Podcast Summary: Grow Your Local Business

Episode: 2 Things That Will Guarantee You Grow Faster

Host: Leslie Presnall
Date: January 13, 2026

Overview

In this episode, Leslie Presnall—a local marketing expert and life coach—shares two powerful strategies to guarantee faster growth for your local business. Blending practical marketing advice with impactful mindset shifts, Leslie explores how intentional action, embracing failure, and consistent evaluation can create transformative results. The episode is both motivational and tactical, designed to help listeners evolve rapidly as business owners and become proud (and even a little embarrassed) of how far they’ve come in just a year.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Growth Reflected in Retrospect (00:22–03:10)

• Leslie recounts re-reading promo emails from the previous year and cringing at how different they sounded from her current self.
• This discomfort is reframed as a sign of impressive growth in self-concept, messaging, and business confidence.
• Notable quote:
  • “If you’re not embarrassed by who you were 12 months ago, you didn’t learn enough.” — Leslie (02:10)
• Leslie encourages listeners to embrace the “cringe” as proof of progress, not as a shameful memory.

2. The Power of Failing Faster (03:11–07:15)

• Rapid growth comes from moving quickly through successes and failures.
• The temptation for most business owners is to avoid failure, but this slows down progress.
• Leslie uses a social media example:
  • “If you post, let’s say, a hundred times on social media in a month and you deal with the crickets, the unfollows, the slow follower growth, the low engagement, like all the typical fails you would think about, you’re gonna learn a lot quicker and get better results faster than someone who doesn’t want to fail and only posts 10 times a month.” (05:01)
• The mindset shift: the magic is in “how fast can you fail, how fast can you learn, how fast can you be embarrassed by your first attempt.” (06:41)
• She affirms that it’s normal to feel embarrassed or like a beginner at the start, and the key is to keep taking action anyway.

3. The Importance of Evaluation—Not Just Repetition (07:16–13:25)

• Growth isn’t just about doing more; it’s about getting better.
• Without evaluating what works and what doesn’t, you risk repeating the same mistakes endlessly.
• Anecdote: Leslie describes a client who claimed, “Events don’t work for me,” but realized all her events were run identically, with no changes to approach, messaging, or follow-up.
  • “You haven’t really done that many events. You’ve just done the same event over and over.” (09:50)
• Key guideline: Every iteration—every post, event, or offer—should be tweaked and refined based on what you learn.
• Memorable insight: “If you do that 12 times a year, your January event should be drastically different than your December event.” (11:15)
• Drawing from clients in the LocalPreneur Academy, Leslie shares strategies like posting booth photos for group feedback and making continuous tweaks—demonstrating the culture of mindful improvement.
• Motivational point: “It’s not always about doing more, but it’s about getting better at what you’re already doing—and by doing it differently.” (12:45)

4. Looking Forward: Setting Growth Intentions (13:26– End)

• Leslie challenges listeners to choose now how they want the next year to be different.
• Questions to ask yourself:
  • What am I doing today that I hope to be embarrassed about in a year?
  • Is growth about more attempts, moving faster, evaluation, learning new skills, or new ways of communicating?
• She points out the value of guided support in her LocalPreneur Academy, which offers both marketing tactics and evaluation frameworks.
• Playful ending:
  • “Maybe I’ll listen to this exact podcast 12 months from now and, like, be embarrassed. Wouldn’t that be like, very, very meta?” (14:45)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On growth:
  “If you’re not embarrassed by who you were 12 months ago, you didn’t learn enough.” (02:10)
• On failing faster:
  “The failure is where all the gold is. It’s where all the growth is. It’s where you grow the fastest.” (04:12)
• On repetition without change:
  “You haven’t really done that many events. You’ve just done the same event over and over.” (09:50)
• On evaluation:
  “If you do a monthly event but you don’t change anything, then you did not do 12 events—you did one event over and over.” (11:20)
• On progress:
  “It’s not always about doing more, but it’s about getting better at what you’re already doing and by doing it differently.” (12:45)
• Meta-reflection:
  “Maybe I’ll listen to this exact podcast 12 months from now and, like, be embarrassed. Wouldn’t that be like, very, very meta?” (14:45)

Key Takeaways

• Growth is visible when you look back and feel embarrassed about how little you knew or how you acted—celebrate that progress!
• Faster growth comes from failing and learning quickly, not from playing it safe.
• Consistent, thoughtful evaluation is essential; don’t just repeat the same actions—refine and get better each time.
• Make it your goal to be a different, better entrepreneur in 12 months—and set a plan that includes both bold action and regular reflection.

For more local business growth strategies and support, Leslie invites listeners to check out her LocalPreneur Academy.