December 11, 2025 • 25 mins
In a market saturated with hype and fake promises, your integrity is your secret weapon for success. Learn four essential, actionable strategies to build deep customer trust and establish an ethical business that lasts and grows.
GET YOUR:
-FREE IKIGAI GUIDE (to discover your business purpose)
-16-Step BUSINESS STARTER'S CHECKLIST
-FREE VIDEO MASTERCLASS: Stop Flailing & Start Growing!
🎧📗 My new AUDIOBOOK IS HERE! Start Listening Here NOW!
👉JOIN THE FREE FB GROUP HERE!
___________________________________________________________________
WORK WITH ME 👇
1. Discover your BEST BUSINESS IDEA HERE!
2. Create your BUSINESS PLAN HERE!
3. Get your Business Started : Just Getting Started Bootcamp!
4. Get your business GROWING Here: Join Grow-Getters!
5. Launch your podcast: GET THE PASSION TO PODCAST COURSE!...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:16):
Well, hello, this is Kimberly, it's episode 322, and
we are talking today about thebiggest competitive advantage
that you have right now in yourbusiness.
And I know so many of you havebeen wrapped up in like your
product or your service andmaking sure it has this or that
that's better than thecompetition.
(00:36):
But do you know in today's worldwhat your actual competitive
advantage is?
We're gonna talk about it.
You know what it is.
I'm gonna go ahead and give youthe spoiler alert before we
start.
So you know what we're talkingabout.
We're talking about businessintegrity because there is so
much lying going on in ourmarketplace, and I'm sick of it.
(00:58):
And I thought I would talk aboutit today.
So if you are new here, welcome.
I'm so glad that you found thispodcast.
I have no doubt it's gonna helpyou along your business journey,
whether you're in the ideastage, starting or growing, this
is for you.
And if you're starting some typeof home-based business, you're
gonna have a local business,whatever it is, these tips are
gonna help you motivate you, getyou going.
I'm just so thankful that youare here and listening and
(01:21):
researching.
I think it's wonderful.
Make sure you get my freebiesthat I have, I have free
resources.
So if you scroll down in theshow notes, like I have a
spreadsheet that has like thetools and software that I
recommend for stuff that you'redoing online with your business.
So you can get that masterspreadsheet.
It's called my ultimate list oftools and resources and all
that.
Uh, you could get my 16-stepchecklist if you're thinking
(01:42):
about starting a business oryou're starting now just to make
sure you're doing some importantthings.
If you're trying to grow yourbusiness, if you're trying to
start a podcast, it's all therefor you.
So make sure you grab it below.
I'm so excited and honored to behelping you and I'm happy you're
here.
Make sure you hit subscriberight now.
If you're listening in ApplePodcasts, Spotify, whatever it
is, hit the follow button.
Whatever your button says, theyoften change them too.
(02:05):
But whatever it says, followbecause then you'll get a quick
little notification in the appwhen I drop new episodes,
usually on Thursday mornings.
And I want to make sure youdon't miss out on any of this
good stuff that's going to helpyou along your business journey.
And if you've been listening,well, thank you so much to all
my loyal listeners.
Y'all are amazing and awesome.
I'm so proud of each of you forpursuing your dream.
(02:26):
And I'm just so honored to beworking with you.
Shout out to my coachingclients, my grow getters, people
that have jumped in the justgetting started course.
Y'all are just amazing.
And I just look up to all of youbecause I know how hard it is
starting a business.
And I'm so honored to be a partof your journey.
And if you ever have questionsand you're thinking about, you
(02:46):
know, maybe needing coaching orhelp or just even a one-hour
consultation to go through yourwhole checklist of what you're
doing and make sure you're doingthings right, make sure you
reach out to me.
The information is all on mywebsite.
I would love to help you.
Okay, that's it.
On to the episode.
SPEAKER_00 (03:12):
Well, hello, friends.
How are you?
SPEAKER_01 (03:14):
How is your business going?
I'm so excited for you all.
What a fun time.
And here we are in thewintertime.
And I know you're probably sobusy with all your business
stuff going on and holidaybuying and all that.
And I'm glad you're here todaybecause we all need this
straight talk.
We need straight talk, right?
We need someone who's going tobe honest with us and really
(03:37):
call us to our higher selves.
And that's what I'm here to do.
I know that you are meant formore in your life.
And that's why you wanted tostart a business.
Maybe you're thinking aboutdoing this full time and
quitting your job.
Maybe you've been a stay-at-homemom and want something all your
own.
However, it is, I'm just so gladyou're here and you're actually
doing this because yes, you aremeant for more.
(03:57):
If you feel that in your soul,then you're right.
It's there for a reason.
That's God nudging you, saying,Hey, I gave you these gifts.
It's time to keep using them.
Today we're talking aboutbusiness integrity and how it is
literally your competitiveadvantage right now.
I was talking with my son aboutthis too, and I've been talking
to other people about just likethe slimy stuff that goes on in
(04:20):
the world of business.
Like, have you ever been duped?
Like you maybe ordered somethingonline and it didn't come or it
wasn't anything like what youthought.
And it makes us all questioneverything that we see online,
right?
And now, especially with AI, wecan't even believe videos
anymore.
We can't believe photos.
Like it's all just so, I don'teven know the word.
(04:42):
It's just so unbelievable.
Like, can we believe it?
Like, we're skeptical.
We are now skeptics.
And I think we've learned evenover the past six years that
I've had this business.
I have seen the distrust ofonline businesses increase.
Like, literally increase becausestuff is fake.
(05:05):
There's fake reviews, there'sfake claims.
I've seen coaches that are kindof in my industry and other
industries make huge claims,y'all.
They will be like, I will helpyou get a million followers by
next week.
I you can make a million dollarsin two months.
