START THAT BUSINESS · 2026-04-22 · 22 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
24 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Chichiyokomadu explains why leads disappear between signing up for your lead magnet and becoming paying clients - and how to fix it with a lead journey map. Using the analogy of a hotel's intentional guest experience from valet to room arrival, she argues that leads form opinions of your business from their very first touchpoint, not just during the paid service phase. The missing piece most entrepreneurs overlook is an intentional, mapped experience that guides prospects from curiosity to readiness to buy. A lead journey map is a visual or written plan documenting every touchpoint from opt-in through conversion, structured in four stages: entry point (lead magnet delivery), introduction (nurture emails building trust), value delivery (ongoing content and sales sequence), and invitation (clear call to action). The episode walks through a five-step process to build one - starting with the end goal, mapping touchpoints, assigning purpose to each email, identifying drop-off gaps, and bridging those gaps with intentional content. Specific touch point examples include welcome emails, value emails teaching solutions, story emails building empathy, social proof via testimonials, and invitation emails extending warm offers.
A lead journey map is a visual or written plan mapping every touchpoint a lead experiences from signing up for your lead magnet to becoming a paying client. Entrepreneurs need one because leads form opinions about your business immediately upon opt-in, and without an intentional mapped experience, most leads get lost and never convert.
The four stages are: (1) entry point - immediate lead magnet delivery with a warm introduction; (2) introduction - nurture emails in the first 3 emails building trust and credibility; (3) value delivery - ongoing emails and content solving problems and deepening relationships; and (4) invitation - a clear, confident email inviting them to work with you.
Start with the end in mind (define your desired action like booking a call), map out all touchpoints between opt-in and that action, assign a purpose to each touchpoint (value, trust-building, or invitation), identify where people drop off, and build bridges to fill those gaps with intentional content.
Common mistakes include sending one welcome email then going silent for weeks, jumping straight to pitching without nurturing first, making emails about yourself instead of the lead's transformation, and not having a clear next step or final destination in mind.
Effective touch points include welcome emails delivering the magnet, value emails teaching solutions to their number one problem, story emails sharing your personal journey and values, social proof emails featuring testimonials or case studies, and invitation emails extending a warm offer to work with you.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode packages standard email nurture sequence advice under the new label 'lead journey map' and walks through four stages plus five build steps, which provides some useful scaffolding for true beginners. However, extended hotel and restaurant analogies consume several minutes without adding information, and the actual tactical content (welcome email, value email, story email, social proof, offer) is entry-level digital marketing that any basic email marketing course covers.
Every email should do one of three things. It's either it's delivering value, is building trust, or is extending an invitation for them to come and work with you.
A lead journey map is simply a visual or a, uh, written plan that maps out every touch point a lead experiences from the time they sign up for Your lead magnet to the time they become a client.
The 'lead journey map' is a renaming of a standard email funnel with no new mechanics or counterintuitive arguments; the analogies (hotel check-in, restaurant greeting) are common in marketing content. The only distinctive framing is the Christian shepherd metaphor drawn from Psalm 23, which is motivationally novel but adds no substantive differentiation to the framework itself.
Another way to look at your lead journey map is being a Shepherd. In Psalm 23:1, it says, the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
It's like going on a blind date and on that first date, the person is asking you to marry them and you're like, wait, we just met for the first time.
This is a solo episode with no guest; the host claims 13 years running a 7-figure service business, which is meaningful operator experience, but the depth and specificity of the content does not demonstrate that background and is calibrated entirely to pre-launch beginners, limiting practical value for operators at any meaningful scale.
I left my job, built a 7 figure service based business and ran it for 13 years.
I am a business strategist, an execution coach and a Jesus follower.
There are essentially no concrete numbers, named companies, conversion benchmarks, or real case studies in the episode; the one semi-specific observation about email drop-off is entirely hypothetical, and the only hard figures mentioned are a workshop date and time, which are promotional rather than evidentiary.
maybe you sent the first three engagement emails in your sequence and you see that after the third email, people stop opening the fourth and the fifth one that you sent
The next workshop is happening on Saturday May 2, 2026 at 12 noon Central Standard Time
This is a solo monologue with no guest, no interview dynamic, and no opportunity for follow-up or productive disagreement; the host's delivery is organized and the structure is coherent, but the episode is essentially a scripted presentation with motivational padding, and no challenging of any claims occurs at any point.
So tune out the distractions, lean in and let's get started.
