The U.S. Treasury Department will stop making new pennies, according to a statement on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the U.S. government ordered its last penny blanks in May, and the United States Mint will stop manufacturing the one-cent coins when the final inventory of penny blanks is used. (Penny blanks are flat, metal discs that are turned into coins.)

Related: Bitcoin Just Hit an Eye-Popping Record. Here’s How High Experts Think It Could Go: ‘Get Ready for a Wild Ride’

President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. Mint in February to stop making pennies, noting its high production cost. According to the U.S. Mint, it costs up to 4 cents to make just one penny.

The penny has been used as a currency in the U.S for about 233 years and was first introduced in 1792.

The last pennies to enter circulation will happen in early 2026.

What Does Ending Penny Production Mean for Small Businesses?

Consumers will continue to be able to use pennies to pay for purchases, the Treasury Department said. That is, until the copper-plated coins run out. There are still about 114 billion pennies in circulation, per the New York Times.

In the statement, the department said that after the last batch, making exact change might be a thing of the past. That’s because eventually, there won’t be enough pennies for daily cash transactions.

The U.S. Treasury said businesses will be instructed to start “rounding up or down to the nearest 5 cents,” when that happens, the statement says.

Related: Rare Penny Sells at Auction for $1.1 Million. Here’s How to See If You Have One in Your Swear Jar.

On Wednesday, May 28th at 2 PM ET, the Found of Ollyball, Joe Burke, joins us in our next Entrepreneur+ Subscriber-Only Event!

In this exclusive event, Joe will reveal how he built his brand without big investors or expensive ads — and walk away with actionable strategies to start your own.

From saying no to Shark Tank (twice) to selling over 3 million units of a product developed at the kitchen table, Joe Burke’s journey with Ollyball is packed with lessons for entrepreneurs at every stage.

Key Takeaways:

• How to generate massive publicity without spending on ads

• The storytelling patterns that make your brand unforgettable

• Why saying “no” can be your greatest strategic move

• The mindset that helped Joe push through doubt and unfair setbacks

This event is only for Entrepreneur+ subscribers, but you can become a member for just $5! Sign up and unlock all access to Entrepreneur.com, including our premium content and the ability to participate in our Subscribers-Only Event.

What is a Subscriber-Only Event?

Subscriber-Only Events are exclusive interviews in which we feature a special guest to help create actionable content for Entrepreneur+ subscribers. We set up events with today’s most prevalent CEOs, entrepreneurs and celebrities — so that we can provide a productive, exclusive experience for our most dedicated readers and entrepreneurs worldwide.

How to access as a subscriber:

There are two ways to make sure you don’t miss out on this event. Follow this link for easy setup on your Entrepreneur+ homepage. Or, check your inbox for an email that contains the private link to the event. We will also notify your email as the event goes live to make sure you don’t miss out.

Having issues signing up for the call? Email us at subscribe@entrepreneur.com.

About the Speaker:

Joe Burke invented and holds two Utility Patents for Ollyball®, Winner of a Toy of the Year and seven national and international awards. Burke founded the company for his family in 2019 and Ollyball has grown to the #1 Indoor Play Ball in America. Ollyball has been featured on the National CBS Morning Show, is available at major retail stores across 12 countries, and has made eight live appearances on QVC.

Burke is the former Brand Director of Disney Stores and VP at Goodwill Industries, but started his first company at the age of 21 on a borrowed card table and metal chair. Hylan Scholarship recipient at the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, and NCAA athlete. Husband to Ellen Burke, an Autism and Behavioral Specialist, and father of their three children.

Extra Credit: Coached his kids in five sports, wrote a book in 46 hours on a train, and appeared in 25 films and TV shows in a former life

The digital world is saturated with social algorithms, pay-to-play platforms and constantly changing SEO strategies. However, one channel remains consistently consequential, direct and owned: email.

Building an email list early on in your business development isn’t just a marketing move for startup founders and business leaders; it’s a smart growth strategy. Yet many wait until too late, focusing instead on social media followers or one-off ad campaigns. Email is where genuine relationships are nurtured, conversions happen and loyal communities are built.

The magic number? Your first 1,000 subscribers. This isn’t a vanity milestone or one I simply pulled out of nowhere — it’s the start of a high-value, compounding asset. Here’s a framework to get you there faster and smarter.

Related: Don’t Sleep on Email Marketing — Here’s Why It’s Still Your Business’s Most Powerful Tool

1. Define who you’re talking to (and why it matters)

Before writing a single email or designing a signup form, answer this: Who are your ideal subscribers, and what do they want from you?

