March 20, 2025 • 31 mins
AI isn't about replacement – it's about enhancement. Austin and Jannese travel to Tampa, Florida to meet Alexa Kritis Mancuso, founder of Alexa Kritis Events, who reveals how she masterfully blends artificial intelligence with the personal connection essential to event planning. Discover how Alexa shares how she leverages AI platforms to handle routine tasks as well as showing clients how she can bring their creative visions to life. Like QuickBooks, there’s a perfect combination of AI-driven processes and human expertise that can help free up your time to make more money and focus on the things that matter.
Whether you're AI-curious or AI-cautious, Alexa explains how to harness this technology to boost your bottom line while creating deeper connections with your customers.
Learn more about how QuickBooks can help you grow your business:
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ruby.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
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(00:29):
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on them.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Welcome back everyone.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
This is Mine the Business Small Business success Stories, a
podcast brought to you by Intowit QuickBooks and Ruby Studio.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'm Jennie Torres and I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Austin Hankwitz Genius. I'll tell you what, sometimes it just
boggles my mind knowing that we are living in the
year twenty twenty five. I mean, I remember growing up
and watching movies like Back to the Future too, or
shows like The jets and I'm like, where are the
flying cars at?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You know, I wouldn't mind a personalized robot assistant like
Rosie from The Jetsons. I've definitely seen the self driving
cars and it just continues to boggle my mind how
quickly technology is rapidly evolving to make our lives and
work easier. I'm talking specifically about artificial intelligence and machine
learning powered technology.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
These two incredible buzzwords absolutely have some potential use cases
in business, and they are incredible. I cannot wait to
dive in.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Absolutely, I'm a big fan of AI for marketing purposes
in my business. It helps me write emails, it helps
me break through writer's block, it gives me inspiration for
social media content. The list goes on and on, and
even our guests that we're going to speak to on
today's episode has had clients using AI to help her
(01:53):
in her business.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah. As an event planner, I mean, everyone has their
own dream for what the perfect wedding or birthday party
might be in so being able to use AI and
bring that dream to life, I think is really important.
It's crazy to think that these days we can just
go on these specific websites and say, make me an
event on a lake house that has specific fireworks in
the background and you see a photo of it.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Absolutely, there is so much potential for AI. But before
we get ahead of ourselves. Let's meet our guest. Alexa
Critis mancuso of Alexa Critics Events in Tampa, Florida. Alexa
grew up on Long Island and she credits herself with
being a workaholic since middle school, having started working as
early as fourteen years old. By her senior year of
(02:36):
high school, she was employed in a bridal salon and
one day she went across the street to the wedding
planner to see if they needed any help, and it
was there that she realized what she wanted to do
with her career. After a brief stint in fashion and
a move to Florida, Alexis found herself pursuing her dream
career as a wedding planner.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
At first, she was working as a planner for a
large corporate company with aspirations of striking out on her own.
Powering through the role and a job at a high
volume catering company, she launched her own business, Alexa Cretis Events,
and never looked back. Today, she runs her Tampa based
business and the luxury and ultra luxury wedding and event
(03:13):
planning space, where she prides herself in quality over quantity
and in giving her customers the very best experience from
start to finish.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Alexi, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So let's start off with your origin story. I know
you're a Long Island girl. I'm a former Jersey girl.
We're both now Florida girlies. What brought you to Tampa?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
After I graduated college, I really wanted to find a
job in the wedding industry, couldn't find anything.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Went on the good old Internet.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Found a job at a five star hotel in Palm
Beach to be a wedding coordinator, and within thirty days
of interviewing, getting the job and moving down to Florida.
It was a really quick turnaround. And then I accidentally
met my husband while living there, and we've been in
Tampa for about eight years now.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Okay, you got hooked by the Florida bug and the
event planning bug both.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Okay, tell me more about why event planning because I
think of it as probably my worst nightmare.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Just because I feel like people put a lot of.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Weight on events, right, like you know, these are milestones
of their lives. They can be very defending clients. There's
a lot of things that can go wrong, that can
go out of your control. So what is it about
you that makes you a little bit of a massachist
that wants to do this for a living.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
It's notuch a great way to describe it.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
I love that so part in the pond, but it
is a beautiful marriage of using both the business side
of my brain and the creative and also working with people,
which I get to do all three of those things
when doing weddings, which is I would say most of
what we do, but also pretty big social events and
(04:48):
some corporate events as well.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Okay, so you just just a natural love for this stuff. Yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
A blessing and a curse. It's incredibly stressful, but it's
incredibly rewarding.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, I can imagine, you know, when you see the
end result of all that planning, you're just like, Okay,
this is why I do it, because these are lifelong
memories that you're creating for people.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Totally, And in the past couple of days, I've had
the realization that it's not only about helping customers and clients,
but it's also giving business to my creative partners, and
that is a really surprise rewarding factor of what I do.
Being able to support other small businesses. It's even more rewarding,
(05:32):
I think sometimes than like helping clients.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
It's the ripple effect that you don't actually realize you're
creating when you start a business. It's just so much
impact goes around one hundred percent. So was this always
the original vision? Did you imagine that you'd be spending
your life helping people create these lifelong memories?
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So for like a minute, I wanted to be a buyer,
Like I went to fashion school.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
How nice.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
And then I did an internship in a basement of
New York City and I was like in front of
a spreadsheet and I was like.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
This is awful.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
No put me with people, which is ironic now because
I do spend a lot of time in front of
spreadsheets working out budgets anyway.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But it's on my own terms. I get both.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
I get to do the budgeting spreadsheet, but I also
get to work with really great clients and really great
creative partners.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
That's amazing, Alexa. Now I've seen the website. The website
looks incredible. Your branding is excellent. But I'm pretty sure
your company was called something else. So what led you
to change the name of your business? And when did
you realize that your name should be the name of
your business.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
So it was Long Aisle Events, which was a nod
to my background of growing up on Long Island, and
then I felt like it was a little too kitchy.
