The ad scientist about IOS updates and future of marketing online ft. Dusty Ledbetter | TNS 22

We are live, we are live, internet entrepreneurs, we are live! Finally, time came again. Hey guys, this is Nikhil Sai. Welcome back to another show of Internet Entrepreneur Freedom, which is hosted by me, the Nikhil Sai. Excited for today's another interview with another 2 Comma Club winner. Guess who is on the show today? This guy is one of the craziest guys on the internet. He's like a scientist of Facebook ads. I mean, he's the ad scientist. I can definitely state that. So let's not waste any time and call this 2 Comma Club Award winner into the interview. Let's welcome Dusty Ledbetter. Hi, brother.

How's it going, man?

It's going great. Super excited to have you on. How's everything going from your end?

Oh man, it's another day. It's winter out here, so it's a little cooler than normal, but you know, it's a It's a great, it's a great day, uh, great start to a year, you know, so we're excited. Good things coming.

Super excited. So everyone is watching live, so we'll be providing a lot of value, guys. So just stick to the, uh, video. And thanks for everyone who is joining the live right now. Please make sure to comment #live if you're watching this live and #replay if you're watching this replay. If you have any questions, Dusty is with us for 45 minutes from now. Make sure to comment down any questions you'll be having and Dusty will definitely answer that. So Dusty, let's not waste any time. Let's get into the quick story, like how did it all started, like crazy journey from somewhere to 7-figure level. How did it all start?

Yeah, man, I mean, I think, you know, it starts just about like anybody's story starts, right? You know, I had an idea, man, and I wanted to make something of myself. You know, I was young and kind of ready to go. And so, you know, I did the— I did what everybody did. I mean, I went to college, I got a degree, I bought books, I took classes. You know, I was really trying to figure things out. And kind of in the middle of all that, I got married. Married and had a couple of kids. And, um, so then it, you know, the whole hustle thing got real, you know. So really had to, to get after it and try to break down and, and trying to build the business, you know, self-made entrepreneur, self-made millionaire. You hear that stuff all the time. And so, uh, you know, so yeah, I was pursuing it. And, you know, I think, uh, as I started to get into it, you know, you— it's easy for being, being new as an entrepreneur, you get in this vicious cycle of like all these new things and, and stuff to try to build your business and followed by disappointment with things not working. And it's just this endless loop, right? And, uh, you know, so I fell in that. And, uh, unfortunately, in the, in the middle of all that, you know, that all that hustle, it isolated myself, you know, from my family, from people around me and things like that. And it just, I mean, ended up hitting rock bottom. And, uh, I remember one day coming home, my family was gone. It was just, it was just a mess, man. And I think at that, at that moment in my life, you know, I, I ended up having to get a a job I was miserable at, you know, because things weren't working for my business. And, you know, really just a low, low point. And I remember, I remember one night just laying on the floor kind of looking up and being like, man, like, I mean, am I a failure? Like, what's going on? You know? And I think in that— yeah, yeah, it was crazy because in that moment, you know, I realized I kind of had a choice at that point. Like, I could sit here and have pity on myself and live in that failure, or I could kind of get up and and do something and try to figure it out. Except, you know, really, I had— look, looking back, trying to do it myself, it didn't, it didn't work. Like, this whole self-made entrepreneur millionaire thing was, was kind of like my kryptonite. Like, you know, and I, uh, and so I made kind of a plan going forward, was like, look, I'm just going to try to do this, and when I hit a wall and I have a problem and I can't figure something out, I need— you know, all these people out here doing it and having success. So instead of Instead of trying to figure out on my own, I just need to look for help. And so that's, that's what I did, you know, and I started, you know, getting into, into like coaching groups and masterminds and just trying to find the people who knew the things that I was trying to understand. And I think just over the years, you know, all those nuggets started piling up, the little nuggets of knowledge and experience. And, you know, that turned into a system that, you know, I could reliably use, you know, not just for myself, but for my clients. And so, um, the rest is history, man. I think at this point, you know, it's just— it was just real. It took realizing that, you know, when you have a problem in your business, it's okay. You know, when I was having problems, it's okay. You just got to admit to yourself that you don't know and find somebody else who maybe does and leverage their skill and their experience, you know. And, and that's, that's what's, you know, led me to the Two Comma Club Award, to the, you know, success with the guys and Absolutely. And to this podcast, you know.

Thank you. And that's a sweet story and long story start. It was amazing, you know, having like being nowhere and being broke and, you know, being in a situation where we are like freaking out of what to do, thinking about that we done well or not, and to a state where you are now leveraging someone else's skill, someone else's knowledge, and now being in a stage where you're helping someone else to hit certain fear level, something insane. It's life-changing and it's impactful for other persons as well. and which is the true purpose of being alive. That really makes sense.

