We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jasmine Martin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jasmine , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
In 2017 I was working for a T-shirt stand in the mall. This is where I learned and fell in love with creating t-shirts. Instantly I knew that I wanted my own business but at that time I couldn’t afford to start my own nor did I have the knowledge. When creating t-shirts you have to start with creating a design so each day I was excelling as a graphic designer. I had to come up with a way to start my own business without interfering with the current business I was working at. I decided to create logos and flyers for the price of $25 since I was a beginner. My work was always different from others. When customers came for orders they always requested me. I decided to go with the word different but backwards which no one knew how to pronounce. It was so different and cute yet I knew I would have to change it. My goal was to eventually do all custom designs not just t-shirts and Different Customs Llc was the name I wanted to represent my work. This name represents my business so perfectly everything is just different, every order, every design.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi, I’m Jasmine Martin a 30 years old graphic designer from Baltimore, MD. I like the title “momtrepreneur” because I’m balancing being a mom of 2 boys and a fulltime entrepreneur. I started my business in 2017. I was working at a tshirt stand where I learned how to only create t-shirts. I fell in love with it instantly and started working overtime just to create more and more each day.
Before starting graphic designing I was working hospice and needed a break from losing people that I’ve created great bonds with. The designing brought so much happiness to my life. I started a business “tnereffid Tees” where I was selling my own apparel. I decided to go bigger and started doing logos and flyers for only $25. My social media promotion got me so much clientele, and I was shocked.
After about 8 months of working the stand, me and the owner wasn’t seeing eye to eye. I knew eventually I would have to leave the stand, but deep down I didn’t want too. In November 2017, the owner and I got into a bad argument and I decided to just leave. I had no clue what was next, but I prayed and put it in God’s hands.
On March 6, 2018, I opened up my own t-shirt business using my entire tax refund check. I purchased a printer, vinyl cutter, desktop, heat press, vinyl, and heat transfer. I set my office up and started promoting via social media. I was so afraid and didn’t think I would get any clients working from home. However, as time flew pass, my clientele grew so fast. My business started off very slow for the first couple of months. At this time I only knew how to do logos, flyers, and t-shirts. One day, my friend, Tykira, asked me to print hair tags. I had no clue on how to print, but she said I could do it. I watched multiple youtube videos, ordered the supplies and completed the hair tags. As time went on I taught myself how to make hair tags, business cards, labels, clothing tags which was all bringing in more clientele.
In June 2018, I partnered with a printing vendor which saved me so much more time. I enjoyed doing the printing myself but it was very time comsuming. Within 6 months of starting my business I added banners, pillows, posters and much more to my pricelist.
On Dec 31, 2018, I decided to partner with another business owner at a t-shirts stand in the mall. By this time my clientele was at a all time high. My orders went from customers ordering 1-2 shirts to 100+ weekly. I was working for multiple local business owners, schools, marching bands, local artist, churches, family reunions, even had orders in other states. I enjoyed being in the mall because of the space, however I didn’t get any clientele. The location of the stand in the mall was horrible. In June 2018, I parted ways from the stand in the mall and went to working back from home.
As time went on things were great for my business. I was still working and growing each day. During covid, in 2020 my business didn’t slow down, it actually picked up tremendously. I was offering more, my graphics were better, and I updated my prices. In September 2020, I wanted to get into custom party favors. I started with just chip bags, gift bags and waters, which didn’t really blow up like I thought it would at the time.
In 2021, business started to get slower and slower each month. Majority of my customers were business owners and they shut down due to covid. I was still working with my loyal customers and still promoting on social media for new customers. There were times where I wanted to give up but I refused to do so.
In 2023, business was still running a little slow. I used this time to learn and grow. I invested in classes to learn party favors, graphic designing and designing in Canva. Today, six years later we are still pushing through. There’s nothing for me to complain about. Each day I’m learning and adding more behind my title. My goal is to become a one stop shop, to invest in more printers and machines and offer it all. I am currently working on graphic designing classes to help others grow. I am forever grateful for all the love and support that I received over the years. This is only the beginning of Different Customs LLC.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
The best souce of new clients for me is word of mouth. My current clients, family, any friends promote me in many ways. I truly appreciate them all for helping me grow. I also post on my socdia media ( IG, Facebook & TikTok) everyday. I recently started recording myself working and turning those into step by step videos. As my side hustle I do amazon flex which I decided when delivering from house to house I can leave a business card and potentially gain clients.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
In January 2018, I had no idea how I was going to fund my business. I had a business note book were I wrote everything down. The items I needed, how much they were, the websites, etc. I knew that I would be receiving a tax refund check. I wasn’t sure if I should go shopping and pay my bills or invest in myself. I took a leap of faith and used my entire check to purchase every item I needed to start my business. In total I spent close to $8,000 to fund my business. This was the best decision I ever made!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Different Customs LLC
- Facebook: Different Customs LLC
- Other: TikTok: differentcustomsllc