You’re not collecting email addresses to simply just collect them. You’re doing so to start a conversation. Getting hyper-specific with your audience will be the best thing you can do to ensure those conversations are valuable. For example:

Once you’re clear on your ideal audience, define your unique value proposition. It should answer the following questions: Why should someone join your list? What will they get in return?

2. Create an irresistible lead magnet

In 2025, people won’t give away their email for just a “newsletter.” They want value, and they want it now.

A lead magnet is a free, high-value offer that your target subscriber can receive instantly in exchange for their email. Effective lead magnets typically include:

• Checklists or cheat sheets

• Industry trend reports or whitepapers

• Templates or toolkits

• Short video tutorials or mini-courses

• Quizzes with personalized results

• Discount codes or early access (for product-led businesses)

Your lead magnet should be hyper-relevant to your offer and audience. Make it:

3. Optimize your signup experience

You’ve got attention. Now, remove friction.

Place your opt-in form or landing page where it matters most:

• Website homepage

• Blog posts with relevant content

• Top bar or exit-intent popups

• Product pages

• Social bios and link trees

• Partner content (guest blogs, webinars, etc.)

Make the form frictionless:

• Ask only for what’s essential (usually just name + email)

• Use persuasive microcopy (“Get the free guide” instead of “Submit”)

• Add social proof if possible (“Join 850+ founders getting weekly growth tips”)

And make sure the design is clean, mobile-friendly and aligned with your brand voice.

Related: These 3 Strategies Will Grow Your Email List for Free

4. Launch a welcome series that converts

Your first few emails set the tone. A welcome series isn’t just polite — it’s strategic.

Here’s a simple three-email sequence to start:

• Email 1: Deliver the lead magnet and set expectations
  Introduce yourself. Explain what they’ll get from your emails and how often.

• Email 2: Your origin story and value add
  Share why you started this business and how it helps them. Include a helpful tip or insight.

• Email 3: Social proof and soft CTA
  Highlight a testimonial, case study or popular product. Include a light-touch call to action (visit your website, book a call, check out your offer).

This sequence helps build trust before selling — the key to sustainable growth.

5. Drive targeted traffic to fuel growth

Now that your system is ready, it’s time to get eyes on it. Don’t wait for organic search to work; get proactive.

Here are five scalable traffic sources:

• Organic social: Share lead magnet snippets on LinkedIn, Instagram and X. Use storytelling and pain-point content.

• Partnerships: Do email swaps or joint webinars with complementary businesses.

• Paid ads: Run low-budget tests on Meta or Google Ads with lead magnet landing pages.

• Communities: Engage in relevant Slack groups, subreddits and forums — share value and link to your opt-in.

• Content marketing: Blog posts optimized for long-tail keywords that tie into your lead magnet.

Pro tip: Use UTM parameters to track which channels bring the highest-quality subscribers.

6. Segment and engage (even with a small list)

You don’t need 10,000 subscribers to start segmenting — you just need an intelligent system.

Tag or segment based on:

• Source: where they signed up

• Behavior: what they clicked or downloaded

• Interest: what content they engage with

Then, personalize future content, send relevant offers and nurture based on behavior. The more relevant your emails, the faster your list will grow because people will start sharing them.

Related: How to Write Emails That Stick and Get Action

7. Don’t just build — engage

Your email list is not a vault; it’s a living asset. Keep it warm.

• Show up consistently — whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly or monthly

• Deliver value more often than you pitch

• Encourage replies (and read them)

• Test different types of content: behind-the-scenes stories, how-tos, Q&As, curated lists

When people feel heard and helped, they stay. And they share.

Reaching 1,000 subscribers isn’t about overnight success. It’s about setting up a repeatable, value-driven system that compounds. Once you have it, every new partnership, blog post or campaign fuels a growing engine.

Email marketing isn’t just a channel — it’s your direct line to the people most likely to become loyal customers, fans and ambassadors. Start building that line early, and your future self (and business) will thank you.

If you shop on Amazon frequently, it can be tough to keep up with your orders. So if you made a return in the last decade or so and aren’t sure if you ever got your money back, you’d hardly be alone. And it turns out, you actually may be owed some money.

Bloomberg reports that Amazon is issuing refunds to customers who were never reimbursed, and some orders go back to 2018. “Following a recent internal review, we identified a very small subset of returns that were unresolved because we could not verify that the correct item had been sent back to us,” an email sent to customers reads, seen by the outlet.

