Isaac Irizarry on Branding, Storytelling, and Transforming Businesses through Design

Welcome back to the Beyond Business Podcast where we dive deep into the stories, strategies, and successes of entrepreneurs who go beyond the ordinary to create something extraordinary. I'm your host, Katherine Martin Fischer, 10x certified business coach and founder of Rocket Growth Business Advisors. And today, we are exploring the power of creativity, vision, design in business. My guest today is Isaac.

He is the creative mind behind Irizade's design, a brand known for transforming bold ideas into visuals that inspire and connect From logos and brand identity to full scale creative direction, Isaac's work helps businesses not just look good, but communicate with purpose. I'm so excited to have you here. And you know what, Isaac? I'm excited for what our audience is gonna hear and just understand a little bit about what you do and how you serve the world.

So let's start with what was your journey like to be able to start Irizarry's design? What was your so there's always a a vision and a mission and a purpose for why we decide to do something. Tell us a little bit about that. I I think everything in my journey start with God.

Like, I I was always been very creative, and in my life when I was young, was growing up, I always wanted to do like music, but I also like, you know, record some videos with like, you know, cameras and stuff. I was very curious. I love technology, but when I start, I was a tattoo artist before and sound engineer, so when I start in God's Path and I start congregating, it was some needs in the congregation, they would started to structure some stuff and everything started there.

I like, I saw needs that need to be filled in our congregation and the structure and their branding and their communication, like, you know, streaming, like taking the message out. So I started like learning a lot fast because I needed to feel I had the call to fill those needs. So everything that I do now, I learned it and I started for God's purpose. Like, I started doing it because it was a need in our congregation, and that's how It Is Average Design was born.

Like, you know, that vision, and it was the same. Like, you know, now I do for businesses like I did with the congregation in that time, like I helped them with branding, presence and identity, and then like marketing and like take, the way that I approach marketing is like with two videos and audio visuals. And I think it's audio visuals, in English. Visuals.

Audio visuals, graphic design, picture, whatever it needs to be done in the media, digital media space, whatever to be done, I do it in order to take that message out. And the way like the people sell stuff these days in social media is like that you're taking that message out you're showing your product you're showing your service what you do so that's what I do. I help create, I help build that brand, that identity, and then I help people to take that message and what they do out.

So explain to our audience why this is so important. What is it about branding and and how you show up on social media to how that affects your business? This is very important because right now marketing principles still the same as before, but the tools are different and social media, websites, Internet is like biggest space or platform right now for selling or selling a product or a service. But the thing is, it's so fast and so quick, like that it's very important to have everything very organized to establish that brand in social media, for example, establish that brand, that presence, that identity.

When people go to your social media, they see your color palette, your logo, like your language, the words that you use for the brand that gives that brand identity. And then when you're going to market, if you don't have a I think we've lost him. Let's see if he hops back on here. Okay.

So one of the things that I am not certain of is when our, when our guest pops off, I am, I realized as of yesterday that this was going live immediately. I thought that it was gonna go live when I set it out, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Hang on one second here. Now.

Okay. But it's working now? I think the Wi Fi here is a little bit light. The first time It's a little it's a little slow.

You can tell on your end, but I think that the final recording now we are live, so everybody is seeing this at this time. But what I will say is that when the actual recording is uploaded, it will clear out any of the fuzziness. I don't know how that works with our online, so this is a this is a first for both of us to see. I'll be able to tell when we see it afterwards.

But tell me a little bit about like, I know you you were talking about how the importance of, you know, your branding and social media and whatnot. My question to you is when when your inspiration is low, what do you do to bring your creativity up to be able to help your clients? Most people call that, like, a like or creativity blog in English, I guess. In Spanish, everybody call it like Creativity blog.

