Grow Your Local Business – Episode Summary

Episode 131: 4 Ways Local Business Owners Can Make Time for Marketing

Host: Leslie Presnall
Date: August 26, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Leslie Presnall addresses the persistent challenge local business owners face: finding time for marketing. Leslie dispels the myth that extra time will magically appear and shares four actionable strategies to make time for marketing instead. The episode blends practical time management advice with Leslie's motivational, no-nonsense coaching style, aiming to help business owners reach more people and maintain a steady stream of clients by prioritizing marketing alongside client service.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Switch Your Mindset: Decide Marketing Is a Top Priority

[00:21 – 04:22]

• Leslie opens with a frank observation about the illusion of “finding” time: Most business owners believe they'll have more time later, but “we never really seem to find extra time for things unless we make it, unless we prioritize it.”
• She emphasizes that making time for marketing is a conscious decision, not something that happens by chance.
• The Pie Chart Analogy:
  • Visualize your business time as a pie chart: “There are only two things that you should really be focusing on when you're growing your business, and that is marketing your business...and serving your clients really well.” [00:54]
  • Even serving clients generates referrals and repeat business—it's all part of the marketing ecosystem.
• Takeaway Question:
  • “If you don't have the number of clients that you want right now, you have to be honest with yourself and ask, where are you spending your time?” [02:54]

2. Use Every Open Slot for Marketing Until You’re Fully Booked

[04:23 – 09:32]

• Leslie advises business owners, especially those with few or no clients, to dedicate every open calendar slot to marketing tasks.
• Practical Activities for Open Time:
  • Posting on social media, creating content, sending emails, making calls, meeting with referral partners—whatever helps you gain clients should fill those empty hours.
• Common Mistake:
  • Leslie points out that many business owners use their unbooked time for errands or chores, telling themselves they're too busy for marketing when, in fact, they aren’t using their business hours strategically.
  • Quote: “I see so many business owners with no one on their schedule and they aren’t using that time. Instead, they’re doing things like running errands, going to the gym, doing laundry...they’re really using it as free time...And then they’re telling themselves that they don’t have time to market.” [06:19]
• Work Hour Math:
  • She urges business owners to match their desired client load with actual hours worked: “If you want a full practice that’s 40 hours a week, but you’re only spending like 5 or 10 hours in your business a week, that math is not going to math, right?” [08:18]
• Key Action Point:
  • Set dedicated work hours and spend them on marketing until those client slots are filled.

3. Keep It Simple: Consistency Over Complexity

[09:33 – 13:38]

• Leslie encourages sticking to a few core marketing strategies, repeating them consistently rather than constantly jumping platforms or tactics.
• Efficiency Through Repetition:
  • “Your life gets easier when you stick to the same strategies, the same platforms, the same ways to market yourself because you know what you’re doing every day.” [10:02]
  • Referencing her LocalPreneur Academy, she highlights how members use a checklist-style local marketing plan: “It’s simple, it’s quick, it’s a checklist.” [11:12]
• Downside of Shiny Object Syndrome:
  • Leslie pokes fun at the exhausting cycle of trying Instagram, then Facebook Groups, then ads, networking, TikTok, blogging, etc. “It’s this vicious, time consuming cycle of starting and stopping and jumping from thing to thing that slows people down.” [11:42]
• Main Point:
  • Consistency enables mastery, speed, and better results. Don’t waste time overthinking or reinventing your process each day.

4. Schedule Your Marketing: Time Blocking & Accountability

[13:39 – 22:35]

• Leslie underscores the importance of intentionally scheduling marketing work just like a client appointment.
• Time Blocking Approach:
  • She admits she rarely batches content far in advance, preferring to block out time in her calendar for specific marketing tasks and honor those appointments.
  • “I have on my Google Calendar every day or every week when I’m going to sit down and write post, or when I’m going to sit down and write emails, or when I’m going to sit down and work on a podcast. I decide ahead of time how long I think that task is going to take. I create a time block for it and I put it on my calendar and then I honor it.” [15:18]
  • Treat these time blocks with the importance you would give a meeting with someone else.
  • Quote: “If you think about it, your marketing is you showing up for someone else. It’s you showing up for your people and they are waiting on you.” [16:05]
• Break Marketing Into Manageable Pieces:
  • Rather than a vague “do podcast” to-do list item, break out each step (writing, recording, editing, social, email promotion), time block separately, and follow through.
  • Practice improves time estimation for future scheduling.
• Puzzle Analogy:
  • “When you do start getting more and more clients, you just start reworking your calendar until it all fits. It’s like a puzzle...And then you just show up.” [20:48]

Memorable Quotes & Highlights

• On Making Time:

  • “Anytime I find myself thinking, oh, I’m going to do that later, I’m going to find time for that later, I know it’s not happening.” – Leslie Presnall [00:31]

• On Honest Self-Assessment:

  • “If you don’t have the number of clients that you want right now, you have to be honest with yourself and ask, where are you spending your time?” [02:54]

• On Open Time Usage:

  • “If you have an open client spot on your calendar, that means sit down and post during that open time. Create a piece of content, hop on story, send an email, call someone, go meet someone, reach out to a referral partner—do something during that open slot to gain a new client.” [05:14]

• On Consistency:

  • “Your life gets easier when you stick to the same strategies, the same platforms, the same ways to market yourself because you know what you’re doing every day.” [10:02]

• On Time Blocking:

  • “I time block it based on how long I think it will take. I just take my best guess, which you get better at figuring out how long things take you the more you do them. And then I show up when it’s time for that time block.” [18:54]

Actionable Summary (The 4 Ways)

• Decide marketing is a priority: Accept that it's one of the most important things in your business—make the decision consciously. [01:11]
• Use open slots for marketing: Whenever you don’t have clients, fill that time with outreach and activities that move your business forward. [05:14]
• Keep it simple and consistent: Stick with a handful of effective marketing strategies—repeat, refine, and avoid constant switching. [10:02]
• Schedule and time block your marketing tasks: Treat them like essential appointments and break them into actionable, regular calendar events. [15:18]

Closing Thoughts

Leslie concludes by reframing the “time problem” most business owners face—not as a deficit of hours, but as a challenge of mindset, decision-making, and follow-through. Once you decide marketing is a priority, keep your approach simple, and reliably show up to your scheduled time blocks, “everything changes. You feel in control of your time. You become the person who gets the things done.” [22:02]

For personalized help and accountability, Leslie invites listeners to join her LocalPreneur Academy, where she works one-on-one to help local business owners build the habits and mindset they need for consistent, successful marketing.