Everything worth doing takes time. Really important things and connections take years to develop. Whether a friendship, family relationship or a business partnership, any bond is built on trust. Trust is built and reinforced by many small actions over time.
As they say “Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.”
The Japanese know a thing or two about it.
While some things at their homogeneous and patriarchal extremes do not encourage innovation and supporting new businesses, their dedication towards resilience, being of service and perseverance is a noble one.
A few years ago I’ve started a side hobby business importing Japanese kitchen knives and it took us a long time to develop trust among Japanese blacksmiths and get permission to sell (https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2018/03/how-three-polish-women-started-selling-handcrafted-japanese-knives-to-the-world. Me and my then co-founder Anna were the opposite of what a typical business partner for such conservative industry – young, white women. Instead, they wanted an older / experienced man, ideally Japanese from a company with a 100s years of tradition.
Good thing is that passion and persistence are universally valued traits and sooner or later you will encounter people who will be willing to give you a credit of trust.
People do business with people they like. What do you do when you want to be considered? You show up. You give first without expecting anything in return. That’s how trust is built. There is no shortcut.
I’ve been rejected hundred of times. I was not taken seriously. I was ridiculed. But that doesn’t matter. Eventually, there were people who gave me a chance and I will be forever grateful to them.
Plus, we all love the stories of the underdogs and we love supporting them.
Be of service, show passion, build trust and guard it as if your life depends on it. Because it does.
Ps. Since we’re on the subject of trust – you need to watch this BRILLIANT talk on sex –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osd9AKRCFRM&ab_channel=TheSchoolofLife
. You’ll thank me later 😉. Enjoy your weekend.