I did.
And we would love to believethem.
(05:27):
And the problem is that webecome desperate as buyers.
Like we're business owners, wewant our business to succeed, we
care about it, and we will spendmoney on things that might help
us more have certainty in termsof success.
It's just like like pet productsand pet foods.
Like I recently got the farmer'sdog for my dog.
(05:50):
I have a little Maltese Shih Tzumix.
He's a Mal Shi, his name'sTucker, and I ordered the
farmer's dog.
So I got it at like a discountthe first time I got it.
And I, okay, let me say thisfirst of all, too.
He's seven.
I've been feeding him Kirklandbrand dry dog food since he was
born.
And then we kind of felt bad.
We're like, he needs like somebetter food.
(06:11):
So then, anyways, um, but Ithink the Kirkland brand is
decent.
Is it?
I don't know.
No one tell me that it's notbecause I've been feeding my dog
that for seven years.
Anyways, my son was talking tome.
He's like, get him the farmer'sdog or something.
And I was like, okay, so I didthe trial or whatever it was in
the beginning, got a hugediscount.
I didn't really totally payattention to the cost because it
was so heavily discounted.
And in my mind, I'm thinking I'mgetting a great deal.
(06:31):
Well, of course, then the nextshipment comes, y'all.
It is a fortune.
It is a fortune, but my dogloves it.
And I'm not even kidding.
I'm not kidding.
He has always been veryunpredictable and a grouchy dog
a lot of the time.
Not all the time.
With me, he's fine, but withguests and stuff.
And his personality has a littlebit changed.
He's not as aggressive and allthe stuff.
(06:53):
And I'm like, was that justcoincidence that maybe now he's
seven years old and he's amature dog, or does this have to
do with the food?
I really don't know.
It would have been a great casestudy, right?
But, anyways, my point was thatwith our animals, with our kids,
with our health, with ourbusinesses, we are willing to
(07:13):
spend more money to get somecertainty.
And things that we'reemotionally tied to, we will
spend more money.
So as consumers, as consumers,we can get sucked in.
We can get sucked into things inthe industry.
Like I said, there's beencoaches that say you can make
this much money.
All you have to do is buy my$1,000 horse and blah, blah,
(07:35):
blah, blah, blah.
And it's bothered me because I'min the mix.
I'm getting whumped in with allthese coaches, right?
And it's been very hard becauseI see that going on.
I'm like, nope, stay in your ownlane, Kimberly.
You, you keep up with yourintegrity.
You don't make these wildlandishclaims.
And to my knowledge, I've neverdon't recall ever making an
(07:56):
outlandish claim that you'llmake this amount of money or
this.
I've tried, I've tried to bevery honest about like, hey,
this is what can happen for you.
Or, you know, you can do thiscourse, you can finish it in,
you know, a week, or you canfinish it in a month.
You can.
Like, none of that is a lie.
(08:16):
But I think that sometimes thesethings have been taken out of
context, and there's so manybusiness owners that lack
integrity.
And so I have been told, no,again, this part wasn't to sit
here and say, I'm great, and I'mthe most highest person of
integrity.
That's not why I'm telling youthis.
I'm telling you this as aperspective for someone who has
a is a business owner that isselling something, and you are
(08:40):
here listening.
And my whole impetus forstarting a podcast, too, was not
only because it was fun and Iwanted to share all these tips
with you, and I wanted you tohave a free way to get all these
tips, but it's also to buildtrust so that people can listen
and they may not know me, youknow, personally, but they can
hear and go, like, you know,after all these years, this is
the same person talking on thepodcast, and it sounds pretty
(09:02):
reasonable and honorable to me.
And then they'll reach out andI'll do coaching or they'll get
a course and they feel goodabout it.
I don't know if this is how youhave felt, but you're like,
hopefully you feel like you cantrust me.
But then again, who all can wetrust online?
It's it's scary and hard.
And so I've tried my best to bereal and honest so that I can
(09:25):
stay in my level of integrity atall times.
And today that's what I wantedto remind you of for your
business as a business owner.
Now, again, we've been talkingabout being a consumer.
There's all this stuff online.
There's, you know, it's gonnahelp your neck pain go away in
24 hours.
This is gonna make you a milliondollars.
This is gonna help you lose, youknow, a hundred pounds, all
(09:48):
although all the GLP ones seemto be living up to their
outlandish claims, right?
It's crazy.
It's crazy.
I mean, maybe there's actuallyvalidity to that.
But then again, all the GLP onespeople are saying, wait, is
there side effects?
Is there long-term effects?
I don't know enough about any ofthat to tell you for sure, but I
will say that um the the claimsthat we hear online are very
(10:12):
hard for people to understand,right?
And and to navigate like, is itreal?
And people will plop their moneydown.
And I've plopped my money downon courses and they some have
been good and some have not beengood, right?
(10:33):
So as a business owner, I wantyou to realize that consumers
don't trust us.
Consumers are like gettingextremely skittish, right?
Like every video I see online ofanything, I'm like, is this
real?
And then all the reviews arethese fake reviews, are these
(10:55):
real actual humans?
Like it's exhausting navigatingas a buyer, right?
And so as a business owner, whatcan we do to build trust so that
we can stay in integrity and bea business that lasts, that
(11:17):
doesn't get badmouthed, thatdoesn't get berated online, that
doesn't get a lot of returns,that people recommend to others.
I mean, think about it.
When you recommend otherbusinesses, it's because you
trust they have a good product,but you trust, it's like
Chick-fil-A.
We trust that every time, youknow, almost every time, it's
it's a it's a great orderingprocess.
(11:38):
You go in, they're polite, andthey're fast, right?
And every now and then they'rehumans and they mess up and
whatever.
That's fine.
