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In 2025, I’ve managed close to $1 million ad spend across more than 10 different industries.

Most of what people obsess over in Facebook ads… doesn’t really matter that much.

Let me explain.

See, I work with gyms, tuition centres, real estate agents, interior design firms, financial advisors… 

And after spending this much money testing different strategies, angles, and approaches…

I’ve noticed something really interesting.

The lessons I take away are all pretty much the same across every industry.

Which tells me the fundamentals of running profitable ads haven’t changed.

So in this newsletter, I’m going to share the 3 biggest takeaways I’ve learned after spending close to $1 million on ads this year.

And hopefully, it gives you some useful insights as you plan your marketing for the year ahead.

Lesson #1: Most businesses don’t have an ad problem, they have a follow-up problem

After working with all these different businesses…

I can tell you that most of them don’t actually have an ad problem.

In fact, when you scale up their ads, you just see MORE problems being amplified.

And it usually has to do with follow-up.

Some parts of their operations or systems are just not streamlined enough to handle the leads coming in.

Let me give you a real example.

I work with quite a few real estate agents.

And this year, I spent time talking to the agents who did really well from paid ads.

The top performing agent made $400K this year alone from paid ads.

So I asked that person:

“What do you think is the biggest thing you did that gave you this success?”

And the answer?

Consistency in following up.

This client told me that every single day, from 5pm to 7pm is for calling the leads.

Without fail.

If the lead doesn’t pick up…

This client will continue calling for the next 7 days before deciding to give up on that lead.

Can you imagine that kind of consistency?

It sounds simple, right?

But I don’t think everybody can do it.

Can you sit down every day from 5 to 7pm, pick up the phone, and call your leads?

Because if you can do that…

You’re probably going to be as successful as this client who did $400K in paid ads alone.

That’s why I always tell business owners who come to me for consulting…

I can get leads for almost any industry.

I run ads for so many different niches… I know how to generate leads.

But what I cannot guarantee is how consistent these people are going to be when it comes to following up.

Are you calling?

Do you know how to say the right things?

Are you setting appointments?

Because if those things aren’t being done… 

If you’re not following up, if you’re not setting appointments…

Then you probably won’t see any success in the campaign.

It’s really not about the ads.

If you’re a business owner and you’re already running ads or you want to run ads…

You need to think about the whole process.

Because ads are really just one part of making the whole thing successful.

It’s about your follow-up system.

And this is the number one thing I fix after I run ads for my clients.

Because after I generate them a lot of leads, they’ll say:

“Hey, I cannot convert” or “The quality is not good.”

But actually, the real reason is because they don’t really follow up consistently.

So takeaway number one: it’s really not about the ad problem.

If you’re going to be successful in your campaigns and ads…

It’s really about being very consistent in your follow-up.

Lesson #2: Don’t fix what’s not broken

In fact, I just met a client last week for lunch.

They did pretty well on their ads – they got a 10X return.

But they’re still thinking…

“Should we film a new angle? Should we do a new video?”

My reply to them was:

“For what?” 😂

Your campaign is doing 10X return.

That means the angle is working.

Your cost per lead is still consistent around $20.

So why do you want to change?

Again, this is a mistake I see a lot of entrepreneurs make.

They feel like, “Oh, I need to do something. I need to change something.”

But if something’s already working, don’t go and fix it.

Don’t do extra work.

Because if you go and fix something that’s really working…

You’re changing that whole variable.

And then everything will start crumbling down again.

Then you panic again.

Then you need to fix it again.

So as you’re reading this, pause for a moment and look across your whole business process.

If something is really working well and it’s not broken, don’t go and fix anything.

And if it’s really working well, should you do more of it?

If you want to refresh the ads, fine – you can film a new video.

But with the same messaging.

Maybe in a new place, in a new environment.

But the ad angle should remain the same because the angle is already working.

And just to add on to this point…

Some businesses do well in Meta ads, then they suddenly want to make more changes.

They start thinking:

“Should I run TikTok ads? Should I run YouTube ads? Should I run Google ads?”

They start to want to add a lot of variables.

My point is this:

If Meta ads are already working for you, don’t go and fix it by changing anything.

In fact, you should double down on what’s already working.

Double your ad spend until you can double the revenue and income first.

Because most business owners don’t even maximize their ad spend.

They’re spending around $1-2K a month, then they think they should go and explore other avenues.

So if it’s already working for you, double down.

If you’re spending $2K a month, double that to $4K, then $8K, then $10K.

I have clients who are spending up to $50K a month on ads…

 And they still think they can scale more.

So it’s really about not fixing things that are not broken.

Lesson #3: Your bottleneck, not your ad spend, determines if you can scale

Takeaway number three: 

Your bottleneck – not your ad spend – is what determines whether you can scale your revenue or not.

Let me give you a story.

I have a client in the fitness industry.

Before he came to me, he was just a one-man show.

And I knew there was going to be a cap even if the ad campaigns were profitable.

True enough, after we started running ads…

The ROI was around 5 to 6 times.

So we were easily crossing $10-20K a month.

But that wasn’t my concern.

Because I looked at his offer and unique selling point…

I knew this guy could scale past 5 figures easily.

But I told him straight in the first month of working with him.

I said:

“I don’t think we’re going to have an issue with scaling of revenue. But we’re going to have an issue after you hit that $20K because it’s a one-man show.”

Which means he has to start building a team, having SOPs in place, before he can scale the ads.

And true enough, in the first few months of working together, he said:

“Hey, I’ve hit capacity already.”

But the good thing is, he took my advice and he managed to bring in two more new team members.

And that means he can continue to scale his ad spend because he’s going to train his members to follow up the leads.

Then he has more capacity to take on more clients, and the whole revenue can grow.

So a lot of times when businesses come to me and they want to get leads…

The first thing I usually ask is: 

“What’s your company setup like?”

“Who’s doing the follow-up?”

“Do you have people to fulfill your service if it’s a service business?”

Because these two things are important.

If you can’t follow up on time and you don’t have the capacity to fulfill…

Even if you have super positive ROI in your ads, it will still come falling down.

The whole thing will break.

Because paid ads will just amplify what’s already working in your system.

So if you already have a follow-up problem or you have a fulfillment problem…

You run ads, and it’s going to amplify the whole problem.

Final thoughts

So these are the three biggest takeaways for this year.

Number one: be very consistent in your follow-up.

It’s nothing to do with your ads or your cost per lead.

It’s just your follow-up.

Number two: do not fix what’s not broken.

Continue to work, continue to double down on what’s really working if you can.

And of course, thirdly, the bottleneck most of the time when it comes to scaling has got to do with your capacity – your fulfillment and your follow-up.

It has nothing to do with your ad spend.

I hope this has been useful.

The advice I give out is what people pay me for.

Last month, somebody paid me $400 on a 1-hour call just to get my advice on ads.

But yeah, I’m just putting it out here in this newsletter.

So if you’re reading up to this point, congrats 😂

You’ve gotten some very valuable advice.

And if you’re a business owner looking to scale…

And you’re having some problems with your ads…

Or you don’t know what to do…

Feel free to reach out.