Trust makes everything in life and business easier.
I was on my couch on a Friday evening when I reached out to a friend of mine.
We hadn’t spoken in a while. As we caught up, he mentioned: “Oh, aren’t you writing a book or something.” I was a few weeks into my crowdfunding campaign for my book. I had been talking about my book journey on LinkedIn and Twitter. I responded: “Oh yeah, want to support?”
“Definitely.”
I sent him the link.
He disappeared.
A few minutes later I got a notification. He wrote: “Done.”
I didn’t have to move off the couch.
Wouldn’t it be nice if all business transactions felt as easy as asking a friend to support?
Well that’s what happens when you fuel trust online before you focus on transactions.
Lost business:
Most people want to have something in hand before they talk about it.
They end up building things people don’t want.
You have to work on your product and the distribution of your product in hand-in-hand. Build and show – it’s the only way to do significant work.
I know some will object.
“Isn’t it phony to talk before you have anything to show?”
“I’d like to get it right before I talk about it.”
That sounds all well and nice. But don’t you think it would be strange that the only time you show up is when you have something to sell or when you want to ask for something.
Imagine two people trying to sell a new drink in your neighborhood. On one side of the street is a shiny new business with a face you haven’t seen before. On the other side is David from the gym, who you chat with all the time. Who will you go towards?
Familiarity breeds trust, which in turn allows you to develop a business for your audience.
Trust comes before transactions.
Learn to build trust with your audience as you build your product.
5 Steps to Monetize Trust So You Don’t Have to Beg For Business
I remember when I started working on my first business in 2013, I bought the domain name for the website and started building out a web community for entrepreneurs. I spent nights on stackoverflow waiting for developers to give me answers to my website challenges. Trashed the money I had in my savings, hiring a developer in Germany, and then a designer in Australia.
Finally, I unveiled the premium website.
Crickets!!!
No one came.
Zero traffic…..
That’s when I realized I was working on the wrong thing, building in isolation without an audience.
I’ve learned to start with the audience and customer first before building anything.
When you begin with your audience in mind, you build a lot of trust. You can do this with educational content that helps your audience solve problems they have. Once you do this, you build trust, develop distribution, and it makes it easy to build a business that you want.
Here are five steps on how to go from trust to deals:
1. Trust before monetization:
Number #1 rule: Give value upfront.
In my second iteration of my first business, I didn’t have a fancy app or a web development team. I just had an email address, excel sheet with a lot of contacts, and Skype ID to get on calls. That was the product.
When you’re starting out, you have to give a lot of value upfront. In my case, that came in the form of a free strategy call for businesses expanding into emerging markets across Africa. I’d email people to give them free advice, which I turned into a universe of content blog posts, white papers, checklists – to scale this approach.
Give so much value upfront to establish credibility, demonstrate expertise, and build relationships.
2. The 5 offers (choose one)
Don’t be passive.
The internet bros and sistahs have sold a fantasy. They sell “Work free anywhere,” “Do 2 hours of work a week,” and “Build a life of passive income.” Pass me a bucket, I’m about to throw up. Most people love to drink this kool-aid because it’s sugary sweet.
Well, here’s the bitter-truth: when you start, you will most likely not thrive on selling simple $5 products, passively.
Trust me, I’ve been there. I launched a $39 per month community and learned how much it took to keep a community going. I’ve run $150 30-day challenges – not so passive. I get passive income from my books, it’s just enough to sustain my weekly coffee habit.
There’s nothing passive about starting a business. You have to be active, fam.
I’ve sold high-ticket services, low-ticket services, digital products, communities, and physical items online. The sooner you know the different business models online, the more realistic you’ll be about it.
Here are the five main offers:
- Services: e.g. coaching, consulting.
- Digital products: e.g. courses, audiobooks, NFTs, SaaS.
- Physical products: e.g. shirts, painting, books.
- Memberships: e.g. online community.
- Sponsorships & Affiliates: e.g. brand deals.
Understand the product landscape and start with what makes sense for you and your business.
3. Develop an offer stack
Don’t know where to start? Start with a service.
Let me take you back to that first business. After fumbling through the website, clearing out the crickets, and even releasing an app on the Apple store, my bank account was diving like Mike Phelps diving at the Olympics. I only had a few months to make money. I took this Udemy class about selling by emails. I sent out 100+ emails, got on 14 consultation calls, sent out 5 proposals, and got my first deal.
The easiest place to start is a high-ticket service. You just need 2-3 solid clients and you can be good for a year. Then, develop an offer stack.
Convert the main thing you help your clients with in your high-ticket service into a $200 (low-ticket) version (maybe workshops), $25 digital product (60-min course or ebooks), affiliate marketing links for things you can recommend. When you have an offer stack, you can flex and meet a diverse range of your audience wherever they are.
As you can imagine, there is nothing passive about this. It requires attention and iteration to get off the ground.
4. Give give give (no matter what what what)
Share the knowledge. Sell the expertise
As you build your main offer, consistently build your brand and audience. Do this by being generous.
You don’t have to donate money but you’ll have to donate your knowledge.
Give. Give. Give. That’s the name of the game.
It’s easy – just be helpful.
Growing up in Nigeria, there was so much value in being the person that had “the information.” Knowledge was shared in private corners and secret clubs, where they “code the info” so they had an advantage. The idea of just giving out information online is still counterintuitive to a few of my friends.
They say: “Why are you just giving them the info for free?”
What most people don’t understand is that 99% of people do not act on the free information you give them. However, if you provide enough value that it compels a few people to act, they might need help with the execution. That’s when you come in.
Share the knowledge for free.
Sell the execution.
It’s a long game
It’s easier to destroy your reputation than it is to build it.
Whatever you do, incorporate some patience into your approach. Don’t fall for the get rich quick influencers, don’t try to blow quick. Play the long game with the goal of never messing up your reputation.
Deposit, build, and maintain trust before you debit it for a transaction.
I hope you enjoy building.
Yours truly,
Nifemi
