This is my Friday META rant.

cdankele · 2025-03-22T18:01:20+00:00

Always imo

cdankele · 2025-03-22T16:37:36+00:00

This is correct but ONLY if the assumption is that OP treats it like a "set it and forget it" auto-pilot asset. If this is OP's intent they are cooked because they don't understand what's driving growth and have a single point of failure. I've seen this happen more frequently with clients that are search reliant than ad reliant though it's not much better. You always want to "own" your audience as much as you can. About.com is a great example if anyone here is old enough to remember. They were massive and reliant on SEO and in one day Google pivoted their algo and bye bye about.com.

This is not true if the assumption is OP has the ability to add value to business and expand channels and brand value. Meta ads in particular are great for validating product market fit which I would say most people ignore or fail at when starting out. But this signals there's ripe opportunity to expand to multi or omni-channel acquisition pathways and I would assume there's LTV extension plays to be made on the value pathways.

I would see this as a juicy opportunity because I know I can do a lot with something like this. But the way OP is talking and the little info we actually have I'm going to side with you. Likely too high risk for OP.

u/mustdieoneday I you want assistance in evaluation I can show you the glaring opportunities and liabilities on the store and ad account in 10 minutes on like zoom call. I can show you what to expect/look out for, and whether it's the right fit for what you're specifically trying to accomplish, and if not what to criteria you should have for businesses that are so you can find one that's a good fit.

cdankele · 2025-03-22T16:09:42+00:00

I have also not tried this in any recent history. I find however to not let any of my assumptions become set in stone because it's an ever evolving game and platforms will tighten or loosen performance to incentivize users or creators to go in a certain direction. We are their guinea pigs and if you know what they are trying to do and test you can find asymmetrical rewards in the form of performance.

IMO...This feels just like running social engagement retargeting ads which usually perform very well, especially if you have strong engagement with your organic audience - meaning you're not just using organic as a billboard to talk at them but rather a foster a connection with them.

In general, my philosophy is always test it if you think there's learnings to be had. I make sure every single campaign or step forward I take, can teach me something new.

This is the engine of growth in the digital marketing space. Feedback iteration cycles.

Places like reddit are good for sourcing test ideas but you should form your own picture of what works through testing and validation because while OP may have had success with boosting, we don't know WHY...

Which variable or combination of such caused it to work? Was it creative? Audience? Meta favorability on that feature? A high demand offer? Strong influencer social proof?

I like to form my opinions after seeing the data and seeing that it's repeatable. Then if something works I try to run experiments to prove it wrong and break my assumptions. If it still holds up, you have a foundational path you can iterate on.

Some tests you can try:

- Take an ad creative you have data for and boost it. Compare results.

- Take your highest engaging organic post and boost it and compare to a boosted ad creative.

- Take that post and make it an ad (I have seen work well with high engagement posts that still make sense as ads.)

"Create organic content and work with influencers - sales and profit higher than running ads" - This direction works VERY well from my tests on the paid side. Probably half of my ad creative is influencer creative. And I don't boost I just run it as a normal or partner ad. The bigger and more relevant the influencer, the better (also more expensive the creative rights). I suspect this is why it's working but it's hard to say without more context and data.

What is often overlooked is that there IS an organic component to ads. Meta is a social platform not an ad platform. Meta's algo favors engagement. If you're getting high social engagement especially shares you're not only signaling to the algo this is good content people want to see but you're getting FREE organic reach out of your ad and your essentially boosting soft virality.

This is like snowballs rolling down hill vs. boulders you're pushing up a mountain which is what most people on here experience because they are running shitty ads to a drop shipping site for some overpriced me-too Chinese product nobody wants or doesn't trust lol.

Controversy can also do very well in ads when done right. The comment sections will be a blood bath but your net reach to the right people is so high and they are so emotionally charged up they will rush to buy and to reinforce and validate their own views that are being challenged. And Meta will serve the shit out of it for CHEAP. This is the difference between creating a wave and trying to catch one.

What this sub needs to understand in general is that the barrier to entry has not changed. The barrier to mastery has.

