They say rock bottom can become the foundation you rebuild on.
For me, that foundation was a single mantra - something I told myself every day after leaving a domestic violent relationship. I had nothing figured out. I just needed something to hold on to. To remind myself that my best days are ahead of me. That mantra became a poster, and I had no idea it would spark a complete pivot in my life and side hustle.
I posted it on TikTok without the same style that performed well before - hook with my face and a transition to the poster at the beat drop of a trending sound. To be honest, I really didn’t want to post that day (remind you, we were a corporate girly at this time).
And then… it blew up.
The comments flooded in. People were reposting it, tagging friends, saving it. But more than anything, they kept asking me:
“Allie, can you please make this into a T-shirt? I’d totally wear this.”
This little TikTok post became a monumental shift in my life. Orders were rolling in on Etsy. That “cha-ching” notification from Shopify was going off all day. I think I called my dad 5 times that day telling him how much we made in sales. That month I made over $16K in revenue from my poster.
So hell the fuck yeah, I had shirts made!
I found a local company to screen print the first round of shirts. I wasn’t trying to build an apparel brand, I just wanted to give people something that meant something. And when I held that first shirt in my hands… something clicked.
I thought, Okay… this could be something.
And then I thought: I bet I could do this myself.
I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. I ordered about $300 in blank shirts, spent roughly $500 in equipment and ink. Iwatched every YouTube video I could find, and slowly taught myself how to screen print in my basement. My passion project sweatshop, per my bestie.
There were a lot of mistakes. Ink everywhere. Screens burned wrong. Misprints and messes.
But I kept going and each shirt got a little better. The first time the shirt turned out even mediocre I was lit up. This feeling, excitement, having an idea and seeing it come alive, crafting something with my own two hands…I was doomed. I knew this would become my new addiction.
That pivot, from a poster to a single T-shirt, turned into what is now Pseudo Force.
A woman-owned brand. Designed and screen printed by me. Built on tenacity, overcoming bullshit, and that undeniable energy that you can feel in your soul when something just fits.
This didn’t happen overnight. But it happened because I started. Because I listened when people asked for more. And because I said yes to the idea that maybe I could build something bigger than I imagined.
If you’re in the middle of a pivot or thinking about one - let this be your sign. The best things in my life came after I stopped waiting for the “right time” and just started.
Drop a comment if you remember the poster that started it all, or tell me about a pivot in your life that changed everything.
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