When Jack Wendt and I spoke at DigiMarCon Las Vegas 2025, our goal wasn’t just to teach marketing tactics — it was to show how local service businesses can build real authority using AI, Google’s Knowledge Graph, and repeatable content systems.
While working alongside Dennis Yu, we’ve been deep in the trenches helping young adults and small business owners turn their daily work into a structured personal brand. And the systems we teach through our High Rise Academy prove that you don’t need massive budgets or a media team to become visible online. You just need a process.
The Topic Wheel: Mapping Your Expertise and Network
We started our session by showing the Topic Wheel, a visual framework Dennis created to help people see what they’re known for — and who they’re connected to.
In the middle is you. Around it are your six main topics — the things you want to be associated with. For Dennis, it’s areas like mentorship, entrepreneurship, and management.
But what makes the Topic Wheel powerful is the connections. Each topic links to other people you’ve collaborated with — mentors, clients, and peers. For Jack, one of those connections is Caleb Williams, his first mentor and the founder of BetterWealth. Jack met Dennis through Caleb’s content, which shows exactly how authority grows online: through networks built on shared content and collaboration.
This same concept applies perfectly to local service businesses. If you’re a dentist, your Topic Wheel might include oral surgery, cosmetic care, community outreach, and team culture — each connected to real people and stories from your work. Google notices that. It recognizes who you are, what you do, and who you’re connected to.
The Content Factory: The Four-Stage System That Scales Your Presence
Once your topics are clear, the next step is turning your real-world expertise into content that feeds Google and your audience. That’s where the Content Factory comes in — the system Dennis built and that we now teach through High Rise Academy:
- Produce — Capture what you’re already doing: speaking at events, hosting podcasts, training your team, or talking to customers.
- Process — Clean it up with AI tools like Descript: remove filler words, shorten awkward pauses, improve audio, and transcribe your video in minutes.
- Post — Distribute across multiple platforms. The same video can become a YouTube upload, a LinkedIn post, a Facebook Reel, a podcast episode, or a blog article.
- Promote — Use the Dollar-a-Day strategy to test which pieces perform best, then scale those for more reach.
We explained that the hardest part is producing — just pressing record. Once that’s done, AI can handle most of the process, post, and promote stages automatically.
For local businesses, this means a landscaper can record a quick job walkthrough, upload it to Descript, clean it up, post it on Facebook and YouTube, and let a $1-a-day boost reach homeowners nearby. With the right process, a single video can become dozens of pieces of content — and new leads.
The Google Knowledge Graph: The Proof Behind Your Authority
Then we dove into Google’s Knowledge Graph, which is the backbone of everything we teach. Every recognized entity — person, business, or brand — has a unique KGMID, like a Social Security number for Google.
Using our Knowledge Graph Explorer tool, we pulled mine up live — Dylan Haugen, trust score 259 — which represents how confident Google is that I am who I say I am, and that I’ve done what I claim to do. That score grows as Google connects your website, social profiles, media mentions, and backlinks.
We also looked up attendees live. One had a Knowledge Graph entry with a score of 24, which is actually solid — because anything above zero means Google recognizes you as an entity that can be claimed.
We explained how this system applies to every local service business:
- Your business listings, website, and social posts create your digital footprint.
- Every time someone mentions or tags your business on another site, your trust score grows.
- When all your content is linked properly, Google builds a Knowledge Panel — the “blue checkmark” of search.
Unlike social platforms, you can’t pay for it. You have to earn it through consistency and credibility — the same way you build trust in your local community.
AI Tools in Action: From Raw Video to Polished Content
We demonstrated how we use Descript to edit videos in minutes. We imported a YouTube link, had the AI auto-transcribe it, and then instantly removed filler words, shortened pauses, and boosted the sound quality — all in a few clicks.
We then showed how to use Custom GPTs, like our in-house AI editor Jennifer, to turn those transcripts into blog posts ready for publication. We even walked through how to clean up the AI output: removing emojis, bullet lists, and filler to make it sound human and professional.
Once the content was refined, we showed how AI agents can take over the final step — posting the finished article to a website and distributing it across social platforms automatically.
This workflow is exactly what we’re now deploying for local service businesses through Local Service Spotlight: you handle the produce step, and our team — powered by AI — does the rest.
The Power of Young Adults and Local Businesses Working Together
We wrapped up the session by talking about something personal to us: helping young adults learn these skills while helping local businesses grow.
Through High Rise Academy, Jack and I train students to use these AI systems to build digital authority for their parents’ or sponsors’ companies — real businesses that need help but don’t have time to manage their content. The students gain job experience and portfolio work, while business owners get consistent, high-quality content that drives phone calls and sales.
This model bridges the generational gap: local business owners provide the experience, young adults provide the energy and digital fluency, and AI glues it all together.
What It Means for Local Service Businesses
IfIf you own or work with a local service business — HVAC, dental, lawn care, chiropractic, roofing, or anything in between — you’re already sitting on everything Google needs to trust you.
You just need to:
- Organize your digital footprint. Make sure your business name, address, and social links match across all platforms.
- Capture your real-world authority. Film your work, customer testimonials, and events.
- Process and publish it. Let AI tools do the editing and posting.
- Claim your Knowledge Panel once Google starts recognizing you as an entity.
When you do this consistently, your digital presence starts reflecting your real reputation. The same way your local community knows you for great service, Google starts to see you that way too.
That’s exactly why we built Spotlight Core — our $99/month service for local business owners who want to build trust and authority online without having to manage all the tech themselves.
With Spotlight Core, our team sets up your personal brand website, and keeps your online footprint organized — so every post, review, and piece of content you share works together to build your authority.
It’s the foundation of everything else we do at Local Service Spotlight, and it’s built specifically for people like you who want to stand out locally, rank higher, and make sure Google sees you the same way your customers already do.
Final Thoughts
Speaking at DigiMarCon alongside Jack was an incredible experience — not just to share what we’ve been building, but to show business owners that the tools are here, and they work.
Authority is built by documenting what you already do best, connecting it to others, and letting AI help you scale it.
If you’re a business owner ready to build that kind of authority, start small. Record one story. Share one lesson. Post one video. The Content Factory and Knowledge Graph will do the rest — and our mission at Local Service Spotlight is to help you make it happen.
