Jeff Heggie is an entrepreneur and success coach with a passion for helping others achieve their biggest dreams. As a coach, Jeff starts with a focus on mindset. Taking his client or their business to the next level always begins with the right mindset. Jeff enjoys using his extensive experience in the banking industry, over 20 years as an entrepreneur, plus his training and experience as a coach to help his clients break through the mental and physical barriers that are holding them back.
Jeff and his wife, Tamara, both grew up in Southern Alberta but now make Arizona home. Family and sports have always been important to him. He loves spending his time coaching or watching his kids. He’s a former professional rodeo cowboy and has over 20 years experience coaching basketball.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is (Jeff Heggie Coaching) all about?
As a coach, a lot of my focus is spent working with entrepreneurs and growing their businesses. Many of my clients have been in the early start-up phase of their business which has given me the opportunity to be involved from the beginning. But I also have a number of clients who are small business owners looking to build their business by increasing their leads and conversions. We focus on proven business and marketing strategies that enable them to do this without increasing the amount of money they are spending on marketing and advertising.
Aside from entrepreneurs I also work with athletes, coaches, and other high achievers who want to discover their full potential and achieve their big dreams. As an entrepreneur, professional rodeo athlete, and a basketball coach I’ve seen how developing a powerful mindset can make the difference between success and failure in all areas of life.
In addition to business coaching, I also focus a lot on mindset coaching in many different niches. Entrepreneurs begin their journey with big hopes and dreams but often get sidetracked with the challenges of running a business. This often slows down their progress, exposes self-doubt and limiting beliefs, and holds them back from what they are truly capable of. But once they regain control of their mindset, they can get back on track, overcome the things holding them back and do amazing things.
When it comes to athletes I work with both individuals as well as teams. One of the things that I love about athletics is that there is so much they have to deal with in their sport that directly relates to life. As you help athletes become successful in their sport, they are automatically gaining the tools that will help them to succeed in life as well.
The most talented athlete can fail because they don’t have a powerful mindset. At the same time, an athlete who has far less talent can excel because of their mindset. Whether it’s in a team environment or a one-on-one basis, I love helping athletes discover their true potential and develop powerful, growth mindsets.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how/why you started your company?
My background is quite diverse, and I have experience in many areas.
I graduated college with a major in entrepreneurship. I was offered a great job in the banking industry, but I turned it down because my true love and focus at the time was rodeo. I was a professional rodeo cowboy steer wrestler and that’s what I wanted to spend my time doing.
However, about six months later I reconsidered the bank’s offer and luckily the opportunity was still there for me. I loved the banking industry and climbed the ladder quickly. I was soon a bank manager running my own branch and had the opportunity to meet and spend time with a lot of entrepreneurs.
One day while I was sitting in the office of a client, I looked through an artificial stone catalog he had on his desk. Something there sparked some excitement and I ended up leaving the bank to start a stone manufacturing company, Kodiak Mountain Stone. This was in 2005 and today I’m still the CEO of that company.
Running that company for the past 15 years has taught me a lot. I’ve done a lot of things right and I’ve done a lot of things wrong. I have always enjoyed my opportunities to coach and mentor other entrepreneurs throughout the years. I have always felt that my entrepreneurial experience is a very valuable tool to allow me to help other entrepreneurs.
Along with my experience and some additional training, I have been coaching for the past couple of years and have loved the opportunity.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
A) Implement ‘Who, Not How’
I recently wrote an article on this topic based on Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan’s book by the same name. Through my own experience plus that from working with clients, I believe entrepreneurs will find success faster when they spend less time doing things themselves and finding the right people to help them.
It’s a hard thing for entrepreneurs to do because they feel they can do it better, quicker, etc. But when they are more willing to delegate and look for the ‘who,’ they will find success quicker.
B) Network Well
People do business with those they know, like, and trust. You have to understand all three of these areas and work on them. Networking well helps you to work on all three of these areas. If nobody knows you or about you, how are they going to do business with you. Networking well helps you to open more doors and expose yourself to more opportunities. It also helps you in the previous point in finding “Who, Not How.”
C) Understand That Failure Is an Option
There is nothing fun about failure. You hear from everyone that “failure is part of success” and things like that. But that doesn’t mean that it’s something you’ll enjoy. Failure of any size is hard and it sucks. But taking the stance that “failure is not an option,” can end up just costing you more money and delaying the inevitable. When you do everything you can to succeed, but understand that failure is an option, it will allow you to face and deal with hard truths.
When you drag something out too long, trying to bring it back, you may end up losing a lot more in the long run. On the other hand, you may be able to restart in a new direction and make a significant amount of money in that same time period.
What were the top 3 mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
A) I didn’t begin delegating soon enough. As entrepreneurs, we often start out doing everything ourselves. I was in this position and was doing a pretty good job juggling everything. When I got to the pain point of having to delegate, it was a struggle. In my mind, nobody would do as good of a job as I was doing. When I finally made the move, I was proven correct. They didn’t do a good of a job as I was, they did it much better. Meaning, the things that I wasn’t excited about doing, to begin with, were getting done better now, plus I had more time to focus on the things was doing well.
B) Hired the best option available. In hiring for a position, I didn’t have anyone apply that was the perfect fit. None of the applicants were ideal, but I ended up picking the best of what was given to me, even though I knew they were not a great fit. I should not have done that. I should have dealt with the pain of not having an employee rather than hiring an employee that wasn’t the right fit. Obviously, this person didn’t end up staying with me long because they were not a good fit.
C) Maximize the leverage of your network. Now as I create my courses I have come to realize the power in using affiliates. When you can work with your network and they can benefit by sharing your content, product, etc with their network you can get a much further reach a lot faster than you can do it on your own. Treat your partners in your network well and you can both receive some amazing rewards from it.
What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
A) Social media is an incredible tool. Most of my success is from Instagram. It’s amazing how small the world becomes online. Through social media, I have been able to meet and work with people from all over the entire world.
B) Zoom – Zoom has been a great tool for me as an entrepreneur and especially as a coach. Whether I’m meeting with my staff, clients, prospects, or someone that I’ve offered a free strategy session to, it’s easy to connect. Having a video conference adds a personal component that you can’t get from a phone call.
C) ClickFunnels – ClickFunnels has been a great way for me to build my sales funnels and my membership sites for my courses.
What are three books or courses you recommend for entrepreneurs?
I have many different books I suggest to my clients depending on what they are working on or dealing with. But in general, there are some that I always suggest:
- 1) Think & Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
- 2) How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
- 3) Expert Secrets – Russell Brunson
If you only had $100 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
I would stretch this money out as far as I could. I would immediately begin networking through social media and anywhere else that I could meet people. I would spend my time answering questions and adding value as much as I could without pushing my own agenda at all. While adding value without the expectation of anything in return, I would begin to get noticed. My influence and following would be growing. Through this process, I would look for a common niche that I could become recognized as an expert in. Once this was established, I would begin to develop a course on the topic while I continued to engage and add value online.
Once I was ready with the course I would continue to add as much value as possible by contributing and answering questions. But I would also begin to offer free strategy sessions on the topic. Many of the people who would take me up on the free strategy session would only want the freebie and nothing
more, which is fine. But through these strategy sessions I would offer my coaching programs and my new online course. I could go through this entire process without spending a lot of money. If I had any left at this point, I would use it for social media ads to spread my reach quicker.
How do we get in touch with you?
- Websiste: www.JeffHeggie.com
- Instagram: jeffheggiecoaching
- Facebook: JeffHeggieCoaching
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffheggie/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeffHeggieCoach
