We recently connected with Heidi Cortez and have shared our conversation below.

Heidi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

Thank you! I’m a life-long entrepreneur. I started with lemonade stands and selling coffee mugs door-to-door as a child. Growing up we did not have much and I learned early on if I wanted something, I had to work for it.

People always talk about “it takes money to make money”, but I had to start without the money part. I knew I had to get my name and businesses seen and heard, but without the funds to do that, I forced myself to learn the power or branding and marketing.

Luckily for me, the internet was just starting to take off and along came MySpace in the early 2000’s. I started using the platform for fun, but quickly noticed the possibilities of getting seen & heard for free. I utilized the beginning of social media immediately. It was mind- blowing to me that I could reach out and network with other entrepreneurs and business owners I wouldn’t have normally had known or had access to.

I reached out to ‘everyone’ on MySpace to build connections. I made friends, business connections, and even landed myself on a popular tv show on E! through MySpace. The more popular I became, the more authority I had.

This is going to sound crazy, but I also would send hand-written letters to people in powerful positions to pitch my business. I had to do everything I could for free since the money wasn’t rolling in yet.

I’ll never forget “working” on MySpace to grow my brand, mailing out hand-written letters, or sitting in front of my dial up internet sending out cold AOL messages to get people in the door. It wasn’t easy, but it WORKED!

I worked hard to make my strategies convert. I didn’t have a manager, agent, PR firm, or fancy connections. I lived in a smaller town and didn’t have one person to help me. However, I did have passion, desire, and a supporting mother who always told me my ideas were “genius” haha :)

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

I’m an entrepreneur, best selling author, and business coach.

I specialize in helping entrepreneurs and businesses build more credibility so they can have a stronger authority in their niche. Some of the areas I help with are press in publications, building social media presence, brand development & growth, podcast interviews, collabs with influencers, online courses, Wikipedia pages, and so much more. I help build the “backend” of a brand to become more publicly recognized.

I’ve been in branding, marketing, social media, entertainment, and PR for over 20yrs. They all go hand-in-hand for business success.

I work 1:1 with clients … I’m passionate about helping and teaching others the blueprint and strategies that I lived for over 20 years. My clients come from all walks of life, but they’re all looking for the same thing … authority, trust, and credibility for their brand or business. I work with doctors, veterinarians, actors, models, realtors, investors, CEOs, authors, coaches, architects, interior, designers, singers, athletes, products, and so many more. Just about every industry!

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I struggled in my teens and early 20’s a lot. Entrepreneurs always have highs & lows. Even when I would get a decent paying opportunity back then, it would just be enough to get me by for a few months …

Eventually after building the “backend” of my brand and getting my name out there, I published my 1st book with Simon & Schuster. This book advance was enough capital to do a lot of businesses updates. It was life changing. I was about 25 at the time. I invested the money back into myself and my businesses.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Yes! I’ll share with you the story how I met a business mentor of mine.

A common question in my industry is “how do I find a mentor?”

I’m really big on utilizing social media. I shared a lot in this interview how social media was a huge part of my career growth dating all the way back to MySpace. I loved messaging like-minded entrepreneurs or those I wanted to network with. And that’s exactly how I met one of my business mentors, who many years later became a co-founder of one of my other businesses.

I posted a Facebook status about 16yrs ago asking for advice, and my future business mentor responded to it. We exchanged a few messages and he shared a lot with me in areas I did not know about yet. He and I both probably thought it was short-lived conversations, but here we are 16yrs later, now mentoring each other.

This is now the same way a lot of my clients find me … through social media. They send me DMs and I chat with them about their business. If I feel I can help, I schedule them a consultation with my team and we go from there!

The power of social media is not to be underestimated!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.heidicortez.com/1-1-coaching
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/heidicortez?igshid=MXhzcjh5MGt1dGhkdg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/heidicortezlikes
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cortezheidi?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Twitter: www.Twitter.com/heidicortez

Image Credits
Brett Erickson