I always knew I wanted to move into the luxury market,
and I just didn't feel like the clients were going
to connect with that sort of branding. So I just
changed it to my name, because when potential clients call
(06:57):
or email me, I'm the one that's answering. It's not
this like giant conglomerate of wedding planners. It's me in
my office, and I'm the one that's there throughout the
entire planning process, as well as first one there on
the wedding and event day and the very last one
to leave. And I just felt like naming the business
after my own name would be a total better representation
(07:19):
of that.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I think that makes a lot of sense. We've talked
with a handful of small business owners so far in
this season, and naming a business is something that is
probably the hardest thing to do, and so kind of
having this perspective of understanding the client tele who you
want to attract with this name, who you think is
going to resonate with that name, as well as how
to best represent yourself, I think is a really hard
(07:41):
thing to balance, and you must have nailed it obviously
with this new name.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
It also doesn't hurt that there's the Alexa electronic. I
don't play into it too much, but like Alexa planned
my wedding is a really easy thing for people to
connect with. Or if I'm on the phone with a
new potential client and they're like hey, Alexa, and then
they're like, thing is going off in the background, it
then is an easy way to create rapport and get
(08:07):
people to relax. So that's a nice, fun little aspect,
unexpected aspect as well.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
So tell me about getting that first job as Alexi
critics events, how did that feel? And kind of give
us a timeline too, because I think one thing that
happens for a lot of small business owners is they
don't necessarily understand like how long it takes to get
that first gig.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Absolutely, So when I moved to Tampa, I was working
in a super high volume catering company, so I was
getting my business started working at this high volume catering company,
still getting to do what I am used to doing,
working catering, working at weddings, working at events, while also
starting my business. And then at one point I was like,
I don't need this job anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I have enough.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Business where my day job is getting in the way
of growing my business. I knew when I was going
to give my two weeks, and they actually came to
me and they were like, hey, we see that, like
something is.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Going on with you. Are you gonna be spending the
fall with us anymore?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
And I'm like, no, you beat me to it, Like
I actually am giving my two weeks in two weeks,
but consider this my four week notice. I will not
be moving forward. And they were super understanding. They knew
they could see that, like I was finishing my job
that was a forty hour work week in like twenty
five hours, and the rest of my time, every other
waking second I was working.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
On my business. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I had a pretty similar experience in the sense I
think my boss knew I was like mentally checked out, yep,
and called me into a meeting was like, so I
heard your quitting.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I'm like, you know what, Actually, yeah, I am consider
this my school, yaste is.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I think it's you know, once you got that one
foot out the door, you kind of just give this
new energy because you just know what's coming and you're
doing that quiet quitting thing that so many people talk about.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Before it was before it like had an age. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
The other thing I was doing was I was taking
awful lot and that's because I was freelancing for a
lot of other luxury wedding planners.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So that was another way that.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
I was able to get really great exposure to the
luxury market with multiple days of setup working on a
really big team. And I didn't want to not have
those opportunities, so.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I was like, Okay, time to go.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Once the day job starts getting in the way of
the business, that's when you know, yep, can you.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Talk more about how you found those freelance jobs, because
I feel like a lot of small business owners start
in a very similar sort of strategy. Right. It's like,
I'm weirdly passionate about this very specific thing, and so
I'm going to go, you know, freelance or work as
an intern or do something and not to get more
exposure to this idea. And then as this passion takes hold,
and begin to form a business around it. I quit
(10:46):
my job and go all in on that. So how
did you really execute on that strategy for yourself?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I started cold emailing good for you. Just say good
for you. Hi, my name is Alexa. This is what
I do.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
I'm that you have a lot of events that you
need extra hands for. I'm not another employee. You don't
have to pay a salary, you don't have to pay benefits.
Here's my day rate. These are the other planners that
I've worked with, And once I started to work with one,
then that was all the clout that I needed to
get all of the other ones on board. So I
just needed to do a little name drop in some
of those cold emails and I was in.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
It was easy.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That's amazing. Now. An often understated thing about the event
and wedding planning industry is how much of a visual
industry it is, from designing the layouts and the venues
to having competitive marketing and branding. So can you talk
a bit about how you balance the creative and the
logistical right, how are you designing the logos and the
website and do on that fun stuff while also filing
the LLC paperwork? And the tax forms and everything in between.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
So in the beginning, I definitely knew what my strengths
and my weaknesses were as far as what I.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Was able to manage on my own and what.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
I needed to outsource as far as getting the business started.
So when I got started, for or the legal part
of it, I used legal Zoom. When I was getting
ready to do the creative side of it, I tapped
into graphic designers. And one of the things that nobody
tells you also in your starting a business is that
not one person does all of the things. So you
(12:15):
have somebody who makes all of the branding, then you
have somebody else who does all of the website, and
then you have someone else who does the copy.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And that's such a.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Learning curve of knowing who to hire for what all
of those different things are was a little bit stressful
at first, but you know, get through it.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, that's definitely a trial and error situation. You're not
always going to end up going with the first vendor
the first software, right, You kind of have to find
the thing that works for you.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
And earlier, Alex So you mentioned how being in this
industry allows you to sort of marry your left side
of your brain and the right side of the brand.
Talk to me about how you went and really began
to design this first venue and sort of laid it
out from scratch to show someone sure.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
So when clients like walk into a ballroom for the
first time, it's an empty space and most people are visual,
so they can't imagine you have this empty ballroom and like,
what are we putting in it? How are we going
to make this into what I see on the internet?
What I actually still do now is just a two
D floor plan.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
But with the development of AI.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
We're able to make it a little bit easier for
clients to be able to see the potential of what
their events are able to look like in a way
that like ten years ago, we weren't able to do that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So we already know owning and running a business requires
a lot of work. There's some really great platforms that
make that necessary work easier. So, for example, into a
Quick Books uses AI power tools to help their user
track revenue that comes in expenses, going out marketing costs,
payroll and all the other things that we have to
manage as entrepreneurs. So that you have more time to
(13:49):
focus on the creative aspects of your business, and they
also auto generate invoice emails so that you don't have
to remember to send those out. How have you personally
found AI to be helpful in managing your daily task
as an entrepreneur?
Speaker 4 (14:02):
So what's great about it is that when clients come
to us, they see one events that have already taken place,
as well as AI generated images. So it's nice to
be able to balance those two and also say, Okay,
so this is something that is real and feasible, it
has happened before, versus something that's AI generated, like an
(14:27):
entire tablescape set up in the middle of a pond.
Practically that's a nightmare for anybody to execute. So it's
nice to be able to say, okay, that was AI generated.
That is absolutely not going to happen in the real world.
But this is something else that is real or that
can be executed that was created by AI. And it's
(14:47):
nice to be able to manage expectations from that perspective.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Can you share some of the tools that you're using.
