We were lucky to catch up with Kimberle Lau recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kimberle, appreciate you joining 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

I thought my business was going to be an overnight success. Or at least launch to a resounding interest and excitement by consumers. When I launched my allergy-friendly, upcycled baking business a year ago, I decided that I needed to spend money to make money. I hired several agencies – one to manage Amazon, one to manage affiliates, and one to manage paid media. Unfortunately, after about 6 months I realized that working with agencies is a luxury and not one that I could afford. I had surpassed my budget with little to show for it. I learned the hard way that unless you have a sizeable budget ($35K+), paid media is not the best marketing tactic for a new business.

If I could do it over, I would launch with more grassroots marketing tactics. For one, product seeding to micro-influencers. As a new brand, it’s key to leverage the communities for others. The cost is minimal – product and shipping, but the potential can be quite large. Secondly, I would take the time to build the hype. Establishing credibility is key. For my product, that meant developing a name for ourselves in the allergy-friendly communities. Additionally, since you can’t do it all by yourself it’s best to find freelancers that are willing to work with small budgets and grow with you. But be wary as there are many freelancers and you need to carefully pick ones that come recommended through your network.

Kimberle, 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?

As a former beauty executive, I loved transforming innovative ingredients into beautiful products that delivered real results. But in 2020, life took an unexpected turn, and I faced various health challenges. Pregnancy brought lactose and egg intolerances, and then, the daunting diagnosis of being high-risk for breast cancer forced me to eliminate soy from my diet.

I’ve always had a passion for baking, and as a mom, I became even more committed to providing my family with healthier alternatives. My journey of adapting traditional recipes to accommodate my dietary restrictions ignited a spark within me. That’s when Bake Me Healthy was born.

Bake Me Healthy is an allergy-friendly, sustainable baking brand bringing joy in every delicious bite. Crafted with upcycled ingredients to fight climate change, our baking mixes are gluten-free, vegan, and top 9 Allergen-Free, ensuring everyone can indulge.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Two weeks before I was scheduled to launch my business, one of the key upcycled ingredients in all my plant-based baking mixes went out of stock indefinitely. I had ordered it two months prior and the vendor kept delaying the availability date until they finally advised they could no longer manufacture it. I had to either quickly reformulate or cancel my launch. I was set on launching my brand in May as it was Allergy-Awareness Month and Asian American Pacific Islander Month, which celebrated two of my brand attributes. So I quickly went into the kitchen to reformulate.

I had three baking mixes set to launch, but could only reformulate one (our Dark Chocolate Fudgy Brownie Mix) in the short timeframe with a temporary formula while I figured out the long-term solution. I found a label vendor that was able to produce, ship, and deliver an ingredient overlabel in 5 days. I changed all launch marketing materials to focus on the brownies and I successfully launched it on May 21st, 2023 (World Baking Day).

Entrepreneurship is all about resilience and this was just one example of the many challenges I have faced and figured out how to work around.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’m secretly an introvert. If you went onto our brand’s social media pages (@bakemehealthylove), you probably wouldn’t guess that as our pages are covered with videos of me. In my beauty career, I have worked mostly with founder-led beauty brands. The secret sauce behind these brands are the founders. I knew when I launched I had to do the same.

If you look at my first few Tik Tok videos, they are absolutely cringy. But with lots of practice and guidance from other founders and social media experts, I have gotten the hang of it. People buy people; people don’t buy brands. They want to be inspired by the founders and to be able to relate to them. If you are building your social media audience, be authentic. That’s what people want to see and don’t just share your successes. I am very transparent – I’m not afraid to share my failures. Be vulnerable. People inherently want to root for the underdog and know that life is not easy, but that there is someone like them working hard, trying to make ends meet, and figuring it all out.

Follow brands with founders like this. Create your own version. It’s all test and learn. Figure out what your audience responds to. Keep iterating.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bakemehealthy.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bakemehealthylove/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bakemehealthylove
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberle-lau/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bakemehealthylove

Image Credits

Oksana Pali