Welcome And The Big Promise

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Well, hello friends, it's Kimberly, it's episode 351, and I'm so happy you are here today. Because today is an awesome episode. What if I told you that everything you think you need to grow your business? Followers, the perfect brand, all the accolades and credentials that you have, the viral moments, the TikTok posts, and all that. None of it actually is what's going to make you successful. Today I'm going to give you the one thing that will make sure you listen all the way through because I know this is going to massively change how you approach your business. If you are new here, welcome. I'm so glad that you found this podcast. I have no doubt it's going to help you along your business journey, whether you're in the idea stage, starting or growing, this is for you. Yes, I share all kinds of tips and strategies, but one thing that you'll learn from this podcast is that I truly believe it all starts with you. It starts with who you are, your values, your definition of success, and what season of life you are in. That's what matters. That's

Free Resources And Quick Requests

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what I'm here to help you with. And I'm so glad you're here. Now, make sure you get plugged in. If you are new here, you can scroll down in the show notes. I've got some free downloads and things that will help you if you're starting a business, looking to start a podcast. If you are trying to grow your current business, I've got a free training and things for you. So make sure you scroll down in the show notes right now. Also, too, hit subscribe right now. Subscribe or follow if you're in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, whatever app you're in, make sure you click that because I don't want you to miss out on any future episodes that I know are going to help you along your journey. And if you have been listening well, thank you so much to all my loyal listeners. I'm so grateful that you are here and that you listen every week. And I want to thank you so much for all the reviews and kind words. And if you have been listening a while and you find value in this podcast, if you could take literally one second and hit five stars on, you know, on Apple or Spotify for this podcast, it just alert them that this podcast is valuable. And I can't help but think that it will then push this out to more people. I don't know for sure if it does, but I would just love that. It would mean the world to me. And if you even have 30 seconds to write a written review, that means so much. Okay, that's it. On to the episode.

The Pressure Myths Of Growth

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Well, hello, friends. I'm so excited you're here because this is important. I know you want your business to survive, right? You don't want a dying business. You don't want a business that flops, that that loses money. You want a successful business. And with everything that is going on in the world, here we are in 2026, and it's only going to just keep getting, you know, crazier and crazier every year after this, that we have to think about the fundamentals of our business. You know that's what I teach. And we have to be getting back to the core things that actually build a successful business. I think we all can become victim to what is being marketed to us as business owners, that that certain things are going to make us successful. For example, we're being told that you need a bazillion followers on social media, right? That you need the perfect website or brand or perfect wording. I've been caught in that before. That we need more credentials, that we need to get more certifications, that we need more education. Um, we also get caught in thinking, man, we really need to lower our prices. And we know what that could do. I've done episodes on that. It's a race to the bottom, my friend. Um, you have to be careful with that one. Um, we are told that we need to be posting every day or doing a reel or being on stories or being on TikTok or have a podcast or have a YouTube channel. We have to do all these things. There's so much pressure with that. And that, you know, a lot of times it ends up causing us to think we just don't have enough time to do this, to be successful, or we don't have enough money to invest in this business, or it's not the right moment. And all these things can crowd us, y'all. And I think this feels very, very heavy to all of us. Now, it's not to say that some of those things aren't good things, right? I think a beautiful brand is awesome and gives you, you know, uh, gives your business a good feeling. It makes people feel good. It makes people feel like it's easy to navigate your site, uh, that it portrays a certain image. I think a beautiful brand is awesome. I'm all for it, right? I do think certifications and education are valuable. You don't have to have them. You can just have life experience. And that can be enough, right? And I also believe that if you have a big following, that's amazing. You have somebody to market to, you have an email list. These are all things that can accelerate your business, right? They pour gasoline on a fire that you already have. And I think that's amazing. But do you know what the real number one thing is that you're going to have to have here in 2026, 2027,

Why Trust Is The Real Edge

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2028? You are gonna have to have the one thing that a lot of shoppers are looking for. Are you ready? Can you think about it for a second? What would everyone be looking for? Well, let's go the opposite direction. What is it that shoppers cannot stand? What is it that shoppers can't stand? Think about it. Like when you're shopping online or going somewhere, what is it that you can't stand? A sleazy salesperson, something that looks shady, you don't know if they're legit, they never respond to you, they don't deliver. I mean, I was reading reviews for something I was trying to buy the other day, and they said, Yeah, I ordered it and it's been three weeks. I've heard nothing from the manufacturer, not even like it's delayed. What is it that every shopper wants, including you, including me? Drumroll, please. It's trust your customers and clients need trust in you. They have to have it. Y'all, there are so many things that are so untrustworthy. Oh my goodness. Like, you know, I know a lot of younger people shop on TikTok shop, and you have to be careful. Is that actually shipping? I mean, a lot of them do. My son has bought off TikTok shop and and other people I know, and it's fine. And I think, did I order something off TikTok shop? I did. I actually did. These really cute Bible paper clips that go in your Bible and I love them. And they were like little crosses, they did come really fast. So that's great. But think about it. When you're shopping, you're like, is this legit? Like, I keep thinking that every time. I mean, every time I look at a photograph of anything, I'm like, is this AI or is this real? And now it's

