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Hey, before we jump into this episode, I want to quickly invite you to something Special. On Monday, January 26th, I'm hosting a free live training called Becoming the Local go to in 2026. We're going to have a real conversation about what it really takes to stand out and become the obvious choice in your city. This is not going to be a strategy heavy webinar or something where you're going to leave with your head spinning in overwhelm with all the things you have to go do. It's about identity positioning and selling and you're gonna leave showing up differently that day. So if you are ready to become known and that top go to person in 2026, which is totally possible. Click the link in the bottom of the show notes of whatever episode you're currently listening to to get registered and I'll see you there.

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You are listening to the Grow youw Local Business podcast where local marketing expert and life coach Leslie Presnell shares the strategies and the mindset to help your city and bring in a steady stream of clients. All right, let's dive in.

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I've been thinking a lot about this and I believe moving forward on social media, I think it's just going to get easier and easier to stand out as that local go to person. I think it's going to get easier for you to stand out as that top choice and for people to really see you as that expert and and as that local person that they can trust. Even if there are a lot of people in your city who do what you do, and that is through you creating original content, content that is 100% unique to you. Your voice, your ideas, something no one else in your industry in your city is doing. There have been a few things happening over the past couple of years that I've noticed and I think, number one, like within the past year, there's been a huge uptick in AI content or AI assisted content where we have something like ChatGPT or Claude, some service like writing our content for us or helping us write our content. And what that did is it's really leveled the playing field for a lot of business owners. It's made everyone who couldn't write captions well or who thought they couldn't write well in the past, now be a great writer or someone who didn't think they could send emails before now be able to just send emails very quickly, very effortlessly. It took out the fear of I'm not a good writer or I don't know what to say because now you can Just go straight to ChatGPT and have it write it for you in seconds. So all of a sudden everybody was really good. Everyone had quality content. There was no shortage of good content out there. Like everybody was a good content creator. But also everyone was now the same kind of generic, saying the same thing, sounding alike, writing in the same cadence like ChatGPT does, because ChatGPT had written it for them or it helped them. Another thing that happened is virality. Just more and more viral trends on social media, more business owners focusing on becoming are going viral. So our social media content really turned into a lot of people doing the same things over and over. Everyone using the same audio, using the same dance, the same hooks, the same skit, or the same style of video. It was all just a lot of replicating and doing the same things or the same styles over and over. So you'd open your phone and see the same type of video or the same formula of reel, like the same structure of post a thousand times in a day. So no one was really standing out because again, everybody just kind of looked and felt the same. You know, like I might see a personal trainer creating the same type of reel that every other personal trainer is creating. Or a physical therapist creating the same type of video that every other physical therapist is creating. And this one across industries too. Like I would might see a trend that and I see a nutrition coach do it and then I would see a wedding planner do essentially like the same video. And I'm also, listen, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this. Like we're doing trends with having fun. Like, oh my gosh, we need fun. This is not, not about not having fun. This can be like, let's have fun and let's stand out. Let's be original. Let's also create, create original content. I think we can have both. I'm also just really trying to show you the problem and what's happening here. This is not an all or nothing thing. This isn't me saying don't ever follow a trend, don't ever hop on something fun. I literally just did a trend this week. Everybody is sharing a throwback to 2016. Even Instagram itself did a throwback post. It's the beginning of 2026 and everybody's sharing photos of where they were 10 years ago. And I did that. So it's not about never doing a trend or never making this like an off limits thing or making yourself wrong if you do a trend because you're like, well now I'm Just like everybody else. But I think where the problem lies is getting so caught up in the trends, in the memes, in the viral hooks, in looking to these things for you to figure out what you're going to post today. Instead of thinking, what can I create today? What hasn't been done, what's in my brain, what do my people need to hear from me? The problem is always going to everyone else to decide what to post for you. When you're always going to the trends and what's viral for what to post. This is when you lose your authenticity, your originality, every possibility for you to stand out. Sure, you may reach more people, but I think people mistake reaching people for standing out. Those are not the same things. I can watch viral reels all day and they can show up in my feed and they may make me laugh for a second, but a minute later I have moved on. I don't remember it because I see the same 1000 of them a day. So standing out is when people remember you, when they think about you, when there's something different about you. And that just doesn't happen when it's viral trend, viral hook, viral audio, like viral dance over and over and it's constantly just doing what everybody else is doing. It's impossible to stand out like that. You'll reach a lot of people, but they won't remember you for you. They won't know why you can help them, why they should work with you, why they should hire you. Now another thing that I think is a little more or a lot more subtle here, but I notice it because of course, I'm just watching business owners on social media all the time. But what I notice that really takes away from originality and it's very similar here is looking to what everyone else in your industry is doing to market. And I also think that this is normal, that this happens, especially if you're new. It's normal to look around at how everyone else in your industry is marketing and to replicate that. I think that's human nature. And another thing that happens is we go