We were lucky to catch up with Shayne Wells recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Shayne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

After graduating high school, I knew I wanted get into an occupation that I was passionate about, and figured out ways to help and work with other people. When my initial thought and major going into college was in the field of physical therapy, I quickly learned that there was so many more industries out there that offered various ways to work with and help other people and businesses, and fell in love with the creative way. I then changed my major to communications and marketing and knew from the jump I wanted to create something for myself. My older sister, Kelsey, was always involved in the creative and fashion world as soon as she moved to Los Angeles when she was 18, so having her as inspiration and motivation was a huge introduction to the creative world and what I could do to create my own path and way of work, even if that didn’t follow the every day norm.

Throughout college I took every freelancing internship I could get, which introduced me to the world of social media and marketing, and everything it had to offer. Sports, fashion, restaurants; I pretty much locked in any social media and marketing internship I could get my hands on. After multiple summers of unpaid internships, I put enough experience under my belt to get a full-time position right after college, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for, but turned it into an opportunity to create and learn something for myself. After a year of working at my first company I eventually asked, and thankfully got the opportunity, to take over their social media and marketing. But, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. I eventually hit a standstill and basically learned everything I could in my department. Being the only person in the social media and marketing department, I took a look around and knew I didn’t want my growth to stop there. After a rough year of planning and figuring out my next steps, I finally made the decision to launch Brikmoda Social.

It definitely wasn’t easy, and reminiscing on the sleepless nights, 12-hour work days, and always being on the clock was well worth it. I was happy to partner with my sister and launch Brikmoda Social as a part of Brikmoda Creative Firm and haven’t looked back since. I had hard battles with myself, understanding the responsibilities of running my own business and knowing it was intimidating doing it on my own. Not to mention, the competition! There’s so many creatives and freelancers out there, but I was just happy to be a part of the creative world. Being able to work with other brands, businesses, creatives, and hard workers has been more than an honor, and I’m stoked to be here.

Shayne, 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?

Brikmoda started out as a fashion blog by my older sister, Kelsey. Now a mom of soon to be three and living in Washington State, she decided to turn her blog into a full-running wedding and event planning business. While she was bringing bride’s visions to life, I decided to focus on the creative and marketing side of things, wanting to start my own business and create something my own, which I’m happy to say is now known as, Brikmoda Social. So not only do we offer wedding and event planning services, but we provide full social media and marketing services. We also love styling, so this falls under styling photoshoots and interior decorating homes and office spaces. What sets us apart from others is we treat every client as if they were a part of our business, we want to grow with our clients and watch their brands/businesses succeed like we would our own, so we strive for a totally inclusive and transparent environment. We’re proud that our business is expanding, and happy to be working with the people we do today. Our clients mean the world to us and happy we can provide the services and experiences that’ll be remembered for a lifetime.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

What originally started out as an idea of a side hustle, quickly turned into a career. I remember thinking to myself, “I want to learn more”, and what better way to do this than getting my name out there and start social media freelancing on my own. After landing my first client, I quickly secured three more after and a new thought came into my head, “well, what if this could turn into something bigger than I ever imagined?” That thought alone, helped drive the idea of my business every day. Some key milestones included landing one client after another, and really having the confidence in myself that I was good enough to work with people the way I was and had so much to offer. Another milestone was seeing my work out there, whether it was through creative design or seeing brands gain more exposure. After my first year of freelancing and working with clients, I started so see my services and overall clientele increase, which continued to motivate me and turn it into a career. I’m happy to say I have loyal clients I’m working with years later, and couldn’t be more thankful for this journey so far.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Earlier in my creative journey, I didn’t realize how many support groups or other creatives that we’re on the same boat. At the start, I thought I was for the most part, alone and didn’t know who to turn to or talk to when things went wrong or felt like giving up. After becoming more immersed in the freelancing and social media world, I was introduced to a whole world of female creatives and entrepreneurs, and it has been extremely inspiring being able to connect with these women and learning about other people’s journeys along with their failures and successes. I wish I knew about these resources earlier in my creative journey, but happy to be involved with them now!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brikmoda.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brikmodasocial/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brikmoda

Image Credits
Devan Ashly Durate