Success Stories Ep 106 - "Drawing the Line towards T-shirt Success"

On today's Success Stories podcast, we'll chat with several Draw the Line Tees members. 

This nNew Jersey-based company is a Christian faith, biblically based company that is creating something unique and original with its approach to business.

Owner Tracy Smith and her team Jahfar Gaines, Teona Pagan, and Zabaidah Gaines will share how they use live activations, fashion shows, and other ideas to celebrate their faith and build a business.

Transcript

Marshall Atkinson 
On today's Success Stories podcast, we'll chat with several Draw the Line Tees members. This New Jersey based company is a Christian faith, biblically based company that is creating something unique and original with its approach to business owner Tracy Smith and her team, Jahfar Gaines, Teona Pagan and Zabaidah Gaines will share how they use live activations, fashion shows and other ideas to celebrate their faith and build a business. So welcome to the Success Stories Podcast guys.

Tracy Smith 
Hey, well, hey, I'm Tracy. I'm Caress for Christ.

Teona Pagan 
It's me. Teona, your social media brand ambassador, manager for Christ,

Jahfar Gaines 
and Jahfar, the renegade heat press specialist for Christ.

Zabaidah Gaines 
Zabaidah the administrative assistant for Christ.

Tracy Smith 
And we are Draw the Line Tees. We just say thank you. We give you glory and we give you praise. We thank you for this opportunity with Marshall and the listening audience. We ask that you bless them, Lord, give everybody ears to hear and we pray prosperity and peace and salvation over all that is in the ear shot of the conversation in Jesus name, Amen.

Marshall Atkinson 
That's fantastic. We we've never had a prayer for the show. Maybe we should do that more. Yes, right? So anyway, I'm so happy to have you guys on the show. I met Tracy a couple years ago at a trade show. She took one of my classes. And let me tell you, she has the most joyous personality and the biggest smile of anybody I met. I'm like, I need, I need to get to know this person better and and since then, you know, we've, we've got a good relationship going on, their coach and everything. And they're a members of Shirt Lab Tribe, and they've been and let me tell you, they've got something really special going on up there in New Jersey, and I wanted to share that with everybody, because they're doing something really unique, and I think you need to understand what it is. So Tracy, let's get going here. And I want you to walk us through how you started this business, why you started it, you know, and what really inspired you to create it based on your faith.

Tracy Smith 
Okay, thank you, Marshall. That is a great question. First, I just want to give glory to God and to Jesus Christ, who is my Lord and Savior. So when I started this business, or when I was inspired to start this business, was in the 2019 2020 era. And we all know what was going on in 2019 coming in 2020 that, of course, was COVID. And when George Floyd was killed. So what happened was we see all, we see all of these events taking place in the world, especially during the George Floyd and when he, when he died, and and doing those riots, right? So we saw a lot of people out in the streets, and they were chanting Black Lives Matter, and they were chanting all kinds of things that were anti Christ. So the Lord, he began to deal with me about, first of all, black lives matter. Okay? So a lot of people would oppose that and say, All Lives Matter, right? So, and that sounds good to say all lives matter, but God, he begin to deal with me even the more he said it's not. It's not only the life that matters is the soul, because your soul is going to have to spend eternity somewhere. So this is where the name draw the line came in. Because you're going to draw the line, you have to draw the line somewhere. Because during these marches, during these protests, during these riots, you hear all of Black Lives Matter, and you hear all of these things that are secular knowledge. So the Lord, he said, Well, this secular knowledge is trying to be exalted above the knowledge of God. And so the knowledge of God says, All Souls matter. Where you going to spend eternity? Lives are temporary, but souls are eternal. So where are you going to spend eternity? So there's a line that needs to be drawn, even because all of this, this whole movement, went all over the world, like even when I when I think about even those in Congress, even those in in the streets, even those on the on the football field, they they on the basketball court, they begin to bow their knee again. Secular knowledge, they begin to bow their knee. I guess they would think in solidation to a Black Lives Matter movement. But God said, bow your knee to no man, to nothing, to no cause. So here we go. We see secular knowledge going above the knowledge of God again. So even in the pulpits, when we bring it into the churches, we saw the churches, you know, many of the preachers, many of the lay members in the pulpits and God's holy pulpit, with Black Lives Matter. Mask on with Black Lives Matter on the on on the fan with Black Lives Matter in the in the books, in the the the the itineraries, or or whatever they give out the service, the order of service during doing a service, and, and, and that was in the essence, no, not in the essence that was serving another god, the god of skin, skin color, the god of and that's ethnicity, the god of you know, whatever you want to i the idolatry of skin color, whatever you want to call it. And the Lord said, have no other God before me. So they bring an ideology of skin color in the pulpit. Idolatry of skin color is being spread throughout the world and and it's being spread in a violent nature. So God said somebody got to draw the line somewhere. Somebody got to draw the line somewhere. And so that's where we get our our our base scripture was first king, 18 and 21 so we're draw the line T's. We present bold choices and encourage bolder faith, bolder faith in Christ. So so our garments have a lot of messaging, because I know people, you know, you get your faith based garments from different places, and they are all nice, and God has a purpose for all of them. But our garments, some of our designs, a lot more bolder, some of our designs, like, say, for instance, even when it happened with the Roe versus Wade, right, the Roe versus Wade, and that being reversed. And so a lot of people were saying, Oh, this is horrible. And And what about the black women? And, you know, it's racist that Roe versus Wade is reversed, and if black women can't get abortions, then they're going to be poor. And all this that the other a lot of lies. And again, the Lord say, draw the line somewhere, right? So, one of our one of our garments, one of our designs, is called I knew thee one. It's called, I knew thee, and we know that black women are the greatest populations that get abortions at a phenomenal rate. We was 12% of the populations where Roe versus rape began, and we're still like 12 or 13% of the population 50 years later. So the Lord said, draw the line. Put it on the shirt, and the shirt, it says in the front, it says stopping racism starts with stopping systemic racism starts with stopping abortion. And it has a figure of a black woman on it, and she's pregnant, and then on her belly, it says, Black Lives Matter. BLM, on her belly, because when it comes to black lives matter, which Black Lives Matter, right? And then on the back, it says, What the It says the knowledge of God on the back, which is Jeremiah. What Jeremiah said? The Lord said to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, in your mother's womb, I knew you, and I ordained you to be a prophet to the nation. So that settles the argument. You know, if it's a boy, if it's a girl, if it's a baby, the argument is, even before you were put in a womb, God knew who you were, and he wrote your story. So this, go ahead, I see you get ready.

