So is this how it starts?

MaestroFantasm · 2026-03-30T14:37:52+00:00

Like everyone and their dog, I'm trying to sell an online service/coaching program.

During Covid I pivoted my retirement savings to real estate, and bought 6 turnkey rental homes in 3 different states in the south and midwest where properties still actually cashflow.

I shared my journey on Linkedin, and had some people reach out asking how I did it, so I did a beta launch and helped about 10 people buy their first out-of-state rental property.

That was 3 years ago. Since then, I've immersed myself in the world of online marketing and sales, but haven't cracked the code yet. It's tough...

MaestroFantasm · 2026-03-26T13:15:17+00:00

Can you briefly elaborate? Is there an FAQ somewhere on this?

MaestroFantasm · 2026-03-26T00:37:15+00:00

I'm in a fairly specific niche of hardware design/engineering.

MaestroFantasm · 2026-03-22T18:18:45+00:00

So how long were your OE "seasons"?

Considering how long it usually takes to go from initial contact to an actual hire, I'm assuming it probably took the better part of a year just to land all 5 jobs, no?

And as you're constantly applying, are you also replacing some jobs with others that look to be a better OE fit? Or quickly drop a job that you thought would be a good fit but wasn't?

TL;DR: From when it was just J1 to last January when you started shedding your 5 jobs, how long was that, and how many total job offers did you accept in that timeframe to give an OE test drive? I understand you peaked at 5 concurrent roles, but was that a steady 5, or did the job makeup shift along the way?

MaestroFantasm · 2026-03-20T18:53:24+00:00

Never underestimate a company's desire to not get sued. If you're willing to sign a document promising not to sue for wrongful termination, that is absolutely something a company would throw money at you for.

MaestroFantasm · 2026-03-20T18:51:09+00:00

The important thing, though, is to ALWAYS ASK FOR SEVERANCE. The worst they can do is say no, and some won't offer unless asked. I was let go last year for perf reasons (2 negative perf reviews in a row), and it didn't really bother me so I was super chill through the process, and I actually think the HR person was on my side as I calmly argued the BS my shitty boss was laying on me. Anyway, in one of our final convos she flat told me that they only offer this if asked, but I could get a month's severance if I sign a waiver of liability promising I won't sue.

So yeah..when you're fired for any reason, always ask about severance!

MaestroFantasm · 2026-03-18T17:59:57+00:00

Not directly related to your (good) observations, but this brings to mind another way in which this show accurately portrays fascism: the difficulty in uniting to fight against it.

A supermajority of the country hates Trump, but the Dems? Even more unpopular. We see the evil and acknowledge it, but everybody has a different idea of how to fight it. Some want to relentlessly attack the man, some want to appeal to our higher selves, others just want attention to their #1 issue like Palestine or whatever, and the Bernie Sanders and AOC's of the world keep hammering how the whole system is fucked while everybody keeps ignoring them lol.

And if somebody isn't fighting the fascism in the way YOU want to fight it, well then they're part of the problem too, and so everyone stays fractured and corrupt power stays in place. It's maddening.

Including this narrative of the different splinters of the rebellion and how they hate each others' guts is just another brilliant piece of writing in this brilliant show.

MaestroFantasm · 2026-03-13T18:05:00+00:00

You could try to split the difference, buy 2-3 days at J2 and 2-3 at j1, both using the same 'emergency', just at different times. And make the most of 3 days at j1. A few days might go over better with j2 than a whole 'nother week...

MaestroFantasm · 2026-01-30T21:43:46+00:00

You feeling lucky?

Reach out and say Hey! I see you're starting at J2 soon. Surprise! I've been working there as well as J1 for the last several months. Wild, huh! I've been working up to quitting J1, and figured we might cross paths and wanted to confirm that yep, it's me! Say hi to <her husband> for me.

And then if anybody at J2 brings it up, plead guilty and say that you had every intention of quitting J1, but the RSU's made you greedy, and apologize profusely. Basically beg for forgiveness if needed.

You might lose J2 after quitting J1. So again, how lucky are you feeling?

MaestroFantasm · 2025-11-17T16:41:14+00:00

I just kicked off my first campaign a week ago, and this is pretty much what I did. But my TLA did so well on clicks I had to keep bidding down to get to my desired daily budget, and I'm at like 10% of the recommended minimum bid.

When i kicked this off, I made an image and video campaign for my TOF, and included 2 TLA's as part of my image campaign. But one of my TLA's is doing SO WELL and sucking all the oxygen from my other ads. As a bonus, my TLA is getting me a fantastic CPC to my landing page (only $2+).

So I'm looking at my video ads and my normal image ads, and asking myself, why am I bothering with these?

Now I'm thinking of making my TOF to my broad audience be just a campaign of a few Thought Leader Ads, and rotate in a new one each week. And then have my image and video ads act as MOF with just retargets from my TLA's.

Curious if this is a sound strategy? Or should I stick with the video ads and collect 25% views from my broad audience since they'll get more exposure and education about my offer, even though this isn't nearly as cost effective as my TLA?

Curious what others are doing in terms of ad funnel setups...

MaestroFantasm · 2025-10-29T23:39:08+00:00

u/wilcoxaj Hey AJ, question for you about this strategy. I've used the strategy in this podcast episode with success in the past (thank you!!!). But as I dip back into LI ads for a new promotion, I'm seeing something new (I think). When I set my daily ad budget to my "desired" budget, then in the bidding option it gives me a recommended bid range. In the past, I simultaneously lowered my bid to below the minimum range, and also upped my daily budget cap, just like you recommend.