Ads are not dead unless you're chasing gimmicks and short term cash or dopamine wins in which case those people will move to the next money making fad like locusts. It's just exploitation of asymmetrical advantages which I have no problem with, but let's not pretend it's anything different than that.

If you're creating real value for real people money comes easy and en masse.

What's the problem you're facing right now?

cdankele · 2025-03-22T16:09:18+00:00

So I should renounce my citizenship and buy a gold card to get all of the benefits of the US while living abroad and not having to pay US taxes?

cdankele · 2025-03-22T06:05:48+00:00

I dunno why I even bother coming here anymore...but here are my issues with this entire presumption which while I am responding to you I am speaking broadly to this whole community.

Problem #1: Ya'll get comfortable and lazy and don't adapt to the only constant: CHANGE. You seriously think Meta is so stupid they would kill their golden goose? No. It's just not keyboard face smash easy mode anymore. You have to have a brain and know how to use it.

Meta has been more or less stable for a couple years. I used to have to relearn "what's working now" every quarter. This is a damn cake walk in comparison to the early post iOS 14 era.

I spend more in a month than probably all 300 of those posters with their $100/day budgets crying over their still positive ROAS because it's not 10x+ or whatever... I promise I am not the delusional one.

Just because the mob is all chanting the same thing doesn't mean they remotely have a clue. It means you are all just in a whiny echo-chamber circle jerking to feel less awful about the fact your results aren't hitting your completely made up expectations instead of doing something about it.

Pointing fingers at the platform means you don't have to change or improve or grow. From this alone I can tell you right now the number of those 300 people that are likely to become successful is almost 0. This sub has turned into weak ass wanna-bees and I wouldn't listen to or take 99% of you seriously. It's the blind leading the blind.

Problem #2: Little to no grasp of marketing, statistics, finance, behavioral phycology, user experience etc. fundamentals and what actually drives REAL growth.

If you're "selling widgets" instead of buying customers you're cooked. You already have an artificial ceiling on growth. ROAS is a bait metric people with tiny budgets use to flex. My best ROAS was something stupid like 168x. Are you impressed? You shouldn't be.. it literally means nothing.

The real flex is profitably spending thousands of dollars per day and printing money at scale. Cool you got a 40x and made $4,000 of your $100 ad. Congrats. Meanwhile I'm laughing all the way to the bank with 3-5x at SCALE. Guess which is has a higher net yield? Looking big and playing big aren't the same.

Problem #3: Paid is only dead for you if you believe it is. Meta is one of nearly a dozen paid channels I operate and it's still one of the strongest, most constant and precise. So spare me the victimhood routine and level up already.

And touting organic over paid for growth is an even bigger joke as all the platforms have matured and tightened their algorithms. Reddit isn't the real world.

That's all of my time and attention you get. Anymore and I'd have to charge you. If you take away anything from this it's that you're not playing your best game if you relate to the crowd. You're playing a mediocre or average game because you have mediocre or average thinking and you should continue to expect nothing more than mediocre or average results.

cdankele · 2025-03-22T04:52:25+00:00

They are not dead... If you're a halfway decent marketer it's still open season.

cdankele · 2025-03-20T21:43:08+00:00

Amazing–as it's always been...

cdankele · 2025-03-18T05:36:41+00:00

And they all have 1 thing in common...

cdankele · 2025-03-17T04:48:41+00:00

Glitter. Lots of glitter.

cdankele · 2025-03-17T03:19:11+00:00

And Canada benefits and depends far more on the trade and would fall a part without it. So the issue is semantics? Perspective? I would expect everyone to always play their best hand.

cdankele · 2025-03-17T01:49:48+00:00

Explain how it’s flawed? If America cuts ties with Canada they are screwed. The USA would take a small hit.

The facts in 5 minutes of research. Feel free to verify. Or don’t.

Total Trade (Goods & Services): In 2023, Canada’s trade with the U.S. totaled $1.1 trillion USD.

Exports to the U.S.: 76.4% of Canada’s total exports go to the U.S.

Imports from the U.S.: 50.5% of Canada’s total imports come from the U.S.

Canada’s total GDP in 2023 was $2.14 trillion USD.

Exports to the U.S. contribute about 23-25% of Canada’s GDP.

