Building Credibility as a New Business: Own It.
Building credibility as a new business means earning trust without your employer's name behind you. In Guadalajara, a shop owner bought the candy but refused the nineteen-year-old who carried it. So the product was never the problem, only the seller's standing.
The candy he bought and the seller he refused.
In Guadalajara, Diego carried a duffel bag of sample boxes to a big abarrotes shop. The owner ate a piece of tamarind candy, then declined politely. However, two days later he phoned the factory and placed a large order. So he never rejected the product, only the student who brought it.
Building credibility as a new business from zero.
The owner asked one question: how did he know the student would turn up next week? That is why customers don't trust new sellers, because in that market trust is the whole transaction. Selling without a track record meant offering only a backpack and a claim. As a result, the product and price were fine, but nothing stood behind them.
Your employer's name is rented credibility.
You have a recognised employer, a title and an email address that ends in something reassuring. However, this chapter tells you to leave all of it in the building. The credibility is rented, and the rent is the job. So if a sale works only through your employer, you have proved their name works, not yours. In short, building credibility as a new business starts with you alone.
Test building credibility as a new business tonight.
Write down the shop owner's question: why would a stranger believe you will be there next week?
List every credibility source you borrow from the job, then cross each one out for this exercise.
From the book.
The first serious one was a big abarrotes shop. The owner was a stern man who kept his eyes on the ledger while I talked. I set the samples out on his counter, explained wholesale margins to a man who had been doing wholesale margins since before I was born, and offered him a price that undercut every middleman in the region.
I Want to Start a Business but I Can't Quit My Job, chapter 12: One stranger, one payment, while you still have the job
Questions about building credibility as a new business.
Why does building credibility as a new business matter if the product is good?
Because the shop owner accepted the candy and rejected the seller. Trust in the person decided the deal.
Can I mention my job title to look more credible?
No. The chapter calls your employer's name rented credibility, and using it hides what your own name is worth.
What did the shop owner actually reject?
He rejected the student, not the product. He later ordered directly from the factory using the branding on the sample wrapper.
Read the whole chapter.
This lesson covers one section of chapter 12, “One stranger, one payment, while you still have the job”. The book goes further, with the full evidence, the stories and every exercise.
Lessons in this chapter.
- 01 Building Credibility as a New Business: Own It.
- 02 First Sale to a Stranger: The Six Conditions.
- 03 Is One Sale Enough Validation: What It Proves.
- 04 Employee Duty of Loyalty: Prepare, Don't Solicit.
- 05 Fired for Side Business: Four Questions to Ask.
- 06 Turn a Hobby Into a Business: The Knitter's Runway.
- 07 How Long to Get First Sale: Six to Eleven Months.
- 08 No Sales for My Business: What Each Result Means.