Yeah.

Dusty, we really appreciate that. So let's get into the powerful stuff, which is your core expertise, Dusty, which is like, I don't think someone else can answer better than you, like the ad scientist itself. What do you think are the best strategies, traffic sources to generate quality leads for your clients?

Yeah, I mean, obviously, well, right now, number one for me is social media. Ads and social media as far as the ability to reach people and be in front of them and put specific messages in front of specific people. I believe this is a very, very powerful traffic source. Obviously, I've built kind of my career on it. I stake what I know on it. Obviously, there's a lot of powerful ways to drive traffic, but I figured with Facebook and Instagram and and some of the other social media platforms. This is just, um, this is the right now the best way I feel like to really, uh, to drive good quality, um, customers, you know, to your, to your website, to your offers, to whatever it is, you know, you got going on.

Sounds amazing, sounds amazing. Social media is the go-to platform when it comes to generating leads for yourself and your client. Sounds interesting. So like, as you are the Facebook ad ninja, or you can say the expert ad scientist actually, so what do you think are the 3 ninja tips, uh, you follow to run Facebook ads?

Yeah, so, you know, ironically, I think these are things that, you know, there's a lot of, you know, the technical aspects of like building a campaign and stuff for, you know, you can find just about anywhere out there. I think so some of the ninja things I think that set, you know, just successful campaigns in general apart from most everybody else is, you know, I'd say number one is you gotta know your customer. You really have to understand your customer. That's the, you know, it's not, like I said, it's not directly to the campaign, but This is why it's ninjas because like if you understand your customer, you know how to talk to them, you know the pain that they're dealing with, the struggle that they're dealing with, you know how your products and your services are really going to help them. And when you really understand that, that shapes everything. That shapes the messaging in your ads, it shapes how you offer your product to them. So that would be, I would say the very first, the very first highest priority on my list is to really understand the customer and how it is that your product and your service you know, serves them. Um, second, uh, second, I would say, you know, uh, ninja tip. This does, I think, apply really to the ads. Um, I, you know, use this tool called Internet Explorer or InterestExplorer.io, I believe is what it's called. And it's, uh, it's just a little tool that connects to the back end of Facebook, Facebook's API And there's so many interests that are available to target that you just don't see when you're an ads manager. You know, there's so many audiences. And so, you know, when you go in there and you start typing things in the ads manager to type your detailed targeting in your interest base, you get served a curated list, you know, but there, there are hundreds of thousands of interests on the back end. Well, this tool essentially aggregates all those things and it puts it in a way where you can you can search a keyword and it'll show you every interest available to target. And so, you know, I call it interest mining. So that's a— it's—

and that's a golden nugget, actually. I need to note that down again.

Yeah. So yeah, that's the next— I think that's the next step in the process is like, you know, you understand your customer, you understand your product, but a really good offer and really good messaging means absolutely nothing if it's not in front of the right people, you know. And so that's where You know, I think, you know, you would move into targeting with your ads, but there's, um, you know, that was just a ninja way that I, I start and get a good group of things to test. And then obviously there's a lot of research that goes into that, you know, but that's, that's kind of a ninja tip. And then, um, I think a third one, if I had to give a third one, um, I I think as far as the ads go, you know, really the ninja tip I would say is number 3 would be giving Facebook kind of the room to make the decisions. So, I mean, just over the years, you know, Facebook has gotten more innovative with how it does it with the algorithm and how it shows its ads to its users and things like that. And so I think in that kind of, um, situation. What— but it basically ends up being is that Facebook, the more power that you give it, um, you know, usually the better it is, the better it ends up being for you. And so trying to structure your campaigns in a way that, um, isn't limiting— for example, you know, a lot of people, you know, you want to niche down, and that's important to really find relevant, you know, say, targeting with your ads and things like that. But I think sometimes people get a little too too niche down, you know. And so you'll get so specific that what ends up happening—

3,000 audience reach, right?

Yeah, you get so specific and that, that puts so many limitations on, on what Facebook can do that it ends up costing you more, you know, to advertise to those people. And so instead, you know, trying to find ways of targeting relevant audiences that are larger, give Facebook a little bit more power, a little bit more room, you know, and then just make sure again that your messaging and your targeting is on point so that when those conversions start happening, you know, it's able to optimize to those specific people inside of a broader range and can actually work. So I think, you know, those 3 together would be kind of my ninja, you know, that those make for a great campaign. Obviously there's a lot that goes into it, but, you know, I would say those are, those are kind of—

yeah, those are the 3 golden nuggets which you are go-to ninja tips to start your Facebook ads, right? That's, I Absolutely amazing. So let's quickly get into the next question, Dusty. This is, I think a lot of people have this question especially, do you think starting a media buying agency is good? If yes, how to do it? Because there are a lot of people who are still struggling in a place where they want to charge, but they want to get clients, but they don't know how to run Facebook ad, how to be profitable at it or something like that. So do you think it's a great idea to start a media buying agency?

