Adam Sand argues most small-business owners quit ads too fast, expecting massive returns from a few thousand dollars in a month. Coca-Cola spends $5.4 billion yearly on ads, Apple $7-9 billion. Sand says 90-95% of people abandon hard tasks because they're hard, and treating advertising as a waste keeps businesses small.
90% of roofers on Facebook, that's what they sound like. I spent $3,000, and if it doesn't make me $90,000 inside of 30 days, I'm not gonna do it again, and I'm gonna talk bad about the guy on the internet and tell everybody that that thing doesn't work. Like, that is like what 90% of Facebook is. 95% of people quit doing hard things because hard things are hard, and small businesses stay small because they look at advertising like it's a waste of money. And then meanwhile, Coca-Cola Let's Google how much money Coca-Cola spent on advertising last year. You know about Coca-Cola. Everybody in America knows about Coca-Cola, yet they spent $5.4 billion. And we can just keep going down the list. How much did Apple spend on advertising in 2025? $7 to $9 billion. How much did Google? Google literally owns the thing that you advertise on. $14.72 billion. Every business pays a tax to get customers.
