We were lucky to catch up with Braeln Mora recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Braeln thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

I did good in sales my first year that I was doing business and I was surprised with how well things were going. I ended up hitting a slow month shortly after passing my one year mark. I remember I was sitting on my bed and I got a message about making a custom sign for a business. It was like a 3.5×5 foot sign. It was huge. And I was like, “wow this is my biggest order ever. This is amazing!” I was so excited to have got such a huge order. That wasn’t where it stopped though. It kept going. In a span of less than 10 minutes I had gotten that order and like 10 more custom orders for a bunch of different things. It was insane. I was so shocked and honestly weirded out because it was just crazy! That was the first moment I had where I was like “I made it.”

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I currently offered a lot of different products/services, but I originally started with wood burning. I first got into woodburning my senior year of high school for an assignment in my art class. After I graduated I got kind of bored in the summer and needed a new hobby. I thought about woodburning and bought the tools. I made a piece with some Winnie the Pooh characters and everyone loved it. My friends and family kept telling me I should start selling my work, so I did. Since then, I have just been growing. I’ve branched out and now I do woodburning, apparel, jewelry, and stationary. I make portraits, shirts, hand stamped rings, invitations, and so many other things. I think one of the biggest things that sets me apart from others is that I do almost all of my work by hand. Most people I see use an engraver. I have a laser machine that I could use, but I feel like it takes that “homemade” aspect away from it so I mainly use it for lettering and cutting things out.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building up my following was hard at first, and truthfully still is. When I first started I had business cards, flyers, and I kept sharing and posting info facebook groups. Other people kept sharing my pages and that helped too. I also started doing giveaways every so often and requiring people to tag others for an entry and that helped a lot. Doing festivals and having people walk by seeing my work brought attention and new followers as well.

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

Right now I sell on my website and Facebook. I did sell on Etsy at one point, but the fees were a lot. I now sell on a platform called, Tedooo that is an app like if Facebook and Etsy had a baby but without all the crazy fees. I am also working on an Amazon store as well. I like Facebook the most because I have been the most successful with it, it makes custom orders easy and helps drive traffic as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Blazingwoodcreations.com
• Instagram: BlazingWoodCreations
• Facebook: Blazing Wood Creations
• Youtube: Blazing Wood Creations
• Other: Tedooo: Blazing Wood Creations

Image Credits

Ashely Faith Photography
Braeln Mora
Emma Stratton