The Studio CEO: Business Coaching For Yoga & Pilates Teachers & Studio Owners

Borrowed Trust: The Fastest Way to Build Credibility in Your Studio or Business

• Jackie Murphy

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Building trust doesn’t have to take years—it can be accelerated using a strategy called "borrowed trust". By strategically aligning with already trusted people, places, or platforms, yoga and Pilates businesses can go from unknown to thriving—much faster.

I have seen so many new entrepreneurs wait until they feel "established enough" before charging premium rates or expanding their business. However, the most successful studio owners know that credibility can be borrowed, not just earned over time.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • What "borrowed trust" is and how it works
  • Why your location can impact your studio's credibility instantly
  • How collaborations, guest appearances, and strategic partnerships can fast-track trust with your audience
  • Why your service quality must match the trust you inherit for lasting success
  • Identifying trusted entities to align with in your business

Tune in to discover how you can leverage borrowed trust to save years of struggle and start serving your ideal clients faster.

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Speaker 1:

You don't have to build trust from scratch. Whether you're launching your first offer, opening a new studio or trying to grow your audience. There is a faster, more strategic way to build credibility, and that is borrowed trust. In this episode, I'll show you why trust is your most valuable asset in business, and how to fast track it without faking it, and what to do if you're just starting out and you need to be seen as a leader now, and not five years from now. Welcome to the Studio CEO, the only podcast that empowers yoga and Pilates teachers and studio owners to step confidently into their role as CEO. If you are ready to show up with passion, take your business seriously and scale to new heights without burning out, you are in the right place. I'm your host, jackie Murphy, an award-winning certified business coach with over 12 years of experience inside the yoga industry. I have seen firsthand what it takes to build a profitable and scalable business and scalable business. Join me as we dive into strategies, insights and real-world advice that will help you grow your revenue, build a thriving team and create a business that serves you as much as you serve your students. It's time to embrace your inner CEO and make more money without working more. This is just the beginning. Hello and welcome back to the Studio CEO Podcast. I'm your business coach, jackie Murphy, and today we're talking about borrowed trust the fastest way to build credibility in your studio or your business.

Speaker 1:

Most yoga and Pilates business owners deeply care about being trustworthy and credible, which is a really good thing. But that care can turn into perfectionism or hesitation or, essentially, waiting to earn credibility the hard way over time. Now, if you are experiencing this resistance, it might sound something like this I can't charge that price yet. I'm not known well enough. I can't pitch that collaboration yet. Either they would have to come pitch me or once I have a bigger audience, then I could pitch them. Or maybe it sounds like this I can't open the next studio until I've built more credibility on my own. If you are thinking any of these thoughts, I want you to know that you're not alone. But here is the truth. Any of these thoughts I want you to know that you're not alone. But here is the truth Credibility isn't only built, it actually can be borrowed. So this is where we're going to flip the perspective for you, so that you can find trust and credibility now and not wait for five years from now, with a bigger audience, to believe that people know like you and trust you and therefore are going to buy from you.

Speaker 1:

Here's the thing we are talking about borrowed trust. And borrowed trust is not a shortcut. It is a strategy, and it's probably one of the most effective strategies that I see business owners use. It's how successful businesses build momentum quickly and ethically. If, right now, you can think of someone who you view as having quicker success, I want you to think about them in terms of borrowed trust and if they used this strategy somewhere along their journey. You already know that trust is everything. Right, we have already covered this in many episodes in the past. People buy from people they trust. But what if your business is brand new? What if your audience doesn't know you yet? What if you are new to the city and you're opening the studio and no one there knows how great of a teacher you are? You don't necessarily need to wait years to prove yourself. You can fast track their trust by leveraging where trust already exists.

Speaker 1:

Rochelle Rogers says credibility is borrowed before it is built, and that is true in almost every successful business that you know. So what does it look like to borrow trust and build credibility faster. Well, first let's just define what borrowed trust actually means. Borrowed trust is aligning yourself with a person, a brand, a location or a platform that already holds credibility with your ideal audience, so their belief in that thing transfers to you. So this works because trust is transferable. If you are a consumer and you consistently go to Whole Foods to buy groceries and you see a brand new studio opening right next to the Whole Foods that you already go to, that you already trust that, you already have that relationship built with that, you are automatically going to trust that new studio more. Compare that to, let's say, that you go to Whole Foods all the time and you go to that shopping center every single day and you get your groceries there and there's a new studio opening, not in that same shopping center but down the road a little bit in a brand new building. You aren't necessarily going to experience the same level of trust just based on the location of the studio. So another example is if you trust a mentor, if you are following someone on Instagram and you really look up to this person and then all of a sudden you see that this retreat leader is collaborating with this mentor that you trust, you are automatically going to trust that retreat leader more.

