We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mckenzie Davis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mckenzie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a customer success story with us?

We were approached through social media by a customer who had a request for a very large order (for us at the time). She wanted to have 96 blankets embroidered. Through talking to her we found out that she was a principal of a local elementary school, and these would be given out to her staff as Christmas presents that year. Through lots of conversing, we originally did not think that we would be able to fulfill this order because the budget for this project was so low originally. But through much deliberation and looking at the bigger picture with this, we were able to come up with a price that was sufficient to us and the customer. My whole thought with this process wasn’t truly over the profit, but what this would mean to the teachers and staff of this school; as well as what this could open for us in our community. If this one order, could open a new door for us with other schools, the staff members and other organizations in our region, it would be a game changer for us. Starting 2 years ago in our dining room with a Cricut and basic vinyl, we have continued to grow and move in the right direction, but this order changed it all. And for us to be given the opportunity to show our appreciation to the teachers and staff members that mold our children day after day, was an honor in itself. God has blessed us in more ways than we know & we will continue to take those blessings & spread them into our community the best we can.

Mckenzie, 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?

We began as most do, with a simple idea that we just couldn’t shake. I was working a job I hated and wanted more. My partner pushed me one day & I bought my first Cricut machine, and from there we began making simple vinyl decals and layered vinyl kids cups and adult cups. From there we moved to sublimation and epoxy tumblers as well as shirts and bags. Now 2 years later we mostly do custom clothing and embroidery; I have since taught myself to sew and have made several pieces of clothing and blankets for friends and family.
As a small business we try to support other small businesses, from the digitizer we use for our embroidery to the local shop that we order our DTF through. We try to be a one-stop-shop for most of our customers, handling design requests and everything under the sun.
I would say that I am most proud of how far we have come. Starting at our dining room table 2 years ago to pretty much turning our entire two car garage into a workshop with all of our projects. We have created a steady customer base that always keeps us on our toes, and 9 times out of 10 all of our customers return numerous times. We have the skill set to create almost anything for our customers and we take pride in everything that we do create. I built this business not only for something for me to be proud of, but for our children to see that you can create great things from nothing if you believe you can. As a 26-year-old mother of 3 (15, 7, 3), we strive every day to show our kids that this world will not beat us, and it will not steal your dreams. We take pride in everything we do & hope we can continue to show others that anything is possible.

How did you build your audience on social media?

As a local small business, we began with just friends and family on our Facebook group page. We began with just creating cups and going to local flea markets where we would hand out business cards to everyone with links to all of our social medias, mainly Facebook. We continuously grew from there. We ventured out into Instagram and eventually moving out to TikTok to further reach other creators and potential customers. I can say that the Facebook “boost” option on our business page has helped us reach a lot of potential clients that I don’t think we would have been able to reach out to had it not been for that option. Also, another feature that we use is the option to run “ads” on Facebook. They will run your page as an ad for others to see & that draws in a lot of traffic, not only to our Facebook page but to our website as well. You have to constantly keep putting yourself out there and an amazing way to do that, if you are a local small business like we are that leans heavily on your community, is word of mouth. That will get your name and products out there more than anything.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My co-founder and business partner, just so happens to be my life partner as well. My boyfriend Steve has been my biggest supporter and the driving force that keeps me going on hard days and slow times. I would love to say that this entire thing was all me, but that would be a lie. We have been together for 5 years and after our youngest was born in 2021, and I was laid off the following year, that I needed something to keep me busy and this was the start to our journey. He has spent all of the long days right there with me, helping in whatever ways he could. With him working 3rd shift, it wasn’t easy. He is our marketing team, design manager and supervisor! And, without him I would be a jumbled mess. He is an essential part of our business and our team. We bring all the pieces together as a team and I don’t know where we would be without each other.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://3oakd.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/61561277877794/

Image Credits

All images taken by owners.