3 Ways Trauma-Informed Operations Practices Grow Your Business
As a business owner dedicated to collective liberation, you might have already spent considerable time thinking about how trauma-informed care applies to your client work. You know that honoring someone’s humanity doesn’t begin and end during the therapy session, the yoga class, the retreat, or the coaching call itself.
Yet, it can be difficult amidst allllllll of our other priorities to justify the time and resources to apply these same principles of trauma-informed care to our business operations.
Or maybe you just haven’t been given the tools and language to make the connection between these two concepts quite yet.
As someone who transitioned from a program coordinator at my local Rape Crisis Center to an Online Business Manager and Systems Strategist who works with a variety of healing professionals, service providers, and wellbeing collectives, my work is situated at the intersection of online business operations, systems thinking, and trauma-informed care.
Here’s why approaching your operations through a lens of trauma-informed care isn’t just the “right” thing to do, but a savvy business decision.
1. Trauma-Informed Business Practices Build REAL Trust with Customers + Community Members
One of the foundational tenets of trauma-informed care is the understanding that trust is not assumed, but built over time through consistent experiences of connection, respect, and collaboration.
In the online business space, we’re often taught to build trust through “providing value,” educating on social media about our expertise, and sharing our personalities, social proof, and case studies.
We integrate these frameworks into our content strategies until people feel comfortable enough to click “buy now” on our offer.
And hey, it works well enough for a one-time purchase (I use them too!). But long-term relationships require intentional consideration of your clients + community members as people, not just buyers.
I had an experience recently where I was considering a group program. One of the facilitating coaches and I were sharing voice notes back and forth on Instagram until I decided to go for it and sign up! I was feeling bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and aligned with the coaches’ vibes.
Until I clicked on her Instagram Story and heard MY VOICE blasting across the airwaves.
She had shared clips of my voice note (not with my name attached, but still, my voice!) without permission as a way to convince them to sign up, too. Embarrassed, I clicked off her IG Stories and tried not to let it put a damper on my excitement for the program.
But I did receive a message loud and clear—I shouldn’t share anything with this coach that I don’t feel comfortable being broadcasted on the Internet.
That experience short-circuited the surface-level trust we had tentatively built before I hit “purchase.” And as much as I am still getting a TON out of the program, I would have trouble recommending this coach without a disclaimer to keep their guard up.
In contrast, I constantly yap about Lexi Merritt and The Pretty Decent Internet Café because of her gentle and invitational approach to building one’s dream work life.
People who feel respected, informed, and considered are more likely to become repeat customers and superfans who readily recommend your offerings. Word-of-mouth is still powerful in the digital age, perhaps even more so because we’re flooded with endless options.
Let us remember that, ultimately, all marketing is a relationship between human beings.
2. Regulated Client Nervous Systems Save You Time and Spare You From Awkwardness
As humans, we love knowing what to expect. Business practices grounded in trauma-informed care give customers’ nervous systems exactly what they crave: predictability and a sense of safety.
Not only does prioritizing transparency, accessibility, and consent create a more friendly experience for your community members, it can save you a whole lot of problem-solving energy and conflict management as a business owner.
Let’s look at, for example, two businesses with online courses.
Scenario A: When Unintentionality Runs Wild
Course descriptions are vague and it is not obviously stated that refunds are unavailable. A customer hesitantly makes their purchase. They receive no confirmation or instructions about what to do next, so they spend the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how to navigate the course platform. After finally figuring out the correct order of modules and how to access the content, they realize no transcripts were provided. As a neurodivergent person, they find it difficult to focus on the content without transcripts and when they reach out to customer service, no one responds. Frustrated and unable to progress in the course, they request a refund only to go back and forth with the company’s Virtual Assistant. It becomes clear in the 5th email, after the VA has had a chance to touch base with the Founder, that refunds are impossible.
Scenario B: When Trauma-Informed Care Is Centered
Each course sales page is clear with the features, benefits, and materials included with each purchase. A customer is excited to see that captions and transcripts are provided for each module, and makes note of the larger disclaimer that refunds are not an option. After a few days’ consideration, they confidently decide to move forward with their purchase. A welcome email immediately arrives, providing links to access all course materials and a quick tutorial on navigating the course platform. They are directed to a welcome video where the facilitator provides a detailed orientation to the course structure, the requirements for completion, and who to contact should they have any questions. The customer is able to happily finish the course at their own pace, with no need to contact customer service until they’re ready to share their glowing testimonial.
Scenarios like these can play out across all of our offers. Not only is the outcome unhappy clients, but the whole journey becomes time-consuming and uncomfortable. Our momentum can be easily halted by client conflicts because our contracts were unclear, constant emails about frequently-asked questions, and incorrect customer actions because their onboarding “process” was confusing.
Prioritizing trauma-informed care supports the nervous systems of our community members, our team members who have client-facing responsibilities, and ourselves as business owners.
What’s a more sustainable business strategy than that?
3. Quality Feedbacks Create More Valuable Products, Programs, and Services
Trauma-informed care asks us to intentionally co-create rather than dole out indisputable expertise from on high. To be trauma-informed and anti-oppressive, we must seek to interrupt the hierarchical dynamic of us as the sole “authority” and our audience, community, and customers as passive receivers of our creations.
One way to integrate this principle into the fabric of our business is to create feedback systems.
This might look like surveys, focus groups, individual client interviews, polls on your Instagram Stories, in-session observations, data analysis of KPIs, and more! I wrote a whole piece about how you might integrate these methods now and regularly, which I welcome you to read here.
It doesn’t even need to take long. Two weeks ago, I spent five minutes lying in a hotel bed, posting polls for my Instagram audience to select their favorite topics and modes of content.
(And listen, I had already started this edition of The Field Guide about trauma-informed care… more about systems and project management coming soon!)
Different people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts in different ways. Implementing multiple avenues of feedback helps them not only feel actively listened to, it helps you evaluate what you’re doing well, what needs improvement, and whether or not there’s a market for your next big idea.
Thriving businesses don’t see their customers as buyers alone, but as partners in creating solutions. Whole human beings. Are you sensing the theme?
The Big Takeaway
I know you started your business to do right by people. While treating people with dignity is enough on its own, I also think it’s helpful to understand that incorporating a trauma-informed lens into your business operations can forge a thriving business.
Potential clients and community members are searching for spaces that align with their values, respect their lived experiences, and invite them to participate. When we work toward that standard (and seek to repair missteps along the way), we create something that mainstream “hustle harder” online businesses can’t replicate.
Something soft and strong and stable and sustainable.
Wondering where to go from here? Start with one small change this month. Maybe that’s a welcome email sequence, a feedback survey, or a scope of practice statement on your website (check out mine for reference, near the bottom of my About Me page).
Remember, nervous systems love consistency, not sweeping transformations. Small, values-aligned actions are the perfect way to build toward your trauma-informed business.
And if you need any support, know that I’m here for ya.
