About Sean Hodel

The story so far

I grew up in Winchester, Virginia, the oldest of four brothers. Winchester is still home, and it is still where the work happens. The Local Klicks office sits at 9 N Loudoun St on the Old Town walking mall.

I started my first business at 13. By the time I graduated from James Wood, I had been accepted to the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. Most people would call that the plan. I turned down UVA and three other schools to build Local Klicks full time, learning how local businesses grow in live ad accounts with real money on the line.

Behind the camera first

The whole story started at the front of the stage. I have photographed more than 100 Christian artists, including Phil Wickham and Lauren Daigle. Phil Wickham even signed my camera lens.

As a junior I worked as cinematographer and editor on "Step", a short film by Winchester filmmaker Kerri Lane Mariano that was entered in a Women in Film competition. The Winchester Star wrote about her work on November 22, 2024, and about a James Wood junior behind the lens. Framing, pacing and cutting a story down to what matters is the same skill that makes an ad work.

On the mat

Four years on varsity, three as captain. I finished my career as a Regional Champion, a 3x State Qualifier and a State Placer. My senior season at 165 lb I went 32-5 with 21 pins, took 1st place at 165 in the Willie Walters/Jaye Copp Tournament, was featured in the Winchester Star Athlete Spotlight, and was named to the Winchester Star 2026 All-Area team. Wrestling teaches you that nobody hands you the result. You earn it in the practice room.

1st in Virginia

In DECA, Lincoln Hahn and I took 1st in the state of Virginia in the Business Growth Plan event for James Wood DECA and qualified for DECA ICDC. It was the same work I do every day at Local Klicks, just on paper and in front of judges.

In the ad account

At Local Klicks I am the Director of Ads, running Meta, Google and Local Services Ads for local businesses. I work alongside Zackary Michael, who founded the agency and leads web and SEO, Justin Coughlin on media, and Shawn Rider on coaching. Together we wrote the book Local Klicks: Turn Clicks Into Clients and Dominate Your Local Market.

The agency has generated $80M+ in client revenue for 220+ clients across 30+ states, $1M+ in ad spend managed and a 5.0 Google rating from 100+ reviews. Some of the wins I am proudest of: 2,000+ leads in under 30 days for one client, 428 leads in 31 days for a dentist in Fairfax, and a client business up 40% in two months.

In June 2026 the Winchester Star caught me working from the rooftop of the Bright Box building in its photo feature "Tan and plan". On September 15, 2026, I hosted Local Klicks' first live event at the Bright Box: a hiring workshop on finding key players, where we gave a free 90-day lead generation system to MG Minor Construction.

What drives me

My bio says it plainly: "Living for Jesus." I have been in church every Sunday since before I can remember, and I have never had a drink, a smoke or a coffee. My favorite verse is Proverbs 27:17: iron sharpens iron. That is how I try to build, with people who make each other better.