If you're not getting enough clients, it's probably not your offer – it's your audience's trust level. In this episode, Lori reveals why most business owners are selling to strangers and how to bridge the “trust gap” that keeps your followers from becoming clients.

Lori reviews the TRUE framework – Trim, Refine, Uplevel, Expand – and explains how it prepares your business for the client journey. She breaks down the four stages of business growth (“Figure It Out,” “Work It Out,” “Rock It Out,” and “Boss It Out”) and shows why most entrepreneurs overbuild for the stage they're not yet in.

You'll learn how to align your message, content, and offers to the stage you're actually in – and how mapping your client journey from stranger to advocate makes marketing feel effortless and human again.

What You'll Learn

Why most business owners are unknowingly selling to strangers – and how to fix it
What the Trust Gap is and why it keeps your audience from buying
The four stages of business growth: Figure It Out, Work It Out, Rock It Out, and Boss It Out
How the TRUE framework (Trim, Refine, Uplevel, Expand) prepares your business for growth
The difference between visibility and readiness – and why engagement doesn't equal conversion
How to map your client journey so your marketing feels natural, aligned, and human again
The key mindset shift that helps midlife business owners sell with confidence and ease

If your business feels ‘too full' but not fully aligned, let's talk.
Book a Profitable Path Alignment Call and I'll help you identify what to trim, what to refine, and what to elevate so you can expand sustainably – on your terms.

Check out this episode!

Full Clean Transcript

00:00:03 — The Trust Gap: Why Strangers Don’t Buy

Not getting enough clients is rarely a sign your offer is off. It's usually a sign your audience is still full of strangers. People don't buy because you showed up once. They buy because they trust you. And trust is what closes the gap. It only grows when you understand the path your potential clients walk before they ever hire you.

Welcome back to the Midlife Business Academy podcast. I'm Lori Lyons and today we're starting one of the most important things I've ever taught on this show and one I'm really excited about. And it's going to be maybe a nine or 10 part series. So buckle up and let's get going. But before we step into this first phase of that journey—no pun intended—we need to connect the dots to what we just worked through together, or the TRUE framework.

If you haven't listened to them, go back and listen to the previous episodes numbers 309 and 310, because that sets the framework and the foundation for our client journey. Remember, TRUE is trim, refine, uplevel, and expand. And if you only remember one thing about TRUE, let it be this. You can't design a client journey from a cluttered business. You can't create flow when everything is in friction. You can't build trust when your message, your offers, and your energy are scattered in 12 different directions. The TRUE framework clears the noise so that the client journey can finally come into focus for you and your potential clients.

And here's something I want you to hear very clearly. Most business owners are doing far too much for the days of business they're actually in. This is why you feel overwhelmed. It's not because you're doing something wrong. It's because you're doing the things that are unnecessary, unsupported, or completely misaligned with what your business needs at your current level.

Every entrepreneur is somewhere along the growth spectrum. Most coaches teach this in complicated ways that make you feel like you're behind. I like to keep it clean, simple, and honest. And your business is in one of four stages. And I'm going to say this in full transparency. I played with ChatGPT for weeks to try to come up with some really clever, different way to do this. But I really like these descriptions. And I've heard it from a bazillion other coaches. So I really don't have any idea of who created it or who thought it up. If you go back 10 years, you're seeing coaches talk about it. And that's as far back as I went. And there were about six coaches talking about these stages of business. So whoever thought it up, thank you. I'd love to say that it's my own concoction, but it's not. I did add the fourth stage of the business because as a midlife business owner, you really need another stage.

00:06:50 — Overbuilding and the Four Stages of Business

The first one: figure it out. You're under 100K in revenue, you're building your foundations, your identity, your audience. You're experimenting, and that's okay. Second stage: work it out. It's roughly 101K to 250K. You have traction, consistency, some systems, and you’re seeing the shape of your business emerging. For some midlife owners, this is all you want—and that’s okay. Others want the third phase: rock it out. That’s roughly 251K to mid six figures. You’re not experimenting. You’re optimizing, stabilizing, sharpening focus. Finally, seven figures and up: boss it out. You’re leading with vision, with team, structure, and a business that runs with you—but not because of you.

