You Got a Little Sh!t on Your Face

I scoped a booking calendar for a stained glass artist, charged her $150, and kept working long after the job was done. Then she told me, “I didn’t hire you for marketing.”

Last episode, Jacob Putnam shared how a missing scope had him building $5,000 websites for $600. In this solo episode, I own up to my version of the same mistake on a smaller scale. An artist I met through my wife hired me to add class booking to her website. I built it, but nobody clicked, because her real problem was that nobody knew her classes existed.

Instead of closing out the job and offering a new scope, I kept coaching her on social media, content, and marketing she never asked me for and never agreed to pay for. I thought I was helping. She felt pushed. The relationship ended, she paid me a year later, and we are not even connected on social anymore.

In this episode I break down where I went wrong: I scoped the task but not her need, and then I stepped outside the scope on my own. If you consult, freelance, or serve clients, this is the episode that helps you stop overstepping, write a second scope, and keep good intentions from turning into bad business.

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• What a scope really is: a definition of the work you deliver for the price you charge
• Why scoping the task is not the same as scoping the client’s real need
• How to spot a top-of-funnel problem hiding behind a website request
• Why scope protects you from overstepping, not just from scope creep
• How to pitch a second scope and a new contract when the first job is done
• Why makers and artists guard their business so closely, and how to respect that
• How to tame a heart to help so it fits inside a business

Chapters

00:00 I made Jacob’s mistake on a smaller scale
02:24 The stained glass client and my artist consulting business
04:30 The booking calendar was scoped. Her real need was not.
06:51 The real problem was top of funnel
08:51 “I didn’t hire you for marketing”
11:18 What I would do differently: scope the next contract
13:10 When you push yourself outside the scope
14:56 Why makers feel attacked by help they didn’t ask for
16:23 Tame your heart to stay within your bounds
17:21 What’s next: Beth Brownstein and two episodes a month in 2027

Join the Conversation

Have you ever kept helping a client after the job was done? Tell me about it in the comments. Share this episode with the freelancer who always says “I’ll just throw that in,” and save it for the next time a project starts to drift.

You quote $1,000 per website, get talked down to $600, and then fifteen clients show up at once. Jacob Putnam of TechBeat Solutions breaks down how scaling too fast cost him his team.

Jacob's first web design business looked like a win. A payment processor offered him a steady stream of clients who all needed websites. Jacob quoted $1,000. The processor pushed back, Jacob agreed to $600, a 40% cut, because some money beat no money. One website turned into ten, then fifteen. His team was a group of friends working for a share of a company with no payroll, and one by one they fell off.

In this interview, Jacob walks you through every mistake behind that collapse: no defined scope, no definition of done, a middleman promising $5,000 sites at a $600 price, and a team with none of the buy-in he had. You hear what it felt like to go back to the client and his friends, dissolve the whole thing, and why that one experience is the reason he runs a one-man operation today.

Then Jacob flips it. He shares how he rebuilt as a solo-preneur, used his own company as a practice lab before he ever landed a client, came back from a liver transplant, and now uses AI to do work that once took a full team of specialists. If you are sitting on a business idea and fear of failure is holding you back, this conversation gives you the systems-first mindset to launch anyway.

• Why saying yes to a discounted bulk deal can sink a brand new business
• How to define scope and a clear definition of done before you quote a price
• How to structure an intro rate: first few projects at a discount, full price after
• Why anyone reselling your service must promise only what you actually deliver
• The real cost of building a team on equity instead of payroll
• How to systematize your business before you scale it
• Why practicing on your own business first makes you ready for the big client
• How to stop chasing shiny objects and answer "what do you do?" in one sentence
• Where the line sits between ministry, pro bono work, and work you should charge for
• How AI lets one person with the right experience do the work of a whole team

Jacob Putnam is the founder of TechBeat Solutions. He helps growing businesses systematize their operations and builds the technology and software to run them. With 15+ years in software quality assurance and test automation, Jacob now pairs that experience with AI to build tools that used to require a full team.

Connect with Jacob: https://techbeatsolutions.com  |  Facebook

What's the deal you said yes to way too fast? Tell us in the comments. If this episode hit close to home, share it with the friend who keeps saying yes to everything!

Watch on YouTube: You Got a Little Sh!t on Your Face

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I lost $700 running Facebook ads for a dropshipping business I had no business running. No niche, no testing, no strategy, just one to three dollars a day thrown at strangers who never wanted what I was selling in the first place.

In this episode of Shit I Did, I walk through exactly how it went wrong: the free training that talked me into an $80 a month Shopify plan, the "niche" that was really just everybody, the ad spend that couldn't buy me a single sale, and the call to action mistake that followed me across every business I've run since, including a beard company and a granola business.

This one ties straight back to episode 2 with Jessica Cazabat, "How to Suck LESS on Social Media." Everything she said about organic reach and authenticity, I learned the hard way, years before I needed to hear it.