But it's consistent and it'sconsistent from Chick-fil-A to
Chick-fil-A.
Except, y'all, one time I wastraveling and there was an
airport.
What airport was it?
There was a Chick-fil-A.
It was terrible.
It was terrible.
The service was all backed up,they were rude.
(12:00):
It was the weirdest thing.
I was like, they have pulled inimposter Chick-fil-A employees.
Like, what is going on?
The only time I've ever seen itnot consistent.
Anyways, think about thebusinesses that you frequent.
You have a certain level oftrust, right?
So we have to realize that thepeople that are looking to buy
from us, whether you sellproducts, services, programs,
(12:22):
whatever it is, may have beenburned.
They may have been burned byother people.
And they may be skittish.
They may be weary and like theymay be suspicious of you, even
though they may not have areason, but they may be
(12:42):
believing that your claims arenot real.
Right?
We have contractors on our housewho are redoing our laundry room
and our pantry because they werevery sad.
They were very sad gross rooms,and we needed to like make them
better so that I'm happy whenI'm in the laundry room.
Maybe I shouldn't be happy inthe pantry because is that gonna
cause me to eat more?
Hmm, I should have thought thatthrough before we redid the
(13:05):
pantry.
Anyways, like we are having totrust what the contractor says
that his workers are gonna do.
I'm having to trust my designerthat she's gonna follow through
on everything, right?
Like, there is trust involved.
So we have to realize asbusiness owners that we need to
have an approach, have a thoughtprocess about how we show up all
(13:31):
the time in our business.
Like, what's our approach?
How do we do this?
Because actually being someoneof integrity is so valued and
appreciated, y'all.
That is why I have my decoratorback.
She was so trustworthy andawesome and amazing and been
over backwards with everything,right?
She didn't try to steal mymoney.
(13:52):
She was very frank with thecosts.
Like, there's no funny business,right?
And so think about it, even withdoctors that you go to or or
anything, like if they aretrustworthy, that they will
listen to you every time, theywill follow up, they will answer
your questions.
Like, you keep going to them.
(14:12):
So we, even though we areskittish as buyers, we are
actually very loyal as customersbecause we end up sticking with
who we can trust.
So that is what your potentialclients and your current clients
are doing.
They are assessing who I cantrust in this world of complete
chaos, this marketplace that isjust like anything goes, people
(14:37):
can make any claims, people cantell you any things.
And so, what can we do?
How can we build trust?
What can we do?
Because if we can build trust,then we have a competitive
advantage.
It is literally your biggestcompetitive advantage right now
is trust.
So let's talk about it.
(14:57):
So, number one, here's the firstthing you can do is always tell
the truth.
Be honest.
If you screwed up, be honest.
If you are, you know, saying, Ithink I can deliver this in five
days, be as accurate as you can,right?
We know there's situations thatcome up and something happens.
Don't inadvertently andunknowingly fib.
(15:19):
Be realistic, be honest abouteverything.
And if you say, usually thistakes about a week, but this
one's more specialized and itmay take longer, or, you know,
I'm gonna deliver this or I'mgonna offer you the this.
Let's tell the truth.
And if you screw up, tell thetruth on what you screw up on.
Because if you're covering itup, people are gonna notice,
(15:41):
they're not gonna trust you, andthey're not gonna come back.
And our businesses rely onrepeat customers.
They rely on repeat customers.
This is how you will make a lotof your revenue is repeat
customers, right?
Assuming you have something thatcan be repeated.
The other way that that you relyon it when you have a client
that loves you is they'll referyou to other people.
(16:01):
They will refer you.
And those are the best salesbecause they're saying, I trust
this person and I'm vouching foryour business.
And um, and you they tell theirfriend you should call so-and-so
and you should look at ourwebsite.
Like I'm so flattered.
That happened yesterday.
Someone else that I know sentsomeone to this web to my
podcast, and then they weregetting the checklist.
(16:23):
And, you know, you never know.
A certain percentage of thosebuy.
Not everyone buys, but peoplewill come in your corner.
So, what can you do?
Number one, tell the truth.
Okay.
Number two, make sure you havetrust-building methods.
And what are thosetrust-building methods for your
(16:46):
business?
So, for me, this podcast is atrust-building method because I
reach people all around theworld and they can listen
anytime and they can hear meconsistently over time.
Do they 100% know that I'mtrustworthy?
No.
But this content every weekstarts building trust.
They get to know who I am and myvalues.
(17:07):
Could I be lying?
Could I be lying the whole time?
Yes, I could be.
But they are getting a feeling,you are getting a feeling when
you listen, whether I'mtrustworthy or not.
You have to think in your lineof business, what is it that
you're doing regularly thatwould build trust?
And it may simply be they findan ad of yours online, they see
(17:28):
you post in a Facebook group andthey reach out to you.
The question is (17:30):
do you call them back?
Do you email them back, right?
Do you give them the informationthey wanted?
Are you trustworthy?
If you said you were going tocome give them a quote or an
estimate, did you show up ontime and do that?
You have to realize that theeven small interactions that you
have with people, email, phonecall, text, whatever, you
(17:54):
responding and you talking tothem is a trust building
activity.
And then when you maybe offersomething for free, or you make
some kind of commitment, or I'llhave a quote by tomorrow, or I
can send you a picture of thatlater today, anything like that
is part of your trust building.
Do you realize that?
Like they are assessing rightnow.
(18:15):
Can you pass the first simpletest?
Can you do that?
So think about it here for aminute.
What are you doing with yourclients that even on a small
basis is trust building?
You need those trust buildingactivities and you need to take
them seriously.
(18:36):
Take all those trust buildingactivities and take them
seriously.
Think about it, what it is foryour business right now in your
head.
Is it they just come to yourwebsite?
Because that's what I had.
