Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jamme Alexander. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jamme, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

I wish I would have started my entrepreneurial journey earlier. Being a natural born leader it is very hard for me to stay in one place for too long! In 2021 I decided to move from Nebraska to Arizona to grow my businesses. I was a stay at home mother at the time and had just became certified as a software developer. I started a business in tech but while building that vision I needed income to invest into it! I had done several events with my families catering company and have over 20 years of experience in the service, sales and hospitality industry. When we arrived I instantly went into “Grind mode” as I do. I ran across someone looking for a bartender on facebook for a private (in-home) event and he asked me if I could do it! I had bartended in the past in Nebraska and I didn’t think I would ever get back into it while here in Az, but I told him yes because I knew it would be easy money! I get to the event in Scottsdale and he paid me $25 per hr for 3 hours + I kept the tips. I left that evening making $450.00!!! I was taken back! Me being me, I immediately went into business mode. I thought to myself, “If he paid me $75.00 I wonder what he was charging the client”. I did a little research and saw the profit that could be made in the private event space and instantly started building my event company in the summer of 2021 which I named Zen Events. I started with starting the companies LLC and getting my AZ bartending license and Bar Management license for selling on and off site at events. I heard about a few applications I could put a business profile on and gain new clients looking for bartenders and event help in the area. I gained atLEAST 5-10 new clients at each event I did leading into future bookings. Then over about the course of a year and 50+ five star reviews my company runs mostly off of word-of-mouth and I became the leading go-to bartender on one of the platforms. We have added packages like Bar Rentals, Mixer Packages, Garnish Packages, Custom Bar Menus etc..
We have signed partnerships with two companies as head of their events and community functions and are continuing to grow!!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a serial entrepreneur and artist in many forms. A mother to three amazing children and a wife to an amazing husband and business partner Eric. The most lucrative business being Zen Events AZ, an event management company that caters to weddings, large banquets and corporate events. You will find her visually creating, managing, staffing, coordinating, providing entertainment and vendors for private events and corporations all over the valley! She is a licensed bar manager and a certified commercial drone software developer with training in machine learning, embedded systems, accelerated computing, autonomous systems and more. I have also created a space and brand for my Art called Priceless Privileges and a Healing Essentials Product line called TREEZ. I’ve been a member of the Hispanic chamber of commerce here in Arizona since 2022 as well as vice president of the International Drone Federation since 2018. Founder of Engineering Women a start-up technology company whose focus is to create a safe place for minority women and youth to learn about new cutting edge technology and entrepreneurship in the space.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I am very old school when it comes to marketing. Aura and how you leave people feeling always speaks for itself. A good business woman creates and controls the vibe of their audience. Social media really just gave me more outlets to reach my tribe. I love to meet people face to face and network. Every event I do I make sure to have my scan codes to my business pages on display, I connect with every last person ordering drinks at my bar giving them a business card and making sure they follow our social media pages! With every private event we do, we gain 10-20 new followers!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

An application called Thumbtack has been a HUGE success for our business. They do have a small weekly fee to use their platform but they send around 10 new leads a day for that fee it’s just up to us as the company to close the lead. I have gained repeat clients such as Jarrod Jewelry, Golden Goose shoe store, Kenect Phoenix downtown apartment skyrise and many more.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeneventsaz?igsh=MWNkbmFzNnJvY3lybg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZenEventsAz?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jammealexander?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits

Alexia Collins