• Why I signed up for an $80/month Shopify plan just to get a "free" dropshipping training
• The niche mistake that guaranteed my ads would never convert
• How my estimated ad reach of 100,000+ people turned into an actual reach of 2,000 to 3,000
• Why nobody taught me A/B testing, analytics, or how to tell if an ad was even working
• The call to action mistake I repeated across three different businesses
• Why I trust organic reach over paid ads now, and the one rule I follow if I ever run ads again
• The lesson from Jessica Cazabat's episode I wish I'd listened to before I spent a dime

• 0:00 – The $700 social media mistake, and why this episode ties back to episode 2
• 3:29 – The free dropshipping training that wasn't really free
• 5:41 – Building the site and loading it up with 130+ products
• 7:27 – The "relax" niche that wasn't a niche at all
• 9:20 – What the ad training never taught: A/B testing and analytics
• 11:20 – Estimated reach vs. actual reach on Facebook ads
• 13:21 – The call to action mistake, from dropshipping to the beard company
• 15:38 – The $20 targeting mistake that blasted an ad to the whole country
• 16:00 – Weak ad copy and the "buy this" problem
• 17:23 – The smallest possible action: what I learned from Jessica about CTAs
• 19:41 – Niche down until you can picture one person
• 20:28 – Why I trust organic traffic over paid ads now
• 21:46 – What I'd change if I could go back
• 22:50 – Wrap up and one favor to ask

"If you can't reach people organically, an ad is not going to make it better."

"Ads are a separate skill. Pay somebody to do it."

"If you think your niche is specific enough, if you have to ask, it's probably not."

• Jessica Cazabat – guest on episode 2, "How to Suck LESS on Social Media"
• Facebook Ads Manager
• Shopify
• AliExpress

Available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeart.

Made the same mistake? Drop a comment and tell me about it. If this saved you from doing the same, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

Keywords:

Facebook ads mistakes, dropshipping, Shopify, social media marketing for small business, niche marketing, organic reach vs. paid ads, entrepreneurship failures, small business lessons

In this episode, social media expert Jessica Cazabat shares candid insights on how midlife entrepreneurs can leverage authenticity, vulnerability, and even imperfections to grow their brands genuinely and effectively. With practical tips and bold truths, Jessica emphasizes why showing up as your true self is your most powerful business tool.Key Topics:

• The importance of authenticity over perfection in social media content
• How sharing failures fosters connection and trust with your audience
• Utilizing personality and spicy opinions to differentiate your brand
• Strategic use of bold, disruptive hooks and visual tricks to capture attention
• The value of organic, real-time content over polished overproduction
• Collaboration and leveraging talk about oneself as a marketing strategy
• When and how to share your journey, struggles, and success stories
• Building community through engagement and genuine conversation
• How niching your social voice creates your ideal audience
• Overcoming fears of judgment, negativity, and oversharing

**Since recording this episode, Jessica has stepped away from her role at Get Real Social and no longer provider social media services. You can still find her on social media on her personal accounts under Jessica Cazabat.

The conversation delves into the birth of the podcast, the revelation sparked by a pizza experience, the concept of monetizing passion and skills, and the importance of diversifying and authenticity in entrepreneurship. It emphasizes the idea that anything can be a business and encourages everyone to build a business at some point in their life.

Takeaways

• Entrepreneurship is not just about glitz and glamour, it's hard, messy, and full of challenges.
• Anything can be a business, and everyone should build a business at some point in their life.

Chapters

• 00:00 The Birth of the Podcast
• 10:57 Monetizing Passion and Skills
• 24:08 Diversifying and Authenticity

In the trailer of 'You've Got a Little Shit on Your Face,' Reginald Daughson dives into the messy reality of entrepreneurship, sharing his personal journey from corporate burnout to business ownership. Reginald also discusses the inspiration behind the podcast and the vast opportunities available in different industries, encouraging listeners to embrace the chaos of entrepreneurship as a valuable experience.

Takeaways

• Entrepreneurship is not glamorous; it's messy and challenging.
• Every person should experience owning a business at some point.
• Self-sabotage and procrastination are common challenges for entrepreneurs.
• There are many ways to enter an industry without being a direct competitor.
• The podcast aims to provide practical insights and support for entrepreneurs.
• Embracing the mess of entrepreneurship leads to valuable experiences.

Sound bites

"Anything can be a business."

"Everyone should experience building a business"

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to the Messy Truth of Entrepreneurship

03:04 The Journey of Self-Discovery and Business Ownership

05:47 Facing Internal Challenges in Entrepreneurship

08:54 The Inspiration Behind the Podcast

12:01 Understanding the Ecosystem of Business

18:00 Finding Opportunities in Every Industry

19:56 The Value of Embracing the Entrepreneurial Mess