How important is trust for you as an entrepreneur?

There are so many different levels at which trust can make or break the success of your business, that perhaps this is something you should think about more carefully.

Who do you trust and how do you build trust in your team? These are basic questions for any business owner to start with and review regularly. But also more broadly, trust needs to be considered in the context of the industry sector in which you work. products or services you provide, trust the government to support British business. When you think about it, trust is at the heart of everything.

Over time, the outcome of the general election can help build trust on many levels outside of your control as a business owner. So if you haven’t thought about it yet, what can you personally do now to build more trust? grow your business?

Infrastructure

Start by setting up the infrastructure to minimize issues surrounding trust in your business. If you are a business that handles cash, make sure you have safeguards in place so that as your business grows you have more control and there is less chance of theft or errors.

Can you ever trust your team 100%? This is often a real problem for entrepreneurs, especially if they need to scale up quickly and hire people for the first time or outsource aspects of their production or service offering to third parties.

Having the building blocks in place – the processes, governance, external advisors and support that enable you to grow – will help build trust. Use the knowledge and experience of your professional advisors from the start and at different stages of your business growth journey to help you maintain and build trust every step of the way.

Culture

Having the right structure builds trust and helps shape the company’s culture. Where employees can work efficiently and effectively and are well rewarded for their efforts, a more trusting and success-oriented internal culture is created. Simply put, you deliver on your team’s side of the bargain, and they will deliver what your business needs to succeed. What is built on the inside of the company is also projected externally to customers and clients.

Lighten the load

It is often underestimated how much hard work it takes to build and maintain success, and we know that being an entrepreneur is often a lonely pursuit. You need someone around you who can help lighten the load – a ‘right hand’ who you trust and who allows you to think about the next big challenge. People who can fill this role are, quite frankly, gold dust for your business success and they will play a key role. Whether this is a family member, an employee or an advisor, consider who is critical to your success and do they trust you?

Be more reliable

You can’t succeed at anything unless people trust you, so keep your promises to others and yourself, no matter how small. If you can trust the little things, you can trust the bigger things.

Only promise what you can deliver. Many entrepreneurs made a hasty promise and then had to backtrack. You won’t be the first or last person to do this and it happens regularly, so avoid it.

The modern equivalent of ‘My word is my bond’ from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is now your personal brand. Only promise what you can deliver, and in the age of social media, make sure what you project professionally is matched personally.

Finally, if you can’t keep a promise or keep a promise, be honest and explain why. In business there are always so many factors that can affect a company’s ability to perform, but to maintain trust and keep clients and customers coming back to you even if you make a mistake, it means that they have to trust you.