Heather Ann Havenwood, is a serial entrepreneur, and is regarded as a top authority on digital marketing, sales coaching, and online publishing business strategies. Heather Ann has been named Top 50 Must Follow Women Entrepreneurs for 2017 by Huffington Post. She is also called Chief Sexy Boss™ (from her Amazon BEST SELLER book Sexy Boss™,  How Female Entrepreneurship is Changing the Rule Book and Beating the Big Boys). We get into a rich conversation about what it means to go from losing everything to being a leading entrepreneur, how to get scrappy to get what you want, and how doing it like everyone else gets you nowhere.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:57] Heather shares her experience that led her to entrepreneurship. She believes that entrepreneurship is a journey that finds you.

[4:24] How being scrappy can help you to realize opportunity and get you in the back door. (Even if it includes you being the wife of Bob, a person you have never met before.)

[7:17] Heather explains that most often you need to be at a low point to find “it.” Your opportunity will come when you realize that you are an entrepreneur, and your charge is the game of developing commerce. This is not a destination.

[12:24] How does one approach risk? It wasn’t until Heather wrote a contract allowing her to fail that she was able to  open the door to succeed. Why are so many people afraid to fail?

[16:22] Tamara shares that failure in innovation is more about figuring out what needs to be done to adjust and tweak the product. It’s a powerful tool to ask yourself, “What did I learn?” Heather views failure as feedback. The marketplace is the source to keep your eyes on for feedback. Your friends are not the market!

[20:57] Heather believes that the most important skill a successful entrepreneur can possess is strong sales copywriting or direct response marketing. You must understand human behavior and be able to get into their minds.

[25:34] Heather specializes in helping businesses understand the ups and down of the marketplace. She also is a master at product launching, and helping to get people to show up to reality (having people complete the purchase).

[28:12] Tamara believes that the marathon really begins with the sales process. Marketing is not sales. A direct response will move the consumer through the product to purchasing.

[29:40] What unique aspect drives people to buy the Squatty Potty?

 

[31:36] Innovation is essential to consumers. Go straight to the consumer. Listen in about the innovation geniusness of Poo Pourri. There are so many paths to success. Make sure you aren’t on a one-way path.

[34:47] Innovation requires you to think differently about your product and how you will bring it to market. It’s important to always be pitching and testing the validity of your product early and often.

[40:34] Why did Heather call her book, Sexy Boss?

[43:38] Heather helps clients to earn momentum, to take them from where they are in sales, and double or triple their sales. Heather works with clients that are actually making money and yearning for more clarity and focus. Arrogance is a big killer in business and innovation.

Connect with Heather at HeatherHavenwood.com

Mentioned in This Episode:

Heather’s homepage

Buy Sexy Boss on Amazon