Marshall Atkinson 
Yeah, well, I would just wanted to comment that, you know, throughout since, since T shirts were invented, I it feels like, you know, people have been putting their thoughts and their stance on some sort of issue on a t shirt, because it is a billboard, right? So when you wear a shirt with your belief on it, or your stance on a particular subject, whatever, whatever you believe, when you're wearing that out, when you go the grocery store in the mall, or you know, you're pumping gas. Other people can see that, and that becomes a conversation starter, a way to have dialog with people, a way to meet other people because they see they see something. They might react to it. They might react to it positively or negatively, or whatever. But you can start a dialog with them because of whatever is on that shirt, right? So, so Tracy, with the stuff that you're doing, have you had a positive reaction to what you're doing? Because it's not like you're you're hiding, like you're like being timid. You guys are way out there, right? And, and bold choices, bolder faith is, you know your company motto, right? And, and that's a great looking shirt, by the way, I've, I've seen that before. So like, have you what type of reaction are you getting from people when you when you launch a new T shirt or or some of the ones that you talked about.

Tracy Smith
Okay. So again, even when we call them the T shirts or the garments, we also call em evangelism tools. Okay, whoever wears the t shirt, you're going to get a conversation out of it. And it helps to evangelize. Where we say, where we help both soldiers in Christ evangelize the world, right? So that's going to help start the conversation. Um, we have gotten positive feedback on a lot of our designs. Many are old. That's really bold, that's really great. But it takes a special kind of person. It takes a special kind of person. I know there's one young lady who purchased the, I knew the t shirt from us when we were at one of our vending events, which so far is going to talk about getting out of the office. And she's like, Oh, wow. That is really deep. That is really deep, but she hasn't worn it. So she come back to me, and she began to, she wanted to talk to me about it, a little more about the meaning of the shirt and what's behind it, and I and I, and I talked to her, and I told her everything that the Lord impressed on my heart, like she hasn't worn it yet. But we have at not, at least not to my knowledge, but we have, you know, other T shirts and other designs that people will be, I guess, want to say more comfortable wearing until they are built up to that level of bold faith, bold choices, because we're not going to stop making those bold choices, those bold those bold designs for the Lord to help you think about which way You're going to go. But other than that, we get great reactions to the products, especially when we go out and we talk about because we have one design called the j3 eight. We have the j3 a collection. I think it is j3 six collection, and it says free since Calvary. So as you can see, there's a recurring thing, because in amongst black people, when you talk about slavery, when it started the whole Juneteenth thing, and it says free, it says, I can never remember that date. What is the date Teona?

Teona Pagan 
1865

Tracy Smith 
18 it says free. Ish, since 1865 that's that's the knowledge of man, because free ish mean sort of free, not quite free, not free at all. So what God said, who the Son sets free, is free indeed. So if you're free since Calvary, that's when Jesus went to the cross, then you're free indeed. So we just, you know, knocking out all of those worldly knowledge and, you know, exalting the knowledge of God. And we get great feedback, especially after they hear the why behind the design.