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I pray it made you feel seen, taught you something new and encouraged you to take action.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Hey Friend, Welcome to the Start That Business Podcast, where Christians working a 9-to-5 get the clarity, strategy, and faith-first guidance they need to step boldly into their calling to start a service-based business without leaving their job yet. If you're attracting leads but not converting them to clients, the problem might not be your offer; it might be what's happening (or not happening) between the opt-in and the sale. Your client experience doesn't begin at onboarding. It begins the moment someone says yes to your lead magnet. In this episode, we walk through how to create a Lead Journey Map, a practical, intentional plan for how you serve every lead from the moment they enter your world to the moment they become a paying client. This is a how-to episode designed to help you stop losing leads and start stewarding them with purpose. By the end of this episode, you will have a clear step-by-step process for building your own Lead Journey Map from scratch. I pray this blesses you. . Today’s Episode Spotlight Join the Arise and Shine Prayer Call @ 5 am CST | 6 am EST Join the Arise and Shine 365 Challenge . Ready to Stop Delaying and Start Building?
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Host: A few years ago I traveled to Florida for a women's retreat and the ah, moment I drove up into the hotel, I started experiencing what the hotel had to offer.
Chichiyokomadu: So from the way the valet greeted
Host: me to me walking through the hotel doors, perceiving the lobby scent, then the soft music that was playing in the background, to the front desk rep that smiled at me even before I reached the counter. By the time I got to my room, I already decided whether I liked this hotel, whether I was going to come back on my own, maybe with my spouse. And I was already forming an impression right from when I drove up. Do you know that the leads that you attract to your service based business are doing the exact same thing? They are forming an impression of your business from the moment they enter your world through your lead magnet, not at the moment when they pay for your services. And I find that often business owners obsess over the client experience, the onboarding, um, call or the welcome box, the deliverables, the offboarding. But they miss a valuable moment to start forming the right impression right from the moment they collect the email address of a lead. Now we're going to fix that in today's episode. So tune out the distractions, lean in and let's get started.
Chichiyokomadu: You're currently working a 9 to 5, but you know you're called to do more. You feel unfulfilled at a job you've clearly outgrown. Um, you ignore the quiet nudge prompting you to move in a new direction because you're afraid of losing your predictable income or and stepping into something God sized. If that resonates with you, you are
Host: in the right place.
Chichiyokomadu: Welcome to Start that Business podcast where you will find the clarity, strategy and systems you need to start your service based business without leaving your job yet. My name is Chichiyokomadu. I am a business strategist, an execution coach and a Jesus follower. I knew I was called to start a business but I struggled with lack of clarity, self doubt and the fear of losing a predictable income. My lack of courage kept me stuck until I traded it for obedience to God's calling. I left my job, built a 7 figure service based business and ran it for 13 years. Now I help other Christians working on uh 9 to 5 do the same.
Host: You don't have to stay stuck in
Chichiyokomadu: unfulfillment, fear, doubt or lack of clarity. It's time to partner with God and step boldly into your calling to start that business. You know the one I'm talking about? Yes, that one. You've been putting off for a long time.
Host: One of my favorite things to do is to discover new plant based or vegan restaurants where I can eat new, something new and just explore. As a matter of fact, I have a wish list. Whenever I find a new plant based or vegan restaurant, I put it down. I'm m like, I want to try that out. I want to check it out. So when I get to visit one of these places, I start forming my opinion about that restaurant from the parking lot. So I, I form an opinion on how easy was it for me to find parking? Was it easy for me to find parking? Did I have to drive several blocks just to park, then walk for a long time to get to the restaurant? How did the waiter greet me when I came in? Did they attend to me or did I stand for a few minutes before they even noticed that I walked into the restaurant? Where did they sit me? So before I even see their, uh, menu and place an order, I'm already forming, um, an opinion about that restaurant. And that's exactly what the leads that, uh, we attract to our businesses do. From the moment they opt into our lead magnet, they start forming an opinion of our business. And we work so hard to attract these leads. We create a lead magnet, we build the landing page, we run promo, and they opt in. But we notice that in between when they opt in and the point where they actually convert to clients, there's a missing link. Things go cricket right there. And that missing link, like I said, sits in the middle of the journey between your lead magnet and then becoming a first time paying client. Now that missing piece is supposed to be an intentional, mapped out experience that works your lead from I'm curious all the way to I'm ready to work with you. And that's where a lot of new entrepreneurs often miss the point. They focus so much on the client experience, which is great, but you need to pay attention to how intentional am I in mapping out the experience from when they opt into my lead magnet to them working with me. And that's exactly what a, uh, lead journey map helps you do. And I'm going to walk you through how to build your own lead journey map from scratch so that the leads that you're already attracting to your lead magnet can finally have a clear path to becoming the clients that you have been called to serve. So what's a lead journey map? A lead journey map is simply a visual or a, uh, written plan that maps out every touch point a lead experiences from the time they sign up for Your lead magnet to the time they become a client. So