I had websites for many years,online gift boutiques, and their
trustworthiness at the time wasjust coming to my website,
seeing, seeing what we offered,that it went through the
checkout and we delivered,hopefully, on time, right?
(19:00):
As much as we could.
And that was our trust building.
But the first phase was whenthey hit our website and they
could look at our about me page.
You would be surprised how manypeople look at your about me
page.
They would read about that andthey get a feeling.
And so now they're just tryingto make a judgment, right?
Okay.
So the first one was tell thetruth always.
Uh, the second one was pay closeattention to your trust-building
(19:24):
methods and activities thatyou're doing because those are
super important.
Number three, deliver what yousaid you would deliver.
Don't have people pay and younot actually fulfill that.
Do not be that kind of person.
Ship on time, come, you know,give the service, the delivery
(19:45):
of the baked goods, uh, thequote.
Um, whatever you're going to do,do it.
Don't gaslight people.
Again, that's part of your trustbuilding activities, but those
trust building activities do alot more.
But when you ask Actually, sayyou're going to deliver
something, your product, yourservice, do it.
(20:06):
Okay.
Don't give it partial.
Don't say I'm gonna send youthis, and it's not not actually
all of it, or I'm gonna send youthe course that gives you this
full complete thing, but reallythe course only has part of that
and doesn't have everything thatyou actually said that they
could, you know, receive theirmoney should exactly match.
(20:31):
Okay.
If you're gonna charge shipping,if you are going to charge rest
shipping, deliver on what yousaid you were going to do.
I know this sounds silly, butsome people don't deliver on
what they said.
They don't get the completepackage, the complete product,
they don't get everything thatthey asked for.
You said it included, you know,a clear code of stain on it, or
(20:54):
you said it was waterproof andit's not waterproof.
Like deliver what you said itwas.
Make sure your product matcheswhat you're selling, what you've
told them they're getting, andmake sure it's right because
that's the last thing we want islike we get it and we're like,
what?
You said this was the softestshirt ever.
This is not soft.
Like, be honest about what youpresent that you're offering and
(21:18):
deliver exactly what you said.
I again, this sounds stupid.
We shouldn't have to say this,but I'm saying this because this
is actually a competitivecompetitive advantage for you
because a lot of people don'tdeliver on what they say they're
going to deliver, and it's soannoying.
Right?
Okay, number four, repairproblems fast.
(21:40):
Whatever problem you have, acontractor doesn't show up, um,
they got it and it was broken,you sent them the wrong thing,
your thing is now back orderedand you didn't tell them it was
back ordered.
Repair the problem as fast asyou can and be apologetic and
tell them I'm so sorry.
Here it is.
(22:00):
Here it is.
They will feel so much better.
Again, this is all going towardsthe trust factor, right?
So repair your problems fast.
Y'all know the story.
I told this so many times onthis podcast, but if you haven't
listened to all the episodes,when I had my kids or fans too,
you know, it was baby collegiatethemed gifts like pacifiers,
(22:22):
clothing, little onesies,blankets, so cute.
It's all differentcollege-themed ones.
And um, we accidentally sent.
Now I can't remember if it wasthe Michigan State person, the
Michigan stuff or the Michiganstuff got the Michigan State.
I can't remember what we did.
We messed it up and it wasterrible.
And the person was yelling, likeso mad, thought it was an
(22:43):
intentional joke.
I'm like, no, it's notintentional.
We literally screwed up and I'mso sorry we had it tagged like
wrong in the way that we wereshipping.
So, anyways, you rectify it andyou say, Don't worry, I'm
getting this out to you today.
So, any problems that they have,a contractor shows up and does
something wrong, someone,someone doesn't represent
something well, like please,please, please make sure that if
(23:08):
a problem arises, whatever itis, that you rectify it as soon
as possible and show them thatyou care because a lot of
businesses don't care.
And a lot of businesses treattheir clients as numbers, and
you're not gonna do that.
You're going to be hands-on,you're gonna be apologetic, and
you are going to help them withwhatever they need so they trust
(23:31):
you, so they have a goodexperience, so you don't make
their life worse, so that theyrefer you to other people as
well.
Okay.
Y'all, I'm telling you rightnow, this is a competitive
advantage.
And if you don't see it as that,you're missing a huge factor
because in today's market,nobody trusts online businesses.
Nobody's trusting any business.
They think everyone isbamboozling them.
(23:53):
And I'm sure you can imagine ifyou're trying to buy something
right now, there's certainthings you don't trust.
And you read reviews, you talkto people, you're trying to ask
Chat GBT, you're doing all thesethings, and it's hard.
And we all are just putting ourfaith in at some point because
we never know 100%.
But you have to be the one thatno matter what happens, you are
trustworthy.
You are of a high levelintegrity.
(24:14):
And I'm telling you, this iswhat will help you build a
lasting business.
It's what helped me for years inmy online boutiques and in this
coaching business because I amnot like the other coaches who
is telling you you will make amillion dollars next week.
It's super annoying.
We've all seen it, and it's notfun.
And I'm not lying when I'mtelling you, oh, my podcast is
(24:37):
in the top 1%.
And I can share with you what Idid to get there.
I am.
I shared you with you in thepodcasting course exactly what I
did that got me there.
But I'm not saying you're gonnaget a million listeners, you're
gonna have the most successfulbusiness.
I'm not telling you that.
I'm telling you, I'm here andyou can verify it online, but
(24:58):
here is what I did.
Here's the steps I took.
And people love that becausethat feels real.
That's not fake, that's notoverinflated, it's not inflated
at all.
It's actually what it is.
So we have to be like that inorder for people to actually
trust us and refer us.
So I hope that makes sense.
Y'all are awesome.
(25:18):
I hope you have a great day.