Related: Amazon Announces $4 Billion Plan to Reach Small Town Americans Faster

LinkedIn user Steven Pope posted on Tuesday that he was refunded for a return — from seven years ago.

“$1,798.81 is being credited to me today in 2025 after 7 years,” Pope wrote. “I’m probably not the only customer who has experienced this, but isn’t that crazy!? 7 years to payout a return?”

Pope then pasted the email he says he received from Amazon, which said that following a recent internal review, the company “could have notified these customers more clearly (and earlier) to better understand the status and help us resolve the return.”

“Given the time elapsed, we’ve decided to err on the side of customers and just complete refunds for these returns,” the email continued.

Related: Jeff Bezos Is Selling Billions Worth of Amazon Stock, According to a New Filing

The Verge received a statement from Amazon that says that no action is required from customers, and refunds will be issued automatically.

“There is no action required from customers to receive the refunds, and we have fixed the payment issue and made process changes to more promptly contact customers about unresolved returns going forward,” spokesperson Maxine Tagay told The Verge.

It is not clear how many refunds are being issued and what the total amounts to, but Bloomberg notes that executives had previously suggested it could be “hundreds of millions of dollars.”

CEOs of Big Tech, they’re just like us.

The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, 42, says he was very close to being a victim of a well-played phishing scheme that involved some very real-looking “secure Google domains.”

Mosseri wrote on Threads, which, like Instagram, is owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, said on Tuesday that he “experienced a sophisticated phishing attack yesterday.”

Related: Mark Cuban’s Google Account Was Hacked By ‘Sophisticated’ Bad Actors

Mosseri said he got a call from an 818 number (and he answered). The caller said that his “Google account was compromised, and they sent an email to confirm identity.”

“On the phone, they asked me to change my password using my Gmail app and to *not* say my new password out loud. What was impressive was their email came from forms-receipts-noreply@google.com and linked to sites.google.com/view…, which of course asked me to sign in…,” he continued.

“The email and the form both coming from secure Google domains (via Google products) might have got me if I hadn’t heard from a friend who experienced a similar attack a year ago,” he added. “Anybody know someone at Google that might want this context?”

Related: If Your Bank Is Calling, Don’t Answer. It’s Probably a Scam.

Threads users, of course, had a day in the comments. To start, many wondered how the top boss at Instagram doesn’t know someone at Google. There were also a lot of jokes.

“>sophisticated attack, >Google called me,” one user replied.

“Adam, I can help you out here. Just need your mom’s maiden name and the street you grew up on,” another responded.

“Not the Head of Instagram believing Google calls you on the phone about resetting your password?” the comments continued.

Google Workspace’s official Threads account thanked Mosseri for “flagging” and reminded him that the company will “never” call you.

Related: Andy Cohen Lost ‘A Lot of Money’ to a Highly Sophisticated Scam

“We suspended that form and site yesterday, and we constantly roll out defenses against these types of attacks. As a reminder: Google will never call you about your account,” they wrote, adding a link to their “how to spot scams” blog.

Other users said it reminded them of a similar Google phishing scheme from 2022.

Still, with all the competition in Silicon Valley, we couldn’t help but wonder: Do all executives at Meta use Gmail and Google’s suite of products?

TikTok’s e-commerce unit, TikTok Shop, is facing layoffs in the U.S.

TikTok Shop head Mu Qing circulated an internal email to U.S. staff late Tuesday, telling them to work from home on Wednesday because some would receive emails indicating their roles had been cut. In the memo, which was viewed by Bloomberg, Mu advised staff to expect “operational and personnel changes” to TikTok’s U.S. operations and global key accounts divisions “beginning early on Wednesday.”

Related: Microsoft’s Mass Layoffs Affected at Least 800 in Software Engineering, According to New Documents

The global key accounts team works closely with large brands, while operations supports merchants, partners, and creators on TikTok.

Mu wrote that TikTok was laying off workers to “create more efficient operating models for the team’s long-term growth,” and framed the job cuts as “difficult discussions,” per the memo.

According to Business Insider, employees started receiving emails informing them that they were impacted by layoffs beginning Wednesday morning.

It is unclear how many employees were affected by the layoffs. Mu stated in the memo that TikTok’s goal was to quickly tell impacted employees they were let go.

Related: Google Layoffs Affect Hundreds in Division Working on Chrome Browser, Pixel Phones

Last month, TikTok Shop let go of some U.S. employees as it restructured its governance and experience team.

