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 viral wins, and how trust forms over time when your audience feels seen, safe, inspired, and supported.
This episode also explores what connection looks like at different stages of business growth, how story creates belonging, and what breaks connection such as inconsistency, perfection, and generic messaging. If you are a midlife entrepreneur who feels visible but not chosen, this conversation will help you rethink your marketing and build real relationships that lead to clients.
What You’ll Learn
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Why visibility alone does not create trust or clients
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How connection is built through emotion, consistency, and micro moments
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The difference between discovery and connection in the client journey
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What breaks connection and how to strengthen it at every stage of your business
Book your Profitable Path Blueprint Call at TalkWithLori.com
00:00:00 – Visibility vs Connection
Getting noticed isn’t the same as creating connection.
Just because people see you online doesn’t mean that they feel connected to you.
If your audience isn’t responding, buying, or reaching out, it’s not visibility anymore.
It’s about having connection or not.
00:00:25 – Welcome and Show Intro
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.
00:00:55 – Client Journey Series: The Connect Stage
Hi there, and welcome back to the Midlife Business Academy, where we talk about building a business that fits your life, not the other way around.
I’m your host, Lori Lyons, and today we’re continuing our client journey series, the roadmap that helps you move clients from total strangers to loyal advocates in a natural, relationship-driven way.
In our last episode, we talked about Discover.
That all important stage where people first find you.
We talked about visibility, being findable, and the different ways clients discover you based on where you are in your business.
So today we’re going to talk about the second stage of the client journey.
Connect.
This is where curiosity turns into recognition.
The who’s that becomes, you know, I kind of like her.
and where your brand stops being a name and starts becoming a feeling.
00:01:57 – Connection Is the New Currency (Emotion + Consistency)
So why is connection the new currency?
Here’s the thing, people don’t buy from the best brand.
They buy from the brand that feels the best to them.
That feeling, trust, alignment, resonance, that’s the product of connection.
And connection is built through two things, emotion,
and consistency.
In today’s noisy world, scroll happy world, attention is cheap.
But connection, that’s priceless.
For us, this is where we shine.
This is where our midlife business owners, you, this is where you shine.
You understand relationships.
You’ve built careers.
You’ve raised families.
You’ve volunteered.
You’ve led teams.
You know what it means to earn trust over time.
But here’s what’s tricky.
When you bring that into the digital space, it’s easy to forget the connection still takes time.
It doesn’t happen overnight.
00:02:48 – You Can’t Automate Authentically
You can’t automate authentically.
You know, I hate that word, but it’s the truth.
You can’t you can’t automate and be real.
You can’t outsource your energy.
You have to show up in a way that makes people feel seen, not sold to.
And that is key for us.
00:03:21 – Discover vs Connect: Intellectual vs Emotional
So what’s the difference between discover and connect?
Because there is a very clear distinction.
Discover is all about visibility.
It’s about how people find you.
Connection is about resonating with you.
It’s about how your clients are going to decide if you’re for them.
Discovery is intellectual.
Connection is emotional.
And that’s a very big difference.
In the discovery stage, someone might say, oh, I’ve seen her on LinkedIn.
But in the connection stage, they’re going to say, I like the way she thinks.
And that’s a huge shift because when someone connects emotionally,
they start to already become a part of your community.
They stop being observers and start being participants.
They comment, they reply, they save your content, they forward it, they share it, they recommend you.
Connection is the bridge between attention and trust.
And without it, visibility has nowhere to go.
You can be visible, but not connected.
And we’ve all seen that.
We’ve all seen people that
that are very knowledgeable.
And we think, what do people see in them?
I have it happen quite often.
You look at somebody that’s big in the space and go, I don’t get it.
Know them personally, very different person than they are online.
00:04:52 – Micro Moments, Trust Moments, and Consistency
So let’s talk about how connection actually forms.
It’s not one big aha.
It’s a series of micro moments.
It’s when somebody feels like you get them.
It’s when you say something that put words to what they’ve been feeling.
It’s when you show up consistently enough that they start to rely on you.
It’s one thing I’ve been very proud of with my podcast.
