If you're showing up online, posting consistently, and still hearing crickets, this episode is for you. You may not have a sales problem at all. You may have a discoverability problem.
In today's episode, Lori breaks down the very first stage of the client journey, Discover. This is the moment when your future clients realize you exist and start paying attention. Because no matter how good your offers, systems, or website are, if people cannot find you, none of it matters.
You'll learn why discovery is not about shouting louder or being everywhere, and how visibility must change depending on your stage of business. From early-stage networking to strategic collaborations, SEO, podcast guesting, and scalable reach, this episode shows how clients actually find you and what may be blocking that path right now.
What You'll Learn in This Episode:
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Why being great at what you do is not enough if the right people cannot find you
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What the discover stage of the client journey is really for, and why it comes before everything else
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How discoverability works in real life, including how clients actually find you through breadcrumbs
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How your visibility strategy should change based on your stage of business
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The common mistakes that keep experienced entrepreneurs invisible online
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00:00:02
Are you invisible?
If you're creating amazing offers, posting consistently, and you're still hearing crickets, you just could be invisible and you don't even know it.
Discovery isn't about being everywhere.
It's about being findable to the right people.
Let's talk about how your next clients are looking for you and what's keeping them from actually finding you.
00:00:33
Welcome to the Midlife Business Academy.
I'm Lori Lyons, marketing strategist, business coach, and accidental techie.
After years of running a successful website design agency, I'm now building the business of my dreams and helping other midlife entrepreneurs do the same.
From strategy to marketing to mindset, we covered what really matters when you're growing a business that fits your life.
Let's get started.
00:01:05
Hi there, and welcome back to the Midlife Business Academy, where we talk about building a business that fits your life and not the other way around.
I'm your host, Lori Lyons, and today we're starting down the client journey roadpath, the eight stages every client walks through on their way from stranger to your raving fan.
Last week, in our last episode, we talked about the why behind this whole framework, why selling to strangers doesn't work, and how understanding your client's journey changes everything.
So we're going to break each step of the journey down, starting today.
Our first stage is discover.
00:01:48
Because no matter how brilliant your offers are, how great your systems are, or how beautifully your website is designed, if people can't find you, none of that matters.
I've told many, many of my clients after we've completed their website design, this is not a case of build it and they will come.
This is a case of you have to talk about it for them to come.
This ability is oxygen for your business.
And without it, nothing else will breathe.
00:02:21
So let's start with the invisible expert problem.
Most midlife entrepreneurs I talk to aren't beginners. You're experienced. You've spent years, sometimes decades, building expertise. You've got the goods, you've got the results, you've got the reputation.
But in the digital space, you're invisible.
And that invisibility that doesn't come from lack of skill, it comes from lack of strategy.
You can't convert those who can't find you.
00:02:58
And too many of you assume that just because you exist online, because you have a website, or you post occasionally on LinkedIn, or you do funny TikToks on TikTok, you think that you're discoverable, but discoverability isn't automatic.
It's intentional.
00:03:18
Let me go back to that phrase from the Field of Dreams. Build it and they will come.
Because it doesn't apply here, as I said earlier. Maybe it does years and years from now. But you know what? As midlife business owners, we don't have that kind of time.
We don't have 10 years to play around with this. Or at least most of us don't.
00:03:42
The internet is this big giant marketplace and there are millions of conversations happening every second.
If you're not showing up in the right ones, the right people never know you're there.
So discovery isn't about shouting louder.
It's about being in the right room.
00:04:01
So what is the true purpose of the discover stage?
It's not about helping convincing people to buy from you. It's about helping them realize you exist.
At this point, your ideal client may not even know they have a problem yet, or if they do, they haven't named it clearly.
00:04:22
Your ideal clients are feeling discomfort or they're feeling frustration around something in their business or life.
Your job in the discovery phase is to plant a seed, to show up where they're already looking, to make them pause and think, huh, that's interesting. I never thought about it like that.
00:04:53
And from that awareness, connection can become possible.
And this is the key. The way you approach discovery changes depending on where you are in your business journey.
00:05:06
So if you're just in that figure it out stage, that starting out phase, discovery is simple and it's personable and personal and personal.
You don't need complex funnels or expensive ads. You need visibility in the right circles.
00:05:26
You could show up in your local networking groups, in Facebook communities. Facebook groups are still a great place to find your ideal client.
You want to make guest appearances on podcasts.
Don't go to the top ranking, you know, John Lee Dumas or Joe Rogan type of podcast. Look at the podcast where your ideal client might be hanging out.
00:06:20
You also want to do collaborations or co-marketing with peers.
At this stage, your goal is reach. It's recognition. People are buying from you, not your brand.
So show up where they can see your personality, your energy, your values.
00:06:49
But you want to focus on consistency. Because if people see you once and then you disappear, they forgot you even existed.
So discoverability is about showing up often enough that people start saying, oh yeah, I keep seeing her name.
00:07:11
I was in a clothing store a couple of years ago when I was doing a lot of local networking, and I was on a lot of Facebook Lives when Facebook Lives first started coming up.
Somebody came up to me and said, Lori, I see your stuff all the time.
And it made me think, okay, this stuff actually works.
00:08:03
So if you're in the second phase of your business, the work it out phase, this stage will look a little different.
This is where you shift from random visibility to strategic visibility.
00:09:02
Your goal is to move from being one of many to being top of mind.
00:09:42
So now if you're in the scaling or in the rocket out phase, discovery isn't about visibility. It's about reach.
You want to amplify your message beyond your current audience and build an ecosystem that attracts people at scale.
00:11:03
You become a thought leader, not just a service provider.
But the foundation is the same. You're still helping people find you. You're just doing it with more leverage and less hustle.
00:11:47
So let's talk about how clients actually discover you.
Every client who finds you is following a trail of touch points.
00:13:23
The key to discovery is creating enough of those breadcrumbs so that whenever they turn, there you are, you're offering something of value.
00:14:06
So let's talk about the energy behind the stage of discovery.
It's curious. It's exploratory. It's open.
You're not telling people what to do. You're showing them what's possible.
00:15:02
Early discovery isn't about proving that you know your stuff. It's about showing you understand your ideal clients and the problems that they have.
00:15:50
Awareness is broad. Discovery is specific.
It's when they realize you exist and what you're known for.
00:17:42
Moving forward in the discovery phase, there are some mistakes that I want you to be aware of.
Don't try to skip ahead. Don't blend in. Show up consistently.
00:18:39
You're chasing instead of attracting.
It isn't about chasing leads. It's about positioning yourself so that the right people find you.
00:19:39
Discovery will flow naturally into the next stage of connect.
If discovery is about being found, the next stage of connection is about being felt.
00:20:37
One of my clients is a professional organizer, and she was really struggling to get noticed.
When she shifted her content to the emotional impact of clutter, her engagement tripled and she booked out her calendar.
00:22:16
So here's your action step for today.
Think about where you are in the discovery phase. How do new people find you?
00:23:43
Visibility isn't about vanity. It's viability.
Discovery will never stop. It just evolves.
00:24:11
You can schedule your profitable path alignment call with me at talkwithlori.com.
Because you don't have to shout to be seen. You just need to be discoverable.
00:24:41
Until next time, I'm reminding you, it's never too late to build a business of your dreams.