How She Built a National Network of Local Influencers

At the end of the day, what matters is what money can't buy. That is what matters.

From the biggest to the smallest creators, it is a grind.

I have to sell caramel to an alien. Like, what are some things that I'm going to tell them?

Like, how do you want to make those consumers of your content feel? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. All right, folks. If you're in the mood for some seriously good eats, let me tell you about the HC Tavern and Kitchen in the heart of the Fiser District. It's the spot whether you're grabbing a business lunch, brunch with friends, a romantic dinner, or just hanging out and enjoying some cocktails.

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Today, I'm joined by Chelsea Copelman, founder of Keeping Up in Caramel and Keeping Up Local. Chelsea has a background in digital marketing and photography. And today she curates content that connects residents to the best events, shops, and experiences in Carmel, Westfield, Zensville, Fischers, Noblesville, and Indianapolis, or known as the north side of Indie. There she lives in Caramel with her husband and three kids and is passionate about health, fitness, and faith. Today, we're going to be talking through her journey to becoming a content creator that started at 36 weeks pregnant. I can't wait to dive into that one.

We're going to talk about what makes the north side of Indianapolis so great and why she loves it there. and just get a little peek into life behind the lens and what she's doing with Keeping Up Local. Just tap tap on a few different things there. Chelsea, welcome to Get In.

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.

This is uh this is fun. I think we've been internet friends for like uh a year or two now, right? And uh so now to be able to put it all together in a podcast episode, it's going to be super fun. I'm excited. Um, I think that the story that everyone wants to know and everyone always asks is like I think now people see it and you know you have oh 50 just over 50,000 followers and they're like oh my gosh like they know you now but in the beginning it's not always so glamorous of the life to become a content creator. So take us back to the beginning. Oh, I know that you kind of graduated from Butler, worked at Eli Liy, kind of like had the more corporate job. Y uh and we'll kind of pick up where the Keeping Up in Caramel uh adventure begins

for sure. So, the the adventure kind of started when we moved to Caramel, truthfully. So, that was 19.

How old were you?

28.

28. That that checks out. That's about the time people start to migrate north to Caramel. So, I mean,

were were you like downtown or were you like inside of 465 somewhere?

So, we're Butler grads. Yeah.

And we did the very quintessential postgrad move to Broadripple.

Yes.

So, when we were at Butler, so it was funny. I was like thinking about So, I'm 32 this year, so I don't know if that maths maths, but 10 years ago, I was reading the like prep questions and it was like, what advice would you give to your 22-year-old self? And 22 was 10 years ago for me. And so, I've thought about that a lot recently. And 10 years ago at Butler, like there was nothing on campus. It was like student housing and the wreck hall. I mean, like it was there was nothing.

No. Uh was it now? It's Chattam Tap. That thing wasn't there.

The whole building wasn't there. We didn't have a parking garage. Nothing. I mean, it was that was just like empty.

So, it was like get to Broadripple. That

was Broadripple for everything. And so, we moved there naturally. It was very very common. Tons of friends did the same thing. We were in a little bit of a different life stage. So, I got married three years 3 months after I graduated college. So, that was very

very different. Um,

so you were engaged as a senior?

My junior I was engaged as a junior.

That is non-traditional.

Very nontraditional. That's fun though.

I know. It was really fun. All of our friends like rallied behind it, too. So, that made it even more fun. But

like usually it's like the uh the lavalering stage.

Oh, we did that, too.

You did that, too?

Of course. I'll never forget my lavalier. That was so fun.

I love it. Okay. So, you graduate from Butler, you move to Broadripple. That's right. And then you do what 26, 27, 28 year olds do. And you migrate north.

Yeah. But we had a baby before then. So, that part was different. So, that's what brought us to Caramel. So, we we were both working at Lily. My husband works there, too. I was working there at the time. And we lived Yeah.

Wait, you guys were you guys went to the same college? You were engaged in college. You got married. And you got the same You worked at the same place?

That is correct. Yes.

Yeah. It is. That's a funny story. We can get into that too if you want to. But um yes, so we and we lived on Kesler, so it was like busy and we loved it. And then we brought this infant into the world and we realized, oh my gosh, it's really loud. Like we're trying to put this, we never noticed that before. And we were trying to put this little baby to bed and there's like a Harley-Davidson race going on in front of our front door. And our front door was seriously like a few yards from Kesler Boulevard. So it was crazy loud and there wasn't like great really great walkability to like go out and go on walks. We didn't have like a sidewalk. So ultimately and we just kind of outgrew our space. So we moved up to Caramel. Everybody had said like that's where you need to go to put down roots and like start a family. Like that's what you do.

It's the who's your dream.

It Yes.

Move to Caramel, you know, have a few kids. Come on.

That's right. I first wasn't bought into it though because I loved we were actually in we were in like the small little area of Broadrippleesque that was in Washington Township and so we were Washington Township schools and we had this super super cute elementary school at the end of our like block basically and I was like oh my gosh like I just want to stay around here that school seems so great. We we looked around there for a while and just couldn't find a house. And so my husband who was has a little bit more of like a suburban vibe from his childhood was kind of like maybe we should branch out. So we found this house. It happened to be on a golf course.

So he was like, "Yeah, we're moving here." And I was kind of like, "Okay, I actually love the house, too." So we did it. But at first I didn't like I moved to Caramel and I was kind of like, "What?" I just felt a little disappointed because I didn't and it wasn't anything that the city did. it was more so me and I came from this area in Broader and at Butler that I felt so connected to the community and that made me happy with living like I was excited about being part of something and then I moved what felt like foreign territory and everything felt very different like more than likely you were the first one of your friends

100%

so it wasn't like uh you know like you could just meet on broader or meet on the mon and go for a walk with one of your you know college buddies

we knew no one I mean because we were we were from an age perspective. Even the people that we worked with, we were Yeah. I We had our first kid when I was 25 and the our peers at work were just in a different life stage.

And your peers at work were like at Rascaler like hanging out.

I mean, we still did that too. We just had to get a babysitter. But yeah, so but anyway, so yeah, when we move there, everybody just was in like from an age perspective like a little bit older than us and I just felt like I just moved to this foreign country. It felt like I knew nothing. I didn't know where to go to the grocery store. I didn't know where to go out. Like if we wanted to go have a date night, I was like, "Where'd he go?"

And this is Yeah. This is 2019. Uh like Midtown Caramel at that point was like still under construction, like being created, right?

Yes. Barely a thing. So, and then COVID hit. And at that point, we had Yeah. I was pregnant again. And so, we really just had like a very little bit of time precoid to kind of get out and explore where we had just moved.

And so then postcoid we had two kids at that point. I was very much I at that point had stopped working for Lily and I stay I had started um primarily staying home with the kids running this photography business on the side as well. And I was like hellbent on getting out of the house as much as humanly possible just trying to figure out how we were going to build this life here and just become like ingrained in where we lived and just feel happy here. And so it's like every single day we have to get out of the house at least once prim like hopefully twice and just to do something whether that be with the kids without the kids like we just need to figure out where the heck we are and become comfortable here. And so then we started to slowly but surely be like meet people become ingrained in the community figure out the best spots. And I started to love it and I was like oh my gosh I actually really love it.

Like this place really is everything that they told me it would be. Um it is very much set up for our life stage. it is so so easy to like put down roots and build a a life here with a family. Fast forward like two years from that point postco I kind of had this thought of well I've got this skill set I've got my background's in digital marketing I used to run digital marketing for a brand at this large company social media was a part of that I use social media personally but never really put like a business my business brain behind it and now I have this need that I have like done some hard work to try to go find out how to meet it and like understanding what to do but it just wasn't efficient. Like I did not efficiently get plugged into this community because there wasn't a resource for me to do it. And so it's like I don't know if if this was a need for me.

I'm not from here. I grew up in Fort Wayne. So I'm like I have no idea anything about the history of Caramel, the history of Westfield, the north side. I don't know anything about it.

Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't like your parents played golf with someone else's parents and then you had the Garen Catholic roots, you know, like which is great and I love the like community aspect now that I've like

gotten inside of it. But at first that can be daunting when you moved to New York.

Daunting. Absolutely. And like I was raised by a single mom in Fort Wayne. Like I knew no one.

What high school?

Snider.

Snider. The Panthers.

You got it.

Come on. Let's go. Come on. Okay. So Snyder then to Butler. Okay. So you're you're starting to like you've created or you've kind of found the way to build community in Caramel,

right?

And you know, you're getting plugged in. You're you're quality of life going up. You're making more friends stuff

and I'm happier where I'm living.

Where does the spark come to start to document this or share this?