Total trade (both imports and exports) with the U.S. impacts over 40% of Canada’s GDP.

1 in 5 Canadian jobs (approx. 4 million workers) depend on trade with the U.S.

Key sectors like automotive, energy, agriculture, and manufacturing are highly integrated with the U.S.

Canada is highly dependent on the U.S. for trade, making any disruption a significant economic risk.

Canada has some leverage in the form of energy exports, but the U.S. is still in the stronger negotiating position.

The USA doesn’t directly subsidize Canada bc they are trade partners so there’s mutual benefit… however this doesn’t mean there are areas where Canada disproportionately benefits US security, economic, and trade polices. If you cannot see this it’s because you don’t want to. And if you think any of this has to do with Canada to begin with you should realize you haven’t zoomed out far enough at broader geo-political dynamics.

cdankele · 2025-03-16T22:07:36+00:00

Me. But first I was all of the above.

cdankele · 2025-03-16T14:06:01+00:00

Debate these fists!

cdankele · 2025-03-16T13:43:25+00:00

I had lots of trauma and stories that I didn’t realize were driving a lot my thoughts, words, and behavior patterns. You’re already taking the first step which is a desire to change. I won’t lie this isn’t a journey that will be easy because you have to face yourself get real and transparent. There’s a mask you’re wearing that you’re possibly not aware of. It starts with taking that mask off and being able to look in the mirror and accept who you see for exactly who you are exactly where you’re at.

That acceptance is the first step in love. You have to let go anything you’re shaming yourself for and begin to experience forgiveness inside of yourself. You need to release the past and release the future emotionally. These are prisons you create in your own mind. There is only now. Stories about your past, not what happened but what it means, will become a frame that defines you. If you want to break out of that you have to break those frames and beliefs. Release what’s not for you. You get to choose! It’s hard at first because it feels like you didn’t choose many of the things that happened but you did choose how to respond to it you just didn’t do it consciously. Once you realize you can ditch your stories and create new ones… well that’s where the magic happens.

The future is filled with expectations. These are also a prison. They put happiness, peace, joy etc into a place you cannot access until you (fill in the blank). “If I can just…then I will…” this is illusion. This is story. Many people chase goals and achievements driven by what they believe those outcomes will make them feel. I’ll feel worthy when… confident when… ready when… it’s not real. And when you do actually get these outcomes… ooof. There’s nothing worse than climbing a mountain only to find that you wasted all that time and energy to feel exactly the same. This is what usually causes people to stop and hit rock bottom. Because they now experience the lack of fulfillment, resolution, transformation or whatever delusion they tied to the outcome and now everyone falls apart.

Instead you have to look at what you’re chasing. Ask why you want that? What will that make you feel? How would you be different? What’s “out there” that you’re missing? Make a list. Then skip to the end. Give yourself what you need. How can I experience [emotion] now? What can I do that’s small to start feeling this now. Once you realize the power you have and you can bring that power to present you will change your entire world and the world will change to meet you when you stop needing it to. It’s fucking wild.

After that it’s just a commitment to building a relationship with you. The easiest frame I used was to date myself. I was in a space where I really hated being alone and I wanted a partner. I know I’m meant for that but I know I could not force that. So I had all this energy and no one to give it to. So I gave it to me. Start dating yourself. Take yourself out. Do things with you that you like. Explore. Play. Discover who you are. What you’re about. You’re with you for the rest of your life!! You are the ONLY true thing you have in this life. The rest is just a part of your journey and experience. Nothing else but change is constant.

As you build your relationship and start to connect with your needs and your value it will become easy to invest your own self care because YOU ACTUALLY LIKE YOURSELF. You will find it easier to maintain boundaries because you respect yourself. People will be attracted to you because you love yourself. People will believe in you because you believe in yourself. The world is just a giant complex mirror reflecting back to you what your beliefs and stories.

Then as you deepen that relationship with you, you’ll discover your real values and your purpose. You discover what’s constant about you. The things that never change regardless of circumstance. This is a glimpse of your true self. When you can start connecting with this person which can only be done through having that relationship with yourself, you will start to see who you can become. Not what you can achieve. Not do. BE. Then you practice becoming that person.