We have dropped every morning, every Tuesday morning for the last, this is episode 313, I think.
So for the last almost three years,
Every Tuesday morning we’ve had an episode out.
We have not missed one, and I’m pretty proud of that consistency.
Hopefully you’ve learned about me, you’ve learned about my business, and you’ve got that connection because we’ve been consistent.
So think about your own habits.
Maybe there’s something you listen to every week.
Maybe there’s a YouTuber that you subscribe to or that you like to watch or a brand you follow because you like how they make you feel.
I love to cruise, as many of you know, as many of my audience knows, and some of you I’ve met on cruises.
I love to go on business cruises.
It’s a great way to combine things that you love with business and meet really amazing people and make really amazing connections.
And there are several cruising brands and cruising YouTubers that I love to follow.
And there’s a lot of them out there, but there’s some of them that just really I make a connection with.
to think about people that you like and you like to follow.
In a couple of months or a couple of weeks, I’m going to something called Podfest that happens in January of 26.
So depending on when you’re listening to this, it’s every January or it has been for the last several years.
And I’m really looking forward, they’ve just announced the speakers and there’s a couple of speakers there that I follow that I’m really looking forward to connecting with.
And one of the things on my to-do list as soon as the first of the year hits is to reach out to them and say, hey, I would love to connect with you and schedule some time and really get to know you while we’re down there and we’re in the same space.
So I’m really looking forward to that and that makes connection.
And I wanted to deepen that connection because I felt a connection to them online.
I felt a connection in their videos, what they’re saying to me.
I like the things that they’re saying and the way they make me feel.
Marketing, a lot of times we call these touch points.
But in human terms, they’re really just trust moments.
The more trust moments you create, the faster people move from stranger to connection.
So think about what trust points you can establish, what trust points you can connect with.
And a lot of time that is consistency and putting yourself out there and being open.
00:07:51 – Why Digital Connection Feels Awkward (Reframe It)
Because here’s the thing, a lot of us really struggle with this.
This is not what we grew up with.
This is not how we were
We, we learned in business years and years ago, and it’s not because we don’t understand people, because it’s because the rules of connection have changed.
We grew up connecting through conversation, not content.
We grew up with referrals, not reels.
We grew up with reputation, not algorithms.
So now we’re at being asked to do something that really kind of feels awkward or fake at first.
We’re asked to build emotional resonance through our little tiny digital screens.
But here’s how we can reframe that.
It’s not fake connection.
It’s facilitated connection.
Your content can just be the conversation starter.
the relationship still happens human to human.
Like looking at the content of the people that I hope to meet in a couple of weeks, that’s just content.
I can get that anywhere.
But just the way they presented it, I really felt a connection.
And we’re still going to happen human to human, not on the little bitty screens.
So whether you’re on video, whether you write emails or you show up on social media, ask yourself, would I say this to someone sitting across from me?
If the answer is yes, you’re creating a connection.
If the answer is no, probably not, then you’re you’re buying into the marketing fluff and your audience can tell the difference very quickly.
They can tell the difference.
00:09:48 – Connection at Different Stages of Business Growth
So here’s what connection looks like at the different stages of your business.
When you’re just starting out and you’re figuring it out, the connection is personal.
You’re the brand, you’re the message, you’re the relationship.
People connect to you.
They connect to your story, your energy, your why.
And that’s where, this is why you respond to every DM you get, every comment, and you e-mail people personally because you’re building relationships one at a time.
And that’s the foundation.
That’s the foundation of connecting.
You’re building the muscle of connection.
You’re learning how to do it.
You’re setting that stage and that standard.
Because as your business grows, that personal connection becomes a model for how your brand connects at scale, how you’re going to scale at each of the different phases of your business.
So, when you’re in the next phase, the work it out, now you have some traction.
People know you.
You’ve built a little bit of a community.
So, at this stage, connection becomes all about consistency and clarity.
So, the figure it out is personal.
The work it out is consistency and clarity.
Your job, should you choose to accept it,
is to make sure your brand voice, your visuals, and the message all lines up.
Make sure that you’re talking about the symptoms of the problems that you solve so people will recognize you instantly no matter where they see you.
