309: Simplify First, Then Strengthen - Trim + Refine
Release Date: 11/18/2025
320: Stop Treating Your Podcast Like “Visibility” and Start Using It to Land Clients
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
Downloads are a vanity metric if your podcast doesn’t drive conversations with the right people. Lori coaches Tanja Horan on using her new podcast as a business development engine: a clear opening that calls out decision makers, a guest strategy built around real problems (not “spotlighting”), and SEO choices that make the show searchable. The goal is simple: build authority, attract ideal clients, and keep the content value-first without turning episodes into awkward sales pitches. What You’ll Learn: How to reframe your podcast as a funnel that reduces pressure on downloads How to...
info_outline
319: Why Client Retention Matters More Than Reach
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
If your business feels like it’s working but still harder than it should, the problem may not be your marketing. It may be that your client journey is unfinished. In this final episode of the Client Journey series, Lori Lyons walks through a real client case study to show how even successful businesses quietly leak revenue, confidence, and energy when clients finish and disappear. You’ll meet Deb, a highly experienced health coach earning solid income but constantly feeling like she had to start over. By breaking down each stage of Deb’s client journey, from discovery through referral,...
info_outline
318: Why Referrals and Returning Clients Create Sustainable Business Growth
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
You don’t need more leads. You need a business that stops resetting itself every few months. In this episode, Lori breaks down the final two stages of the client journey, Refer and Return, where real momentum and sustainability are built. Referrals are not about luck or asking harder. They are created through clear results, a strong client experience, and giving clients the language to talk about what you do. Lori explains why even happy clients often do not refer, how testimonials support referrals, and why both are essential for shortening your sales cycle. You will also learn why most...
info_outline
317: Convert and Client Experience: The Trust-Building Stages After the Sale
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
Most businesses don’t stall before the sale, they stall after it. In today’s episode, Lori continues the Client Journey Series with two stages that determine whether trust strengthens or disappears: Convert and Experience. Convert is not about convincing someone to buy. It’s about stabilizing the decision, setting clear expectations, and helping a new client feel steady enough to move forward without second-guessing. Then Lori breaks down why Experience is not what you deliver, it’s how your clients feel while working with you. When communication is clear and progress is acknowledged,...
info_outline
316: Self-Love, Imposter Syndrome, and Visibility for Women Over 40 with Alyson Williams
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
In this Hot Seat Coaching episode, Lori guides Alyson Williams through a series of coaching strategies designed to help midlife women business owners get clearer, more confident, and more visible. Alyson brings the same challenges so many entrepreneurs face - hesitation to be seen, uncertainty around messaging, and bouncing between systems - and Lori coaches her through practical, doable solutions. During the session, Lori helps Alyson shift her website and social messaging from “all about me” to speaking directly to the symptoms her ideal clients actually feel. She also walks her through...
info_outline
315: How to Engage and Invite Clients Without Feeling Salesy
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
If you’re showing up consistently in your business but still not seeing the traction you deserve, this episode is for you. Today, Lori walks you through two critical stages of your client journey: Engage and Invite - the bridge between curiosity and commitment. You’ll discover why engagement isn’t about likes or views, but about readiness, connection, and trust. Lori shares how to shift from simply creating content to actually guiding your audience toward a next step - without feeling pushy or “salesy.” She also breaks down the four business stages ...
info_outline
314: Connection Is the New Currency
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
Getting noticed online is not the same as creating connection. In this episode of the Midlife Business Academy, Lori Lyons explains why visibility without connection often leads to silence, even when you are showing up consistently. Connection is the bridge between attention and trust, and without it, your marketing has nowhere to go. Lori walks through the Connect stage of the client journey and breaks down why people buy from brands that feel right, not just brands they recognize. She explains how connection is built through emotion and consistency, why micro moments matter more than big...
info_outline
313: You Can’t Convert Who Can’t Find You: How Clients Really Discover You
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
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...
info_outline
312: Stop Selling to Strangers - Putting the Trust Factor in Your Business
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
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...
info_outline
311: Hot Seat Coaching for Stuck Entrepreneurs Who Are Doing All the Right Things
Midlife Business Academy: Entrepreneur strategies to attract clients, increase revenue, and grow with purpose
In this Hot Seat Coaching episode, Lori talks with Dr. Adriana Kryviak, former foot and ankle surgeon turned functional medicine and emotional root-cause specialist. Adriana shares how she moved from Western medicine into functional medicine, and then into deep emotional work that ties together health, money, and relationships. They explore the type of client Adriana works best with: driven, intuitive business people - often men and high-achieving women - who are outwardly successful but feel stuck, stressed, and under constant pressure. Lori helps her clarify who she does not work with as...
info_outlineMost midlife entrepreneurs think growth means adding more. More offers. More platforms. More moving parts. But real growth starts by trimming what no longer serves you and refining what still does. In this episode, Lori walks through the first two stages of the TRUE Framework, showing why Trim and Refine are the nonnegotiable foundation for a business that actually works.
You’ll hear how trimming the clutter strengthens the Discover, Connect, and Engage stages of the Client Journey, and how thoughtful refinement improves Invite, Convert, Experience, Refer, and Return. With candid stories, sharp insights, and a few well-timed reality checks, this episode helps you see exactly where your business is weighed down and what to do next.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
• Why simplification is a strategic advantage, not a step backward
• How trimming strengthens the early stages of the Client Journey
• Why refinement boosts conversions, delivery, and retention
• The hidden reason entrepreneurs resist simplifying
• How “backwards to go forwards” actually accelerates growth
• The 10 percent Trim Challenge and how to put it into practice this week
• How Trim and Refine prepare you for TRUE’s next stages: Uplevel and Expand
If you’re ready to identify exactly where your Client Journey is breaking down and what to focus on first, schedule your Profitable Path Alignment Call.
Schedule your Profitable Path Blueprint call. If you’re considering working together and want to see if it’s a fit, book a Profitable Path Blueprint Call. It’s a simple, no-pressure conversation to decide whether working together makes sense.
Resources:
Click HERE to receive your free gift - Get Clients to Say “YES!” The Ultimate Social Proof Checklist Every Business Needs to Build Trust and Boost Sales
Join Lori's private Facebook group - The Midlife Business Academy. A Facebook group for The Typewriter Generation! A community to share business growth strategies that work for us! Join now!
Connect with Lori Follow me on social media - grab other free resources of book a call - it’s all right here!