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

Laura Marie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?

With my Simply Impeccable Fudge small business, I find it very easy and organic to ask friends and family to support me. I might give away a lot of samples to get people hooked. LOL – I recently had a vendor artisan faire and shared it often on my socials. Having a gluten-free kitchen really helps everyone enjoy it as well. So many friends came and purchased treats to support me! Food is definitely one of my love languages, so I really enjoy the creation of each small batch. I offer nationwide shipping during late fall and winter, and that’s an even better way to ensure that people can share treats with their friends and family afar as well! Fun story, a cousin recently asked if I could make a roasted pecan dark chocolate, which is “not on the menu,” and I was thrilled to fulfil his request. The beauty of a small business is that you have control. I price each fudge the same to accomodate special requests!

With Engage Social Media, I am very active and present on my social channels, so I think my friends are confident sending me leads and referrals because they know I’ll give the opportunity my full attention!

Laura Marie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I juggle a few different projects: social media, a fudge business and back-end finances for a law firm. It’s this love of creating, blending and tasting that led to the creation of Simply Impeccable Fudge during the early months of COVID in 2020. The flagship product was a dark-chocolate peanut butter fudge. It’s ridiculously smooth and creamy and definitely the most requested. For the holidays, I was asked to bring out seasonal flavors, which introduced hand-crushed candy canes on top of decadently-flavored peppermint fudge in addition to individually-wrapped sea salt caramels, which is the other flagship product that you NEED to try! I’ve expanded to include a wide variety of fudge textures and combinations of perhaps unexpected flavors. The full lineup also now includes gourmet artisan vanilla or flavored marshmallows, peanut butter bites with flax + chia, edible (not to be baked) cookie dough, turtles and other fun things to treat yourself or your favorite people.

I was a banker for 20 years, in both retail management and commercial with cash management, so working with a woman-owned law firm that I really respect allows me to work both my right- and left-brained energies! My social media consulting company keeps me busy in the best way. As an empty-nester, I am enjoying filling my time with things that bring me joy and fulfillment, in addition to being able to make a difference for other small businesses.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

PIVOT (read that in Ross’s voice from Friends). Oooof, I have had to pivot so many times in life. As a single mom, that was really my first experience in life not always going the way you planned. I got really got jaded with the politics of a large corporation when I was in banking, so I moved into the event planning non-profit world, with which I began to layer in social media work as well. It encouraged me to start my own social media business in 2018 and have ramped it up since late-2021. With Engage Social Media, I’m able to offer newsletters, event planning, digital engagement services and of course – social media. No two days are alike. My social media clients cover a wide range of businesses and I really enjoy using both my left- and right-brained thinking every day! With several health challenges, entrepreneurship has really been the best combination of work/life balance, rest and inspired work.
My health challenges have caused me a lot of pivoting as well. From failed back surgery to migraines, it’s been a work in progress, but the flexibility with not being confined to a 9-5 structure has been extremely important.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Authenticity. My work speaks for itself, and people know they can trust my work ethic. I show up authentically in every space I’m in. I believe social media is NOT a highlight reel, and you bring your whole self each and every day, so its important to be REAL, honest and open.

Contact Info:

• Website: engagesm.com and simplyimpeccablefudge.com
• Instagram: @msmoxiemadison and @simplyimpeccablefudge
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmk1975/
• Twitter: https://x.com/LauraInMadtown