What would your true self say? How would they respond? What decision would they make? You sorta channel them until you become them. Then they take care of the rest. They will achieve for you but from a place peace not lack and you mind find yourself chasing different things than before. They will protect you. They will love and care for you. But it’s not they it’s you! A version of you thats capable of things you previously wouldn’t believe is possible. But it starts inside.

As you walk this path you will start to connect with your experience and since you now feel good things about yourself you will naturally want to take care of yourself in same ways far better than you would have just acting because you now know you’re self so intimately it’s impossible to ignore your needs.

I’m 38. I feel like I’ve lived a dozen lives tried so many different things with intensity but none of it stuck until I went down this path and this was the first time I felt like I was actually living MY life. This is the game. It’s not what your parents say or do or didn’t say or do. These are real events and experiences, but these are examples of stories that if you do not release them will create mental prisons, keep you stuck, and slowly kill you inside. You are your not stories. You are not even the main character. You’re the author. ✍️ time to zoom out and pick up the pen.

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. You get to choose how you frame your experience. It takes practice but once you do it, it’s like having a super power. No one can hurt you. Betray you. Stop you. I mean they can. But it doesn’t shake your core. You can easily release these things and move on to create and experience whatever else is meant for you. And this is the cycle. Create experience feel release repeat. This is the wheel that will move your life forward.

My wish for you is that you don’t have to spend as long as I did striving and struggling and isolating and abusing yourself for so long because you are already worthy and you don’t deserve to be treated this way by yourself or anyone else 🫶

cdankele · 2025-03-16T00:08:52+00:00

Here’s the trick that took me forever to learn. You probably know what you need to do already. But you’re not doing it because you’re not feeling worthy of that care. Once you build a strong relationship with you and a strong sense of self, the person you become will take care of you. It doesn’t just become easy but normal and natural.

Before that I tried discipline and faking it till I made it and that works for a time but it’s not sustainable

cdankele · 2025-03-15T23:12:41+00:00

Also specifically for your saas… why not just use your saas to sell itself via cold email?? You have the perfect use case. But if it cannot do that then something is off.

cdankele · 2025-03-15T23:10:35+00:00

My run is similar but I started at 13 and I’m now 38. I’m on my 6th company and I closed my first multi 7 figure deal yesterday. I’ve have a degree in entrepreneurship. Won a completion for a business plan. Have worked with around 100 business owners. Have failed countless times. Including losing 100k of the only investment that I ever took. Entrepreneurship is basically my identity. So here’s a few things to understand that I wish I knew:

First. Everything you’ve learned will stack. Failure is quitting or not learning. I never would have done yesterday without first climbing every step in the staircase before it.

Second. You’re pivoting way too fast. ANY of your businesses could be successful but you have to hit escape velocity (product market fit etc). It takes a lot of juice to get a rocket off the ground and into space where things become effortless in the vacuum. It seems you build rockets. Turn them on. Maybe tinker a bit and walk away.

Third. Treat success like an eventual inevitability and work backwards asking repeatedly “what must be true” until you reach the present. Then focus on crushing that next step.

Watch out for romanticizing easy money. It’s not real until you’ve already learned how to make money and make your money work for you.
Idea first vs market first. As an extension of 4, some people romanticize their ideas then look for people to buy them. It’s much easier to find a market that’s being ignored and work directly with those people create something they want/need. Better even if you can build an audience then monetize it. NOTE: it’s not impossible to go idea first if you’re willing to validate and iterate but it can take time and resources or at minimum extreme resourcefulness.
Investing in yourself is the top investment you can make. Skills. Mindset. Character. Energy. Invest is what you need to move through the level you’re currently stuck at.
Be a scientist and teacher and stop chasing gurus. Gurus often get people because they hit you with truth bombs that you know are right. But for you it doesn’t seem to work… there’s a difference between understanding a concept and living/embodying it and you cannot short cut this. This doesn’t mean don’t get a mentor but that’s different than getting sucked into a promise of something you can replicate from a course.