TikTok officially introduced Shop to the U.S. in September 2023. The shopping marketplace is a tab on the TikTok video app and features items for sale from third-party sellers. It keeps shoppers within TikTok to complete purchases and uses its engaging algorithm to suggest products customers might be interested in.

In 2024, TikTok Shop attracted over 47 million U.S. shoppers, with Americans spending $32 million per day shopping on the social media app, according to Capital One research.

This year, TikTok Shop sales have fallen due to tariffs, four TikTok Shop staffers told Business Insider. Tariffs rose as high as 145% on Chinese goods in mid-April. Earlier this month, the U.S. temporarily lowered tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% while China reduced its levies on U.S. imports from 125% to 10%. BI‘s sources disclosed that in early May, TikTok Shop’s daily U.S. sales from foreign sellers were down by close to 25% month-over-month due to tariffs.

Related: ‘More Than Marketing Tools’: Some Business Owners Are Worried About the Possible TikTok Ban

TikTok has 7,000 U.S. employees, with over 1,000 employees located near Seattle. The company has other offices in New York, California, and Texas, per Bloomberg.

TikTok has until June 19 to find a new owner in the U.S. and separate from its parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban. The deadline is in response to a law passed by Congress in April 2024 and has been extended twice by President Donald Trump as TikTok attempts to find a buyer. Trump, who has previously stated that he has “a little warm spot” for TikTok, said earlier this month that he may extend the deadline further if no deal is reached by June 19.

So far, TikTok has received bids from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, AI startup Perplexity, AppLovin, Amazon, and former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt Jr., who teamed up with Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian on The People’s Bid for TikTok, among others.

When we were presented with the opportunity to interview Mark Stewart, CEO of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, with the famous Goodyear Blimp, we jumped at the opportunity. After all — we all know the brand. And we should: It’s a Fortune 500 company, they have 68,000 employees globally, and they did over $18 billion in revenue in 2024.

We met Mark and his team in the hangar in Akron, Ohio and did the interview with the iconic blimp in the backdrop, which is unsurprisingly enormous. The first story he told was about how the Goodyear blimps were used in World War II as anti-submarine support. As a business owner myself, it’s pretty amazing to remember that this company has 1) been around for so long and 2) has pivoted, changed, evolved, grown, etc. in so many ways.

Related: How the CEO of This Iconic Pizza Brand Is Building on 50 Years of Deep-Dish Dominance and Fueling Sustainable Growth

Mark Stewart’s path into the automotive industry started early. His grandfather was a mechanic, his father worked in tires, and he grew up around the tools and the trade. That familiarity with vehicles eventually led him into engineering and manufacturing, including a five-year stint at Stellantis before taking on the CEO role at Goodyear. His career wasn’t mapped out in some perfect arc — it was built through a mix of opportunities and a willingness to take on what came next. Our conversation wasn’t about big turning points as much as it was about sticking with the work and adapting along the way.

We spent a good portion of our time talking about the Goodyear Forward plan, which is the company’s current strategy to modernize both operations and culture. Stewart emphasized the push to reclaim Goodyear’s position in the tire industry — not just in terms of brand recognition, but performance. When I asked what it’s like leading a 126-year-old brand, he quipped, “Don’t mess it up.” There’s clearly pressure there, but he didn’t overdramatize it. Just a steady awareness of what’s at stake and what needs fixing.

There were some practical insights in the conversation that stuck with me. One was around the importance of regional manufacturing — building tires closer to where they’ll be sold, not just for logistics but to stay in tune with local markets. Another was about retail. While some might shy away from direct-to-consumer operations, Stewart sees Goodyear’s retail footprint as an advantage. It gives them proximity to customers and more control over the experience.

We also touched on broader topics like electric vehicles, tariffs and AI — especially how tire sensors might play a bigger role in the future of vehicle performance and safety. His approach wasn’t speculative; he stayed focused on what’s real and what’s within the company’s control. It’s a theme that came up a few times: Build the right products, stay close to your people, and let the noise stay on the outside.

Related: The CEO of Thomson Reuters Is Betting Big on AI-Driven Innovation. Here’s What Every Leader Can Learn From His Approach.

What I enjoyed most about the conversation was hearing about Mark’s grandfather and father. He seemed genuinely interested in what he was doing and seemed to care about the brand of Goodyear. Mark is about a year and a half into the role as CEO, and I’m interested to see what they have in store in the future.

