Heidi Cortez - American Entrepreneur, Best Selling Author, Coach, and Branding Expert

 I knew that branding was going to be important for what I want to do.
 So my biggest struggle in life ever was being a teenage mom.
 Everybody thought I wasn't going to make it.
 Now you can really make yourself look however you want
 and get a bunch of followers and people will pay you.
 You're listening to the Radcast.
 If it's radical, we cover it.
 Here's your host, Ryan Alford.
 Hey guys, what's up?
 Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast.
 I'm Ryan Alford, your host.
 I'm excited for an interesting journey today with Heidi Cortez.
 What's up, Heidi?
 Hey, what's up?
 Thanks for having me, Ryan.
 Hey, my pleasure.
 I am entrepreneur now.
 You've written bestselling book, coach, branding expert.
 I'd always catch my attention, owning an ad agency.
 So I'm excited to kind of get into your journey and things like that.
 How's life treating you?
 We'll start there.
 Good.
 Couldn't it be better out here in LA, loving life a lot.
 Nice day.
 It's like 80 degrees today.
 So yeah, everything's going great on this end.
 How about you?
 It's good.
 It's been, you know, it's South Carolina's good.
 We're not 80 degrees, but you know, I'm a week away from headed to
 Turkshen Kekos for a week.
 So I'm halfway on island time already.
 So,
 nice.
 Awesome.
 I know.
 But cool.
 Well, let's start down your path, Heidi.
 You know, we like to bring this, you know,
 through the lens of business marketing journeys and things like that.
 I know you've had, you know,
 interweaving paths and multiple businesses now.
 But let's give everybody the Heidi, you know, I guess condensed.
 I always say this the Heidi, you know, anyone's story I guess could be two hours long.
 But, you know, let's give the kind of that career journey for you.
 Well, I've always been entrepreneur since I was a child.
 I started doing businesses at 12.
 By 13, I was lying about my age to get jobs because when you're 13, you can't really,
 you can't get a work license or business license.
 When I was 13, I used my sister's birth certificate and social security card
 to get a job and pretend that I was her.
 And I got a job at Ross, Ross dressed for less.
 Her name's Courtney.
 So I had a name tight that said Courtney.
 I was working the registers during the holiday season for like $4.75 an hour.
 And I was so happy to have that job because we were really poor growing up.
 I was very underprivileged,
 grew up with a single mom, older sister, younger brother.
 And we were loved a lot, but we didn't, we didn't have any money.
 We, you know, grew up on like eating beans all the time and lentils.
 And if we wanted to, you know, have nicer things in life or close or things like that,
 my mom really encouraged us to get a job.
 So my mom knew what I was doing about using my sister's birth certificate and social security card
 and getting a job at Ross.
 And I held down the job for several months and tell my sister got mad at me and called them
 and told them that I was her little sister who stole her wallet.
 But she was such a business person and entrepreneur too,
 that she was charging me every week to use her name.
 So, but anyways, yeah, that's kind of how the journey started.
 And when after high school, my family was supportive of me not going to college
 and really going the entrepreneur route.
 And I opened up a tanning salon in my early 20s and that was, that was a lot of fun.
 I ended up being on a television show on the e-channel called Sunset Tan.
 And that helped skyrocket my tanning salon success.
 So I was always really, you know, into business and the passion of it.
 And now, you know, I own other businesses.
 But it's been a very long interesting journey for sure.
 It sounds like you did embrace personal branding for a pretty early age.
 I did. So I knew that branding was going to be important for what I wanted to do.
 So somebody had to recognize me.
 How was I going to stand out from everybody else?
 So I really became, you know, I started writing.
 I told funny short, sexy stories.
 I sent my stories in a bright pink Manila envelope when I was, I believe I was like 19
 to the Howard Stern show.
 And this is when he was on regular FM radio.
 They had 20 million listeners a day.
