Episode 4 - Melissa Peralta of Mood Food Wellness Co.
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Melissa Peralta is a free spirited entrepreneur with a diverse professional background and deep passion for pursuing projects that bring more joy to the world, or one of the many other projects she is a part of, Melissa is always looking for an opportunity to help others embrace better living!
HER START
Melissa talks about her start and love of entertaining at home and how it has evolved into her business at Suddenly Simple Events. She also talks about how COVID has impacted her business in unexpected ways and trying to find the positive such as getting to work on smaller events again. She’s also been able to expand her second business, Mood Food Wellness, by launching a virtual marketplace and talks about her third venture, The Borrowed Board and how that came to concept.
HER ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY
Melissa speaks about her family's history and how it modeled for her that business ownership was always possible. She saw what it was like to work for her family and for someone else and was driven from a young age to pursue entrepreneurship. She discusses how she was taught at a young age that a little bit of hard work and belief in yourself can be turned into a profit as well as to follow what makes her happy.
BRINGING AN IDEA TO FRUITION
We discuss how Melissa took her passions and molded them into her business. She talks about taking a leap of faith and really leaning into letting go of the worst case scenario and choosing to do what she loves. She realized working in the corporate world that she has a drive for doing the things that she loves and wanted to put it into building her own dream and passions. When passion and purpose align, magic happens. She speaks to trusting yourself and knowing that you are capable.
LAUNCHING AND GROWTH
Melissa talks about her launch for Suddenly Simple Events and how she decided to give away her first five events. In doing so she was able to build her portfolio and gain valuable experience. From there she was able to build her community organically by word of mouth and truly focusing on taking care of her clients and delivering the best experience possible which led to further growth.
FUNDING & OUTSOURCING
We discuss what it was like for Melissa to fund her journey. She focused on bidding out jobs and investing the money back into her business in order to build equity in her company and continually be able to offer more. We also discussed outsourcing and how she determined when and where to hire others in her business. Melissa talks about wanting to take things on herself but finding the need to determine her strengths and weaknesses and hire where it is necessary to. We talk about having to dig deep into your own self awareness as business owners and while there are hard lessons to learn it is necessary for growth.
ON KNOWING YOUR WORTH
Melissa and I discuss how she learned to put value on her time and how she transitioned her pricing as she gained experience and her business grew and evolved. She talks about underestimating feedback and how hearing other’s feedback on her services truly being worth it has been so validating for her. We talk about the importance of getting client feedback and testimonials in your business, how women in general struggle with confidence and that we shouldn’t shy away from celebrating our successes.
FOLLOWING YOUR INSTINCTS
Melissa talks about the importance of following and trusting your own intuition and instincts. She speaks about how as entrepreneurs we are always taking a calculated risk but that your intuition is that piece to listen to when taking a leap of faith. We talk about motherhood and balancing your passions with motherhood and modeling a behavior of pursuing passions, being happy and leaning into what makes you, you.
ON PARTNERSHIP
Melissa talks about being able to connect with local brands and build an online marketplace. We discuss how she reached out to local businesses and brands to be included in the marketplace and how her focus was on bringing products together that spoke to her own mission and brand.
HOW SHE BALANCES MULTIPLE BUSINESSES
Melissa talks about how she made a huge effort to integrate her work and her life. We discuss how there is nothing to take a break from because it is all intertwined and she loves what she does. She says that despite having three businesses, they are all outlets for her creativity and while she certainly doesn’t have it all figured out she has found that when it all aligns, it all works out.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A SUPPORT SYSTEM
We discuss the importance of finding and building your community as a business owner and having other’s to rely on as a support system. Melissa talks about how she was so moved by her community, especially during COVID and how having that built in support really gave her the motivation to keep going.
links + resources
WHERE TO FIND MELISSA
RESOURCES
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