! So, needless to say we now we have “Just By Faith”.

What was the next day, hour, month or year like?

The following year honestly looked like work. I was definitely in go mode after getting a manufacturer that could see my vision and execute it correctly. So, we spent a numerous amount of time creating and trying out different fabrics so when I got them I’d test them out myself. How did it feel while I was working? What did the color/fabric do after continuous washes? What did my friends, family or even strangers think about it? What’s my temperature like with them on? Is it to hot? Is it cold? Does it hold moisture when it gets wet? So yeah, I spent a year with my product before putting it out there to the world.

-What did you have to figure out, look into, setup, etc in order to move beyond the idea phase and actually launch?

Some things I had to figure out before my initial launch was pricing. How was I going to price these items? How would I market? How do I market? What makes JBF stand out from the rest? What is going to draw people to my site? I had to answer all these questions for myself in order for me to get a blueprint for how I wanted my business to be marketed, or get into the consumers hands. I had to find the right photographer to take pictures for my website. What does the right website even look like? It was definitely a lot of things I had to get in order and don’t get me wrong, I still change things around all the time because I’m still learning. Every day teaches me something different.