In this Most Valuable Podcast episode, I'm re-sharing how having too many offers in your local business is slowing down your sales.

I’m walking you through SIX different ways this shows up for local business owners — from confusing your audience to filling your calendar with the wrong clients — and why simplifying your offers one of the fastest ways to start getting fully booked.

Tune into this episode to learn:

• Why too many offers confuse potential clients and slow down local sales
• How juggling multiple services drains your marketing momentum and energy
• What happens when fallback offers fill your schedule (and how to fix it)

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.

In this episode, I’m sitting down with Brooke Palmer of Jenny Creek Flowers — a former teacher turned flower farmer in Ithaca, New York — to talk about how she built local demand.

Tune into this episode to learn:

• How Brooke set herself apart, became known in her city and sold out her products and workshops with a waitlist
• The mindset shifts that helped her go from not selling to making thousands of dollars via email and social media posts
• Why staying focused on your local audience, keeping your strategy simple and prioritizing your own growth helps you build faster
  
  

Mentioned in this episode:

• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following
• Get fully booked inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall
• Follow Brooke on Instagram @jennycreekflowers
• Visit Jenny Creek Flowers Website

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.

Are hashtags still relevant on Instagram in 2026… or are they basically pointless now? There’s a lot of confusion around hashtags right now, especially with so many people saying different things. In this episode, Leslie breaks down what hashtags can still do specifically for local business owners, what’s changed on Instagram and how local business owners should think about visibility in 2026.

Tune into this episode to learn:

• How Instagram determines who to show your content to in 2026
• The 2 best practices for using hashtags to reach more local people in 2026
• The difference between being proactive and being optimized on Instagram — and why you need both
  
  

Mentioned in this episode:

• Get found, followed and booked by people in your city with The Local Instagram Formula
• Download my Free Guide: How To Grow Your Local Instagram Following
• Get fully booked inside The Localpreneur Academy
• Follow me on Instagram @‌lesliepresnall

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.

Are you waiting for something outside of you to finally make you feel more confident, more legit or more established in your city?

In this episode, Leslie breaks down one of the sneaky thoughts that can keep local business owners playing smaller than they want to. If you’ve been hesitating to follow up, put yourself out there, send the email, pitch the collaboration or market your business more boldly, this episode will help you see what may really be going on underneath the surface.

Tune into this episode to learn:

• The sneaky thought that may be keeping you stuck at your current level and how it's affecting how you market and sell in your business
• Why waiting to feel “established” is slowing your growth
• Why feeling established, confident, and credible starts with your thinking first — not your circumstances.
  
  

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:
How To Get Local Clients From Social Media (Even If Your Reach Is Low)

Click here to register for this free training happening on Monday, March 30 at 12PM CT

In this special 150th episode of the Grow Your Local Business Podcast, I’m doing something different.

I originally planned to record an Ask Me Anything episode, but after seeing how many of your questions were really about me and my story, I decided to take this episode in a different direction.

So today, I’m pulling back the curtain and sharing the full journey... from growing up in North Louisiana, to dreaming of working for a fashion magazine in New York City, to becoming a teacher, blogger, event host, social media manager and eventually the local marketing coach I am today.

This episode is personal, but it’s also a lesson for you: your audience wants to know you.

They don’t just want your tips, your strategy or your how-to content. They want your story, your personality, your life and the things that make you you.

That connection is what builds trust, relationships and real demand over time.

Inside this episode, I’m sharing how I built a name for myself locally in Baton Rouge, how my local blog turned into sold-out events and a thriving community, how I left teaching, found coaching, launched The Localpreneur Academy, and why I eventually let go of one business to fully go all in on the one I have now.

If you’ve ever wondered where I started, how I got here, or what this whole business journey has really looked like behind the scenes, this is it.

Tune into this episode to learn:

• How my career evolved from magazine editor to teacher, blogger, event host, social media manager and coach
• The pivot that helped me stand out locally and become known in my city
• How letting go of old identities, offers and distractions helped me focus and grow faster
  
  

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
• Episode #63: Leaving My Full-time Job and Facing My Worst Case Scenario
  
  

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:
How To Get Local Clients From Social Media (Even If Your Reach Is Low)

Click here to register for this free training happening on Monday, March 30 at 12PM CT

Do you struggle with taking photos or video for social media while you're working with clients? Do you forget to take photos or videos of your finished results or final product? Do you feel like you don't have anything to post on social media because you never collect content?

Then this episode is for you! I'm sharing lots of examples and ways to easily work getting content with your clients into your regular routine.


Tune into this episode to learn:

• How to plan for getting content and making it part of your workflow
• How to be proactive with collecting content vs leaving up to chance when working with clients
• How to have a back up plan for content when clients don't want to be featured
  
  

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:
How To Get Local Clients From Social Media (Even If Your Reach Is Low)

Click here to register for this free training happening on Monday, March 30 at 12PM CT

Erica started High Five Ceramics just over a year ago and in her first year in business, she went from “brand new” to booked out fast. She hit her revenue goal, booked 560 appointments and was highly visible in her community through pop-up shops and markets.

This created the kind of local demand that forced her to hire help and expand her space sooner than she expected. In this episode, Erica breaks down what actually drove that momentum (spoiler: it wasn’t doing it alone), and the behind-the-scenes lessons that helped her grow fast without burning out.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• How Erica managed the fear of growing too fast and the simple ways she controls demand locally so her calendar stays full without becoming overwhelmed.
• The collaboration strategy that helped her tap into other local businesses’ audiences and get seen by thousands of people in her city.
• The market learning curve that took her from zero sales at her first market to booking 40 appointments... plus what she changed in her setup, messaging, and offer to make events actually convert.

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
• Follow Erica on Instagram at @highfive_ceramics and Facebook at High Five Ceramics
• Visit High Five Ceramics' Website

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.

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:
How To Get Local Clients From Social Media (Even If Your Reach Is Low)

Click here to register for this free training happening on Monday, March 30 at 12PM CT