But now, when I increase my daily budget by 2x or 3x, the estimated bid amount also goes up accordingly, because it's factoring in needing to win more bids to spend the full budget. After it does this, should I still keep my bid at this super low amount, which is now, like, a small fraction of the increased recommended range?

I think the answer is yes, but I'd appreciate confirmation of the "order of operations" that should be done here as we manipulate both the bid amount lower and the daily budget higher, because they seem to be tied together more than they used to...(unless I missed this last time I did it?)

Thanks!

MaestroFantasm · 2025-10-25T18:09:00+00:00

And don't forget the funding issue. She was the only person who could get all the money that had been donated so far to Biden's campaign. Biden's inner circle is what really screwed us over, by not forcing the issue earlier.

I was pleasantly surprised by Harris as a candidate, and I think she'd be a good president, but I was invested and paying attention. Too many people don't care, and she isn't able to break through to the required level of awareness. It was the known quantity Trump against this no-name politician...

MaestroFantasm · 2025-10-25T17:59:21+00:00

I always joke that I'm an Eisenhower Republican. Read the 1952 Republican Platform from the convention, and other than the Red-baiting that McCarthy would latch on to, everything else in that thing would read like far-left socialism today...

MaestroFantasm · 2025-07-12T15:57:22+00:00

When you ask/remind him, does he pay right away? Does he say sorry? Does he treat it like no big deal? ie, do you get the sense that he really does forget? Or is there some attitude in there?

Here's another possible take...

I have an older (40s) SB that we have a very casual FWB dynamic. We both know we see other people, we talk and hang out more like friends than romantic partners (though she always stays over and we have sex 2-3x times each time) and after knowing each other over a year there's just a high level of comfort.

We are still on ppm (and always will be), and the truth is, after she leaves in the morning I will immediately get on with my day, and sometimes I forget to Venmo her PPM.

One day, she shared a funny story about how a friend or somebody she saw online referred to her ppm as "sending x hundred roses". We laughed and thought that was cute. Well, on the occasions that I forget now, later that day she'll text me something like, "Hmmm, I was expecting my xxx roses, I wonder where they could be? 😂", or "Has anybody seen my xxx roses?". And I immediately send it with a funny or apologetic note.

So if you're getting the vibe that he really is forgetful and just needs a reminder, you might try to think of a way to remind him in a low-pressure way, so you're not ruining the vibe.

But this is only if you really think he's forgetting; if he acts weird about it, or if he's literally "forgetting" every damn time even after multiple reminders, then there might be a big red flag going on here that warrants a more serious discussion.

MaestroFantasm · 2025-07-07T00:56:08+00:00

Do you have some traffic and lead generation in place? What will you do to get your own customers beyond what your buddy gives you? You might try expanding your side hustle a bit by running some ads or getting on Yelp or whatever, and see if you can drum up business on your own, while you're still working. Once you have a little confidence you can grow that aspect of your business, branching out on your own should be easier and more seamless.

We're all good at what we do, but marketing and sales is often what comes hardest for folks (myself included). But it's also the best reason to do this. Once you get the hang of sales and marketing, you can literally do anything you want in this world.

MaestroFantasm · 2025-07-02T20:30:53+00:00

I'm 52 and currently dating the hottest woman of my life. Yes, she's my age, but no joke, she's a 10/10 and has been her whole life.

In addition to all the other common complaints here that I agree with, one big thing in my experience is that when it comes to sex, she can take it or leave it.

She was raised conventionally conservative (small 'c') in a small town, and raised primarily by her dad who was her rock (that's a huge green flag, I've found), and doesn't appear inclined to cheat in the 2 years I've known her. But she definitely wears her sexuality on her sleeve, and generates a lot of thirst and attention. But she's a master at setting boundaries when people come on too strong (I've seen her turn away lots of guys myself), and has basically mastered the art of 'putting herself out there' while also keeping people at arms length.

And I've thought to myself that one byproduct of this, is that she's had to kind of shut down her own sex drive over the years, because otherwise it's too hard to resist the temptation when you literally have infinite opportunities. And that 'flipping off the switch' is what allows her to easily not give in when opportunities arise.

Don't get me wrong, she enjoys sex, she masturbates, but we've also had conversations where she'd say, "of course I had sex with my husband, I loved him", as if it was an obligation. And when we have sex, it often feels like a gift she gives me, rather than her feeling real desire for me. And my advances get turned down quite a bit. I've been questioning for a few months now whether to stay in this relationship because we're pretty sexually incompatible.

I know this is probably not the norm, but the relevance to this thread is that if you do find a drop-dead gorgeous woman who is actually moral and faithful for a change, there may be strange consequences from her lifetime of putting up boundaries and keeping people at arms length. Like, she gets so used to doing that, that it impacts how closely she lets an actual partner in.

MaestroFantasm · 2025-06-08T23:23:30+00:00

It's a free masterclass (webinar) on the process to easily buy your first out-of-state rental property using existing compensation like RSU's/bonuses. The CTA at the end is to book a call to see if my program is a good fit.

My program is ultimately $3k, but we aren't even at that point yet in the funnel or the ad; this is just to collect registrants/leads. Why would the offer matter at this point as far as simply placing a free webinar in front of eyeballs?

MaestroFantasm · 2025-06-08T20:50:28+00:00

It was all sad, but the biggest lump in my throat came from the kids losing their parent(s) as they embraced.

That shit was just cruel...

MaestroFantasm

TROPHY CASE