 I pretty much thought, okay, they're never going to see this bright Manila envelope
 with my stories in.
 But that was my marketing technique then, you know.
 So I sent them this, less into my stories.
 And they actually received it.
 And I would hear them talk about my stories and play the stories on their radio show.
 And I thought, wow, that's so cool.
 Like they're, they're talking about my stories or whatever.
 And then later, I actually called the Stern show.
 And again, never thought somebody would answer.
 I called and they picked up on the first try and they said Stern show.
 And I said, you guys are talking about me, you know, and they're like, oh, come out.
 So it actually opened up doors back then.
 It was a very short lived experience.
 But I was able to, well, one, my marketing techniques were working for me at 19.
 And two, I was able to get my name out there.
 So after that, then I just went on to use my leverage and start opening it,
 open it more and more businesses and teaching people along the way,
 what I was doing and coaching and mentoring and things like that.
 Do you feel like, you know, obviously it helped, but
 have you felt like you've had to like just overcome that perception,
 just because how are just so crazy?
 And I mean, like, and I don't think it was anything that salacious.
 But it's just just the nature of his show.
 If you felt like you've had to just kind of like put it behind you,
 if you've embraced it as, hey, it puts you on the map and it allowed you to have
 a broader voice to more people and do more, maybe of where, you know,
 ultimately your career headed.
 I don't know how you reflect on it now.
 Well, I think I would be in the same place if it wasn't for the show.
 But I'm very grateful for the opportunity and the favor that I got from the Stern show.
 You know, they were very nice to me.
 And, you know, I guess, like I said, it was very short-lived.
 I had a contract with Sirius Radio for six months and yeah, I got my name on the map,
 but I mean, it was so long ago.
 I mean, this is like...
 2005 or like...
 Yeah, like 17 years ago, exactly.
 So this is so long ago.
 So, you know, I was so excited and eager to do all these things in life.
 I mean, if you saw my list of what I wanted to do at 20,
 I mean, it was just like thousands of different things.
 So the Stern show was such a small part of my life, to me.
 What makes, where does this entrepreneurial drive come from?
 Like, you know, I know you talked about the early age and doing it,
 but like, you feel like it's like innate.
 I mean, it sounds like you're born that way on some level,
 but maybe the...
 I don't know.
 What does that...
 What generates that?
 I think a lot of it has to do with, you know, my mom's support of like allowing me to get jobs early
 and no matter what I told my mom, I wanted to do when I was a kid.
 She was like, Heidi, that's a great idea.
 Heidi, you should do that and she never said no.
 She never said you can't do this.
 And we, like I said, we were so, like, we were so broke and I was so underprivileged
 that I would dream about how I can be successful or how could I provide for my family someday.
 So I think that, for me, is where my drive comes from,
 but I couldn't think of it any other way.
 This is definitely my passion and to be relatable to other people that maybe have upbringings like me.
 I grew up in a very conservative family and, you know, I chose a different route.
 I was not, I was not a traditional, you know, by the book's person and I didn't want to go to
 college and my family was very supportive the whole way through.
 Yeah, that's great and that always helps.
 You know, I think some art is sad as it is.
 You know, it's almost like they are part of, I don't know, the negativity.
 You know, I don't, I talked to a lot of people and we go down this path.
 And the ones that have support always amazed me on one level and then
 the ones that don't have support, it's, it baffles the mind.
 Yeah, I agree.
 Well, I'm very fortunate.
 What, let's talk about, you know, the last few years and, you know, what you've been up to,
 you know, like you got several initiatives and it's going on.
 So talk about the here and the now and the last few years.
 So one of my biggest projects that I'm working on right now is the $3 marketing club
 and that started in the pandemic.
 My partner and I, we wanted to think of a way that we could help entrepreneurs and small
 businesses that were struggling financially and a way to help them keep their businesses
 in the difficult time that we were all going through.
 So we created a $3 marketing club, which is online modules,
 teaching small businesses and entrepreneurs how to do their own marketing.
