← Win With Paid Ads
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Welcome to the Win with Paid Ads podcast for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and really anyone who has anything you want more people to find. Whether you're starting from ground zero or scaling an eight figure business, you are exactly who this podcast was created for. Because you being the best kept secret helps no one. Right? That's why in every episode, I'll show you how you can use paid ads to hit your goals 10 times sooner. It's time you finally learn how to win with paid ads. You or someone, someone on your team can do this. I'll show you how to score and be known by more. Let's get started. Welcome to the 100th episode of the Win with Paid Ads podcast. We did it. It's amazing. The only thing is we've got another one, but it seems to be malfunctioning. Welcome to the one. Keep going, Meredith. Let's see what happens. Welcome to the 100th episode again. Wow, I wish I could see Meredith right now. Meredith is dying. She's twisting that thing so hard trying to get it, I mean. All right, we made it. Well, welcome. You know, this episode is looking a lot different than the very first episode when funny enough, I actually was sitting at my computer recording my own self on zoom, just talking to me. I was just staring at my Zoom computer, just recording a Zoom meeting, just staring at me talking to you on episode number one. And so on this episode, it's really special. I actually wanna share with you 10 painful lessons that I'm grateful for that will take us to our first $10 million year. And before I go into those 10 painful lessons, which I actually think you're gonna genuinely enjoy, because I'm gonna walk you through what the lesson was, why it matters, and what we're doing now about it in each of these 10, which is gonna be really cool. So let's take a minute and reflect back 100 episodes ago. So how perfect is it that our 100th episode is releasing on January 1, 2026? I think that's really cool that it timed up like this. And I'll tell you, it's not intentional, but it's just so beautiful because it. This is the symbolization of what a fresh start can do. And that fresh start that I had a couple years ago, was it maybe a year ago, potentially. I really like to see. I guess it was probably a year and a half when we started the first episode. I'll have to look back at it, but when we started this, I was recording myself on zoom. I was a team of one I was the solopreneur. I didn't know what I was doing. I was editing a podcast, opened up GarageBand on my MacBook for the first time after I'd already recorded the episode. Like, I was like, I don't even know how I'm gonna edit this episode, but I know I have GarageBand, so I'm just gonna record it on Zoom, download the file, and then figure out GarageBand, and then figure out how to make an intro and hope that it sounds good and, you know, funny story. For those of you that have not listened to the first episode, I'm not really sure if I recommend it, because, you know, it might be funny for you to laugh back. And honestly, it's so cool hearing the story. Wow, y'. All. There's confetti everywhere. This is amazing. But when you go back at that very first episode, I remember being so proud that I recorded it. And I went to my husband, and I was like, kyle, you've got to hear my first podcast. Like, I have my own podcast. It's a big deal. And I let him listen to it. And then he was like, okay. And I was like, what? I was like, did you not like it? And he was like, it was really good for your first episode. I was like, what does that mean? And he was like, I just. I don't think you're talking right. And I was like, what do you mean I'm not talking right? I work so hard. He was like, you sound like you're presenting to a room of, like, 300 people. And I think a podcast is supposed to sound like you're, like, talking to a friend, and it's conversational. Doesn't sound like a presentation. Like, it's just how you communicate. And I was like, oh, I definitely felt like I was talking to a room, an auditorium. And I was like. I feel like I was like, welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Let me share with you about advertising. Like, I just. I didn't know how to just talk to the camera. And to be honest, I've watched my clients. Cause me and Robert will do. On our VIP days, we do ads together or sales page videos. And it's crazy how you can talk to someone and then the camera comes in front of them, and their, like, whole body goes into shiver, and they're like. They forgot what planet they're on, and they can't say their name anymore. And it's, like, crazy. The camera does something to you. And I'm not kidding you, it did that thing to me. And so sometimes people Are like, ashley, it's so easy for you. I'm like, no, I did 100 episodes talking to myself. And you just get better with anything that you do over and over again. The first thing that you do is always going to be not so great. So as I wipe off this beautiful confetti off my computer, I'm going to walk you through my notes of these 10 painful lessons that I'm so glad and honestly so grateful for that I know will lead us to this $10 million year. So, last thing before I jump in, I just want to encourage you. I told myself I'd do an episode a day when I first started my