Marshall Atkinson 
Yeah, and, and, let me tell you, you're so happy to talk about this stuff. Um, alright, so, how did everybody start working for you? Do you guys want to just share your story about how you met Tracy and how you decided, Hey, I like what you're doing. I'm gonna, I want to help out with that. How did you guys join join her, Mary band. So Teona, why don't you go first? Yes,

Teona Pagan 
yes. So I, and I'm Teona, the first seed of the devotees. I have been here since August of 2022 and I had an evangelist, Tracy for years. But and Glory be to God, we all attend the same ministry. And so we all worship together inside of work and fellowship together. And so I've not even for plenty of years now. I did not take my walk with Christ seriously until 2022 so then I got very much so more involved in the ministry that we are. Rid of Jesus. Silver echo Ministries International giving glory to God. And of course, our pastor, Robert Davis and First Lady and so yeah. So during that time, first received Christ, just keep it very short, I left the job, and I was at prior to and the Lord was just keeping me and keeping me for the months that I was unemployed. But then one day, the Lord pull me to the side through evangelist Traci, and she positioned me a position to throw the line tees, no application, no resume, just truly a gift from God. And it was just, it was just a miracle and an answered prayer. And so started out as the administrative specialist and then work my way to being a social media brand ambassador manager for Christ and even the most it's been two years now, we've seen tremendous growth, not only in the business itself, but in myself like this, this kingdom business, has truly brought me closer to God in so many different ways, closer to Jesus, Christ Himself, and just before I Close even the testament to the bold designs that we have. It's not just about the Congress, but it is evangelism. And so when we wear these and we draft them up, when we send them, we pray so much. We seek the Lord we we discuss scriptures and even the design that we wear, we make sure that we know what we're putting on, not just these. And so has truly changed my life, and I'm grateful to receive the Lord, and I just thank God for being here and being a part of this blessed Kingdom business.

Marshall Atkinson 
And don't you find a lot of satisfaction in working for a company that aligns you guys have a great culture there, and it's based on a vision like that. You know what you guys are doing, but you're really living that culture every single day. And other companies, you know, just like a hardware store down the street, they might say that, you know, they have a good company culture, but it's nothing compared to what you guys have, you know, talk about that just for briefly,

Teona Pagan 
Yeah, definitely it's, it's unlike any job I've ever had, and of course, any job I ever will have in the future. And I, I've been so used to working in different institutions and different kind of places. But this beyond just being new to the the the marketing and selling of of garments and accessories. It, it this is a job that emphasizes that Jesus comes first. It emphasizes that prayer is important, that saving souls. Yes, we're a business. And yes, we, of course, want to make some money, but we want to bring, bring in, win souls for the Kingdom of God and so being led first, and then also praise and intercedes for us, our families, everyone between it's just, it's just surreal. It's just like anything I've ever been a part of, and anything that I've ever, I again, ever will be a part of. And like you mentioned, Marshall, like it cannot be compared to the hardware store to dentist office. It's just a job that we, I think we all can agree, as a DTL team, that that God really put us here to really work on ourselves as well, to be able to get closer to him and a job that encourages us, even with adding to our culture, we are blessed to have even a half an hour so the Lord is working out of interest. Tracy Told us to be able to spend 30 minutes or so every day to work on ourselves. And it's not limited to prayer, but that is also heavily encouraged. But we can do something that encourage that allows us to be our better selves, whether that be working on a personal project or something that is productive, something that will get us to just be a better person every day. So we have a half hour power again. That's something else that no other job has, in addition to fellowship Fridays, where we go out as a team and we fellowship with one another. We we, we love a good meal. We just, we spend so much time together. And it's, it's just amazing. And this is truly, it really shows what the kingdom is about. It truly shows what it's like to to work for the kingdom of God, both in spirit and in truth. So, yeah.

Marshall Atkinson 
that's great. So Jahfar, what about you? How did you come on board?

Tracy Smith 
Well, I just wanted to add something before Jahfar answer that question, because even what is a very important part of our culture at draw the line, TS is getting things off our chest and out of our heart. So we have our weekly meeting is called intercess, interceding through planning, and one of the items on every weekly meeting is team talk. And team talk is where we get a chance to say, well, evangelist Tracy, you did this, and I didn't appreciate that. Or Jahfar, you did this for us to encourage one another, or to ask for forgiveness and to talk about the things that we might have on our heart that might cause us not to work well together and to get those things out and to repent for those things, or to encourage each other so and. Be truthful about those things, so that is a significant part of our culture, so we can work together as a team.

