The Wild, Wild West
A MAVERICK MENTALITY
“It’s the wild, wild West.” That’s how Alejandra Pimienta sums up why opportunity is ripe to start a business in Miami. Bluntly, she says, “Everyone kind of makes up their own rules.”
And it’s that maverick type of mentality that helped her and her best friend, Amy Dang-Stojanovic, start their own social media marketing agency, Mochee, back in 2010.
But here’s the thing: Alejandra never even pictured herself as an entrepreneur. She’s actually pretty understated. The difference is, she knows how to spot a trend and capitalize on its potential. That’s how she was able to start “one of the first social media agencies in Miami.”
INDUSTRY: Social media marketing
STARTED BUSINESS: April 2010
LATINO CONNECTION: Parents are Nicaraguan
EDUCATION: Florida State University
Bachelor's Degree – Creative Writing
Dream Job As a Kid: Magazine editor
Biggest Goal Yet: “We’ve already reached our goals…We always want to get new business, but at a pace that’s scalable.”
“When I retire I would love to have a nonprofit and keep giving back to my community.”
TWEETING FOR FUN PAYS OFF
Alejandra Pimienta with her brother, Cesar Rocha, at an Ocean Drive event - 2006
It all started back in 2008 when Alejandra had just been laid off from her job at Ocean Drive magazine. It was the early days of Twitter. Still, she’d been tweeting all weekend-long while on a road trip with Amy, who worked at a hotel at the time.
Amy asked her, “What if we just start tweeting for the hotel?”
Alejandra (in yellow) & her non-stop tweeting from this road trip kicked it all off
Alejandra was hired.
Just like that, Alejandra started using hashtags like #brides and #weddings to try to drum up some bridal and destination wedding business for the hotel.
Wouldn't you know? It worked.
The bookings followed and the freelance work was kicking in.
By 2010, Alejandra and Amy incorporated the company out of Amy’s guest room.
The first "office" - aka Amy's guest room
EXPLAINING IT TO THE PARENTS
Alejandra’s parents thought she was nuts, especially since she’d been offered a job as Associated Editor for Latin Vogue at the time.
They told her, “You are insane! How could you even think to do that?”
But she saw the writing on the wall. Print magazines were starting to fold. Things were beginning to go digital.
Building up the business certainly wasn’t easy.
THE TOUGH SELL
Keep in mind, this was before Facebook had a business platform and Instagram hadn’t really emerged. So she and Amy were still creating pages for their clients, like regular personal pages.
One of the first "content creation" shoots
For the first five years, the hardest part was just explaining the value of social media to potential clients. Alejandra and Amy had to answer questions like:
How is this going to work for me?
Do I really need it?
Who am I even talking to on social media?
Now, talk about a shift. The biggest question from clients before anything else is, "How are we rolling this out on social media?"
ANYTHING GOES
Still, that “anything goes in Miami” vibe still works today. Maybe even more so. With tech, real estate and the hospitality industries booming in the area, Alejandra says there are “a lot of things within these industries that you can find a niche for to create a business in,” especially during COVID-19.
She does think you need to figure out where you are in your life. After all, she admits she started the business when she was single and in her 20s, with “nothing to lose.” She also believes it would’ve been a lot harder in cities like New York, Chicago or L.A.
Now, she’d recommend you ask yourself, “Do you have a safety net to make sure you can cover your expenses?
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE “PERSONAL” WIN
Alejandra and her family
Things have changed since the early days of the business. Now, Alejandra is married with two young kids and the business has grown to 20 employees.
Even though social media has evolved and is oversaturated, she says there’s still room for creative people who are good content creators.
While some social media platforms have fallen by the wayside, it looks like social media has always been good to her.
Heck, even Myspace worked out for her. Alejandra met her husband on Myspace back in the day.
So it looks like she knew how to play the social media game, professionally and personally.
Alejandra with her Myspace love connection - Eric, her husband
THE TIP JAR (Tips passed out courtesy of Alejandra Pimienta)
STARTING OUT:
“Get organized. Figure out what you need to learn and who’s going to be your support group.” She says the support group is especially important because “those are the people that are going to give you your first referrals, your first connections.”
STEEPED IN SKILLS (mid-career):
"Just rip the Band-Aid off and do it. Because there’s never going to be a good or bad time, if you look at the pros and cons. It’s always going to be a good time, or it’s always going to be a bad time.”
STARTING OVER: “Just kind of do it…trust your gut. It’s going to tell you yes or no.”
I’LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN: Alejandra says she’ll never take on a client that she doesn’t think is going to be good match from the beginning.
Alejandra says she’s learned the lesson from previous experience. “We never get aligned and we just knew it.”
They may start with big hopes thinking it’s going to be a huge account. But if it’s not a good match, it never turns out well.
BEST ADVICE FROM “LA CASA”: The saying that really sticks with Alejandra comes from her dad. Growing up, he would tell her, “Just figure it out.”
“To this day, we still figure it out every day.” That’s especially true when the problem or task seems overwhelming.
She says, “Break it up into pieces and, then, figure it out that way…Start [with] step one. Figure that out and go to the next one.”
As a mom, she now finds herself repeating the same advice to her kids.
NO NEED TO GO IT ALONE
HELP ON THE OUTSIDE...because we can all use a helping hand:
Maybe you’ve thought about it, or listen to some podcasts yourself, and are wondering if a podcast would be a good idea for your business. Find out what’s involved from someone who has her own podcast, “Flip It or Skip It”, Danna Crawford. She’ll tell you the ins and outs of podcasting as it relates to your brand in this virtual webinar.
Orlando SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021
7 p.m. EDT – 8 p.m. EDT
Virtual Webinar
FREE
https://orlando.score.org/event/promote-your-business-podcasts-1
WORKING ON THE INSIDE...because, let's face it, our culture has a hard time asking for help:
Feeling a little awkward going back into social situations because of COVID? You’re definitely not alone. As we try to safely re-emerge, you may feel better brushing up on your social skills with these pointers from the American Medical Association. It’s from their What Doctors Wish Patients Knew series:
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THIS ISSUE:
If you lived in South Florida in the '90s or early 2000s, you knew Ocean Drive magazine. It was “THE” go-to magazine that captured the spirit of Miami.
My sisters and I would eagerly snap up the upscale, lifestyle magazine and excitedly pore through the pages. It was our definitive guide to where we could find out about the hottest parties, events, people and fashion in Miami.
So when I found out that Alejandra Pimienta once worked for Ocean Drive magazine, I knew she understood how to spot trends and capture lightning in a bottle.
It’s no wonder that she was able to parlay all her connections from her time at the magazine to help launch her own business.
Of course, what initially led me to Alejandra was the Chapman Partnership. It’s a nonprofit that benefits the homeless. I reached out to them because they have a nextgen group that focuses on young professionals in Miami.
I contacted the nonprofit because, when looking for entrepreneurs to profile, I want to find people who are not only successful, but I purposely seek out those who do good in the community. The development officer told me about Alejandra and said she is also a long-time council member for the Chapman Partnership.
I bring this up, as well as Alejandra’s connection to Ocean Drive magazine, because she specifically suggests aspiring entrepreneurs establish their support group – that central network that will help them get their first referrals and clients. And, as you can see through this real-life example, more than a decade after being in business, this advice is still working. The connections from the magazine job helped her get clients, and the volunteer work helped her get unsolicited media coverage. It led me to her for this newsletter!