podcast. And I left feeling really disappointed when I realized that I'd only recorded three in three weeks. So what I want to encourage you on is just be consistent with whatever you have. All I could do as a solopreneur was do one episode a week. And so just click, record. All right, I have an episode on how to start a podcast. You don't need a course, you don't need a bunch of fancy equipment. In my opinion, all you need to get started is not the current setup I have today. This is something that I worked so hard towards and then we grew into. But the first thing that I did was just recording on Zoom. So start before you're ready, get in front of that camera, just record a Zoom meeting and upload it on podcast and YouTube. Just upload it raw. I didn't edit it, I didn't do anything. I just uploaded the content. Just show up. That's how I want to encourage you to do at the beginning. And just remember, you can make it pretty later. And that's what we've done. Granted, my current state, if you are not watching on YouTube, which I highly encourage, there is literally confetti everywhere. And I am not sure who's cleaning this up, but it is absolutely everywhere. So it does not have to start out like this. And the other thing I wanted to share with you is when I started my podcast, I was pregnant and you already just like, there's a lot of stuff going on when your body isn't changing, your brain change, and everything's just kind of crazy. And I still showed up for that podcast. And I remember I was doing the podcast, I was leaving a fully certain maternity leave, a great six figure salary at an agency. All these things were lining up and I was like, no, I'm going to start my own business and start a podcast. And I had no clue how to do a podcast. I had no clue what I was going to say. In fact, the first episodes I ever did, y', all, I didn't even have notes. I just was like, oh, it's like a normal zoom meeting. I'll just show up and talk. I didn't know what I was doing. You don't have to know what you're doing to get started. You just have to get started. All right? It's so funny because when I. When I started, I had zero revenue in the business, and now I'm sitting here making an episode about our $10 million year that I know we'll have this year. And that is what is possible when you can advertise and is what's possible when you have something that helps people. And your goal does not have to be 10 million. Some of you, your goal is 500,000. Your goal is a million. 3 million, 5 million. Some of you, your goal is a hundred million. And whatever your goal is, I just want you to know that it is going to be much harder when people can't find you, and you can speed things up when people can. And that's what I hope that this podcast. Podcast. That this podcast does for you. I really do. And just, like, I just messed up right there. Like, you just don't stop when you mess up. You just keep going. And I want you to do that for everything that you do and your business and your ads, because you will mess up. It's guaranteed. And the only reason you'll get frustrated is if you feel like and anticipate everything to be perfect the first time, because it absolutely won't just be okay just being you and show up and be human. You'll make the mistakes, and it's gonna be all right. The only regret I honestly have is not starting this podcast sooner because there are so many clients that I feel like were on the fence that joined this podcast and was like, oh, wait, this is a good human that loves to help people win and actually has experience. I want to work with this person. And that very same thing will happen to you. So do the podcast, is all I can say. And even when you think nobody will listen, even when you're worried about what everybody else will think about you, even when you're worried about the whole world hearing, and you think about all the people that could hear every single episode that you could write, it could be the reason that you don't do it, or it could be the very reason that you do. So get up on there, share your story, and make it rain. That's all I gotta say about that, thinking about this hundredth episode. So special. So I was just like feeling the tens thing. And I was like, let's talk about those 10 painful lessons. So I'm gonna walk you through 10 lessons. And then I wrote in my notes, I basically have what the. What the lesson was, why I'm glad I learned it, and now what it means for me, and honestly, what it means for you too. So we'll walk through that. So lesson number one is scrubbing toilets at O. Charlie's. And the manager telling me that he didn't think that I could be a server because he didn't think I could handle it. So why I am glad that that was my lesson, it's because I learned a process. I learned a method to creating efficiency in something because I didn't like cleaning toilets. I don't think anybody does, but it was part of your shift. And I didn't like cleaning toilets. But what I did like was learning how to be efficient. And learning sometimes at every role, every single role we have, we learn something we do want to do and don't want to do. And every single bit of that is data. So I'm glad that I learned the process. And now I have proved to myself that, that when someone says you can't do something or that you're not capable of it, it doesn't