Trust · Communication · Community
Trust is earned one promise at a time.
I’m Jay Clouse, founder of Creator Science. I write about how trust is earned: the promises we make, how we keep them, and the relationships and communities they make possible.
The Trust Loop
Trust is earned when a promise is kept.
Trust is the expectation that someone will choose to act in your interests, even when it costs them. You can’t ask for it. You earn it, one trip around this loop at a time.
Perception
How someone sees you before they take a risk on you.
If I don’t believe you can be trusted, I won’t give you the chance to prove it. Before saying yes, people quietly ask three questions:
- Can you do what you’re promising? (Ability)
- Will you consider my interests, even at a cost to your own? (Care)
- Will you behave consistently, in a way I respect? (Integrity)
Start here
The best of what I’ve written on trust
Attention Maximizers vs. Trust Maximizers
The two games creators play, and why you need to choose.
Read →Essay · Creator ScienceThe Audience Trust Battery
Every interaction charges or drains it. Here’s how to keep it full.
Read →Essay · Creator ScienceBecome a trusted source
What it takes for people to come to you first.
Read →Essay · Creator ScienceTrust over Attention
Your business isn’t built on the attention you capture. It’s built on the attention you keep.
Read →Conversations on trust
I learn out loud, with people who’ve studied it
Rachel Botsman
How trust is earned, how it’s lost, and how to win it back.
Listen →
Robin Dreeke
The behavioural science behind earning someone’s trust, fast.
Listen →
Andrew Warner
How to be a better conversationalist, from someone who does it for a living.
Listen →Where I learned it
A promise kept every week since 2017
Creator Science
It started as a newsletter I promised to send every week, a promise I’ve kept since 2017. Today Creator Science is one of the most trusted voices in the creator economy, and The Lab, our paid community of full-time creators, meets in person every year.
- 350K+ followers
- 65K+ newsletter readers
- 2.5M podcast downloads
- 8.1M YouTube views
- SXSW
- TEDx
- INBOUND by HubSpot
- Podcast Movement
- VidSummit
- CEX
- Craft + Commerce
- New Media Summit
- FinCon
- 1 Billion Followers
- Teachable
- Altruist
What people say
He cares about substance and simplicity, and he’s one of the folks I trust when I want no-BS thoughts from a friend with good judgment.
Wes KaoCo-founder, MavenJay Clouse understands the business of content creation like very very few people do. He’s a real creator, helping real creators.
Paddy GallowayYouTube strategistEveryone is sleeping on Jay Clouse and he’s one of the best thought leaders in our entire industry.
Roberto BlakeCreator and educatorThe newsletter
Get the next essay in your inbox
What I’m learning about trust, communication, and community, as I learn it.