Because I just felt like it was something that I wish that I had had and I felt like I had a skill set so that that I could do it. It was interesting to me. I'd always I was at that point running a photography business. I was doing primarily like newborn and family photography. loved creating in that aspect. That was like my baby once I left the corporate 9to-5 and I was using social media from a business perspective and to grow that business and I just felt like there was this need I had a need personally and it was a test like if if this was if this would have helped me when I moved here are there other people out there that this could that that could serve or that they would find helpful. And

and when you say like help them like like in the initial stage when you first like you know created the account got the Instagram it was content to do what?

The initial stage it was very family focused. So it was a lot of I was I had a four and two-year-old and I was pregnant with our third. I was 36 weeks pregnant when KUIC like launched

launched

and it was my husband was like you're insane. You are absolutely What was the like how long did you sit on the uh the Instagram handle?

Oh, not very long. This was very like this is it.

This is it. Yes. Yeah. It was kind of like a strike of like I kind of want to get this done before I have this baby.

You're you're 36 weeks pregnant. You create this Instagram and what was your first post? Um, my first post was like a I think like a an intro to what I was going to do. And then I've quickly had a a long series where I went out and gave like a very indepth look with several factors for the Caramel Clay um parks and playgrounds.

Oh.

And that was really what was one of the first things that kind of like started to make it

the parks and playgrounds. How many videos about parks and playgrounds?

Oh, I don't know. I'd have to go back and count, but I mean there's at least seven to 10.

Okay. See, and that is a piece that is so smart. And I think a lot of creators get lost or or people that want aspiring creators get lost in thinking I have to wake up today and be super creative and think of like a new video concept

when yes, you do have to do that. And sometimes there's like standalone videos that just do really well. But finding consistency in like a a series like when we started doing the hidden gems or the small town breakdowns or whatever they might be like something that I could get in front of a camera

every week and do and like that will give like consistently every Friday we're going to do this. So like hey your next let's say you did two videos a week or one video a week you have two months of content with parks if you're going to do seven to 10 of the videos. Correct.

And it's like okay then somewhere in this next two months I can think about what the next

what else I want to do. Right. Exactly. Yes. So that's where we started and that spoke to a lot of people in that area.

Like how many people is a lot of people at that point?

My my big thing that I remember is that we had 20,000 followers in the first year with organic growth. So that was my like

that's pretty good.

It was fun. Yeah, it was great to see it grow. I I mean it was I had just had a baby so I kind of got lost in like following like okay by six months we hit this you know but um it just started it felt like to me anecdotally the feedback was that like this is helping me

that's skipping a piece because there are lots of people that post a ton

and like never hit 5,000 never like a lot of people will act like they have a ton of followers and post these very beautiful aesthetic things and I'm like oh my gosh I can't imag follow what do you think the fuel fuel of that early growth was

the crux of our whole model now even with the we'll get to this but with keeping up local affiliates is we kind of take two different circles we make like a ven diagram and sit in the middle where there's this local guide that pro that promotes or shares like hyper local content to get you plugged in to where you live and that is hyper local to communities to specific areas where people are truthfully like building lives working, playing, raising a family, whatever it's where they live. There's this local guide circle and then there's a traditional like social media influencer circle who is making a personal connection behind a camera as an individual, sharing pieces of their life, sharing who they are, what they care about, letting people into what they're doing on the daily. and we take those two circles, make a ven diagram, and we sit in the middle. And so I think that the the intersection of the two of those is what made it successful because we're not only just raising awareness for like this park exists, but I'm also giving you the POV of a mom with three small kids who just took her kids there yesterday.

You may have seen me there. And this park, you need to know that it has mulch. And if your kid is in a stage where they eat mulch, like don't go here. And that's really important as a parent. You got to know those things. And nothing is more frustrating than like packing everybody up, driving over to this park, and then finding out that it has mulch.

You're like, gosh, we would have never come here. My 2-year-old eats mulch. Like I'm not

my 2-year-old like that is But that's very true. in that like the mulch example is not like let's say there's like a ton of other

for sure

examples of how that app like you go to this restaurant or you show up at this event or whatever and it's like like I I think one that I'm just now starting to see cuz my friends are starting to have kids. It's like I'm like let's go to the bar or like bring little Timmy because we can all just sit on the P. They're like hey the patio is 21 and

everything is right. Exactly. And I'm like, "Oh, I don't even think about that." But it's like, have you ever gotten to a place and you bring your kid in this all of a sudden it's like, "Oh yeah, by the way, this is not a bar restaurant. This is just a bar. You can't you can't bring little Timmy in here."

Yes. We ran into that when we lived in Broadle. We tried to take we tried to like walk into like onto Broadle Avenue and we thought we remembered in college that like you could go into Kilroyce before like 5:00 p.m. with your kids. And apparently

I thought you could. I

you might be able to. We were like, we were like, "Okay, we just tried to bring our baby to a bar. Maybe we need to be a little bit more aware of what

happen." That's the same thing like whether they're knowing about the mulch or knowing just like being a guide and it's like they might come to the um to the profile because of the parks. Yeah. But they stay because of the connection that they make with whoever the person is.

Correct. And that's I feel like that's the hook. And yeah, it has very much grown outside of just family related things. I think primarily now more it's a good mix 50/50 even leaning outside of into more of just living life whether you regardless of the stage of life that you are in in this geographic area. We like to say that our affiliates and that each of our um like community is keeping up local communities are geographic not demographic. So anyone who lives within a geographic area we each have a territory and like cities that we cover.

anyone who lives in that geographic area, regardless of the life stage that you are in, regardless of your demographic data, you should be able to find value in what we share and what we do. So that is where it's over the last two years has it started really like tapping into those families who wanted this type of useful information from somebody who was also doing these things with their kids and has evolved and grown into something a little bit more broad.

Yeah, I love it. And I'm excited to get into the keeping up local model. Uh before we get there, I do want to say like do you have advice? There are a lot of people that are aspiring content creators. Yeah. That want to get to I I think these want to get to 10 like they want to get the K. I thought that was a huge milestone when he went from like

he has 9,942 followers to like when you get 10K it's like oh

there used to be big benefits on the platform to getting to 10K. There's not really anymore. Isn't it? That's another piece that we could talk all day about is like keeping track of like all the algorithmic and that that stuff is so brutal. But like talk to me if you had to help I mean you are currently helping new affiliates get from zero to 10K, zero to 100K.

Yes.

What would what advice would you have for aspiring content creators?

Yeah, I mean I live this life. I was literally on my team on my team call every we on last night every Monday and we had this conversation with my my affiliates have launched within the last like six months.

How many affiliates do you have? We have seven total.

That's so bad. That's sick.

Me included in that. So, six new ones, but I'm now an affiliate as well, which is kind of fun. The biggest thing that I have that I've heard feedback from my team is whether you join a team like mine or you're you're doing it by yourself, find somebody who you can do this quote unquote with. It is a long solo mind game. If you're out there doing this by yourself because you're you're you're second guessing everything. you're missing things sometimes when it comes from even like a editing or copywriting perspective.

So, everybody's going to tell you like post consistently and like come up with however many ideas before you start your account. Like all those things that are like basic functional things and I don't think those things are bad. But from like a lifestyle perspective to make this enjoyable for you and something that fills your bucket, find somebody in your corner or if there's an organization that you can like join a team to do this with. I did this alone for a a long time and then I added my first affiliate like maybe like 18 months after I started KUIC and keep you up in Caramel and it was the biggest like culture mindset shift. I was like I have a co-orker and we have the same goal. I mean it was it was a huge lonely

it's it can be so lonely

like when you're just getting started and it's funny because it's like it's very social. It's social media. Like, but it really is.

It's a lot of this. I'm by myself like talking to my phone.

Oh my gosh. Where was I at? Oh, one of my actually uh best videos in Hamilton County, I did a Kateway run and I was like sledding on the sledding hill.

And it's a Friday night.

Yeah.

It's like 8:00 p.m. Are

you by yourself?

I'm by myself sledding

like having a good time. But I'm I'm like going up the thing and I'm like, what decisions have I made in life that got me solo? All my friends are like watching football like at the bar or whatever,

but I committed to this.

I told them I It's a Friday night.

I'm on a sled on a little toboggan and I'm like asking the owner all these questions. Like I'm having a good time. Yes.

But it's like that was one of the times where I was like man

I like really want to win. Like I really want to do like you got to really love content and doing the whole thing to be like it's like everyone sees like oh they get to go to a Pacers game or do like the Indy500 that like you don't see freezing your ass up on Friday night by myself all the solo ones to like get the shot.

I know because you do you make these commitments to people and nobody has time their schedule like it's only so many times you can ask so many people like hey can you come with me to help me film content like that kind of thing but yeah it is it is

we do have to give like a brief shout out to the friends. Oh, 100%.

Shout out to the friends that are like always game for like a fun adventure

and they're always saying yes.

Yes. They come and hold the camera or like we're just like smile and wave like put on this hot dog hat. Yeah. Look like they're having the best time.