The Online Trust Crisis In 2026

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like, I was on YouTube, my family and I are going on vacation, and I was searching all kinds of beach spots. We were looking at Puerto Rico, we were looking at Costa Rica, we settled on Belize. So I'm very excited. I've never been to Belize and the water just looks magnificent and clear. Anyways, I would go and search for videos on YouTube for like Belize. Okay. They would be AI videos. They would have the thumbnails with a person on there, but then I'm watching it, I'm like, these are just photographs, just going through like a slideshow with some AI-generated voice talking about bellies or even Costa Rica and all the ones that I was looking at. I'm like, what is happening? I don't trust any of this. And I kept trying to find real people who'd been on vacation to these spots. So I can't even look up to go on a vacation without not trusting anything. And then the hotels, I'm looking at, okay, trying to figure out where am I getting trustworthy information on what I want to do because I don't trust anything. And I'm sure you feel the same way too. So we have to think about this as business owners, right? What can we do to build trust with our customers? Because we know that trust is what's going to keep people buying and coming back. Think about it. Think about the businesses that you keep going back to. You have a trust with them. Think about the shops that you buy clothes from, whatever it may be. You trust them. You trust that they have a good return policy. I talk about Costco all the time. I love Costco. They've I trust them totally. I've trusted they vetted the products. I trust that they're gonna back it up with a good warranty they add for electronics. Like when I use my Costco Visa or whatever it is, I get like an extra year warranty. So I try to buy all my Apple stuff from there, right? If I get new headphones or a computer, anything, I try to do that, right? Or the Apple store too. But I'm just saying for Costco, I trust them. I trust that I, if it's terrible, I can bring it back. I trust that they have a really good price. I do do my research though, because I'll check and see do they actually have a really good price? But usually they've got like more of a package deal, like they'll sell something, but you'll get extra accessories or whatever for the same price that you might have just got the base model somewhere else. So trust is very important. It will, it's what causes people to buy and what causes people to come back. And what it does too is it causes people to share your brand with other people and say, yes, I feel good about referring you because they trust you. How can someone refer you if they cannot trust you, right? They're not gonna keep buying from you because they don't totally trust you. So people are skeptical. We all know it, all of us are. And so it's literally the most important thing for your business. How can you be trustworthy? What can you do? So I want to list off some things that you can do right now, three things. This will be easy for you to remember, or if you're on a walk or something and take notes in your notes app if you're if you're on a device. And I think, well, obviously you are if you're listening to this on a podcast. So you have a notes app or something. Okay. Anyways, what can we do if we want to build trust? Which this is an this is a non-negotiable in my book. You start here. So from the beginning, what can you do?

Make A Product That Works

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Number one, you have to create a product or service that is trustworthy, meaning it actually works. Okay. You have to believe in it because you know that it works. You have to know that there's people that have tried it and used it and you know that they work. You've you've got to have maybe before and afters, or you get reviews and you know that it works. People tell you they've used it, they tell you the good, the bad, but in general, it's a product that works, that does what it says it's going to do. That's number one. I want you to think about your product or service right now. Does it actually work? Now, if you're offering a service, let's say you're an interior designer. When you do the work for people, do they end up with an interior design that they love, just like you had promised in the beginning? If so, then yes, if you have happy customers, if you've done it for other people, maybe you're just starting your business, you never even had a customer yet, like a paid customer, you can do it for friends and other people and make sure you get feedback. This has to be a product that can be replicated or a service that you keep doing that always works. It can't just be a one-off that it works and then it doesn't work other times. Okay. Okay. So your product or service has to be trustworthy. Okay.

