Local Media HQ

Build a greetform that turns new newsletter subscribers into data, leads, and offers, https://greetform.com/
Ken Jee built Austin Founders Feed into a newsletter for Austin founders and entrepreneurs, growing it to approximately 6,500 subscribers by the time of this recording.
After years of creating data science content on YouTube, Ken is now focused on local media, newsletter growth, community-building, and AI-resilient businesses in Austin.
In this Local Media HQ interview, Ken walks through how Austin Founders Feed grew through Meta ads, organic community campaigns, founder interviews, sponsorships, and a local business directory.
He explains why partnered expert columns can outperform traditional ad placements, how the directory became a source of warm sponsorship leads, and why real-world relationships are becoming more valuable as AI makes content easier to commoditize.
Ken also shares his plans for the Austin Creator Brief, a newsletter agency for content creators, creator-focused events, and a potential physical space for Austin’s creator economy.
Ken’s guiding principle is that local media should create win-win relationships by investing in the community before asking for anything in return.

Chapters
00:00 The vision for a physical creator space in Austin
09:09 How Austin Founders Feed's business directory works
13:56 Why monetizing a newsletter requires sales
16:03 Ad break
16:54 Choosing sponsorships that create real value
21:48 Ken's advice for building and nurturing community
28:05 Using Luma to grow local events
30:06 Final thoughts on relationships, community, and AI

Guest Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenjee/
Austin Founders Feed: https://www.austinfoundersfeed.com/
Austin Creator Brief: https://austincreatorbrief.com/
AI Survival Guide: https://ai-survival-guide.beehiiv.com/
The Growth Account: https://the-growth-account.beehiiv.com/

Work with me: https://www.localmediahq.com/
Discord: https://discord.localmediahq.com/
TJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjlarkin1
TJ on X: https://x.com/TJLarkin23
TJ on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tj.larkin

#LocalMedia #Entrepreneurship #NewsletterGrowth #CommunityBuilding #AustinFoundersFeed #CreatorEconomy #NewsletterMonetization #CommunityEvents #KenJee #LocalMediaHQ

Build a greetform that turns new newsletter subscribers into data, leads, and offers, https://greetform.com/
Ken Jee built Austin Founders Feed into a newsletter for Austin founders and entrepreneurs, growing it to approximately 6,500 subscribers by the time of this recording.
After years of creating data science content on YouTube, Ken is now focused on local media, newsletter growth, community-building, and AI-resilient businesses in Austin.
In this Local Media HQ interview, Ken walks through how Austin Founders Feed grew through Meta ads, organic community campaigns, founder interviews, sponsorships, and a local business directory.
He explains why partnered expert columns can outperform traditional ad placements, how the directory became a source of warm sponsorship leads, and why real-world relationships are becoming more valuable as AI makes content easier to commoditize.
Ken also shares his plans for the Austin Creator Brief, a newsletter agency for content creators, creator-focused events, and a potential physical space for Austin’s creator economy.
Ken’s guiding principle is that local media should create win-win relationships by investing in the community before asking for anything in return.

Chapters
00:00 Ken Jee and Austin Founders Feed introduction
00:57 Why Ken started a local B2B newsletter
03:57 Austin Founders Feed's early growth and business model
06:19 Why expert columns build more trust than traditional ads
08:42 Using interviews and human content to stand out from AI
10:55 The Top Connectors campaign and organic growth
12:40 Building a collaborative local business community
15:19 Why local communities are a hedge against AI
16:05 Ad break
17:41 The Austin Creator Brief and Ken's three-business roadmap
19:37 Building a newsletter agency for content creators
23:08 Ken's vision for a larger national newsletter
26:54 How past relationships create long-term leverage
30:13 Why Ken prefers partnering on events

Guest Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenjee/
Austin Founders Feed: https://www.austinfoundersfeed.com/
Austin Creator Brief: https://austincreatorbrief.com/
AI Survival Guide: https://ai-survival-guide.beehiiv.com/
The Growth Account: https://the-growth-account.beehiiv.com/

