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

Laura, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Ideas come naturally to me. I love to daydream and come up with ideas and new possibilities. So this was not my first idea. But it was the first idea I acted on with any intention. Commitment to an idea is the new and challenging part to me.

What made this idea different was the realization that many of the things I needed to begin I already had or were fairly cheap to acquire. The timing of this idea made it’s potential for reality tangible as well. It was at a time I was able to step back from my day to day circumstances and evaluate where I was for the first time in a long time.

Even before my vision was set I knew my business would be in food, so I simply began to market myself as a chef and see what opportunities opened up for myself. Much like a color by number, or connect the dots activity, the more singular steps I took the more the larger picture began to appear.

Eventually I realized I was running a business and I sought help from Rocky Mountain Micro Finance Institute- a wonderful local resource!

The fun part is- ideas don’t stop coming when you choose one to act upon. In fact I use my own ideas more now than ever before. I apply them to this specific dream all the time. And I see my ideas differently and more clearly than I ever had before! However I also listened to a wise person and keep an ideas folder for tempting but non-related ideas. No need to make every single one a reality. The reality is dreams to waking life is a whole lot of work!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Laura. I am the owner and chef of Curiouser Kitchen.

Curiouser Kitchen provides vegetarian and vegan catering with a fresh and veggie forward approach. Check out my summer 2022 catering menu on my website or Instagram at curiouser.kitchen . I love making big bowls of colorful salads that satiate hunger, that nourish in expected and unexpected ways, and that add joy and vibrancy to gatherings. I put special emphasis on presentation. I put special emphasis on every step of the way, because to me it is a joyful process to make and share these dishes.

I also just launched a line of sipping soups- these are a unique product that understandably still require much explanation, but that I believe will take off on their own right of being delicious, nourishing, as well as light and refreshing. I currently have a gazpacho, a golden borscht, and a miso-dashi available at select location around Denver. This summer (2022) you will be able to find me talking about and selling my chilled sipping soups at the Olde Town Arvada Farmer’s Market as well as the Green Valley Ranch Farmer’s Market and Denver Vegan Markets.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Learning to trust myself.

One surprising part of starting my own business and working for myself was that I quickly fell into a micro-managing and hyper-vigilant boss role. Far more so than in past situations where I was a boss to other people!

It was so easy for me to place a great deal of importance on the success of each step, and the entirety of the workload in front of me- that I quickly became a boss breathing down my own neck.

I am lucky that things did not take off so quickly before I was able to question and begin to remedy this unsustainable situation that mirrored kitchen specific work ethics I knew to be unhealthy. One of the main reasons I had left kitchens was to escape these unhealthy work expectations and environments. So why was I doing this now to myself?

The answer to that is more complicated than I have time to address now, but I am just going to touch on one thing I am working on that makes me a better boss to me.

I am learning to trust myself.

I thought back on being a boss to others. How I would hand off the kitchen at the end of my shift. I knew the potential for things to go wrong. But I knew that trusting my employees was important to their self-realization and success as well as my health and the health of the business.

The only difference now is that I have placed myself in all these roles.

I know that I care about my business. I know that I will try my best with every job I take on. And I trust that from that, I will overcome any difficulties and missteps.

I trust that slowly I will become the best boss I can be to myself.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses

I havent, no.

Contact Info:

• Website: Curiouser.kitchen
• Instagram: Curiouser.kitchen
• Other: email [email protected]

Image Credits
All photos taken by myself. Laura Easley. Curiouser Kitchen

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