Yeah. I think the best thing for that is like if you're going to work on social media and marketing in social media and you need to create constant content, these days like right now I do like probably almost like more than 50 pieces of content every single month for different people, different brand. Every brand bring me like a different inspiration, but I have a notebook and I always write my my ideas. And when I'm in places and I have, like, like, an idea, I write it there because you never know, like, when you're, like, you don't have your short on ideas, you can go and you know, go back to your notebook, your notes in your phone and you know, have some ideas and when you find something that triggers your creativity, it will come back.

You can also use like AI, a lot of people use AI to create like some ideas and scripts and stuff and that is useful. I'm not against AI like a lot of people are like very like you know with the AI but I'm the kind of person that I like AI is a tool like right now if somebody's building a house you can build it with a hammer and screws but and nails but what if you have like these guns that you put the nails like plant plant plant plant plant like and you have access to that why you will use a hammer and you're going to take like you know I mean you're still the creative behind the tools so you can use anything that you need to use in your advantage But at the end of the day, if you use AI and I use AI, I don't know what I'm talking, I don't know why I, again, I'm talking about this, but this is like a big issue in between a lot of creatives.

Like if you use your tools like that's, you know, the creative person is you behind the tool. So if you're using AI and I using AI, the results are not going to be the same because I have different vision, different ideas. So you know what I mean? But I use both, I use AI, I use my notebook, I like to write, you know, my sketches.

And when I have an idea or something, I just write it there and, you know, you can find inspirations in a lot of ways. Some people like to go and be quiet in a place and so, but I think this is one element ask you this. Once. When when you so you had you had been a tattoo artist, and so you already had that creative nature.

How do you use some of the past experiences that you have to be able to help you in your creativity? When you're a tattoo artist, you're constantly being you need to be creative by prompt, like AI again, like sometimes I can do what I feel and I can have some designs, but most of the people bring their own designs, their own ideas, and you need to build from that. I think that's something that when I'm working with a client, they bring their ideas, they bring their mission, their vision, their product, their services.

So I build from that. Like, you know, I bring to the table the skills that I have, the ideas that I have, the knowledge that I have, but even there is the same knowledge, same skills, but when I'm using it for different kind of businesses and different kind of services, it always have different results and it always, I have always like different, sometimes I get to a place where sometimes I have scripts and like an entire content plan, but sometimes I get to places, to businesses, and I don't have anything.

I say like, okay, I would just go with the flow with whatever that we have there. I have some ideas, but I don't have anything prepared and great things happen because when they start doing stuff, when they start speaking, my brain is already processing everything and when they start giving me their own ideas and vision I start like building in my brain and I'm like, okay, we can do this like this. We can do this like that. We can market this like this or we can use this for this type of marketing or this type of like, you know, that is going to be good in a in pictures or this is going to be good in a reel or let's do graphic with this one.

So that's the good thing about knowing like most of the media areas, You know, you can be more you can go with the flow. So explain to our audience why in business. You know, you may have people because, you know, we have different generations and why you you know, some people think that it's important to be on social media and other people don't. How do you inspire a business owner to understand that this is an important tool to be using right now?

So I say I learned something. You can like every business, like I say, marketing principles still the same, but tools are different. Like right now, if you're not on social media showing your product, let's not, I like to sell indirectly. When I'm working with businesses, I always say, let's sell indirectly.

Let's show the people your product, your service. Let's talk about your story, like in the content. Let's talk about like, less storytelling instead of selling and you're going to selling directly. That is something that you can do on social media and you can, like, they can always sell in the, like, you know, doing like regular like you know old school marketing or I don't want to say old school I want like traditional marketing strategies but and you're probably going to make money but how much money are you losing not using the tools that we have today, not taking advantage of social media, not taking advantage of the internet, on the internet like you're making money, you're making revenue, like you're growing your business, but how much more, how much are you losing?

Because you're not willing of using what, you know, what the tools offer today. So in my case, like most people that I encounter, like they end up, you know, going with the flow and learning because it's like it is like, you know, like it's the, right now the biggest setting platform right now is social media. Why not use it? It's free.

