This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
I decided to give money to Meta. I decided to waste money on Facebook ads. That's the title of today's episode. Our long time listeners will not be surprised to know that it falls in the segment known as Failure Friday. Every other week we talk about something that does not work so well.
I love successful case studies. I love telling you about pig wins, but I think it's also important to look at times in which somebody makes a mistake or sometimes it's not even their fault, but through outside circumstances, something goes very wrong. And what do we learn from that? Because ultimately we learn as much from failure as we can from success, if not more. So we have these little short stories about missteps, disasters, failure, et cetera.
You get to hear directly from a side hustler who has struggled in some way, and they very bravely and transparently share the details of this story, which I so, so appreciate. So today we're gonna hear from Shana Hartman. She's the owner of Synergy Wellness, and she's gonna tell us about using Facebook ads too soon. Basically she decided to waste her money on Facebook. Well, she didn't decide to do that.
That's just what happened, okay? And it's happened to a lot of people. It's not just her. So let this be a warning to you. Gonna pass the microphone.
I'll be back at the end with a quick wrap up. [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'd 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. If you want to have any more information about the work that we do, please head to shanaheartman.com. I look forward to connecting with you. [Music]
Shana, thank you so much for sharing the story. Listeners, check out our website shanaheartman.com or follow her @shanaheartmanwritingcoach on Instagram, I believe, maybe TikTok as well, not sure.
And remember, never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. What was it, $7,000 or so? That's a lot of money, no doubt. But listen, I have heard of people spending a lot more before realizing that online advertising is not for everyone. I have heard of people spending $100,000 or more.
And maybe these are slightly bigger businesses, but often it is like a small business that's going all in with this. And they realize a bit too late that they have spent a bit too much money. So, you know, it's always good to ask, is this aligned? Again, thank you, Shana. Listeners, I hope you do something today.
Just one thing to get closer to a goal that is important to you. Let me know if we can be helpful. Of course, sidehustleschool.com for notes and resources, a free email list, send it out every Sunday, little newsletter, some reminders of recent episodes and so on. Of course, much more is coming up seven days a week, always free. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
