Meet Olivia Lopez | Brand & Web Designer, Let’s Go Studio

We had the good fortune of connecting with Olivia Lopez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Olivia, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started my design career at corporate jobs. Quickly, I realized that I never fit within the mold of a traditional 9-to-5. My creativity just didn’t work like that – some days I would feel sluggish, low energy, and want to sleep in. Some days I’d get an amazing idea and want to stay at work until late in the evening to achieve what was in my mind. I started my design career in 2012, before “freelancing” and work from home became the norm.

It only took 2.5 years before I realized that I needed to venture out and do something else with my life, and so I became a freelancer. This was more about finding something that worked for me rather than a true thought process – finally, I could work when I wanted!

As the years went by, freelancing turned into a company turned into a studio. I don’t call Let’s Go Studio an agency, but it is a full web design and brand design studio. As I honed my skills throughout the year, so I grew!

What should our readers know about your business?
Let’s Go Studio is a brand & web design studio that focuses on education and empowerment of small businesses. What sets me apart running my studio is the emphasis on education and creating designs that empower rather than hinder my clients. Sure, there’s fancy code and swanky design elements I could add to every site, but I choose to make my designs accessible and easily editable for clients to have control over their businesses.

I got to where I am today by a long string of trial and error. I truly believe that jumping in feet first and just trying out every single thing to see how it ticks and functions is how we grow as people. I’ve had tons of failures, but it’s the pursuit of my successes that got me to where I am.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned along the way is around communication and boundaries. Mess up? Communicate and fix it. Do well? Communicate internally, review what went well, keep replicating. Need space? Communicate your timelines and working hours to focus on creating space. So many people keep things locked away, or don’t breathe into life their questions or worries, and it’s by communicating and learning that we can right wrongs and start to grow!

Honest communication with yourself is just as important as communication with your clients.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My stomping grounds are EAV since I live in East Lake, so I always start there! I love to grab iced coffee at Joe’s and head over to Bookish, my favorite small local bookstore. Midway Pub is my neighborhood bar where I love to grab a bite and hang out outside with friends (at least until it turns to the typical hot hot Atlanta summer.) If it’s late night cocktails, I love to impress friends at Banshee with amazing cocktails and super friendly bartenders.

From there, there’s something so special about the Beltline. It’s such a special and unique thing to Atlanta and I love telling friends about its history and how recent it actually was created! I always take anyone visiting from out of town straight to the Beltline, typically starting out at Krog Street Market and walking over to Ponce City Market. There’s just so much to see and so much people watching to be done. I know we can stop for drinks anywhere along the way, grab some pops at King of Pops, and check out all the artwork and murals.

For a week long trip, I’d also swing by West End to hit up Best End Brewing, Monday Night, and then swinging over to Summerhill. These small areas of Atlanta are night and day from when I first moved here, that I always love to see what’s new just as much as I love showing them off to friends. I like to end a day at Halfway Cooks, enjoying the rooftop bites and pints of beer.

Lastly, for my thrifters and antique lovers, I always head over to Chamblee’s Antique Row. There’s so much furniture, clothing, thrifting, and antique collecting that you can browse, and it’s all walkable on foot! You get a bit of an old southern vibe from a lot of the furniture and antiques.

Atlanta is definitely a collection of smaller pocket cities, but over the years living here, I’ve loved getting to know each area and seeing how it grows and shapes over the years. There’s something different in each space that I know I can take lots of different friends to different places and always have something new to show them.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
It goes without saying that truly nothing is done in isolation. “It takes a village” to start and launch anything. My oldest and most significant shoutout goes to my high school computer teach, Mrs. Dawn Bone. She recognized that I was a wiz through my Microsoft courses, and gave me “extra work” in the form of learning Photoshop. That’s where the sparks of design truly started for me. Who knows what would have happen if I was never exposed to those programs?

I also had a very supportive family. It can be scary to hear that your child has quit a “normal job” and is going out on her own. My parents may have had their apprehensions, but 10 years later, they recognize and are so proud of the work I’ve done.

Nowadays, I give all my shoutouts to friends, family, and other solopreneurs. There are so many groups and gal pals of mine that listen to my woes, provide feedback, and community. They know who they are – but as a shoutout, I’ll say, “Thank you, LWS!”

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Website: letsgo.studio

Instagram: @lets.go.studio

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LetsGoStudioDesign

Image Credits
Headshots by Gabi at https://www.wellkept.studio/ Flatlays by Mushaboom Studio at https://mushaboom.studio/