Speaker 1:

If you are listening to a podcast that you already love, then you hear someone on that podcast. You are going to assume that you can listen to that other person, that you can trust that other person, that their voice is a voice that you should listen to, and this has happened so many times specifically for me. Just shout out if you're listening to the Studio CEO podcast right now because you heard me on a different podcast with someone else that you already trusted A lot of times those people they'll be like. I listened to you on this specific podcast and they are ready to buy right away because I am relying on borrowed trust there. So borrowed trust bridges the gap between you and a cold audience. It's going to shorten the runway to a sale, to a sign up or to a relationship, which is what you want, right? Like we all want people to be able to find our business cold, not know of us. Find our business and then not need years and years and years and years and years before they purchase from you. We want to shorten that runway. The whole goal is can you find my business, be a cold person to me and then trust me within hours, within a day, within a week, within a month, like can we shorten the time that it takes for someone to find you and someone to buy from you? I want you to think about who you can borrow trust from to build your credibility and make your audience go from cold to buyer faster.

Speaker 1:

So let's imagine that you're opening a brick and mortar location, you're opening studio number one or you're opening studio number three, whatever number it is. When you're searching for that space for your studio, I want you to prioritize trust building real estate, meaning. Can you open your studio in a shopping center or a plaza that has a well-known anchor? An anchor is something like the Whole Foods in the shopping center, or down here we have Publix, harris, teeter. It could also be an anchor of Lululemon or Athleta Anything that people already have brand recognition and trust with. It could also be that you're anchoring yourself next to a community icon, right, a school that everyone knows or a church that everyone goes to, so that you can really easily be like hey, I'm right next to X building, I'm right next to this shopping center or we're in this shopping center, so immediately people can recognize that you are a business that they can also trust, because you are finding a location that fits into their life, that they already trust. And then, when you're doing this opening of a studio, I want you to go ahead and partner with brands that already serve your ideal client. This is such a good way to build trust fast. So if there's a local mom's group that does morning walks, can you partner with them, because the moms already trust that mom group and they already trust each other. If there is a cafe or a coffee shop that everyone in your town loves, can you partner with them. If there is a new station that everyone tunes into, can you partner with them.

Speaker 1:

The next thing I want you to think about is people and platform. Are there certain people that you can collaborate with that are going to build your credibility and build your audience's trust? So you could collaborate with other instructors, other influencers, other practitioners that your audience already knows. You could be a guest on a trusted podcast or host a shared workshop with someone who already has that credibility built. You can tag, repost or feature others with aligned audiences just to build that association that like hey, you trust this brand, you like this brand. You can also trust my brand and my business. And then, finally, you can also look for communities and different credentials. So being seen inside of a group, especially inside of a mastermind or training that people already respect, can easily build your trust in your business.

Speaker 1:

I have seen this time and time again work for so many people that they get inside of a mastermind that people already are aware of, they already trust. They utilize that audience essentially and they use it to grow their business. Just being associated with that trusted institution or that trusted business is going to boost people's perception. So what happens? When you leverage borrowed trust, people trust you faster. You shorten the sales cycle. You build confidence and reputation in the market. You're not out there trying to prove yourself anymore through burning yourself out or over delivering or giving away for free. Giving away things for free. You are going to be out there with already built trust and credibility that can scale your visibility while you are really connecting with people that you also already trust.

Speaker 1:

I want to just give a few examples of how this has worked, and I have seen this firsthand. I have seen studio owners that have opened next to like iconic landmarks in their community or grocery stores or other, even gems, and those studios are usually able to fill their classes faster than the people who maybe got a spot in the back of an unknown or not as well known shopping center or a spot that isn't anchored by anything. This also happens when you are leading retreats and you want to host a big retreat or even a festival, and if you can collaborate with other respected people, that retreat or that festival is going to fill so much faster just because of the names that you have in the list. What's the line, the lineup? Yeah, in the lineup of the retreat. And then finally I already mentioned this one, but I have seen it time again that people who join Visible Masterminds. They can get into that room and their business can change just from being in the room with other known leaders.

Speaker 1:

So borrowed trust works when it's used well. The thing is let me just add this in here If you use borrowed trust but then your quality of service doesn't match the quality of service of the person that you're borrowing the trust from, it won't work long term. So this is a strategy to get short term results right, to get trust and credibility quickly, but then you also have to back it up by being a high quality service and making sure that people then start to build trust with you and your business and how you do things, and not just with the person or the place that you are borrowing the trust from. So you don't have to wait and like, earn credibility the hard way. You don't have to prove yourself. You don't have to teach for 10 years and then you'll be, you know, trusted enough to have clients come in the door. You just have to be smart enough to strategically align yourself with where trust already is for your audience. This isn't cheating, right. It's positioning, it's leadership and it's a strategy that you can use and it works really, really well.

Speaker 1:

So take a moment to just think about if you've seen other business owners do this and do this well, how fast they've grown. Or take a moment to think about where are you going to borrow trust from and where are you going to leverage that in a strategic way so that you can reach more of the students that you are meant to serve to. Send me a message on Instagram at the business of yoga and just tell me oh my gosh, this podcast inspired me to collaborate with this person. I sent the message today, or this helped me when I was deciding where to put my next studio Like. Thank you so much, I would love to hear from you. Otherwise, I will talk to you in the next episode.