to trainings or we take courses or we get certifications, or we go to conferences in our industry and we learn a very specific way of marketing and selling in our industry. So we end up kind of staying in our bubble. And when you only learn how to sell and market like everyone else in your industry, it's almost like you're handed a template. Of course you're going to look like everyone else. But I don't think people think about this Enough. And everyone keeps going back to their industry to learn how to market, to see how everybody else is doing it, to see how the top people are doing it. And I actually want to challenge everyone to get out of their industry, to go beyond their industry, to look outside of your industry. Like, what else is available to you? If you stop looking at how everyone else, just like you, is marketing, that's where your most creative ideas are going to be. Because when you look at what everybody else in your industry is doing, when you learn from people in your industry over and over, of course you're going to market just like them. You're going to be just like them. And it's impossible to stand out that way. So that's what I want you to be thinking about. How can I start like undoing some of this? How can I start being more original? How can I stop being just like everyone else? How can I market differently? How can I stand out? How can I help my people see that I am different? It really takes you stepping into your authority, into your leadership, into your expertise. And it takes self trust. And it's gonna feel uncomfortable, it's gonna feel like you're doing something wrong. To look at what everybody else in your industry is doing or every trend or AI stuff and say, no, here's how I'm gonna do it. Here's how I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna try it this way, because I want to be an original. I want to stand out. I want to be very clear on why people would work with me or why they would buy from me. And that starts with you seeing yourself as an expert every single day and reminding yourself why you are an expert in your industry. One thing I used to do to start proving to myself that I was an expert. And I don't even think I really realized I was doing this at first, but later on, it really helped me step into my identity as a thought leader and as someone who does have my own knowledge, my own intellectual property, my own way of thinking and doing things, my own philosophies. But when I was in college, like 20 years ago, I was a journalism major. So my dream forever was to work for a fashion magazine in New York. And so I got my bachelor's degree in journalism with a minor in fashion. And eventually I did go do the whole New York fashion magazine, which led me to start a blog, which led me to social media, and here we are. But anyway, when I was working for our college newspaper at lsu, I would have to come up with four Story ideas a week, which is a lot, like, now that I think about that, like, how much work they put on me as a student reporter who was also taking probably like 18 hours of classes a week. Like, no wonder I have been an overachieving stress ball for 20 years. But every week I would have to come up with four story ideas for the newspaper. So I would take myself to Barnes and Noble to their magazine section. And this was before every, the Internet is what it is today. But I was also a features writer, so I got to have fun with what I was writing. I wrote fun articles, not a ton of hard hitting new stuff. But I would go into Barnes and Noble to the magazine section and I would read the covers of all the magazines and like, just read all the titles. And I would make myself come up with my own ideas and fill in what I thought the articles were about just based on the titles. So I would basically write the article in my head, or I mean, physically too, without even reading it. I would use it as a starting point and it always turned into something completely different than what the original article was like. I would always go back and read the articles, the one that was actually in the magazine. And the crazy thing is is I would always end up liking my version and the direction I took it so much better. And this was always just something I naturally kept doing. When I became a blogger, I kept doing this. The Internet also became more of a thing with a lot more stuff out there. So I was able to read headlines or other people's blog titles and I would just come up with with my own. And I'll still do this. Like I might read somebody's podcast title or a social media cover image, like a carousel or something. It might be like 5 tips to grow on social media in 2026 or something like that. And I will make myself see what I think the answers are or what my answers would be and how I would write that post or how I would write that podcast. And here's usually the best part. When I end up swiping through or read the post or listen to the episode, I usually like my answer better. So I've really worked on building up the belief over the years that I am an expert. I have my own thoughts, I have my own intellectual property, I have my own beliefs, I have my own philosophies, I have my own stances, I have my own experiences, my own expertise. And the more clients I work with now, the more I can see people put things out on the Internet and I can think oh yeah, like the way that person taught it, like that definitely wouldn't work for my people. They would get caught up here. Here's the problem they would run into. They would end up this would happen and I could rework and come up with a totally new piece of content based on my experience with my clients. And you can do this too. When you start thinking like this and start approaching other people's content this way, you will start to develop this identity or this self concept of I am an expert. I have something to offer. I do have something original to say. But creating something original really does start with the belief in yourself first. It does start as a self concept. It's something that has to be practiced. It's an identity that you have to take on. All right, my friends, that is what I have for you today. If you want support in developing this self concept and stepping into your identity as this local go to top choice and really taking on the mindset and the strategy of becoming the local go to person this year, come join us inside the LocalPreneur Academy. This is one of the main skill sets that we work on so you can get fully booked. I'm going to drop the link in the show notes so you can check it out and you can come join us and I will see you inside. Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode, I want to invite you to check out my program, the LocalPreneur Academy. This is the only program for small business owners who want to become the local go to in their industry with a steady stream of clients. You can find more information@lesleypressnel.com com and I'll see you inside.