Oh my gosh. Cuz we are having the best time and and eventually I feel like you get to the point where they're like, "Oh yeah, like we'll go do this thing because it's free or whatever." Yes. Um Okay. So, so the one thing you say is like find either peers or co-workers or people that you can go on this journey with to brainstorm, do all the things with seems good. Any other advice for people that want to get from zero to 10,000 followers?

I think the other thing too is to is to kind of find your lane and then how are you going to bring some like if there it's it's a saturated industry so there's likely not going to be you're not going to find a lane that like there's absolutely no one else in. So, how are you going to be different within that lane and and drive unique value that nobody else can deliver? Cuz we all have unique traits and attributes and skill sets and talents that we can deliver through a digital platform. Every single person can do it. But it's how can you harness that and deliver it in a way that is unique to what is already out there. Like find your find the lane that you want to play in and then your strategy within that lane needs to be unique.

Yeah. Especially early on like like if you want to get to 10,000 followers, I'll give it away. I like what I would do. I I'm eager to hear what you would say. Say if someone brand new is listening to this podcast like I want to become a local influencer or just I want to get to 10,000 followers. It's like okay find the thing. I would eat at every restaurant in downtown Indianapolis over the summer and document that journey. So then like you win this lane or like or like find your thing like I'm going to every state park in Indiana or I'm going to do this like I'm going to be the expert on this thing and if you become the expert in

Greek restaurant Mediterranean restaurants in Indianapolis like they're going to know like oh I'm coming here for a falafel

and that would be like a way to get some momentum and then I always say is like start at the like

if you have a small circle like maybe your small circle was like caramel moms and then from there it's like oh then I started to content that was good for caramel moms and caramel dads and then Westfield moms and caramel moms and caramel dads, you know, and you just kind of build out from there.

Yes. You got to find something to like get put your signature on. Yeah.

To start.

What do you feel like your first thing like this? Like I'm I'm putting my signature on this

becoming like the go-to guide on how to navigate outings with young kids at the start. I mean, a lot of people look at me like I was crazy, but I would take three kids four and under, to like Colt's training camp for six hours. I don't even know. And film it.

And film it. Right. So, it would be things like that where it's like,

okay, because I've had these these tips and I saw what you shared and like I would share like practical things that parents would want to know before you went like it's a clear bag policy. So, you need to bring but you but each person can have a clear bag. So, if you need diapers, pack your kids a gallon size clear Ziploc bag and put it in your wagon and then call it a day. Like, you're like, "Oh my gosh." Because you leave the house, you've got like three kids in diapers. You're like, "I can't pack all that in my little clear bag."

It's practical tips like that that people are like, "Oh my gosh, a mom actually experienced this and she's actually writing about it." And now I feel more confident to go out and and try this new thing and make this memory and experience this thing that I would have otherwise felt too intimidated or felt too overwhelmed to go and try with my kids. So I think initially that was really it wasn't just that I was raising awareness for things to do. It was I was telling people in this similar life stage that I was in exactly how to do it successfully and how to have fun while they were there.

Yeah. Because I think that there is that little extra find your thing, right? There's like not only am I telling you that Colts training camp is going on this weekend, I'm also telling you like the hacks or the secrets or the tips to make it an enjoyable experience.

That's right.

I love that. I think that's I think that's super cool.

Thank you.

Um so so 20,000 organic followers in the first year.

Then 6 months after that you brought on Keeping Up in Greenwood.

Greenwood. That's right. Yes. So we started to realize so we have a couple pieces too of our model that are um like pillars and are easily replicable. So we've also kind of become this niche for being a sharing of like events and being the go-to to find what's going on in each of our communities every single week. So we create these organic newsletters that then translate into posts on social that showcase the top.

It's a curated list. It's not exhaustive of every single thing that's going on. It's curated based on like our POV. If you ran into me at the grocery store, I would truthfully tell you like, "This looked fun and I think that it would be worth your time to go." And we create these lists every organically every single week. They're fresh.

All of the events are either available for you to attend or if they're sold out, we marked that they are sold out, but they are not like stale revolving. We we put the time in to curate these lists every single week. And um those are pillar pieces from a social perspective and then also on like a blog newsletter perspective. And so we had those pieces. Then we kind of had this filler content. So it's kind of like seeing the wheels turning of if this is helpful to this community where I live.

I also was getting a lot of messages asking for these park reviews specifically for Southside Parks. They are great parks, but I'm a mom of three kids four and under, one being an infant. Like making a park trip to a park that's like an hour away from me just didn't seem it wasn't feasible.

Who's paying for that?

Yeah. Yeah. you know,

me I mean at that point it was just like this is fun kids like let's go do it.

That's another piece that uh that I want to get into. It's like

you have to I feel like a lot of people want to be creators. You have to extend your timeline on how much when you're going to make any sort of money.

That's correct.

When you're going to there's like a break even point and it's not 10,000 followers. Let me tell you that.

No, no, no, no. You got to be in it for the long haul or have a passion that's outside of just you know dollars. But either way, so I kept getting these requests specifically for the southside and they were all great requests and I really wanted to fulfill them but like feasibly for our life. I just couldn't do it. And so then my brother and sister-in-law live in Greenwood and she has a similar professional background, has some digital marketing experience and kind of floated the idea of like, hey, this is you you've seen what I've been doing for the last year or so.

How how big was your account at the time? Um, at that point it was probably 25ish. I probably got another five.

Like enough where you're like getting like free dinners, you know?

I mean, oh yeah, we there was collaborations for sure and it was definitely something that was having to be more scheduled like a job than it was just like for funsies like what do you want to do today? You know, it was a little bit more like a little bit more strategic, a little bit more intentional. But I just couldn't I always felt bad like having to say like I would love to do this or this on the south side of town. But I

also would be like not in your like not in the brand.

It wouldn't be in the brand. I don't know that I had the brand formulated that well yet as that that like I speak about it now. I was kind of more like maybe this could be like helpful to my audience. I don't really know how many people I have down there. I mean it was truthfully like it was a crazy time in life. I don't think that I was as um like attuned to like my metrics and things like that. At that point, I literally had like an infant and a new like a a toddler, two toddlers. It was just a crazy time. And it was more for fun and less strategic. And it was more so me feeling guilty that like I couldn't serve the this need that I kept getting asked.

And so I floated the idea idea to her. I was like, I will get you everything you need trained up, ready to go. I already kind of have this model. So you at least know like every single week you're going to have two posts that are going to add value to your community. Every single week they will bet on it. They will come to your account and they can they will know that like this is the girl who's going to tell me what's happening every single week Monday through Friday and then also like a weekend roundup and then the rest of the week is the filler days are yours to kind of play with and post as much as you want. And she was all about it. So that was really an easy yes. And then her and I kind of I was like my first like teammate like a hallelujah like not alone anymore. This is so great. And so she started keeping up in Greenwood in yeah like 18 months after.

How's the growth on that one been?

It's been it's been good. It's been steady. It's it's a smaller community. I think that the north side is at a at a spot right now where it's just like booming with both like industry and infrastructure. There's like so much to cover and I think the southside is like on its way there too.

It's a different vibe. It is a different vibe. I mean, and so then it's your charge as the like Greenwood affiliate to figure out like how do you how do you like portray that or

and connect with your your southside comrades, right?

When you think of like what's Instagrammable, like I definitely see a lot more stuff about like

Caramel Westfield, you know, the north side of Fischer, Zensville than I see about like what's going on in Center Grove.

That's right.

But there's still a lot of people down there.

Yes.

And there's a lot of pride in the south side. Come on.

Okay. So, you start that one.

Yes.

Start growing, figuring out kind of testing with a friendly.

That's right.

You know, with sister-in-law.

That's right.

And then Yeah. And then you get to, okay, we're ready to open this up and take on five new affiliates after that.

It was It was really good to test it with one first because there was a lot of things from a business perspective on the back end that we needed to figure out before we could scale. Yeah. And it was that kind of took a little bit of time. Definitely a lot more intentional planning than I think I'd ever been with the platform prior. It was a lot more like, oh, you know, we want to feature this. Let's just go do it. Like when you're just operating as a solo person, there are benefits to that, too. You don't speed is a huge benefit. Like legal parameters are a huge benefit. Accounting parameters are a huge benefit. Like the tax behind it all is a when you're just one person. Like

that's what they say, right? If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. There you go. Wow, that's great. So wise. Um, so, so yeah, so there was a lot to figure out on the infrastructure perspective before we feel like we could really scale it, but then we kind of did the work. We had to hire the right people to I mean we really hadn't brought anybody else from like a professional perspective into the fold at that point. So we had to get an attorney. We had to figure out an accountant and like to set us up from a tax perspective structurally correct.

Yeah.

Yeah. That part I'm literally in like the midst of that and it's horrible.

It's not that's like the part that's not fun.

No. No,

no, it's not fun. So, I'm gratefully married to a CPA. So,

must be nice.

