Gill Moakes (00:02.102)
Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host, Jill Muggs, and thank you for joining me again this week. Really appreciate it. This week, I want to talk about trust. This is a really important topic for entrepreneurs. And I want us to have a really deep look this week about
trust in ourselves, trust in others and the trust others can have in us. All three super important aspects. So let's dive in.
Gill Moakes (00:48.704)
sorry, Lena. Okay.
Gill Moakes (00:54.178)
So you know what, as a female entrepreneur, trust is one of the most valuable currencies you're ever going to possess. And I'm not just talking about being reliable. I'm talking about genuinely fostering confidence in yourself and in others. Trust is absolutely the cornerstone of every successful... sorry. Trust is absolutely the cornerstone of...
every successful relationship. And that's whether that's the relationship you have with yourself. But also the relationship you have with your friends, your family and other people that you come into contact with in your business.
But I want to start by answering this question. I want you to think about this really carefully. How trustworthy are you? Because trust begins with you.
And that journey to becoming a trustworthy business owner starts with looking inside. So how often do you keep or break the promises you make to yourself? It's going to seem really trivial, right? It's going to seem like, you know, well, yeah, sometimes. sorry, I'm rambling.
So this might seem really trivial, but actually, you know what self trust is the foundation upon which every other aspect of trust in your life is built. Right? Say, for example, you set a goal to wake up at a certain time, you're going to work on, I don't know, your business plan for next year. But instead, you simply just
Gill Moakes (02:51.384)
keep hitting the snooze button. You're breaking a promise to yourself.
If you commit to prioritizing your self care, but then you constantly put it off and think, I'm just gonna, I'm going to stay at my desk just for another 20 minutes because I want to just keep this thing done. Right? If you break that promise to yourself, that promise of finishing early, you know, every time you break those promises to yourself, you're telling yourself that your word doesn't matter. And that completely erodes your self trust.
You start to doubt your own abilities and commitments. And honestly, that creates a ripple effect in life and business. I really know this to be true. It's something I still have to work on constantly and I don't always get this right.
The flip side of it is that when you honor commitments to yourself, even like even in little ways, you really reinforce your self confidence and self trust. And that becomes a very powerful tool for you. It lets you take risks. It lets you deal with challenges and push outside of your comfort zone, because you have
that assurance that you can rely on yourself. I talk a lot about intuition and one of the biggest things I've had to learn is that to make intuitive decisions you have to trust yourself.
Gill Moakes (04:38.902)
So this is very important work.
And of course, the truth is that when you trust yourself, others can trust you too. So if you think of self trust as this like internal dialogue that shapes the external relationships you have, right? That confidence and integrity that you're building brick by brick by keeping promises to yourself naturally extends to how others perceive you.
I think as an entrepreneur, this is so vital. Your team, your clients, your collaborators, people are watching how you manage your commitments. And when you demonstrate reliability and consistency in what you're doing, it absolutely sets the standard and builds trust in those relationships.
Gill Moakes (05:40.754)
You know, I mean, if you've been here around here for more than a second, you're going to know that I talk a lot about meaningful connections, building relationships in business, relationships, beating algorithms every time. I'm a I'm a massive fan of relationship marketing. Right? I believe that relationships are the key to growing a business. Hands down, the biggest influence.
on whether your business will be successful or not is your ability to build great relationships.
So once you've established that trust in yourself, the next step for you is then going to be building trust with others. Right. And this is where relationship marketing absolutely comes into its own. You know, at the end of the day, consumers right now, your potential clients right now are bombarded with options and noise. And the truth is trust.
has become the differentiator. Right, I'm going to say that again, it's so good I'm saying it twice. Trust has become the differentiator in this digital age. People genuinely do business with those they trust. And trust is cultivated through relationships.
Relationship marketing is, it's all about fostering long -term relationships with your clients, rather than just the short -term sale or the short -term engagement period. It's really about showing potential clients that you are in it for the long haul, that you actually care about their needs, whether they are buying from you today in a week's time.
Gill Moakes (07:43.446)
in six months time or in six years time. You care about what they need and you're committed to providing value beyond that initial transaction.
So how do we build trust with our clients and our potential clients? It's the three things that I think are the most important things when it comes to relationship building. Authenticity, transparency and consistency. So don't just make promises, always deliver on them.
If you've committed to providing a certain level of service in your business, make sure you do that every single time. And of course, if something goes wrong, own up to it, make it right straight away, just like you would want to be treated by someone else's business. And that kind of integrity, not only...
strengthens your reputation, but it also really deepens the relationship with your clients. You know, I sometimes think that there is more client loyalty created when you do a really good job of fixing something that went wrong than anything else.
I mean, and I've experienced that lots of times outside of the workplace as well, you know, you know, say you're in a restaurant and some food comes out and it's, it's really not what you asked for. It's not being cooked the way you want it to be cooked. That serving person has this chance to turn you into an absolutely loyal fan by the way they deal with that complaint.
Gill Moakes (09:43.318)
and businesses that leave their mark are the ones who do that really well.
Because people that builds trust, that builds trust and it turns people into really loyal advocates for your brand. Right?
So when you combine this self trust, honouring commitments to yourself, when you combine that with a commitment to building trust with your clients, you're creating this hugely powerful synergy that's going to propel your business forward, right? Because trustworthy entrepreneurs attract opportunities.
They're the ones who have this loyal client base who support every decision they make who are around to cheerlead them. I see this from my own circle of past clients, current clients, future clients. I put a lot of work into being trustworthy with my clients and it pays off tenfold.
And that means that we get to build resilient businesses that can actually withstand challenges. Because there is a strength in being a business owner who trusts herself and is trusted by others. That's pretty immovable. So how trustworthy are you?
Gill Moakes (11:29.546)
That's what I want you to think about this week. So start making and keeping promises to yourself. That's where it all begins. And notice when you're not doing it, notice when you break a promise to yourself, notice how that feels. And obviously, we're not in the business of beating ourselves up about things we can't go back and undo. But we are in the business of learning a lesson from each time that we
Don't keep a promise to ourselves.
And then of course, extend that same commitment to your business relationships.
Because trust, once you've earned it, becomes an absolute bedrock for your business. It's what lasting success for you and your business is going to look like.
Gill Moakes (12:23.532)
I remember when I used to work for Hiscox insurance and I always remember everyone used to talk about this legendary Robert Hiscox who founded the business and he used to say,
Sorry, Lena, my mind's gone a bit blank. And he used to talk about how if you make a mistake and own it, he will support you all the way. But if you do something that damages his reputation, no, we're gonna have to take that out, Lena, because I can't remember it, take out the bit about his scots altogether.
Gill Moakes (13:04.29)
So in this world that we're in, this world of female entrepreneurship.
No, forget the female. This in this world of entrepreneurship, trust isn't just important. It's absolutely everything. It's the bedrock of everything when it comes to successful businesses.
Okay, I hope you've found that helpful. Okay, I think this is something I think about all the time. And like I said before, I'm in no way a finished article where this is concerned. My goodness. I have to work really hard at this because I am quite a flighty person. You know, I'm a shiny object person. I'm always saying that I'm shiny object and I'm not apologizing for it.
But it does mean that I have to be very mindful about honouring commitments to myself and to others, because I know how important it is. Okay, have a fantastic week, everybody. I'll see you back here same time, same place next week. Bye for now.