Emma Grede, 42, is a founding partner and chief product officer at Skims, a shapewear brand worth $4 billion. She also serves as the co-founder and CEO of apparel brand Good American, which recorded $200 million in sales in 2022 (and $1 million on its first day live on October 18, 2016, marking the biggest denim launch in history). She’s worth a reported $390 million.

She’s also a high school dropout raised by a single mother in East London who began working a paper route at 12 years old to earn extra money. By 16, she had left school and started working at a fashion production company. While there, Grede came up with the idea for her first business, a marketing and entertainment agency called Independent Talent Brand (ITB) that matched fashion designers with funding. She founded the company in 2008 at age 25 and grew the agency before selling it 10 years later to marketing firm Rogers & Cowen for an undisclosed sum.

Related: Good American CEO Emma Grede Talks Management, Navigating Outside Noise, and Why You Should Always Stick to Your Mission

Now, Grede is based in Los Angeles with her husband, Skims CEO Jens Grede, and their four children. She also co-founded the sports apparel brand Off Season and the chemical-free cleaning company, Safely. She appeared as a guest investor on Shark Tank in seasons 13 and 14.

And now she can add podcast host to her resume. The serial entrepreneur just launched a new podcast called Aspire, which aims to educate and inspire business leaders through in-depth conversations with leading executives and celebrities.

^{Emma Grede. Photo Credit: Jamie Girdler}

Grede sat down with Entrepreneur to talk about her new podcast, how she manages several businesses, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

Why did you start your podcast, and how is it different from other business podcasts?
I left school when I was 16 years old. So, I don’t have a traditional trajectory. I’m trying to unpack as much as the success that I’ve had, the mistakes that I’ve had. I wanted to give something that I thought would have been useful to me when I started my businesses.

What kind of advice would have been useful?
To start, you have to love what you are doing. I say that because it’s tough to start something from scratch, and it’ll test every fiber of your being. So you have to really want to do it. It has to be more than just a single goal, like I need to make money, or I just want to leave the place where I work. It has to be something that fuels you.

What kind of mindset does it take to be successful in entrepreneurship? Is there a trait or skill that stands out?
I think you have to have unwavering self-belief. There’s a part of this that is really about a mindset that won’t take no for an answer and can see around and through problems and adversity. That works every time.

How did you decide on entrepreneurship?
It’s something I fell into. Like so many of us, I worked a corporate job for many years. I left that job because I didn’t think I was being remunerated well enough for what I did. So I fell into entrepreneurship. And that’s why I started my own thing.

If you could start a side hustle today, what would it be?
I would want to be a florist. That’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do that I’ve never touched. I would love to have a job that is just about the beauty, and is artistically fulfilling. That would be my little dream side hustle. A flower shop somewhere in a lovely place.

What’s your leadership style?
At [Good American], there are over 150 people. I’m the chief product officer in another company [Skims] where there are probably 400 people. So, it’s a lot of people, but I tend to hire the best people and get out of their way. One of the things that I do well is hire. I’m particularly good at putting teams together.

What do you look for in new hires?
I hire for attitude over experience often. That’s not in all positions, but I think especially when you’re starting a company, having people who have the energy, who have the passion, you can’t put a price on that.

What keeps you motivated?
I honestly feel that I’ve created the life of my dreams. I’m grateful every day that I get to do what I do. I think that keeps me motivated, that I have made this life for myself, and it’s of my choosing.

What is it like working with your husband on the same C-suite leadership team? Do you keep a separation between the family and work dynamics?
I’ve worked with Jens for a very long time, and we had a solid professional relationship before we were a couple. He handles the marketing and day-to-day running of Skims while I focus on the product. So our roles are very defined, and we do different things. We have different skills, which makes us very compatible as business partners. We also have a lot of separation in our actual roles. But if I’m honest, we love what we do so much. So does business spill into home time, and do we talk about what we do all the time? Absolutely. Yes. There’s a part of that that’s inevitable.

Do you have a lot of help at home?
I have twin three-year-olds, and then I have an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old. At home, I don’t have four kids that I get to school myself in the morning. I have a lot of help around me, and I rely on all of that help to get through the day. I think it’s very important to be honest about that because I don’t want anyone to look at me and think, Oh, wow. She’s some kind of superwoman. It’s like, No, I’m not superwoman. I’m just a woman. I’m making choices every day and making lots of sacrifices every day.

This interview has been lightly edited and cut for clarity.

Related: Kristin Cavallari and Emma Grede Reveal How They Built Brands That Stand Out in a Saturated Market — and the Secret Isn’t Star Power

Elon Musk‘s new five-year plan has him staying at Tesla.

