We were lucky to catch up with Felicia Loving recently and have shared our conversation below.

Felicia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

I have seen social media push the narrative that strangers will support your business before friends and family will, but that wasn’t the case for me. The first day I posted that I had self-defense items for sale, my first six customers were family but even if my family did not make a purchase from me I wouldn’t be bitter about it. I think that a lot of the memes and posts that are being circulated about friends and family supporting your small business are really coming off as angry when entrepreneurs should instead ask for support instead of expect it because support can come in many forms, not just as a purchase, but it can also be post reactions or a simple share.

Felicia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am Felicia Loving, owner of Dawn’s Gift Sets. I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan; where I currently reside with my family. In May of 2019, I started making and selling gift baskets. I had sold out during my first holiday and gained many Facebook friends pretty fast. I felt so successful and I was motivated to make even more baskets the next holiday. By the end of 2019, I was confident in Dawn’s and I wanted to expand to the point where I can sell all year round, so that’s when I saw an unrelated Pinterest post and that led me to sell self-defense keychains. I did a few months of research and the outbreak of COVID-19 slowed my progress down but my mind was set, I stocked up and started selling defensive items in 2020.
I love that I am an average woman, reaching other average women. I am not trained in any technical fighting styles, I do not carry lethal protection, and while I am against gun violence – I am not against the right to bear arms. I am the everyday woman who knows the possibilities and I want to be prepared if I am ever in the face of danger. That is what I want for everyone.
Dawn’s is providing protection, peace of mind, and stylish arm candy for “just in case”.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

When I first started my business I sold everything from my Facebook page. I would make posts on my page and share my products in local sell groups. Facebook Messenger was the easiest and fastest way to contact me, and that method worked fine for me for a little over a year. During the first part of 2021, I was selling a good amount of keychains and I started shipping out of state, so I knew it was time to get my own website.
Websites are a lot of work and a new monthly cost but I felt the shipping process I had in place wasn’t efficient enough. So once I got over my initial fears and set my foundation after that it’s all about maintenance and sometimes adding new inventory can be exciting.
The thing I love most about having my site is the random out-of-state orders I get. I am always super curious about how they found me and my business out of everyone on the world wide web.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

One of the best sources for me to gain exposure and new customers would be participating in pop-up shops. For anyone who doesn’t know, pop-up shops are events where those who provide a good or service join together and sell or promote for a short period of time. This year I set up at several pop-up shops all over Michigan and I did my first out-of-state pop-up shop in October.
I enjoy doing these in-person events because customers get to see me and sometimes my friends and/or family members in person. This also gives them the chance to see my merchandise up close. I’ve met so many people who have never heard of self-defense keychains, so I like to be the first business to expose them to the product.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dawnsgiftsets.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/dawnsgiftsets
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/dawns.giftsets.56/