Why not use it? That's right. So I would love for you to give us an example of a client that you've worked with that you were able to showcase their business and, you know, what is like an moment that you've had a client have. May maybe they weren't using it, and maybe they started working with you, and then they saw this, like, wow what a difference that makes.

So I've been working for more than a year now with Plaza Esteca in Meyerstown here local in Lebanon Pennsylvania. He had the vision. I like to work with him because he have the vision of like, you know, using social media and having the restaurant, like, you know, having his own unique content and tailor strategies and content plan and videos and stuff. But he wasn't good.

Like, he didn't know how to record the videos. He didn't know how to edit, how to make it professional. And when we met, he actually was telling me like, how do you, telling my wife, how do you find about us? And my wife's like, a friend bring me here.

And he's like, oh, so you don't see us in social media because, and my wife said like no and he's like oh you can follow us in Instagram like I'm trying to work with our social media but I'm not good at it and so he was without knowing us, he was doing the approach to us at the same time because he was telling us like he's not good doing something that we actually do. So when I start working with yeah, it was good because he already wanted to do it, but he didn't know how it works, how to do it.

So he started learning. We started working together and he started learning, but he gave me this flexibility of giving me that freedom of, like, you know, he told me what he wants and he just let me do, you know, let me do my thing. And every time he's very funny because I make him go on camera, like, you know, I'm like, you're the face of the restaurant, like you need to speak, like I bring the script and stuff and we always enjoy because is, is I create the plan, the strategy, but at the end, the execution, the performance is like, is all of us.

Like I always say, we are a team. So I'm here to team up with businesses to help them bring their vision and their stories to life and how we're going is like I was telling for me is the same that I used to and that I used not like I'm still doing it I'm still doing the media for my congregation but for me it's the same like I use my skills to take God's message out so for businesses I use my skills to take your story and your services and your journey out so people can see it and people can rely and people can, you know, want to buy from it, from that product or service or restaurant.

I don't know if I'm explaining myself Yes. Very No. It's perfect. So tell me, what would what would it look like, the journey with a new client?

So where would they start with you? And then how do you help them to do that roadmap to what it is that they want to Let's present to the say you start with me. Like, the first thing I do when before I sit down and and meet with you for like to offer my packages and my services and stuff, the first thing I do is I go and I try to learn as much as I can before sitting out with you. So I already, I try to already know like your social media, what you're posting right now, how your numbers are, like where are things that I can add value or I can help you develop or change so you can grow more and try to, you know, first of all, that brand identity and presence and then less market.

So I sit down, I already know, like at least some stuff from the business and the brand. And then what I do is like I do like a quick market report. Like I study I analyze and study a little bit the market because every business service product is different. So I know a little bit like when we close, what I do is I go and do like a deep research and a deep analysis of the market.

And then I do like a marketing strategy for social media and content. And I go from there, like, you know, different audience, market, service, to who we are selling or to who we want to present the product, where we want to take the brand, like, where do where they want to go. So I help them to reach that. So if you're someone who is let's say you're in direct, you know, direct marketing or you're in an m l l m n MLM company or you're a small business owner starting out, is this something that you would utilize for that as well?

If business Telling small businesses, big businesses, it doesn't matter. It like, whatever the size business, does this work for all business types? Everybody have a story. Everybody have a story.

Like everybody that builds a business is a story behind. Every brand have a story behind. Every product have a story behind. Every service have a story behind.

Like, why you do it? Like why are you giving this service? Like like you asked me like why did it say it is service design? Like how I I do what I do or how I learn to do what I do from where I started, like everybody have a story.

And some people, be honest, not everybody wants to do that marketing approach. Like some brands, they just want to focus on selling and they just want to focus on the product or the service and let's just sell and, you know, let's just do videos and reels showcasing the services and the product. And that's fine is a way of doing that too. Like we use the tools to do that.