Remember, this is yourcompetitive advantage, and don't
ever sacrifice your integrity,my friend.
Don't do it.
Your business is better thatthan that, and so are you.
Have a great day.
Bye now.
SPEAKER_00 (25:33):
Now, this episode may be over, but our
relationship does not have toend here.
Head on over toKimberlybrock.com, and yes, you
can get more valuableinformation for your journey.
And you know what?
You don't need to go throughthis alone.
I would love to help.
Thank you so much and have agreat day.
(25:55):
Bye.
Well, hello, this is Kimberly, it's episode 322, and
we are talking today about thebiggest competitive advantage
that you have right now in yourbusiness.
And I know so many of you havebeen wrapped up in like your
product or your service andmaking sure it has this or that
that's better than thecompetition.
(00:36):
But do you know in today's worldwhat your actual competitive
advantage is?
We're gonna talk about it.
You know what it is.
I'm gonna go ahead and give youthe spoiler alert before we
start.
So you know what we're talkingabout.
We're talking about businessintegrity because there is so
much lying going on in ourmarketplace, and I'm sick of it.
(00:58):
And I thought I would talk aboutit today.
So if you are new here, welcome.
I'm so glad that you found thispodcast.
I have no doubt it's gonna helpyou along your business journey,
whether you're in the ideastage, starting or growing, this
is for you.
And if you're starting some typeof home-based business, you're
gonna have a local business,whatever it is, these tips are
gonna help you motivate you, getyou going.
I'm just so thankful that youare here and listening and
(01:21):
researching.
I think it's wonderful.
Make sure you get my freebiesthat I have, I have free
resources.
So if you scroll down in theshow notes, like I have a
spreadsheet that has like thetools and software that I
recommend for stuff that you'redoing online with your business.
So you can get that masterspreadsheet.
It's called my ultimate list oftools and resources and all
that.
Uh, you could get my 16-stepchecklist if you're thinking
(01:42):
about starting a business oryou're starting now just to make
sure you're doing some importantthings.
If you're trying to grow yourbusiness, if you're trying to
start a podcast, it's all therefor you.
So make sure you grab it below.
I'm so excited and honored to behelping you and I'm happy you're
here.
Make sure you hit subscriberight now.
If you're listening in ApplePodcasts, Spotify, whatever it
is, hit the follow button.
Whatever your button says, theyoften change them too.
(02:05):
But whatever it says, followbecause then you'll get a quick
little notification in the appwhen I drop new episodes,
usually on Thursday mornings.
And I want to make sure youdon't miss out on any of this
good stuff that's going to helpyou along your business journey.
And if you've been listening,well, thank you so much to all
my loyal listeners.
Y'all are amazing and awesome.
I'm so proud of each of you forpursuing your dream.
(02:26):
And I'm just so honored to beworking with you.
Shout out to my coachingclients, my grow getters, people
that have jumped in the justgetting started course.
Y'all are just amazing.
And I just look up to all of youbecause I know how hard it is
starting a business.
And I'm so honored to be a partof your journey.
And if you ever have questionsand you're thinking about, you
(02:46):
know, maybe needing coaching orhelp or just even a one-hour
consultation to go through yourwhole checklist of what you're
doing and make sure you're doingthings right, make sure you
reach out to me.
The information is all on mywebsite.
I would love to help you.
Okay, that's it.
On to the episode.
SPEAKER_00 (03:12):
Well, hello, friends.
How are you?
SPEAKER_01 (03:14):
How is your business going?
I'm so excited for you all.
What a fun time.
And here we are in thewintertime.
And I know you're probably sobusy with all your business
stuff going on and holidaybuying and all that.
And I'm glad you're here todaybecause we all need this
straight talk.
We need straight talk, right?
We need someone who's going tobe honest with us and really
(03:37):
call us to our higher selves.
And that's what I'm here to do.
I know that you are meant formore in your life.
And that's why you wanted tostart a business.
Maybe you're thinking aboutdoing this full time and
quitting your job.
Maybe you've been a stay-at-homemom and want something all your
own.
However, it is, I'm just so gladyou're here and you're actually
doing this because yes, you aremeant for more.
(03:57):
If you feel that in your soul,then you're right.
It's there for a reason.
That's God nudging you, saying,Hey, I gave you these gifts.
It's time to keep using them.
Today we're talking aboutbusiness integrity and how it is
literally your competitiveadvantage right now.
I was talking with my son aboutthis too, and I've been talking
to other people about just likethe slimy stuff that goes on in
(04:20):
the world of business.
Like, have you ever been duped?
Like you maybe ordered somethingonline and it didn't come or it
wasn't anything like what youthought.
And it makes us all questioneverything that we see online,
right?
And now, especially with AI, wecan't even believe videos
anymore.
We can't believe photos.
Like it's all just so, I don'teven know the word.
(04:42):
It's just so unbelievable.
Like, can we believe it?
Like, we're skeptical.
We are now skeptics.
And I think we've learned evenover the past six years that
I've had this business.
I have seen the distrust ofonline businesses increase.
Like, literally increase becausestuff is fake.
(05:05):
There's fake reviews, there'sfake claims.
I've seen coaches that are kindof in my industry and other
industries make huge claims,y'all.
They will be like, I will helpyou get a million followers by
next week.
I you can make a million dollarsin two months.
I did.
And we would love to believethem.
(05:27):
And the problem is that webecome desperate as buyers.
Like we're business owners, wewant our business to succeed, we
care about it, and we will spendmoney on things that might help
us more have certainty in termsof success.
It's just like like pet productsand pet foods.
Like I recently got the farmer'sdog for my dog.
(05:50):
I have a little Maltese Shih Tzumix.
He's a Mal Shi, his name'sTucker, and I ordered the
farmer's dog.
