We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Manny Peralta a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Manny , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Over the last 6 years I’ve primarily been running a wedding photo and video business with my wife Ashley.

In 2022 we saw major growth in our business, breaking 6 Figures in a year and since then expanding it into an Associate Team, allowing Ashley and I to be at home more with our daughter, and carving out the time to grow as individuals and together as a family unit. We did this by gaining an understanding of non-visual branding.

Non-Visual branding is how a brand makes you feel, connecting customers’ emotions to the product you’ve created. With this growth in our wedding business, came an increase in time. Time became an amazing currency that I used to develop a system that I could teach to other struggling business owners.

I wanted to help other business owners gain confidence in their brand and find clarity in their life. I saw so many brands that had a great product, but didn’t understand how to bring up things like money to their ideal customer, let alone find their ideal customer.

So I created Rile Fire- Coaching and Clarity for Creative Minds, a 5 week program designed to help business owners get clarity on their brand, find ideal customers and charge what they are worth.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Manny Peralta

Over the last 10 years I’ve primarily been a Cinematographer and Video Editor.

I knew I had good product, but I lacked the knowledge to communicate my value to my ideal audience, which led me to being ghosted when I sent out proposals, or working with low budget clients that were often more trouble than they were worth.

I had enough of the feast and famine mindset, and so I poured myself into understanding how I could live with intention, work with ideal clients and charge what I felt I was worth. I used this knowledge and applied it to our Wedding business, Iz & Liv Films, a High-End Outdoor Wedding Photo + Video Team.

Through an intense period of study and effort, we were able to grow Iz & Liv into a 6 -Figure Business in one year, since then, expanding it into a team of associates, so that we can offer emotive and cinematic wedding content to more couples!

Then it hit me, there are so many talented business owners with amazing an amazing product, that dont know who their ideal client is, and don’t know how to communicate their value online.

So I took my 10 years in the film industry, working with brands like Mimmic Fashion Jewelry, DICKS Sporting goods, YouTubers with over 1M subscribers, scaling our wedding business and my knowledge of Non-Visual Branding and committed my self to helping other business owners avoid the mistakes I made.

I created a 5 week mentorship program, that has everything to do with helping get clarity on the direction your business is going and additionally allows you to:

– getting a deeper understanding of your business values

-identifying a target audience and how to effectively communicate with them

– learn how to confidently bring up money through customer sales scripts that help you close more sales.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Consistency is key.

Throughout my career there were many points where I wanted to give up. However, where most people would stop is where I wanted to continue pushing myself. You dont have to be the most talented, have the most followers or subscribers, but what you do need is a desire to learn and the endurance to stay consistent till you reach your next goal.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

2023 was a challenging time for us. I personally was dealing with many health issues, which kept me from operating at a normal level. On top of this we are raising a family, running out of money and in the process of scaling our business into the associate team it is today.

Entrepreneurship can be lonely, and It can be hard to have others to relate to. We had a small group of friends that supported us through this time. and though my health was not the best most of 2023, I was able to give myself grace, and understand that life is messy and hard, and I can only give what my body allows.

My mindset has changed greatly, understanding there are seasons of hustle, but equally, it’s important to listen to your body and nourish it, not just with food but with play and rest. Owning a business requires to pivot and roll with the punches. By enduring all of that, im proud to say I walked out of 2023 stronger and ready to take life on.

Contact Info:

• Website: rilefire.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rile_fire
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rilefire

Image Credits
photos by: Kaley M Lopez www.kaleymlphotography.com Nolan Sritan www.nolansritanphoto.com