You know, ultimately I think if that's what you want to do, then yes. I think the more important question is, you know, underneath all that is how, you know, so there's kind of two sides to that. When would it not be a good idea? I think it wouldn't be a good idea to start a media buying agency if you can't provide the results that the businesses are looking for. You know, and so I think a lot of people put the cart before the horse, so to speak, and they decide, I want to make money. And so they want to start a media buying agency, you know, and that's all good and everything, but you do, you know, got to realize that the businesses, you know, the aspiration is always to find the businesses that are going to pay, you know, kind of the premium prices, you know, and those businesses will pay the premium price no problem if you can get them results. And so I think a lot of people, they always ask the question, how do I get those clients without having the results? And I've been lucky enough every now and then to get a client like early on that was a bigger client where I didn't quite have, I didn't have the million-dollar funnels and those sort of things to be able to show you know, based that I know what I'm doing, but I will say it so that it is possible to, to really be passionate and, and be knowledgeable. Um, but it's hard that way. And so what I would suggest is, you know, when is it a good idea to start a media buying agency? I would say once you've really started to hone your craft and you, you really understand what's, what's going on, um, with Facebook and, um, you know, you're very comfortable in it, you can get results, um, you know, demonstratably, like Um, then I think at that point, that's when it's a good idea to transition. And so a good, you know, a good rule of thumb, this is kind of how I did it, was, you know, I, um, I, I took, I took contract work. Um, you know, so you have a lot of agencies out there who are looking for media buyers, you know, as they're scaling, they need a media buyer, you know, to do it. And so those are good, those are good, um, places to start because you're gonna, you know, you're gonna get experience. Um, and I know for me, I could soak up as much knowledge as possible. I could understand the metrics, I could understand everything, but until I was able to spend, you know, $20,000 on an ad account and really see how it happened and see the difference between a good campaign and a bad campaign and what I thought was a good campaign, you know, and a really successful campaign, um, until I had that, you know, I, I didn't really understand it all. And so I think, you know, find those places where you can get plugged in and get the experience and, and maybe for a while you're not going to be making the kind of money you want to make, but you're honing your craft and your skill. And then once you get those results, then you can break off, which is what a lot of people do, you know, they, um, and then you start finding the clients because now you can demonstrate that you know what you're doing and you can get the results.

Absolutely. So yeah, like, that's the core, you know, the idea of being behind the scenes to learn that Facebook data, or, you know, being able to look at the data and decide if the If the angle is right. Hello.

Hey, made it back.

Oh man, I'm really sorry, the power is off suddenly. I really apologize for that to happen. But yeah, let's not waste any time and get into the next quick question. And you answered it really well. Yeah, and I really apologize for the lighting disturbance, but yeah, let's continue anyway. So, and Dustin, as you're into this industry from long time and being a Facebook ad expert, there are a lot of misconceptions about Facebook ads with the recent privacy policy update. As well. A lot of people are criticizing Facebook and saying that it's not worth trying or something like that. So what do you think are the misconceptions on Facebook ads and what is the right solution to come along with that?

Yeah, so I mean, obviously, you know, there's about to be some significant changes, you know, and I know over the years, I know over the years I've probably been through, you know, 100 of these significant changes, you know, and Facebook is crazy always.

Yeah, it goes up and down all the way.

The number one thing I can say, you know, is that you just need to understand what's going on. And I think the more that you understand the platform and you understand how ads work and the algorithm, and, um, and really, you know, you're knowledgeable about, about the actual advertising, um, and how, how impressions work and the data and, and how that, that all functions, I think you start to understand that really In this situation, you know, yeah, there's going to be things that change, but it's really about just paying attention to the data. I think that's what the, you know, I think the best thing you can do is understand what you're looking at, really look at the metrics because that's going to drive everything, you know, and again, you know, data is key here. So there are—

Yeah.

