We had the good fortune of connecting with Verena Lake and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Verena, what’s the most difficult decision you’ve ever had to make?
The most difficult decision I ever made was pivoting from selling ‘The Wealth Planner’ (a weekly planner for entrepreneurs) to following what I believe is my purpose of helping businesses with e-mail marketing. As a new entrepreneur, I invested hundreds of dollars into making these custom planners and I was projected to make about $5000 from them… I launched the planner in February but around May 2022 it was starting to cause some friction. Sales were drying up & to be completely honest I wasn’t feeling fulfilled selling the planners. Now, my business coach at the time Shawn Idom advised me that to leave the planners behind because I’m out of alignment… I was trying to sell a $50 product and build an $800 service at the same time. So the difficult decision was leaving the planners behind without selling out all of them which was my initial goal and pursuing the new service that I was building.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art form is creative writing and I use that specifically in email copy for my clients. what sets me apart from others is my style of storytelling email marketing where I lead with value and focus on making human connections with my copy. I’m most proud of using my talent to help passionate, customer-centric entrepreneurs make more money because there is so much money-hungry marketing happening in the world right now and it seems like the scammers and Fraudsters are winning… But by leveraging my skills to help the entrepreneurs that really care, I’m doing my part to make shopping more enjoyable and rewarding for consumers.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Long Island, New York so, of course, I’d recommend taking them to Manhattan to visit Time Square (especially at night so that they can see it in all its glory). Dave and Buster’s is another great place because of all the fun games to play. If they’re vegan and have a sweet tooth, add Kinky’s to the list. It’s an adult bake shop in downtown Manhattan – really fun decor and atmosphere. Once you’re in that area, visiting Soho is a must. You can enjoy visiting all the shops and designer outlets there. And if time permits, I highly encourage them to take the subway to Queen’s to eat at The Smile Beyond Restaurant. It’s a vegetarian + vegan restaurant with great food, calming atmosphere, big portions, and friendly staff. Lastly, if they want to dabble in a lil self-care… I recommend getting pedicures at Manhattan nails salon on 36th St 7th.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Yes of course! My past business coach Shawn Idom and his mentorship program ‘Side Hustlers Academy’. I joined in either Sept/ Oct 2021 and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my business. I joined at a time when things weren’t looking so great for my entrepreneurial journey – I was a little discouraged and no money was coming in. But shortly after joining his program I remember my first $ 500-month thanks to all of the strategies and the motivation that he gave. After being in Side Hustler’s Academy for about a year, I can say that it was definitely helpful. Plus Shawn is just a really good person, I’ve told him this in private before that I really appreciate how much he believed in me even when I doubted myself. Especially seeing that my own family doesn’t really believe in what I’m doing in my business. So to have somebody with that much faith in me was definitely heartwarming. So big shout out to Shawn and the Side Hustler’s Academy.

Website: verenalake.com

Instagram: instagram.com/vee.lake

Twitter: twitter.com/verenalake

Image Credits
Photographer: Brandon King

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