So, he doesn't do our taxes, but he at least has some like more sense about this kind of stuff and the right questions to ask. That's the biggest piece is like, what am I not asking that I should be asking

because I'm I'm going to wish I asked it in six months and then there's going to be an issue or something like that. So,

and it's like I think that a lot of people when you're, you know, building this affiliate network, they're not thinking like tax and legal. They're thinking like, "Oh, you just have to go out and like get some restaurant partners." Like, that's the easy part. That's all you had to worry about was finding like cool stuff to do and like the events and like the guides. Oh my gosh. It' be no brabiner.

That's fun. That's why we do. But the other piece is Yeah. Like it's the

Which is why um it's not super common to like build out this infrastructure and do it. So, which I'm very very impressed with. I think it's super awesome. Um okay. So, you get to the point where you have all the infrastructure built and you're ready to launch and you just put out a post and all of a sudden like everyone and their brothers knocking on your door like I want to be keeping up in Scottsdale.

It was a So, I had low I honestly truthfully had low expectations cuz I just didn't really know. I mean, it was historically any new like initiative that I felt like I did even like Keep Me Up in Greenwood, it was a poll from somebody else who said like I I need this info. Can you provide it to me? And this was one of my first things I was like this is an idea that like I don't know that anybody asked for but I just had it. So it was very much a I don't know how this is going to go. Um we put out a couple like teaser reels.

People were very excited to hear like what the news was going to be. If you were really really watching and like reading all of the content that both Maddie at Keeping Up in Greenwood and me put out and the way that things on our websites and our blogs and our newsletters were phrased, you could have probably like seen this coming. We used we used language around like Keeping Up in Greenwood is the first affiliate. Keeping up local was never like that was not an an established name, but we kind of used the terminology of affiliates thinking that this would maybe come up. And so we if you the writing on the wall was there but we didn't like ever fully like publicly debut it. And then October of last year we put it out there.

I was like if we get 10 applications and before the end of the year for us to review and whatever I would have been like so happy. That would have been amazing. And yeah it kind of went a little crazy. We had um like 70 applications in like 50 different markets. So

stop.

It was Yeah. Not all of them were obvious like they were not everybody was like a great fit and they were a ton of overlapping markets, you know, which that's hard.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh. You're like, "Oh, if we get 10

Yes.

You know, if we could just get like north,southeast, east, west of Indianapolis, like we'd be, you know, but it's like you get 70 applications in 50 different markets."

Yeah. Yeah. Then like going through all that it's like

that was the part that was like

congrats you just signed yourself up for not only like tax, finance, legal, marketing, you're now also HR like

so I told like all my friends especially my husband after like the first few days were going it was you know the first like five days after the launch and the application was out and I kept like seeing all these ding ding ding ding ding like I think that we I could have just made the worst mistake of my life cuz I just didn't expect the volume and I didn't have a good plan in place. But this is where back to like my advice as creators, my family and friends rallied around us so big and it was we had this spreadsheet and it was like my best one of my best girlfriends who now works for me part-time who has been part of this since the beginning. Maddie who was already on board in Greenwood. My mom who's been very closely involved like my biggest fan. My husband even who like is you know a dude and it's mostly women who are applying for this. Like they're all

Wait, there was there was some dudes. Oh yeah. Yes. It was so fun. Actually, so everybody kind of we had this big spreadsheet watching all of these applications come in. We had like this tracker system on like

who's going to call who first, who's going to move them to the screener, and then they then they got passed to me. F like as like the last cut of like I don't call it an interview, but more of like a vetting process, I guess.

Uh it was their audition.

Yeah. No. No.

Are you getting your golden ticket and going to Hollywood? The biggest thing that I learned from all of it and then I've added more um like meat around the application and like the education before people apply or before we even get to the screener is the amount of like time and work that goes into something like this. That is a huge kicker that kind of people self- select themselves out when because we have these posts that are required as part of being an affiliate every single week. Those take a certain amount of time to create. Then there's like just popping the hood a little bit and giving people the insight into like this is what Yeah.

It's not just like go to dinner and like take a few like smiling selfies, right? It's like it's a grind. Whether you're creating, you know, local guides, whether you're I know Marcus with Traveling Food, like the whole thing from the biggest to the smallest, like the fastest growing creators, it is a grind, you know. There are so few that that make it, you know,

or that just continue on. There's value, I think, in every size of creator. There are some brands that I work with that that want those like very small hyper hyper local micro creators that they know for sure are heavily engaged and live in a specific area. Like that's attractive to them because it's a hyper local company and they the engagement rates are through the roof. But it's more like the longevity piece of like are you I mean are we going to quit after

three months when you don't go viral? Like that's the piece that I think is really was withstanding. Yeah.

I love it. I think that that's that's crazy to get 70 applications in 50 different markets and then have to go through all that. And I always say like how many of them were already doing some type of creation?

Uh there was quite a few. So they had some we had some interesting conversations with people who already had large followings who wanted to maybe kind of like transition what they were doing. We have kind of said one of the things that we hang our hat on 100%. It's like our number one core value mission statement uno is all of our followings are 100% organically grown. There's a lot of ways to inorganically grow a following in on social media. And so, not that any of them did, but we just wanted we've all like one of the things to help tell that story is that like each of these accounts on social are going to be fresh. They're going to start from and so that also was then became a little bit unattractive some of the creators who already had large followings to like start over in this which is fine. They're still great people. It just ended up being a good fit.

Yeah. I mean, that's a grind for sure. Yeah. And and it's like I mean, if you did post, let's say you could have gained 10,000 followers talking about college basketball and then you start to shift and you reset your profile and now you're talking about NBA basketball and it's like, well, you know, like you can do different things that and people does it like as soon as you change what content you post about, it doesn't mean like everyone immediately hits the unfollow button, but they're not necessarily like as engaged in the current content as what they could be. Yes.

All right. That's that's interesting. I always think like when it comes to like whether it be hiring different affiliates or creators or bringing people into the fold, uh the ones that are willing to do this for free,

it's like if you already have an account, it's like you could probably give them some advice and you know, some templates and this that the other thing and like clean some stuff up,

but they if they're already showing that they have a passion for creating this type of content, it's like that's like half the battle for sure. Like I think a lot of people sit on the outside and they're like, "Oh, that would be really fun." But like or maybe a little bit nervous to like jump in and create like this getting the from zero to one, like getting a post, making your first Instagram real like that's half the battle.

There are a lot of community-minded people who love where they live that also, yeah, may have have some skill sets to like create a really cool piece of content, but there is that like confidence piece like, well, why why would I create? You know, that kind of thing. And I think the beauty of joining a team like ours is that that's you're you're you're that's what we do. You're like part of it. That's what you're expected to do. So it's now like it's like there's my girl um Bri, shout out Bri.

She's in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and she's really one of the first people doing something like this. It's been very interesting for me to have to like learn about like the the way that people in Albuquerque, New Mexico digest um information. It's so interesting that you said New Mexico cuz I was just talking to Jim Keller from Keller and Keller. One of their offices in is in New Mexico and he was like there's such an appetite for this in New Mexico. There's no one doing it.

Exactly. There isn't really. Yes. There you go.

Yes. So Bree's breaking through and it's been like Yeah. It's an interesting for us because it's when you are one of the you know in India it's a or in Indiana even too it's we have a great content creator community and it's there's a lot of people that look online on social media to figure out to digest this type of content to figure out what there is to do to figure out what where to go.

How much more saturated has that been since you started in 2022 to today?

I feel like definitely it's turned up for sure.

Yeah, turned up for sure. I think that a lot of people are doing a good job though at like finding their niche and their style.

When you were getting started, who were you looking at?

Uh Marcus from Traveling Foodie Guide was around and he was he was great. Michelle from Wandering Westfield was around. Yes.

You guys started like the same.

She started before I did. Yes.

Oh, no way. I didn't know that.

Yes. Yeah. She I think she has like two years on before me. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, cuz she's really It feels like in the last year or two, maybe year or so, she's like really hitting a stride, too, and like uh has been crushing it.

So So that one was Yeah, she was she was around. Um I think from from my perspective though, and I was trying to figure out my own lane, it was really I there wasn't really many people locally telling me how I could live my stage of life.

And so that that was where I was like, there's just not anything like that out there. Yeah. again, very family friendly and um Indie with Kids does a great job at sharing things digitally for families and I use her resource a ton. So, shout out to Katie Man. She does a great job. Um and she's been like a pillar. She's like probably like the OG like parent creator in the indie area, Indie with Kids. So, she is I I feel like maybe a little uh less like influencer vibe. like you don't necessarily see her on her account as an individual as much, but her content for families is pure gold.

This website is like legit.

I know. So, shout out to Katie. You got to give her.

So, she I mean, and she was she's been around forever. I think like 20 years. No, maybe not 20 years. No, I'm going to say I think her oldest

That was an exaggeration. I think her oldest is like 12 or something. So, I think it was like

kids are not 20 years. No. Katie man, the woman behind Indie with Kids, has been blogging in some fashion since 1998.