mean that it's fact. And even if it is fact, then it doesn't mean that it's fact forever because someone else's perception of you is just that it is someone else's perception of you does not have to be fact. And that was just such a perfect example of really realizing that what other people say isn't always true and definitely doesn't have to be true forever. The second lesson I'm glad I learned was I went to college alone. And I think because I'm an only child, one of the reasons I. One of the things that's, like, hard is I actually don't like being alone. People that know me know I would agree. Let's. Let's be honest. I love being around people 90% of the time and 10%, if I don't get some just me time and not speak to anybody and trap myself away and no one talk to me, I would probably pass away. So I do need my quiet time, that's for dang sure. But I also do not love being alone. And so going to college alone and having nobody really, that I knew that was like a good best friend gonna be there, it really proved to me, that new people can mean a new opportunity and that you don't, like, you are enough. You don't need a community of people. I guess it's like the theory that you can be your own biggest cheerleader. You can do it even when it's uncertain and unfamiliar. And being alone was uncertain and familiar because in high school, I had a group of friends that I, like, went anywhere and everywhere with me. Like, I always had someone by my side. And so to be like, I'm gonna go to lunch by myself today, that was weird. And I'm really glad because it opened the opportunity and created space for me to meet new people. And I'm so glad that I did. So going to college alone was hard, but I'm glad that I did it. New people, new opportunity. And now I've learned that. And this is the lesson I want to write for you. And I wrote this down. I said, know that you won't always be alone, but sometimes you will be first. You'll be the first one to take that opportunity. You'll be the first one who sees the vision in this. You will be first. But that doesn't mean you will always be alone. So the third painful lesson was finding out when I actually got my first job outside of college, actually finding out that a friend of mine, who I loved working with and still like admire to this day, was making substantially more than me, and she did have less experience than I did. And that was hard because I. I knew that I was creating so much value, and I actually was training this person in a way, like onboarding to them, to the company and to the clients, into our process and teaching them. And so it was hard when I found out because it wasn't just like a. A little gap. Like, it was a, like, $20,000 gap. And I had more experience, and that was really hard for me. And I think the thing that I'm. The reason I'm glad that that happened in my path was because I learned how to be resilient and think more than in just the current moment. Like, I didn't think, well, I'm not going to show up and do my job good today. I thought, I'm going to do my job even better because this is not my forever. And when I mean forever, it was like, I knew ADS was my forever. I just didn't know that that role was my forever, because there. I didn't. There wasn't. It was an incredible company, but I didn't see my path being able to be clear, to grow as quickly as I wanted to. And I remember feeling like I was the only person that knew that I could do more than I was being handed right now. But they just saw me in a different light than I saw myself because I was seeing bigger for me before they did. But I'm glad that that happened because when at the time I was really stressed about money and I had a scarcity mindset, I did not have abundance. Kyle and I argued about money all the time on who was going to take a lunch and what we were going to do. And just every single thing was very stressful. And it gave me a sense of appreciation for what I get to do now. And as my income grew and I did make more at the next agency and the next agency, and I saw growth happen. Every bump I just appreciated so much. And it just gave me a sense of appreciation for knowing that I didn't always have this and someone didn't always see the value, but that someone else would later. So that really taught me a lot. The fourth challenge I'm glad that I went through was the relationship challenge in my marriage specifically. And we, Kyle and I did do a whole episode about that. So if you missed it, go back and listen to a couple episodes and you'll hear about why we gave a five figure investment to an organization that helps people get quality counseling. Because counseling, I truly believe saved our marriage. But the reason I'm glad that that was a lesson was because my parents were divorced and Kyle's parents are divorced. So there's four sets of divorced parents. And now I realize that just one of the stresses that people have in relationships, one of them can be money and cheesy. But true. I get to help my clients make more money so that they can have more money for their family for and just win for themselves, their kids, the people they love, and their customers too. And so that's really cool that like, in a way, I like to feel that we can eliminate the money stress when people really lean into what we have and commit to it. And then the other