you sit down and you decide and you say, okay, once they sign up for my lead magnet, this is the experience I want to take them through so that they will be attracted enough to say, yes, I want to work with this person. Your lead journey map should answer the question, what happens to someone after they say yes to my lead magnet? What is the process? How do I lead them on to becoming a client? It's not just an email sequence. It's a full experience where you're delivering the magnet, the lead magnet you promised them, where you're building trust, where you're building relationship, and you're now inviting them to come and work with you. So it should be intentional. So oftentimes I see new entrepreneurs, they create their lead magnet, but there's no journey, there's no journey map that actually leads the lead to becoming a client. So the lead arrives and they get lost because there's no path, no clear path to them becoming a, uh, client. And it's very important to be intentional with your lead journey because people, people don't just want to sign up for your lead magnet. They are signing up so that they can experience being led to something. A lead that feels seen, that feels served, that feels supported before the sale becomes a client who trusts you before you even start working together. Because they see how intentional you are to leading them to the sale and they're like, yeah, I want to work with this person. Any lead who feels ignored, overwhelmed, or confused becomes a person who quietly unsubscribes from your email list. Sometimes they might not even physically click the unsubscribe button, but they just tune your emails out so that you send them, but they are not landing anywhere. So your lead journey map should be created in such a way that it reflects your brand, it reflects your values, and it reflects your capacity to deliver what you're promising that you can deliver to them. There are four key stages when you are creating your lead journey map that you should consider. The first stage is the entry point. This is the opt in moment. This is, uh, at your lead magnet landing page. So what they receive immediately, what are they receiving immediately? The lead magnet you promised them, how fast do they receive it? What is the delivery experience? What does it feel like? Is it written? Is it audio? Is it video? What are other things that go in the email? So that is the entry point. That's the first stage. The second stage is the introduction. So this is where the nurture emails start going out. You Are introducing yourself, who you are, why they should trust you, what you stand for. So all these things should be captured in your email nurture sequence that goes out after you've delivered the lead. So in your first to three emails after the opt in, this is where the introduction is happening. Then the third stage is the value delivery. So this is where you go beyond the introduction and you have like the sales email sequence which is ongoing emails, content, other touch points that continue to serve them and deepen the relationship. Maybe you can send an email to solve one problem, to answer a question, to give them value before you invite them to come and work with you. Which is the fourth stage in the lead journey map. The fourth stage is where you invite them to come and work with you. Now this is the moment you send an email and you say, hey, come and work with me. Here's the next step you should take. If you downloaded this lead magnet, you have nurtured the relationship through your introduction emails, through your value delivery emails. Now you're telling them this is the next step you should take. And you're doing it from a position of trust and not a position of desperation. Because leads can smell when you're desperate. So you invite them to come and work with you. That is the fourth stage. The lead journey map is one of the core systems we build together inside the Start that Business accelerator. The accelerator is a program where Christians working on 9 to 5 who are ready to launch their service based business get of full framework coaching and done for you execution to launch their business with confidence. To get access to apply you have to take the first step which is to attend the Start that Business Life workshop. The next workshop is happening on Saturday May 2, 2026 at 12 noon Central Standard Time. To save your seat at that live workshop go to from jobtobusiness.com now how do you actually build your lead journey map? Uh, the first step is to start at the end. So start with the end in mind. Where are you trying to lead to? Where do you want them to get to? What is the final destination? So start with the end in mind. What action do you want the lead to take to get to that final destination? So do you want them to book a call? Do you want them to purchase your course? Do you want them to purchase your digital products? Do you want them um, to register for a workshop? So start with that end in mind, then work backwards. Once you've done that, the next step you need to take is to map out the touch points. So list every email, every piece of Content every interaction between the points, they opt into your lead magnet. And when that end action happens, which is either to book a call, purchase your service, register for a workshop. So what are the touch points? Touch points are, uh, what are the things that happen in between your lead magnet and when they finally do that thing you want them to do? The third step is to assign a purpose to each change touch point. So know clearly what am I trying to achieve with this email I'm, um, sending? What am I trying to achieve with this email sequence? Every email should do one of three things. It's either it's delivering value, is building trust, or is extending an invitation for them to come and work with you. So every touch point should have a purpose. Number four, identify the gaps. So after you've done step one, two, three, identify the gaps, where are people dropping off? Maybe you sent the first three engagement emails in your sequence and you see that after the third email, people stop opening the fourth and the fifth one that you sent, then that is where you need to pause to identify what is the gap? Where is there silence? Where am I assuming that they know what to do next and how do I fix it? Which brings us to step five. Step five is where you build the bridge. You fill in those gaps. Once you've studied the data