 And you and I both have marketing agencies.
 And so there are times when people need to hire out because you're overloaded and you can't
 do everything yourself and you need that expertise and that help.
 But what we do is we kind of get, we get everybody started.
 So if somebody doesn't know how to run their social media, we tell them how to do it in the
 shortest amount of time. So for $3 a month, they get one course per month on different niches
 and different or different marketing niches, I should say.
 So Instagram marketing, copywriting, email marketing, SEO, everything you could possibly
 think of, we teach this course. So it really is $3 a month.
 And when we started the $3 marketing club, I was so excited for it.
 I didn't think I was going to have any backlash, but the backlash ended up being people contacting
 me and saying, great, $3 this month, how much does it cost next month?
 I said, no, it's $3. And they're like, well, what about the month after?
 I'm like, yeah, it's $3. It's $3 forever. And I think people thought that we were,
 it was too good to be true, you know, that we were going to charge them like $3.99
 the next month or something like that.
 Yeah, so that's what you can't even do a good deed anymore.
 Yeah, no one is like, wait a minute, what does she up to?
 Yeah, so that is something that I'm very passionate about now.
 And recently, I just started a new clothing boutique for female entrepreneurs and hustlers
 called posh boss LA. And when I was growing up very underprivileged, we didn't have
 made it by clothes. So every year when we got money to get school clothes, I would go to
 thrift stores and buy all these clothes there and cut them up. And so then whatever I had to do
 to make them fashionable. And it really weighed on my mind as I got older. And recently,
 more so about wanting to provide awesome cool clothes that I wear that I could provide for
 other female entrepreneurs that maybe didn't have a large budget because a lot of entrepreneurs,
 as I'm sure you know, there's a lot of highs and lows. You're not always high. Sometimes you
 might get a big check and that might have to last you a really long time. So posh boss LA
 is really affordable clothing. You know, a lot of our items on there are $20, $29 and actually
 my top right now is posh boss LA. So it's closed that I wear and that I believe in and I believe in
 the mission. We collect donations from our fans or buyers and we give $250 gift cards to female
 entrepreneurs that are in need of new work clothes. Oh, well, that's awesome. I thank you. That's
 hey, a nice top. I think it's a lot. You look great. The a couple of things there, you know,
 you've two very different channels there with $3 market club strikes me as a brilliant. I know
 I know it's for a good reason. So and I believe that, but it's a brilliant play for maybe sparking
 clients that might need more help. So I give you a lot of credit there for that. But I would love
 to know like, you know, what's been what's been like a struggle? I mean, you know, entrepreneur to
 entrepreneur, like what's been your biggest struggle running businesses and, you know, like where
 have you feel like you've grown the most? I mean, kind of kind of a two part two part message there.
 Okay. So first of all, my biggest struggle in life ever was being a teenage mom.
 My son is now a 22 army veteran and everybody thought I wasn't going to make it. They're like,
 how are you going to do this? But I was a 20 or I was a 18 year old single mom and I pulled it off.
 I can't believe it. I moved down to LA with my son, just he and I and we didn't know anybody
 and I I pulled it off. I can't believe I made it happen, but that was by far the biggest
 struggle. I've never been married. So I've never been divorced and I've just done everything
 on my own. And I think when people find that out and they're like, well, you know, maybe she had
 help or financial backing and that wasn't my case. And so when they find out that I was also a
 young single mom, it makes it more relatable and people can understand that that is a huge
 struggle to go through by yourself. So that to answer your question is my biggest struggle was
 my biggest struggle. Yeah, it's interesting. And it did amazing how, and I don't know if you've gone
 through this discovery process, but I'm sure in your 20s, it's not that you were in any way,
 not proud, but now it seems like there's more of an acceptance and you realize that you get
 older, I've learned this myself, like telling these stories and explaining that journey is so much
 more relatable than trying to like power through an act like it didn't happen or something. I don't
 know if you've experienced that. Yeah, you know, I've always lived a pretty private life. And my son
 and I, you know, we liked our privacy. And there was no reason to try and put him in the limelight,
 you know, people asking him questions or attacking him or whatever. So, you know, I've always been
 very proud to be a mom. And I feel like I beat the system because a lot of women my age,
 including a lot of my friends, they want to have babies so bad. And they're like, oh, I don't know,
 am I going to have one? At first, I need a partner or whatever. And I'm like, oh, yeah,
 like I already have one. I'm very blessed. And people tell me all the time now, like how lucky I am.