So I got it at like a discountthe first time I got it.
And I, okay, let me say thisfirst of all, too.
He's seven.
I've been feeding him Kirklandbrand dry dog food since he was
born.
And then we kind of felt bad.
We're like, he needs like somebetter food.
(06:11):
So then, anyways, um, but Ithink the Kirkland brand is
decent.
Is it?
I don't know.
No one tell me that it's notbecause I've been feeding my dog
that for seven years.
Anyways, my son was talking tome.
He's like, get him the farmer'sdog or something.
And I was like, okay, so I didthe trial or whatever it was in
the beginning, got a hugediscount.
I didn't really totally payattention to the cost because it
was so heavily discounted.
And in my mind, I'm thinking I'mgetting a great deal.
(06:31):
Well, of course, then the nextshipment comes, y'all.
It is a fortune.
It is a fortune, but my dogloves it.
And I'm not even kidding.
I'm not kidding.
He has always been veryunpredictable and a grouchy dog
a lot of the time.
Not all the time.
With me, he's fine, but withguests and stuff.
And his personality has a littlebit changed.
He's not as aggressive and allthe stuff.
(06:53):
And I'm like, was that justcoincidence that maybe now he's
seven years old and he's amature dog, or does this have to
do with the food?
I really don't know.
It would have been a great casestudy, right?
But, anyways, my point was thatwith our animals, with our kids,
with our health, with ourbusinesses, we are willing to
(07:13):
spend more money to get somecertainty.
And things that we'reemotionally tied to, we will
spend more money.
So as consumers, as consumers,we can get sucked in.
We can get sucked into things inthe industry.
Like I said, there's beencoaches that say you can make
this much money.
All you have to do is buy my$1,000 horse and blah, blah,
(07:35):
blah, blah, blah.
And it's bothered me because I'min the mix.
I'm getting whumped in with allthese coaches, right?
And it's been very hard becauseI see that going on.
I'm like, nope, stay in your ownlane, Kimberly.
You, you keep up with yourintegrity.
You don't make these wildlandishclaims.
And to my knowledge, I've neverdon't recall ever making an
(07:56):
outlandish claim that you'llmake this amount of money or
this.
I've tried, I've tried to bevery honest about like, hey,
this is what can happen for you.
Or, you know, you can do thiscourse, you can finish it in,
you know, a week, or you canfinish it in a month.
You can.
Like, none of that is a lie.
(08:16):
But I think that sometimes thesethings have been taken out of
context, and there's so manybusiness owners that lack
integrity.
And so I have been told, no,again, this part wasn't to sit
here and say, I'm great, and I'mthe most highest person of
integrity.
That's not why I'm telling youthis.
I'm telling you this as aperspective for someone who has
a is a business owner that isselling something, and you are
(08:40):
here listening.
And my whole impetus forstarting a podcast, too, was not
only because it was fun and Iwanted to share all these tips
with you, and I wanted you tohave a free way to get all these
tips, but it's also to buildtrust so that people can listen
and they may not know me, youknow, personally, but they can
hear and go, like, you know,after all these years, this is
the same person talking on thepodcast, and it sounds pretty
(09:02):
reasonable and honorable to me.
And then they'll reach out andI'll do coaching or they'll get
a course and they feel goodabout it.
I don't know if this is how youhave felt, but you're like,
hopefully you feel like you cantrust me.
But then again, who all can wetrust online?
It's it's scary and hard.
And so I've tried my best to bereal and honest so that I can
(09:25):
stay in my level of integrity atall times.
And today that's what I wantedto remind you of for your
business as a business owner.
Now, again, we've been talkingabout being a consumer.
There's all this stuff online.
There's, you know, it's gonnahelp your neck pain go away in
24 hours.
This is gonna make you a milliondollars.
This is gonna help you lose, youknow, a hundred pounds, all
(09:48):
although all the GLP ones seemto be living up to their
outlandish claims, right?
It's crazy.
It's crazy.
I mean, maybe there's actuallyvalidity to that.
But then again, all the GLP onespeople are saying, wait, is
there side effects?
Is there long-term effects?
I don't know enough about any ofthat to tell you for sure, but I
will say that um the the claimsthat we hear online are very
(10:12):
hard for people to understand,right?
And and to navigate like, is itreal?
And people will plop their moneydown.
And I've plopped my money downon courses and they some have
been good and some have not beengood, right?
(10:33):
So as a business owner, I wantyou to realize that consumers
don't trust us.
Consumers are like gettingextremely skittish, right?
Like every video I see online ofanything, I'm like, is this
real?
And then all the reviews arethese fake reviews, are these
(10:55):
real actual humans?
Like it's exhausting navigatingas a buyer, right?
And so as a business owner, whatcan we do to build trust so that
we can stay in integrity and bea business that lasts, that
(11:17):
doesn't get badmouthed, thatdoesn't get berated online, that
doesn't get a lot of returns,that people recommend to others.
I mean, think about it.
When you recommend otherbusinesses, it's because you
trust they have a good product,but you trust, it's like
Chick-fil-A.
We trust that every time, youknow, almost every time, it's
it's a it's a great orderingprocess.
(11:38):
You go in, they're polite, andthey're fast, right?
And every now and then they'rehumans and they mess up and
whatever.
That's fine.
But it's consistent and it'sconsistent from Chick-fil-A to
Chick-fil-A.
Except, y'all, one time I wastraveling and there was an
airport.
What airport was it?
There was a Chick-fil-A.
It was terrible.
It was terrible.
The service was all backed up,they were rude.
(12:00):
It was the weirdest thing.
I was like, they have pulled inimposter Chick-fil-A employees.
Like, what is going on?
The only time I've ever seen itnot consistent.
Anyways, think about thebusinesses that you frequent.
You have a certain level oftrust, right?