I do use into a.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Quick books I have from the very start to help
manage all of our invoicing, bookkeeping, so they make it
really easy to every day I just go in and
log all of our transactions.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So you're personally doing that. Oh, I personally do it myself. Wow,
good for you. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
When it comes to like the tax time, I let
the pros take over, but into a QuickBooks makes it
so easy that every day, at the end of the
day I can just say, Okay, I can do my
categories of what it is.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
I'm checking on our p and ls for the week,
for the month, for.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
The year to see what we need to forecast what
else we need to do for the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
So it's really easy from that perspective, it's great. Any
other tools that are your favorite. Right now in the
AI space.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
We're using Canva to create design decks for client and
they have an integrated AI system, which someone who's for me,
I'm pretty new to it, so they make it really
easy to seart to integrate learning AI, as well as
having things like remove the background of this photo so
I can then insert it into what my clients have
in mind.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I think those types of tools make it easier to
create really engaging content then can convey the message that
you want to your client, which is they want to
envision what it is that's in your head. And so
any time you have the opportunity to take advantage of
those tools, I think that's a move.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
And also if they change their mind, which clients do
every second, it's really easy for me to just be
able to type in like blue linen instead of white,
and like boom, it's it's changed.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
I don't know how we got along in like business
without AI tools. At this point, I feel like I'm
very codependent.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
It's also really great for writing difficult emails too, because
the clientele that we work with, they are spending six
figures on their events. And when we get emails for
clients and everybody has.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
A budget, we always respect what it is. AI.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
If I type in to say like, hey, these are
the budgets that we normally work with, I'm really sorry
we're not going to be the right fit. AI is
able to make it sound a little bit warmer because also,
like there's no body language, there's no tone when you're
writing emails.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
So AI is able to give it a little bit.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
This is ironic to say a little more of a
personal a little bit more of a personal feeling when
delivering a little bit harder news.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Coming up on Mind the Business small business success stories.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Everybody is so busy, so sometimes I have that self
feeling of like I don't want to bother this person
to help me with this thing, but like I can
bother the AI.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
They're never going to complain.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
We'll be right back. Welcome back to Mind the Business. Now.
Something I'm really curious about is how AI perhaps has
maybe helped you generate even more revenue, because if I
(17:47):
were you, I'm saying, Okay, I've got this really cool
tool that every time I sit down with a new client,
I can help them just bring their dreams to life
and show them how much cooler it would be if
they could, you know, maybe up their budget to this
and really show them what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Definitely, because there's trust there then.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
So if there are people who have a hard time
envisioning what something's going to look like, if we use
AI and say hey, here's where your money is going,
this is what you're spending all of this money on,
then they're way more likely.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
To go ahead and invest in it.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
So I think I've seen it a little bit, but
the potential for it is I think really great.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
At this point.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That's amazing because I'm not a very visual person. So
if I was sitting down with the wedding planner or
a big event planner, and to your point, I walked
into the ballroom and it was completely empty, I would
just have no idea what it would turn out and
look like. And so being able to lean on AI
for that I think is really important. How has AI
helped transform maybe the way that you run the processes
of your business and onboard new clients.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
I think because there's essentially no limit with AI that
I still like to go to the client first. So
I still like to go through the process of asking
them what they like, what they've seen, their likes, their dislikes,
and then use AI to help them maybe also recognize
something that like they don't realize that they want. In
another sense, for our creative partners, I think it also
(19:10):
helps them if there's something that they've never done before.
There's such an opportunity for uniqueness to then be able
to go to a vendor partner, creative partner and say, hey,
I generated this in AI. Is this something that you
can make happen in real life. So the potential also
for doing something really customized, really unique, really high design
(19:33):
is also there, which I love too, because I really
love to create unique designs for our clients. We're not
just like copying and pasting exact things.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
One of my favorite phrases as it relates to AI
is not going to take your job. The person who
knows how to use AI better than you is going
to take your job. And so you're using AI to
help sell people on this vision of the event, the
visuals everything to help them, you know, visualize what the
heck's going to go on on your specific wedding day.
The person who knows how to use it to their
advantage to help sell their products or their services in
(20:03):
a more intimate manner, I think we'll probably have that
extra edge, which seems like that's what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
And it also allows me to then have more of
these human moments, more of these personal moments, because I'm
not spending so much time figuring out how to show
my clients what this is going to look like because
AI is doing it so quickly, So if I have
help on the technical part of it, I am getting
to spend more of my time on the personal part.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
That makes a lot of sense. And I think when
AI first started becoming a little bit more mainstream, a
lot of entrepreneurs were kind of like intimidated by it
or maybe even scared by it because of the implications of, oh,
is it going to replace me? I find it really
interesting that you've actually like embraced the technology versus kind
of shying away from it. Sometimes there's so much going
(20:51):
on in here that when you can have something assist
you to get the task done, it's like, why wouldn't
you want to use that?
Speaker 4 (20:57):
And everybody is so busy, So sometimes I have that
self feeling of like I don't want to bother this
person to help me with this thing, but like I
can bother the AI.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
They're never going to complain. That's great. The AI was
such a millennial thing to say.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
So there's so much data that you can gather from
into a quick books that lets you then plan that
next phase of your business. Can you tell us about
what that looks like for you?
Speaker 4 (21:20):
So the way that into a QuickBooks makes it easy
to see what I'm categorizing each one of my expenses are.
Then lets me know, Okay, I didn't really invest that
much in advertising and marketing last year. Maybe if we
invest a little bit more this year, we'll see more growth.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I think that high level view really helps you make
those strategic decisions without getting caught in the weeds, which
is very easy to visualize, Oh we might be spending
too much money here, or maybe we're not investing.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Enough absolutely, like where has all of the income that
we've made? Like where is it going? Am I using
it wisely? Am I taking enough of it home? Also,
because that's important too. It's not about how much you make,
it's about how much you keep.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Absolutely, I'm always shocked at looking at my p and
l'ms like, we really made that much.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
But we also spent this month? What is happening? What's
good to know?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Some of the smum business owners we've talked to this
season have talked about how challenging it can be sometimes
to find the right people that you want to hire
and work with. Can you maybe share your experience with
finding the right hires and training them and making sure
that they align well with what you're building and follow
these processes?
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Other wedding planners are the best help, because one there
is enough business to go around here in the Tampa area.
It's really important to me the wedding community that I
have other planners that I'm friendly with. It's not a
competition thing because they are really great when it comes
to like needing their help. So that is something that
(22:54):
I really feel strongly about. As well as when it
comes to finding help for office things behind the scenes.