Yeah. And so like, you know, the number one reason I think people fail is because they, you know, they launch a campaign and they just don't understand. It's, you know, like I said, it's easy to build the campaign and set it up and get it going. They just don't understand what's going on afterwards, you know. So, um, you know, when changes like this come, if you understand how to read the information, like, you know, that you're seeing and how your ads are responding, then it's easy to, you know, it's easy to start making the changes that you need to make and adjustments along the way, you know. And so you just kind of figure it out. But I do, you know, I do think there are obviously just a lot of— there's a lot of talk around ads and everything, and, you know, that's great. And for some people, you know, they like to get in and they dabble and it don't work for them. And so then they like to just, you know, say the whole system is—

yeah, just blame— yeah, just blame the whole system. Someone says they love the information, Dusty, so you're doing super well, and I really appreciate the information you're giving away. Yeah, like you just need to be on the right track so that you can understand the data. Like no matter what algorithm change happens, still the data is same, right? You get to know the CPC and all the technical, uh, you know, functionality, stuff like that, which really speaks like and helps you what to do in the next move, right? And as you are already at the 7-figure level, like what do you think are your, like, what are your go-to strategies to acquire clients or help someone else to acquire clients? Like, let's say, as an agency?

Yeah, so I mean, the number one, number one way, and this has been true for years, is, um, it's always about value, you know. So, um, finding a way to add value to, um, your customer's life, you know, um, even if— and I think this is the hard part that people don't grasp— is even if they never spend a penny with you, like, you know. So in, in my case, like, if you You know, I started this new brand kind of breaking out from behind the curtain as a media buyer and things like that, you know, and as the ad scientist and, you know, in my attempt to help people. And so the goal is that, you know, while I might do workshops that, you know, people buy on and jump on for training and things like that, like, you know, when I'm putting content out and when I'm talking to people, you know, The goal isn't that they buy my product. Like, in the end, in the end, yes, I would love that, you know, um, obviously, you know, as an entrepreneur, as a business owner. But, but really, my hope is that in, in the conversation that we have and in the content that I put out, even if they didn't click through, even if they didn't buy, that somehow I've improved their quality of life or given them some idea or even inspiration to say, you know what, that was an interesting thought, let me try this on my campaigns, you know. And And that to me is way more valuable than even the money that they spend because it builds trust, you know. And so now, you know, for example, say if I, you know, in this, in this talk that we're doing, say somebody hears something that we're talking about and then they go apply it and they get some results. Maybe they don't get the results that they're ultimately looking for, but it improves the quality of their campaigns or anything like that. Well, what do I know? I know that that person now believes that I know what I'm talking about because they took some of the stuff that I said and they put it into practice. And so what are they going to do when they want more? They're gonna, they're gonna come find me, you know. And so that, I think, is, um, that's my go-to strategy. It's, um, it's always try to figure out, you know, how to add value. And so when you're talking about like businesses, you know, like say my clients, that gets a little trickier because obviously they are selling like a product or a service Um, and so you just have to find creative ways of, of trying to demonstrate that the, the exchange of value in the money that they're paying, what they're getting, you know, is, is astronomical and awesome, and that you're changing their life for an insignificant amount of money that they're going to pay, you know. And so, um, but that's, that's going to be the number one, um, number one way I think, you know, businesses are able to be successful, you know, going forward is, is is value. You know, think about how you can improve the quality of life even if, even if they doesn't buy from you, you know. And once you think about it that way, you'll start to realize that more customers will actually buy from you, you know. And it's, uh, it's, it's very interesting, you know, once you get down that rabbit hole.

Absolutely. And like, this is one of the best answers which I've ever heard, especially for this big question, because a lot of people be like, you know, be super salesy, stuff like that. But that really turns off and piss off some clients in a different way. But when you genuinely provide value, they really have your name inside their head on a long term. And whenever they need that thing really quick, they're just gonna, like, you are going to be the go-to guy when it comes to the situation. That's how you build a brand, right? So this is a long-term brand building strategy. That's really huge, Dusty. Thanks for that. And Dusty, you are already at a different level where you are managing you know, huge revenues and managing big businesses, the lead generation, you have a team to work with, you have your own stuff to get done. I mean, as a 7-figure entrepreneur, you have a lot more stuff to get done, right? So like, what are the tools? And you know, like, like, what do you— like, how do you— how do you manage your daily life? And how do you manage your clients? Your— like, how do you manage your whole productivity thing?