Work with me: https://www.localmediahq.com/
Discord: https://discord.localmediahq.com/
TJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjlarkin1
TJ on X: https://x.com/TJLarkin23
TJ on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tj.larkin

#LocalMedia #Entrepreneurship #NewsletterGrowth #CommunityBuilding #AustinFoundersFeed #CreatorEconomy #NewsletterMonetization #CommunityEvents #KenJee #LocalMediaHQ

Build a greetform that turns new newsletter subscribers into data, leads, and offers, https://greetform.com/

Sam Harper built The Waco Buzz to 16,000 readers, left his corporate job three months ago, and is now full-time on local media in Waco, Texas, newsletter, social, job board, and community events.
In this Local Media HQ interview, Sam walks through the side-hustle-to-full-time jump (the newsletter beat his W-2 pay for months first), why relationship capacity is the real unlock when you go full-time, how monthly Dinner Club made Waco Buzz feel like a real brand, Social Studies talks with local professors, and the big swing: renting Baylor’s football stadium for Waco’s first paper airplane championship. He also breaks down his LinkedIn “social selling” play, Meta grows the list; LinkedIn books senior meetings, plus “Good Life in Waco” surveys that feed the newsletter, job board, and a 30-day wealth campaign with a local partner.
Caveat from Sam: events should be fun, get people doing something together, and stay easy to fulfill. He’s not trying to turn the stadium night into a bloated production.

Chapters:
00:00 Sam Harper / The Waco Buzz intro
01:52 16,000 readers and going full-time
03:31 When the side hustle beat the W-2
06:42 Filling a 40-hour week with relationships
10:34 Community builder vs more products
13:33 Dinner Club and Social Studies
14:56 Paper airplane championship at Baylor Stadium
20:23 When local news covered Dinner Club
29:58 LinkedIn social selling playbook
36:18 Good Life in Waco (reader-generated stories)
39:09 Job board + 30-day wealth campaign
45:03 Where to find Sam

Guest links discussed / find Sam:
https://www.thewacobuzz.com/
https://www.instagram.com/waco.buzz/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-harper-coach
https://wacobuzz.beehiiv.com/

Work with me: https://www.localmediahq.com/
Discord: https://discord.localmediahq.com/
TJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjlarkin1
TJ on X: https://x.com/TJLarkin23
TJ on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tj.larkin

#LocalMedia #NewsletterGrowth #Entrepreneurship #CommunityBuilding #WacoBuzz #DigitalMarketing #SideHustleToFullTime #LinkedInStrategy #LocalEvents #PodcastInterview