I know what my expectations are for our clients, like
what their experiences, and then being able to put that
down on paper and then look for those same qualities
in someone else when looking for an assistant that I
(23:16):
know my strong points, I want them to have some
of the same. But also if there are things that
I'm not great at, it's amazing to have someone else
who has those sort of qualities as well.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
I think it makes a ton of sense, right, higher
tier weaknesses. And then also something I've heard more recently
is slump business owners going out and to your point
hiring other freelance kind of like what you did before, right,
you were very a self starter, so not a freelancer.
So I've heard a lot of success stories around that
strategy as it comes to hiring and bringing on team
members that have that self started mentality. As well.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
Yeah, the wedding community here in Tampa is really wonderful,
So it's been really easy to grow that network of
other planners who I can call just for if I
need advice as well as Hey, I have a really
big event I need like a team.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Of five of us.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
If you guys are free, I would really love to
have you on board with me.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
For the day.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I think that speaks to the strength of the entrepreneurial
community here in Florida.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So you've been in the game now for about ten
years plus. What was going on before with the freelancing.
What would you tell the Alexa ten years ago that's
just getting started, who's really excited about building this and
taking this new chapter of her life to the next level.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Well, one that it gets wilder than you could ever imagine,
first of all, and second of all, to be patient
and be kind throughout it. I think those are the
kindness part has really gotten me to this point, because
you don't get anywhere by having an attitude being.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Nasty to someone.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Emotions are high, there's a lot going on at super
fast piece, but that's the one thing that I always
remember at the end of the day, Like just kindness
is always number one.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I think it makes a tonest and so I'm right
there with you. Right if you do good business and
even if you aren't the right fit for the customer
at that time, and you recommend them to maybe a
competitor that you've vetted and you know is also a
trusted event planner, that experience of the customer saying, Okay,
I wasn't the right fit for this person. I had
a great experience over here because they trusted me to
(25:19):
go over there. Now I trust Alexa because Alexa is
always going to have my best interest in mind.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
What is your favorite kind of event to plan? This
is like choosing your favorite child.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Yeah, so they're really tough. But private home events, Oh,
is that becoming more popular?
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It is.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
We do quite a bit of private homes private estates
because they are so unique and everyone is so different.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
It's not like the same four walls of a ballroom.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
It's an entire property and there's so much more opportunity
for customization.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
So they're really tough.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
No one realizes how putting one hundred and fifty people
in your house for eight hours and they need to
be fed, and they need restrooms and they need lighting,
and they need somewhere to sit, and they need water
and food.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
But I love that challenge. It's really fun.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
One hundred and fifty people in my house that sounds
like the stuff of nightmares.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I could probably fit maybe twelve.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yeah, ye, people are going to be That's really cool though,
because I think it just adds like another personal touch
to an event when you're like literally welcoming people into
the space that you call home.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Absolutely, and that's why we do it.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Over the summer, we did a big tended wedding at
a property in Michigan, and that was exactly what they wanted.
Was the bride's childhood home, and they wanted to welcome
all of their guests there or back because it's friends
and family, so they've probably been there before. But to
be able to celebrate such a huge milestone in the
home that the bride grew up in, the bride's parents
(26:57):
obviously still live there is really special.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Oh my gosh, it's like making me teery eyes. That's
so cool.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
That is so special. Yeah, if you could pick a
favorite event or wedding that you have planned or thrown
to date, does anything come to mind?
Speaker 4 (27:15):
So one of my favorite events that I planned was
for a client who absolutely loves the Grinch, so we
turned her home into Whoville. So I took inspiration from
both the nineteen sixties version with like the big pink
archway entering into Whovill. We did that at like the
(27:36):
archway of her home. We had the big wonky Christmas trees.
We had the best Grinch I have ever seen. The
clients were like, we went to Universal a couple of
weeks after our event, and our Grinch at the party
was better than the theme park Grinch. And I was like,
that's how I know I've done my job right. And
it's a party that like I'll meet people for the
(27:57):
first time and they'll be like, oh, you did that
Grinch park right.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I'm like, yeah, that was me. It's my claim to fame,
the Grunch Party. It's like one of those things you
never knew you needed. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
And that's the fun part about doing this as a
career two is like most of these events it's like,
do you need any of this? No, But the people
who have the money to spend on it, they go
above and beyond and it's really great.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Wow, I mean, good for you.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah, There's something about an event that like when it's
done right, this is something people talk about forever, so
it leaves a mark. I am very excited to potentially
one day go to one of your events, but they
sound spectacular.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Thank you. We want to wish you so much success,
and thank you so much for being here. Thank you
so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
It was a pleasure, Denise. I had such a great
time learning from Alexa. What are some of your biggest takeaways?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
I really love the fact that she has embraced AI's
this new technology, right. I think a lot of folks
are intimidated by it, especially if they don't understand how
you can utilize it as a business owner. So I
just love that she jumped in, she's using it to
her advantage, and she's also open to continuing to use
new tools as they come about to continue to make
the solopreneur life.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Just a little bit easier.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
How about you, Austin, I'm right there with you. AI
tools all about them, I love them. But I think
my biggest takeaway was this idea of Alexa freelancing into
the event planning space before she jumped in headfirst and
quit her job and went all in right. I think
a lot of small business owners and solopreneurs and even
entrepreneurs out there, we have these grandiose ideas off, I
(29:35):
want to start this business, or I want to be
this type of entrepreneurs, I want to sell these products,
I want to have these services. But we say those
things without yet sometimes having even done that in the
first place. And I think Alexa did a great job
of freelancing a bit in the industry to get a
foot in the door, and then once she started working
alongside some of the awesome other event planners in her
space and in her area, she was able to say, Okay,
(29:57):
this is something I really like. I think I'm seeing
some moments. I think I can do this on my
own and really build a business over the next decade
doing it. So I think that's just super powerful.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Well, it's a wrap on this episode of Mind the
Business Small Business Success Stories. You can find me on
social media at Joctrodneto podcast.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
And you can find me at Austin Hankwitz. You can
follow into It QuickBooks on all social media at QuickBooks.
To get the tools you need to start, run and
grow your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today don't.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Forget to follow this show wherever you listen to podcasts
so you can stay up to date on future episodes.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
We also want to hear from you, so be sure
to leave us a rating and a review. See you
next time. Money movement services are provided by Intoit Payments, Inc.
