Turning credibility into money

Think. Write. Lead. - Issue #55

A couple of Saturdays ago I woke up to a deluge of DMs and LinkedIn connection requests.

And they all had one common thread: they wanted to connect because they heard about me from Devin Reed's newsletter.

I thought, "Cool, Devin mentioned me in his newsletter."

How wrong I was. He didn't just mention me. The whole issue was about me.

Devin and I had been communicating for the past few months and ended up working together on a project where I'm creating thought leadership content for Clari (where he's the Head of Content).

In his newsletter's mini case study, Devin talks about how we met and the importance of building credibility.

I remember a few months ago getting a reply from Devin to one of the issues of Think. Write. Lead. He said he saw I was in the Lochhead on Marketing podcast and that he bought my book, The Solo Thought Leader. We chatted a bit and kept in touch.

Around that time, Devin left Gong and was on his own.

But one day, he posted on LinkedIn that he had accepted a new position at Clari.

"Hum," I thought. "He must be building his team and looking for freelancers."

So I sent him a message congratulating him on the new role and offering my services.

The rest was easy because, unbeknownst to me, I had already earned his trust.

As he says in his newsletter, he saw various credibility signals from me (the book, the podcast appearances, the testimonials) and the quality of my content (on LinkedIn, the newsletter, and the book).

So he hired me.

But the story doesn't end there.

Devin's newsletter led me to land two more clients. People who trust Devin immediately trusted me (trust by association), and they said as much.

But you know where it all started? With writing a book.

You see, without the book, Christopher Lochhead would not have invited me to his podcast (how that happened is a story for another time) --- which is how Devin found me.

And the book also built credibility with Devin: "I read about 50 pages of his book then my brain flipped the official “yup he’s legit” switch."

So the book builds credibility, which gets you invited to high-profile podcasts, which in turn builds more credibility, which then gets you profiled in a newsletter... credibility just compounds.

And that credibility turns into clients (a.k.a. money).

In fact, something else is brewing from all this that I can't tell you about yet.

Soon, though. I promise.

Now, the most important part: let’s talk about you.

THINK.

• What's stopping you from finally writing a book in 2023? And what are you going to do about it?

• How many credibility signals do you have? The Thought Leadership Scorecard can give you a good idea.

• How would your business grow if you had more credibility?

WRITE.

• Write down a list of potential clients you want to build credibility with.

• Write also a list of podcasts you want to be invited to and establish relationships with the hosts.

• Create a content strategy focused on building your reputation and expertise.

LEAD.

Leadership is about taking initiative, being proactive, and doing what most don't do.

Stop talking about writing a book. Just do it.

Don't just hope you'll one day be invited to podcasts. Establish relationships with the hosts and provide value (that's what I did with Lochhead).

Look for opportunities that are not in plain sight (like I did with Clari).

And, overall, build credibility every single day with high-quality thought leadership content.