We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Grant a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, thanks for joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?

Early on, soon after taking the leap from my salaried publishing job to work for myself, I was struggling to grow my business. I was frustrated, lonely, and in need of a mentor to help me navigate the world of owning and running a business as a solo entrepreneur.
Instead of taking the time to internally analyze what it was I was missing or pinpoint the exact help I needed, I fell into a spiral of anxiety that seemed to paralyze my work days. Out of desperation I signed up for a 6-month long coaching program with someone who promised a lot of transformation in my business.
Thousands of dollars and countless hours later, nothing had changed in my business.
I learned a lot from this mistake, but most notably the realization that doing the work is the shortcut. There’s no magic coach or method or formula that will tell you how to improve and grow your business. Before hiring coaches, contractors or employees, it’s important to get really honest about what you are doing right (and wrong), what you don’t know, what you need to learn, and what you simply aren’t willing to do anymore. Then hire from that place—hire from a place of knowledge and clarity, not from a place of fear or scarcity.

Lauren, 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?

Hello! I’m Lauren Grant, a food writer, recipe developer and blogger. I started my career in publishing after graduating with degrees in Culinary Food Science and Journalism and Mass Communications. During my college years I had the opportunity to intern with some incredible companies including Meredith Corp (now DotDash Meredith) and America’s Test Kitchen.
I then spent much of my early career with Cuisine at Home Magazine (published by Active Interest Media) where I was an Assistant Editor and wore many hats including developing recipes, writing articles, food styling, running social media, running email, and more.
I’ve now been working for myself 7+ years running my food and recipe website, Zestful Kitchen, and balancing paid partnerships and freelance work.
My main mission with Zestful Kitchen is to help home cooks find confidence in the kitchen through tested and reliable recipes that not only get dinner on the table, but also teach you something about cooking along the way. I’m always working to share inspiring recipes that are attainable and realistic while also being fresh, unique and wholesome.
As a Food Scientist and someone who has spent years in test kitchens, I pride myself on only publishing recipes that have been tirelessly tested and written with precision and efficiency.

How did you build your audience on social media?

You often hear about—or see—people grow their social media following to hundreds of thousands in mere months. And while that does happen to some people, it’s not the norm. Don’t let those instances fool you. If you’re struggling to grow, just know there are a lot of people in the trenches with you.
I have been consistently posting to social media for more than 10 years and I will tell you it’s been a grind. Often frustratingly so. But I kept going because social media is important to me and the future of my business.
Before you invest time and money into social media, you first need to step back and assess what a social media following would mean for your business. If there is no true ROI—now, in six months or in six years—then it may not be something you should invest in.
For me and my business, social media is important for a few reasons. One, it directs traffic to my site which makes money from hosting ads (which people need to see in order to be lucrative). Two, it continually grows brand awareness so when a user sees one of my recipes on Google or Pinterest they’re more likely to click on it and cook it. And three, I view social media as future proofing my business. If Google as we know it goes away in a few years, my website traffic will be greatly impacted. Social media, like growing an email list, allows me to have direct connection with users and is an additional revenue stream through advertising via sponsored posts. And the Creator Economy should not be ignored! According to the AP, it’s valued at $250 billion worldwide and growing.
When it comes to being successful on social media, I believe you need to be educational, entertaining and/or inspiring. Don’t be afraid to try out different types of content, tone of voice, writing styles, etc. You gotta know who you are, but you also need to know who your audience is. By trying different types of content, you will find both.
And finally, don’t appeal to everyone. When you try to appeal to everyone, you attract no one. Being somewhat controversial and opinionated is what draws people in. Lose a few to gain many.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Advertising makes up the majority of my income. I earn money through hosting ads on my free-to-use-website and through sponsored content on social media. But a few years ago I was convinced I needed to sell something directly to my audience to diversify my income. For the record, I still think I need to diversify my business in this way, but in a more intentional and strategic manner.
All that being said, I dove headfirst into what I saw other food bloggers doing—selling meal plans, cooking courses, and online cooking classes. They bombed. Big time.
I had spent so much time creating this new arm of the business without ever asking my audience if they even wanted something like this (or if I did, I didn’t listen). Not asking my audience—or not listening—was a huge mistake. But not knowing my audience was an even bigger one.
If I would have taken the time to truly understand my audience and to see them for who they are, I would have realized they don’t use meal plans. They aren’t looking to meal prep 5 recipes on Sunday. They care about eating well but aren’t crazy health nuts. They also already know how to cook so they don’t need a beginner-level cooking course.
It’s hard to walk away from something when you’ve sunk so much time, energy and capital into it. But don’t fall for the sunk-cost fallacy and stick with something that isn’t working.
I ended up dropping the entire thing and refocusing my energy and time on what was—and is—making me money.
Someday cooking classes might come back into the mix, but it will be done in a way that is intriguing to my audience who’s looking for an experience instead of an education around cooking.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://zestfulkitchen.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zestfulkitchen/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ZestfulKitchen

Image Credits

Justin Salem Meyer