Alexis Lopez: Growing a Start-Up Business During the Pandemic

Many already formed businesses had to take a step back in 2020 and reassess their entire marketing strategy. With a pandemic changing the way the world works, going online was a huge transition for many in-person companies. However, a select few used the digital platform to their advantage and grew their start-up while COVID-19 was taking over the world. 

We got to speak to Alexis Lopez, who helped grow a brand new start-up that focuses on online engagement and providing others an escape during a time full of despair. Starting a new venture in 2020 was taking a giant leap into the unknown, but Alexis provided us some great insight on how this can be successful. 

In today’s Rediscover Marketing post, we’ll be exploring the best strategies for starting your own business during the pandemic, and how you can utilize the same strategies when the world goes back to normal. 

Getting to Know Alexis Lopez

Alexis Lopez has a lot of sales and marketing experience, especially in the culinary industry, where she worked at an entertainment venue/restaurant and focused on event planning. When the pandemic hit, the restaurant had to close, and she ventured out and looked for freelance opportunities to demonstrate her skills. The restaurant has since reopened, but they have not brought back an events team as of yet. She has a lot of background in the brainstorming, executing, and planning of promotions of events and was grabbed by Aisle Mine in July. 

Aisle Mine started at the beginning of the pandemic by creating a community while everyone was isolated. It was more of an Instagram community, where users could share recipes for different cuisines worldwide - especially those that don’t get enough recognition. 

When Alexis was hired, she saw Aisle Mine’s opportunity to turn it into a way to host all types of private events and monetize even further. Since then, Aisle Mine’s offerings have expanded into 3-4 different types of community classes. They are known for hosting virtual community events, where they found a wide audience for college and alumni events. Alongside this, their offerings continue to grow. 

Aisle Mine has found themselves partnering up with Spoon University, a foodie group with chapters at colleges nationwide. Their partnership with the Northeastern chapter is especially strong, and they have held several events together. 

The brand has secured its first sponsor and continues to look for other companies with missions and visions that match Aisle Mine’s sense of equity. 

Alexis has since left Aisle Mine after the end of her last contract in February due to full-time commitments elsewhere. However, it was on a highly positive note, and she still has much insight to provide us with during her time there. 

Diving into the Wellness Community 

Aisle Mine aims to provide engaging content to make others feel less alone during the pandemic. When Alexis was asked if she finds that the wellness community’s space is growing for her, she responded by saying she definitely thinks they’ve found their space. She elaborated by pointing out that mental health and wellness are something everyone wants to focus on. 

A big part of Aisle Mine’s mission is creating mindful moments in people’s days. They do this by creating engaging events that their viewers want to be a part of. Alexis and her team aim to provide a way for their viewers to be mindful, engaged, and learning something, even if it’s just on a screen. Instead of the target audience sitting and just watching, their content provides a way to engage in what’s being thrown at them. This makes the bleak and long days of the pandemic a little bit more worthwhile. 

Planning for The Future

When you’ve created a start-up during the pandemic, you’re going to want to create a plan for the future when things have gone back to normal. This is top of mind for Alexis and her team. They’ve already launched the second version of their website, created a black book of repeat teachers and clients, and expanded from Instagram to several different platforms. Already having this growth in place is a good step forward for the future. 

However, Alexis stressed that Aisle Mine ensures they don’t get too comfortable with focusing on this way of life and putting themselves in a hole. They are constantly looking towards the future, taking what they are doing now and making it ready when in-person events come back. 

The team’s big focuses are currently getting into what they are presently doing and finding ways to make it better. At the same time, they are making sure they have their plan for the future and an idea of how to continue growing when the world does go back to normal. Focusing on looking into the future while investing in what you’re doing now is key advice for any other start-ups at this time. 

Alexis ended the interview by providing some extra advice. She believes that using resources from others is highly beneficial for any company at the moment. Not being afraid to reach out to others is top of her mind as she doesn’t believe that the world is entirely competitive at the moment. The general mood is helping people out and bringing others up. However, she also states that it’s es 

sential to make sure you have the professional tools in place and build foundational systems. 

This incredible insight from Alexis has provided us with the knowledge that the pandemic doesn’t have to put a stop to your dreams. There are always ways to work around the digital world; you’ve just got to prepared for what the future holds and putting a plan in place.