So we have to realize that thepeople that are looking to buy
from us, whether you sellproducts, services, programs,
(12:22):
whatever it is, may have beenburned.
They may have been burned byother people.
And they may be skittish.
They may be weary and like theymay be suspicious of you, even
though they may not have areason, but they may be
(12:42):
believing that your claims arenot real.
Right?
We have contractors on our housewho are redoing our laundry room
and our pantry because they werevery sad.
They were very sad gross rooms,and we needed to like make them
better so that I'm happy whenI'm in the laundry room.
Maybe I shouldn't be happy inthe pantry because is that gonna
cause me to eat more?
Hmm, I should have thought thatthrough before we redid the
(13:05):
pantry.
Anyways, like we are having totrust what the contractor says
that his workers are gonna do.
I'm having to trust my designerthat she's gonna follow through
on everything, right?
Like, there is trust involved.
So we have to realize asbusiness owners that we need to
have an approach, have a thoughtprocess about how we show up all
(13:31):
the time in our business.
Like, what's our approach?
How do we do this?
Because actually being someoneof integrity is so valued and
appreciated, y'all.
That is why I have my decoratorback.
She was so trustworthy andawesome and amazing and been
over backwards with everything,right?
She didn't try to steal mymoney.
(13:52):
She was very frank with thecosts.
Like, there's no funny business,right?
And so think about it, even withdoctors that you go to or or
anything, like if they aretrustworthy, that they will
listen to you every time, theywill follow up, they will answer
your questions.
Like, you keep going to them.
(14:12):
So we, even though we areskittish as buyers, we are
actually very loyal as customersbecause we end up sticking with
who we can trust.
So that is what your potentialclients and your current clients
are doing.
They are assessing who I cantrust in this world of complete
chaos, this marketplace that isjust like anything goes, people
(14:37):
can make any claims, people cantell you any things.
And so, what can we do?
How can we build trust?
What can we do?
Because if we can build trust,then we have a competitive
advantage.
It is literally your biggestcompetitive advantage right now
is trust.
So let's talk about it.
(14:57):
So, number one, here's the firstthing you can do is always tell
the truth.
Be honest.
If you screwed up, be honest.
If you are, you know, saying, Ithink I can deliver this in five
days, be as accurate as you can,right?
We know there's situations thatcome up and something happens.
Don't inadvertently andunknowingly fib.
(15:19):
Be realistic, be honest abouteverything.
And if you say, usually thistakes about a week, but this
one's more specialized and itmay take longer, or, you know,
I'm gonna deliver this or I'mgonna offer you the this.
Let's tell the truth.
And if you screw up, tell thetruth on what you screw up on.
Because if you're covering itup, people are gonna notice,
(15:41):
they're not gonna trust you, andthey're not gonna come back.
And our businesses rely onrepeat customers.
They rely on repeat customers.
This is how you will make a lotof your revenue is repeat
customers, right?
Assuming you have something thatcan be repeated.
The other way that that you relyon it when you have a client
that loves you is they'll referyou to other people.
(16:01):
They will refer you.
And those are the best salesbecause they're saying, I trust
this person and I'm vouching foryour business.
And um, and you they tell theirfriend you should call so-and-so
and you should look at ourwebsite.
Like I'm so flattered.
That happened yesterday.
Someone else that I know sentsomeone to this web to my
podcast, and then they weregetting the checklist.
(16:23):
And, you know, you never know.
A certain percentage of thosebuy.
Not everyone buys, but peoplewill come in your corner.
So, what can you do?
Number one, tell the truth.
Okay.
Number two, make sure you havetrust-building methods.
And what are thosetrust-building methods for your
(16:46):
business?
So, for me, this podcast is atrust-building method because I
reach people all around theworld and they can listen
anytime and they can hear meconsistently over time.
Do they 100% know that I'mtrustworthy?
No.
But this content every weekstarts building trust.
They get to know who I am and myvalues.
(17:07):
Could I be lying?
Could I be lying the whole time?
Yes, I could be.
But they are getting a feeling,you are getting a feeling when
you listen, whether I'mtrustworthy or not.
You have to think in your lineof business, what is it that
you're doing regularly thatwould build trust?
And it may simply be they findan ad of yours online, they see
(17:28):
you post in a Facebook group andthey reach out to you.
The question is (17:30):
do you call them back?
Do you email them back, right?
Do you give them the informationthey wanted?
Are you trustworthy?
If you said you were going tocome give them a quote or an
estimate, did you show up ontime and do that?
You have to realize that theeven small interactions that you
have with people, email, phonecall, text, whatever, you
(17:54):
responding and you talking tothem is a trust building
activity.
And then when you maybe offersomething for free, or you make
some kind of commitment, or I'llhave a quote by tomorrow, or I
can send you a picture of thatlater today, anything like that
is part of your trust building.
Do you realize that?
Like they are assessing rightnow.
(18:15):
Can you pass the first simpletest?
Can you do that?
So think about it here for aminute.
What are you doing with yourclients that even on a small
basis is trust building?
You need those trust buildingactivities and you need to take
them seriously.
(18:36):
Take all those trust buildingactivities and take them
seriously.
Think about it, what it is foryour business right now in your
head.
Is it they just come to yourwebsite?
Because that's what I had.
I had websites for many years,online gift boutiques, and their
trustworthiness at the time wasjust coming to my website,
seeing, seeing what we offered,that it went through the
checkout and we delivered,hopefully, on time, right?
(19:00):
As much as we could.
And that was our trust building.
But the first phase was whenthey hit our website and they
could look at our about me page.
You would be surprised how manypeople look at your about me
page.
They would read about that andthey get a feeling.
And so now they're just tryingto make a judgment, right?
Okay.
So the first one was tell thetruth always.
