Magic Math [Success With Paid Ads]
Level 1...And That's Okay
How do you get what you want with certainty?1
In business, and in life, there is this erroneous concept that everything you do is taken up to chance, so you better do as much as you possibly can.
It's the whole "shoot for the stars, land on the moon" idea.
Only, if you approached rocket science with that reckless perspective, you wouldn't land on the moon, you'd likely blow up on the launch pad.
(Turns out in business and in life, that's the same)
But no one tells you this, because there's a lot more money in having you believe all you need to do is push and work and grind and spend all your money and investment on yourself to get what you want in life.
Burn the boats! They will say.
What they won't tell you (partly because most of don't know this), is that in the story of Cortez, where he burned the boats to force his men to fight, the alternative for them was returning home and facing execution.
Nothing is without risk.
BUT
There is always a more certain path.
In The Guardian Academy we often talk about this path like Google Maps. You want to go visit a cafe you haven't been to in a neighboring town. So you get in your car, fire up your Google Maps, hit a couple buttons and then you have a certain path to getting there.
What you probably don't realize,
Is that you need to both know where you are going, AND know where you are now, in order to get that path. Google can't give you directions if you don't input a destination. It also can't give you directions if you don't input a starting point. That's a line with no beginning and/or no end.
We call determining that path, The Solvable Problem™️. It's figuring out where you are, where you want to go, and the most likely path which will take you there.
Laurel Portié has done a masterful job integrating the concept of The Solvable Problem™️ into her ads strategy for businesses.
Because most businesses approach ads with this idea of "more." They have some concept of where they are starting from, and they decide they just need "more." More sales. More conversions. More opt ins.
But "more" is a bucket that can't be filled. "More" is a destination to which you cannot map a path.
And therefore you can never be "successful" (because there's nothing to measure success against).
Working in advertising is a process of navigating many distinct paths simultaneously in order to get to your destination. To do this successfully and with certainty, you must have a clear understanding of your Ads Solvable Problem in order to get there.
Let me show you what that can look like, with this excerpt from Laurel Portie’s book, Super Duper Profitable Ads.2 Laurel’s methodology, program and book are heavy in Guardian Academy principles that she reinvented and improved specifically for her domain - and has become one of the best advertising programs out there.
THE MATH PROBLEM THAT GOT ME TO MY FIRST 6-FIGURES
The sexy thing to do when you start your own business is “stick it to the man” and just go “all in” and grind 24/7. But I had bills to pay and a new wife to take care of, that was not going to be the path I wanted to start my new life with my wife on.
Instead, I carved out a simple math problem. If I didn’t hit my numbers, I’d forget about this silly idea that I got from “workshop guy,” and I’d continue to live the glamorous life of a TV producer.
The math?
Make enough to pay my rent and my bills, which in downtown Phoenix was roughly about $3,000 a month. That doesn’t sound like much, but when you are making zero, that sounds like a great place to start.
It was realistic and it was a test. I still had my full time job as my safety net but it was also a liability because I didn’t have a lot of time to get this business going so I knew I had to be strategic with my time.
Would businesses REALLY pay me to help them grow using the strategy I was using for the various Television companies throughout the years?
There was only one way to find out, I had to find a way to have conversations with those business owners.
The initial math was easy. If I needed to make $3,000/month to pay for my bills, I needed to bring in 6 clients each at $500/month.
$3K/Month = 6 ad clients at $500/month
The next math problem was an equation I needed to solve, but once I had the data, it would be easy to solve over and over again.
How many people do I need to talk to in order to sell 6 of them into my ad services?
The equation:
Talk to ____ people = 6 ad clients
I created a strategy that revolved around the 2 things I knew best… video and talking to people. One thing that I learned from some of the best sales people in the television advertising industry is that conversations are the fastest path to cash. I’ll say that again in bold, because it’s a super important concept that not a lot of people take advantage of.
CONVERSATIONS ARE THE FASTEST PATH TO CASH.
Let’s unpack that for a minute.
If conversations are the fastest path to cash, why do so many coaches and consultants build huge, elaborate funnels that put so much friction in between them and their ideal clients?
That was a concept I never understood.
So while all my competitors who wanted to do ads for business owners spent time and money building funnels, I focused on a simple strategy that would bring me face to face with my ideal clients, faster and with the least amount of friction.**
For the next 90 days, I consistently created content, posted, and had conversations until I had 100 zoom calls.
![90 Days to Data [Paid Ads Shortcut]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3d9de5e-3d24-4849-9714-a61acc98181f_1600x700.png)
MAGIC MATH
After the 90 days, I went back and counted every post, every comment and every messenger conversation that led to getting those 100 zoom calls.
Here’s where the magic math comes into play after 90 days of data. I can now fill in ALL the blanks in this math problem.
I need _______ zoom calls to sell 6 people.
I need ________ messenger conversations to get on ____ zoom calls.
I need ________ comments to get ______ messenger conversations.
I need ____ posts to get ________ comments.
After knowing this data, I highlighted the types of posts that led to the most comments and only did those types of posts the following month.
I was able to get 4X the amount of business owners reaching out to me by doing LESS posts.
I have repeated that same math equation every quarter. Now, with reliability, I can repeat those same actions again and again and get the same, if not better results every single time because I am optimizing to get more conversations with less work.
The process sounds simple, but it’s not easy.
I always tell my students, if you can consistently do this every 90 days, the “magic math” will continue to work in your favor. The problem is that most people are too lazy to track the data or they want results FASTER.
Remember this.
It’s not 90 days to success (as most gurus will promise…) it’s 90 days to data.
After I achieved my “magic math” problem, I optimized (did more of the things that worked) the heck out of it the following 90 days and got even BETTER results.
Good news for those of you who are reading this book. There’s a much faster way to get the data you need.
Little did I know… The answer to accelerating this ENTIRE process that took me from zero to my first (and second) six figures, was sitting right in front of me, the whole time.
I was teaching it to everyone, but neglecting to use this little accelerator, myself.
WHOMP WHOMP*
Are you ready to learn my secret formula to putting this powerful $5 ad together?
Let’s get to work!
The Guardian Academy Principles Applied:
Solvable Problem3
Raise the Floor4 (minimum effective dose / what is enough)
Engage the Field5
Laurel's Ad Strategy is built around FIRST gathering all the data you need in order to solve your problem, and THEN running the ads which will solve that problem.
Most people skip the first step. They don't even understand the problem they are trying to solve, let alone how to build the equation which will allow them to solve it.
Don't be like most people.
If you think paid advertising may help your business grow, Slow Down. Figure out your Solvable Problem. And then go Engage the Field to gain the data you need.
If you'd like a useful FRAMEWORK for finding your Solvable Problem™️ and creating certainty with your ads strategy, Laurel has a very low barrier/cost of entry program built from TGA principles, Ad Coaching for $7.6
Laurel Portié is a Guardian and has been a student of our founder for the last five years. Recently, they did a free training condensing everything Laurel has learned and implemented into five days. All five days are available for free here:
Our “Out Of Print” Business Development Books and Letters are available by clicking here for paid subs. A lot of marketers try and resell this stuff, just get it here.
The pre-req or “Starter/Self Stay Guide” to understand marketing and sales through the lens of TGA principles can be found right here.
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