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Speaker 3 (30:49):
This podcast is a production of iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and
Into It QuickBooks. Our executive producer is Molly Sosha, our
supervising producer is Nikia Swinton, and our writer is Eric Leja.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I had to post production is James Foster, and our
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Ruby.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
The views, information, or opinions expressed during this podcast are
solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent
those of into It QuickBooks or any of its cornerstone
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Intowit QuickBooks does not have any responsibility for updating or
(00:29):
revising any information presented. Listeners should verify statements before relying
on them.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Welcome back everyone.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
This is Mine the Business Small Business success Stories, a
podcast brought to you by Intowit QuickBooks and Ruby Studio.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'm Jennie Torres and I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Austin Hankwitz Genius. I'll tell you what, sometimes it just
boggles my mind knowing that we are living in the
year twenty twenty five. I mean, I remember growing up
and watching movies like Back to the Future too, or
shows like The jets and I'm like, where are the
flying cars at?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You know, I wouldn't mind a personalized robot assistant like
Rosie from The Jetsons. I've definitely seen the self driving
cars and it just continues to boggle my mind how
quickly technology is rapidly evolving to make our lives and
work easier. I'm talking specifically about artificial intelligence and machine
learning powered technology.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
These two incredible buzzwords absolutely have some potential use cases
in business, and they are incredible. I cannot wait to
dive in.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Absolutely, I'm a big fan of AI for marketing purposes
in my business. It helps me write emails, it helps
me break through writer's block, it gives me inspiration for
social media content. The list goes on and on, and
even our guests that we're going to speak to on
today's episode has had clients using AI to help her
(01:53):
in her business.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah. As an event planner, I mean, everyone has their
own dream for what the perfect wedding or birthday party
might be in so being able to use AI and
bring that dream to life, I think is really important.
It's crazy to think that these days we can just
go on these specific websites and say, make me an
event on a lake house that has specific fireworks in
the background and you see a photo of it.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Absolutely, there is so much potential for AI. But before
we get ahead of ourselves. Let's meet our guest. Alexa
Critis mancuso of Alexa Critics Events in Tampa, Florida. Alexa
grew up on Long Island and she credits herself with
being a workaholic since middle school, having started working as
early as fourteen years old. By her senior year of
(02:36):
high school, she was employed in a bridal salon and
one day she went across the street to the wedding
planner to see if they needed any help, and it
was there that she realized what she wanted to do
with her career. After a brief stint in fashion and
a move to Florida, Alexis found herself pursuing her dream
career as a wedding planner.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
At first, she was working as a planner for a
large corporate company with aspirations of striking out on her own.
Powering through the role and a job at a high
volume catering company, she launched her own business, Alexa Cretis Events,
and never looked back. Today, she runs her Tampa based
business and the luxury and ultra luxury wedding and event
(03:13):
planning space, where she prides herself in quality over quantity
and in giving her customers the very best experience from
start to finish.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Alexi, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So let's start off with your origin story. I know
you're a Long Island girl. I'm a former Jersey girl.
We're both now Florida girlies. What brought you to Tampa?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
After I graduated college, I really wanted to find a
job in the wedding industry, couldn't find anything.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Went on the good old Internet.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Found a job at a five star hotel in Palm
Beach to be a wedding coordinator, and within thirty days
of interviewing, getting the job and moving down to Florida.
It was a really quick turnaround. And then I accidentally
met my husband while living there, and we've been in
Tampa for about eight years now.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Okay, you got hooked by the Florida bug and the
event planning bug both.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Okay, tell me more about why event planning because I
think of it as probably my worst nightmare.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Just because I feel like people put a lot of.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Weight on events, right, like you know, these are milestones
of their lives. They can be very defending clients. There's
a lot of things that can go wrong, that can
go out of your control. So what is it about
you that makes you a little bit of a massachist
that wants to do this for a living.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
It's notuch a great way to describe it.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
I love that so part in the pond, but it
is a beautiful marriage of using both the business side
of my brain and the creative and also working with people,
which I get to do all three of those things
when doing weddings, which is I would say most of
what we do, but also pretty big social events and
(04:48):
some corporate events as well.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Okay, so you just just a natural love for this stuff. Yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
A blessing and a curse. It's incredibly stressful, but it's
incredibly rewarding.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, I can imagine, you know, when you see the
end result of all that planning, you're just like, Okay,
this is why I do it, because these are lifelong
memories that you're creating for people.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Totally, And in the past couple of days, I've had
the realization that it's not only about helping customers and clients,
but it's also giving business to my creative partners, and
that is a really surprise rewarding factor of what I do.
Being able to support other small businesses. It's even more rewarding,
(05:32):
I think sometimes than like helping clients.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
It's the ripple effect that you don't actually realize you're
creating when you start a business. It's just so much
impact goes around one hundred percent. So was this always
the original vision? Did you imagine that you'd be spending
your life helping people create these lifelong memories?
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So for like a minute, I wanted to be a buyer,
Like I went to fashion school.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
How nice.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
And then I did an internship in a basement of
New York City and I was like in front of
a spreadsheet and I was like.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
This is awful.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
No put me with people, which is ironic now because
I do spend a lot of time in front of
spreadsheets working out budgets anyway.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But it's on my own terms. I get both.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
I get to do the budgeting spreadsheet, but I also
get to work with really great clients and really great
creative partners.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
That's amazing, Alexa. Now I've seen the website. The website
looks incredible. Your branding is excellent. But I'm pretty sure
your company was called something else. So what led you
to change the name of your business? And when did
you realize that your name should be the name of
your business.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
So it was Long Aisle Events, which was a nod
to my background of growing up on Long Island, and
then I felt like it was a little too kitchy.
