Stop asking for reviews and start writing them. This episode is a different use for TripAdvisor, Google and Yelp: not to beg for five stars, but to build your own authority by reviewing other people's croissants, hotels, contractors and podcasts, subjectively and in your own voice. I share why "please review me" before someone has experienced you can read as disrespect, and why the five stars for everything reviewer says nothing. I share the podcast guru who gave me five stars, quoted my own bio back to me, and asked for one in return. I do not believe he listened. Then the play. A photo of two croissants at a cafe in Greenville, South Carolina, posted to Google reviews instead of only my own Instagram, seen about four thousand times. A photo of a barbecue place's storefront that nobody else had taken, seen around four hundred thousand times. My 2014 book tour, reviewed city by city, hotel, coffee and venue, so the trail tells a story anyone can follow. And the St. Louis hotel where everyone reviewed the ceiling light show, so I wrote about the koi pond out back. For real estate agents especially: instead of telling people you know the area, show it. Review the park, the restaurant, the contractor, the service. Let people learn you before you ask them to trust you. Stay subjective. Say what the bread was like, not that it was the best. Say what you did not like too. And if the experience was bad enough that you would not defend the review, take it to the business first instead of the internet. Written transcription, chapters and links: https://lorenweisman.com/2025/02/14/reviewing-authentically/

Episode pages with written transcriptions: https://lorenweisman.com/wait-what-really-ok/
Opening theme by RKVC. Closing theme by Doug Hinrichs. Both licensed.
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