This will undoubtedly be a two part series. Because I am unpacking a year long experience that I think has unending golden nuggets for all of you even if you never take this particular approach to your business.

This is the story of me going all in with Facebook Ads for a year.

Between the ads and the agency fee for the agency I worked with, I paid over $80,000.00 and they made me a grand total of $6,000.00 - that’s me being generous. I can only confirm $4,000.00 but regardless. It was a clear loss.

Now, I will not be mentioning the agency. That’s here nor there. They certainly had their faults, but today is about MY LESSONS, TAKEAWAYS and most importantly WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THEM.

Much context is needed, so let’s dive in and lay down a clear background.

In January 2021 I launched my free on demand workshop, Your Biz Your Way - 3 steps to build a profitable online health and fitness business. It was a massive hit.

Massive hit being the profitability of the workshop’s 24 hour fast action bonuses driving workshop attendees to buy my FitsPRO Foundations Course.

I hit my revenue and enrollment goals easily for the first half of the year, then it was clear I needed to venture into paid traffic - or so I thought.

The woman who built my funnel was amazing. She saw my numbers after month one and said I was ready for ads right away. But the first month of anything is deceiving right? We see real, more indicative trends over time.

So in June 2021 I set up a call with a Facebook ads agency that a friend and colleague of mine had used and was recommended by more than one person. The context of why this agency had been successful for these people became much clearer after a year of lessons.

I seemed to be their ideal client and we began Facebook ads in September 2021.

Why did I do ads? And what approach did we take?

* The reason and driving factor for pursuing ads was to create SPACE. I needed time and space to create Pure PROgramming and set up some other back end things I had planned for 2022 and beyond. I needed to be done with live launching. That was my driver.

* I was willing to lose all the money in order to definitively say this did or didn’t work. I needed this particular “what if” off the table one way or the other.

Let me tell you it is now off the table for a very good while.

* The agency handled EVERYTHING - I chose the completely done for you package - because again, I needed that. But this was ultimately a mistake.

* We targeting cold traffic most of the time. That was the plan. And this is VERY IMPORTANT to note and remember as I unpack all of my lessons.

* I generally prefer working with ONE HUMAN than a team or agency

This is a very general lesson that I have learned from two clear cut experiences now in growing my business. I worked with a tax agency that I highly disliked, and now this. Perhaps it’s a me thing. I don’t deny that. But also I do think I just prefer a 1:1 interpersonal relationship, even if it IS with someone on a team or within an agency. I want a go to person and open communication. That’s something that is unequivocally needed for me and the way my brain functions. I need education, to be a part of the process, and to understand things via information to feel safe and informed. This has become undeniable to me through these...