 And I say, well, that's funny because nobody told me I was lucky at 18. But I do feel like I beat
 the system. I wouldn't have changed it at all. How's it been running the companies? Like what are,
 what are your everyday challenges and like, you know, how have you kind of dealt with those,
 you know, growing multiple businesses now? Well, I think for me, because most of the time,
 I'm able to work from home that the pandemic didn't affect me the way that it may have affected
 other people. So I was very fortunate in that situation that I was able to work from home.
 But I would say that, you know, the biggest challenges are, you know, one gaining trust with a
 three dollar marketing club. And even though it's three dollars, people need to trust us that we're
 not going to upcharge them later. And even when you check out, we don't even have any up sales.
 It's just really, it's just books. So that's my biggest challenge currently. And as far as
 poshboss LA goes, I would say, you know, sometimes getting the inventory on time or getting it to
 the customer, you know, you're always worried about mail or is there going to be shipping delays or
 something like that. And even though you can't control those shipping delays, someone may come back
 to you and say, Hey, why is my product not here? So I would say that that is challenge challenges
 that I'm going through. How's the, I mean, is the response? So I mean, it sounds like then, usually,
 when I asked someone to start a new commerce, it's kind of the challenges like getting the motor
 going, like getting sales to the door and all that. And I'm sure I'm saying that you've,
 I don't know, maybe you have figured it all out, but it sounds like it's more distribution,
 like fulfilling the demand you already have. Yeah, we're definitely doing sales. And you know,
 I'm new to this. So I created poshboss LA. I designed the entire website myself. I found all
 of these vendors and the clothes and bought all these samples. And it was something for me that I
 felt God was telling me to do solo that I was not to take on partners or investors. I was just
 supposed to do this myself. So I did. And then after I created the website, I knew that I needed
 more professional help on the actual process about people checking out and how to maximize
 what I was doing. So I did hire a team of experts to rebuild what I did. And that helped a lot,
 but we're very early. It's only been a few months. So ask me again a few more months and let's
 see what happens. I don't know. Exactly. Where does, where do you gain, who are your influences now?
 Like, you know, like, where do you go for inspiration? And I don't know, what, what keeps Heidi happy?
 You know, I don't know. This might sound so cheesy, but my mom, she is like the sweetest like,
 I mean, she's like the sweetest angel that ever lived. My mother is my inspiration. And I just
 think about how she was so loving and so supporting. And, you know, I thought everybody's parents
 were like that. And when I got older and I realized that everybody else wasn't. So my mom, you
 know, she's my inspiration. I live for my mother. I live for my son. And, you know, those are people
 that I love. And I aspire to be like any any books. Are you a big reader? Or are you like,
 where do you get your knowledge from? You know what? I have ADHD and dyslexia. So the fact that I
 I'm even working on my fifth book right now is a miracle, Ryan. But no, I don't have books that
 I recommend to other people. You know, I'm not, I'm not a huge reader. And I don't watch TV either.