Marshall Atkinson 
That's amazing. I love that and, and I love the fact that you're willing to share and, and it's all about making things right and going down the path together and trying to work better together and bond, right? So that's, that's amazing, yeah, Jahfar, how is that affecting you?

Jahfar Gaines 
That specifically, I think, I think that's a great, I think that's a great, um, part of our culture here, I think, because it allows us, even though, like, sometimes somebody may address you about something, you might not want to hear it, but it's the truth, and it's like, it's going to make us better as a team. It's going to make you better. It's going to make you think about things. It's going to make you want to, want to be better. So it's been, I think it's been helpful for everybody, and I think, and I think ultimately, it still brings us closer together. It's still we could still, we have things to do, and it doesn't, it doesn't stop anything. I think it only improves the culture here, and I think it improves all of us as individuals. So I think, I think it's something I wish more johns had, honestly.

Marshall Atkinson 
And how did you start working there?

Jahfar Gaines 
Okay, so actually, it's the fun fact. So, and I think in about two days. It'll be a year of me being here. So must be a month to make, a year trying to run tees, but to start. So I mean, I know I've known Avengers Traci majority of our life. I don't even know what age I'm probably was, but I was, had to be at elementary school. So I've known, I've known Avengers Tracy for years.

Marshall Atkinson 
Since you're riding the big wheel down the sidewalk?

Jahfar Gaines 
Yeah, probably, um, but it's funny. I just remember this not as long ago, but eventually, I'm not sure if you remember, but sometime, I think, and I was probably inside middle school, but you I gave me and my brother a heat press in a box of gold and T shirts? Yeah, yes, I guess. So, I guess some foreshadowing, but that's, but, yeah, I just, but that came back to my memory, like, Oh, I didn't think about that, because we just use those white t shirts. They just, like, regular white t shirts, I think. But see, if you see how everything is coming, I guess full circle now is then being that I'm, I'm the heat press I'm the heat press specialist here. So I think everything happens for a reason.

Marshall Atkinson 
And you guys do print on demand, right? That's, that's the reason why you're using the heat press, right? And, and it sounds like you really enjoy your job, and your sister works there too, right? So did you recruit her? She just decided, hey, I want to join the fun too.

Jahfar Gaines 
Well, the way that came about. So when I came, when I came about, I'll tell you that real quick. So I was in Florida for about from about 2020 to about 2020 what is that? Three last year, and I came back, and came back at the beginning of September last year, and I was able to find out about the job opportunity for my mother, I think because the advantage Tracy, I told her about the about the job opportunity, and I was looking for a job. And I got back from Florida so and I had a couple of interviews lined up, but this was the first one I had, and that I left here, I was like, there's no need for me to go to the other interviews. I think I know, like, I know where I'm gonna go. Oh, but my sister, she didn't come around to about, I want to say about..

Zabaidah Gaines 
March.

Jahfar Gaines 
Yeah, about March.

Marshall Atkinson 
You're, you're, you're the the rookie.

Zabaidah Gaines 
I just started, in, in the middle of March. I'm not really sure the exact date, it feels maybe the 12th or so, but I I was working as a server before I came here, and as Jahfar said, Me and him are related. So we grew up wih miss Tracy. I think, I think we joined that church when we were about three or four, so I'd say we've known her since about then, or since he was about, like six or so. I was looking for another job at serving because I was working at Olive Garden. Those breadsticks were just too much. You know, my mother was telling me that, that she was hiring another person, and I was interested. I was like, Oh, okay. Like, I'll look into it. And sometimes I sometimes forget to apply for things, and sometimes I don't have, like, enough time, especially when I was serving. But then it was actually a really funny way that that happened, because it was that day that I was at Olive Garden, and it was like a snow storm, and, like, barely anyone was there, so I didn't even get a table. So I had about an hour and a half before I got sent home to fill out my application. I sent it. They're like, Oh, you can go home. I was like, Oh, I did everything I had to do. So then I, after hearing back from them, I had the interview about two weeks later, and then it just. Felt so, so calming. And after that, I started working there, I started working here, and it's just been transformative. It's just been an amazing experience. Honestly, my life, I was going through like a rough patch. I wasn't even going to church that much, and she just, she took me and she she brought me out, and I appreciate her every single day for it. She is an amazing boss. I have an amazing team. We have so much fun. She's right. No job is like this, like no job will ever compare to something like this. And to go back to the team talks, I Marshall, if you can get that in with your job, I recommend it. Everyone needs a little team talk for a little bit, and just to be able to fully express yourself and be heard. It's a beautiful thing, and it's great.

