Meet Laura Maurer, founder of Weak Ties/Strong Bonds
Meet Laura Maurer, founder of Weak Ties/Strong Bonds
From digital strategy to business coaching to building community, learn how Laura stays focused, calm, and avoids burnout.
Hey. 👋 Alexis here from Hustle Global. I share inspiring stories about entrepreneurs, DIY marketing tips, notes on my personal experience as a solopreneur, and more. If you’re new here, join the list to hear from me around 1x per week (no more, no spam).
Hustle Global (HG): Where are you originally from? Where are you currently located and running your business from?
Laura Maurer (LM): I grew up in California and New Jersey, but I’ve been running my business from New York City for the past 11 years.
HG: Tell me about your business. What’s your mission? Who’s your ideal customer?
LM: My background is in digital marketing, and my business started out purely as digital strategy consulting. Over the years, I’ve added a number of elements to my business, adding to my initial offering and incorporating ways to fill in white spaces I was seeing in the market:
I offer digital marketing strategy and execution for companies and agencies looking for an experienced strategist who can seamlessly integrate into existing teams and support the creation of innovative strategies or campaigns. My focus is on launch strategy, email marketing, social media, and content strategy.
Ideal Customer: Generally small to mid-sized D2C brands (and the agencies who work with them) who need creative, thoughtful, and impactful marketing strategy and support.
Business & Marketing Coach for women entrepreneurs
I work with new and aspiring service-based business owners who want to build their dream business and need support to get clear on their vision and develop a clear strategy to launch and scale.
Ideal Customer: My clients are generally women who have recently left corporate and are total badasses at their thing (whatever it may be), but they need support and strategy to turn it into a thriving business.
Co-founder of Weak Ties/Strong Bonds
Weak Ties/Strong Bonds is a tight-knit community of women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs who are conceiving a new, non-competitive way to approach business. We support our members in creating financial freedom, building businesses they love, and connecting them with impactful resources to help them grow and thrive. We offer intimate dinners in NYC, communal co-working days, a weekly newsletter, and we have a membership in the works!
Ideal Members:
✔ Women and/or gender-diverse people in NYC (for now!)
✔ Earn at least some of their income from their own, independent goods or services
✔ Infuse their business with genuine care and excellence
✔ Are generous souls who believe that we create abundance by empowering others as well as ourselves
HG: What does “hustle” mean to you as an entrepreneur?
LM: I’ve actually never really liked the word “hustle” (even though I love what you’re doing here!). To me, “hustle” has always implied fairly frenetic energy, and I simply don’t do my best work when I’m in that headspace. I prefer to approach entrepreneurship from a place of calm and grounded intention. Entrepreneurship is hard work, and a lot of it, but I can’t sustain continuous hustling, so I’m all about slow(ish) and steady.
HG: What has been your biggest win, biggest challenge/failure, and biggest learning as an entrepreneur?
🎉Biggest win: Working with a steady stream of incredible clients for the past 11 years, including working with my first client the entire time (and many other clients for years at a time). I love building long-term relationships, so the fact that I generally work with my clients for really extended periods is a big win for me.
Also, supporting numerous women to launch and build businesses they love and to create financial and time freedom for themselves.
🤨Biggest challenge/failure: I started a lingerie company alongside my consulting business when I was 26. I considered it a huge failure when we shut the company down 4 years later, but now I view it as a huge learning experience, specifically around clearly defining desired outcomes and how to have vital co-founder conversations early and often.
💡Biggest learning: Your network is everything. I feel lucky that I’ve never had to do any cold outreach in my business, but I have invested a huge amount of time building relationships with a wide range of people across industries. By developing and maintaining those relationships, I’ve learned that a quality network is one of the most important things to focus on as an entrepreneur.
HG: Name one book or resource that helped you the most with building your business. How did it help you?
LM: I don’t know if I have one specific resource that helped build my business, but a book I read fairly recently that I really loved was Regenerative Business by Samantha Garcia. So often we feel like we must constantly be growing or we’re failing — more clients, more projects, more revenue, every month or every year. This book helps to reframe how many of us are taught to approach work, focusing on the flows of nature and showing how a successful business needs seasons of rest to grow.
HG: How do you incorporate wellness and self-care into your daily routine to avoid burning out?
LM: I like to ease into my day, so I don’t schedule meetings or calls before 10:00. Before I get to work, I take time to meditate, clear up my workspace, take the dogs for a nice walk, and mentally prepare for the day. I also do hot yoga 3-4 times a week, which has a huge impact on how I feel, mentally and physically. Finally, it really stresses me out to start my week with a huge to-do list, so I generally spend a few hours working during the weekends, checking off as many tasks as possible. (I know that working on the weekends definitely isn’t for everyone, but I find it really helpful in ensuring my week starts in a really good place. Plus, I’m SO productive on days when most other people aren’t online sending emails and Slack messages.)
HG: What tools or technology do you use daily to improve workflows, operations, communication, etc. in your business? Are any of them AI tools?
LM:
Asana - I use Asana to keep track of all my tasks and color-code them based on what part of my business they fall under. I find it especially helpful for recurring tasks (for both business and home!)
Opal - I use Opal on my phone to block social media apps during the workday and from 10:00 pm - 8:00 am. This is so helpful in preventing mindless scrolling and accidentally wasting time during the hours I’m most productive.
Caveday - This virtual coworking platform is designed to enhance productivity and accountability. Their video calls with people from all over the world are really wonderful for creating focused, uninterrupted work time where I get so much done.
ChatGPT - I will sometimes use ChatGPT to kick off brainstorms or get ideas for content.
I have multiple calendars across clients and I’ve had a hard time finding a good calendar synching tool - If anyone has recommendations, I’d love to hear them!
HG: What’s one thing you do every day to keep your business on track?
LM: The main thing I focus on is doing good work for my clients. I find that if I do that consistently, that’s what keeps my business on track.
HG: How would you describe your working style in 3 words (or less)?
LM: Calm, efficient, collaborative.
HG: What 3 tips would you give to aspiring and fellow entrepreneurs?
LM:
Tip 1: Get clear on your goals. That will determine how you approach everything in your business.
Tip 2: Invest time and energy in building your network.
Tip 3: Find a support system of people who are doing similar things. Having a group you trust to vent, share challenges, and brainstorm is so invaluable, especially if you’re a solopreneur.
HG: Lastly, what do you love most about being an entrepreneur? And what would you change?
LM: The things I love the most are the flexibility, freedom, ability to set my pricing and scale as I want, and the freedom to create new offers and follow my gut. I wouldn’t change anything.
About Laura
Laura Maurer is a Business Coach & Advisor for new entrepreneurs and a Digital Strategy Consultant. With over 12 years of entrepreneurial experience, she helps ex-corporate women launch and scale their service-based businesses and exceed their corporate income in a year. She also works with companies large and small to develop and implement innovative digital marketing strategies.
She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and semi-famous dogs.
🛜 Where to find Laura online: Website, Instagram, LinkedIn, Weak Ties/Strong Bonds.