 I just flip through the internet. I have the most speedy Gonzalez fingers on the west side. I
 just flip and through the internet so fast because I get bored of things really fast. So I get
 all my knowledge from YouTube, people like yourself, Instagram, and sometimes you see a post
 that's very inspiring or motivating. And you don't even remember who posted it, you know, or it's
 one of those share pages like an entrepreneur page or something like that. So that is where
 all of my knowledge comes from is is other mentors, my business partner. He's he's very knowledgeable
 and great. But him and the the internet. Oh, yes. That's everyone's best friend. It's amazing how
 many how many people like will text me something. It's funny. Like, you know, because you know,
 being in the field, I am like, I guess I'm a source of knowledge on some levels. And somebody
 is a little texting. I'm like, did you just try Google? Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing how it's
 information's out there. But yeah, I love Google. Yeah, exactly. What's, I'm sure you're doing
 coaching now that you do. I thought I may have saw like someone on one coaching. I don't know
 if you are into that or not. And you know, kind of your approaches are in that. Yeah, I do do
 coaching. Doing coaching started off with another business that I own called the model advisor.
 And we do a lot of coaching and mentoring for aspiring models and models and aspiring models
 parents. So that's actually how it started. And then more people started reaching out to me for
 business advice, social media advice. So I do coaching and mentoring on that as well. But the
 model advisor, I wanted to help people understand how the industry worked because people get ripped
 off on the modeling industry all the time. They get scanned. And so I thought that I would create
 a business where it could be a safe haven for aspiring models and models. And that's it. It's
 the model advisor.com. And we charge 799 a month where people can write me and get mentoring
 and coaching from me. That's cool is. Thank you. What's your, what's your thoughts? You know,
 the landscape of modeling and you know, it seems like it's trying to get more inclusive. It's not
 I don't know. It seems like it's improved. But you know, I'm speaking from 100,000 feet, not being
 in that field. But I don't know. It seems like the, I don't know, the culture of things has gotten
 a little better, but I know there's still probably some nastiness around it. Yeah, there's always
 going to be nastiness around modeling. And I think that there's a lot more opportunities than
 there used to be in the 80s or 90s and the 80s and 90s. You really did have to be very attractive.
 And everything was about lighting. There wasn't Photoshop. There wasn't the internet where you could
 just find yourself a job. Now you can really make yourself look however you want and get a bunch
 of followers and people will pay you to promote their product. So I feel like there's a lot of
 opportunities in the modeling industry now. But you know, I always advise to my clients that
 you should not just model. You've got to have something else. So I actually used to manage
 models as well. And those models, I'm like, you got to do something else because you can't just
 model. And so it doesn't matter if you're an artist, you're a basketball player or a pool player.
 I don't care what it is. Just do something else so you can stand out because I get hundreds
 of emails from people a week saying, oh, I want to be a model. It's my lifelong dream. Please help
 me. And I'm like trash, trash, trash. No, I would, I'd rather hear, hey, I'm a, you know, professional
 swimmer. And I'm thinking about modeling. That's more attractive to me to see someone else
 wanting to do something else than just try to, you know, hope that someone's going to call you
 from a modeling agency because it doesn't work that way. It does seem like there needs to be more
 substance these days. And I think, you know, like, you know, building a foundation around, I don't
 know whether it's a skill set or a knowledge base. And then, you know, some amount of attraction,
 I mean, certainly helps, but like, it just seems like the longevity of that feels like the right
 advice that people need to be hearing. Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, to be a model,
 it doesn't matter if you're attractive, go on, quote, attractive or not. I mean, really,
 there's modeling jobs for everybody. So, yeah. Well, I just meant the more important part being
 an attractive, I kind of put in air quotes. The, whoever that is, but I think building a base of
 expertise that's not just, you know, what color your hair is or what, what magazine you belong in,
 right? Yeah. Yeah, I don't agree. Is, what is, you know, I always like to, you know, wrap up
 towards the end, like, asking people what their brand is. Like, what's the high, how do you define
 and what, what do you want to be like, remembered for as far as the Heidi Cortes brand?