Marshall Atkinson 
There's a real famous business for his name is Peter Drucker, and he one of his famous sayings is, culture eats strategy for breakfast, right? And you guys have that in spades, right. Teona tell us about one of the things that you guys do, which I just think is amazing is you do live activations, which you know you're going out there, and you're doing things to recruit business, and you call them press and pray events, right? So a lot of people you know will do some sort of something at a store or something in the mall or something at a bar or whatever, but you guys have your own spin on that, I think, and so tell us about that idea and what you guys do and everything about it.

Teona Pagan 
Yes, and I welcome any help if I miss any details. But Lord gave evangelist Tracy this idea through our sister in Christ, evangelist Johanna. And she, I want to say it was a call in the morning, early in the morning, and she came in and said, I got it. I got it. And so it was an idea, kind of, if we think about some of the events that are popular, where it be like a paint and sip, or like a candle wax and sip kind of a thing, but it was press and pray cafe. And so if you, if you're not familiar, if you think about the the story in the Bible, the account in the Bible, where the woman who pressed her way through the crowd, the woman that was bleeding for 12 years, everyone calls for the woman with the issue of blood, um, she pressed, she pressed, she pressed, um, she was bleeding, bleeding, bleeding profusely, where she's me on these different remedies that did not work. And so she was bleeding. We know that in the Word of God, blood means life. And so she was bleeding, meaning her life was doling down to much of nothing, because she was just bleeding so much. And so when Jesus came through the crowd, she flew and she thought her way through Now, mind you being that she was bleeding so much in that time period. She was nowhere to touch anyone. She was nowhere to even be around people, let alone men, let alone the people in the community. Because when you have such an issue of that nature and the people, they want you to just be an outcast and just read it from the church in the synagogue. So she and she was able to teach just the hand of his Mel, the word of God says that she was healed immediately, that her issue of blood was Stan immediately, so very moment when she teach that hand, that blood stopped and she was healed. And Jesus again being fully God, fully man. He he already knows everything. But he said, Who touched me? He stopped. He looked. He said, Who touched me? Peter, when his disciples was like these people touch any other teacher? He said, No, I'm Sam Robinson. Someone touched me. On Virtu was born part of me. And so the woman came full. With she told not just her truth, because that's not real, but she told the truth. She testified, and she said, When I touched upon his garment, the issue I was having, I was healed immediately. And she told the people everything that was in her, and she just let it all out. And she was just, she was fully truthful with the truth himself. And you said, I'm the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE, no making him feel so comfortable by me. And so he said, daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith has made thee whole Go in peace. And so my daughter, so Jesus her daughter, and identified her as daughter. And so that, being said, press and pray Cafe. Cafe is with my person and praying. And when we sin, that's what we do here. We press garments, we press accessories, we press we press two times. So we press how we press in the natural and pressing the garments. And so instead of bringing just paint and alcohol and all those other things that the world is doing, the Lord allowed the idea to come forth, to bring heat presses, to bring the entire process and pressing garments and accessories, with the weeding tools, with the heat press, tape designs, with just the entire experience of it all when we come when we come through, we can bring in an experience. We can bringing that, that kingdom experience, to each and every person that supported it, each and every group, each and every garment, people, when they book a package, when they reserve a package, there are lots of choose their designs and the colors and things like this. We bring that. We bring the transfers, and we teach the people. We teach the people to make and bring those garments to life, not just with the colors and the transfers, but to have the experience of it all. And then it's Tracy, if you think that more, she she said, it's very peaceful. It's very it's very therapeutic when she's when she's pressing and when she's working, and when she is bringing these garments to life. And so we're bringing that into your experience, to whichever and it's not just limited to Christians, you know, experience, they can have that experience, that woman, that daughter, experience, to be able to engage in that and so coming to a city near you, we bring the entire experience. I'm sure there's multiple different practices that we can offer. We have our we will come with our aprons and and, of course, we don't want to forget the cafe part of it, either. And so we'll come with our aprons. We'll come with our serving tables. We'll come ready to serve. Because, I mean Jesus, He came as a lion in the lamb. He was a servant as well as being God Himself. And so we come as servants, and so we're addition of your orders to you. Your order being, order being the transfer you order being really the menu. So it's really themed out. It's themed out in regard to the word and in regard to Scripture. It's themed out in terms of the design that the customers may have requested. Is also themed out in terms of it being a cafe. And so it's, it's a full on experience. And so if you will be present for prayer to come to you then, hey...

Tracy Smith 
So yeah, just to finish it, we're, we're fully mobile. It's a fun. It's a different kind of fun. If you're looking for a different kind of fun, we have the 360 camera, the step and repeat. You do the fashion show at the end. And like to say it's the cafe where we have the snacks and the meals, and people just come to have fun. We have the games that we play and the giveaways that we do. And depending on your the package that you purchase, it will be different swag bags and different door prizes. We're personal, and you book it, and we contact you and see what Scriptures or what quotes you would like to use and what package you would like. And then we'll introduce you to some upsells, some some additional things, like we do the vinyl, the HT, HTV vinyl, scissors or cricket. However, it's the plain vinyl. However, if you want to upgrade that to a glitter or to a brick or to a flock, we have those things as well.