Yeah, um, number one thing, and I think this is something that we talk about, you know, with some of my partners and some of the team that I, you know, surround myself with is communication is key, right? So you've got to be able to clearly, clearly communicate, um, what it is that you need, the projects you got going on, you know, transfer of files, of information, of ideas. Like, um, that's, that's critical, you know. And so I think one of the tools that we use, you know, is Slack. Um, it's something that we use as, as an internal team. It's something that we, you know, every client that we, we onboard or we work with goes into Slack, you know, so there's a clear, easy way for us to drop information and have dialogue back and forth between our clients, you know, anybody on our team, you know, in our internal channels. So that's critical for communication. As far as like task management, you know, some of our, you know, of just our writers and our team members and like even some of the VAs that we work with, We use, um, we use Asana. Asana is a task management, you know, uh, tool, um, similar to Trello or any of these others out there. Um, we just like Asana because it's, it's a little bit fancier and it's, it's, it's user— more user-friendly and things like that. But that allows us, you know, to create projects and create tasks and, and kind of see them in a dynamic way with calendars and, and due dates and things like that. Um, and so that just kind of helps us stay on top of you know, of everything there. And those are kind of really the core, the core tools that we use as far as getting, getting projects done and really staying on top of our communication.

Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much for explaining your personal tools which you use inside your day-to-day life. And just curious to know, like, how does your 7-figure routine look like? Like, what is your daily routine for success look like?

Yeah, this is one where I've always been, you know, there's a lot of controversy around this, right? Because most, you see it out there, like, you know, this is the morning routine you have to have to be a millionaire and be successful and get your mind right. And it involves getting up at 4:30 in the morning and all this stuff. And, you know, and I'll be honest with you, man, like my, for me, it's just about being focused. You know, when I get started, my most productive part of the day is, you know, early morning until, you know, a couple hours after midday or lunch, you know? So for me, you know, I don't, I don't follow any kind of the, the typical stuff that you hear out there. I, my alarm goes off, I probably snooze it a couple of times. I wake up and I take a shower. And then after, after the shower, man, I spend probably the first 30 to 45 minutes of my day just, you know, really trying to just waking up, you know, and that's when I look at emails, I look at any of the conversations that have come in over the night. And I literally, I sit on my couch with my feet up, and I'm, I'm just scrolling through my phone. And it's just, for me, that's just time to kind of start getting, getting my mind awake, getting open, seeing what, you know, getting focused on what the to-do list is for the day. Um, and then, uh, you know, after about 30-45 minutes of that, I, I come over here to the desk and, um, I, I open up and I start chiseling away at the, at the to-do list, you know. And, um, so for me That's how I do it. I know a lot of people have, you know, specific routines and things and motivational things that they say. Yeah. And I mean, it's just, I think the number one, you know, routine is really just finding, uh, what's comfortable for you and how you motivate yourself. And I think that's, that's probably something we can talk about here a little bit. I know, um, you probably have some questions about that as well.

Absolutely. So yeah, like when the mindset is right, everything goes in the straight direction, right? You don't need to, have like a millionaire routine or, you know, waking up at 4 AM with your meditation things done. Yeah, it's not really mandatory. Like there are some people who does that, but yeah, it's cool even when you have like a simpler routine with the go-to list and can get a lot more stuff done this way as well, right? So that really sounds interesting. And, uh, yeah, like just like as you are in your 20s, really struggle with, you know, being, you know, in a job or struggling with your business. Like what will be your go-to suggestion or like what will be a suggestion for someone who is just getting started? Like speak to someone who's 20-year-olds like you?

Yeah, if it was me, I think, um, the number one thing, you know, and you hear people talk about this all the time and it sounds cliché when somebody with a buttload of money is telling you these things, you know, but like really it's, it's absolutely true. And I think so, number one, it's, you know, don't, don't try to build your business or be successful doing something that you, um, aren't passionate about or that you don't enjoy doing. Um, You know, because to be, you know, if we're 100% candid, building a business is not easy. Um, it's difficult, you know, and I mean, I know in my line of work, you know, the hardest part is people, right? It's dealing with the client, it's dealing with what's going on. You know, they're thinking they're spending a bunch of money and, you know, you have all these things. It's stressful. It really is, you know, and not to mention you as an entrepreneur and a business owner who are basically, you know, if you're doing that, you're, you're, you're 100% responsible for your own income. Which is another level of stress that I think people don't realize. It's like, you know, most people wake up and they go to a job and that check comes every week. As a business owner and an entrepreneur, it does not come unless you bust your rear and really, really do some hard work. And so I think if you're gonna put yourself through that, and you know, and you can understand that it's just a different level of stress, like this gray hair and stuff, shows up after that point, then you need to be doing something that you enjoy, like really enjoy doing, and that you're passionate about, you can get excited about, because that's the thing that you go to whenever stuff gets difficult and stressful. And so that's my number one suggestion is find something that you're good at, find something that you love, and start to figure out how can you use that to improve the quality of people's life, like we were talking about before. And I think at that point, that's when, um, that's when things start to flow. And if you start focusing on that super early, um, instead of, you know, most people come at it from the angle of money, like, how do I just make the most money? And, um, you know, there's a lot of ways to make money out there, you know, so might as well pick something that you enjoy doing and being good at, you know, um, and, and get good at it. That's the other, that's the other thing is don't you know, um, triple down. I think Gary Vaynerchuk says this a lot, you know, and basically what he says is stop focusing on things that you're bad at, um, you know, and, and triple down on things that you're good at, you know. And that, that plays— that's really— it is super true. It seems, you know, impossible, you know, because we want to put the most attention on the, on the things that we're not good at because we think that's how we improve. And really, exactly, going back to my story, that's what, that's what caused me to fail. Instead of me saying, okay, here's what I'm really good at, Here's what I really suck at. Let me just admit that I suck at this and go find somebody who's good at that, you know, and start surrounding myself with that.