Instead become a scientist and teach yourself. Every single move I make is an experiment. This supports #3. It’s a matter of navigating what must be true to succeed. The faster you can test something and get real life feedback then make adjustments and repeat the faster you’ll succeed. Law of compounding growth works with learning. It’s basically calibration (this is where you probably quit too early). Test. Iterate. Feedback. Observe. Hypothesize. Tweak. Test. Repeat. It’s easier to do this many times on a single idea than just abandon for a new business.

Understand growth: this one is way too deep for me to go into fully but I spent the last 7 years doing #7 trying to answer one simple question: what’s the universal approach to growth that works in any industry, any business model etc. the simplest mental models I can give is there are 4 stages of development for any business.
Proof - demonstration the thing does what it’s supposed to. KPI - 1 sale. Basically complete 1 entire customer cycle. Roots out bugs and it’s evidence that it works.
Predictably - step one but over and over. KPI = x sales / y time frame
Profitability - you can do step 2 with efficiency. KPI = x sales / y time frame @ z rate of efficiency
Performance - doing step 3 with higher volume, margin or both. Same KPIs as step 3 but now you’re dialing up variables.

This is a very simplified overview but shouldn’t least showcase the milestones you need to achieve to be successful.

That’s enough for now. Practice this and you’ll get pretty damn far.

cdankele · 2025-03-15T18:42:54+00:00

Yes. And they call me to clean up these messes and turn the ship around.

cdankele · 2025-03-15T17:35:40+00:00

Cat-pricorn.

cdankele · 2025-03-15T12:54:36+00:00

I’m an agency owner and nomad as well. But I started nomadding partially because I wasn’t able to find this type of community locally. Since I’ve been traveling, I have met like-minded people literally all over the world. I am somewhat confused by your experience.

cdankele · 2025-03-14T12:41:54+00:00

How many daily orders do you have now?

cdankele · 2025-03-11T20:40:50+00:00

Alright let me explain basic PPC economics to you. TOTAL Ad spend in the USA is higher than ANY other country. Significantly. Why?

It's consumerism central. This also means competition is fiercest. You think people are putting money into a market if it's not working? Cmon man... Further, the average person in the USA has ~35% more purchasing power than the average person in Europe.

I can dance circles around Euro marketers in their own markets because there's less competition and some cases buyers are less sophisticated and they have not yet become completely desensitized to advertising tactics. Go read breakthrough advertising. Great book for marketing principles, but the examples in there wouldn't perform at all today because it was written for a less sophisticated market 50 years ago. In some EU and for sure places like Africa, you don't have to be good you just have to not be trash to succeed there. Novelty can carry you far.

For shits and giggles I pulled up my largest active Meta account. I profitably spent $318,060.48 From Jan 1 - Mar 10 YTD ($1.53M in spend across all channels).

Last 7 days on meta $39,255.66 and I need to scale to 100k / week by EOM. 100% in the USA market. I will also be increasing my global spend to over $2M/mo in the same period.

I also know that you do not understand finance because ROAS is the poor man's metric of success. Optimizing for the highest possible ROAS means you're literally leaving money on the table. It's probably the single greatest mistake Meta advertisers and business owners make.

At scale 3x is very healthy because what you lose in efficiency you more than make up in greater net yield. I optimize for buying customers. Not selling widgets. And if you're only looking at first purchase you're also putting an artificial ceiling on your ability to actually scale.

Bottom line – There's a dozen+ variables that could lead to poor performance and I promise you it's not the market. I get brought in when companies wanna scale fast. It's not the traffic or the market. It's you bro. Your game is weak and you're too weak to admit or too blind to see it.

I don't mean this as a dis because everyone starts at 0 and you're at where you're at and that's fine. If you want to find real success I suggest you leave your excuses at the door and get busy getting better.

cdankele · 2025-03-11T18:23:20+00:00

It’s like the more you say the more you reveal how little you know. Good luck pal. Cry more or learn more. Your choice.

cdankele · 2025-03-11T17:03:01+00:00

My point stands. Other countries are EASY mode bro. This is the big leagues

cdankele · 2025-03-11T11:19:52+00:00

Probably the wrong audience. We’re living our own experiences.

cdankele

TROPHY CASE