thing is it reminded me like that lesson reminded me that every relationship that you have in your life, in my opinion, when will struggle at some point, whether that is with your best friend, whether that is with a parent, whether that is with a coworker, whether that's with a teammate, you're going, if you are with another human long enough, they will get on your nerves. I will get on your nerves, you will get on my nerves. We'll get on each other's nerves. Because we are different humans, and we have experienced different things. When you bring different experiences together, there's going to be some rattling. And I think the whole, like, that's the thing with ads, too. When you run ads long enough, you're gonna have things that don't work. You're gonna have messages that aren't hitting, and it's gonna be frustrating. And in life, in ads and relationships, it's gonna be a bumpy road sometimes. And if we could all just get over the fact that everything's not gonna be perfect and get excited about it not being perfect, gosh, there's so much opportunity where we could really appreciate being challenged and appreciate being on our way to the next level and making relationships stronger, growing your business. Because if you're not experiencing a challenge, you're honestly probably not trying hard enough, and your relationships and your business and your ads or in anything. So I'm really glad because that relationship challenge taught me that every relationship will struggle. Things are hard, and things can change, and people can change, too. I love when people are like, people can't change. I'm like, I don't know what people you hanging out with, but over here, we growing, we changing, we getting better, we reflect in. We are. We are improving ourselves. And so I just will never believe that lie that people can't change, because I have proof that they can. I have. I know that for sure. I mean, this is my hundredth episode. I. I am a different person today. I think differently, I dress differently, I behave differently, and it's really special. People can change. So I'm really glad because that relationship challenge taught me that every relationship will struggle. Things are hard, and things can change, and people can change, too. I love when people are like, people can't change. I'm like, I don't know what people you hanging out with, but over here, we growing, we changing, we getting better, we reflecting, We. We are improving ourselves. And so I just will never believe that lie that people can't change, because I have proof that they can. I have. I know that for sure. I mean, this is my hundredth episode. I am a different person today. I think differently. I dress differently, I behave differently, and it's really special. People can change. I honestly feel like if you're not growing, you're dying. So if you're around a bunch of people that aren't changing and aren't inspiring you, you might consider a different room. So the fifth thing is one of the challenges that I feel like will lead us to 10 million is being okay Losing some friends. So the reason I'm glad that that happened is because it helped me have a new mindset on people. Some people are for a season and for a reason. And I used to want everyone to like me no matter what. And that absolutely is probably one of the worst ideas when you're coming to entrepreneurship. You don't want people to like you. You want people to respect you, and you want them to be able to see that you care about them and that you can add value to them. Like I. Relationships, you know. You know this. The relationships that you love, you pour into, and you get poured into, too. And so if you are in a relationship or a business or even working with an ad agency, whatever it is, and you don't feel like they care and they're not pouring as much into you as you're pouring into them, then maybe you can. You can say, this was for a season and for a reason, and now we're leaving and we're doing something else. There is another relationship out there where that will challenge you and want to grow you, that will inspire you, and you'll be glad that you're part of. So that helped me have a new mindset and a new perspective. And now it actually opened doors for me to think about who do I really want in my circle? What people do I want to spend my time with? From my team to my friends to my family. I want to spend time with people where it is mutually beneficial. We are loving and caring and. And helping each other. And so even though it was really hard for me to want everybody to like me, the perfectionist in me has died a little bit. And that has been so freeing. I always want to make my product and service better than everybody else's, and I will, and I am. And we are. And I also know we're not perfect. I know that we're always going to be better and that some clients are going to be your dream clients. And you know this, too. You're going to have customers, and you're like, can every customer be like that person? And then you're gonna have customers that challenge the heck out of you. And honestly, thank God, because those customers allow you to be a better leader, make a better product, and be stronger. So sometimes you just lose relationships, and that's okay. Number six is one of my hardest lessons, was really having an absolute mental breakdown