Okay, so maybe I wasn't that crazy. Okay,

as a Southern California native, she moved to Indianapolis in 2002. Look at her.

I know,

Katie. Come on. Yes.

So, yeah, the OG like she had she had a blog.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's been it was so helpful for me. And but but yeah, I was really looking for something more in like the area where I was living, but

that is a piece and I totally cut you off about uh Albuquerque.

Oh, yes. Yes. So, it's great to be the first one. Like, that's amazing. We have another one in Michigan who's she's really like the first in her area.

What part of Michigan?

Rockford. It's a suburb of Grand Rapids.

So, it's kind of similar to like the like my area of suburb of Indianapolis, but

of Grand Rapids. So, she is one of the first to do what we're doing. And there's a instead of kind of like finding a differentiator, it's a different game. you're you're defining a differentiator in your creative content because there's other people who are also creating content. It's more of how can I kind of teach and train the people and the community to look digitally for this source of information because they may be looking other places. So, it's a different like battle and game when you're going outside of

Yeah. You're like changing like

consumer behavior.

Yeah. Where they're like going from googling it to like searching it on TikTok. That's right.

I just started doing that now.

It's incredible. I'll go like to wherever and I'll like look it up and I'm like, "Oh, this has a good and then I also learn different styles of like, oh, there's cool cuz like that's like a piece uh that I've been trying to put together for the last, you know, however long I've been two years of making content or whatever it is now that it's like

one piece like Indiana. I mean, oh, it's a all Indiana guy, but it's always this like weird quirky like if you actually know me and like hang out with me, it's like I am like that kind of crazy, you know? Like I will eat all four tenderloins in a day or like I will do these weird challenges cuz someone says that I can't. And so like everyone has to like find their lane or find their niche of the way that they create, which I think is is fun to see it all come together. And it's like if from surface level, I'd be eager to hear your thoughts. It's similar content, you know, like the way that I talk about Indy500 is different than the way that you all talk about Indy500 is different than Marcus might talk about Indy500, but the topic is the same, but the the the

delivery is different. Yes, 100%.

How have you been able to find like what works for you?

It changes too based on I think what the platform is preferring too to figure out how you can what works, you know.

Are you in the middle of like a huge downturn right now? I mean, we're all We just had a conversation last night. I'm like, "Why is nothing getting any views,

dude?" Yeah, I know.

It's brutal. I'm like deep in like like this is what people don't talk about. It's like I'm like

It's like 11:00 p.m. and I'm like on Reddit like 10 forums deep like what the f is going

on. I know. It's It's so true. And that's why I do appreciate having a team because we're all like on the phone every week talking about this

and it's we're all experiencing the same thing and trying to like you know but somebody had something that worked and like what did it what what was it that worked and and how can we all kind of like adapt that to our own individual markets and so that is that is helpful but it's we are all there too and I think that uh so that the out like yeah the platforms play a piece in what works too but then also I think like social um like listening and sentiment is a big deal deal for me and what I encourage my girls to make sure that we keep or my team that we make we we keep a really good handle on is the way that we sequence content, what we're putting out first and which modality that we're putting it out at will help us understand if like the ultimate end like real infeed posts or something is going to perform well or not. And that's strategic. So, we're listening to what our like we know if we're going to test something first by dropping something small on an Instagram story.

How how did our Instagram story viewers, which is our most loyal sub subset of our following, they are ride or dies. They're seeing if they're seeing our stories, especially if they're interacting with our stories, they're seeing everything that we post. Like, those are our people. How did they respond? Did it fall flat? Did nobody say anything?

Did they say something and it was negative? they say something and it was amaz like you have a lot of people who loved it like that gives you a good idea of how to then frame like infeed content you have a better idea of what's going to make it successful so I think we really lean into a lot of like the feedback that we get from our audience and we try to like educate I feel like we see this a lot in in creators but it it becomes trit like it is it is we try to talk about like how important it is that and we how much we love to hear feedback from the people who consume our our content because it does help us make it And it does unlock things that we can create better content to.

Is there a resource, a creator, a place that you get a lot of inspiration from?

There are other creators that are from a from a size perspective in other cities that I've that I've looked at that are that do similar things to what I do for like a a specific geography. And you

like Los Angeles, like there's definitely

like Texas. Yes. So like big

Oh gosh, I see Austin on my Instagram feed like once a day.

I I So I feel like they're great. I also feel like the creator insights that we have been getting from Meta have really been a lot more helpful than they used to be. Like just really getting into that like user um dashboard and the like insights tab with some of those tips and tricks that they're curating for you are really helpful.

Maybe that and that might link directly to the AL. I need to do that. If you're like trying to better understand from a performance perspective, you think it's really good content. That's what's always frustrating to me. It's like this was great content and it's not performing.

Is there a specific piece where you're like like it was cinematic? It was beautiful. Like this was a great reel that just flopped.

More so the things that come to mind are the ones that were bad that freaking took off and I'm like, "No, don't watch this. Watch my good one." Yeah, I'm like thinking through like from my perspective like there'll be times I like raced a cluster truck delivery vehicle like legitimately ran

a 5K before like to try to beat it before it got here and I'm like dying and then like it does all right but I'm like I legit literally maxed out like there was sweat involved in this thing. I'm like looking then thinking through like

oh my gosh. Yeah. There's always those ones it's like and you end up putting like an hour into it and it's like

or like multiple hours into it and it's like falls flat. Something you make in my first ever million view video. It was on Tik Tok. This was so early on was literally like it was actually

an Amish buggy pulling a boat out of the water in northern Indiana. It's only on Tik Tok. It's a Tik Tok exclusive exclusive. But I dropped it and it got a million views like in a week and I was just like I made it I literally made it as like a throwaway. I was like I just put like save a horse, ride a cowboy as like the thing and it was like and it got a million views and I was like

I know.

Uh

turns out you get a million views you cannot quit your job. Yes. Doesn't doesn't directly equate like that.

No 100%. I over Christmas break put together

this like flippant little video of my kids this tradition that we do on Christmas morning. This whole holiday season for us was like our first holiday season where we didn't have like a little infant like baby baby and we were really focused on like creating traditions and one of our traditions that we had created in the past that we were like okay I'm going to share this one I have some footage I'm going to share it on social was before they uh we like we like wrapped our hallway with wrapping paper and my kids bust through it to get to their gifts and I'm like okay I mean it was like a as much time

like running out of the tunnel right I remember this video like it's like the football team comes to the goal post.

That's right. And it was like enough time on screen that was like a boomerang. Like it was very like a like a couple seconds maybe. And I'm like sitting there thinking like this is just throwaway content. 18.6 million views. And I was like no please. What?

Sometimes it' be like that.

I have like it has nothing to do with what I my business what I'm posting. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to attract so many followers who are not going to care about anything that I normally post." But anyway,

yeah, you know, there's like moms that are like thinking for fun. That was like I saw Christmas. You got a real That was a really good one. And Michelle had one where she was when you take the costume contest too serious and she's dressed up like the conductor.

I know. That one was funny.

And I love it. or like her I think she also posted one really funny that I remember the short ones where she's like walking through the cornfield

and it's like another million views and it's like I I tell other creators this I tell Marcus I tell Michelle you same like

I love it when you guys drop something that's fire

cuz it also like pushes me to go want to make something fire

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Like, everyone's like creating in their own space or whatever, but it's like your artistic rendition of Christmas in Indiana, and I'm like, oh, I want to like what's my artistic rendition? And I don't know. I like the

It's not like competition, but it's like motivation where it's like, oh, especially if I don't know, are you a competitive person?

Yeah. I I It's been truthfully something that I've been working on being less

less competitive. Yes.

Oh gosh. Why?

Historically, yes. As an athlete, winning is a huge just competing to win was like a huge crux of like everything that I'd ever done. I feel like it just became to a point where and this is not just from a KYC perspective. This is everything in life that be winning at all costs like it became like my identity and like all consuming.

Oh. And it was just or it just it just became something that I felt like was like toxic. And this was a realization even that I had about myself. I think even before I started this platform. So I really I think especially with with Keeping Up Local like I just like try it is a a testament that everybody has a unique perspective, a unique personality, a unique skill that they can bring to this and there's room for everybody at the table because they're going to connect with different people differently.

Yeah. I and I that was a big mind shift mindset shift that I had that it's not zero sum like it's not like

you win so I lose. That's not it.

It's like and I love you know when whoever

goes out and drops like like does some challenge that's crazier than me or something and I'm like he ate five like I have to go eat s cuz like not because of the competition but it's also like I just am like motivated by like I don't want anyone I would never be like oh I hope they drop bad content. It's like I want you to drop the best content possible so because it'll push me to go drop like something even sicker, right? And I just like love that feeling and then it's like you talk about brands or whatever and it's like

well if actually the best brands to work with are ones that are already working with creators cuz I don't have to like pitch them on

they know

like oh the value of Instagram is and it's have to go through and start from there like it's going to be a very long process but they're like oh my gosh like we worked with so and so and really loved it like we want to invest into more of this.

