BIO: Jeff Heggie is an entrepreneur and success coach with a passion for helping others achieve their biggest dreams.
STORY: Jeff started a manufacturing business with a former client, and everything was going great until the 2008 financial crisis hit. While it would have been a better idea to close down the business then, Jeff put everything he had, including his house, into the business to try and salvage it. Unfortunately, it never recovered, and they had to finally close it after COVID-19 hit.
LEARNING: Sometimes, it’s better to accept failure instead of getting sucked into the sunk cost fallacy.
“A fixed mindset focuses on specific outcomes, whereas the growth mindset focuses on the process and doing things right.”
Jeff Heggie
Guest profile
Jeff Heggie is an entrepreneur and success coach with a passion for helping others achieve their biggest dreams. As a coach, Jeff starts with a focus on mindset. Taking his client or their business to the next level always begins with the right mindset.
Jeff enjoys using his extensive experience in the banking industry, over twenty years as an entrepreneur, plus his training and experience as a coach to help his clients break through the mental and physical barriers that hold them back
Worst investment ever
Jeff left the banking industry when he saw an opportunity with one of his clients, who turned into an incredible mentor and a great business partner. Together they started a manufacturing company that though it was capital intensive, and did pretty well.
Then the 2008 financial crisis hit, and their world got turned upside down. They came to a point between 2008 and early 2010 where everything they tried to do failed. They should have closed the company, but as the CEO, sitting in a staff meeting with all the team heads, Jeff decided failure was not an option. And so, they invested more to try to save the company.
Jeff took everything he had and even mortgaged his house and put it back into this company. His rationale was that they had already sunk as deep as they could go, now they had to fight their way back and rebuild.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the company could barely survive, so they closed down in January 2021. Jeff knew the company was done long before that. But he was too afraid to let it happen. He was too scared to face the reality of what his losses were going to be and to face his shareholders and tell them he had lost everything.
Lessons learned
- Failure is always an option when trying to achieve success.
- Sometimes you must accept you’ve failed and try to move on instead of trying to keep pushing a failing business.
Andrew’s takeaways
- Any business can fail. That’s a risk every business owner and shareholder has to accept.
- If you’re contemplating closing your business, first ask yourself: if knowing what you know now about this business would you start it today? If the answer is no, then you better start closing down. If the answer is yes, then you better start thinking differently and bring your energy to keep going.
- Get rid of the sunk cost fallacy.
Actionable advice
Failure is an option. But when things get tough, make the right business decisions and don’t act on your emotions.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
Jeff’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to get 350 clients and 1,000 athletes to take his High Achievers Mindset Secrets course.
Parting words
“To be great, you’ve got to be able to take the risk. Put yourself out there and know that failure is an option. So keep going because you’re gonna get there.”
Jeff Heggie
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