when I ran my first set of ads on my own business, and they didn't go well. And I had spent a couple thousand dollars and I hadn't had Someone buy yet. And then I ended up resulting in spending 2,000 and I think getting about 14 or 15 or 20,000 in my first return. So that ended up being a 10 to 1 return. And what's crazy is a couple days prior it was a zero to one return. I had the right people. They just had to, I just had to guide them into a decision and show them the value for them. But the reason I'm glad that that happened and why I doubted myself so badly and went to Kyle crying. I was like, maybe ads aren't going to work for my business, they just work for everybody else's and is because I feel like I can relate to my clients so much. Like they like you if you're listening or you're one of my clients now or one of my clients soon, soon you're, you're going to feel the pain that it comes of spending your own hard earned money to invest into advertising. And it can feel scary, but I just want to be the person that's like, hey, I've been there. And on the other side is so beautiful. Like it is so impactful and wonderful when you navigate through investing in it not working because it's data and it helps you be better. And I just feel like I have such a sense of empathy for my clients because I've been there where you start to doubt it but then you keep going and it's so rewarding. And the other thing is that was my first taste of realizing that what felt like the biggest risk led to the biggest reward. And what I'm on a mission to do is take my risk tolerance and push it up and up and up because every time I risk more, we, we have a bigger opportunity for a bigger reward. So that pivotal moment, and that was the moment that I realized ads can work for everyone. Because it had worked for me and I had done ads for everybod, everybody else from every type of business, Fortune 500 to small. It worked for me. And I was like, I know that this can work for everybody else too. So it was really validating. The seventh lesson that I'm so glad that was so painful was actually begging someone for money. It was that Chase bank representative. I wish. I hope this lady finds my podcast one day. And she's like, I remember it was that girl. Granted, I bet she can't for like privacy reasons, but God, I was really selling her on the vision of this business and what I was going to achieve. And at the same time I was like at the mercy of her and what I want for my clients and for my team and for myself is to never have to be at the mercy of someone else to let you borrow money for. I don't know. I actually think I might change my mind. Actually think for business, it's really nice to be able to leverage opportunity to be able to create more. But I think the point was, is I was going into, like, a scenario where I had to borrow before I got the reward. And I'm glad that I experienced having to kind of grow those roots deep before the fruit. Y' all heard me say, which I had learned from one of my masterminds. Like, you have to have a fruit system before a root system. And that was so validating that I had to have the. The root system, and I had to go deep. I had to invest. I had to be all in so that I could show up and go all out. Because as Macy said before, you have to have a payoff, or to have a payoff, you have to pay it, have a pay in. And I'm so glad that I really was so bought in and. And. And took the risk because I can so confidently advocate for my clients to do the same thing. The number 8 reason why my painful lesson was I had a client that wanted to cancel. And I'll be honest, I was at, like, a hundred percent success rate. And I was like, oh, my gosh, forever in my business, I'm going to have 100% of always happy people, and everybody's so happy. And I'm so glad that I had someone. And now I'll be honest, this person did not watch the training all the way through. They did not follow the rules or the methods that I had consistently. In fact, any client we've had a challenge with, 100% of those did not finish the content, let alone study the content and let alone be consistent with it long enough. And so this client that wanted to cancel allowed me to learn that no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, even if you give it your life, blood, sweat, and tears, you can never make 100% of people happy. And a lot of times we listen to the 1 or 2% because they're the loudest, and we forget about the 97 and 93% or 98% of people that are like, this is amazing. I'm so grateful. Please do more of this. And so it was me having to grow myself as a leader and say, I'm gonna take some feedback. I'll apply it. But also, some people just are not the right people. They have a negative mindset. They're gonna look for problems in everything they see. Everything's an excuse. Everything's everybody else's problem. And they're not great clients. And now I'm not saying that's 100% of the people that have came to us with any challenge with our program, but I am so grateful because it has changed my mindset of saying it's a me problem. And sometimes I'm like, it's not always a me problem or an us problem. And sometimes we can really do. Like, that's one of the things I said in the pre. In one of the recent episodes is we obsess over feedback and want to be the absolute best and are creating