Do you consider yourself a trusting person, a trustworthy person? How do you decide when people approach you whether or not you can trust them?

I believe trust is something that we instinctively feel and give immediately or take away immediately. From that point trust has to be earned. If we’ve given trust to someone they have to continue to earn that trust through their actions, their words, their deeds, whether what they say matches or contradicts what they do.

What happens when someone isn’t trustworthy or does something that breaks that trust we’ve placed in them. Then what, how do they earn their way back?

This subject is so fresh for me this week. I made a mistake that could damage the trust people have in me. Being trusted is a badge of honor for me. I really want people to trust me, I want people to know that what I say is true and they can count on my word.

Last week while prerecording Wake Up to The New Rules of Business, my video talk show, I got excited when I was interviewing Virginia Cano from Rhythms Dance Studio and talking about celebrating our 100th episode at a party in their event center. I accidentally said attendance was free…and it’s not.

We record all the episodes for the week at the same time, so my enthusiastic, but false statement is in most of those prerecorded episodes. I had just learned Rhythms Dance Studio would provide their event space for free, I got so excited and said the event is free. A whole lot more goes into putting on a great event.

So I had to figure out what to do to regain the trust of people who go to the website b2bentrepreneur.org/wakeup100 where the invitation is and where you can RSVP for the event. I had to explain why the event is $30 and not free.

The moral of this story is when you do break the trust people have in you, even if it is a mistake. Just admit when you’ve made a mistake, when you screwed up, when you failed to communicate properly. I believe being candid in those moments helps rebuild that trust. So in this situation with the viewers that go to the website, they’ll see a video where I explain and apologize for my mistake. Hopefully that will help keep the bond of trust that I believe I have with them.

Where in your life have you potentially broken trust that needs repair?

Build the business and life you crave,

Debbie