You want everything to be consistent.
And this is where frameworks, your brand stories, and your signature language can come into play.
This is where your message is very important.
You might have a signature process, like I have my client clarity pathway or the digital flow framework that I’ve created.
That gives people a way to understand how I think, and that’s what is going to deepen the connection.
It gives my audience a structure, something to belong to, because connection isn’t just emotional, although that’s a huge part of it, it’s also cognitive.
People connect more deeply when they make sense of your ideas.
It has to make sense to them.
So then when you go into the rocket out phase, that third stage of business, you’re moving from personal brand to message movement.
You’re creating a movement around your message.
It becomes, your connection becomes about community and identity.
You’re not just building clients, you’re building followers and believers.
People are connecting to your mission.
They connect to your beliefs, your values, your worldview, your philosophy.
Think of brands like Brene Brown or Mel Robbins.
Love Mel Robbins, if you haven’t read her book, strongly suggest it.
Simon Sinek, oh my gosh, he’s amazing.
Think about what they have done and how they have connected and how they have grown.
Their audience connect with them because they see themselves in the message.
You know, when you look at Mel Robbins’ story, oh my gosh, she was a mess for years.
And now look at what she took that mess and she made a movement.
Her five second, who would have thought five seconds, that became a movement.
Now we just finished in our book club, the Let Them Theory.
That is huge.
Look, look, look at that.
How something’s so simple is let them do what they want to do became a movement.
And so this is what you’re aiming for as you grow.
You want to turn your voice into a mirror where your audience can see and recognize themselves in their own potential.
That’s the huge benefit of that work it out, rock it out, that rock it out stage of business, that third stage of business.
And as a boss it out business, you’re just expanding that and taking it deeper and larger and longer and further.
And your community is building even more.
And this is when your message really does become a Mel Robbins type of movement.
00:14:11 – The Power of Story (You’re the Guide)
So as you’re building connection, the role of story is very important in your connection.
Because if there’s one tool that will build it faster than anything, it’s story.
Stories go past logic.
They just totally bypass it and they go straight to emotion.
When you tell a story that your audience relates to, you create a bridge between your experience and their experiences.
They may not have the exact same story,
But we’ve had something similar, or we can see ourselves in.
what you’re saying.
Because your story isn’t about you.
It’s about what your story unlocks for them.
You want to create stories that is that your ideal clients are going to see themselves in what you have done and your story.
You’re not the hero.
You’re the guide.
If you follow Donald Miller’s StoryBrand, you’re the guide, not the hero.
And so many times I’ve had clients say, but I’m the hero.
I’m saving them.
No, you’re guiding them through.
The hero is the client.
You’re the guide.
Think about wicked.
Think about, you know, the guides in wicked, although the Wizard of Oz has been totally flipped upside down lately.
But, you know, think about that, how the guides in those stories have taken them through.
You know, there was the, I can’t remember her name, the Oriental
lady that was the first guide, she was not necessarily a good guide.
And now we’re seeing that Glenda the witch, Glenda the good witch, maybe wasn’t necessarily so good after all.
But that’s the power of storytelling.
And when you do it right, it builds trust without having to brag.
It makes it relatable without having to overshare.
And it gives a depth of your connection without being really complex.
Because with stories, you don’t have to go deep.
You just have to tell the story.
And it reminds your audience that you’ve been where they are now.
You get them because this is you.
This has been you.
00:16:26 – What Breaks Connection
So there are some things that can break a connection, and we want to talk about ways to avoid breaking the connection.
First biggest, biggest killer of connection is inconsistency.
When your audience never knows what to expect from you, your message is always changing.
You’re showing up, you know, just whenever you feel like it, not on a schedule.
They stop looking for you.
Consistency builds reliability and reliability builds trust.
Over editing and over curation.
You want to be real.
Everything doesn’t.
You don’t want everything polished and perfect and planned.
That puts a wall there.
People connect with your imperfection.
It’s human.
I have a client who wants everything to go out to be perfect, and it’s causing a wall between her clients and her message because
People can’t live up to that perfection, that idea of perfection.