Here’s the part no one tells you about. Business owners in “figure it out” try to build systems meant for “boss it out.” “Work it out” owners try to market like they’re “rocking it out.” “Rock it out” owners burn out trying to jump to “boss it out.” Everyone is overbuilding for something they don’t need yet. That’s where TRUE comes in—it trims the excess, refines your message, uplevels your presence, and expands your readiness. Only then does the client journey become something you can actually build without drowning.

Here’s an example. I had a client in “figure it out.” Someone told her to build a five-email nurture sequence, a webinar, a low-ticket, mid-ticket, and high-ticket funnel. She needed clients, not funnels. She needed clarity, not complexity. “Figure it out” is about identifying. “Work it out” is about being consistent. “Rock it out” is about doing a few things better. “Boss it out” is about leadership. You might have totally different revenue levels—and that’s okay. What matters is alignment and comfort.

00:13:26 — Selling to Strangers and the Trust Recession

Most of us are selling to strangers because we jump straight from showing up to selling. You think visibility equals readiness. You think followers mean interest. You think engagement equals conversion. But none of that is true. Most business owners are selling to people who don’t know them, don’t trust them, and don’t understand them. You push out posts and offers and think you’re marketing—but it’s like proposing marriage on a first date.

Strangers don’t convert. We are in a trust recession. Strangers have to trust you before they invest. In the past, all business was relationship building. We met people through networks, referrals, and rooms. Now your digital presence must do that work. But it can’t if your business is chaotic or unclear. TRUE fixes that. TRUE gets you ready to guide someone toward a journey that feels natural and human.

So why is it important to build a client journey? It’s the map that shows how people come close to you. It’s the path from stranger to fan to client to advocate. Most businesses have one—they just never map it. When you don’t map it, you throw tactics at the wall. You get likes without conversions, interest without commitment. Because your marketing speaks to one stage, while your offers are meant for another.

00:20:05 — Building the Client Journey and Fixing Misalignment

When you get the client journey right, everything flows. Your message lands, content resonates, offers feel like the next logical step, and your sales conversations feel easy. The client journey is not a marketing tactic—it’s a relationship strategy. It tells you where your clients are emotionally, mentally, and practically at every touchpoint.

TRUE prepares your business for the journey. It removes clutter, refines your message, uplevels your presence, and expands your clarity. If you try to build a client journey without TRUE, you build too much, too early, from chaos. TRUE gets you ready; the client journey gets your clients ready. Without TRUE, your client journey becomes a full-time job. With TRUE, it becomes a growth strategy.

Ignoring the client journey creates silent business problems. You attract attention but no interest. Engagement but no inquiries. Clients who don’t stay. People can’t buy from a business they don’t trust. They won’t trust what they don’t understand. A client of mine ran ads to a cold audience for a high-ticket offer. No results. Once we simplified with TRUE and mapped her journey—adding Discover, Connect, and Engage—she had her first five-figure month. The only thing that changed was the pathway.

00:26:14 — Clarity, Alignment, and Next Steps

As midlife business owners, you have an advantage. You know how to build relationships. You’ve been in rooms, networks, and communities long enough to understand the rhythm of trust. The digital world doesn’t mirror that rhythm, so we must design it intentionally into our content and offers.

If you’re in “figure it out,” focus on simplicity and one clear offer. “Work it out” needs consistency and repeatable processes. “Rock it out” needs optimization. “Boss it out” needs leadership and scalable systems. When you know your stage, the client journey stops feeling overwhelming—you only build what fits your stage.

So start noticing: how do people find you? What do they do next? Where do they drift away? Don’t fix anything yet—just observe. Observation builds alignment, alignment builds trust, and trust builds sales. Over the next several weeks, we’ll walk through eight stages: Discover, Connect, Engage, Invite, Convert, Experience, Refer, and Return.

Ask yourself: which stage are you really in? Be honest. I built a “boss it out” agency, and when I launched Midlife Business Academy, I was back between “figure it out” and “work it out.” When I became honest with myself, the client journey became clear. When I led with clarity, everything started to flow. If you take one thing from today: stop selling to strangers. Understand how your best clients come to you. The TRUE framework prepares your business. The client journey prepares your clients.

If you want help seeing where you are in the journey, schedule a Profitable Path Alignment Call. We’ll look at your stage, strengths, and next steps. You’re not behind. You’re not missing anything. You simply need the map. Until next time, remember—it’s never too late to build the business of your dreams.