In this shortie episode, Leslie shares the one metric she obsesses over more than anything else: sales. Yes, views, reach, followers, email stats, inquiries, consults, website traffic -- those metrics matter… but only because they’re supposed to lead somewhere.

If everything is “up” but sales aren’t coming in, you don’t have a local visibility or marketing problem, you have a conversion and selling problem.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why all roads lead to sales and how every other metric should be treated as a path leading to conversions
• The difference between marketing vs. selling and why growing an audience without strengthening your selling skillset leads results in less local demand
• Why you should think like a business scientist and troubleshoot what’s not converting and test new theories

Mentioned in this episode:

• Work with me inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall
• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following

If you’re ready to grow your local business and bring in a steady stream of clients, you need to check out The Localpreneur Academy. Click here to join me inside.

Rate, Review & Follow:

“I LOVE listening to the episodes, especially since they’re focused on local businesses and it’s not just generic marketing advice.” If you love the show too, please leave a rating and review. This helps me reach more people just like you who want to reach more local people and create a business they love.

FREE TRAINING:
Get Fully Booked Locally in 3 Simple Steps

Click here to register for this free training happening on Monday, February 23 at 12PM CT.

What if the thing that’s keeping you from becoming the local go-to in your city isn’t your visibility or marketing strategy… but the belief that you need to feel confident first?

In this episode, we’re talking about the difference between confidence and self-confidence and why self-confidence is the real skill you need to grow visibility, show up consistently on social media, put yourself out there locally and become the person people think of first.

If you’ve ever felt imposter syndrome, fear of showing up or like you’re just not good at marketing, this conversation will reframe everything (and give you a much more doable way to move forward).

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why “confidence” is a result, not a requirement to get started and the simple mindset shift that helps you start showing up before you feel ready
• The real difference between confidence vs. self-confidence and how to use self-confidence to follow through on marketing even when you feel uncomfortable
• How to stop making “I’m bad at this” mean “I’m not cut out for this” and instead use those early messy reps to build the local visibility that eventually gets you fully booked

Mentioned in this episode:

• Work with me inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall
• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following

If you’re ready to grow your local business and bring in a steady stream of clients, you need to check out The Localpreneur Academy. Click here to join me inside.

Rate, Review & Follow:

“I LOVE listening to the episodes, especially since they’re focused on local businesses and it’s not just generic marketing advice.” If you love the show too, please leave a rating and review. This helps me reach more people just like you who want to reach more local people and create a business they love.

Today we’re talking about creating certainty to buy because every customer needs a certain level of confidence before they say yes. They need to believe you can deliver, believe the result is possible for them and believe the experience will go the way they want it to go.

In this episode, I break down three simple ways to create more certainty in your marketing and I share real stories from my own life to show you exactly how a missing process can destroy buyer confidence instantly.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• How to build certainty in you as the local go-to so people know you're the best choice
• How to build certainty in your audience so they believe they can have/achieve what you're offering
• Why sharing your process is one of the fastest ways to increase certainty (and how a clear process removes buyer anxiety)

Mentioned in this episode:

• Work with me inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall
• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following

If you’re ready to grow your local business and bring in a steady stream of clients, you need to check out The Localpreneur Academy. Click here to join me inside.

Rate, Review & Follow:

“I LOVE listening to the episodes, especially since they’re focused on local businesses and it’s not just generic marketing advice.” If you love the show too, please leave a rating and review. This helps me reach more people just like you who want to reach more local people and create a business they love.

I’m sitting down with my student Tyler Blankenship, a home technology contractor in Durham, North Carolina. Six months ago when he joined The Localpreneur Academy, his business felt like a rollercoaster. Some weeks he’d get calls… some weeks it was crickets.

Even though he’d been in business for 4 years, he wasn’t getting the traction he expected. He would "panic market" and make his to-do list a mile long to reach clients.

But once he joined The Localpreneur Academy, he constrained his marketing plan, focused on mastering ONE skill that could create consistent leads and committed to showing up from a totally different identity.

And within 6 months…

He's fully booked with a month-long waitlist

He landed his biggest project ever (10x bigger!)

And his confidence is on a completely different level

In this episode, he's sharing how you don’t need more tactics... you need a simpler plan + the belief to stick with it.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Work with Tyler at Elevate Technologies
• Follow him on Instagram @elevatehometech and on Facebook
• Work with me inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall
• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following

If you’re ready to grow your local business and bring in a steady stream of clients, you need to check out The Localpreneur Academy. Click here to join me inside.

