Most business owners think success means being everywhere. Every platform. Every city. Every zip code. But the truth is, real growth usually starts much closer to home. Sometimes right down the street. In this episode, I sat down with Kyle Bailey, who spends his days helping home service businesses win where it matters most. Their local market. We talked about hyperlocal blogging, community connection, and why Google is paying attention to more than keywords. And yes, this is one of those conversations that makes you rethink how you show up online and in real life. Why this matters If you serve a local audience, broad and generic content is working against you. Google wants proof you belong in the neighborhood. Your customers do too. Hyperlocal content bridges that gap by showing, not telling, that you are part of the community you serve.

ABOUT KYLE

Kyle Bailey has been helping Home Service Businesses increase sales through SEO, Local SEO, Social Media Marketing and Website Conversion for over 15 years. He founded Frontburner Marketing in 2010 to help Home Service business owners tell their story more clearly and help their ideal customers find them and buy from them faster and more often. With more than 30 years of sales experience, he brings deep passion and knowledge of the sales process to each engagement, and knows that every business owner wants one thing from every marketing engagement: more sales!

Ever notice how being underestimated can light a fire under you? Too young. Too old. Not the right look. The wrong box. It’s frustrating. And it’s also fuel, if you know how to use it.

In this episode, I sat down with Trevor Storm, a student entrepreneur running Media Wolf Marketing while earning his finance degree at Butler University. Yes, you read that right. And no, he’s not waiting for permission.

We talked about what happens when clients look at you sideways and wonder if you can really do the job. Spoiler alert. That doubt can work in your favor.

Here are a few moments that stuck with me.

• Say yes, then earn it. Trevor’s mindset is simple. Say yes to the opportunity, then do the work to make that yes pay off. Not reckless, just confident enough to learn fast and own the outcome.

• Use what they doubt as your advantage. Youth. Flexibility. Fewer layers. Trevor reframes all of it. More time. More focus. More care. When clients are your whole world, they feel it.

• The magic lives in the final 5 percent. Anyone can start strong. Credibility shows up in the follow through. The details. The batteries charged. The checklist signed off. That last little bit is where trust is built.

If you’ve ever worried that you don’t look experienced enough or polished enough, this conversation is a reminder that credibility isn’t about age or titles. It’s about showing up, doing the work, and finishing strong.

Sometimes the best way to prove them wrong is to simply do the job better than anyone expects.

There was a time when conferences felt a little bit magical. You’d show up, coffee in hand, and before the first session even started, you’d be deep in a hallway conversation that changed how you thought about your work. Those little moments, sitting on the floor near an outlet, laughing over lunch, that’s where the real magic happened.

But somewhere along the way, that magic started to fade. Big events got flashier. More sponsors, more VIP packages, and a lot more “networking opportunities” that felt like thinly disguised sales pitches. It stopped being about connection and started being about clout.

I found myself missing the kind of conversations that left me inspired instead of exhausted. So, with a few fellow podcasters, Lisa Mitchel and Jenn Edds, we started dreaming about something smaller, more human. A gathering for women behind the mic who aren’t chasing followers but chasing meaning.

That’s how Beyond the Mic was born. Not a conference, but a conversation. A cozy afternoon in Indianapolis this March, no panels, no presentations, just 10 or 15 women sharing stories, scars, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

We’ll talk about the messy parts of podcasting, burnout, creativity, community, and how we can keep making something meaningful, one episode at a time.

So if that sounds like your kind of magic, come join the conversation at talkbeyondthemike.com.

Because maybe the best conference isn’t in the ballroom, it’s in the hallway, over coffee, between two people who get it.

Join me for Beyond The Mic in Indianapolis on March 26 - https://talkbeyondthemic.com