Sure, there’s a difference between being perfect and being a role model.
A role model is not perfect.
A role model has imperfections.
You want to avoid generic messaging.
You know, live your best life.
Let’s, you know, let’s get clear.
Oh my gosh.
I catch myself all the time, especially if you use a lot of a lot of ChatGPT or AI.
It’s like, let’s look at clarity.
It’s like people don’t pay for clarity.
People don’t want clarity.
They want they want to be connected with.
They want to resonate.
They want you to understand.
And yes, is that clarity?
Of course it is.
But how many times have we heard clarity becoming so overused?
It’s like a bumper sticker.
You want to say something specific that people can feel.
And kind of related to consistency is neglect.
If you go quiet for long periods of time, people feel the silence with assumptions.
They make assumptions about you that aren’t true.
So stay present, even if it’s simple, even if it’s short, let people know that you’re there.
Things are going on and that’s okay.
There again, kind of goes back to that.
My life is not perfect.
You know, I have a 93 year old mom and I have to drop things all of a sudden to, you know, to go take care of, of things that happen.
And, you know, that that can cause me not to be perfect sometimes.
Think of it kind of like a campfire.
or a, you know, a fire in the fireplace.
If you don’t tend it, it goes out and it’s winter.
So I think about fires in the fireplace.
So now let’s, let’s, let’s build on this.
00:19:11 – Emotional Layers of Trust + Client Example
Let’s talk about the emotional layers of connection, because this is, this is where a lot of the magic happens.
People connect when they feel seen.
They feel like you understand their struggles.
They connect when they feel safe.
You’re not judging, you’re not pressuring them.
They feel inspired.
You show them what’s possible, and people feel connected when they feel supported.
You offer encouragement or guidance.
Every piece of content, conversation, or touchpoint should aim for at least one of those emotions that’s seen, safe, inspired, and supported.
That gives you a framework to think about your content.
Are you are you being supportive?
Saying, I understand, I get this and here’s why.
Or, you know, I, you know, I’m not here to judge you.
Let’s talk about what, you know, what you’re going through because there’s so many of us that have gone through that.
I’ve gone through that.
I’m going to let you feel safe.
Emotional connection is what turns interest into intimacy and intimacy
is what creates trust.
So you’ve got a little chain here.
You’ve got consistency, you’ve got connection, you’ve got, you know, emotional safety.
Now you’ve got intimacy and trust.
I had a client recently, another client who was a leadership coach, and she felt like she was invisible.
She was posting every day.
She was giving valuable tips.
but she wasn’t getting any feedback or any engagement.
And when we looked at her content, I noticed that she was talking at her audience, not to her audience.
Her posts were all like three steps to do this, or five ways to improve your blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
That was informative, but it wasn’t connecting.
So we shifted her strategy a little bit.
And instead of three steps to do this, we started saying, here are five signs you need leadership training.
We’ve made it about her audience.
We made it about you, her audience.
Have you ever walked out of a meeting and thought, I’m the boss, but I don’t feel like a leader?
How much more powerful is that than three ways to lead a team or whatever the, you know, the content was?
Boom.
It created a connection because her audience could then put themselves in her shoes.
Yes, I walked out of a meeting and felt like I hadn’t connected with my team.
Her audience felt seen.
And when that happened, her engagement doubled.
Her inquiries, she went from one or two clients a month to now she’s booked solid.
Because information educates, but emotion connects.
00:22:25 – Where Connection Happens + Reflection, CTA, and Closing
And here’s one more elephant in the room.
And I so feel this.
And I so feel when you say this, that you hate social media, because, honestly, I do too.
And that’s okay.
Connection doesn’t happen to happen on a specific platform.
It just happens to happen somewhere.
And I talk about this A lot.
If you don’t like Facebook, don’t be on Facebook.
If you feel more comfortable on Instagram,
Go to Instagram.
If you want to do Threads, which is more text oriented than not necessarily visual, go to Threads, but find some place that you can connect to.
For me, I like my podcast.
You know, yes, I have a social media team and they put out the social media, but I only do it because it’s expected of me.
Honestly, I prefer my podcast because I can talk.
