Bri of BriMoore Creative

Bri is a fellow mountain girl with an outdoorsy adventure vibe. I stumbled upon Bri’s account a while ago and loved her brand and amazing hats! Bri makes gorgeous hand-embellished hats and cozy snood hoods in the Teton Valley. It was amazing chatting about how her business came to be and what her maker journey has looked like!

The beginnings…

Bri said she’s always been crafty, but took a sewing class in college and things grew from there. At the time, she was going to school for teaching and never thought that her crafty hobby would become a career path.

“Especially if you aren’t harming anyone else (in the process), honoring your passion and happiness is so important. If everyone took their happiness and well-being seriously, we’d all be in a better place.”

After turning down her first teaching job offer, she ended up taking a job as an outdoors and adventure-based youth mentor for at-risk youth at a non-profit in Montana. Her boyfriend was a forest firefighter and would have all of his off-seasons off. With the opportunity to adventure and travel with him, Bri wanted to take a year off from working to do just that. To make a bit of income, she turned to making and selling her hats while traveling. After that year, Bri sought the fulfillment she had while at her mentorship job and decided it was time to take her business to the next level.

On her brand and branding

Bri has such an incredibly beautiful and strong brand. I was drawn to her outdoorsy mountain girl vibes and felt instantly connected with her. She describes her brand as who she is and the lifestyle she lives. She says it’s simpler and easier that way because those are the things she enjoys and wants to be doing. She keeps strong boundaries around what she shares on social media, but by being true to herself and being authentic, people feel more connected. It’s so easy to get sucked in to the social media world of an alternate reality, but by being herself, she can just share what she enjoys.

On growing her audience and business

The biggest shift came from when she started taking the business seriously and getting over the imposter syndrome and critical inner voice. She started posting more consistently on social media and gives a nod to her close friend Rachel Pohl who is fellow artist and very successful influencer. She says that Rachel is who gave her the boost and pep talk to really go for it! Bri describes social media as a lot of work, but it serves such a great purpose for the business.

Bri says her business has all grown online. She thinks that the online platform has allowed her to gain success because people can see the hats and sit on their decision for a while before committing to a purchase. Her hats are very special and unique, but do take a lot of time and care to make so are at a higher price point. By being able to showcase them on Instagram, people are able to make their decision when they finally see THE hat.

“I need to value my craft because no one else will if I don’t.”

On sustainability and slow fashion

At first, Bri didn’t like the fact that she was a maker of products that fed into the consumerism narrative. She was turned off by that fact that she was someone that sold product. Now, her mentality has changed as she views her hats as something universal, inclusive, and practical that everyone uses. If you’re going to have a hat, you might as well have something that is really special to you.

“When you value an item more, you’ll take care of it more. You’ll probably hold onto it more, and that sustainability component of it is nice.”

Handmade, hand-crafted items are special and you know there was time and energy put into making it. There is so much fast fashion out there, but by valuing handmade and slow fashion, we can have more sustainable buying habits and choose higher quality products.

Being self-employed and making your own schedule

You have to say no to things! It’s so hard because you “should” be able to say yes to more things. It’s harder to give yourself “time off” when you’re your own boss and there is always something you can be doing for the business!

Bri recently shifted her business to an update model and says this shift has helped her stick to a more productive routine. She aims to have an update every 3 weeks, and setting that date has improved her productivity. She’ll give herself inventory targets and makes herself meet them! It also makes shipping much easier, especially since all of her items are one of a kind.

Bri’s definition of success

Achieving personal happiness and the ability to show up for herself and the people she cares about is foremost. Enjoying her work is a huge part of that, and making enough money to comfortably support herself and being able to donate to organizations that she cares about is so important.

Bri is a big believer in manifestation and says that it’s amazing the ripple effect you see from one small step of forward progression.

“You don’t need to be ready, just start and keep moving forward.”

There were so many more amazing nuggets of wisdom in this interview. I loved learning more about Bri and her story. Watch the entire interview below!

You can find Bri on Instagram: @brimoorecreative or on her website www.brimoorecreative.com