Build A Clear Repeatable Process

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Customers and clients also need to trust your process. Like what you say that you're going to do is gonna work. It's gonna happen. You're gonna send them an email when they place their order. You're gonna send them an email when it ships with a tracking number. Maybe you're gonna follow up if you're doing a service and you say, I'm gonna show up Monday out, you know, and give you a quote at 9 a.m. Are you there at 850 or 855? Are you there early or on time? And you do what you say you're gonna do, and then you say, I'm gonna email you a quote later today or tomorrow or this week, and you do things on time, that works. Y'all know I've talked about before that I had work done on the inside of my home and we had a contractor that was not trustworthy, would say, Oh, yeah, I'll have someone this week, never showed up. And I would have to call like three weeks later. I'm like, somebody is still not here. Your customers and clients have to trust your process. They have to know what the process is and they have to be able to share it with other people. Like it has to be so clear and easy that they can be like, either A, if you sell something online, like, oh yeah, just order online. They ship fast, it's great. That's really all people need to know. But if you offer a service or something else, you people need to know what your process is, and it needs to be super cut and dry and reliable and repeatable, and you keep doing that and they feel good if they refer you, they know what's gonna happen, or if they rebuy from you, they know what to expect. That's how you build trust. It's consistency in that process, right? Consistency, right? It's just like if think about this in your personal life, if you're around somebody that you like, a friend or family member, and every time you see them, like you're just happy around them. It's consistent. And you're like, I know if we go hang out with them, or if I invite her or him or all of them, it's going to be fun, or it's going to be nice, or they're not going to be crazy. Versus someone who's nice one time and then the next time you see them, they're whacked out crazy and they're mean and rude. And then the next time you see them, they're nice. And you're like, you know what? This person is super inconsistent. I'm not inviting them, or I don't want to go hang out with them because I don't know what I'm gonna get, right? We all have that in our life. So people have to be able to trust your process and your business. They know what to expect. They know, okay? And here's the third thing. Let me review though, real quick. The first one was people have to have trust in your product or service. Number two is they have to have trust in your process. So product, process.

Communicate Fast To Keep Trust

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And then number three is trust in how you communicate. How do you communicate? Are you, this kind of goes back to my example a minute ago, but are you communicating everything that they need to know? If something is gonna be late or you need to ask more questions, are you always communicating with them? Are you leaving people hanging? People do not like that, okay? Communication is where trust can either be built or broken faster than anywhere else. If you don't communicate, I mean, haven't you had that where you're like the teacher didn't communicate, the instructor didn't communicate, the contractor didn't communicate, um, they never told me my order was delayed for three weeks. Like, you have to be able to be a good communicator. And you can follow up, you can be calling them, you can be updating them via text. Think about right now how you communicate with your customers and clients. Okay. So think about it. Do you do it via text? Do you do it online? Because maybe you have an online store. Like, what are you doing? Is it through social media? Is it through DM? What is it? And do they trust that? Are you consistent in your communication with them? Okay, you can't go AWOL. You always have to be like on top of it, right? So think this through, right? How are you communicating? These are the three big ways that you build trust. Okay. It really is. Number one, in your product or service that it does what it's gonna say, it's gonna do. It does what it says, right? It it's reliable, right? I think people give grace when things don't work out, but in general, is your product reliable? They trust your process of like how they go about ordering. How do they go about meeting you or shopping online on your store, checking out? Is it super easy? People do not handle long checkouts anymore. Things have to be super fast. Luckily, Shopify and all that have ways that the checkout process has gotten so much faster. I love it, right? Um, and number three, you they have to trust that you'll communicate if something is going wrong, something's late, or if you need more information. They have to trust that, right? Or if you they want a return that you're gonna, you're gonna reply back and say, yes, you can send your return here, or we got your return. They got an email so they know they feel confident in you so that they will keep buying from you and they will refer you. Y'all don't realize how important this is. This is so massively important for your business. People have to trust you, okay?

Close Trust Gaps And Grow

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So you don't need to wait until you have more followers or a better website or perfect offering. You need to start asking yourself does everything about the way I'm showing up, my product, my process, my communication, does it all signify trust, trustworthiness, right? Because when the answer is yes, everything else starts to work. All of your like followers and looky loos, they will convert, people will buy, then they will refer you to their friends and family, and the business grows. Not because you were the most viral video or you were the most beautiful, or that you had the best YouTube videos, or you had the best reels, it was because people finally felt safe enough to say yes. That's what we want. We want them to feel safe. So think about your business today, too, as I leave you with this. Is there any gaps in your trustworthiness? Is there anything else you could do to make your product or service better, more reliable, or that your process is smoother and more streamlined, or that you communicate better? What could you do this week to help kind of close that gap so that people trust you and refer you? That is it. Y'all are amazing. Y'all know the information is all down below. I'm so happy you're here. I hope you have a wonderful day. I'm so

Connect With Me And Wrap Up

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excited for you. And you can always follow me on Instagram. I'm at Start with Kimberley Brock. I'd love for you to send me a message if you have a question or anything or just want to share your sentiments about this podcast. Anything that you want to share, I'd love to hear from you. Okay, that's it.

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Y'all have a great day. Until next time. Bye. Now, this episode may be over, but our relationship does not have to end here. Head on over to Kimberlybrock.com, and yes, you can get more valuable information for your journey. And you know what? You don't need to go through this alone. I would love to help. Thank you so much and have a great day. Bye.