We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa Slimak. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.
Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?
When people think of supporting a small business they often think it means purchasing something but there are several other ways to support without spending a penny!
I’m not comfortable asking family & friends to spend money but i have no problem asking them to support me by liking/commenting on a social media post, share a post and if they see a post asking for recommendations for cookies to pass along my information.
Lisa, 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?
Le-Marie Cookiery specializes in custom decorated sugar cookies & gourmet cookies.
We got our start in the unforgettable year of 2020! Coronavirus became a thing and I found myself stuck in the house, my creative side itching for something to do. I enjoy baking so I started watching YouTube videos on sugar cookies and quickly became obsessed! After taking several virtual classes & flooding my family members with cookies I decided I would love to spread the cookie joy to others! I spent many month’s perfecting the sugar cookie recipe & making it unique. Customers will experience cookies that don’t taste like any other!
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
My initial thought was I would do this new “hobby” on the weekends, well i quickly realized that would not be how this works! Most customers want their cookie orders for events on the weekend which means all the work would be done during the week.
In addition to my cookie business I also work a full time job as a paralegal so I knew if I wanted to continue this venture I needed a plan. I came up with a plan that worked for my full time job & my other cookie full time job!
I learned through experience what my limit is on cookie orders weekly & knowing that & sticking to it keeps me from a burnout. Sticking to a tight schedule also makes both of my job’s possible.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
The best source of new clients is definitely word of mouth. I am happy to donate cookies or provide samples because Ive seen first hand how one free cookie could turn into several custom orders. Making sure my customers have a positive experience means a lot to me because I do believe word of mouth is so important.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.le-mariecookiery.com/
- Instagram: @lemariecookiery
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeMarieCookiery