This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome to another episode of "Sidoesle School." This is your host, Chris Guillebeau. Today, our segment known as Failure Friday. Failure Friday, it is a collection of short stories about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure. All of the things that go wrong, what can we learn through the process of not just a huge success, but also, well, as I said, one of those mistakes or missteps. I am so grateful to all of the side hustlers, small business owners, entrepreneurs, everybody who has been participating in this series, giving us lots of great stories.
I know it helps so many of our listeners just giving them some information, but also encouragement because all of us struggle in some ways. And to me, the key is not just that you're gonna struggle, but you're going to actually recover. So these stories vary. They often begin with an idea and an assumption, and then the reality assumption meets reality. Today's short story features Shana Hartman.
She is the owner of Synergy Wellness. She's gonna tell us about using Facebook ads too soon. Facebook ads too soon, or perhaps without understanding what you really get when you use Facebook ads. We've had some stories over the years of people who've been very successful using online ads with Facebook, Google, something else. And we've also seen a lot of people lose a lot of money through the process.
So I won't give anything else away. Let's hand it over to Shana. [Music]
Hi everyone, Shana Hartman here, PhD turned embodied writing coach. I'm the owner of Synergy Wellness and the creator of the Embodied Writing Programs. And I'm here to talk about a story around shifting and using Facebook ads a little too soon.
I was getting a little big for my britches, so to speak. So this fail comes in where I had started to grow my coaching business as a body mind certified coach and really supporting people in amazing ways. And I had just signed my first high ticket one-on-one client. I was elated. I could not believe that it happened in this way.
And because I had worked with several clients already, I was seeing success. I was listening to a lot of the chatter around me and decided that I needed to get into Facebook ads. I knew what I had was powerful and I knew how I worked with people was empowering and I wanted to reach more people. And so the way that I thought I needed to do that was through Facebook ads. Well, I dove right in and went with one of the highest levels of investments that I've ever done.
And guess what happened? It worked, or at least it felt like it worked initially. So I had my Facebook ads going into a free Facebook community and it was great. It was growing. And that's what I wanted was this bigger audience.
But the problem was these weren't people who were ready to step into my embodied writing programs. These are programs where people have a book burning in their soul and they're ready to step in and really capture what is on their heart, their core messages from their business and their life. And these were people who were just looking for a space to be. This was right in the middle of the start of the pandemic. A lot of people were online and they were just looking for connection.
And there was nothing wrong with that. But I was basically fishing in this giant pool of people that weren't my people. But here I was getting really good return on investment for getting people into the Facebook group. But nobody was stepping through and buying despite my best efforts to do Facebook lives after the fact and just share and be in community and support people. It's just not what they needed and it wasn't supporting my business.
So long story short, I wound up spending about $7,500 on Facebook ads. But luckily I wound up having a conversation with the owner of the agency that I was working with and she's amazing. And we realized that ultimately the goal that I was striving for, it wasn't working. And so we ended that contract and we had a great conversation about what to do next. And so what I started to do then was really pivot and just step back into alignment for myself, step back into my own embodiment and get connected with people.
So I started to make personal one-on-one connections and slowly but surely through that method which felt really light, really easy to me and is ultimately what I do, which is connect people through my words and help them connect with others through their own words and their books. And that was what really started to grow my business. So while things like the shiny objects, the flashy Facebook ads, they seem like the right next step sometimes, smaller and simpler and more aligned is better. So I'm grateful for the lesson, but I recommend to anyone after listening to this is if you're thinking of I need to take that next big step, really check in with yourself and decide, is this really aligned for me? Is this really gonna help me with what I'm actually trying to do?
Is this gonna be the best method for me? Particularly when it comes to marketing 'cause there's a lot of things out there. Just do that beautiful check-in and see what shows up. And if it is, then great, go for it. But I'm gonna guess that maybe something a little more clean, a little more simpler might be more aligned.
[Music]
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. That's the theme of Failure Friday. Good work, Shana, thanks so much for sharing that story. $7,500 is in fact a lot of money, but let's be real, I have heard of people spending a lot more before realizing that online advertising isn't actually working. Sometimes you think it's working, that's the trick.
It's like you think it's working, so you're like, I'm gonna keep putting money in. But then over time you realize that the return is a bit misleading. Of course, in some circumstances, it can be amazing, but the whole point is it's not for everyone. It does require a lot of research and also just monitoring, a lot of constant monitoring to make sure it's working. So I love Shana's question about asking, is this aligned?
You should always ask that question. Is this strategy or this tactic or this direction aligned with my vision, with what I hope to achieve through this project? So I really appreciate her sharing that transparent and truthful story. Check out her website, shanahartman.com, shanahartman.com or follow her at Shana Hartman Writing Coach. If you've got a question or an update for us about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions.
Today's show notes, lastly, are at sidehustleschool.com/2036. Thanks for tuning in today. I hope you take care of yourself. I hope you make progress towards something that's important to you, and I hope you'll listen again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
