diff --git a/k8s.mk b/k8s.mk
index 08885ca..0d027a0 100644
--- a/k8s.mk
+++ b/k8s.mk
@@ -3,14 +3,15 @@
 # deploys k8s
 
 MANDATORY = $(shell printenv MANDATORY) K8S_CONTEXT
+K8S_MANIFEST_FILENAME ?= kubernetes.yaml
 
 start-k8s:
 	@- echo "\n### starting deployment with k8s"
 	@- echo "\n### setting kubernetes context to $(K8S_CONTEXT)"
 	@ kubectl config use-context $(K8S_CONTEXT)
 
-	@- echo "\n### run kubectl apply -f kubernetes.yaml and secrets.yaml"
-	@ cat kubernetes.yaml secrets.yaml | envsubst | kubectl apply -f -
+	@- echo "\n### run kubectl apply -f $(K8S_MANIFEST_FILENAME) and secrets.yaml"
+	@ cat $(K8S_MANIFEST_FILENAME) secrets.yaml | envsubst | kubectl apply -f -
 
 pull-k8s:
 # nop