Maven to Know: BRYANA SCHREIBER, FOUNDER, BE INSPIRED CREATIVE
Bryana Schreiber juggles many roles in her day-to-day life.
She starts most mornings around 5 a.m. at the Sweat Shop, a local fitness center in Franklin, Indiana, where she’s an instructor. That early morning wakeup call leaves her plenty of time to return home and see her three young kiddos off to school, which is when she can start some work for her consulting company, BE INspired Creative.
In Schreiber’s role as owner and chief creative advocate, she has the opportunity to work with various non-profits and smaller agencies, such as Lilly Scholars Network, Indiana War Memorials Foundation, and Indiana Donor Network. She helps them with communications audits, copywriting and editing, and social media management, just to name a few services.
Before starting her own company, Schreiber worked full-time at an agency. Once kids came into the picture, she decided she needed to step away from the agency and focus on being a mom. She freelanced here and there in the meantime, but didn’t expand her business into what it is today until May 2018.
“When they are done with school, I can be done with work,” Schreiber says. “When I stepped out of agency life, I was fully focused on being a mom. I knew I needed to catch my breath and shift my focus to creating the home I longed for with blanket forts, costumes galore, and picnics at the park.”
We connected with Schreiber and got the inside scoop on all things local and small business, how she balances work with family, and about that one time the New York Times flew her to New York.
Maven superpower: I’m a connector. I love to meet new people and try new things. I think there is so much power in connection and community building.
What inspired you to start your own business?
I decided to branch off because I just needed flexibility in my life as a mom. Living in Franklin, I really wanted to start to feel connected to our local community. I was taking on freelance projects kind of on the side and really my focus was being home. I had enough volume of work coming in that I felt it was time to ramp up my business. And I stuck with marketing-consulting because it allowed me to set my own hours and schedule.
Why did you decide to be a fitness instructor?
Becoming a mom made me realize that I really needed the energy to fuel my life. When I finally took the time to step away from my full-time job, I felt like it was something that could have a place in my life. It’s both personal motivation but also community building.
What’s the biggest difference you’ve noticed between working for an agency and freelancing?
As many people have shifted to working from home, they can get more of a sense of what the freelance environment is like. The biggest difference from being a “full-time” employee is having the discipline and focus to set your own schedule and ride the waves as the business ebbs and flows. I still collaborate with many people but do get to choose with whom I work and what I spend my time on. I used to miss performance reviews and opportunities for feedback, but it means a lot when I see clients launching successful campaigns, see a small business start using the logo I designed or read a magazine I contributed to, etc.
How do you balance work with family?
It’s honestly always a juggling act. Sometimes I’m a super fun mom and other times I have to hand the baton to dad and really zone in on finishing a big project. I think about it as work/life integration over balance. I love the work I’m able to do and also love my family.
What’re your favorite things about Indy?
I’ve got three kiddos—8, 5, and 2. And we love to come up to the city and explore. We love going to the zoo and we also love the Children’s Museum. My kids and my husband, we love Yats. That was a Cajun restaurant that we frequented when I was in college.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
One of the things that my grandfather really believed is that every child deserves to experience something fancy. And I know that sounds silly! When I was in 6th grade, he took me and my family to New York City to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. And we got to ride in a limo and he opened the top. I remember looking out and riding in the limo, standing up. He took us out to a nice dinner and everything. Experiencing something fancy, it just opens your eyes to new things and possibilities.
What’s a fun fact about yourself?
When I was in college, it was the second semester of my senior year, and I was studying abroad. While I was in London, I won a scholarship from the New York Times, and they flew me from London to New York City to come and go to the American Advertising Federation (AAF) annual award ceremony.
If you could eat dinner with anyone, who would it be?
My grandfather. He passed away in 2009 and he was just an amazing, kind-hearted man. And I feel like he’s missed a lot of pieces in my life that I’d love to catch him up on.
Samantha Kupiainen is a regular Indy Maven contributor.
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