the best. It does not mean we're perfect. So we absolutely take feedback. But I learned you can never make everyone happy. You can always take an opportunity to be better. It also allowed us to create a process. And if there's one thing, I'm so glad that some of these clients that were like the few that we've had that were, I would say either. I mean, I guess, to be completely honest, there's some clients you're gonna have, and sometimes there's people that are problematic or they're just straight up hateful and mean, rude, ungrateful, negative. And for those people, I just have to bless and release because I could really get riled up and get so upset and be like, you're so wrong, like, you're being so mean. But I have had to become a leader and be an adult and say, I am going to fault to you. I'm going to show unreasonable hospitality. I will give you the best customer experience, even on your way out. And some clients, I will very gladly and happily say, I bid thee best of luck. And that has been something that has really shaped me and challenged me. And I'm so glad that it happened because it allowed us to get feedback. It allowed us to create a process, and guess what? It's allowed us to better qualify people that get into our programs. 2026, mark this. Mark my word. It's the year that we work with people that we love to work with because we qualify them better than we ever have before. I'm like, here is who this is for. And here, this is who this is not for. If you're not gonna spend X amount on ads, if you're not gonna leave them live this long, if you're not gonna take the feedback, if you're gonna look for a way out, please don't buy my Program run, run as fast as you can. Because I just want people that are bought in. They're bought in on themselves, they're bought in on our mission, and they're bought in that we care about you. And you're gonna have to stick with this because it's not going to be an instant fix. This is a lifelong skill that will impact you over the long term. And for so long I was so scared to say who this is not for. And there is a certain group of people whose mindsets, behaviors and beliefs do not align with our core values. And for those people, I am going to say, here's who it's for and not for and gladly and kindly say, this is not for you. And that is such a gift because it's gonna allow the people that are in the programs to win even more and it's gonna allow my team to have even more enjoyment with the people we're getting to work with now. Will there be challenging scenarios and clients and sometimes a disgruntled client is right. Something happened wrong, something got communicated incorrectly. I am not saying we're perfect. I'm saying we're gonna take feedback. But I can't tell you how grateful I am to be able to have such certainty and conviction that I don't want everyone to buy and I promise you, you don't want everyone to buy too much. There's some people that are not it and depending on your price point, it varies. But for some of you with a higher, higher price point and it's a certain opportunity, you want people that have a growth, positive, encouraging, all in, hard working, eager, reflective, self aware, humble, that's the person you want to work with. And so just call those people out and qualify and disqualify who's best to work with you and your company. Number nine of Painful Lessons is messing up in front of my team. I am so glad that I have messed up in front of my team. And the reason I say that is because it is an opportunity for me to lead by example and exemplify extreme ownership. I'll link to that below. This episode Extreme Ownership, that book I mentioned a couple times, but it is basically saying that ultimately it comes up to the leader and they can take responsibility. In my opinion, almost everything that happens in the business is ultimately my fault. And me being able to teach my team by example, this is what ownership looks like because every single one of them are going to mess something up at some point and your team's going to jack something up. Okay, you're going to jack something up. And it's like, well, that's such an opportunity to say, well, what do you do then? And it was really cool. I recently acknowledged on a team meeting that I really didn't like how I spoke to someone on the team, and I just really didn't like my. Just my demeanor. I just didn't like it, and I owned it. And I apologized and I said why it mattered. And then two days later, something did happen and there was a mess up on the team. Something got deleted. And as a result of that thing getting deleted, because we were training, we were training someone, this person accidentally deleted something. As a result, our coach was coaching our head paid ads coach was coaching one of our clients and wasn't prepared for the question because that question got deleted and accidentally. And what I loved was the team was like, this was absolutely my fault. Here's exactly what happened, why it happened. I'm sorry that it happened, and here's what we're gonna do about it. And we corrected it with the client. We reached out to them. We gave all the love. The client was like, we're good. And we were like, thank God. Like, it actually was great opportunity because we got to practice extreme ownership, and we got to show the client how much we