A lot of the work I do with my clients around branding and marketing themselves is around authenticity and transparency. I often talk about how attractive it is when you, the small business owner is up front and honest with people.

When it comes to credibility-building, the three most powerful words in the English language are: “I dont know.”
Many salespeople and most managers think that they’ll lose credibility if they admit ignorance, especially about something about which they “ought” to know. However, the exact opposite is the case.
Admitting ignorance makes everything else you say more credible.
Needless to say, the “I dont know” should be followed by a plan to discover the information thats required, if the issue is truly important. And you WILL be judged on whether you deliver on that promise.
via 3 Words That Create Instant Credibility.

Will you look stupid if you say that you don’t know something? Only if what you don’t know is something that’s very basic and elemental to your ‘expertise’. This is why you need to become an expert in just 1 thing to start with (don’t get me started on the ‘Get a niche!’ song).
Experts deserve that name because they are supposed to know more about their subject matter than other people and it’s rare for them to say ‘I don’t know’. Become an expert in something first, then if you still don’t know the answers, well you’d better move heaven and earth to find out what you don’t and SHOULD know.
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