Marshall Atkinson 
Right. And, and that's great. So it sounds like that is a lot of fun, and it seems to be very popular. So do like church groups? Or who is the most popular kind of person who books that press and pray event, Teona.

Teona Pagan 
So currently, definitely Christians, definitely people of the church, but it's open to we. We serve here at jalalantis. We service all souls, because all souls belong to Christ. So even our press and pray Cafe experience is not limited to just Christians, um, it's also a matter of bringing like the customs experience to you as well as so we have press on, we press on shirts, bags, mugs, dresses, bottles. And so I'm sure that that'll be a part of press and pray cafes evolving. And so even I would think about, we have members of our church who have kids who are in baseball, like we can do jerseys we can do like different things. Is of that nature as well. And so although we are Christian faith, biblically based business, we service also. So it's mostly walk to Christ. And so thankfully, for a group, even if you remember, like your business, worship thing with your business, that's a great idea to bring peace and pray to your next business event. Or different groups teams, we are open. And then we were like, Oh, the recent play Cafe is it's lower mobile. So, yeah.

Marshall Atkinson 
That's great. So Jahfar, you guys take your newly named wrap van. You guys head out to a concert or a festival or something. You set up a booth, and you guys have been doing that, so I know that you're integral part of that. So what can you talk about, kind of what you do, but also, for somebody out there that maybe does something similar, give them a tip or two to have them be more successful, like based on your experience, what would you say is the number one thing that you guys leads to better success when you're setting up a booth somewhere at a concert, an event, a festival or whatever, to offer your wares. What do you guys do?

Jahfar Gaines 
I would say for us, we definitely have blueprints. We have a lot of blueprints in place. And I would think something that may be different from us being that we're a Christian business, is that, you know, we hold up our plans to God, you know, and we ask God to kind of guide us and what and what to do, what to take out, what to add on, like ask Him for guidance for it. So even if we came up with ideas, or God allow us to have ideas. We still hold it up before heaven. We still came together as a team to to finalize these ideas. But I would definitely say, have have blueprints, and have have blueprints and have different and have ways to delegate the work. Because, you know, I mean, because Tony, so much that one person could do. But if you, if you have a team, then utilize that team as much as you can. So I would say, then also doing research and asking questions. So if you know you're going to an event, find out about the event. Find out who's going to be there. Find out the type of people that might be there, who, what might be the customer customers, um, the customer base. Find out, find out what the area might look like. You know, I do different types of research. If we go to an event, I'm looking at, I'm looking at the vending areas, I'm looking at who are the people that's going to be there. I look at past, past past videos or past pictures from from previous events. I'm looking at all different types of things. To see what people might be wearing, see what people might be interested in, then I ask questions and find out who is going to be my person that I'm going to be in contact with most of the time for that event. And I try to ask as many questions as I can that's going to help us trying to know where we're going to be at. I mean, know what we're going to do because, you know, because we offer services where we press on this moment. So if we so to do that, we have to know, Okay, is there going to be an electricity for us to do that? So we can't just assume that they have that for us. So we have to have to ask those questions. Oh, are we going to have enough to have our heat press and our app press, or just enough for our heat press? So I got to ask all these questions. Then on top so with that, then that's what we got to structure everything out with. Then we have to have, you know, as like, a mock up, where we could see how it looks. We could see good idea of how it's going to be. We could create scenarios, and we could see how the flow is going to be. If it's four of us in the tent, how are we going to navigate, not bumping into each other? And how is it going to be as smooth as possible.

Marshall Atkinson 
If you're outside, how does weather come into play there? I mean, you guys check the forecast. Are you prepared if it's going to rain or, you know, you're in New Jersey, I guess it's going to snow sometime, right?

Jahfar Gaines 
Yeah, typically, for weather, we we check the weather. We pray about it was Jesus, God, please let this weather be great. Um, but, mean, but I mean, so far, we haven't had any problems with weather. I would say, I mean, maybe, maybe, maybe there was one event, maybe, where we were like, okay, yeah, leave a little bit earlier, earlier, just because we don't want to just be outside and inside this weather. But I mean, other than that, I don't think we've had that I don't think we've had that many problems, but it's definitely something that makes us plan more for it. We especially for nobody to be outside. We keep things, keep all different types of things in the bank of our mind. So as each event goes then we like each event gives us something new to think about or something to build on. So whether, whether we always trying to be courteous of it. Thankfully, we've had some great weather these past events, and just knowing what the tests gonna be like, because some events, we might have our tent. Some of us, we might have a tent that's already set up for us. So different things might come into play.