It really happens. Like, I agree. I definitely agree with that. You know, like, especially people who are at that level of, you know, not making it six figures or, you know, less than that, they really struggle with this shiny object syndrome where they try to do 100 different things, you know, try to make more money, try to invest in multiple things, you know, and they end up being nowhere. And as you just mentioned, Passion is the number one key. As a business owner, especially as an agency, things can really go wrong, especially with your clients sometimes in a different situation, right? Like a deliverability is being delayed, something like that. Just if you be there and if you don't really know what you're doing, it's going to be super hard to deal with and you really make that quit really quick. But that's not where you can be on a stage with the 2 Comma Club, right? You should be consistent of what you're doing so that you can be there one day, right?

So yeah, and you know, and you think about, think about your— I mean, some people have really good paying jobs but they're miserable, you know, because it's not the money that makes you really happy, it's, it's the fulfillment you get from doing the thing that you're doing, you know. And so that's, that's— you're exactly right, that's the, that's the ticket, is to be able to be passionate about it because that's what, you know, that's what gets you through when things are just chaotic. Because I'll be honest with you, there's— I don't think there's ever been a day since I started down this, this road, um, where I didn't wake up to some sort of fire. You know, somebody's upset about something, or, or campaigns aren't firing right, or the website's down, or something got blocked, or, you know, it's always something. Every single day, it's always something, you know. And so, you know, if it's always something and you're doing, you're doing something that you don't enjoy, man, that's a miserable place to be, you know. And so You know, you need to fix what you need to do, right? Yeah, exactly.

Absolutely. And that's a great suggestion. But like, I think a lot of entrepreneurs who are watching this now, they get to know what their passion is, and now they really dig back and see what they're doing wrong and what are the shiny objects they're looking at, and just stay focused on what they really should be doing, right? That, that's a great session to do. And but like, as you're already at this level, I, I believe you already have like good achievements to speak on. Like, what are your biggest achievements and what are your next goals like in your list to do?

Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest, my biggest achievement so far, you know, I think business-wise, you know, is breaking, you know, breaking, you know, the million-dollar mark in funnels. Like when you consistently, you know, now it's to the point where I think, you know, you never can launch, you know, every single advertising campaign you launch, you know, 100% of them aren't successful, even for, you know, people like me or anybody else, you know. Um, but you, you can't— you are— you can be pretty successful, right? And so the right out the gate, I think the number one biggest achievement for me is being able to, to know that I can, I can jump in and I can launch campaigns, um, and I can do lead generation, or we can launch an e-com brand and, and consistently get results. I think that was the biggest achievement for me, is I have the confidence to know that, you know, with a little time, even if the first launch of a campaign or a funnel, you know, doesn't happen, you know, I have the knowledge and the experience that I can make tweaks. Yeah. And it's working with a little bit of time, you know? And so that's a level of confidence I think is the biggest achievement for me because early on as a media buyer and as somebody trying to do this, that's the hardest part to swallow is like, you understand that all the stress from the client and on him comes directly at you when the results aren't there. You know, so like once you have that confidence and, and, and connect, and I think explain and show and demonstrate just that confidence to a client before they ever even sign up, you know, it was a game changer for me. So I think that's my biggest achievement. And, um, my next goal I think is, um, is to really just expand and, um, fine-tune the machine. So, you know, we talked about building an agency, and I think on the back end of all this stuff, you know, it's, it's, it can be chaos if you're not in a position to where you can scale, you know, and do it in a way, um, you know, because as you scale, the workload gets bigger, you know, and as the workload, it demands more time, it demands more energy. And so, um, I think the next, the next big goal for me is to continue to just be more efficient with the process and be more efficient in the time. And, and as this, um, personal kind of brand of mine grows, that puts me in a position to where I can be, um, you know, a little bit out of the machine a little bit more and give back with my time and give back with the, the knowledge and the experience, you know. Uh, that's kind of the next big goal for me is, okay, so now we've built this, how can it function a little bit more and more and more without me? And how can I start to take that time that I'm saving from doing that and start doing more things like this and really giving back to, you know, to the community and, you know, and just using what I know and what I've learned over the years to just help, help pull people up, you know?