greetform turns a newsletter signup into revenue in the first few minutes: https://greetform.com/Katie Myers built Localish in Janesville, Wisconsin (about 65,000 people). Twelve videos for a free-roof giveaway pulled 170 leads. Her first dinner club got 50 people, and she barely has a newsletter.Katie is an insurance agency owner who opened in Janesville on March 1, 2020, knowing one person in town. Personal Facebook content was producing about $60,000 a month in new insurance business within the first year or two. Close rate on quotes is about 50% because people already know her. In 2025 she did 80 million views across platforms. About 50 million of those were content about small businesses and what was going on around town.She built a Localish app on Replit, got 1,800 downloads in the first month from three videos, could not pay the developer, and pivoted. Localish Janesville as a media brand started February 2026. It runs mainly on Facebook and TikTok (about 90,000 followers across platforms, Instagram under 1,000). She says it is averaging about a million views a month, all organic. She is launching Localish Madison with a partner (another insurance agency owner) and does not want her face on the brand. The vision is Localish in every city. She only wants advertisers spending $50,000+ a year on ads. She will not film a shop for $100.Dinner club: she heard it on this show and planned one that morning. First event, June 2026, 50 people, mostly strangers, town of 65,000. Four dinners this summer. A business-only dinner got 15 people. She is not repeating that. Localish Madison dinner club was announced the day before this recording.Free roof with Brady Boland / Rooster Roofing: idea from Cole Simpson (Soda City Simpson) on this show. Google Form, disclosed they would be contacted for a quote, stories used to pick the winner (not a hat draw). 11–12 videos, 170 form fills. Her private goal was 50. Local roofers pay $40 to $300 a lead. They gave the roof to a veteran's family (seven tours in Iraq, back surgery). She says they have already sold roofs off the list. Best videos: announcement clips and the call. A polished drone video was the worst. Crowd-sourced friend videos and a rooster mascot (Rufus) did better.Also in this episode: digitize your reputation, more volume beats three precious videos a week, a "who's hiring" poll that got 75 comments in under 24 hours, why BNI and chambers fail most operators, and why she wants to give away $100 million someday.Mentioned in this episodeRooster Roofing (Brady Boland): https://rooster-roofing.com/Cole Simpson / Soda City Simpson: https://www.youtube.com/@sodacitysimpsonLocalish Janesville Dinner Club: https://localishjanesvilledinnerclub.dnnr.io/Katie MyersEmail: thekatiemyers@gmail.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThekatiemyersshowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_katie_myersInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_katie_myers/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-myers-388515105Localish JanesvilleFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LocalishjanesvilleTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@localishjanesvilleInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/localishjanesville/Build your own local media business:https://localmediahq.com/Subscribe to the weekly newsletter:https://www.localmediahq.com/subscribeJoin the community (Discord):https://discord.localmediahq.comFollow TJX: https://x.com/TJLarkin23Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tj.larkinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjlarkin1Website: https://tjlarkin.com/Work with me:https://www.localmediahq.com/#LocalMedia #LocalNewsletters #Janesville #TikTok #DinnerClub #Roofing #Localish #NewsletterGrowth #AdSales #CreatorEconomy

Local Media Camp: localmediacamp.com (discount code: LOCALHQ)

Check out Greetform here: https://greetform.com/

Join TJ Larkin as he interviews David Grant, GM at Blue Engine Collaborative, to dissect what separates struggling local publications from thriving media businesses. David breaks down data from thousands of media organizations, explaining why print mailing targeting high-value zip codes remains an unbeatable ad format and how Facebook's creator monetization features are paying smaller publishers real monthly returns.

Throughout the episode, David emphasizes the role of localized storytelling, training dedicated ad sales personnel, and expanding media brands beyond standard editorial into local agency work. The discussion highlights real success stories from publications taking advantage of short-form video, intern talent programs, and experiential community events like dinner clubs and local summits.

If you are looking to build or scale a local media empire, this interview delivers straight talk, practical frameworks, and high-impact monetization strategies you can deploy immediately in your market.

Guest Information:
Name: David Grant
Company: Blue Engine Collaborative
Website: blueenginecollaborative.com
Upcoming Event: Local Media Camp (October 14–16, Durham, NC) at localmediacamp.com (Discount Code: LOCALHQ)
Socials: Instagram: @_austinpowell (Austin Powell, Meta Growth)

Build your own local media business:
https://localmediahq.com/  
https://lightbreak.ai

Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter:
https://www.localmediahq.com/subscribe 

Join the Community (Discord):
Connect with TJ, share ideas, ask questions, and be part of a growing creator & media community
👉 Join here: https://discord.localmediahq.com/

Follow My Journey
Twitter/X: https://x.com/TJLarkin23 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tj.larkin 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjlarkin1 
Website: https://tjlarkin.com/ 

Work With Me
For brand partnerships, sponsorships, and business inquiries:
tj@localmediahq.com  

#LocalNews #LocalMedia #Publishing #MediaBusiness #Journalism #NewsletterGrowth #AdSales #DigitalPublishing #PrintMedia #MediaStrategy