I always knew I wanted to move into the luxury market,
and I just didn't feel like the clients were going
to connect with that sort of branding. So I just
changed it to my name, because when potential clients call
(06:57):
or email me, I'm the one that's answering. It's not
this like giant conglomerate of wedding planners. It's me in
my office, and I'm the one that's there throughout the
entire planning process, as well as first one there on
the wedding and event day and the very last one
to leave. And I just felt like naming the business
after my own name would be a total better representation
(07:19):
of that.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I think that makes a lot of sense. We've talked
with a handful of small business owners so far in
this season, and naming a business is something that is
probably the hardest thing to do, and so kind of
having this perspective of understanding the client tele who you
want to attract with this name, who you think is
going to resonate with that name, as well as how
to best represent yourself, I think is a really hard
(07:41):
thing to balance, and you must have nailed it obviously
with this new name.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
It also doesn't hurt that there's the Alexa electronic. I
don't play into it too much, but like Alexa planned
my wedding is a really easy thing for people to
connect with. Or if I'm on the phone with a
new potential client and they're like hey, Alexa, and then
they're like, thing is going off in the background, it
then is an easy way to create rapport and get
(08:07):
people to relax. So that's a nice, fun little aspect,
unexpected aspect as well.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
So tell me about getting that first job as Alexi
critics events, how did that feel? And kind of give
us a timeline too, because I think one thing that
happens for a lot of small business owners is they
don't necessarily understand like how long it takes to get
that first gig.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Absolutely, So when I moved to Tampa, I was working
in a super high volume catering company, so I was
getting my business started working at this high volume catering company,
still getting to do what I am used to doing,
working catering, working at weddings, working at events, while also
starting my business. And then at one point I was like,
I don't need this job anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I have enough.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Business where my day job is getting in the way
of growing my business. I knew when I was going
to give my two weeks, and they actually came to
me and they were like, hey, we see that, like
something is.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Going on with you. Are you gonna be spending the
fall with us anymore?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
And I'm like, no, you beat me to it, Like
I actually am giving my two weeks in two weeks,
but consider this my four week notice. I will not
be moving forward. And they were super understanding. They knew
they could see that, like I was finishing my job
that was a forty hour work week in like twenty
five hours, and the rest of my time, every other
waking second I was working.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
On my business. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I had a pretty similar experience in the sense I
think my boss knew I was like mentally checked out, yep,
and called me into a meeting was like, so I
heard your quitting.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I'm like, you know what, Actually, yeah, I am consider
this my school, yaste is.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I think it's you know, once you got that one
foot out the door, you kind of just give this
new energy because you just know what's coming and you're
doing that quiet quitting thing that so many people talk about.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Before it was before it like had an age. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
The other thing I was doing was I was taking
awful lot and that's because I was freelancing for a
lot of other luxury wedding planners.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So that was another way that.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
I was able to get really great exposure to the
luxury market with multiple days of setup working on a
really big team. And I didn't want to not have
those opportunities, so.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I was like, Okay, time to go.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Once the day job starts getting in the way of
the business, that's when you know, yep, can you.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Talk more about how you found those freelance jobs, because
I feel like a lot of small business owners start
in a very similar sort of strategy. Right. It's like,
I'm weirdly passionate about this very specific thing, and so
I'm going to go, you know, freelance or work as
an intern or do something and not to get more
exposure to this idea. And then as this passion takes hold,
and begin to form a business around it. I quit
(10:46):
my job and go all in on that. So how
did you really execute on that strategy for yourself?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I started cold emailing good for you. Just say good
for you. Hi, my name is Alexa. This is what
I do.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
I'm that you have a lot of events that you
need extra hands for. I'm not another employee. You don't
have to pay a salary, you don't have to pay benefits.
Here's my day rate. These are the other planners that
I've worked with, And once I started to work with one,
then that was all the clout that I needed to
get all of the other ones on board. So I
just needed to do a little name drop in some
of those cold emails and I was in.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
It was easy.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That's amazing. Now. An often understated thing about the event
and wedding planning industry is how much of a visual
industry it is, from designing the layouts and the venues
to having competitive marketing and branding. So can you talk
a bit about how you balance the creative and the
logistical right, how are you designing the logos and the
website and do on that fun stuff while also filing
the LLC paperwork? And the tax forms and everything in between.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
So in the beginning, I definitely knew what my strengths
and my weaknesses were as far as what I.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Was able to manage on my own and what.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
I needed to outsource as far as getting the business started.
So when I got started, for or the legal part
of it, I used legal Zoom. When I was getting
ready to do the creative side of it, I tapped
into graphic designers. And one of the things that nobody
tells you also in your starting a business is that
not one person does all of the things. So you
(12:15):
have somebody who makes all of the branding, then you
have somebody else who does all of the website, and
then you have someone else who does the copy.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And that's such a.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Learning curve of knowing who to hire for what all
of those different things are was a little bit stressful
at first, but you know, get through it.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, that's definitely a trial and error situation. You're not
always going to end up going with the first vendor
the first software, right, You kind of have to find
the thing that works for you.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
And earlier, Alex So you mentioned how being in this
industry allows you to sort of marry your left side
of your brain and the right side of the brand.
Talk to me about how you went and really began
to design this first venue and sort of laid it
out from scratch to show someone sure.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
So when clients like walk into a ballroom for the
first time, it's an empty space and most people are visual,
so they can't imagine you have this empty ballroom and like,
what are we putting in it? How are we going
to make this into what I see on the internet?
What I actually still do now is just a two
D floor plan.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
But with the development of AI.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
We're able to make it a little bit easier for
clients to be able to see the potential of what
their events are able to look like in a way
that like ten years ago, we weren't able to do that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So we already know owning and running a business requires
a lot of work. There's some really great platforms that
make that necessary work easier. So, for example, into a
Quick Books uses AI power tools to help their user
track revenue that comes in expenses, going out marketing costs,
payroll and all the other things that we have to
manage as entrepreneurs. So that you have more time to
(13:49):
focus on the creative aspects of your business, and they
also auto generate invoice emails so that you don't have
to remember to send those out. How have you personally
found AI to be helpful in managing your daily task
as an entrepreneur?
Speaker 4 (14:02):
So what's great about it is that when clients come
to us, they see one events that have already taken place,
as well as AI generated images. So it's nice to
be able to balance those two and also say, Okay,
so this is something that is real and feasible, it
has happened before, versus something that's AI generated, like an
(14:27):
entire tablescape set up in the middle of a pond.
Practically that's a nightmare for anybody to execute. So it's
nice to be able to say, okay, that was AI generated.
That is absolutely not going to happen in the real world.
But this is something else that is real or that
can be executed that was created by AI. And it's
(14:47):
nice to be able to manage expectations from that perspective.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Can you share some of the tools that you're using.
