Ken had a chance to chat with Ashton Kutcher and Matthew McConaughey recently at the City Gala/City Summit in California. If you aren’t aware Ashton Kutcher is at the forefront of tech and tech investing. You won’t believe the response Kutcher gave when asked about what he takes into consideration when choosing who and what companies to invest in. It’s something you can fine tune in your business today. Find out now.

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Digital In-Credibility

Kerri and I had an opportunity to hang with Ashton Kutcher and Matthew McConaughey. We got a couple minutes with them at the LA City Gala that we sponsored. Ashton is an investor in the tech world. A lot of people that follow tech know that he was some of the money and drive behind Airbnb. He missed the Uber run as he’s famous for stating that he missed that train altogether, but he’s made a real big impact in tech. He’s in the in or in the know in a lot of up and coming technology. His talk was fascinating at the City Gala. He said something that I thought was very poignant when it comes to entrepreneurs and business owners. He was asked, “Can you just boil down to one thing a determining factor if you’re going to invest in a company or not?” He was like, it’s really, really simple. Do I like the founder? Do I trust the founder and do I want to hang and literally party with the founder? I’m going to end up working for that guy. I’m the investor but I’m going to end up working with and for that person. My head started exploding with the word credibility. The title of this podcast is In-Credibility.

I want to break this word credibility down because many entrepreneurs, business leaders, managers, even advisors and consultants, they’re confused about the word credibility. They don’t understand the power of it. Some of them don’t care about it and it is costing them huge amounts of money. It’s sad. I want to cover something. It goes like this. Kerri, as you know in the Jordan era, was a Chicago Bulls Cheerleader. The Chicago Bulls made my wife sign a piece of paper that says, “If you leave your house, you’re dressed a certain way. Your lipstick is on, your foundation is on your face, your hair is done. You represent the Chicago Bulls. You don’t know who you’re going to bump into. You don’t know who you’re going to meet. You need to look the part at all times.” When we’re talking about credibility, when it comes to an entrepreneur, I want to build this word up, this credibility word in a judgmental way. I want all entrepreneurs, when they leave the house to go, “I am instantly going to be judged by everybody that I bumped into. They don’t necessarily know I’m a business owner, but what if they find out that I’m a business owner?

<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_3300" style="width: 678px;"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-3300">Digital In-Credibility: The definition of credibility is the quality of being trusted and believed in.</figcaption></figure>

First and foremost, I want you to take ahold of yourself and say, “Is the image I have of myself, what it should be to be a forefront leader in my space? Is the image I portray in clothing, in attire, in what I drive and how I drive, is it the image I need to portray?” Let’s remove the person and let’s go to the brand image online, your website. Your social platforms are your vernacular and how you type and speak into your social platforms. Is it the phraseology, the tenor? Is it what you want to be perceived as? In the word credibility, the definition itself is the quality of being trusted or believed in. Ashton Kutcher said, “If I’m going to determine who gets my investment dollars, it says, “Do I like them? Do I trust them and do I want to hang with them?” Like and trust. The definition of credibility is the quality of being trusted and believed in. Would we agree our customers are our biggest investors? Who invest the most in a business owner? The customer. They give them money. What are three things or three phrases or words we need to be focused on when it comes to credibility so that you, as an entrepreneur can have in-credibility? You can be incredible in the credibility department.

Number one, on your website, you better show off accomplishments. What are accomplishments? Any past victories in life. I don’t care if you were an Eagle Scout. We mentioned that on a podcast, mentioned that on a blog, put the logo of an Eagle Scout badge. Make a point of pointing that out. Why? You accomplish that at twelve years old. That is something. It’s an accomplishment. What if you let a division at a previous company mentioned that? Accomplishments are the first building block of credibility. Second, current actions. What current projects are you working on that may someday turn into accomplishments? What current actions are you taking in life? Do you lead a group of young foster kids to a Chicago White Sox game every summer? “It’s got nothing to do with business.” “Yes, it does.” It shows your actions, which shows off your character. What actions are being shown off in your social platforms? What actions are being shown off on your website? When you’re on Facebook, are you talking about the TV shows you watch? Are you talking about the good you do in the world? Show off your actions, show off the actions future investors, i.e. customers want to see and hear from you.

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Accomplishments are the first building block of credibility.
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Number three, and by far the biggest one you need to be focused on to have in-credibility is praise your website. Your social platforms better have other people talking about how awesome you are. It’s called social proof. If you have not heard my classic podcast, which is in The Today’s Growth Classics section, which is a different podcast called, Trust Trumps Everything, you need to hear it and hear it again in hear and again. Trust Trumps Everything is one of the most popular downloaded podcasts I have. I spoke all over the world from Columbia to Dubai on that podcast. Praise, which is other people’s testimony about you, carries more weight to your credibility than any picture you can show. Anything you can say or anything you can do. Other people stating and showing your awesome is the only fast way to become awesome or credible. What ends up happening when you show off accomplishments on your website, actions on your website and praise on your website is you begin to weave what will further more be known as your reputation and your reputation is your credibility.

What is seen online is what is woven into the minds of your potential employees, your potential customers and what is deeply part of the fabric of your current employees and your current customers. You basically have a decision to make. You’re going to open up your website, you’re going to open your social platforms and you’re going to ask three things of yourself: Am I showing off my accomplishments, yes or no? Am I showing off my actions, yes or no? Am I showing off the praise of me, yes or no? Then you’re going to grade yourself, pass or fail. If you have any fails, just quickly fix it so you pass in all three areas and then set a calendar alert that every quarter you ask yourself these questions again. Then you’re going to get an A-plus in the accomplishments, actions in place and you will begin to have digital in-credibility. I hope this helps. Take care.

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