Episode Details

In this spontaneous bonus episode of The Experienced Entrepreneur, Marissa Lawton shares an unscripted, candid reflection on the current market shift and the growing narrative that "courses are dead," "podcasts are dead," or that entire business models are suddenly no longer viable.

Drawing on more than a decade of experience in online business, formal business education, and firsthand work across industries like real estate and mental health, Marissa brings much-needed context, nuance, and perspective to a conversation that's often dominated by fear-based headlines and clickbait marketing.

This episode is not about declaring what's over. It's about naming what has actually changed.

Marissa speaks directly to the wave of commentary circulating around well-known educators and creators like Amy Porterfield and Jenna Kutcher, whose long-standing business models are often used as "proof" that courses, podcasts, or education-based businesses no longer work. Instead of participating in takedown culture or oversimplified conclusions, Marissa invites listeners to look more closely at what's really happening beneath the surface.

She explains why the last few years felt unusually easy for many business owners, how the economic expansion of 2020–2022 distorted expectations, and why today's contraction is exposing gaps in sales skill, business acumen, and strategic discernment. The issue is not that trusted educators or proven models suddenly failed. The issue is that the ease with which people used to buy has changed.

As purchasing power tightens and buyers become more thoughtful, success now requires stronger positioning, deeper trust, clearer leadership, and a willingness to re-engage with the fundamentals of running a business rather than relying on momentum alone. Businesses built during or optimized for an anomalous market are now being asked to mature.

Throughout the episode, Marissa draws parallels between the online business space and more established industries like real estate and therapy, showing how cyclical markets, regional differences, and skill development play out across sectors. She reframes today's challenges not as a collapse, but as a return to reality — one where staying power matters more than trends.

The takeaway is clear: courses aren't dead, podcasts aren't dead, and education-based businesses aren't disappearing. What is fading is the era of passive promises, thin differentiation, and selling without depth.

This conversation is especially relevant for experienced business owners who feel unsettled by slower sales, longer decision cycles, or shifting buyer behavior and are questioning whether the problem is their offer or something larger at play.

• Why calling entire business models "dead" oversimplifies a much larger market shift

• How well-known educators are often unfairly used as symbols for broader industry fear

• What's actually disappearing in the online business space and why it feels destabilizing

• How economic contraction and headline culture