I do use into a.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Quick books I have from the very start to help
manage all of our invoicing, bookkeeping, so they make it
really easy to every day I just go in and
log all of our transactions.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So you're personally doing that. Oh, I personally do it myself. Wow,
good for you. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
When it comes to like the tax time, I let
the pros take over, but into a QuickBooks makes it
so easy that every day, at the end of the
day I can just say, Okay, I can do my
categories of what it is.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
I'm checking on our p and ls for the week,
for the month, for.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
The year to see what we need to forecast what
else we need to do for the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
So it's really easy from that perspective, it's great. Any
other tools that are your favorite. Right now in the
AI space.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
We're using Canva to create design decks for client and
they have an integrated AI system, which someone who's for me,
I'm pretty new to it, so they make it really
easy to seart to integrate learning AI, as well as
having things like remove the background of this photo so
I can then insert it into what my clients have
in mind.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I think those types of tools make it easier to
create really engaging content then can convey the message that
you want to your client, which is they want to
envision what it is that's in your head. And so
any time you have the opportunity to take advantage of
those tools, I think that's a move.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
And also if they change their mind, which clients do
every second, it's really easy for me to just be
able to type in like blue linen instead of white,
and like boom, it's it's changed.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
I don't know how we got along in like business
without AI tools. At this point, I feel like I'm
very codependent.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
It's also really great for writing difficult emails too, because
the clientele that we work with, they are spending six
figures on their events. And when we get emails for
clients and everybody has.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
A budget, we always respect what it is. AI.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
If I type in to say like, hey, these are
the budgets that we normally work with, I'm really sorry
we're not going to be the right fit. AI is
able to make it sound a little bit warmer because also,
like there's no body language, there's no tone when you're
writing emails.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
So AI is able to give it a little bit.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
This is ironic to say a little more of a
personal a little bit more of a personal feeling when
delivering a little bit harder news.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Coming up on Mind the Business small business success stories.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Everybody is so busy, so sometimes I have that self
feeling of like I don't want to bother this person
to help me with this thing, but like I can
bother the AI.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
They're never going to complain.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
We'll be right back. Welcome back to Mind the Business. Now.
Something I'm really curious about is how AI perhaps has
maybe helped you generate even more revenue, because if I
(17:47):
were you, I'm saying, Okay, I've got this really cool
tool that every time I sit down with a new client,
I can help them just bring their dreams to life
and show them how much cooler it would be if
they could, you know, maybe up their budget to this
and really show them what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Definitely, because there's trust there then.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
So if there are people who have a hard time
envisioning what something's going to look like, if we use
AI and say hey, here's where your money is going,
this is what you're spending all of this money on,
then they're way more likely.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
To go ahead and invest in it.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
So I think I've seen it a little bit, but
the potential for it is I think really great.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
At this point.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That's amazing because I'm not a very visual person. So
if I was sitting down with the wedding planner or
a big event planner, and to your point, I walked
into the ballroom and it was completely empty, I would
just have no idea what it would turn out and
look like. And so being able to lean on AI
for that I think is really important. How has AI
helped transform maybe the way that you run the processes
of your business and onboard new clients.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
I think because there's essentially no limit with AI that
I still like to go to the client first. So
I still like to go through the process of asking
them what they like, what they've seen, their likes, their dislikes,
and then use AI to help them maybe also recognize
something that like they don't realize that they want. In
another sense, for our creative partners, I think it also
(19:10):
helps them if there's something that they've never done before.
There's such an opportunity for uniqueness to then be able
to go to a vendor partner, creative partner and say, hey,
I generated this in AI. Is this something that you
can make happen in real life. So the potential also
for doing something really customized, really unique, really high design
(19:33):
is also there, which I love too, because I really
love to create unique designs for our clients. We're not
just like copying and pasting exact things.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
One of my favorite phrases as it relates to AI
is not going to take your job. The person who
knows how to use AI better than you is going
to take your job. And so you're using AI to
help sell people on this vision of the event, the
visuals everything to help them, you know, visualize what the
heck's going to go on on your specific wedding day.
The person who knows how to use it to their
advantage to help sell their products or their services in
(20:03):
a more intimate manner, I think we'll probably have that
extra edge, which seems like that's what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
And it also allows me to then have more of
these human moments, more of these personal moments, because I'm
not spending so much time figuring out how to show
my clients what this is going to look like because
AI is doing it so quickly, So if I have
help on the technical part of it, I am getting
to spend more of my time on the personal part.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
That makes a lot of sense. And I think when
AI first started becoming a little bit more mainstream, a
lot of entrepreneurs were kind of like intimidated by it
or maybe even scared by it because of the implications of, oh,
is it going to replace me? I find it really
interesting that you've actually like embraced the technology versus kind
of shying away from it. Sometimes there's so much going
(20:51):
on in here that when you can have something assist
you to get the task done, it's like, why wouldn't
you want to use that?
Speaker 4 (20:57):
And everybody is so busy, So sometimes I have that
self feeling of like I don't want to bother this
person to help me with this thing, but like I
can bother the AI.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
They're never going to complain. That's great. The AI was
such a millennial thing to say.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
So there's so much data that you can gather from
into a quick books that lets you then plan that
next phase of your business. Can you tell us about
what that looks like for you?
Speaker 4 (21:20):
So the way that into a QuickBooks makes it easy
to see what I'm categorizing each one of my expenses are.
Then lets me know, Okay, I didn't really invest that
much in advertising and marketing last year. Maybe if we
invest a little bit more this year, we'll see more growth.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I think that high level view really helps you make
those strategic decisions without getting caught in the weeds, which
is very easy to visualize, Oh we might be spending
too much money here, or maybe we're not investing.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Enough absolutely, like where has all of the income that
we've made? Like where is it going? Am I using
it wisely? Am I taking enough of it home? Also,
because that's important too. It's not about how much you make,
it's about how much you keep.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Absolutely, I'm always shocked at looking at my p and
l'ms like, we really made that much.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
But we also spent this month? What is happening? What's
good to know?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Some of the smum business owners we've talked to this
season have talked about how challenging it can be sometimes
to find the right people that you want to hire
and work with. Can you maybe share your experience with
finding the right hires and training them and making sure
that they align well with what you're building and follow
these processes?
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Other wedding planners are the best help, because one there
is enough business to go around here in the Tampa area.
It's really important to me the wedding community that I
have other planners that I'm friendly with. It's not a
competition thing because they are really great when it comes
to like needing their help. So that is something that
(22:54):
I really feel strongly about. As well as when it
comes to finding help for office things behind the scenes.
I know what my expectations are for our clients, like
what their experiences, and then being able to put that
down on paper and then look for those same qualities
in someone else when looking for an assistant that I
(23:16):
know my strong points, I want them to have some
of the same. But also if there are things that
I'm not great at, it's amazing to have someone else
who has those sort of qualities as well.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
I think it makes a ton of sense, right, higher
tier weaknesses. And then also something I've heard more recently
is slump business owners going out and to your point
hiring other freelance kind of like what you did before, right,
you were very a self starter, so not a freelancer.