Absolutely. That's really important when you're already at a big level in business and you're still being like a 24/7 person who's working on your business, like in your business. It's really hard. You just need to be holding back yourself and with a bird's eye view, look at what's going wrong and what should be fixed. And then you can have much more time to do your stuff. And it's really great. And hope you'll achieve every single thing and the value which you're giving out. Just build out your personal brand, man. We'll definitely love to get more value with your videos and with your cool stuff which you're doing. Absolutely. And along the way, Dusty, I genuinely believe as an agency, everyone goes through this. What was your biggest mistake in your business career and in your personal life?

Number one mistake is, is my personal number one mistake is thinking that I, you know, I had to do it on my own, like, like it's up to me. And I think there is obviously a level of, you know, of decision-making and responsibility and doing the work, you know, that is up to you. But, but what I mean is, you know, I thought that building the business like, like I had to just create it. I had to do it by myself and I just had to figure it out on my own in order to create this thing, create income for myself and build a business that I could be proud of and enjoy and that provide for my family and things like that. And I think that mistake, it cost me ultimately along the way, way more than it ever built for me. Or gave to me, you know, because I, I, inside of that, that's, you know, I was prideful and arrogant that, you know, I'm some big shot and I'm figuring it out and, you know, I'm going to be the reason why I make it. And, and ultimately, at the end of the day, you know, I had to be able to, to admit to myself that, you know, they're— I'm, I'm just starting out, you know. Um, and even now being successful, there's, there's people who are worlds, um, beyond me in their success, you know. And, and that that, you know, in the middle of this process, there are going to be things that I just don't understand yet, you know, and, and that's perfectly fine, you know. And so instead of trying to grit my teeth and, and really pull up my bootstraps and try to figure it out on my own, because there are people out there who have been more successful than me, there are places that I can go and things that I can look to, to learn what it is that I don't understand, you know. And I think if I would have known that from the very beginning or understood it, you know, I think it's it's out there, but we have just this, this pride in them.

Yeah, you know, just think that we can figure out everything, right? We just have that.

Yeah, yeah, it feels good when you have the success, you know. I know like this, this particular client, when we, you know, we, um, you know, we did this funnel and, um, and launched the lead gen for them, you know, at the time they were, they're making $100,000 to $120,000 a month in sales. And I mean We're averaging between $400,000 and $500,000 in sales a month now. You know, they cleared $3.8 million in, in the first 12 months, you know. And so like, that, that feels good. It feels great, you know. And so, you know, when you're, when you're doing that, it's really easy to, you know, to, to think that, oh yeah, I'm some big shot, you know. But at the end of the day, I realized that what got me here was, you know, uh, I was able to, you know, to really leverage the resources of other people and, and their knowledge.

And, and then Yeah, and learn from that and build upon those things.

And so I think if I would have known that back at the beginning and understood that, then I think I would have been here much, much sooner, you know.

Bigger, yeah, much bigger and much better.

Yeah, absolutely.

Like, especially a lot of, you know, youngsters or people who are just starting out in the business can really relate with this situation. Where they, you know, be like, you know, tight guy who's tiny and, you know, don't want to invest on anything, just want to try that how to make money free videos on YouTube and just waste like literally hours of time doing, figuring out stuff on their own when they can actually be coachable and leverage someone else's skills, someone else's life learnings, directly grab them here and just execute them, right?

Right.

That's number one key. Absolutely. But that really, that's really interesting, Dusty. And Dusty, like, who are your main inspirations for the success which you have achieved and like any key persons involved in the process?

Really my main motivation is I have two boys, I have two kids, man, and that to me is my biggest sense of motivation. I grew up, I didn't grow up with much of wealthy or anything like that, from a home that my parents were separated from before I can remember as a kid, and so I just I remember growing up and part of my motivation, Ben, was like, you know, I want to change, I want to change the direction of my family's life, you know, and, you know, and the struggling and the things like that, you know, just financially and with everything, you know, that, that was something I think I wanted to, I didn't want to be that way for my kids, you know. And so the number one motivation I think for me is, is, is my children, you know, that they see, you know, they see what hard work looks like. They see, you know, that anything is possible, you know. And that really drives me to just be more successful, you know, because I know that along my way in my success, you know, they get to learn from it and they're learning at much, much earlier age than I am, you know. And so that motivates me to kind of continue, you know. And then just obviously my, just my own personal faith, you know, and knowing that at the end of the day, all this means nothing if I'm not giving back, if I'm not helping people, you know, I'm not doing this. It is nice. It is nice, the things that come with, you know, having a business and doing these things and the money and, um, and, you know, some of the comfortable things. But I think at the end of the day, you know, I enjoy doing this because of that feeling you get when, when I know that, that can— like, the campaigns that we launch for these clients, like, their lives are changing, you know, and there's things that are happening. Yeah, it's, it's the impact from that is, is what I feel the greatest about, is that, you know, it's not just about dollars coming in. It's about what, what that means, you know. What does that mean for, you know, my customers and my clients and, and for me, you know? It's, it's, it means, you know, it's, it's impactful change, life-changing things, you know. And, and it's, it's the realization that, um, that thing that I've been dreaming about, about my kids not experiencing that, is, is coming alive, you know. And, um, and so my, my faith plays a big part in motivating me to continue to do that, to continue to help people.