and you've seen, okay, people, stop opening my engagement emails or my sales email after I send the fourth one, then you fill in the gap with intention that will move them forward to that next step. So here are some examples of the touch points you can have in your lead journey. Now, the first one is your welcome email. This is the first email that goes out immediately to deliver the lead magnet that you promised them with a warm introduction of who you are. Now once that has gone out, the second touch point can be a value email. And this email can teach them something that is relevant to their number one problem. Then you provide a solution in that email or you give them an outcome in that email. Now the third touch point can be a story email. This can be your own personal story where you tell them who you are, why you are doing this and what you believe. Because whether you like it or not, people are gravitated to other people that share the same values with them. So a good story always engenders empathy. Now the fourth touch point example can be a social proof. This can be where you share a result you have gotten for previous client, a testimonial or a case study. And uh, you do it in such a way that is conversational, is relatable to where they are so that they can see themselves as okay. If this person can get this result, I can also get the same result. The fifth touch point you can have in your lead journey is the invitation email. This is a clear, confident and warm offer you extend to them to take the next step to work with you. And again, you're not responsible for the outcome. You're responsible for creating the journey to get to that outcome. Now, if they decide to work with you or not, you know that it has nothing to do with your experience because you've created an intentional experience that leads them to where they need to go. And they can decide not to work with you for so many reasons. So don't beat yourself up. If a particular lead decides not to work with you, you will get so many more leads that will make that decision to work with you. Another way to look at your lead journey map is being a Shepherd. In Psalm 23:1, it says, the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. Now what does a shepherd do? A shepherd leads the sheep somewhere safe, somewhere that they can get pasture, they can get water. You are doing the same thing. When you create your lead journey map, you are guiding people toward, uh, the transformation that they are looking for. So you are pretty much a shepherd. When you create your lead journey map, you are responsible for the experience you create. So be intentional in nurturing your lead and leading them to the transformation they're looking for. Because when you do that, it's an act of honor. You're pretty much saying, I value your time and the trust that you have placed in me and I'm willing to be intentional about where I'm leading you to next. Some common mistakes to avoid when you are, uh, creating your lead journey map is sending one welcome email, delivering your lead magnet and going silent for weeks. That is not a good experience. Another mistake I see new entrepreneurs making is you send one email, you deliver the lead magnet, then the next email, you jump straight to pitching your offer or your service without building any relationship first. It's like going on a blind date and on that first date, the person is asking you to marry them and you're like, wait, we just met for the first time. So don't make that mistake. Take time to nurture the relationship first. Another mistake I see is making every email about you instead of making it about the leads transformation and where you're trying to take them to. So don't make every email about you. Don't make it about, oh, I'm, um, great at this, or, um, I'm great at that. Always focus on their problem, their desire, where they're trying to go to so
Chichiyokomadu: that they can see you as the
Host: guide that will lead them to the transformation they are looking for. The last mistake I see a lot of people making is not having a clear next step at the end of your journey. Remember when we're talking about the stages in the lead journey map, we said start with the end in mind, meaning what is the destination you're trying to take them to? Do you want them to book a call with you? Do you want them to purchase something? Make sure you have that already determined so that there's a clear next step. Step at the end of your lead journey map. The leads you're attracting deserve to be led. Well, like I said, you are a shepherd and God is sending people your way so that you can lead them to the transformation they're looking for. You are not just building a business, you're building an experience that reflects your character and your calling. And the way you treat a lead before they become a client tells them everything about how you would treat them after they give you their money. So make sure you are leading with intentionality, you are leading with generosity, and you are leading with a, uh, purpose. The lead journey map is actually one of the things we go deep into inside the Start that Business Accelerator. And if you're ready to build with a coach, the next step is to save a seat at uh, the Start that Business Live workshop. It's happening on Saturday, May 2, 2026 at uh, 12 noon Central Standard Time. Go to from jobtobusiness.com to save a seat so that you can take that first step to apply for the Start that Business Accelerator. Every lead God sends to you is your opportunity to steward and lead them well. So I challenge you to start that journey with them from a place of intentionality right from the very first step when they give you their email.
Chichiyokomadu: Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I pray it made you feel seen, taught you something new and encouraged you to take action. If it did, please hit the follow button so you are notified when a new episode drops. It will be a huge blessing if you left a review for this podcast
Host: on whatever platform you are listening from right now. It's the number one way I know
Chichiyokomadu: this podcast is serving you and it helps more Christians just like you find this show and take that first step to toward, uh, their business.
Host: Until next time, Remember, your expertise is
Chichiyokomadu: needed, your calling is real and I'm here to help you make it a reality.
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