Uh, the second one was pay closeattention to your trust-building
(19:24):
methods and activities thatyou're doing because those are
super important.
Number three, deliver what yousaid you would deliver.
Don't have people pay and younot actually fulfill that.
Do not be that kind of person.
Ship on time, come, you know,give the service, the delivery
(19:45):
of the baked goods, uh, thequote.
Um, whatever you're going to do,do it.
Don't gaslight people.
Again, that's part of your trustbuilding activities, but those
trust building activities do alot more.
But when you ask Actually, sayyou're going to deliver
something, your product, yourservice, do it.
(20:06):
Okay.
Don't give it partial.
Don't say I'm gonna send youthis, and it's not not actually
all of it, or I'm gonna send youthe course that gives you this
full complete thing, but reallythe course only has part of that
and doesn't have everything thatyou actually said that they
could, you know, receive theirmoney should exactly match.
(20:31):
Okay.
If you're gonna charge shipping,if you are going to charge rest
shipping, deliver on what yousaid you were going to do.
I know this sounds silly, butsome people don't deliver on
what they said.
They don't get the completepackage, the complete product,
they don't get everything thatthey asked for.
You said it included, you know,a clear code of stain on it, or
(20:54):
you said it was waterproof andit's not waterproof.
Like deliver what you said itwas.
Make sure your product matcheswhat you're selling, what you've
told them they're getting, andmake sure it's right because
that's the last thing we want islike we get it and we're like,
what?
You said this was the softestshirt ever.
This is not soft.
Like, be honest about what youpresent that you're offering and
(21:18):
deliver exactly what you said.
I again, this sounds stupid.
We shouldn't have to say this,but I'm saying this because this
is actually a competitivecompetitive advantage for you
because a lot of people don'tdeliver on what they say they're
going to deliver, and it's soannoying.
Right?
Okay, number four, repairproblems fast.
(21:40):
Whatever problem you have, acontractor doesn't show up, um,
they got it and it was broken,you sent them the wrong thing,
your thing is now back orderedand you didn't tell them it was
back ordered.
Repair the problem as fast asyou can and be apologetic and
tell them I'm so sorry.
Here it is.
(22:00):
Here it is.
They will feel so much better.
Again, this is all going towardsthe trust factor, right?
So repair your problems fast.
Y'all know the story.
I told this so many times onthis podcast, but if you haven't
listened to all the episodes,when I had my kids or fans too,
you know, it was baby collegiatethemed gifts like pacifiers,
(22:22):
clothing, little onesies,blankets, so cute.
It's all differentcollege-themed ones.
And um, we accidentally sent.
Now I can't remember if it wasthe Michigan State person, the
Michigan stuff or the Michiganstuff got the Michigan State.
I can't remember what we did.
We messed it up and it wasterrible.
And the person was yelling, likeso mad, thought it was an
(22:43):
intentional joke.
I'm like, no, it's notintentional.
We literally screwed up and I'mso sorry we had it tagged like
wrong in the way that we wereshipping.
So, anyways, you rectify it andyou say, Don't worry, I'm
getting this out to you today.
So, any problems that they have,a contractor shows up and does
something wrong, someone,someone doesn't represent
something well, like please,please, please make sure that if
(23:08):
a problem arises, whatever itis, that you rectify it as soon
as possible and show them thatyou care because a lot of
businesses don't care.
And a lot of businesses treattheir clients as numbers, and
you're not gonna do that.
You're going to be hands-on,you're gonna be apologetic, and
you are going to help them withwhatever they need so they trust
(23:31):
you, so they have a goodexperience, so you don't make
their life worse, so that theyrefer you to other people as
well.
Okay.
Y'all, I'm telling you rightnow, this is a competitive
advantage.
And if you don't see it as that,you're missing a huge factor
because in today's market,nobody trusts online businesses.
Nobody's trusting any business.
They think everyone isbamboozling them.
(23:53):
And I'm sure you can imagine ifyou're trying to buy something
right now, there's certainthings you don't trust.
And you read reviews, you talkto people, you're trying to ask
Chat GBT, you're doing all thesethings, and it's hard.
And we all are just putting ourfaith in at some point because
we never know 100%.
But you have to be the one thatno matter what happens, you are
trustworthy.
You are of a high levelintegrity.
(24:14):
And I'm telling you, this iswhat will help you build a
lasting business.
It's what helped me for years inmy online boutiques and in this
coaching business because I amnot like the other coaches who
is telling you you will make amillion dollars next week.
It's super annoying.
We've all seen it, and it's notfun.
And I'm not lying when I'mtelling you, oh, my podcast is
(24:37):
in the top 1%.
And I can share with you what Idid to get there.
I am.
I shared you with you in thepodcasting course exactly what I
did that got me there.
But I'm not saying you're gonnaget a million listeners, you're
gonna have the most successfulbusiness.
I'm not telling you that.
I'm telling you, I'm here andyou can verify it online, but
(24:58):
here is what I did.
Here's the steps I took.
And people love that becausethat feels real.
That's not fake, that's notoverinflated, it's not inflated
at all.
It's actually what it is.
So we have to be like that inorder for people to actually
trust us and refer us.
So I hope that makes sense.
Y'all are awesome.
(25:18):
I hope you have a great day.
Remember, this is yourcompetitive advantage, and don't
ever sacrifice your integrity,my friend.
Don't do it.
Your business is better thatthan that, and so are you.
Have a great day.
Bye now.
SPEAKER_00 (25:33):
Now, this episode may be over, but our
relationship does not have toend here.
Head on over toKimberlybrock.com, and yes, you
can get more valuableinformation for your journey.
And you know what?
You don't need to go throughthis alone.
I would love to help.
Thank you so much and have agreat day.
(25:55):
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!