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Show Notes:

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NOTE:  In this episode of Connect the Dots, we do have some adult language so if you have little ones, pause this episode and grab your headset before listening to this fun episode.

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About Heidi

Heidi is The Fairytale Coach.

 

What exactly does this mean? Well, she can coach you to living your Fairtale. That's right - fairytales don't ONLY have to exist in books. Heidi is proof of that. And she wants that for you, too.

 

So, how exactly did she make her fairytale come true? She's living in Portugal, for one. That was one MAJOR item on her bucket list. And she got into coaching officially a few years ago although she's been doing it for about 20 years through her work and through the community.

 

Heidi started mentoring women 35+ about 12 years ago. This was a pivotal moment in her life as this is when she discovered that she wanted to start her own life over, redo some things, and write a new story for herself. She knew what she was doing wasn’t working.

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Now Heidi's passion is encouraging and coaching women over 35 realize they can do this as well.

 

Heidi's first entrepreneurial experience was at 9 years old. Her first business was picking wild flowers and selling them as bouquets at her parents produce stand. Her first customer was a traditional first customer, her uncle.  He spent $20 and bought all the flower bouquets Heidi created and gave them to his wife. That was when she knew she had to create her own business and decided then that she would make that happen some day.

 

Her first business as an adult was a landscape company. Over a 13 year period, she took the business well into 6 figures. At that time she walked away from it as things in her life weren’t going well at that time. She realized she wasn't living her dreams and life wasn't going the way she wanted. There were other things she still wanted to do.

 

So she left literally everything behind, moved from North Carolina to Colorado and took a corporate job. It was during this transition that she realized she was finally HERSELF - the whole time while she was in Colorado - and it was awesome.

 

She floundered but made it work. Then, after only a year in that job, she got laid off when the recession hit in 2008.

 

That was the start of her content writing and the beginning of her new journey as entrepreneur starring, the REAL Heidi. Her content writing consisted of keywords, SEO and writing articles. Through this experience is when she discovered her love of writing. So she kept doing it.

 

Her content writing experience led to her coaching career. Everyone - friends, family and customers - had been telling her how well she was doing coaching when she wasn't coaching. It didn't feel like work and came naturally.

 

Her coaching career was launched from content writing. She didn't want to be “another” coach, though. So she took what she learned from coaching friends, family and customers to create her own coaching model and practice. 

 

Coaching.....it feels right.

 

The official launch was three months ago and is building a client base. She switched her website content, LinkedIn profile and Facebook messaging from content writing to coaching. She continues to work with a couple of content writing clients but has transitioned completely into coaching and is determined to make it work.

 

How are you marketing and getting your brand out there – when you’ve been known for content writing and now coaching?

 

Social media marketing is my #1 marketing method right now. She mostly focuses on LinkedIn right now but works content into her Facebook and Instagram feeds.

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She also attends live networking events of all types including women's events and connects with people who are interested in coaching. It's when you have the real conversations that you realize the potential and interest from people in coaching.

 

Social media marketing has been huge. She spends 1-2.5 hours a day engaging with others including making posts of her own on LinkedIn. It doesn’t feel like a job! .

 

She uses her experiences - past and current - to post on LinkedIn - professional and sometimes from a personal angle. She gets leads from that because she’s being herself and being real and people connect with that, they relate to that so they relate to me.

 

People connect with you more when you are just you. You’ll find your ideal client when you are yourself.

 

You are your own competition and by looking at what other people are doing you’re holding yourself back. If you are you, doing your thing, there are people that need you. You just need to let yourself shine through and let them see the REAL you.

 

What's ONE thing people may not know about you but you wish they did?

She's living in Portugal which made one of her dreams come true.

 

Stop avoiding your dreams and go for them. You can have your fairytale. You don’t have to work a 9-5, and be "responsible” or do things a certain way. Society teaches us that. And we need to define our own level of what "responsible" is.

 

There’s no reason why you can’t have things the way you want them. It doesn’t have to be like that. It took her 32 years to realize that and reason she walked away. She started to go for what she wanted.

 

12 years later, built a content marketing business. Spent 4 years traveling the world. Now living in Portgal. Now it’s a fairytale and she’s doing it – making her dreams come true!

 

Things you haven’t gone for – don’t wait until you retire to travel, why not do it when you’re younger, healthy and can still do the things you want – not living in the “what if” syndrome.

 

Women who are going through life changes – marriage,divorce, empty nesters, corporate to entrepreneur, Heidi helps them create a plan and make what they want to happen, happen.

 

Sometimes we just need a little encouragement to take that next step.

 

We can do it. As women, sometimes we feel like we can’t, we should try or have things for ourselves.

 

Ask the question:  Can I do this? Should I do this? She will teach you everything she knows – but really figuring out what works for you.

 

There’s so many ways to get the end result you want.

 

Helen Pritchard – "Nothing is forever."

 

Just because you’re doing this now doesn’t mean you can’t change it.

 

What’s one thing that’s unique with you?

She doesn’t do a copy and paste method. It’s about what works for you. It’s about unlocking ‘you’ and figuring out what that is. That's why she starts with a Coffee Chat - to determine if there's a fit. 

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How Heidi is Connecting the Dots between Marketing and Sales:

Heidi uses her relationships and ability to connect with people as a starting point to market her personal brand at live events. For online marketing, she leverages her content writing experience to write posts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram to engage with prospective clients. With this combination, Heidi is attracting leads which are converting to clients. 

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Connect with Heidi online: 

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1. LinkedIn is the best place to find her every day 

2. If you want to join Heidi's Facebook Group (updated June 8, 2022)

3. Visit the Talk to Heidi website