Marshall Atkinson 
Okay, good. So So Jahfar, you guys all. Also do fashion shows, right? Tell us about the fashion shows you do. Who's involved, where do you have them, and why a fashion show?

Jahfar Gaines 
Yeah, so for the fashion shows, actually is, it's been, it was a great surprise, honestly, because we were sought out for the fashion shows. We weren't. It's not like we applied to being a fashion show, or like we were asking people, can we be a part of it? People actually reached out to us and we were, um, a couple of people had reached out to us fashion shows from a couple of different places. Um, that we ended up doing was for Camden Fashion Week, so which is about an hour away from us in Camden, planted by Trenton, New Jersey. So that was a great experience for us. That was something completely new for me, even even being, like, in charge of, like, vending, but like, I was given the lead on this tool to help kind of craft the blue Prince and craft how it's going to be. So it was a, definitely a great learning experience. And then we also were able to work with other businesses. So we have elegance to a T Um, another business aside from our church ministry, Jesus, Jesus the win versus tabernacle, um, leaded by Tawanda Turner, um, so they were a great help to us as well, giving us some creative direction and helping with the styling and everything. So, you know. So it's great if you were able to work with other people, like I said, like, because even though we have a team of people getting help, that getting help with delegating work is always best, because you can still build connections. You can still get a lot more done with a bigger team and just like everybody on the same page. So it was a great experience for us. Um, it was a kids fashion show. So we weren't the only designer, but we did have, I think maybe one of the longest, longest shows there, um, and we did it then even, like, because we had a list, because they gave you list of names of kids. So we kind of build the outfits beforehand, and we kind of go based off of their size, their high things of that nature, boy or girl. So we craft those outfits before then even, like, we even bring extra stuff. So we were able to get kids that we didn't have. They were able to get a part of it because, you know, they seen other kids in order. Oh, like, always gonna be a part of that, that that line. So then we were able to add other kids to it because they wanted to be a part of it, just because they seen how much fun the kids were having being a part of our our little runway show. So it's been a great experience. And then even on top of that, we were still able to then there. So we were still able to vent on the side, and then still people, then we even had success. People even still bought the items, I think maybe even before they seen it on the runway. So you know, it was a great experience for us. I think we would definitely want to do another fashion show. I think we are in the works of contacting some people to be a part of another fashion show, maybe by the end of this year. So some things to look forward to, and even in the future, I could definitely see it happening again.

Marshall Atkinson 
I think it's just so unique and so fun, because, you know, you display your shirt on a hanger, or you fold it up on a table and it just sits there, but having a whole crew of sassy little kids strutting around wearing your stuff, that's got to make you feel really good. And also, all the moms and dads and grandmas are going, oh, I need to, he looks good in that. I need to get more of those, right. Did So, did that play out like that?

Jahfar Gaines 
Yeah, it did. Um, yeah, I think so, um, you know, even after the show, we let the kids like the stuff that they model. We let them have it like so, you know, it's not just like, oh, you get to wear this this one time. Like we get the you can still live out that runway feel even, even when you leave the fashion show. So, um, it did, and I think that goes back to us. Just wanted to, you know, help spread the word of God and help spread, draw the line T's and reach new territory. So I think we'll always we, I think, I think we love to be able to to bless somebody with our garments, you know, and then to see how, to see how much they enjoy it, and to see the joy that it brings them, to let them, you know, get a get a piece of it, um, get a piece of God. Like, ultimately, because you're not just getting draw lines teas, you know, you're getting the word of God, like you're wearing it. Then like to help people, you know, like, feel good about it that then, like, want to wear it faster, fashionably.

Marshall Atkinson 
Must make you feel really great to see how your company has grown and you're making people happy, right?

Tracy Smith 
It feels really great. But to me, the work is never done.

Marshall Atkinson 
It's never well. That's part of being an entrepreneur. The business was never done, right?

Tracy Smith 
And I just wanted to back up even about the fashion show. Even though they were kids, they were trained models. So once, once they got the garments, they knew exactly what to do with those garments. They knew exactly how to walk in, and they knew exactly how to wear them, even with elegance to a T styling them and. Giving them direction. But once they got on that runway, those kids knew exactly what to do with those garments, and I just thank God for it. But other than that, yes, it feels good that the business is growing. It feels good that, you know, I see the vision, because our vision is to be the go to brand for both soldiers in Christ. So we want people from all around the world to come to draw the line teeth and so, and we're working towards that vision. And I, and I'm especially appreciative of Teona, Jahfar and Zabaidah, because they are so gifted and talented talent, so uniquely gifted and so uniquely talented in their Pacific areas that God has put them in, but they also are talented in each other's area. So if I say, well, Teona, she's busy with this, I'm going to exhibit her to do that. Or if I say Jahfar is busy with this, Imma ask Teona to do that. They just go and they do it right away. No ifs ands or but and so that's even though they're uniquely talented in their area, they're learning other areas as well. So it's great to have a cohesive team, a team that works together, a team that works towards the vision. We go over the vision in our interceding, through planning. We make sure that we understand the vision. We make sure that we know the Scriptures. We make sure that you know everything that we're doing. Is it lining up with our vision? Is it lining up with our mission? And so we go over all these things. So I'm, I'm really happy about, you know, what God is doing with draw the line T's, and what God is doing with these three young people here, because, you know, they are a lot younger than me.