That's right. And that's why you'll see a lot of like

the early adopter brands I feel like go out and they don't just work with one creator exclusively. They're like, "Oh my gosh, we've had such great success. Let's do this everywhere."

Yeah. Because there also too, I think a lot of people assume that there are people who follow like a number of creators in a certain area and they cross demographics or from a creator perspective, but then each of our each of our audiences from like a lion share perspective look very different too from who these brands are talking to.

Oh yeah. I always say like if in the spectrum of like creators in Indiana, it's like I'm on one end like housing tenderloins and like I said like keeping up local and are kind of like on like very like very good aesthetic and like everything you guys put out is so like beautiful.

You know what I like like it's very like oh man like they're the way that you guys capture is like you know it has it's an aesthetic. It's an aesthetic and I think yes and I think it's with people who we connect with naturally too, you know, like we like my bread and butter is and like my most engaged audience is like if you want to talk to like young millennial women, I'll probably be a good

like those are the types of people that I get in front of. So like I'd probably be a good partner if like that's your target audience.

But it's not like necessarily like the the beauty brand content, right? It's like but it is kind of like the aesthetic that brings there where everything you look at it's like wow this is like very very beautiful like when you look at the platform um it's weird because now I like consume content from like the creator perspective where I'm like

it's kind of hard almost it sometimes I can't just like but then it's like then I go to it's like you have to love a dude screaming at the camera and doing something absolutely psychotic like that's the opposite end of the spectrum.

I love your content. I think it's so fun and I think what your your mission for like I think that the first conversation that we ever had on the phone truthfully you were like an integral part in kind of I know you're like uh and in kind of pushing me over this kind of place where I was sitting on keeping up local and like do I really have time for this? Is this really going to be

I remember you like talking about what your your plan was, but it you were like I'm still kind of going through and figured so like wait that conversation was

you told me do you remember what you told me or question you asked me on that convers on that phone call.

Do you remember?

I don't.

Okay. So you I was telling you the vision because you were telling me your vision for this media company that like puts Indiana on the map and I was like that is amazing. I literally I'm a Hoosier. I wasn't born here but I moved here very quickly after. So, I I could say born and bred, but I literally lived here a majority of my life. Like, this is so incredible. I think it deserves it. I was so pumped about it. And I was telling you this idea that I had for this. And you were like, are there any other creators who are thinking about things like this? And I had never been asked that question before. And you were like, is there anybody else who's thinking about it like this? And I said, if you're asking me that question, like, maybe not. Maybe I should do this. Maybe this is something that nobody else has thought of

before. So, I appreciate that. Not you didn't even know that you were doing that in subtle.

I do remember the the conversation that we had and a lot of people like just love making content. Like they're and like I love making content and I think you love making content. Like that's fun, but like not everyone wants to put a business together. They just want to grow their personal account as big as possible and like get paid to do fun stuff and live a very interesting life. Yes,

that's amazing.

I thought that when when we were having this conversation, um

the way that you talked about this and thought through like a business model, an affiliate, and it was just like,

oh, you know, like you're an entrepreneur

and a creator and you're blending those together,

but so are you. And it's an interesting it's an interesting dynamic because I didn't never I never like grew up thinking that like business ownership or entrepreneurship, I didn't even really even know how to define that word. So that was a very new when people say it wasn't even until like the last maybe like year or so that I felt like I really like kind of owned that even title of entrepreneur because it just felt like foreign to me.

When people start working for you then yeah you have definitely achieved the entrepreneurial status. It is. It's just interesting because I was always like kind of hellbent on a more steady, stable, sturdy

non opposite of entrepreneurship.

Instagram isn't like Oh my I when I like first had quit my job, I had just started dating my girlfriend.

Okay.

And I had to meet her parents.

You're like, "Oh."

And they're like, "Oh, what do you do?"

I post on Instagram for a living. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. I do I host a podcast

maybe. But

I'm sure you were excited, right? Uh, I mean, like, I don't know. Would you be excited? You have a daughter, right? I do.

Would you be excited about your old one day, you know, many years, many years from now, uh, this boy coming in and saying like, "Oh, yeah. I'm an entrepreneur." Yes.

Like,

excuse me, what's But then what happened? They're from a small town in southeastern Indiana and I made a video about their local fest and it got like 150,000 views.

They're like, "Yes, let's go." And they're like,

and now everyone was like sharing it on Facebook and I went like viral in their community and they were like, "Oh, I get it.

That's my daughter's boyfriend."

That was the stamp of approval. Now we're good.

There you go. That's fun. And that's great.

And I guess I do want to ask, what's the vision like five years from now? Well, we'll talk before then, but you come back on the show for a 5year recap. Where do you hope Keeping Up Local is?

So, ideally, I think it we want to expand to more communities. There are some specific communities that I think would be that are like ready and really like it would be a quick takeoff for this to add a lot of value to their communities. I just think they're like primed for it. So there's a there's a short list there that I want to make sure that I would want to get to in the next 5 years for sure. And then I think like the grand vision for this would be really really cool to get there is if we had enough of these hubs, these central resources in communities across the country that people knew the name and the function of it that when they were visiting, especially in tourism towns, that instead of going to like the local like travel tourism website and another website, going to five different websites to figure out what New Mexico instead of trying to and then you can find that information but you got to peacemail it.

You got to go to seven different websites and then especially to events going on like the week that you're visiting that this kind of becomes ingrained in the consumer behavior of oh I'm going to be visiting my aunt in X Y or Z. Let's see if there's a keeping up local community keeping up local affiliate there. That would be the dream. Um and like yeah I'm vacationing in blank blank blank. I don't want to do all the touristy stuff. I want to see what's on their weekly event list before I go for the week that I'm going to be there.

Like that would be the end goal of the vision. We got tons of work to do before we're there, of course, but that would be that would be the goal. Thanks, N. Your confidence.

I cuz it it just makes sense. Like you're an early adopter of this trend of like again I would say from someone who searches that kind of thing when I'm in a new place, right? Like there are some smaller or not even smaller but like some local community creators that do an amazing job capturing that

and show me what it's like to actually experience it versus like trying to read it on a menu and like small business owners and like bars and restaurants or whatever it might be. Event organizers, right?

They're so busy. They're not social media managers. They're not marketers normally. They're like trying to make the world's best burger.

That's right.

It's like I want to know where the best burger in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is when I'm down there on spring break. Mh.

So like seeing a person actually experience that. Um I think that you're like early enough in that this is going to be a huge home run

for you when let's say we get further down the road and people on the north side of Indianapolis are you know as they're looking for creative what do you hope uh when people see your content they think they feel like like how do you want to make those consumers of your content feel? I we always say like one of the critical pieces and like pillars and that we want to be known for is somebody who adds value to your life. This should be something that you can not just look at and be like, "Oh, that was entertaining." It should be entertaining, but it should also provide you something that like you can tangibly take and use from it. So I think that like like this when you think about when people like I I hope to hear people describe my platform to their friend in Target that they say like her content I love her content like it's really helped me a lot where I live like it's helped me feel XYZ but ultimately like it's helped me it's added value to my life like that is our primary pillar and why I started this because I was looking for that help and I was looking for some something that could have given it to me and so like that has always been my driving force is that it has been like a a useful not just pretty and fun like it's actually like useful and and tangible for the community.

Um, and then from like a business perspective, I also hope that like the my like partners can say that I worked with her. She was fun and great to work with, but that she also like drove business to to my business and it was like a really helpful channel

um and platform for my local business because I mean Fort Wayne's changed a lot since I have lived there. So, I don't want to like offend anybody who lives there now, but 20 years ago when I was in Fort Wayne growing up, it was like chain restaurant capital of America. I mean, it felt like there wasn't really a ton of like unique

Red Lobster was the place.

My like definition of like a fancy dinner was like Applebees or like Olive Garden.

Oh my. So, I grew up like just down the street and I went to the Oh my what's the point by the Coliseum there's like a mall Glenn Brook the Glen Brook Mall. I remember going there and like thinking that was like holy smokes this we made it.

I know. It was so great. So, but like I feel like now if there's a there's so many people who've taken the immense courage and bravery to like open up a store where they live or open up a restaurant where they live like that takes guts and it also becomes like what makes the community cool. Like if I'm like talking and like I'm like I have to sell caramel to an alien like what are some things that I'm going to tell them and it's not going to be like lead the chain restaurants. It's going to be the unique aspects the local business owners who have taken their unique spin at opening X Y or Z and they also a part of the community and like it's just got that like hometown feel and vibe and if I can use this platform to help foster their growth then like that's a huge win.

Sell Caramel to an alien. I love that. What would be your sales pitch? I'm a 28-year-old who lives in Broadripple.

