I had the honor of being featured in an article on CanvasRebel! Click here to read the full article on the CanvasRebel website.
We were lucky to catch up with Colleen Biggs recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Colleen, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
I’m a very happy business owner. And I do think about my 30 years in Corporate America and how it molded me to be the successful entrepreneur that I am today. Being a happy entrepreneur means that you are doing what you love, that you are impacting others and making a difference in the world. Yes, you can do this in Corporate America, but often we find ourselves drowning in the deadlines and flawed corporate culture. As an entrepreneur, you create your own culture and choose to work with those that delight you, drive you and support your efforts. We also inspire change in others. As an entrepreneur, we are the ones employing others and driving the economy rather than just being another employee in a crowded office building. I am honored and thankful every day that I chose to become self-employed to change the future.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi, my name is Colleen Biggs. After spending 30 years in corporate America, I made the leap to become an entrepreneur after realizing there was more to life than punching the clock day in and day out. I wanted more freedom, choices, and independence to allow my personality to shine through. In 2019 I left corporate America and never looked back. I launched two businesses very quickly, One was a community of female entrepreneurs that gave them the platforms to be able to be seen, be heard, and be visible in this over-saturated social media culture. The other assists female entrepreneurs to increase the revenue by accelerating their growth to reach their peak performance. I have been a business coach now for over 22 years and empower females to believe in the ability to build massive companies. Kowing that these women would need the visibility to do this, I continued to build the Leap Community to support those efforts. With those two efforts came Masterminds and retreats. As Napolean Hill would say “No two minds ever come together without a third invisible force, which may be likened to a “third mind.” When a group of individual minds is coordinated and function in harmony, the increased energy created through that alliance becomes available to every individual in the group.” Community is essential to accountability growth and success. I currently operate a community online that provides weekly spotlights for each member to be able to expand her influence to attract the right clients. My clients and I meet weekly in groups or one-to-one to further their progress in their companies. The community attracts female business owners that are looking to leverage visibility to grow their influence. We do this through our LinkedIn live interviews, Thrive Thursday Masterclasses. Podcast interviews (I have been an elite podcast host for 4 years now) as well as blog posts and several other joint ventures that increase their visibility. This is the time that more women are being called to lead within their families, communities, and in the world. I believe it is my calling to prepare them for this leadership so they can truly blaze the trails in their perspective industries to inspire and create change for the better.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The biggest lesson I had to unlearn was the fact that the only way you can acquire success is by working hard. So not true. We need to work SMART! Working on the day-to-day task that produces results is essential. I see too many entrepreneurs fall into this trap. They stay “busy” because that is how they worked in Corporate America, but it’s not how you become successful as a self-employed business owner. Leveraging your relationships with others, creating a partnership, and focusing on the areas that produce the greatest results should be the only tasks you do as a business owner daily. Hire out the rest! Yes, you can hire out the rest and I recommend all my clients do so. You need to focus on what you do best and have someone else do the rest.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Hands down the best way I built my reputation in my industry was to show up authentically as me, powerful, non-apologetic, and confident. When we are confident in what we have to offer, who we are, our skill sets, knowledge, and credibility, then others believe it too. Passion drives a business. If you are 100% sure that what you offer will solve the problem of your customer and you share how it can, they are in, and they will buy! Too many times I see business owners try to be someone they are not to build their reputation. You must talk the talk and walk the walk. If your potential customer knows that you have built a successful business via collaboration, visibility, podcasting, and speaking and you tell them that you can assist them in doing the same, they will listen. It’s crucial that we are authentic to who we are and the skills we possess and duplicate those efforts over and over again without hesitation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://colleenbiggs.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colleenbiggs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colleen.s.biggs
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleen-biggs/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeapwithColleen
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ColleenBiggs
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colleenjanebiggs