Again the other day I have I'm working on a promotion for a dish service design that I have my clients told me like because I don't like to be too much on camera and I'm always behind the scene and my client telling me like you never post on your social media, you never promote yourself and you're always recording us and you're always like working with us but you never And I'm like, you know what? Let's do something better. You guys are going to promote me like so. You guys are going to be the face of my marketing.

So in one of the videos that one of the guys were I was recording him but promoting it is a redesign like from like his brand he was like recommending me and he was promoting it is a redesign So when I market that, I will market myself, but I will market his business too. So it's like, you see that kind of strategies, like, that's what I do. That's what I like to do. Like, let's do something different.

Let's make this work. But one the lines in the script was like, if your menu, if you have a restaurant and your menu doesn't have quality images or quality pictures, even if you have the best food, nobody's going to order from you. This comparison of like you can have the best service and the best food in town, but if you don't have quality content these days in social media or quality content when they get to the restaurant, they won't go there because people are used to already to see high quality content everywhere.

So we can like going back to what I was talking, like, if people doesn't want to do the storytelling, we can always like do that approach. Not everybody wants to do the storytelling, but I will say something, and this is a giveaway. Storytelling always connect more and engage more than just selling. People are tired of being self.

People wants to connect. People wants to know you. People wants to feel identificado so they can rely on what they're seeing. I say it right, rely, relay.

Yes. Relay. Oh, okay. Because it makes it relevant when you're able to connect.

Yep. That will have more effectiveness. So by selling my effect, just going out and just try to sell a product. 100%.

I love that. Some people don't agree with me on I I can prove it with metrics actually show it. Right? Yep.

So my question to you is why would people pick you, Isaac, to do that work with them? Why you? I will answer the like, before doing this podcast, I was with, one of my clients here in the office and we were doing a piece of content for another client of mine and I was on a rush and I was using AI, right? And I was showing to him like, you see this?

Like AI is good, but it's not as good as me. So, and I'm not trying to be arrogant, any like, I'm just, you know, just in the, like, honest opinion, like it's good, but it's not, and it's not just me, Like probably any editor, right, like out there, videographer that do what I do, the AI is good, but what a person can do and his vision is going to be better. I believe in that. I was showing him like, okay, look at this video.

It was like a video. And I show him the AI one and I show him one that I recently, like couple weeks ago I did and it was telling me like, wow, you can see the difference. So why choosing Irisari Design? Because I'm like, I'm in between using all the tools that I can have that can facilitate stuff and be more precise and be more productive.

But we never left creativity behind. So we try, we always approach things with metrics, numbers, because they are important data, but when we have that, we approach things with excellence, quality, creativity. We're problem solvers, so we're here, everybody in my team, I always tell them like, we are here to solve problems. So we're creatives, but we need to learn how to solve problems.

So you're not buying a service, you're buying or you're adding team members. We're going to be part We're of your not going to be like somebody like that sell you sneakers. I love that team. Yeah.

We're here to I I love the team. Whole team concept. Yep. Yep.

I love the team concept because that, you know, everybody needs a team because you're only as good as your team. Is that right? And right now, I'm very creative. Oh, go ahead.

I'm very creative, right? And I like to create, but I have in my team people that are better in selling than me. So that's good having a team because I go to him like, okay, how would you approach if you were going to sell this? He will give me insight, we will talk about it and then I'm going to take that and then I'm going to take the client's vision and you know his goals and I'm going to put everything together and let's try to become with a solution or a piece of content or marketing strategy that is going to be different and have your brand identity, your presence, your service, your story and high quality content and the entire team behind That's every piece of awesome.

Because you know what? That actually helps them to win, and that's what you want for your clients is you wanna grow them, you wanna win, you wanna get, you know, get their brand identity out there. Now my question to you is if people finally got this moment and said, wow. I maybe I need to be working on my story.