Yeah.

Convince me that Caramel's the right place for me to go. the growth that I have seen in that central caramel area in that like that the connection between Main Street and the Carmel Arts District and City Center that's all connected by the Monan. It is so fun and way younger than like I feel like I that I expected it to be from like a young professional perspective.

Even like in 20 well like let's say precoid like whatever the last five six years it's crazy it's 2025 now. Yes. Like now I have there are kids kids young people that are going to caramel to like go out

on like a Saturday night

for sure. And like

I would have never dreamed of that in 2019. No chance. No, but that like the night life I feel like has definitely turned up and the walkability to that and how like just safe and nice it feels to like get from point A to point B. I don't want to misquote this but I believe that they are working on Carmel is working on Adora district as well. Um Westfields is live. Noblesville is live and so um I think Caramel is also having one in the works as well which also adds

Oh uh yeah they're working through it.

Yes.

Yeah.

So eventually in the future that will hopefully be a part of that central caramel area as well which is also a huge selling point for young

for those that don't know a designated outdoor refreshment area. I think that's what basically you can like carry beverages outside. you get like a special cup and it says like Dora on it and which to me as a '90s kid that means like a cartoon but um that you can go into like different businesses that serve alcohol that are participating. You can get a drink and you can walk in a designated area and take it around with you. I think would be also like a huge selling point and fun for that area.

We have come to a segment. This is our younger years segment. It's brought to you by our friends at or fellowship. They're a great organization here in Indiana helping develop young business leaders across the state. Chelsea, what advice would you give to your 22-year-old self?

I love this question because I have honestly been thinking a lot about my 22-year-old self recently because it's 10 years ago, 32 right now. And 22 is like a huge year from a life perspective. Even around this time, like May of of my 10 years ago, I graduated college. One month later, I started my dream job at a company that I'd always prayed that I'd work for and I was for sure going to retire from. Like I was I was just never in my mind at 22 I was never leaving this job. I was or this company was just going to climb the ladder there and just be content forever.

That's what I thought.

Then you get those Yeah. They start to give you those stock options all this stuff just like stacks reeled in. Yes. Yes. So that and then a month later after I started that job I got married. So it was like this crazy whirlwind of a time and I was trying to like put myself back into like what was I thinking?

What was I worried about? And there's two things that I thought of. So the first one is to remind myself that hard work and work ethic should be viewed as a skill. I think at that point in time I discounted it by assuming that everybody worked hard. Everybody's got a strong work ethic. That's table stakes.

That's not a differentiator for you amongst your peers in anything that you do or it's just something that is baseline. Everybody's got it. And in 10 the last 10 years I have seen more so that that is not the case. That hard work is something that is a skill you can refine and it can become part of your brand but it also is transferable to like literally anything that you do. Whatever season in life that you're in, whether you're in a professional season, whether you're in you decide to stay home with your kids, whether you decide to start a company, whether you decide to become a barista, like your work ethic is something that you can refine and you can take to it and it's it shouldn't be discounted and view it as a skill. That's one thing that I thought of.

And then the second one is a little softer and I would have encouraged myself to redefine how I looked at success at 22. So at 22, I felt like success was very much metrics. What position did I have and how long did it take me to get there and how long did it take me to get to the promotion and what was the salary band that I was in and how long did it take me to get to the next salary band and what was the number in the bank. It was very metricsbased. It was like we talked about earlier competitionbased like how quickly could I get there comparative to my peers and it was that's so like black and white and adding so much unneeded stress and it then consumes like your identity and I think now at 32 I'm like what does success look like? And it's more along the lines of I get to wake up every morning next to like my best friend and we do life together and we have these three like beautiful kids and we get to steward them and disciple them and shepherd them and we go to work and we love our work and it's we think that it adds goodness and light into the world and that's amazing but it's not our identity.

It's not like what we're consumed with. Just a lot less added selfstress. Like this is stress that I added to myself at 22 because I was so wrapped up in these like metrics that were earthly and ultimately didn't define me at the end of the day. Like really didn't matter. Did it make me a better person? Did it make me a better wife?

Didn't make and all the it was so earthly and like materialistic and I wish that somebody would have told me like hey redefine success.

When did you come to that term? Motherhood played a huge role in that for sure.

Was that a hard decision? You talked about you wanted to retire from this job.

Yeah. Yes.

Was that a hard decision not to go back?

Oh my gosh. So I did. So yes, it was the hardest. So my journey there, we didn't really touch on this. It was a little crazy, but um I loved my work. So I worked for Lily and I uh was in love with my job.

I loved who I worked with. It literally like could not have been better. And I still to this day like if you have ever have the opportunity to work there, especially as a marketer, do it because they just it's almost like getting a second degree in marketing when you work there. They are such a good marketing company and the way that they teach you like insights based marketing to the core is just incredible. U but yeah, I wor I went back and worked for two years after I had my first almost two years and and truthfully when I was pregnant with with my first I was 24 years old. I don't even know if I'm going to take the full maternity leave.

like I'm coming back here. You're not going to be able to keep me away from this place. I love it. Like I was in a really cool spot. The drug that I was on like was about to launch in the US which is a really

that she was marketing for

That's right. Sorry. The brand team for the pharmaceutical product. Yes. Yes. So, um it was just really exciting time.

So, I just knew that I was going to come back. And then I had a huge heart shift. And I just kind of felt like um the Lord too was just calling me into a different phase that I never expected that I was ever going to be called to. And I tried to kind of like quiet it and silence it for almost two years. I worked adjusted hours. My team was incredible.

They let me work seven to three so I could like have more than two or so hours of awake time with my son before I had to like put him to bed for the evening. So, I got up, left my house at 6:30, went and got him from daycare at 3. They let me do that for a while. I did I worked 80% for a while, so I didn't work on Fridays for a little while. I did a whole summer where I actually even worked part-time. I tried everything that I could and my team was incredible at supporting me um through that, but then ultimately ended up taking an extended leave and then I didn't go back after that.

So um but that truthfully I felt like it was that is where I had the change where it was like yeah I'm grinding and I'm seeing some of these like metrics but my this feels like my whole identity is wrapped up in these like numbers or or things that ultimately at the end of the day

what matters is what money can't buy.

Like that is what matters and I just am getting lost in everything else.

Bang. That's fire. We've come to the end of the show where we have a couple fun lightning round questions for you. All the content that you've dropped

since 2022, if you had to pick one piece that you are the proudest of that just like is your if there was there might be awards, but if if we hosted the first ever Indiana Creator Awards, what would be the piece that you submitted for this? my 1933 opening reel for the Caramel 1933 lounge, Hughes Culinar's newest in Caramel. I think from a video perspective, it did what I wanted it to. And then from a performance perspective, it also did what I wanted it to. And so I felt like I look back at my old stuff and I think it's garbage. So I feel like

but I heard that that like every six months you should like you should look back and be a I can't believe I would ever post that.

Correct. I look at all my old stuff and I'm like and I and I now I bring it to my team calls with my keeping up local team and I'm like we are gonna like dissect this and we're going to talk about how we can make this better. My old stuff.

Oh yes. Oh, a little little transition zip. Come on. They're insane. Like multi00,000 Turkish lighting light fixture in the center there. Crazy. It's awesome. It's a vibe.

It's a total vibe. Yes. And so they were really happy with it from a partner perspective. I think too I think the things that stand out in my mind are the times where my content has like really they're a little bit of a larger organization but like sometimes when I'm working with individual business owners like Aroma Room in Caramel is another great example example where we did a real that really spoke to like a main pain point that she tries to solve for people and the response that she got from a business perspective.

Which one's a What was that one? What was that?

It was a while back. could be hard to find, I think. But it was

I mean, I'm like, you got me convinced that I like need to go get my feet detoxed or something. I know that one's going crazy, too.

I was watching one and I was like, what the world? Um,

so it's the the big ones that stand out my mind are ones where I feel like there's driven like crazy um impact for these small businesses that I'm like, oh my gosh, that's really that makes me feel like what I do is meaningful or worth it.

So, like obviously a lot of your life is in the public eye, you know, like you post a lot of stuff, but is there one thing that people don't know about you? I think that if anytime that you are in a public setting, especially on social media, people assume that and like and I love this feedback that that you're going to have some sort of like attitude in real life, like some sort of like elitist vibe or something like that. And the biggest thing that I get and I and I try to figure out how to pull this through my content more because the the the biggest piece of feedback that I get when I'm actually like running into somebody at the nail salon or the grocery store is, "Oh my gosh, you're really down to earth and like and pretty chill." I'm like, "Yeah, like I literally likely toing three kids around with me everywhere I go. Like my life is crazy and we're in in shambbley a lot of the time." So I feel like that that is a piece that I appreciate the feedback.

I try to I want to try to figure out how to pull that through in my content more.