In an interview at Bloomberg’s Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday, Tesla’s CEO said that he is committed to staying at the electric vehicle maker for years to come.

Related: A Tesla Executive Received a Record Pay Package, and It’s Not Elon Musk

When asked if he will still be leading the company in five years, he said: “Yes, no doubt about that at all.”

CNBC reports that Musk wants to keep his position as Tesla’s CEO to maintain “sufficient voting control” over the company to avoid activist investors.

“It’s not a money thing,” Musk said. “It’s a reasonable control thing over the future of the company.”

Related: With Tesla Down 71% in Net Income, Elon Musk Says He’ll Spend Less Time at DOGE

Tesla’s sales have dropped 13% in the first three months of this year, marking the largest quarterly drop in Tesla’s history. Net profits have plunged by 71%. The EV maker’s revenue also fell 9% year-over-year.

Musk is currently the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $376 billion at press time, per the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

Every day, we’re bombarded with noise — emails, ads, pop-ups, sponsored posts and DMs from strangers who want to “hop on a quick call.” It’s relentless. And people are tired.

Marketers often call this “audience fatigue,” blaming content overload. But after working with hundreds of leaders to build authentic authority, I’ve come to see it differently: it’s not just content overload — it’s trust fatigue.

Trust fatigue is what happens when people stop believing. When every message feels like a sales pitch in disguise, people disengage — not just from brands, but from leaders who once earned their respect.

So, in a world where trust is slipping and skepticism is rising, how do you become someone worth listening to?

Trust moves from institutions to individuals

One study found that 79% of people trust their employer more than the media, the government, or nonprofits. That’s huge.

It means trust is no longer institutional — it’s personal. People don’t want another faceless brand talking at them. They want a real person who shows up with clarity, consistency and value.

That’s your opportunity. If you want to lead, you need to earn trust. And the good news? It starts with three moves.

Related: Trust Is a Business Metric Now. Here’s How Leaders Can Earn It.

1. Be discoverable

Let’s get practical. Google yourself — what comes up?

If it’s outdated bios, scattered links, or worse — nothing — you’ve got work to do. Your digital presence is your first impression. When someone wants to vet you, they’re not asking for your resume. They’re looking you up.

A strong LinkedIn profile is the first step. Make it sound like a leader, not a job seeker. Then, create a personal website that reflects who you are, what you stand for, and the people you serve. This is your platform.

Next, give people a reason to trust you: thought leadership content — articles, interviews, podcasts — that showcase your ideas. If I can’t find you, I can’t follow you.

2. Be credible

The internet is full of opinions. What cuts through is proof.

Credibility comes from evidence: media features, speaking gigs, client testimonials, books and bylines. These aren’t vanity metrics — they’re trust signals. They tell your audience: this person has earned a platform.

You don’t need to headline a TEDx talk tomorrow. Start small. Write a piece for your industry publication. Share a client win. Build momentum with real, earned signals of authority.

And the data backs this up. A Gallup/Knight Foundation study found that nearly 90% of Americans follow at least one public figure for news or insight, more than brands, and sometimes more than the media itself.

3. Be human

Here’s where many leaders go wrong: they forget that trust isn’t just about what you say — it’s how you make people feel.

You can have the slickest website and the most polished profile, but if your tone feels robotic or your content sounds like corporate filler, people will scroll right past.

You don’t need to spill your life story, but you do need to sound like a real person. Share lessons you’ve learned, not just what you’re selling. Tell stories. Speak plainly. Be generous with your insights.

I once shared a story about a career setback on stage, unsure of how it would land. It ended up being the thing people remembered — and the reason they reached out. Vulnerability built more trust than any polished pitch ever could.

Related: How Talking Less and Listening More Builds Your Business

Trust is the strategy — authority is the reward

Many leaders think, “If I’m good at what I do, people will notice.”

They won’t.

In a world overflowing with content and short on attention, visibility matters. Credibility matters. And most of all, connection matters. You build trust gradually — through how you show up, what you say and how well it resonates with what your audience actually needs.

So here’s where to start:

• Audit your online presence as if you’re a stranger seeing yourself for the first time.
• Share stories in your writing and speaking that make people feel something real.
• Post something this week that reflects what you believe, not what you’re trying to sell.

Lead with service. Speak with clarity. Build trust by showing up as yourself.

Authority doesn’t come from shouting the loudest. It comes from being the one people believe.