acknowledge when we mess something up and that we were here to support them and make sure that they were taken care of. So I love messing up to show that extreme ownership. And I am. The reason I love that is because I'm the quickest and first to admit when I'm wrong. And I love showing to my team that I'm imperfect and that you can't take. You can't actually mess something up if you're not doing work. Which is why I'm like, if you're not making a couple of mistakes, you're probably not challenging yourself enough and taking enough action. So it was really cool getting to see me be able to do that and the team just following in suit. And the number 10 painful lesson is, this is a hard one. I was torn if I was going to share this one on the podcast, but it's just true as a company that refining the team and letting people go, it was really hard. I got to experience letting someone go who I really valued and admired as a person. And I think that the thing when it comes to a team, the changing and the transitions and the challenging and holding people accountable, it is really hard. And I hated doing it. I really did. And one of the things that I've seen my husband do is he Actually let go of someone on his team that he was actually the closest friend with. He was very close to this person. I watched him. And I remember because I'd never experienced it before. I was like, why is it so hard for you? If you look at the facts, the facts say that this, this, and this. Like, the performance is not there. But it was so hard because I love this person, too. And so it's like this outside perspective of you can't put your shoes. Like, you don't know what it's like until you put your shoes in someone else's shoes and walk through the path. And so I'm so glad that I've been challenged. And I got to watch him go through something. I mean, he cried, and I cried when he let that person go. I'm like, this isn't even my company, and I'm crying. And it's just because you can care about a person so much. But for you to really be able to care about everybody else on your team and your clients and putting them first, you. You have to make sure that you're protecting your team at all costs and the performance, because if you don't have a team that's performing, your clients can't win. If your clients can't win, you can't get care of the team. The business crashes. So actually being able to prune and grow and have hard conversations, like, I think 2025 was my year of hard conversations, and I'm still having to do that every day. And I'm so grateful because it's allowed me the opportunity to become a better leader and be able to navigate client conversations, team conversations. And the other thing I know is that. And for you, which is why I wanted to share it with you, is because your team is watching your every move. And no matter what, when you have a team, people see when people are or are not performing. And the precedent that you set for what is and is not allowed is demonstrated by what you do allow and the actions that people see. And so I am of the opinion give someone the opportunity, turn that ship around, Give them the opportunity to coach them, encourage them, and give them the path to be successful and have those hard conversations. And the reason I'm glad is because ultimately, that allows us to have our mission, which is for our clients to win, because we have a team that works together so well to be able to make that happen. So what I'm kind of applying now is hire. Like, one thing I'm working on is hiring a little bit slower. Not. Not hiring slow, like we're going to hire a lot of people this year, but making sure it's the right person and really taking time with my hiring process, being intentional and actually creating a better process for the interviewer and for the team, and just knowing that all of the hard conversations and challenges and being intentional with the team ultimately allows us to win. So. So a lot of hard conversations, a lot of messing up in front of the teams, navigating, doing something wrong, messing up, having ads that weren't working, and struggling with relationships, it is all so good, and I'm so grateful for all of it. And I promise you that your life, your business, your ads, your team, everything will perform better when you look at life that way. Because it is a choice to look at life and in the way that everything is making you better. Everything's a challenge, everything is data, everything is part of the plot, part of the story, and that it's making you better as a person. And I just know that whether it's your hundredth ad, your hundredth dollar, your hundredth episode, every single time that you show up, even if you mess up, that's how you can level up. I truly believe it. So I hope this episode was helpful. And if you do want to level up with your ads, I'd love for you to click the link below this video to join the Win with Paid Ad Challenge where we can meet live. Especially when you get that platinum ticket, I can actually look at your business and you get a hot seat session where I get to hear your question and give you that personalized feedback. And I love the opportunity to do that, to help you and your business grow. So I will see you on the next episode. So this is where I tell you, go advertise your name, make it rain, and I'll see you soon.