And I don't think that's necessarily a product of you specifically, but I just think when people see the word caramel in Indiana, they just think elitist%. And I think one of the greatest compliments that people can say is that like, oh wow, you really are the person that I meet on the internet for sure.

You know, like like there's nothing worse and I've done it. I've seen it where it's you meet someone who's just not the same person that you've met on the internet and I'm like, "Oh, that's kind of gross. That's so yucky."

Uh, and it's even like if you can be better, we're like, "Oh my gosh, I actually like you more than I do."

100%. And I think that when too that when I talk to my business partners too about like what's a good reason to partner with me and like I have to be authentic and transparent with who I am on the internet because I will go and run into my following at Kroger 30 minutes after I post my reel and they're going to ask me like what do you really think about X Y or Z and I have to be like this is not we're not creators who are like speaking to an audience of people who live in Hawaii and South Dakota. Like these people, we have to I'm like held accountable to what I post.

Yeah. And if you're like, you know, Wendy's has the greatest burger in Indiana. Correct. They're like, "Okay, come on now. Byebye."

All right. Yeah. They just they tossed you a bag. Got it. That's right.

Um obviously another piece of when you put yourself out there, uh not everyone likes you. Not everyone likes me. Not everyone likes creators. A lot of people are are angry. Are there any fun are there any fun pieces of things that you've heard? Uh people have had interesting things to say about you throughout the years.

Yes. Um yes. I honestly thought about making one of those like dupe reels of like what if I read your comments

in real life like what it would sound like.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

Cuz they're so funny. You know the one I get the comments on the most is my voice.

Oh.

Not necessarily negative, but that it's just like distinctive and kind of deep for like a lady's voice.

Oh. So, um, people are kind of like, "Yeah, I recognized your voice before I recognized your face most of the time."

Oh.

And I'm like, "Okay." Uh, sounds good.

Thanks.

I think a lot of the time, too, is I like to call myself out on stuff, which is I think it's fun. I'm 5'11. I'm like tall for a girl, so I call that out. I think it's funny all the time. What I think is also the funniest is when people respond back to me. They're like, "Oh, yeah. I saw you X, Y, or Z and you're huge. And I'm like, uh, yeah, yeah, you're right. Yes.

I bet that you also take um a decent amount of like the caramel hate like the the what people feel towards a city. You've just like become like the not the entire face of it, but a piece of the the personality and they're like, I hate Caramel and you're the wor like I've had the most crazy stuff

about Caramel. Just like you talk about like comments on the internet. Like someone said it's people like you who are ruining the city of Indianapolis. Oh yeah, good. Someone said that to me. I was perfect. What?

Thank you.

Someone just said move.

Yeah. Just with a period at the end. I was like come on, let's go. Uh I love and I think that it's it's interesting and I some people are nice and like don't like put the name of the you put that on the internet. I will blow that thing up in the th like you're saying something so silly and uh I love it because I like I read a lot of it because I'm just like I'm a person and I and my rule is I give everyone one comment.

So like I won't get into like a full-on internet battle. Like I I give but if you say something that like is so silly, I'll give you one comment back to show you that I'm a real person, right?

I like like my I don't have like there's not a team that runs my Instagram. Like it's me. And so like hey

Yeah. Like someone was just like, "Uh, okay." So I just posted my like hype video about May like and someone was like, "Looks like someone needs to travel more or whatever." And I just like call them by nickname. Hey Kev.

Yeah.

It's me, your buddy Nate. Like

you know, just so you know, like I'm still a real person. And then they then usually when you do that and like say that you're like respond, they comment something nice back. It's like it's like you won't say something if you you would not come up to me in in public and say this.

They never do it. They never would. I know. 100%. That's un I've been like everywhere.

Yeah, I've been everywhere. No one's ever come up to my face and said, "You are ruining the city of Indianapolis."

No, absolutely not. And I feel like Yeah, I do. I when I started QBM and Carmel, I was not aware of the online hate for the city of Caramel. I truthfully was blind to it, which was and I I must have lived under a rock,

but I just hadn't tapped into like caramel hate TikTok or whatever it is.

It is real.

It is very real. So I I try to take that stuff not crazy personally because I do get lumped in with the tax that seeming to be more so along the lines of like hating of the city. So, I try not to take any of that, but that is like I was quickly found that.

I mean, if someone is out there listening to this and wants an easy way to go viral, just make videos on one side of that where like if you just hype up Caramel, it'll go viral cuz people will say they hate like I had one I had a guest that said Caramel is the best place to live in Indiana and it got it got like half a million views and people are like just going crazy,

just going crazy. But you're like also thanks for the comment.

And then the other side is like if you just made a page totally dedicated to not liking caramel, I think that would also go viral. would 100% literally just and it could be about you could say I hate caramel and I love puppies and it could be about absolutely nothing or I I love Caramel and I'm giving away free puppies and people would still hate you.

Yes, it's

either one of those would go viral.

Either one.

Um, amazing. Okay, we're to the final three questions that I ask everyone who comes on the show. The first one is, what is something the world needs to know about Indiana?

My world hears a lot about for my family and friends who have chosen to leave the state. You cannot beat the cost of living, the life that you can build in this state for the dollars at which it takes to build it. You can't beat it. The amenities and the availability of of pro sports and a and a metropolis, but a suburban environment if you want it and a urban environment, a a uh rural environment. Like all of these environments are so close together, not far away from each other, and are so affordable to live there. Um, it's just and that's easy.

Yeah, that's the affordability, how far your dollar goes, all those things. Great. So important. I mean, uh, Indiana is really, really good at that.

All right, here it is. You get to shed some light on something that more Hoosiers need to know about. What is a hidden gem in Indiana?

Our personal family hidden gem.

Oh, boy.

No, I feel like you're going to be let down, but it's it's it is seriously it's important to us and we love it so much. And we did I did end up posting about recently and it did perform well. So I was happy for them. There is this familyowned pizza shop in West Caramel. Shout out Alex Snow if you're listening to this. Roselli's Pizza in West Caramel.

It is a onetore shop. Pete, my husband grew up eating like really good Chicago style pizza. grew up in Illinois and since our days at Butler, he he's always said like there is just no good Chicago style pizza in Indie. He's kind of like a self-proclaimed pizza snob. Moving to this house that happens to be like less than a mile away from this pizza place. He's like, "This is the best pizza I've ever had.

I am obsessed." They know all of us by name. They know my kids by name. They before they they see my husband's number on caller ID, they answer, "Hey, Pete, you're normal?" Like I mean like it's like family and now like his whole family who has also this like tie to like actual like Chicago style pizza coming to Indie and they're like we have to get Rosellis. It's the best.

So put them on the map. We love them.

Rosellis 30 years in caramel.

30 years in business.

Wow. I love Just so everyone knows uh according to their website the lunch buffet is back. They have an actual like when's the last time you went to a pizza lunch buffet?

The lunch buffet is all the way back at Roselli's. Come on. It's a hidden gem in Caramel. I knew you were going to get us something good. That is fire. We love it.

Okay. Rosel, I love it. On Instagram, Roselli's Pizza 1995.

That's when they started.

You get to share the love with someone that we need to know about. You get to uh help us find whether it's a new guest or just someone that's doing really, really cool things. So, who's a Hoosier that we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things.

I am cheating a little bit on this because there's no way I could choose, but I have four other Hoosier Keeping Up Local affiliates that I have to shout out. Equally as passionate about their communities and uh lifting up their section and their region of the state. So, we've got Amanda who runs Keeping Up in downtown Indie. We have got Carly who runs Keeping Up in Brownsburg, covers that full like west side. Maddie who runs Keeping Up in Greenwood, the Southside, and then we have Casey who runs Keeping Up in Southern Indiana.

Yes.

Yes. So, those are my Hoosiers on the radar.

All right. Well, all those ads, make sure you go look them up. Um, you can see them. Amazing. Chelsea, this has been so much fun learning about your journey from Fort Wayne to Butler, time at Lily, and then creating not only KUIC, but also keeping up local, getting up to seven different affiliates, getting 70 applications in 50 new markets, the journey, the content creation, the tips for aspiring creators. This has been a really fun episode.

I always love nerding out on this kind of stuff. Um, I appreciate you coming on. Appreciate you sharing. I think that people need to make sure if you listen to this, go back and relisten to your advice to 22 year olds. Send that to your kid. Send that to your nephew.

Whoever it might be, if there's a 22year-old in your life needs to look at their measure of success. I think that was I try to like take a few big pieces away as we kind of wrap up here. That was a huge one. That was great advice. Thank you for all you do for the Hoosier State. you all you do for the north side of Indianapolis as well as all the affiliates doing all the great things.

Uh and uh I'm just I'm really pumped up. Thank you for coming on and being a guest.

Thanks for having me. This is super fun. I really appreciate it.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Get In. If you like what you heard, make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at sweetwater.com. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok @ Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the Who's Your State great. We'll see you next time here on Get