Marshall Atkinson 
Okay, this is a great segue for Zabaidah to close us out and talk about the future. What's around the corner for you guys? What are you guys thinking about?

Zabaidah Gaines 
You know, there's so many things that the the whole entire company has planned that, honestly, any single day could just be a surprise, willing from God know what I mean. But for right now, we are building heavily on our web stores. Me and Tracy have been working together. She's been giving me the amazing flexibility to be able to learn about CHIP le web stores and be able to build people websites. And I built a couple so far, which I've been pretty proud of, and being able to be able to take the lead on something and put my mind to it, and just be able to fully get that creative direction that I needed, it was amazing. And we're still growing from that. And we're offering that whenever we go to vending events, and people are obviously, they're interested in it so much whenever, whenever we're like, oh yeah. We also host web stores. Are like, Oh, you guys do it all. So it's just amazing experience to be a part of it and understand it. It's really cool. And we're also working on just the press and Prairie Cafe, and we had the intentions in the future of locating and building up a whole entire just a whole entire area for our whole entire company. We need, we need space. We need space for inventory, the whole entire present period cafe. It's gonna be big things. Marshall and excited for, though, for the whole thing,

Marshall Atkinson 
Right, I know you guys are looking for a home, yeah, right, just to work out of because you guys, you know you have, you have a great business, you're doing stuff, but you're focused on the future, and growing your business and and your success is going to drive that, and that's what's really great. All right. Well, great. Well, so thank you for sharing your story of success with us today. So Tracy, what's the best way to contact you if someone wants to learn more about what you do, or maybe how you guys can help them.

Tracy Smith 
Okay, first, let me say, Thank you, Marshall. You are our coach, and we I appreciate everything that you have been doing for us and with us in the directions that you have been given us, and you have been a great, great, great coach, and I just want to say thank you. Don't want you to go unnoticed, and I don't want me to get off of this podcast without showing my appreciation for what you have done. So thank you. Thank you so much, and if anybody out there needs a coach, call Marshall.

Marshall Atkinson 
Oh, thank you, Tracy, you know, I didn't have you on the show just so you'd say that, but I appreciate it. You know, actually, you know, the reason I wanted you on the show was just because I think what you guys are doing is really special and unique and and maybe, if somebody listening, maybe you know evangelism, a Christian, a Christian based clothing, isn't your cup of tea, but it could be about sustainability, or it could be about your band, or it could be about some other topic. Just take what you've heard here and apply it to what you're doing. And if you approach it with the verve and the joy that these folks do, you're just gonna smash it so you didn't share how to get a hold of you Tracy?

Tracy Smith
Teona is going to share the social media handles, but to go to our website is draw the line. Tees.com that's draw the line. Tees dot com, that's first and foremost. If you want to call us, you can reach us at 862-704-2096, again, that's 862704209, 627042096, or you can email us at Draw The Line, Tees llc@gmail.com Again, that's Draw The Line Tees llc@gmail.com and then Teona can tell you how you can like, share, subscribe and follow us as we follow Christ. Go ahead, Teona.

Teona Pagan 
Yes, follow us as we follow Christ. It's generally Draw The Line Tees, and we will. So Facebook is Draw The Line Tees. Our Instagram is draw dot the dot line dot T's. Our YouTube is at Draw The Line Tees, and we have LinkedIn as well. Our LinkedIn is Draw The Line Tees LLC, and let's not forget about TikTok, so you can Draw The Line Tees yeah.

Tracy Smith 
we're not that active on it, but we will in the future. We also are on Rumble. Draw The Line Tees.

Marshall Atkinson 
Oh, hold on. I don't know what that is. What is Rumble?

Tracy Smith
Okay, so Rumble is a fairly new social media platform, something like YouTube, find a lot of conservatives that are on Rumble.

Marshall Atkinson 
Uh, okay. Are you? Are you ready to Rumble?

Tracy Smith 
Let's get ready to Rumble.

Marshall Atkinson 
Alright. Well, hey, thanks you guys for being on the show. I appreciate you, and be sure to check them out everywhere, and appreciate you guys.