 I want to be remembered for, I guess, never giving up, right? And doing everything that I've
 ever wanted to do. So I have a bunch of failed businesses, but nobody hears about them. Because,
 you know, but we have to. It's life experience and it teaches me something. So, you know,
 I want to be remembered for never giving up and being a hustler and a go-getter. I think that
 more people should try. They're scared and they're scared of failing. So if they weren't scared
 of the failing part, maybe they would do more. And hopefully, they choose to do that like I have.
 Cool. Do you have a minute? We do a section called Rad or Fad. I give you a keyword.
 And you tell me if it's rad, which is good, you're great. Yeah, yeah. Or Fad is in,
 may not be here very long. Okay. All right. First one, social selling.
 Selling on social media. Rad. Yeah. Yeah. I start easy. They get harder. Okay. NFTs.
 Ooh, I'm going to say rad. I think they're here to stay. I like digital stuff. Digital's not going
 anywhere. Cool. The metaverse. Oh man, you are giving me tough ones. You know, I've actually
 been talking about this recently to friends about this metaverse. I do think it's going to be
 around. It's going to be updated and upgraded. It's kind of just like how Facebook started
 in the beginning. It's completely changed since then. But I'm going to say rad. I'm thinking
 it's going to stay a while. All right. I think you have good senses. I think you're practical,
 but you've got good sense. Practical wisdom. Heidi, I really appreciate you coming on the show.
 I think you know, you've got a story that could be relatable to a lot of people. And I think you
 got a lot to be proud of. And I really appreciate you coming on. Thank you. And likewise for
 yourself, congratulations on all you're doing. And I really appreciate you inviting me on today.
 I had a great time. So thank you, Ryan. It was so nice to meet you and hopefully everybody
 keep up with you though. Let's give everybody where they can find your stuff. Well, my Instagram
 is at Heidi Cortez. And actually all of my social media are at Heidi Cortez. So you can find me
 there or Heidi Cortez.com also has links to all my other stuff. Awesome. Awesome. Heidi Cortez.com.
 Hey guys, you know where to find us. We're at the radcast.com search for Heidi Cortez. You'll
 find all the highlight clips from today. Search for Ryan offer on all the social platforms.
 You'll see me there. We'll see you next time on the radcast.
 Cool, Heidi. That was great. Great. Awesome. Thank you so much. So does this, was this live or no?
 I don't know. Yeah, not live. We are. Okay. Yeah, we're about six to eight weeks out,
 typically. Oh, okay. All right. It's going to be a while. Yeah, just be probably March,
 some mid March. Yeah. Okay. Great. We email all the highlight, like we do a really nice content
 package. So you'll have little highlight clips from it. You'll have the full episode, audio and video.
 And of course, you know, we distribute on probably 50 platforms now between audio and video.
 So that will all happen on our end. But well, my team Zoe will send you kind of a link to all the
 content and stuff. And you can use on stories or social media or anything like that. We certainly
 co-promotion always helps no matter what. Of course. Yeah. No, I look forward to it.
 Content that I don't have to drum up. Exactly. I'm glad you said that. You'd be surprised.
 Like, you know, we give it to people and it's like they don't know because like even if they're
 like celebrities or no matter how big or small they are, we're like, this is so you don't have
 to create anything. Like they don't, I don't think they don't use it on purpose, but they just
 don't know too. So it's like, you know, when I, when I saw your press package, I was stoked.
 I was like, Oh, great. They're going to do this for me. So I, I immediately thought it was awesome.
 That's cool. If you don't mind really quick, we always do this at the end as part of our thing.
 We just like, we're, how was your experience on the Radcast? I mean, were you, it was a good,
 we like to just kind of get like a, a quick take. Yes, it was rad.
 I mean, the Radcast is rad. I had a great time. Thank you for having me. It's been great.
 You're very lovable. Awesome. And it's always nice to talk to other entrepreneurs.
 Awesome. Thanks so much, Heidi. I hope you have a great rest of the day.
 Thanks you to take care. Take care.