So I've heard a lot of success stories around that
strategy as it comes to hiring and bringing on team
members that have that self started mentality. As well.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
Yeah, the wedding community here in Tampa is really wonderful,
So it's been really easy to grow that network of
other planners who I can call just for if I
need advice as well as Hey, I have a really
big event I need like a team.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Of five of us.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
If you guys are free, I would really love to
have you on board with me.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
For the day.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I think that speaks to the strength of the entrepreneurial
community here in Florida.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So you've been in the game now for about ten
years plus. What was going on before with the freelancing.
What would you tell the Alexa ten years ago that's
just getting started, who's really excited about building this and
taking this new chapter of her life to the next level.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Well, one that it gets wilder than you could ever imagine,
first of all, and second of all, to be patient
and be kind throughout it. I think those are the
kindness part has really gotten me to this point, because
you don't get anywhere by having an attitude being.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Nasty to someone.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Emotions are high, there's a lot going on at super
fast piece, but that's the one thing that I always
remember at the end of the day, Like just kindness
is always number one.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I think it makes a tonest and so I'm right
there with you. Right if you do good business and
even if you aren't the right fit for the customer
at that time, and you recommend them to maybe a
competitor that you've vetted and you know is also a
trusted event planner, that experience of the customer saying, Okay,
I wasn't the right fit for this person. I had
a great experience over here because they trusted me to
(25:19):
go over there. Now I trust Alexa because Alexa is
always going to have my best interest in mind.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
What is your favorite kind of event to plan? This
is like choosing your favorite child.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Yeah, so they're really tough. But private home events, Oh,
is that becoming more popular?
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It is.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
We do quite a bit of private homes private estates
because they are so unique and everyone is so different.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
It's not like the same four walls of a ballroom.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
It's an entire property and there's so much more opportunity
for customization.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
So they're really tough.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
No one realizes how putting one hundred and fifty people
in your house for eight hours and they need to
be fed, and they need restrooms and they need lighting,
and they need somewhere to sit, and they need water
and food.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
But I love that challenge. It's really fun.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
One hundred and fifty people in my house that sounds
like the stuff of nightmares.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I could probably fit maybe twelve.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yeah, ye, people are going to be That's really cool though,
because I think it just adds like another personal touch
to an event when you're like literally welcoming people into
the space that you call home.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Absolutely, and that's why we do it.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Over the summer, we did a big tended wedding at
a property in Michigan, and that was exactly what they wanted.
Was the bride's childhood home, and they wanted to welcome
all of their guests there or back because it's friends
and family, so they've probably been there before. But to
be able to celebrate such a huge milestone in the
home that the bride grew up in, the bride's parents
(26:57):
obviously still live there is really special.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Oh my gosh, it's like making me teery eyes. That's
so cool.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
That is so special. Yeah, if you could pick a
favorite event or wedding that you have planned or thrown
to date, does anything come to mind?
Speaker 4 (27:15):
So one of my favorite events that I planned was
for a client who absolutely loves the Grinch, so we
turned her home into Whoville. So I took inspiration from
both the nineteen sixties version with like the big pink
archway entering into Whovill. We did that at like the
(27:36):
archway of her home. We had the big wonky Christmas trees.
We had the best Grinch I have ever seen. The
clients were like, we went to Universal a couple of
weeks after our event, and our Grinch at the party
was better than the theme park Grinch. And I was like,
that's how I know I've done my job right. And
it's a party that like I'll meet people for the
(27:57):
first time and they'll be like, oh, you did that
Grinch park right.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I'm like, yeah, that was me. It's my claim to fame,
the Grunch Party. It's like one of those things you
never knew you needed. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
And that's the fun part about doing this as a
career two is like most of these events it's like,
do you need any of this? No, But the people
who have the money to spend on it, they go
above and beyond and it's really great.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Wow, I mean, good for you.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah, There's something about an event that like when it's
done right, this is something people talk about forever, so
it leaves a mark. I am very excited to potentially
one day go to one of your events, but they
sound spectacular.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Thank you. We want to wish you so much success,
and thank you so much for being here. Thank you
so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
It was a pleasure, Denise. I had such a great
time learning from Alexa. What are some of your biggest takeaways?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
I really love the fact that she has embraced AI's
this new technology, right. I think a lot of folks
are intimidated by it, especially if they don't understand how
you can utilize it as a business owner. So I
just love that she jumped in, she's using it to
her advantage, and she's also open to continuing to use
new tools as they come about to continue to make
the solopreneur life.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Just a little bit easier.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
How about you, Austin, I'm right there with you. AI
tools all about them, I love them. But I think
my biggest takeaway was this idea of Alexa freelancing into
the event planning space before she jumped in headfirst and
quit her job and went all in right. I think
a lot of small business owners and solopreneurs and even
entrepreneurs out there, we have these grandiose ideas off, I
(29:35):
want to start this business, or I want to be
this type of entrepreneurs, I want to sell these products,
I want to have these services. But we say those
things without yet sometimes having even done that in the
first place. And I think Alexa did a great job
of freelancing a bit in the industry to get a
foot in the door, and then once she started working
alongside some of the awesome other event planners in her
space and in her area, she was able to say, Okay,
(29:57):
this is something I really like. I think I'm seeing
some moments. I think I can do this on my
own and really build a business over the next decade
doing it. So I think that's just super powerful.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Well, it's a wrap on this episode of Mind the
Business Small Business Success Stories. You can find me on
social media at Joctrodneto podcast.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
And you can find me at Austin Hankwitz. You can
follow into It QuickBooks on all social media at QuickBooks.
To get the tools you need to start, run and
grow your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today don't.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Forget to follow this show wherever you listen to podcasts
so you can stay up to date on future episodes.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
We also want to hear from you, so be sure
to leave us a rating and a review. See you
next time. Money movement services are provided by Intoit Payments, Inc.
Licensed as a money transmitter by the New York State
Department of Financial Services.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
This podcast is a production of iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and
Into It QuickBooks. Our executive producer is Molly Sosha, our
supervising producer is Nikia Swinton, and our writer is Eric Leja.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I had to post production is James Foster, and our
mixing engineer is Paul Vitrulen's of Audiography
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