Maybe I need to be working on my branding and really get myself out there in the social media site. Then and they wanna find you. They wanna, you know, have you be the guy that they say, okay. What how would they find you?

How do they, you know, seek you out so that they could, have a call with you? It is service design in Instagram, it is service design on Facebook, it is service design on TikTok, I don't do too much TikTok I'll be honest but it is service design you can find me there too, You can call me (223) 800-9860. You can always reach out to WhatsApp there and we'll always be here. You can send me an email, it is Harry's Designgmail dot com.

So it is HarrisDesign. You will find me anywhere. You can go to Google, Google, it is HarrisDesign and you will find me. So, yeah.

I just want to thank you so much for being here. If there were something that you would like to leave our audience with, what would that be? Start creating. Start creating.

Don't stop. Start with what you have. That's always that was always my go through. I didn't start with all that I have now.

I start with a phone and an iPad. I used to record with a phone and edit on an iPad. It was, you know, that was my first workspace. Start with what you have and start creating and learn and reach out to us if you still, you know, if you want to take things to another level, but just start, you just need to start doing it and, you know, work on your marketing.

Marketing is very important. A lot of people don't, a lot of people underestimate that, but marketing have a lot of power. Like is for me is as important as finances and operations like marketing is one of the most important parts of a business. So consider that.

So Frank Cardone always says that if they don't know you, they don't flow you. In business, it is important for people to know you because one of the biggest mistakes that people make in business is they think they're gonna start a business and just sit and and wait for the customers to come. Well, the truth is that you have to get known. And one of the first things that people do is look you up.

And when they look you up, they wanna know that you're able to provide them with what you're saying. Right? I have this I have that same line in one of my scripts from for my promotions or for my content. It's the same, but for us in social media and social media marketing, if they don't see you, you don't exist.

So they need to see you. If they don't see you, they don't buy from you. So they need to see you. And if you're a business and you're taking your things seriously, you need high quality content for that.

So that's why, like, we are That's what you provide. No. You know? And this is this is a I want I want to say something really quick to finish.

I know we're we're short of time, but this is one of somebody's reviews. I have a friend that was telling me that saw some videos that we did for a construction company and it surprised me, he was telling me he's an engineer and he told me, you know what, when I see those contents from that construction company with you guys and the high quality content and the content is different because it's construction, but we make that construction look like a movie. So a movie in a real, like it was, and you know what he told me, he didn't tell me like, you did a great job doing the video, like, no, what he told me is when I saw those videos, what it reflect to me that that person is serious, but it, because if he's willing to invest on his content and his marketing, that's telling me that he's serious in his business.

That review I is love that you shared that. Isaac, that's beautiful because that's the key right there. You know? People see what you're willing to invest in so that they, you know, they get the real you when you're able to give them that information because, you know, otherwise, it's you know, the the the the one on one is good, but it's the one to many.

And that's the way you get it out from one to many and build that relationship even further by getting known and telling the story and you're helping the world by doing that. So thank you so much for being here today. I'm so grateful that you were able to share with our audience. I give all the glory to God because like I said, I start this for God.

I'm sorry, I start this for God and to take His message out and everything that I do and all the skills that I acquire, I did it because He led me. I everybody to do what they do on God first. I love that you used that you were able to say that and said it in Spanish as well, but it's really just giving God the glory. And, you know, and really for your family, when you put God first and then your family second, and career third, that's always something that I learned, when I was in Mary Kay.

And I love that concept because when you when you do it in that order, then everything works for you know, in life. Right? So I wanna thank you so much, Isaac. Thank you for sharing.

And so until next time, I want you to keep going beyond business and keep creating with intention. It's so important and especially because Isaac was able to share all of this today. Hopefully, that that that has shown you that that is such an important part of your business is telling the story and your brand awareness out there. So thank you so much again Isaac for your time today.

Thank you Catherine for the opportunity. You're welcome.