Rate, Review & Follow:

“I LOVE listening to the episodes, especially since they’re focused on local businesses and it’s not just generic marketing advice.” If you love the show too, please leave a rating and review. This helps me reach more people just like you who want to reach more local people and create a business they love.

I genuinely think it’s going to get easier and easier to stand out as the local go-to in your city... even if your industry feels saturated.

And it’s not because you found the perfect viral hook or used the trend of the week.

It’s because the people who are going to win in 2026 and beyond are the ones creating original content. The content that sounds like you, feels like you and can’t be replicated.

In this episode, I’m breaking down what’s been happening online over the past few years (hello AI content + viral trend overload)… and how you can use this moment to become the one people remember, trust and choose locally.

Because reaching people and standing out are NOT the same thing.

And I want you to be remembered.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why AI content + viral trends have made everyone’s marketing look “good”… but also made it way harder to stand out (and what to do instead)
• The real difference between reaching more people and standing out as the local go-to they actually remember and trust
• The simple mindset shift that helps you step into your authority as the expert in your city

Mentioned in this episode:

• Work with me inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall
• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following

If you’re ready to grow your local business and bring in a steady stream of clients, you need to check out The Localpreneur Academy. Click here to join me inside.

Rate, Review & Follow:

“I LOVE listening to the episodes, especially since they’re focused on local businesses and it’s not just generic marketing advice.” If you love the show too, please leave a rating and review. This helps me reach more people just like you who want to reach more local people and create a business they love.

“If you’re not embarrassed by who you were 12 months ago, you didn’t learn enough.” In this episode, Leslie shows you why that cringe is proof you’re growing and how to use it to make the next 12 months your biggest growth year yet.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why you might not be changing fast enough and how to fix it
• How to speed up your learning curve by increasing your reps, especially with content and visibility
• How to stop doing the same things over and over and getting the same results

Mentioned in this episode:

• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall
• Work with me inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following

If you’re ready to grow your local business and bring in a steady stream of clients, you need to check out The Localpreneur Academy. Click here to join me inside.

Rate, Review & Follow:

“I LOVE listening to the episodes, especially since they’re focused on local businesses and it’s not just generic marketing advice.” If you love the show too, please leave a rating and review. This helps me reach more people just like you who want to reach more local people and create a business they love.

Social media is always changing and 2026 is going to be a pivotal year for local business owners who want to stand out, get found and get hired... and Leslie predicts it will be EASIER than ever.

She's breaking down her top social media predictions for 2026, including what’s shifting with AI content, why duplicating trends are fading and why social media SEO is now non-negotiable if you want locals to actually find you.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why AI content is increasing fast, but audiences are craving the real you (and how to use AI without losing your voice)
• Why viral trends are starting to burn your audience out and how original content will help you become the local top choice faster and easier than ever
• Why social media SEO matters more than ever in 2026

Mentioned in this episode:

• Join The Local Instagram Formula
• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall
• Work with me inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following

If you’re ready to grow your local business and bring in a steady stream of clients, you need to check out The Localpreneur Academy. Click here to join me inside.

Rate, Review & Follow:

“I LOVE listening to the episodes, especially since they’re focused on local businesses and it’s not just generic marketing advice.” If you love the show too, please leave a rating and review. This helps me reach more people just like you who want to reach more local people and create a business they love.

There’s been a lot of buzz about Instagram Trial Reels lately. Creators are calling them “the new cheat code,” “the best feature Instagram has ever released” and “the fastest way to reach new people.”

But… do they actually work for local business owners?

Leslie is breaking down exactly how Trial Reels work, what makes them so powerful and (most importantly) how to use them to grow your local audience (not just rack up views from random people across the country).

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The biggest mistake local business owners make with Trial Reels and why their content is getting shown to non-local audiences
• How to optimize your Trial Reels for local discovery using keywords, location cues, messaging and clear city-specific hooks
• A simple script you can use to call out your city inside a Trial Reel to attract the exact people you want following you

Mentioned in this episode:

• Work with me inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall
• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following

If you’re ready to grow your local business and bring in a steady stream of clients, you need to check out The Localpreneur Academy. Click here to join me inside.

Rate, Review & Follow:

“I LOVE listening to the episodes, especially since they’re focused on local businesses and it’s not just generic marketing advice.” If you love the show too, please leave a rating and review. This helps me reach more people just like you who want to reach more local people and create a business they love.