We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Briana Summers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Briana below.

Briana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I am happy as a business owner and I truly can’t imagine working for anyone else, but there are some days that I think “what if”… Maybe life would be simpler and easier if I just got a regular job.

The idea of working for someone came to mind when I had my daughter back in September of 2023. A maternity leave was something I was worried about since the day I put in my two weeks at my corporate job. I knew that by doing so, I was saying goodbye to a fully paid, 12-week leave. Sure, I can take off as much time as I want, but with that comes the headache of how will I financially support my family, myself, and my team if I peace out for a long period of time. My business was like my FIRST baby so I couldn’t actually imagine ignoring it for months on end even if I wanted to.

As business owners, we are such a large part of our business that even when we take time off, work still comes to mind. I dreamed for a second about the idea of having a job that I could leave at the end of the day and not think about work. Or one where I could take a fully paid maternity leave without a care in the world. Or a vacation where I don’t bring my laptop. Or a shower where content ideas don’t come into my brain. It sounds kind of nice, honestly.

But then on the flip side, I think about how bored I’d be if I didn’t have an idea to dream about or a goal to work towards.

The other day when I was working from a coffee shop, I saw an employer conducting an interview and it sent chills up my spine. I thought to myself, I am so freaking happy I never have to do another interview ever again. It also made me realize how grateful I am for the flexibility and the freedom to design a life on my terms, not someone else’s.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Briana (bre-anne-uh) or you can just call me Bri! I am the founder behind Brighten Made– an artful and strategic branding and web design studio for lifestyle, wellness, and e-commerce brands.

I’m a Midwest native with a California style who has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and a heart for design. Growing up, arts and crafts were my favorite activity and I followed that passion by going to school for graphic design. After college, I landed what I thought was my dream job working for a home and garden magazine but quickly realized the corporate world wasn’t for me. That’s when I decided to pursue my passion and build the business of my dreams — Brighten Made.

After nearly 4 years as the sole employee of Brighten Made, I slowly began expanding my team where together we now work with brands all across the globe. From influencers who are educating moms, to vegan restaurants, to canned wine brands, to baby clothing shops, to jewelry makers and artists– we love to work with a wide range of women who are looking to leave the world brighter than they found it.

We’re passionate about designing for business owners who love what they do as much as we do and appreciate a solid collaboration. In our branding process, we really go ALLL out. For us, it’s so much more than just a single logo design and a semi-custom website. We dive deep into the heart behind each business and bring artistic, hand-made elements to life, making each brand and website we touch truly one-of-a-kind.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I was very intentional with my social media marketing from the beginning. Prior to owning Brighten Made, I had a separate side hustle where I designed wedding stationery. We had found a lot of success purely from Instagram, so I knew that I wanted to place a lot of emphasis on my social media.

In the beginning, it was nothing but crickets, but I remained consistent. I didn’t make a separate account for my business, instead, I merged my personal and business one together. At the time, I knew I couldn’t manage multiple accounts. It ended up working out in my favor because the reality is that people want to know the person behind the work you’re creating. They connect with you as a person more than your product or service.

My advice to those starting is to simply just start. If you wait for it to be perfect or to get a million and one likes on a post, you’ll be waiting forever. At first, it’s going to feel funny and it’s going to make you uncomfortable. Stop caring about what that person from high school thinks or if your mom is the only one engaging with your content. Keep showing up and serving and your audience will find you.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

It did! After college, I got a job in the corporate world and felt incredibly unfulfilled just a few weeks in. I found my mind wandering about what it’d be like to own my own business, but I had no idea how to get there. One thing led to another, and a co-worker of mine and I at the time decided to start our own wedding stationery business.

The wedding stationery business was a success that gave me some nice side cash, but it wasn’t enough to support me full-time. It was also a partnership, and I was craving a little bit of my own identity which was when I began Brighten Made.

I felt like a crazy person for having three jobs, but I knew it would ultimately get me to where I wanted to be. Two and a half years into my first side hustle, and 6 months into Brighten Made, I became so busy that I had to either turn down work or take a leap of faith and quit my full-time job. I decided to take a chance on myself. I saved 6 months of my corporate salary so that I had a bit of a cushion and time to get work coming in. From there I honestly haven’t looked back since.

Over time, I’ve slowly grown year after year. I brought on contract workers which turned into part-time employees, and then that turned into full-time employees. I’m at a place now where I don’t know that I want to keep adding more team members. With more team comes more responsibility, but I also know how grateful I am to have other people who help me run the ship so that I can have the freedom and flexibility in my life while still making money.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brightenmade.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/brightenmade
• Other: pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightenmade/