How to build trust through vulnerability and storytelling in business

hello, hello. Welcome to the place for offbeat health professionals who have bravely swapped their healthcare hats for nonclinical creative caps. I'm Caitlin, a psychologist, turn copywriter, and this is healers with hustles.

And,~ um,~ I had a little bit of a, ~a,~ like an emotional reaction to that. Like it was a bit jarring. ~Um, and it made me think that I.~

It made me realize, ~well, yeah, I guess ~on socials, ~like,~ because it's,~ you know,~ planned content and,~ um,~ I write it,~ um,~ and ~it, you know,~ like my branding looks quite shmick and how I. Put it together looks really shmick and it looks really polished and,~ you know,~ fun, professional, that kind of thing. And I don't really share the behind the scenes,~ um,~ the full story, right?

Like it's,~ um,~ definitely very curated, which social media obviously is.~ Um, ~but yeah, to be honest, like last year I was definitely in struggle town, like emotionally. ~Um, ~I was living in a different place, like totally cut off from my friends family. ~Um, ~and there were so many changes happening at the time, like, and the environment was just not maybe conducive to my own,~ um,~ thriving.

And yeah, that was me last year and I didn't share it on social media because I was living it at the moment, and it didn't, it didn't really feel,~ um,~ I don't know, maybe that says something about me and my own,~ um,~ hesitations about being vulnerable.

Yes. Going back to that comment, it made me really realize, well, maybe I'm actually not showing the human side of my business enough. I'm not really sharing the realities of what being in business is enough. And that led me to do a post on Instagram, which,~ you know,~ if you're curious enough while I can link it in the show notes, ~um.~

And so that's why I thought today maybe I'll talk a little bit about vulnerability in business and why it feels really scary and maybe even a bit risky, but how. Storytelling and being vulnerable is a thing that will be the quickest way to build trust and build connection with your audience, which of course is like ridiculously, ridiculously important,~ um, in brand,~ in business, and in branding.

Because of course, like a lot of us,~ um,~ and me, I'm talking mainly talking about myself. We might curate the heck out of what people see online. So we might share the wind, the testimonials, like the, the ~per~ perfectly polished,~ uh,~ coffee shops with the laptops, closing, things like that. But we don't necessarily show the behind the scenes of.

And so we're going against what's expected. Because, yeah, when you're ~a bit of~ a disruptor, whether you're like ~cha~ challenging norms in your field or really doing something that's totally outside the box, so a lot of you of course, might be doing that, right? As healthcare professionals going into creative fields, that's so different.

It's so different, and so there's a lot more on the line emotionally as well. And of course it's gonna trigger all sorts of things. For you. And so it makes sense to, as a defense against that, you wanna have a curated image that you put out online because that it feels safe. Right?

Like I was saying, like what really creates that trust and connection is~ what we, ~when we are real, or people throw around the word authentic, which yeah, authenticity is right, but I really think what people mean when they talk about authentic is being real. And real often means something that's a little bit messy.

I think she puts it as their birth pa place of trust. So like, it's not being weak, it's not necessarily oversharing, but selective openness. And when we really do show up as human, we also give,~ uh,~ permission for others to feel safe with us as well. ~Um, ~unless that might be like a client, a customer, or maybe even someone just scrolling past on your post.

From feeling safe. I know that also sounds ~like a bit of~ like psychobabble, safe space and all of that. But really there is research that shows like psychological safety is super important.~ Um, ~and even teams perform better when they, they feel like they can be themselves without fear of judgment and~ it can really, you know.~

It's not too much of a stretch to say that that really relates also to your audience and how they,~ um,~ feel around your brand.

But of course there might be that question of, well, how much do I share? Right? Like, how do I just share everything? Like is that maybe like trauma dumping? Like what do I share? ~And so I'll talk a little bit about that as well. A bit later,~

~Um, ~there's been, I'm just thinking now, there's been so many times where I've been. Sucked into buying something because like the sales person has told me this amazing story, ~you know, ~about like, who knows the, the vineyard or I'm thinking about wine or,~ um,~ I know my husband and I bought this,~ um, ridiculous res uh, ~ridiculous,~ um,~ pen when we,~ uh,~ got married basically because there was a story attached to this pen,~ um,~ which I won't go into, but,~ um.~

Really it is, it's a story out telling element. So when we talk about like facts and figures, that's, that's cool.~ Like, ~but really what ~makes people's~ gets people's guards down and gets them into their like emotional brain or their emotional selves is the story. And particularly if there's a story that they can see themselves in.

And so actually, yeah, they'll pay attention, they'll listen and they'll trust you as well.

Maybe ~I. ~Talking a little bit about how you felt after you,~ you know,~ hit send on your first,~ um,~ your first pitch to a client or a, a proposal to a client. Or it might even be,~ um,~ the behind the scenes. So rather than tidying up and recording a reel in your perfectly spotless kitchen, when really it's like quite messy, it might be ~filming that~ film, the Mess Film, the Messy Desk ~film.~

Take photos,~ uh,~ when you are, when you're not wearing makeup or when you look a bit funny. I was actually talking to a client the other day and they said that they deliberately, because being real is part of their brand values and how they live that in their brand is actually by posting photos where they don't look, don't look particularly good.

They look like a bit silly, or they look, it's like a terrible photo of them, but that's how they,~ um,~ they live their~ BA~ brand value of being authentic and real. But like I was saying before, like how much do you share? Like where's the line? Do you,~ um,~ particularly like I was talking about myself and,~ um,~ the, ~you know,~ emotional struggles that I went to, like how much do you share where it becomes a bit like, oh, that's your, your stuff.

~But ~sometimes it might be a good idea to have a little bit of space so you can wait until you've processed yourself where you've made sense of it. And so you can share from that place instead.

So I'm curious,~ um,~ if maybe there's a aspect of your business that you haven't shared or maybe an aspect of what you are doing, which. Feels a bit vulnerable to share maybe because you think it might lead to you being less credible, you being seen as not an expert or you being seen as struggling, and I wonder if~ maybe, yeah, there might be a,~

Like what would they, what would they go? Yeah, that's, that's me. I've been there. I've done that before. And rather than just sharing about like things that might not be related to what they've gone through, so really thinking about. Okay, well all my client, all my audience resonate with, well, what are they going through that I've also been going through so I can have that shared, that shared connection between us.

And I'd be really curious like. ~So ~tell me about your experience,~ um,~ in business as well. I wanna, I wanna hear about it.

~I'll share that the post that I did, um, on Instagram too. And so if you wanna look at that, you can, and maybe draw inspiration from it about how you could potentially copy it. Like you can literally, this is your permission to slip, to just copy and paste what, what I did. Um, and then of course, fill in the blank so it makes sense to your audience.~

~But you can, um, totally swipe it as well. ~

~Um, ~thanks so much and I'll chat to you in ~uh, ~fortnight's time.

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