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

Valerie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

If I were to start over, knowing what I know, I would ask for help on simple things.. I’ve been single my entire life, so my mentality is always, me myself and I can handle it! However, I have found that friends want to help… I could have soared so much faster had I not always said, “ I got it”. I e learned the past few years to call upon my friends to help price, clean, etc…such simple tasks take up so much time and mind space when I could have be far more effective with my time in other areas of my sassy boutique.

Valerie, 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?

Long story…did I ever think my life would lead to the past 10 years running my very own sassy business…heck no… but here I am…killing it! Not financially, but killing it by the human connections I make on a daily basis to most all who open my boutique door, that’s the reward…sounds like a canned answer, but it is so so true. My venture into Go Brazen, was mainly my sisters idea. I had left the corporate world, where I shined as a money making manager of some amazing young folks….i started working for a small business at $10 an hour, building up their retail end of the business…yes, you read that right, $10 an hour, which was a very unrewarding experience, most staff in the main business were rude and snotty… after a year of being there, my sister, pretty much virtually slapped me across the face… pointing out that the pay and environment was not good and I could open my own business and be broke all on my own…. Which lead to the creation of Go Brazen. My story is a bit crazy… At the age of 40, I was diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer, after I got the blob removed…you kinda sit back and go what the “f”, I best start living a life of purpose and my purpose was to see more of the world… while I had my, what I thought was a good paying corporate job, I traveled to Europe a few times, which lead to conversations with the locals in whichever country I was in…conversations seemed to always go towards the locals asking about all the beauty USA had and how they couldn’t wait to visit some national parks, etc…. These conversations resonated with me on, why was I always going over the “big pond” when I clearly was not making an effort to see our national parks, etc. so…I tell you that to say, after my cancer ordeal, I decided to buy a motorcycle and see the USA in an unobstructed way… so, when to the local dealer here in town… they dropped of a motorcycle and I learned how to ride by thousands of attempts in my mini driveway..then venturing down the street, etc… after many solo trips out west and to the Southwest, I guess you could say, I had made an imprint on ladies of bravery and brazen attitude… so, my sister suggested opening a motorcycle clothing boutique, since I always rode with a very unconventional clothing style…I hated the all black look… so I dressed in a very different way, which fellow biking ladies always complimented me on….so, with no money l my wonderful sister said she would back me to open my own shop….and away I went. What a ride…literally, my business has strayed most.y away from “biker”…I still have a sassy biker section in my boutique, but mainly now for the past 8+ years I changed my inventory to amazing quality fun sassy clothing and accessories and a super fun snark section of goodies that bring great laughter to customers….literally striking gold with the snarky and nice gifty section. Who wouldn’t love listening to customers laugh… I’m a city girl as well…so I also have a curvy girl section…proud of that.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

You asked the question, when did I have to pivot….a word I used profusely 4 years ago when my governor declared me not essential to COVID, yet he allowed big boxes to thrive. As you can tell, this was so so wrong in so many ways…but let’s not go into how my feathers got ruffled over and over again. I watched fellow business owners having to declare bankruptcy…its like they were dropping like flies left and right… I remained open, I refused to let the decision on my state government to call all small businesses “not essential” yet big boxes were crowded and the “6ft” rule was never followed…I knew then that many political decisions were not being made for a fair playing field. I remained open… why, I found customers came in, for a hug…as simple as a hug, so I pivoted to market my sassy business to connect emotionally, as fellow Americans seemed lost during this crazy time… I had a neighbor making masks, then the retail industry jumped on the mask train and starting creating an entire section in my boutique to selling masks… thus, I was able to pay myself and the business bills. I started sharing on my social media pages, local businesses that were offering delivery of their goods or restaurants that created deli sections to sell their food… long story short, I pivoted to become a “connection” business in a world that seemed lost… I felt I gave people “hope”…many many many hugs later, as I offered free hugs, to create a sense of being “okay”…..oh what we have learned from that experience…I had months of no sales, other than masks, to become the human connection piece….

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I’m very comfortable to be around and an edgy funny sarcastic side gives me an electric personality, some say infectious to be around. I make sure I thank each customer and make sure I make eye contact with them as well. I simply take the time to give a hug when needed, in addition to being genuine indeed. To many stories of customers coming in from other boutiques they have visited where barely a word was uttered. So, I always make a connection.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bobrazen.com
• Instagram: @go_brazen_boutique
• Facebook: Go Brazen

Image Credits

No need for image credits