I can talk in your ear.
I can talk to you and we can make that connection.
you can connect on your e-mail list.
A lot of you have e-mail lists out there.
How are you using it to make connection or are you using it just to sell?
And I know I get guilty of that sometimes.
I get in a rush and I have to put something out because I’ve offered to send information out about somebody’s summit or something.
And
so I, that’s my goal for the next year is to really start sitting down and thinking how I can use my e-mail list and better connect with you if you’re on it.
Speaking engagements.
How can you connect with speaking engagements?
And I know a lot of you are probably like out there going, I don’t want to get on a stage.
But that’s one way that you can really connect with an audience is by getting up there and being human, being yourself, having fun with it.
I’ve got a friend that’s a, you know, when she speaks, she’ll call and she’ll just say, I’m just so jazzed after speaking.
I love speaking.
And she’s really good at it.
And she makes a very good connection with her audience.
Go to networking groups, find a group that you really like.
That’s a wonderful way to make connection.
Find a private community that you like, whether it’s on Facebook or some of the other places.
There’s a bazillion places that you can connect with now.
Send handwritten notes or even video messages.
I’ve had several people send me recently sending me talk messages.
And while I get the connection,
I don’t love them because I can read faster than I can, I can listen.
But a lot of people do like that.
And a lot of people do like receiving them.
So find out what works for you and what works for your, for your community.
Because the platform is just the vehicle.
The connection is you.
And when your message is aligned and comes from the heart, it doesn’t matter where you show up.
People will feel it and they’ll hear you.
So our action steps for this session are going to be reflection.
I want you to think about how you’re connecting.
I want you to ask yourself these questions.
Does my audience engage with my content because it’s useful or because it’s meaningful?
And if you don’t know the answer to that, go ask.
Ask somebody who’s engaged with your content, what resonated with you about the content?
When I share something, am I giving emotion or am I giving information?
Am I creating emotion?
How often do I invite real conversation?
How often do I reach out and just have a conversation with people?
Do my clients and followers feel like they know me or do they just know what I sell?
Am I an island or am I surrounded by boats?
I got a bad analogy, but you get the picture.
Am I showing up human?
How am I showing up?
And if your answers lean toward not good enough, then start thinking of how you can start working on that to build a connection.
This is coming out at the end of the year.
We’re coming up on our New Year’s resolutions.
You know, if you’re listening to this, when it comes out live, think about how for the next year you can really form some amazing connections.
For me, I’m going to go out and start speaking on stages more.
I kind of backed off on that this year, but this year I want to go speak on stages more.
So if you have a stage, let me know.
This is the perfect place to start thinking about how you can deepen your connection with your audience, with your potential clients, and with people that can refer business to you.
Because connection is what turns discovery into desire.
It’s the heartbeat of your marketing.
It’s the invisible thread that ties your audience to your brand.
And when you can master connection, you’ll never have to shout to be heard again.
So as you move through the week, think about your reflection questions.
Think about how you can connect more deeply with your audience and even with yourself as a business owner.
If you would like help with that, I have my Profitable Path Blueprint call.
You’re welcome to schedule a call with me, talkwithlori.com, get you to my calendar, schedule a call, and we can talk about different ways that you can make connection.
I’ll tell you everything that I do wrong because sometimes it takes getting it wrong to know when you’re getting it right.
And remember, you don’t need to reach everyone, you just need to reach the right people.
So if this episode helps you seek connection in a different way, I’d love for you to share this with a business, with somebody who owns a business.
And, you know, just a reminder that marketing is still about people.
Being seen gets you noticed, but being felt gets you chosen.
And also remember, it’s never too late to build the business of the dreams.
We’ll see you next time when we go into the next stage of our client journey.
All the best.
See you next time.
Thank you for joining me on the Midlife Business Academy.
If today’s episode made you think or made you feel or made you feel seen, share it with a fellow business owner who could use it too.
When you’re ready for more support, you’ll find the link to book your profitable path blueprint call in the show notes.
I’ll be back next week with more insight and strategy to help you build a business that truly fits your life and one of your dreams.
We’ll see you next time on the Midlife Business Academy.