Absolutely. But, and that's a great reason to have a motivation, you know, like being in that situation in your younger age and now making sure that no one else can go through that situation, that similar situation, especially in your family. That's a great motive to have. And someone says that this is the best interview of this year. Loving it. Absolutely loving it. And yeah, guys, I think like there are a lot of people online. If you have any questions regarding Facebook ads, you know, retargeting, any technical stuff, Anything you can just put that on comments and Dusty would love to answer us. And just like a lot of people are watching already, Dusty, like where can our audience find your mentoring? Like, like do you have any openings for that? How does that go?

Yeah, um, you can follow me on my Facebook page is The Ad Scientist. It's just facebook.com/TheAdScientist. Um, like I said, it's this personal brand that I started building and, um, and pretty much, you know, I've spent a lot of time behind the scenes as an ad, as a media buyer, and running these, these campaigns for clients. And, um, you know, starting the beginning of this year, it's just my way of, of starting to step out and say, okay, I'm, I'm coming out. Yeah, yeah, behind the curtain and trying to add value back to the community. And, and, and understanding that, you know, I— we have a lot of clients that, you know, when somebody comes to us, they're pretty much, they're pretty much, you know, in that 100, 6 figures you know, a month mark, um, and they're wanting to take it, you know, to the next level. But there are a lot of— there are a lot of businesses and clients out there that, you know, are at that 40, 50 mark or even below, and they're trying to figure out— like, they know that they need the, you know, somebody who, who can do what I do, but there's that gap in, in, in that level of service, you know. And so, um, this is my way of being able to step out and say, okay, here's— let me add value to that so that these— some of these businesses can get to that level, you know, to where they can then turn around and focus on their business and find, you know, a media buying expert or, you know, marketing, you know, experts or things like that that can really then explode their business and they can focus on the things they need. But it's just there's a big disconnect in the, in the market, I believe, of just, of just providing value in there. You know, everybody, everybody just wants to be like, yeah, sure, I can get you those results, write a big old check, you know. And so while that's good and fine and everything, and everybody loves big checks, you know, I, I really want to be able to add value and help some of those, some of those business owners and businesses who just aren't quite there yet, you know, get what they need to put them in that, in that position to where they can say, okay, now I'm really ready to go, you know, go all in and get this done.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a really great map out, and I really love it. Like, you're genuinely helping the person to get to that level, and then you're helping them to get that 100K level, and then you're helping them to take that next step of leap, right? That's really interesting. So everyone who's watching, to reach out to the Ad Scientist Dusty, just go and check out his page, facebook.com/theadscientist, and you can easily reach out to him. And if you have any more questions, guys, please make sure to comment, or else we can conclude the session. And, uh, yeah, like, Dusty, like, what's your last words before we conclude the whole session?

Yeah, man. Yeah, I just, I'm grateful to be here that you took the time to, you know, do this, man. It's awesome. I appreciate you having me on the show. And, um, and yeah, I think anybody out there, man, you know, that's, that's why I'm here. So if you got any questions, you know, comment them below, you know, um, share this, you know. I obviously would, would love to, you know, to help out in any way that I can.

Absolutely. But thank you so much. And again, thanks, Dusty, for accepting my invitation and being on the show. And thank you for being early as well, and thanks for this amazing opportunity. We'll be looking forward to interview again once we hit to that next level of business, or, you know, putting that another 2 comma club, or being that agency and making 10 figures, like 7 figures, 8 figures. Mark, let's meet again. And everyone who's watching the interview, hope you enjoyed the interview and hope Dusty provided a lot of value. Reach out to him if you need any help with Facebook ads and any suggestions, any questions, any simple questions as well. Dusty is open for them. And stay tuned for the next interview. Thanks, Dusty. Have a great day, guys. Peace out.