Martez Poynter: Hoodies and Hustle

"Get Money, Don't Care"
Growing up, my cousin Michael Williams and I went by the motto GMDC, which stands for "Get Money, Don't Care." When I got to college, I wanted to make some extra money, so I was like, "Let me try to put 'GMDC' on clothes." Once I put it on a hoodie – I had a hoodie for myself at first – I saw how people liked it and were attracted to the hoodie. So I made my first batch of hoodies.

The business started in 2021. It was around the time that NIL began to take off. I feel like it was huge at that time, and it turned into the perfect thing for me to put my face and name out there. At the time, I knew of a teammate named DeMeer Blankumsee who was trying his own clothing line, and there were a couple more people that wanted to try after I started the clothing line.

I'm a clothes type of guy. I always was a hoodie type of guy. I like apparel, but instead of buying Nike or Adidas or something like that, I just thought, "Why can't I make my own?" I think clothes are a big thing to get yourself out there in the world. Any person can have their clothing line become worldwide.

Getting the business up and running

Martez Poynter Heating Press — **Poynter's original heating press**

I started making these by myself. Back home in St. Louis, Missouri, my mom got me a heating press. I would be in the basement, trying to make several hoodies and shirts for myself and a couple of other people. I had to go to the store and buy things like a printing machine. It was tough because I was doing all of the hard work by myself. That's the nitty-gritty of it.

The support you have, you think it might come with the people with whom you grew up, but a lot of my customers are my teammates. I don't have a lot of customers back home, just a couple of people. But here in Toledo, and even guys in the NFL, my teammates are a lot of my customers.

The sales were easier than I expected. At first, I was like "I don't know if this is going to sell out," so I gave out a couple of shirts out free. It didn't take that long to get my first sale – on Feb. 2, 2022. As soon as I dropped the hoodies, they sold quick.

Support from my teammates (and Rockets in the NFL)
My teammates wearing my gear helped me push it to the limit. People keep asking me, "When are you dropping, when are you dropping?" When (Philadelphia Eagles' safety) Quinyon Mitchell wore my gear, it was an inspiration because you don't normally know that many people at that type of level of fame. Quinyon's a real cool, humble guy and he still wears my clothing line to his games. Now, every time I drop something, he wants to buy it. He never asks for discounts. He always buys at full price like he did in college. (New York Giants' defensive lineman) Darius Alexander just texted me saying he wants every hoodie in every color.

Quinyon Mitchell GMDC — **Philadelphia Eagles DB Quinyon Mitchell (Toledo 2020-23)**

"It can't be kept from you"
This most recent drop was 50 hoodies. Usually, I only do 30 because I fear not selling out. I'm confident that 50 will sell out too, and it feels like another step for me as my clothing line gets bigger. When I only did 30, people used to get mad at me and say, "You're already sold out!?" I overcame that fear of not selling out by staying humble. I always say that life's not fair. You can do everything the right way and still don't get what you want. I go by what Coach Candle has always told us which is, "If you keep adding value in life, what's meant for you is going to come. It can't be kept from you." That's what I go with, every day in life.

How my education is helping with me with my business
I'm also learning the business aspect of things through my education. I already graduated with a degree in business and now I'm pursuing my MBA. I've learned how to run a business and how to be an entrepreneur. When I first started, I didn't know much about the operations of business. I just wanted to make money and sell clothes. I'm more structured now with knowing the business. So that's a big part of it.

Balancing school, work and football is actually not that hard to me. I chose to do all of these, nobody gave this to me. I chose to put myself in this situation. I feel like I attack each situation that I'm in head-on – school, football and the clothing business.

Darius Alexander GMDC — **New York Giants DL Darius Alexander (Toledo 2019-24)**

You can't be scared to take a risk
I feel like my business is an inspiration to others. The type of person I am, I'm always trying to help. It's never a gatekeeping thing. One of the freshmen on the team is also trying to make a clothing line, and I've supported him and bought his clothes. No matter who buys my clothes or not, I'm still going to support them. Starting your clothing line is a big thing to do – start your clothing line, build your brand and really just put your name out there and see how people react to it. You can't be scared to take a risk and that was a big thing for me. At first, I didn't want to do it, but my mom told me that you can't be scared. She told me, "Scared money don't make no money."

I just know I want to continue to start my own businesses. I want to put my hands on a lot of things. It doesn't matter too much to me, I just want to continue being a businessman. Trucking, real estate – all types of things.

"If you're not having fun, it's not going to feel right"
Running my own business is fun to me. It's what I want to do. If you're not having fun, it's not going to feel right. Just like in football, if you're not having fun, it's not going to feel right. Once you're having fun, it feels fast. It feels like you're a 7-year-old playing in Little League. Our strength coach, Brad Bichey once told us, 'Let's get back to when you're seven years old, like you're playing football out there for nothing." I just want to go out there and have fun in every aspect of life.

Players Mentioned

Darius Alexander

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